Chapter 2

I was still drowsy when I came to, and it took me a moment to open my eyes. As soon as I did, I struggled to my feet and looked around, then down at my hands when I realized they were tied together.

“Hey, what the hell?!” I said, or tried to, since no matter how hard I tried, my numb throat couldn’t form any sound no matter how hard I tried.

“Hey, they shut you up, didn’t they?”

I looked up at the girl in front of me, and realized several things at once; I was in a cage, and I wasn’t alone in the cage, since the girl in front of me was with three other girls, all crying against the bars of the cage silently, since apparently, they couldn’t talk either.

“Mine wore off a while ago,” said the girl, “My name’s Katie. Can you mouth your name out to me?”

I did my best to mouth out “Riley.”

“Riley?” Katie said to confirm. I nodded, and allowed her to help me to my feet. I noticed a thick purple bracelet made out of twine on her left wrist that looked super unique and original.

“Nice to meet you, Riley,” said Katie, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, if you know what I mean. Check it out.”

Katie led me to the bars of the cage, and I was shocked at what I was looking at. The cage we were all trapped in was in the middle of a gladiatorial arena, or at least it looked similar to one. Across from the cage, in front of a big metal gate, was a big wooden stage. There wasn’t anyone in the stands, but that didn’t change the fact that I had gone from a college in Connecticut to a gladiatorial arena in the middle of who-knows-where. I just wanted to wake up and realize that this was all just a bad pre-finals dream.

“Hey, check it out,” said Katie, bringing me out of my stupor, “Look at those guys in cloaks.”

I looked in the direction Katie was pointing. Sure enough, three men were walking into the arena through a small doorway, heading straight for the cage. The other girls started crawling away from the cloaked figures, but Katie and I got closer.

The cloaks covering the men looked similar to the cloaks that covered the men who had abducted me, but they were different colors; one of the cloaks was brown, one was pink, and one was blood red. The cloaked men stopped in front of the cage and stood there, their heads down enough that we couldn’t see their faces through the hoods.

Katie and I stared at the men in cloaks for about five minutes before Katie spoke up and said, “Hey, you gonna stare at us forever, or are we gonna find out where we are anytime soon?”

The men seemed to flinch a little; my guess was that they didn’t expect Katie to be able to talk. The brown-cloaked man started walking over to the cage, causing the other mute girls to scramble behind Katie and I. I tried to comfort the girls while Katie glared at the cloaked man.

Just as the girls started to calm down, the cloaked man banged on the cage, causing another set of breakdowns from the girls and rendering them inconsolable. I stood back up and glared at the man as well.

The man stared back at us for a minute, then pulled his cloak back. I gasped, and even Katie looked shocked for a second. The man’s hair was pure white and he looked kind of pale, but what really shocked me was the wolf-like ears sticking out of his head and his eyes that were golden yellow, a color I didn’t even know eyes could be.

“Seeing the reactions is always the funniest part,” the man said in a deep growling voice, “Hey Kydro! Killian! Show the maidens your face, that’s one of the best reactions!”

The man in the pink cloak and the man in the red cloak started walking over to us. Katie and I were giving the most hateful glares we could muster up, but the man with wolf ears had no response but a cocky grin that made me want to punch him in the face.

When the two other cloaked men got to the cage, they lowered their hoods as well. Despite how shocked I was at what they looked like, I did my best to keep a stone bitch face like the one Katie was sporting at the men.

The man in the pink cloak had perfect pink skin - as in, no flaws, cracks, scars, a single discoloration. Just looking at the man’s perfections unsettled me, more than I thought it would. His hair was black, shaved on the right and down on the left, and his ears were pointed like an elf. His eyes were blood-red, looking into my soul.

The other man who had been wearing the blood-red cloak looked almost normal; blonde hair, pale skin, kind of handsome-looking but what took me by surprise was that his eyes; his scleras were black and the iris’ were red, completely alien eyes as far as I knew. When he smiled, I thought there was something off about his teeth.

“They look fresh,” the black-and-red eyed man said, bringing me out of my stupor, “The blonde one smells especially delicious.” He winked at me when he said that, and I could feel a chill run up my spine. Katie ushered me to get behind her, and I did so quickly.

“We might look fresh, but I ain’t no cinnamon roll, asshole!” said Katie as she flipped the men off.

The wolf-eared man’s face fell and he scowled before growling out, “What is with that gesture? Is it supposed to be some kind of rude gesture or something?”

“Damn right it is, it means kiss my ass!” said Katie, while I just nodded my head and joined Katie in flipping off all the men.

The red-eyed man rolled those red eyes of his and said, “Where’s Zappiel? He’s always late to this.”

Just as the man said that, I noticed another cloaked person walking into the arena through a small entrance way. This man’s cloak was pure white with light shades of cyan. Katie noticed him too, and the two of us watched as the man walked over to the rest of the men, then lowered his hood. Then he allowed the cloak to fall entirely.

This man would have looked the most normal out of all of them, if it weren’t for the fact that his eyes were pale, pale blue and his skin was milk white. The wings pushed it over the edge for me, and I couldn’t help but stare.

The man, for his part, lost his stoic and cold expression when our eyes connected, but only for a second before his face went back to stoic and cold.

“Hey Kydro, Zapp,” said the red-eyed blonde man, “Which of them’s your preferred? Do you actually have one yet?”

“Doubt it,” said the wolf-eared man, “They never have favorites. They always try to befriend them like the - “

The silent pink elf man, apparently “Zapp” or “Kydro,” I couldn’t tell, caused them all to stop talking when he raised his right hand and pointed directly at me. I could feel my cheeks turn red as Katie gently pushed me behind her while I allowed her to do so.

“Oh no, not that one!” the wolf-eared man whined, putting his hands on his hips and turning to the others, “I called dibs! She’s all mine!”

“I think I’d like her, personally.” said the black-and-red-eyed man, “She looks like she would be a lot of fun to play with.”

Their words were confusing, but I definitely felt threatened when he said that. Katie took my hand and gently squeezed it as she said, “The only fun thing that’s gonna get delivered around here is my foot into your ass! Back off, assholes!”

The blonde man and wolf-eared man just looked amused at Katie, but I could feel myself developing a hardcore crush on the girl. Meanwhile, the elf man and the angel-looking man continued with the stoic expressionless faces. Katie glared at them while I had no idea what to do. The other girls seemed like me, looking up at Katie with some kind of awe.

Before the whole exchange could get any more awkward, people started filing into the arena seats. I could see from the cage that the ones who looked at us gave us condescending sneers or glares or smiles. A group of men in medieval-looking suits of armor walked in through the same door as the cloaked men did, escorting someone. I noticed the man and one of the guards, the only one not wearing a helmet, mostly because she was a woman, and her skin was dark red, like the same color as the blonde man.

The guards were escorting a man in a black robe and a furry brown cloak, complete with a crown on his head. The thing that caught me was the fact that his skin was green and tough looking, he had tusks jutting out of his lower lip, and his eyes were a sharp red that seemed to look into my soul when we made eye contact. He looked like an orc from fantasy novels I read when I was younger.

The orc only glanced at me for a second before he moved to the stage, while the growing audience in the arena seemed to go completely silent. For several seconds, no one said a word. Katie looked like she was wanting to yell something just to break the silence.

Before she could go through with that, the orc started speaking in a loud, booming voice like he was using a microphone, though I couldn’t see a microphone in his hand.

“My wonderful kingdom,” the man said, “I, your great and mighty Emperor, welcome you to the one-hundreth Requiem Run!”

The man paused so that the crowd could finish their loud, thunderous applause that hurt my ears, while the men who had been taunting us earlier started moving to the stage.

“Before we welcome our lovely maidens,” said the man, “Let us, of course, welcome our beloved Runners! First of all, our distinguished rose elf, Kydro Crollet!”

The pink-skinned man pulled his cloak hood down and waved to the cheering crowd.

“The ladies choice, Killian Renwick!”

The man with the red eyes waved and blew kisses to the audience. To my utter disgust, some of the women in the stands seemed to even swoon and faint. Katie rolled her eyes when she saw that.

“Loud and proud wolfman, Xelsa Polimtal!”

The man with the wolf ears pointed at the crowd and waved.

“And of course, our dark angel snow elf himself, Saulon Zappiel!”

The winged man made no motion or movement of acknowledgment, but since he was the only guy left on the stage, that meant it had to be him. When the cheering died down, the man turned to the cage, facing all of us.

“Now, welcome our fair maidens!” the emperor-man said, “Luna Navarro from Tijuana, Mexico!”

The girl, Luna, cringed when the man said her name and mouthed something that I assumed was in spanish.

“Fedina Emma Semyonovna from Moscow, Russia!”

Another girl cringed and silently cried.

“Mao Xiulan from Beijing, China!”

That girl, Mao, seemed completely shut down and unresponsive, despite the comforting hand Katie placed on her shoulder.

“Katherine Menton from Orlando, Florida, United States of America!”

“It’s Katie you asshole!” Katie yelled, though she was drowned out by the boos of the people in the arena.

“And Riley Newman from Danbury, Connecticut, United States of America!”

I flipped off the crowd as they booed me, much to Katie’s clear delight. When the boos drowned out, the Emperor was smiling at us in the cage.

“Now, our fair maidens,” the man said, “You might be wondering why you’ve been taken from the reality I am sure you know and love. Well, my thane, Sallaena, will be more than happy to explain to you what you will be participating in. Sallaena.”

The red skinned woman, Sallaena apparently, stepped forward and bowed next to the man as she spoke in a surprisingly deep voice, “It would be an honor, Emperor Cistern.”

Sallaena stood up from her one knee, waited a second, then she started speaking with the same booming voice that Cistern had previously used.

“The Requiem Run is an annual even on Xeastea where five maidens, taken from the Other Reality, will be sent to Menap Island, where they will be hunted by the Runners. The Runners job is to kill the Maidens for the right of the Cleanser. Whoever kills the most Maidens will be rewarded generously by the kingdom. Any Runners who do not kill a maiden will be denied their annual kingdom privileges.”

“Kill?! What the fu - “ Katie was drowned out by the shouts and cheers of the arena. My mind had gone blank; I had suspected what they were going to do to us, but now that the woman had said it outright, I didn’t know what to do. They were planning to kill us all.

The rest of the time in the arena went by in a blur as the Emperor started talking about some kind of history that I didn’t care about in the slightest. Eventually, the cage opened and I, along with the rest of the girls, were herded out of the cage like cattle and taken out of the arena through another door. I didn’t really come back to reality until Katie managed to nudge me and said, “Look!”

I looked up and was just confused at what I was looking at, some kind of big rock arch that was rounded at the time, but the inside looked like a purple veil, almost like…

“A portal.” Katie finished my own thought out loud. The other girls were being dragged through it, and when they hit the veil, they disappeared immediately. When I went through with Katie by my side, I felt like head spin and my stomach lurch, I lost my vision for a second, and when it came back, we were being dragged towards a giant castle.

“What is this, Medieval times?” Katie said.

The guard that was dragging her harshly pulled the ropes and said, “Quiet, maiden.”

“Go to hell,” said Katie, “It’s not my fault your stupid muting spell wore off.”

The guard said nothing but glared, and Katie just gave him a cocky grin in response. We were brought across a huge drawbridge into the main hall of the castle where the girls started being separated. Just as the guards took Katie into one hall while I was being taken into another, she took my hand.

“Stay strong,” Katie said, “We’re gonna get through this, I promise.”

I didn’t know if I could start talking again, so I just nodded as the guards forced us apart and started dragging me down hallways and up stairs, so many twists and turns that I probably wouldn’t have been able to make my way out of the castle if I tried to. Eventually, the guards stopped in front of a big wooden door, opened it, and shoved me inside. When I hit the floor, I heard them shut the door behind me, and a sound that was probably the deadbolt I had noticed while they were shoving me in.

When I was back on my feet, I ran over to the door and tried it anyway. Sure enough, it wasn’t budging.

“Shit.”

It took me a second to realize that I had gotten my voice back, but after I kicked the door in frustration, I decided to take a moment and check out the room that I was in, rather cell, though it definitely didn’t look like it.

There was a bed on the other side of the room, center of the wall, with red sheets and pillows for good measure. A small round table was against the wall with two chairs pushed up against it.

A closet was against one of the walls, which when I opened, had several girly-looking dresses that made my stomach roll. I liked being girly in formal events, but something like being murdered? No.

There was also a single door off to the side, which when I checked, led to a surprisingly spacious bathroom with a tub, toilet, and blood-red rug. While I had been looking around the bathroom, I heard the sound of the door opening again.

I hurried out of the bathroom, just in time to see the door slam close again before I could get to it. Sure enough, it was locked up tight once again when I tried the knob.

“Hey!” I called. No response. When I looked down, I realized there was something on the floor that I had missed; a small box with some engravings on it I couldn’t identify. I picked it up and opened it.

Inside the small box was a necklace, a cyan-colored, teardrop-shaped, perfectly smooth jewel around the size of the tip of my thumb. I slowly lifted the jewel out of the box, and stared at it for a moment before I sat down on the bed to keep looking at it. I couldn’t tell what was up with the jewel, but there was definitely something up with it.

I placed the jewel in my jacket pocket before I took my jacket off and placed it on the bed. I had already noticed a white nightgown back in the closet, so I took off my clothes and put on the nightgown. I left my old clothes on the floor, cleanliness be damned.

Considering I was being told I was going to be sent to my death, I didn’t think I was gonna get any sleep.

I conked out as soon as my head hit the pillow.