“Max.”
This time my name washes over the water, stopping at the banks. A light glows in the distance. I stand, hold my weapon down by my side, and walk to the bank. The light sways slightly as if being carried, then stops. My eyes have to adjust in order to make out the figure on the other side. The woman is my height, with long black hair that is streaked with gray. Her face bears a resemblance to mine, but that can’t be possible.
“Hello Max,” the woman says, holding the light up by her shoulder so I can get a better look at her.
“Mom?”
She nods.
“That’s not possible.”
“You’ve gotten quite grown-up since the last time I saw you.”
I close my eyes, count to five, and open them again, but the woman is still there.
“It’s so good to see you,” she says.
“You’re not real.”
“Why would you say something like that?”
“My mother is dead.”
“As you can see, I’m not.”
“She would’ve called me by my real name, not the one Leader Fallon made up.”
She hesitates in answering. “Why can’t you believe that it’s me?”
“Cross the water?”
The woman vanishes and I’m thrust into darkness, confused as to what that display was all about. What are the Keepers trying to test? Why show me my mother, a woman I don’t remember? An Aedox would’ve been much more preferable. I step backwards, bumping into someone. As I turn around, my nightmare becomes true. The Aedox grabs me by the throat and begins choking me. I can’t call out as my windpipe is closed off. I try to raise my Kopis, but my arms are stuck to my sides, bound by an invisible rope.
This isn’t real. None of this is real.
My vision begins to darken as my hearing fades. I’m on the verge of passing out when an arrow pierces the Aedox’s heart. I drop to the ground when he vanishes. Garrett is beside me checking my throat, which is red and a little swollen. He wakes Brink and Van, having them do a quick sweep of the area around us, but the only thing there are bushes, trees, and mud.
“What happened?” Brink asks, kneeling next to me as I’m still having trouble getting air into my lungs.
“An Aedox, but how did he get in here?” Garrett says.
“Illusions,” I finally whisper, followed by a coughing fit.
“That Aedox looked plenty real to me, Max. He almost killed you,” Garrett says.
I crawl back over to my spot under the tree and lay down. My head is pounding and my eyes won’t focus. A scream rips through the night. Garrett readies his bow, swinging it around to follow the motion of the sound. It finally stops, but Garrett doesn’t put his weapon down.
“What are the Keepers up to?” Van asks.
Brink removes his knives and throws one in the direction of Garrett, nicking his arm. Garrett starts yelling at Brink as the Deer Horn Knife hits its intended target. Van trudges through the water, grabs the person who has fallen into the murk, and drags her back with him.
Brink’s aim was very good – the knife is embedded deep into the girl’s chest. Her face is covered in mud. I inch forward and roll her over after Van lets her go. It looks to be a player from the team with navy stripes. I begin to wipe the mud from her face, but when I’m half-way done Van shoves me to the ground, picks up the girl in his arms, and begins to yell.
“What the fuck did you do, Brink?” he screams.
“I saw movement, and I knew I had to protect the group,” Brink responds.
“She’s not the enemy, none of them are,” Van cries. He buries the woman’s face into his shoulder.
“Who is she, Van?” Garrett asks.
“My sister.”
“That’s not possible,” Garrett says. He walks over to Van and sits down next to him. “Siblings aren’t allowed to be in The Litarian Battles at the same time.”
“She wasn’t in The Litarian Battles. She’s been living in Icarian for the last year. How did she get here?”
I expect her body to vanish, but it doesn’t. I spot a mark on her wrist above her wristband, but it looks too dark to be mud. I bend down and wipe away the area, revealing a laurel with an infinity sign in the center.
“Look,” I say, lifting her limp arm up so everyone can see the mark.
“What’s that?” Brink asks.
I wait for someone else to answer, but they all remain silent. “It’s the Patrician symbol,” I tell them.
“She must’ve gotten it when she moved to Icarian,” Van says.
Garrett and Brink take the body and place it several yards away, hiding it under a bush. Brink discreetly removes his knife from her chest while Van isn’t looking. They return a few minutes later, but sit some distance away from Van. I sit next to him, so he’s not alone.
“How did she get here?” he keeps quietly repeating to himself.
“When was the last time you saw her?” I ask.
“The day she packed up and was sent to Icarian.”
“They don’t send you right from the tower?”
He shakes his head. “The winner is given a chance to say goodbye to their family, and take a few belongings with them.”
“How does someone get to Icarian?” Brink asks.
Van and I stare at him.
“I don’t mean by way of The Litarian Battles, but by what kind of transportation is provided? Where is Icarian located in conjunction to Tarsus?”
“No one knows,” Van says, wiping his eyes. “A carriage did come to pick her up, but she let it slip that the carriage was only the first leg of the journey. I don’t think she knew of the other ways.”
We fall silent. I now feel as if we’re to stay in perpetual darkness for this entire round. The only light is from that of the moon, which has joined us. I feel myself dozing off again when the sky to my right ignites from a vast explosion. We
