‘Drink poison that hurts like a thousand bee stings? Wouldn’t be the first time…’
“Siya,” Lilly said, holding the flap to the tint open and calling for me.
‘Right… Here we go then…’
I could feel my hands start to ache and the scars on my arm start to burn as I walked back onto the stage and heard the crowd scream louder as if I was walking out of a tunnel and suddenly facing them all at once. ‘If nothing else… I guess I put on a show…’
The judge, a different one from before, presented me with a glass of tea that must have been brewed with the so-called herb.
I grabbed it with one hand and turned to the cheering crowd. I couldn't make out what their cheers were. I could barely stand straight I was so nervous. Everyone's eyes locked on me, anticipating another truly horrible feeling.
‘There will never be a better time than this to prove my strength, and simultaneously rally anyone who might want to follow me…’ I raised the glass to the crowd without a word. ‘Cheers…’ Tipping the glass back I drank the entire thing before casting it off the stage like a baseball.
The pain kicked in all at once but it was less than that of the dragon's sight. I began to feel the steam rising off of my body, hearing my sweat evaporate as soon as it escaped my skin. I closed my eyes and let out a long breath. Before I knew it the time had passed. ‘That’s right… Lily said dragons were immune to poisons right? Is that why? Now I kind of feel like I cheated… Although… I’m still a little dizzy…’
We were both called to step forward. Looking over at the other girl, it seemed like she had made it through as well, although she was sweating bullets, and her skin had turned pale. ‘So, it’ll be down to points then… Guess I loes.’
“Would both participants please step forward?” The judges repeated.
‘But I did already… Didn’t I? Like, more forward? My senses are pretty messed up but they aren’t that bad right?’ I looked back, and the other girl again to see her still standing in place. ‘I guess she really zoned out… or…’ One of the judges came out to confirm, recognizing her as unconscious, and declaring me the winner, as the only one that was still standing by the end of all tests… ‘You’re kidding… I won?’ My body suddenly cooled all at once as a cloud of steam left my lungs.
The crowd let out a final loud cheer, but I was so stunned I couldn’t respond, simply standing there. After a moment I scanned the crowd for my brother, sure enough, he was smiling, arms casually crossed as if he had expected nothing less. The others though… They looked about as shocked as I was. At that, I couldn’t help but smirk before I walked away.
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The moment it came time to walk down the steps though I felt my legs nearly give out from under me, Lilly catching me and helping me to stay steady. “Chin up now… You have to walk back to the tint, almost there.”
“Why… I won already… Why should I keep pretending to be tough…” I muttered as my whole body started going numb and my muscles failing. ‘I guess technically I am only like… 2 percent dragon or something right? Maybe I’m just resistant, and not immune.’
Once we were in private, Lilly suddenly started rushing around the tent again. “Drink this quick!” she said, shoving a potion down my throat while rubbing my stomach, her hand feeling cold as ice. After a moment her face suddenly scrunched up. “Are you not breathing?”
I let out a small groan. “I don’t know… I stopped keeping track.”
She growled, throwing the potion vial and jabbing a pressure point in my neck until I suddenly exhaled on reflex immediately after she pressed hard under my sternum with her fingers, almost like she was trying to reach up and grab my heart from underneath my ribs.
“Ok, you can breathe again.”
“What… was that for…” I coughed
“Your liver is going to swell up a bit. I know it hurt but trust me, a bit of pressure there helps a lot. I forced your body to create space. Or… Well I don’t know, whatever I did it makes it hurt a lot less in the long run.”
‘Medical science at its finest…’ I groaned again as I started to feel dizzy, feeling my head start to ache. “Your senses are going to be really sensitive now as You start to process the poison, just try to rest, after a while you should feel tired, when you wake up you should feel mostly normal again.”
“Ok…”
“SIYA!” My brother shouted with a devilish smile as he walked in.
“Shut it!” She yelled back, not nearly as loud though. It looked like she was somehow doing three things at once with just two hands. “Get over here and help me!”
“Right.” He grumbled.
My whole body suddenly went numb as my ears focused on the tiniest sounds of glass clinking together from many vials, bringing back an all too vivid memory, although this time it was much calmer. If nothing else that put me at ease.
“Check her hands, and reapply to the ointment. The poison will have opened up all her wounds again.”
“You didn’t say anything about it doing that…” I groaned covering my ears again.
They grabbed my hands to treat them, but in the confusion, I opened my eyes, and all the muscles in them tensed at once until they began to cramp and water. “Uh… Guys…” My own voice rang like a loud bell, so I toned it down to a whisper, making my voice squeak out as quietly as I could. “I can’t close my eyes…”
I felt a strong contraction as some unfamiliar muscles turned to ropes and my eyes rotated and spun until it felt like I was falling, even though I hadn’t moved.
As Lilly shoved my brother to the side and peered over me I saw straight into her soul, making a chill suddenly wash over her whole body. I couldn’t explain it exactly, just that it was… Soft somehow, and a little anxious. She also had a crush on someone, although it was hard to tell how I could tell that just by the different flickering colors I saw behind her eyes.
After letting out a long uncomfortably groan she started applying heavy pressure to my temples, and after a few seconds of that, she started playing with my eyelashes until my reflexes forced me to start rapidly blinking. “There, now keep them closed this time…” She grumbled. “This is the last one I promise, open wide…”
It tasted like sweet rice water and it instantly removed the burning sensation from the cramping muscles.
“There… just rest now… You’ll be fine in an hour or two…”
I heard every footstep as they walked out, my hearing suddenly expanding enough to hear a butterfly wingbeat before my brain crashed all at once and I fell asleep.