So there it was - time for the freak show. Mary walked towards the arena, which was heavily stylised for a colosseum, down to the time-induced damage. It was a bit disconcerting, once she thought of it - did they do it on purpose? Maybe it was less paperwork to replicate a known building exactly, rather than having to go through the entire approval procedure of the plans? Or maybe it was simply a matter of aesthetics?

Anyway… Mary approached the stone arch that looked like the main entrance. It was guarded by a bored, casually dressed woman with a clipboard. She didn’t seem to notice the approaching student.

“Um… Excuse me?” May asked.

The woman slowly lifted her eyes from the paperwork. “Yes?”

“My name’s Mary Oceanrunner. I was told to go here for the selection ceremony…?”

“Right,” she said in a dead tone, lowering her eyes and flipping a few pages. “Your name?”

Mary blinked. “Mary Oceanrunner.”

“And you came here for…?”

“The selection ceremony.”

“And you come as a selectee or a party?”

Mary looked around. Nope, she was still alone. “A selectee, I guess.”

The woman made a ticking motion with her pen and sighed heavily. “Go down the corridor, take the first right, and then the second left. You’ll have to wait in the arena with the others until the parties arrive. The ceremony will be held there in around eighteen and a half minutes.”

Mary wanted to ask how the ceremony would look like, but that would mean another… conversation? She sighed, although not nearly as deeply as the clipboard operator, and walked towards the hopefully not blood-stained sands or whatever served as the floor there. Mossie flew above her shoulder, buzzing unusually quietly. Maybe the money sucker was disappointed that Mary didn’t let any finable comments slip during her last conversation.

The stones above her head loomed over her, seeming solid on the one hand, but leaving little doubt about what would happen if the construction collapsed. The corridor was lit with torches because why not, that’s why. It did fit the theme, although it was probably the least… well, in the top ten… ok, top twenty of the least practical solutions Mary had seen in the Academy so far. Come to think of it, she’d soon need to introduce some preliminary rounds for those if the championships were to continue… there were just too many candidates.

She squinted as the sun hit her eyes again, just after they had adjusted to the dim torchlight. The ground did look kinda sandy, although it was definitely on the solid and not powdery side. She wondered if that was how it looked in ancient Rome, or if someone had decided to make an improvement to the design after all. Finally, she noticed the soon to be heroes that arrived before her.

There were five of them, four boys and one girl. They were all younger than her, maybe except the tallest boy, and looked… well, normal if the use of such a word had any sense in this place. They didn’t seem nearly as stressed as Mary felt. The girl even seemed excited! She was maybe twelve, so that made some sense, but… What happened with the good, old fear of public appearances induced into people since early childhood? Eh, the youth these days…

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She came closer and caught bits of conversation.

“-and then, he said I was ready! I couldn’t believe it, not at first. Honestly - would you believe it if Master Allarius found you worthy after just three years of training? But, I mean, he is the master, not me. Well, not just yet.” It was the tallest boy speaking, and two other boys listened with awe plain on their faces. The third boy looked a bit uncomfortable, but the girl…

“Whoa, that’s amazing!” Her voice was so high it almost hurt Mary’s ears. “My mentor died after training me for only two years, and I had to call the ministry to get here. You are sooo lucky!”

“That he is,” said a red-haired boy with a thick french accent. “and who are you?” he added, looking at Mary.

“Hello,” Mary said quietly, once they all turned in her direction. “I’m Mary Oceanrunner. And you are…?”

“Name’s Martin,” the boy replied.

“And I am Melanie! Nice to meet you!” the girl squeaked. “And this is Roy,” she pointed at the smallest kid, who looked maybe ten years old. He had a badly healed cut on his forehead. “And Paolo,” the uncomfortable one. He was maybe a year or two from Mary’s age. He had short, dark hair and was wearing a black shirt, black jacket, and black jeans. All these contrasted starkly with his pale, almost snow-white skin. Mary blinked a few times - his shadow seemed to be a shade darker than the others. Well, maybe it was just trying to match his dark clothes really, really hard. “And-”

“Dennis. Thank you, Melanie, I can talk for myself.” The tallest boy smiled, presenting the entire array of his teeth. Mary couldn’t tell if it was meant to look predatory or if it only came out that way unintentionally. He had fair blue eyes and fair blond hair. “Nice to make your acquaintance, Mary.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Mary replied, desperately searching for some way to continue the conversation. She glanced at her watch, but unfortunately, the chances of the ten fifty-three am approaching ten minutes early were rather slim. “So… you’re waiting to be selected, right? Do you know how it’s done?”

“Simple. The parties come, ask us questions, and if they want to, they make you an offer. You accept the offer, you join the party. Hasn’t your mentor prepared you for it?” Martin replied, and Mary’s face reddened.

“Oh, it’s anything but simple,” Dennis said. “Each party only gets to take one of us, but can ask another if their first offer gets rejected. And no one can back up once both sides agree. The order in which they come is set beforehand. Can you see the problem?”

For Mary, it didn’t seem too problematic, or, well - it did, but not particularly due to the rules. Fortunately for her, Melanie answered for her.

“You have to decide whether to reject the offer and risk becoming the loner if no one else wants you, or to accept it and close your way to better parties!”

“And since the party can only ask one hero at the time, if their first offer is rejected, the others know that they’re not the first choice,” Paolo added.

Dennis snorted. “I, for once, wouldn’t go for a second-hand offer. Although let’s be honest, that’s probably not going to happen.” Mary looked at his athletic silhouette and silently agreed. She looked down and noted her frail, thin body of a bookworm. Yeah… maybe she should have eaten the rest of that PB&J…

“How long did you train?” asked Roy.

Mary felt her face going red again. “Um… Bromman only spent, like, a day and a half with me….”

“Don’t worry,” the black on white boy said bitterly. Paolo, that was his name? “My mentor hasn’t even bothered to do that. He took me here immediately after I signed his stupid papers. Muchmighty forbid I'd get off easily once...”

She wanted to ask something more, but at that moment, the clipboard operator must have left her usual spot and entered the arena.

“Everyone ready? Great,” she said, without waiting for our answers. “Let’s get started. Next!” she yelled to the tunnel.