Jayce
As she steps into the room, it goes silent. The children stop playing, the air becomes still, harsh, and cold. No one knows her real name, nor what she looks like. The only thing we know for sure is that she is the rightful queen. She is different, I can feel it. Everyone bows their heads as she walks through the Grand Snow Hall, her almost black-like dark blue cloak gleams because of the Alyeon-glass chandeliers raised almost a hundred feet above us. Her parents died at a young age before any of the previous Margendoir (The group of graduates from training) group even set up at their final trial; which used to be held when we reach the age of 17. These days, there's only one trial, but it's even more dangerous than all of the past trials combined. This year is our Trail, which includes me, my friends, and a couple of other people, and her; The queen. She was to be queen, the council took her in, but never let her take the power.
Someone taps me on the shoulder, and I come out of my inner thoughts. It's my two friends, Sira and Jacob.
"What are you thinking about now?" Sira asks
"huh... nothing!" I say, as if she doesn't know me already.
"Oh, shut up. You act differently every time she walks through the room." She points out, and Jacob nods in agreement. He has uneven black hair that's singed at the edges, darker skin, and fire-green-like, but much darker eyes.
"Does anyone not act differently?" I tell her back, but I know her yellow-brown eyes, which suit her shoulder Length black hair perfectly, I can see past all of my lies. Her skin looks to be made of light-caramel, and her clothes are an old white shirt with a worn-down black leather jacket paired with ripped jeans which had some black leather stitched above her knee, it's like the pants are made for the jacket. But I still wonder if it is appropriate for this occasion.
"Jayce, It's not the same!" Sira seems to be at the edge of snapping, "Everyone changes in a traditional manner, but your reactions are different, strange, even!"
"Are you two seriously going to argue while we are in The Grand Hall!" Jacob starts. "Not to mention we have the trials!"
I completely forgot about the trails.
"Who do you think we are going to fight?" Jacob asks randomly with utter curiosity.
Sira decides to step in. "It's not who anymore. Some say it's not a person this year. Not Even the queen knows what it is. Speaking of, some say she is taking the trial on her own, but no one knows for sure."
Then, just on cue, the fireworks started going off. So, we decide to save our conversation for another time.
It's a couple of days until the trial, and I decide to head to the training yard since I don't have my own equipment. I use the local swords class' ones for now. My mom and the instructor were friends in their Kano (Guards) training. I start using my sword since it's my main weapon. When I'm working on archery, I see a shadow-moving silhouette. For a split second, I thought I saw her. The strange thing was the air did not change. I look along the walls when someone decides to yank me around, and there were Sira and Jacob once again. Sira's trying to get me to flinch.
"Guys," I say, annoyed, "Do we have to do this every time?¨
"Yes, and there is no stopping it." Sira replies. "So, Jayce, how's your training going?"
"It's ok," I answer, "But I don't think it will be enough."
"Remember" Jacob says "you won't be the only one fighting, whatever or whoever it is"
I try focusing on my archery, but we kinda got distracted and decide to head to the Kahino (café) near the Kano school. The school was also close to the guards' station, which is very convenient.
When we reached the Kahino, we ordered our usuals and sat at the table, waiting for the orders to arrive. No one decided to talk, I sat with the others in silence. Awkward. I thought.
Our orders arrived, and, Meria, the waitress said: "Here are your orders guys, I heard about the kano trials Jayce good luck" that broke some of the ice between us. I looked at Sira in the eye as if to say-
"Thank you" Sira interrupted.
That's exactly what I wanted her to say, but how did Sira know?
When the waitress left, Jacob said he overheard a rumor about what we are fighting for. I wonder what it is with him and rumors, anyway he told us about how some people, from the Dranite Region, described what it could be.
Jacob started","The men said something about what we are fighting might be underground."
The thing was, Jacob used to live in the Dranite Region until they attacked us, killing the king and queen."," After the attack, some of the people didn't feel safe in the Dranite Region. One night Jacob's mom, Katy, tried to sneak through the border. Katy got caught, fortunately she was able to sneak Jacob through the border, using a small hole he could crawl through. Lady tried to sneak through another spot but a man caught her, Jacob barely remembers it himself.
Sira asks, "Do either of you have any ideas?"
We sat in silence and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Again, you could cut the tension with a knife.
A few hours after going to the Kahino, I went back to practice. When the time comes you will be given a weapon of choice, but you couldn't bring your own. What's even worse you could lose it, or it is useless, which is why I try to practice with every weapon possible. The cold tundra didn't help if you weren't used to it, luckily I grew up here. You probably want to know Sira's backstory, well her dad is a local shop owner and her mom is a Mirnorna (a seamstress). We also grew up together so there isn't much surprise there. She and Jacob are best friends who always hang out. I have just been trying to train for as long as I can remember.
I still can't believe that the trials are almost here, this is what I've been training for. I still have fear. Why would the council change the trials? It hit me like a brick. She is taking the trials as well. They might be in a different place, but we will be her guards. As that thought went through my mind the arrow hit the target at the bulls' eye, as if to say you are right.
I was standing in a dark room made of stone bricks. The floor was cold. There were barely any lights, except for the dim torches on the wall. I could tell it was night. The air was still. I could tell I was being watched, or at least it felt like it. I could hear something in the dark. There was movement. It was strategic like it was after something or someone, but not me. A blast came through a wall, and then ¨CLANG¨
I was back in my bed, I shot straight up. I ran to the kitchen to find the source of the noise. It was Mika (My little sister). Jacob and Sira were sitting at the table. Mika looked like she was trying to tie herself into a knot.
I asked¨Mika, what are you doing?¨
She looked embarrassed ¨Trying to make Sira and Jacob breakfast.¨ She smiled.
Mika had a crush on Jacob even though she is 8, and Jacob is 17. My dad isn't usually home in the mornings. I usually make us breakfast, but I slept in. There were pots and pans out on the floor from her fall.
¨No, I'm making breakfast¨Mika said.
I tried not to laugh¨Let me at least help you clean up¨
¨No¨She pouted.¨I'm cooking. You guys have the Kano trials.¨then she said almost in a whisper¨I want to do this for you¨.
¨Alright¨ I said ¨Is dad coming to the trials?¨
¨No, he had an important job to do. He said he'll be gone for a couple of days, but he said they were going to give him a good amount of money.¨Mika said excitedly.
I completely understand why he would be late. He had two kids and was a single father.
I still can't believe the trials are today though. I went to sit down with Sira and Jacob.
¨How has your dad been taking it?¨Sira asked
¨Pretty hard, he has been working more for the money¨I said. My mom made it through the trials, but she died 5 years ago from one of the creatures. She died as a guard. Her job was to escort the queen to a disclosed location, not even my father knew where she died. The other guards brought back her body to bury. Mila was too young to remember Mika was struggling to put everything away.
¨Hey Mika¨I called ¨Why don't we go to the Kahino.¨
¨Alright¨she replied, saddened.
When we were seated we ordered our food and chatted here and there. Mika had to go to the Migirnga (a bathroom). I took this chance to tell Sira and Jacob about my dream.
¨So it is the onset we are fighting¨She said grimly
¨I don't know for sure but--¨ Jacob cut me off
¨We don't know if the dream is real.¨Jacob chimed in.¨Was there anything you left out?!¨
My head started to ache, and then I saw a cloaked figure.¨There was someone cloaked. They came after the explosion, It looked like the queen's cloak, but I can't be sure.¨
We shut down the conversation as soon as we saw Mika. Everyone finished up, and we started to head towards the Kano trials. We were at the entrance of the stadium. Mika went to stay with Lano the instructor since he was a close family friend. When dad was away Lano usually helped out since he was close friends with our mom. Sira, Jacob, and I went to the weapons room of the arena. The instructor had us go to separate mini rooms, and then we got our weapons, and rations for the long trip. I got a pure Porand sword. Pormandium is strong and durable, better than anything I could afford. In the middle of the handle was a gem.
The doors behind me shut. They were made of a rare metal that looked a lot like Mahingnae(copper). I was also given some rations, med-kits, and water canisters. Some kind of imagery was on the inside of the door. There were men and women fighting a giant monster, before I could finish, the doors opened.