Zilferia

“Hey, Crystal…” The voice pierces through my foggy thoughts as I seem to float in darkness. It drags me back to alertness, although not fully. “Crystal, wake up! The Games start tonight, and you still need to get put into a team! Come on! They’re drawing for the teams in less than an hour!”

“…Ham?” I murmur, still drowsy.

“Yes,” comes the reply. “Nathan and Sierra are here too. We can all go together, if you get up in time. Do you think you can?”

“Of course!” I retort, opening my eyes. It takes a minute for them to focus, but eventually my three friends’ faces swim into view. “Lets… go…” I slur. They all look at me disbelievingly.

“Are… you sure you can?” Nathan asks, concern in his voice. “I mean, you need to be there… at least usually. But we might be able to make an exception for you this time…” he starts as I unexpectedly jump out of bed. I land just fine, but then I sway and fall. Luckily, Nathan catches me. “…and we just might need to. Just look at the state you’re in!”

“I’m fine… let’s just go,” I say, carefully standing again. I make it to the door on my own, although I’m frustrated with my weakness. Leaning on the door frame, I look back and see the three of them quietly conversing with each other. Talking, I suppose, about me and all the problems I seem to be causing already. Sighing, I humble myself and say, “We need to go now, but I am- unfortunately- not quite strong enough at the moment to go anywhere on my own. Will two of you help me?”

Sierra and Nathan come up to me and I put an arm around each of their shoulders. In this way, the four of us travel to the center of the town in the bright sunlight of mid-afternoon. By the time we get there, I am able to walk by myself. I can tell instantly that we are the last to arrive. The contestants are all lined up in one straight line, facing the five adults in front, on the small stage I noticed earlier. I recognize Vlad, Thaddeus, Y’vette, and Zelda. But the last person I’ve never seen before. Everyone there seems to be waiting- a little impatiently- for someone. Us.

We quickly take our place in the line as the person I don’t recognize takes a step closer to us. I’m surprised that she doesn’t even wobble in such towering high-heels. Behind her, Thaddeus and Y’vette also step up and stand on either side of her, each holding a small black container. I quickly figure out that our names are in them. One bowl has the girls, and the other, the boys. Everyone around me suddenly becomes agitated, although they try to hide it. Swallowing a lump that suddenly forms in my throat, I wipe my palms on my pants, drying them.

Clearing her throat, the mystery lady that just stepped up says, “Welcome, one and all! My name is Nehru and I am this year’s announcer for these Games! And now, it’s time for me to pull the names for the teams! Each team will be assigned their own color.” She pauses, smiling and letting us feel nervous for a little longer. Looking down the row, I can see the anxiety written on everyone’s faces, even cocky Jake Elwood, although he hides it very well by promptly grinning at me. I don’t smile back, instead turning to look back at Nehru. I understand why everyone is so nervous- whoever is on their team will pretty much decide if they will win or not. It may even decide if we survive in this universe or not.

Gulping, I return my attention to what’s going on- just in time to hear, “The red team will be… Sierra Davis, sixteen years old, from Second Earth.” Looking over at her, I see her trembling. Walking dramatically to Thaddeus to draw the boy that will be Sierra’s partner, Nehru draws out a slip of paper, looks at it, then at us. The suspense is building- and I think one of the boys is about ready to yank the paper out of her hands if she waited any longer. But, after a seemingly long time, she clears her throat and clearly says, “…and Sierra’s partner is… Ham Jacobson, seventeen years old, from Ponorama!”

The two look at each other, relief clear in their eyes, for they already know each other and are friends. They are told to stand apart from the rest. Nathan and I are left basically alone, not really knowing anybody else. I suddenly regret not making more friends when I had the chance.

Nehru then pulls out another girl’s name. It’s one I don’t recognize. “The blue team will be… Roxane Hernandez, eighteen, from First Earth.” Looking down the line, I see a goth looking girl chewing gum, looking completely unconcerned. She’s wearing black lipstick and her hair, eyeshadow, and clothes are all black as well. Her partner, Lloyd Jewkes from Lii, catches my eye. He’s… beautiful. And close enough to me that I can see his shining blue eyes, which seem to accent his blond hair, which is a richer color than Ham’s, who’s hair is almost white it’s so blonde. He smiles a little out of exasperation of his partner choice. I don’t blame him. It looks like she doesn’t even care enough to win- she probably won’t be of much help. They move off to the other side of the square.

“Green team! Star Hansen, seventeen, from Lii.” Star is beautiful as well. She has short, blond hair and is about six foot four. “Drake Kingston, eighteen, from Quagon.” The match seems to be perfect. They are both good looking- Drake is obviously fit and I saw both Star and Drake flirting earlier. They both look confident as they stroll over to join the other teams.

Next is the yellow team- Odette Hansen, seventeen, from Lii. She is obviously Star’s sister as they look the same, except Odette has longer hair and green eyes rather than blue. They are both very intimidating. Her partner is Frazer Hill, sixteen, from Zelon. He is about six feet tall with short, spiky black hair and dark brown eyes. He looks strong and fearless.

I’m starting to feel a little hopeless. There is no way I can beat either of those teams so I can go home. I’ve been trying to remember each person, but there are too many, so I give up on it. There are only six of us left. I can feel Jake trying to catch my eye, but I don’t respond. So I could either be paired up with Nathan, Jake, or the other guy. The last one is about 5’ 9” with brown hair and green eyes. I don’t remember seeing him talk to the others much, but I think I caught someone calling him Felix.

Nehru smiles at the six of us. “Well, we’re almost done! Only three more teams to go! And next up is the black team… Norachai Young! She’s sixteen from Zelon, and, I’m sure, a great competitor!” Norachai looks Chinese with shoulder length black hair. She seems very friendly and shy.

“And her partner is… Felix Evergreen, who is seventeen and from Ponorama!”

I feel the tension building. There are only two guys left. Which one will be my partner? Secretly, I’m hoping for Nathan, but that might not happen, so I try not to get my hopes up.

“Purple team… Crystal Shay, sixteen, from Second Earth!” I wait impatiently, my hands clenched, as Nehru snatches a paper from the boys’ bowl.

“…Nathan Anderson, sixteen, from First Earth!” Yes! I rejoice. I don’t know why, I just really didn’t want to be with Mr. Flirty over there. Looking back at him, though, I can see he’s a little disappointed. Until he sees who his partner is, at least.

“Finally, the orange team! Kat Pierson, seventeen, from Quagon!” Kat is about 5’2”. She is shy and cute. Jake takes to her immediately.

“And, last but certainly not least… Jake Elwood, 18, from Ponorama! Congratulations, all of you! You have five minutes to get acquainted with your partner before we assign team advisors. Have fun!” she says, then leaves and stands in a group with Vladimir, Thaddeus, Zelda, and Y’vette. They begin talking in lowered voices. Vlad seems to be talking the most, and I catch the others glancing at me now and again.

Nathan and I look at each other with relief. “Well, that was close,” I say. “I almost got stuck with Jake!”

“So, what? I’m nothing but a better option than Mr. Flirt? I’m just not as bad as it could get? Is that it?” Nathan teases. I laugh.

“You know what I mean. I was hoping for you the whole time!”

“Oh, really. Well, that’s just because Ham got chosen first, and I was the only other person you knew- besides Jake, of course.”

“No!” I protest. “…Well, okay. That was part of it. But I really think we can make a great team.”

“Really?” he says, not believing me.

“Really. Although, while we may be great, there are other great teams- and I’m afraid I just don’t have what it takes. But if it means I can get home sooner, then I will do everything I can to get out of this messed up world,” I vow.

“Yeah, I know how you feel. My little sister Anna will be missing me. I’m not quite sure I buy Vlad’s story of stopping time. Although he did get us here… I also need to help my parents take care of my Grandma Beryl. So what do you say we try our hardest to win this thing?”

“I say let’s do it!” I respond, grasping his hand to seal the pledge.

“How touching,” A voice says behind me. Spinning around, I see Vlad.

Sneering, I say, “I hope you’re here to apologize.” Nathan gasps, looking at me like I’m crazy. And maybe I am, but I’m just frustrated with this whole stupid thing, as well as with Vlad, so I take it out on him, not really caring about the consequences.

I’m astonished, though, when he clears his throat, looking embarrassed. I notice him shooting a quick glance at Thaddeus, who nods him on. His face red, looking strained, he says, “Y- yes. I am.”

“And…” I say, urging him on. He glares at me and I can see just how hard this is for him.

“And… I’m… sorry for behaving so rashly. I will still be your personal advisor… if you will have me,” he says, gritting his teeth and acting like every word hurt coming out of him. I glance over at Nathan. He nods for me to accept. Now this is the hard part for me. I really don’t want Vlad to be my advisor, but it’s pretty obvious that I need one, plus I promised Nathan that I would try my best to win and get us home. And, unfortunately, that means that I need Vlad.

Sighing, I turn back to him. “It will be your pleasure,” I say, rubbing it in his face. This could be dangerous for me, but I don’t really care, as I am swept away by all the emotions I had cooped up inside of me all day.

Glaring at me, he spits out, “Good,” then stalks away. I can tell he’s going to have a few angry words with Thaddeus. I glance at Thaddeus gratefully. He nods back.

“What were you thinking?!” Nathan explodes the instant Vlad is out of earshot.

“What?” I say, surprised.

“What do you mean, what?! You just made yourself a powerful enemy! And that won’t affect just you anymore! Don’t you get it? Now that we’re partners, it affects me, too!”

I gulp, suddenly feeling remorse for what I had done. “Sorry,” I say weakly. But Nathan just continues his tirade. I can see he’s carried away by the stress of the day as well, or else he wouldn’t be acting like this. …Would he?

“No, you’re not sorry. You just don’t get it! Look!” he says, gesturing over at Vlad, who is talking avidly to the rest of the advisors. “Just look at him! You know what he’s doing? No, I don’t think you do. He’s trying to get the advisors not to help us! He may have to teach us individually, but that doesn’t mean he’ll teach us what we need to know! And that means we need another advisor! But now we can’t even have that!”

I shrink back, weakly saying, “I’m sorry… I didn’t think…”

“No, you didn’t. That’s the problem.” He shakes his head. “Never mind. What’s done is done, and there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

I’m about to respond, try to apologize somehow, but I’m interrupted by Nehru.

“…And, welcome back! The advisors have chosen whom they will mentor. Now, there are seven teams, and only 4 advisors, so, of course, that means that three of them will mentor two teams. The team that gets one advisor all to themselves should count themselves very lucky! Now, I’ll let them tell you whom they have chosen. We will first go to… Vladimir!”

Vlad steps up, scowling, and quickly gets to the point. “I will advise the yellow and blue teams- Odette, Frazer, Roxane, and Lloyd.”

He steps back and Zelda takes his place. She starts with, “As much as I would love to advise all of you great contestants, I am limited to only two teams. It was a hard choice, but I decided on the orange and red teams- Kat, Jake, Sierra, and Ham!” She steps back, smiling.

Thaddeus steps forward, winking at me. Before I can figure out what he means by it, he announces, “I have chosen to advise only the purple team- Crystal and Nathan.” He then steps back. It takes a moment before I realize what just happened. Whoa… not only did we actually manage to still have an advisor- but we also get Thaddeus all to ourselves! And that sets us at an advantage! The turn of events is awesome and wonderful, but I must share this unexpected joy with someone else. And that person is my new partner, Nathan.

Turning to him, I can tell by the look on his face that he’s shocked. He thought we were done for. He had just given up when suddenly the tables turned for us. “W- what? Thaddeus? We get Thaddeus? …All to ourselves?!”

I laugh. “I guess my stunt didn’t hurt, but helped,” I say, grinning at him and winking. “Now what do you have to say?”

“I… I’m sorry for getting so mad at you. I let my emotions get the best of me. Do you forgive me?”

“Of course,” I say. “After all, we need to be a team. And we can’t be if I hold grudges.”

“So… friends?”

“Friends,” I respond. Our exchange made us miss the last group, but it’s pretty obvious anyway since there were only two more teams to assign. Norachai and Felix as well as Star and Drake were assigned to Y’vette- the green and black teams.

“I will leave you now to get back with your advisors and arrange training schedules,” Nehru says. “During your training tomorrow, your advisor will inform you about your first task and rules as well. Good luck, and remember- have fun discovering your Gifts! It will be grueling, but I know that you can all do it!” With that, Nehru steps back and leaves the square, leaving us to talk to our advisors.

Nathan and I make our way toward the wise-looking Thaddeus, avoiding the angry, jealous stares from everyone else. Sierra and Ham come running up to meet us. Sierra is beaming. “I’m so happy for you two! Isn’t it great that we all got put together? And you guys- getting wise old Thaddeus all to yourselves! That’s awesome!”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” I say, still a little unnerved by the envy of those around me. Ham reads the look on my face and realizes what’s going through my mind.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he says, trying to comfort me. “It doesn’t matter what these other people think. The only thing that matters is the fact that you now have a better chance of winning this thing.”

“But… you guys don’t care that we have an unfair advantage?”

Sierra laughs. “No! Why would we care? We’re your friends. We’re happy for you guys! Plus, the whole point of this is to ‘grow into our Gifts,’ right? Well, I think I’ll try to concentrate on doing that, as well as having fun. If we have to be here, then we might as well make the best of it, right? …Well, I guess we should let you guys go. See you tonight for dinner?”

“Sure,” Nathan says. “If we can, that is,” he adds. “We still don’t know what Thaddeus’s schedule will be. But we’ll try.”

“Right. See you guys later,” Ham says. The two of them make their way over to Zelda to talk with her once she’s done with Kat and Jake.

I take a deep breath. “Are you ready?” I ask Nathan. He nods.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”

So we continue walking up to the stage, where Thaddeus greets us, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he waits for us to speak first. I’m not too good with words, but luckily Nathan takes the initiative. “Thank you, Thaddeus, for choosing us to train- and us alone. It truly is an honor.”

“Yes, thank you,” I add, feeling that I have to at least say something.

He gives us both a slight nod. “I am glad that you are grateful.”

“Yes, we are grateful… but we were wondering… why us?” I continue. “After all that I’ve done wrong since I got here… and you still picked us for this privilege?”

“Why you? Well, why do you think?”

“I… I don’t know. Is it because you took pity on us? Figured that we’re the ones that need the most help?”

“No, It’s actually because I see a lot of potential in you two. I believe that you can win- if properly instructed.”

“Really?” Nathan says, surprised. “Do you really mean that, or are you just saying things to butter us up?”

Thaddeus laughs. “Is it so hard to believe? I really mean it! And that right there is the reason why! You two have a lot of… spunk.”

“Spunk?” I question him.

“Yes! Spunk! You two are exciting! You are both prepared to do anything to win! And with that drive, you just might be able to! However,” he adds, getting serious. “you need to learn to think before you act. If you can’t think, you can’t win. You need to outwit the others. Knowledge is your greatest tool in the arenas. The others will most likely go for brute strength. And while you do need to be strong, you need wit more than strength to survive, although you need both to win.

“So, we will meet outside of the tallest building tomorrow morning at sunrise so we can begin training your brain. For a while before and after lunch, Vlad wants you two- first Nathan, then Crystal- but the square will be open after that, so we can train your bodies. We will need to work fast, for the First Challenge will begin in two days. We only have tomorrow to train. Then you have to just do your best and… try and survive the First Challenge.

“We can make more progress after that- we’ll have more time, plus you will have more experience both with your competitors as well as some of the creatures that live on this planet. That is, of course, if you can survive the First Challenge.” I glance at Nathan. That was the second time he mentioned the First Challenge like we would be lucky if we could even survive it. Just what have we walked into exactly? Just how dangerous are these Games that we’d been roped into?

“Vladimir will assess your abilities individually tomorrow and come to me with a report so I can see what to help you with so that you can, at the very least, survive,” Thaddeus finishes. “Have a good night, and make sure to get some rest- you will need it,” he adds as a farewell before he turns and walks away.

We find Sierra and Ham and sit in silence at one of the wooden tables that are pulled out from behind the stage until somebody comes with food for us. We eat mechanically and stumble back to our huts. I say goodnight to my three friends and collapse into my bed, falling asleep almost immediately despite my worries about the Games. Reality just hit me in the face.

This is really happening.