Ultimately as her eyelids threatened to droop, she sat down close to Alex and whispered his name gently, taking care not to touch him – mindful of the last time she tried to wake him up. A brief shudder ran through his body, then his eyes snapped open, instantly aware. “Is everything alright?” He asked quietly.
She nodded, “I’m just tired.”
He got up and stretched lazily, a perfect depiction of feline grace. “Go get some sleep.”
She lay down where she sat, preferring the open air to the cramped darkness of the cave. She heard him start walking, almost soundless on the thick grass. He was checking every direction for danger, but she was asleep before he completed a full circle.
Chapter 11 – Jamie
The Trial participants were all housed within a large, airy building, constructed next to the Combat Arena. At first glance, the Combat Arena appeared quite ordinary – nothing more than a big round field, surrounded by a low wall of black rock, perhaps the area of five football fields. It was where the students of the Elemental College learnt the basics of combat. In the time between the Joining Ceremony and the start of the Trials – it had been set aside for the exclusive use of the Trial participants – for final training and preparation.
Inside and outside of the black wall were two different worlds.
Utter chaos reigned within the confines of the Combat Arena, the clang of metal on metal, the hiss of arrows whizzing by, the roar of fire, the howl of wind – it was all there and more, the sound of the Gifted practicing combat arts.
But take a step over the wall and there would be no indication of the chaos within. It was old magic, an invisible barrier that surrounded the Combat Arena, rising out of the low black wall, capable of muting the sounds of battle and stopping an errant arrow in its tracks.
The dormitory by contrast was nothing special, just rows and rows of identical beds in five identical rooms. Each room intended for participants from the different Elements.
As an Inferno, Jamie had been assigned a bed in a crowded room, the number of Infernos were second only to the Terras. There was never a moment’s peace, not even in the dead of night as snores and grunts continued to fill the room. Not that much time was ever spent sleeping. The Trial participants lived by a single mantra: Work hard, play harder. The days were spent practicing a multitude of new and inventive ways to kill each other, the nights were spent partying, hard.
The entire experience was new for Jamie, he’d never socialized with the Gifted before. Prior to this, he could’ve counted his Gifted acquaintances on one hand: His mother, Emma and Sam. The Trial participants were, in general, privileged and bored. Partying with people who had literally done it all and seen it all was a dangerous experience – nothing was ever new or enough for them.
Partying with the Gifted turned out to be almost as dangerous as practicing in the Combat Arena with them.
These people didn’t need weapons to be lethal.
Alcohol was banned, but that hadn’t stopped the participants from having a ready supply. Jamie had barely survived a couple of drinking games in the Inferno dormitory.
At the best of times, fire and alcohol made for a dangerous mixture. But combined with people who enjoyed dancing along the knife-edge between life and death, they became the ingredients in a recipe for death.
Sleep became a rare and treasured commodity. Luckily, he could generally sleep through most things. Though lately, worry was starting wear on him, like sandpaper slowly pealing layers of paint away. For maybe the first time in his life, Jamie had known the frustration of a sleepless night.
Of the forty odd participants, at least ten were Infernos. Since the disappearance of the Elementals, the Infernos had replaced them as the group most likely to win the Trials. After all, Fire and speed were a formidable combination.
The most common, were the Terras – Jamie counted fifteen of them. Though the Terras were better known for their healing ability, often working as doctors, many Terras felt they had a good chance at winning the Trials. And their over-riding attribute – their Gifted strength, which manifested not just as their ability to deliver a knock out blow, but also as an almost masochistic ability to take hits, made them impressive defensive fighters, the type that could win by simply outlasting their opponent.
The Oceanics were as fluid as the water they controlled and were Gifted with physical agility. They moved with easy grace and could bend and twist themselves in ways that would impress even an Olympic gymnast.
Eva was an Oceanic.
Jamie had been surprised to learn she was competing. He was surprised that anyone would want to compete. As far as he could see, there was no upside.
What did anyone have to gain by risking his or her life?
A trophy?
Respect?
Influence?
None of the potential benefits seemed great enough to justify the risk. He said as much to Eva, only to be rewarded with a furious tirade from her.
“Don’t you dare judge me for my choices, Jamie! You don’t know what it took for me to get here – you with your perfect family and perfect girlfriend will never understand what winning would mean to me!” She’d screamed.
The viciousness of her response had startled him, setting off a multitude of alarm bells in his head and raising the hairs on the back of his neck. He’d apologized and backed down gracefully, but it hadn’t stopped a thick, sludgy tension from forming between them.
No – he didn’t understand, it was just more evidence of the fact that he didn’t know her at all. It would be a mistake to believe otherwise.
Eva
