Zariel was hiding, with two kills on her hands, she ain't afraid. She holds her dagger tight and moves slowly behind the scenes.
Everyone was interrogated, everyone was asked where the killer princes are now located. She avoids the people and runs to an improvised stable. Zariel grabs a horse and runs with it towards her home.
Her father was with his army 100 dragons away from the wedding waiting to start a war. Zariel meets him and looks in his eyes.
"Zariel! What are you wearing?"
"An armor!" The armor was the one the enemy wore.
"You stole it?"
"Yes… I am ready for battle!"
"No you are not… You disgraced me and our people!"
Zariel looks at her father.
"What do you mean? You said~"
"I said that, I'll forgive you, but never forget what you've done. You made yourself an enemy of our people and the Verg Empire! YOU are now a criminal!"
She was in shock, the army men were ready to catch her. They come forward, Zariel makes her hers go back some steps. One of the mages tried to catch her with a spell, when she saw they missed she didn't think twice. She turned her horse and she ran.
*Trots* 5 men were coming after her, their horses were more trained and got to her in an instant, arrows were flying from behind as well as magical casts. One of the horsemen uses a spear to take her off the horse, she grabs it by the blade and pulls it at her. She throws it at a horse on her right.
An arrow pierces her armor and hurts her back.
*Grunt* she doesn't scream and hold the pain in, she needs to prove she is tough.
The horsemen stop as they reach the border. Zariel goes with her horse on the border, moving fast dashing on the plain.
She runs in the wild lands, where no king or emperor had the courage to venture. Hurt, freezing and betrayed, Zariel was going into a realm where she will probably see her last breath. The wild lands were snowy with less than nothing fruits and possibly no wild life. She heads into a forest with mostly dead trees.
She stops and gets off her horse, ties it up to a tree.
"What have I done!"
Zariel whispers to herself, feeling the weight of her actions and the consequences that had led her to this desperate situation. She knew that she had made a mistake, a big one that had cost her everything she held dear. But she also knew that she couldn't give up now, not when she had come this far.
She takes off her armor and inspects the arrow wound on her back. It was deep, but not fatal. She needed to rest and let the wound heal before she could move on. Zariel looks around and sees a small cave nearby. She decides to take shelter there, hoping that she could find some wood to make a fire.
As she enters the cave, she notices a strange energy pulsing through the walls. It was as if the cave was alive, and it was calling out to her. Zariel was curious and followed the energy to the back of the cave. There she found a glowing crystal, emanating a warm and comforting light.
The crystal had the dimension of a ring, she grabs it and the crystal enters her palm. She feels an atrocious pain, the pain was only in her right arm. The pain duration was about five seconds. When the pain stopped Zariel looked at the crystal.
"What the hell is this?" the crystal starts to glow, green. She grabs some dead branches from outside and brings them into the cave. She tries to fire them up but no success, They were wet.
She feels the cold even more, she looks at the crystal. "What can you do?" She said.
The arrow was still in her back, it didn't hurt her but she was afraid to sleep, because she might hurt herself more.
The crystal stops glowing. Footsteps are heard from outside the cave. Crunching sounds are heard from outside the cave. She has no other way but to ask for help.
She exits the cave. Zariel sees 5 men and two women. All well armed.
"Who are you?" Said one of the women. Zariel didn't think too much, she knew if she said she was a princess she would've been held for ransom.
"I'm a deserter."
"That's enough for me. We got a new arena participant, boys!" They knock her out.
She woke up in a cage, she was sitting in a bed, the arrow was missing and the crystal was still there. Her armor was missing, her clothing was missing, she had bandages covering her chest and back, and some ragged pants, nothing in her feet.
"Where the fuck am I?"
The crystal glows up again, now it talks.
"You are in -Hasavadan- located in the -WILD LANDS- in -The center of a dead Vulcano- You have been treated and will be sent into the arena."
"Who are you, and what are you?"
"I am a magic crystal called -river crystal- I basically offer information, but in our case: when you are ready you can unleash your real potential."
"Do you know who I am?"
"Indeed I do, Zariel."
*Squeak* Footsteps are heard from afar.
"Shush!" Zariel said and the stone stopped glowing. The captors open Zariel's door.
"Welcome to the Hasavadan, the arena where you'll spend your days in. Time to move you with the others."
Zariel said nothing. She is grabbed by a man in a big and rusty metal armor. They bring her into the hallway. She is pushed forward. As they walk she sees people with lots of injuries, from missing arms and legs to smaller injuries like missing eyes, swords in their bodies or arrows.
"This is the medical ward, here you'll come after every arena match. If you survive."
Said the guy in the rusty metal. They face a metal door. Another man knocks on the door and someone opens it. *Squeak* The metal door opened, it was rusty, it looked ancient.
They take a left. She moved slower, the guard pushed her forward. A giant gate faced them. They press a lever and the gate opens. She is pushed there.
"Welcome to your new bed chambers!"
They pull the lever again and the gate closes down. There was no one, yet. She sits in a corner, hearing a battle in the arena, waiting to see how her decisions modify her life.