I fiddled with the pendant on the necklace. The first time I had left my room after Shira's death, I'd spent an hour working out, only to return to find this on my bed. It hadn't been there before. My curiosity inflated like a balloon. However, there was no note whatsoever to tell me who put it there and why.

Today was the first day of the competition, I was waiting for my turn to come when they did the health checks. So far, I see about 15 women and 50 men, ages running from eighteen to forty. I was the thirty-ninth person to get their check-up, and the cue number was at thirty-eight. Nearly your turn, I repeated in my head, trying to calm my instincts that were on a higher alert than they ever had been before. I was nervous, I mean, a man was found to be sick with the flu that's going around even though he didn't show any symptoms. What if I had to wait another year? I wouldn't be able to live with myself. It was no secret that I wasn't a patient person.

"Number thirty-nine,"' a woman in a white dress called out.

As I walked to the door, a series of cat-calls followed me. Whistling erupted and someone decided to end his life and call out, "Boy would I love to be working with you," with a flirtatious wink.

 I schooled my expression, and turned around, giving everyone who met my gaze an enormous death glare. They shut up pretty quickly at that. Spineless morons.

I had already made up my mind when I decided not to let anything, and I mean anything, distract me from this competition.

I sat down in the largely empty room, and after a few minutes, a guy with a white face mask appeared. He was holding a ridiculously large needle. I had a slight phobia of those things, which Carter often teased me about, but at that moment I just sucked it up and held in a breath as the needle was plunged into my skin. I wanted to scream in pain since it really did hurt but I managed to keep my cool.

After another few minutes of them examining computers and microscopes, the woman in the white dress gave me a key card and my room number.

"This is where you will be staying. If you lose your key, you won't get another one," she warned sternly.

Inside the room was an ordinary bed with a desk nearby. Not long ago, I had learned that all the women had to share a bathroom while all the men were separated and shared three. I looked into the hallway and debated whether to go and shower.

If I do, I have to be extra careful. Over here, it's every woman for herself- just because I'd like a female to accompany me as I cross the finish line doesn't mean I won't hesitate to kill one of them if it comes right down to it. I don't think they'll extend that same courtesy to me either.

That meant that I couldn't show any signs of weaknesses they would be looking for. I needed to act cool and calm and not give anything away. I grabbed my towel and necessities and walked into the bathroom. To my relief, there was no one else there. I quickly got into one of the stalls, trying my best to just get it over with.

Suddenly, I heard the door open, accompanied by the sound of two women chatting.

"Did you hear about Ms. Lafar?" One asked.

"Yeah, can you believe that one of her trainees killed her?" The other one said.

Wait, why were they talking about Shira? That was her last name. Also, that was not true. I had to bite my tongue to keep from stopping their false gossip.

"I heard that the trainee who killed her decided to join this competition," One of them whispered.

I craned my neck, trying to hear better, until one of them shouted, "Oh my god, there's another girl in here!" I can't believe they didn't notice it before.

"Who the hell are you?" they asked in sync.

I maintained my calm and said in a voice that was wholly different from my regular. "Why the f*** should I tell you?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, no need to be so rude. Any chance you didn't hear anything that we just discussed?" One of the women asked nervously.

I scoffed. "You were way too loud."

I was grateful to Shira for teaching me the art of changing voices so that people won't be able to recognize me.

"Plus I heard that it wasn't Taryn's fault," I said, trying to sound as gossipy as I could.

"How did you know we were talking about Taryn?" one of them asked suspiciously.

"It couldn't have been Marlee." Her reputation was far too great.

"Besides, I knew her." The lie slipped easily from my tongue,

I was not surprised that they knew who I was. Well, not who I was, but who Taryn was. We, all the trainees, had quite a reputation. 

"Well, we've never had the pleasure of knowing her. But we also know that it was her fault, there's just no other way," the other one retorted.

I didn't bother denying it, instead, I felt happier that they didn't know who I was. I simply wrapped my towel around me and walked out of the stall. I eyed them and they did the same. We were all anonymous in this competition. Our names were substituted by numbers, which were supposed to be on our name tags, but they didn't know mine because I was only wearing a towel and didn't have my tag on.

I felt their eyes burn holes into my back as I left the bathroom. I didn't bother glaring them away.

As I looked up at the ceiling late into the night, for the first time in six years, I questioned my decision to come here. I didn't know quite what it was, but something was wrong.

I fidgeted with my necklace. I thought it might be a locket, but so far, I had had no luck with opening it.

Tomorrow wasn't that much of a big deal. Since there were too many candidates, we all had to battle our way through to the next round in pairs. It was random and there was a good chance I would be paired up with a man. I didn't mind. I trained hard for this and knew how to look for strengths and weaknesses. Plus,

With that comfort, I finally closed my eyes and let darkness surround me.

A maid walked into my room, and nearly knocked over a vase. I was still asleep that morning, but I still launched into defense, my eyes actually opening after my body had already moved.

The maid just laughed lightly and told me she was here to give me breakfast. 

I was ecstatic. Today was my real first day here at the competition, and the breakfast tray the woman left me with was filled with all kinds of goods. Apples, bread, and macaroni and cheese; my personal favorite.

I was only halfway done when a bell sounded and a loud voice came from outside the hallway.

"Attention, contestants. Today your first fights will be in the arena located near the palace grounds. You will know who your first opponent is in fifteen minutes. No weapons are allowed."

I frowned at the last detail. No weapons? I loved fighting with them, but I could be just as violent with or without them too. Fine. I took out the numerous daggers I had concealed in my "fighting suit" and quickly ran out of my room, but not before turning around and locking the door. I put my keycard into one of my pockets, zipping the zipper tightly.

When I reached the arena, I saw that almost everybody I had seen yesterday was here. A huge screen was located at the far end of the space.

"In about another minute, the list will show," Someone shouted. Looking around, I realized that people were still rushing in, meaning I wasn't the last one. I was relieved; I didn't want to make a bad impression.

I looked forward just in time to notice the screen changing. It counted down from ten to one before illustrating a chart with two columns. I spotted myself on the list; I was paired with Fifteen. We were the fifth pair to go up. Great, we can get this over with quickly now.

A large silhouette walked onto the stage in front of the screen.

"I am General Maddox. I will be judging you on your skills and will be assigning your next opponents accordingly. Those who lose will be eliminated from the competition. The paparazzi will be here, they will be taking videos and pictures. Don't let them distract you. Any questions?"

His loud booming voice echoed through the sweet sound of silence. It seemed there were none, so he continued, "Good. Let's start with the first pair, twenty-six and forty-one."

All the contestants formed a circle. Two men emerged from the crowd. They both looked to be the same height and were at least ten years apart in the age department.

That was when I noticed that the older one, Twenty-Six, seemed to be a bit slower than his opponent. Speed could be a valuable asset as well as strength when it came to combat. Depending on your skills at both levels, it could be hard to predict the outcome. However, Twenty-Six was neither fast nor stronger which is why I predict that he would lose. I wasn't wrong, Forty-One did, in fact, win. When that happened, he took his shirt off so he could whip it around in the air. I cringed as the women around me went crazy and cameras clicked.

My gaze snapped to the only other person that showed disgust in their facial features. The girl, Thirty-Five, looked as repulsed as I was. We made eye contact and I gave her a sympathetic smile. She returned it.

The next three fights ran by quickly and finally, it was my turn.

"Our next pair is Thirty-nine and Fifteen," The general announced. For a split second, I felt like I had met him before. I dismissed that ridiculous thought instantly.

As I entered the middle of the circle, I adjusted into a protective stance and watched my male opponent do the same. We started circling each other, searching for weaknesses. I noticed his immediately. He was dominant in his left, but I was dominant in my right.

I pretended to stumble on my right and regained my posture. He didn't hesitate to lunge at me and simultaneously used his right leg to swipe under mine while his left hand went to land a punch to my face.

Well, he tried, at least.

I quickly dodged his punch while catching his right leg with my own before he could kick it. After tripping him up, I used my left to kick him where the sun doesn't shine.

He fell to his knees with a groan at my dirty, yet legal move. I turned back to the flashing cameras and heard General Maddox announce me as the winner before giving me a grin. I tried to keep my cool though it was hard not to smile back. Thirty-Five shot me a wicked grin and gave a light clap. I grinned right back.

Minutes turned into hours before all the pairs were done and only about thirty of us were left. Only seven of us were women, including myself and Thirty-Five. I was happy to take a break as General Maddox talked furiously with someone on the phone.

The shift from fury to regret came into his eyes so fast, I barely recognized it. He hung up, his shoulders drooping in defeat, and announced that there was some sort of emergency at the palace and that the second round of fights would take place tomorrow, before hurrying towards the exit door.

"That was weird," I murmured.

"Agreed," I whipped around to find myself face to face with Thirty-Five. She gave me a hand to shake which I took. Since our numbers were close to each other, it meant that our rooms were also close. We both started walking towards the halls.

"What do you think that was all about?" I asked her as other competitors seemed to fly right past, possibly hurrying back to their rooms to take a huge break. Lazy Pigs.

"I have no idea but I think that it involves the King-to-be," she replied in a low voice. "By the way, my name is Freya."

After a quick internal debate, I decided to trust her with my identity.

"My name is Taryn,' I started, reaching out to shake her hand again, "Taryn Lafar."

Her eyes widened. 

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Edited by Valerie Lyn