It was a very hot day in the middle of a desert, no form of life to be seen in a far distance, almost like abandoned from life itself, stand two teenage girls, one with messy black neck-length hair and dark black eyes, dressed in black trousers and a sky blue hoodie, alongside her is a girl with Blonde long flowing hair that cascades down her back, along with her beautiful emerald-green eyes, with dark blue jeans, a grey T-shirt and black unbuttoned shirt, they stand in the middle of the desert. They glance around while panicking, they get on their knees and start digging the sand, almost like they are searching for something beneath the burning hot sand of the unforgiving desert.

1 hour earlier

Its been 2 days since the incident in the cafe, and since they became the bearers of the rings. The man told them it's their fate now to work for the emperors and now they have no choice but to either accept their fate or be executed. The man was tall, with brown eyes and black hair, he had a scar on his neck which looked like it was caused by a sharp object but also... it looked like a burn scar, he had a black T-shirt and black trousers, his right arm was covered with white hand wrap from the hem of his T-shirt to his fingerless gloves, his fingertips were covered in the same hand wraps.

After meeting the old women in the huge library, without saying a word he took them to his car, a black Renault Fluence, Suzie and Jessica sat on the back while he was in the driving seat, as he started the car, Suzie spoke up “where are you taking us?” The man stayed silent for a moment but then he replied “Somewhere important”, “but where?” Jessica speaks this time with a stern voice. “You will know soon,” The man said in a cold voice Suzie spoke in an annoyed voice “You can't just take us somewhere without telling us where”

“Oh I haven't introduced myself have I? how unprofessional of me” the man speaks in a complete opposite tone then before almost like he isn't the same person, Suzie and Jessica don’t say anything, a sense of unease takes over them, “You can call me Adam, I will be your trainer, friend or caretaker, whatever you might want to call me” Jessica feels weird by the man’s sudden friendly behavior “trainer? For what exactly”, Suzie adds “yea and why should we trust you to begin with?”. "You will know that soon” Adam says smiling, as he faces towards Suzie he says “and as for you, this is the only choice you have... if you want to live that is” Suzie shakes her head in annoyance.

Adam chuckles a bit as he says “Are you always irritated like that?, that’s not a really good habit is it?” Suzie looks even more annoyed as she says in an uninterested voice “yea sure”. As Adam continues to drive after a few hours they enter a desert where he stops his car “hmm, did we arrive yet? Why are we in a desert?” Jessica says not trusting Adam a bit, Suzie slept through the car ride and is now slowly waking up “w..we there yet?” Adam looks at them and says in a friendly tone “not yet, we are changing rides, for safety you know?” Jessica raises an eyebrow at the word safety “safety? Safety from what exactly? Are we being hunted?” Adam looks at her with admiration “You are a sharp one, well kind of, and no we are not being hunted... it's just a faster and safer route to take”

Jessica doesn’t speak anything, as there is a loud noise of a helicopter reaches her ear, as she looks up in the sky a helicopter is landing on the spot the huge gush of the wind created by the propellers Blow the wind away as the helicopter slowly lands, Suzie finally wakes up by the noise “woah! A helicopter?!” Jessica is shocked, she wasn’t expecting a whole helicopter to come to pick them “we are going on...that?” Adam turns to face her as he says, “oh yes, obviously”

“how can you even afford that thing?” Jessica says in a confused tone waiting for an answer as Adam says, “we have funding from the organization....” As the helicopter doesn’t fully land but instead hovers directly over them, the door is opened by a young man, he quickly throws down a ladder as he steps aside. “Follow me” Adam says as he catches the ladder and holds it in place “You two get up, I will hold it down for the mean time”

Suzie eyes sparkle “what?! We are going in THAT?!” she says pointing at the helicopter, this was her first time getting in a helicopter, though due to her rich background, she has experienced a couple of private flights, but this was something else, she had never been in a helicopter, she quickly gets out of the car excited as Jessica grabs her by her shirt “wait a minute” She looks at Adam with complete distrust “What ‘organization’ are you talking about?”

Suzie rolls her eyes in annoyance “Shut up Jess, let me enjoy!” She says as she starts climbing the ladder “seriously?” Jess says, shocked but she just plays along for now and walks to the ladder “I need my answers”, now or later” she says giving Adam a stare she doesn’t trust him at all. Adam shrugs as he holds the ladder “fair”.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Jessica starts climbing the ladder and after her Adam, they all climb up and Adam shuts the door close he sits down as he commands the pilot “site 17, as always”. “Got it.” the pilot says as he turns the helicopter towards north, “so... what were you saying back there? "Adam says in a serious tone, Jessica doesn’t hesitate a bit and makes it clear that she doesn’t trust him, not even a bit here as she speaks “Where are we going anyways? And what's this organization of yours that can pay for a helicopter for two random kids?

The man stares her straight into the eye for a moment, his gaze felt like it would pierce through her skull as he finally breaks his silence “The world stability council.... you are now an official member on the combat teams, out here for training, as I said before I am your trainer, you two will train to be proper ring users for the organization.” as the man completes his sentence, after a minute of silence the man chuckles as he takes out a cigarette from his pocket along with a lighter and lights it up.

He takes a drag as Suzie is busy looking out of the helicopter, like a little kid who just got a brand new toy to play with, Jessica breaks the silence after a moment, “so.... in a way.... we are working for the Four Emperors?” Her tone was rather calm now. “Yes, but more precisely you are working for the people working for The Emperors, you can work your way up though, if you prove effective in battle that is, that’s what we’re here for, train until you are strong enough” he speaks in a much more friendly tone, like he is understanding her, he takes another drag from the cigarette as he looks around the helicopter

After a few minutes of flying the Helicopter lands between the middle of the desert, nothing but sand and rocks in sight, not any sight of life, there were just a few cactus in sight, It was the middle of nowhere, they get off the helicopter as it flies away again. Adam finishes his cigarette as he throws the bud on the ground and stomps on it “alright, we are here, this is it, the site, you will train right here” “here?” Suzie says as she looks around the place placing her hand above her eyes so she could see properly “but there Is no tent, no equipment, no trees and huge ropes to hang on” She says in a confused tone, Adam looked a bit confused by her question “a tree with what now?”, “Umm.. like a rope... like how they show in those martial arts movies you know?” says Suzie, Adam looks dumbfounded by her question “A tree.... In the middle of a desert.... did you hit your head when you were a kid or something?”

Suzie has a frown on her face, she speaks in a low tone “I was just wondering... you don’t have to act like a bitch about it!”, the man shakes his head “yeah so, I was saying you guys will train here, let me tell you how this works.... you will spend fifty days surviving in here, there are copper coins buried in the sand...everywhere...now what you want to do is collect these coins... you both will be given 1 knife...for protection and that’s it, you can ‘buy’ anything u want from me in exchange for the amount of coins of the same value...all I would say now is good luck”

Jessica raises an eyebrow after listening to his words “50 days? Are you telling me we have to live in this baren land for 1 and a half freaking month?!” She says in disbelief, “well...it is what it is” The man says shrugging. “And what exactly do we use to get these coins of yours?” Suzie follows up, He looks a bit annoyed now “Your hands! I don’t got time for this...”, “my hands? Suzie asks in disbelief, “yes...your hands” says the man in the with the most disinterested face he could make, “I am not using my Beautifull hands to dig up this...sand!” Suzie says in a complaining way

“well...then starve to death? I couldn’t care less...” Adam says... as he pulls out another cigarette from his pocket lighting it “well then, I will be on my way”, Suzie just stares at him in disbelief as Jessica Speaks up... “you don’t have to be so heartless you know...”, Adam just smokes his cigarette as he takes out 2 survival knifes from his pocket and throws them at the ground, Suzie and Jessica looks at the knifes and back at Adam, After a moment Suzie picks the knifes up and hands one to Jessica

Adam looks at them and speaks again “I will be setting up a tent, once you collect up enough coins u can come and get what u want... it's that easy” They both look at him blankly but doesn’t say anything after a moment Adam says “if I were you I would have started by now... you know things can get really ugly without water here...” Suzie looks at him with shock “wait... we don’t even get water? And what about food?!”

“You don’t... you get them in exchange for the coins you will find in the sand here... watch out for the scorpions though” Adam says as he takes a drag from his cigarette “not even water?! That’s just torture! T... that's literally violation of basic human rights!” Suzie says Suzie says in anger, Adam chuckles to himself as he says “human rights huh... hate to break it to you kid... but ring users are NOT included in them” he says as takes another drag from his cigarette, “Y... you are unbelievable!” Suzie says as she looks like she is about to cry

Jessica pats her shoulder, in a way to console her... she knew that the man was rather right about the situation, logically thinking it made sense to her unlike Suzie who was just a rich girl with minimal interest in anything besides partying and shopping. Jessica was rather more logical, she understood the weight of the situation and decided to play along, she thought that was the best for them, as Adam sets up a tent, she looks at Suzie...

To be continued....