Evay Maver: I entered one of the warrior homes that was being provided for all of the warriors coming to the capital. There were a lot of people here already which was surprising since the ceremony was still far out. People were huddled in their groups and chatting by the dining hall or fireplace and several young adults—as well as some older warriors—were glancing at me out of the corner of their eyes. I walked up to the receptionist and she gave me a quick glance, “Name please.” I fumbled around my pockets for a bit before handing her a block of mahogany wood which had my name engraved into it with golden letters.

“Evay, of house Maver.” Her eyes widened slowly until she seemingly snapped out of her shock. She gave me my student ID and laughed a little,

“Back from the dead sir?” I gave her a small smile,

“So you’ve heard.” I felt several eyes bore into my back as the whole reception area seemed to go quiet. The warriors who were all previously occupied with their own conversations now turned towards me with curious looks in their eyes. The silence was deafening and the tension in the room could be cut with a knife. It was like everyone was scared of me or doubtful of me—like I couldn’t be trusted or like I was a bomb ready to go off. It made sense—I had come back from the dead after all. I walked forward and one of the older warriors spoke,

“How do we know it’s really him?” The receptionist nervously replied,

“Um….sir he had his ID with him and it passed verification. He is the real Evay Maver.” The old man walked forward towards me,

“Doesn’t really look like him. Who knows, the empire might be trying to increase morale or bring fear into enemy hearts by claiming Maver is alive when he’s really dead. This guy could be a fake or some type of poser. Also maybe it’s because I’m old but I don’t really trust people who lie to their people—especially about being dead.” The tension in the room grew and grew until I could feel the room start to turn on me. The old man spoke again, “what do you have to say? Any rebuttals? Any denials? Who are you—what’s your real name? Let’s see if you’re telling the truth.” I steeled my nerves, looked into his eyes, and spoke,

“I—“ a hand rested on my shoulder as a boy about my age leaned over me with a lazy and confident smile.

“Yo calm your tits old man—he’s just trying to get to his room. Leave him be, geezer.” The old man’s face filled with annoyance and anger as he spoke in a deadly tone,

“You stay out of this Ilias, this is none of your business.” Ilias let out a laugh,

“None of yours either. Look, we all know you can’t fake an ID it’s literally connected to your blueprint so why even bother? Stop trying to flirt with the dude and let him go. Stop trying to abuse your seniority,” his confident and lazy smile disappeared as he suddenly dawned a dead serious expression, “we all know that I’m a better fighter than you.” The old man’s face filled with rage as he walked back to his group beside the fireplace. He gave us a death stare and finally let me be. Ilias wrapped his arm around me and his face went back to its carefree self. He had soft and light blonde hair which covered his ears and he wore diamond earrings as well as a really expensive looking white, gold, and turquoise shirt—which had oversized sleeves and emerald green embroidery. He had creamy white skin and light gray eyes and an annoyingly good-looking face. He kind of looked like Savian if Savian was funny and super rich—and blonde.

He spoke in a carefree voice, “we got to look out for each other man—the old men get jealous you know? Jealous that we’re younger, stronger, and richer than them even though they have a lifetime on us. For the record I believe you and your whole story—a guy needs to keep some secrets and I get that. I don’t trust a guy with no secrets, you know what I’m saying?” He gave me a sly smile and I nodded in appreciation. A couple of girls dressed in tight fitting clothes and very….um…short pants waved towards Ilias. They all had entranced looks of lust and happiness on their faces as they giggled and waved towards Ilias. He smiled and looked into my eyes—which kept darting towards the girls unwillingly. “You like them? Which one? I can hook you up brother—what’s your type? The beautiful lady on the right over there—“ I shook my head.

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“Sorry—taken, kind of.” He laughed and shook his head,

“Alright. I’ll see you at the ceremony and—oh. Looks like your lady is here.” He stepped away from me and gave me a wave before joining the girls.

“What’re you talking about?” I got a whiff of the air and a sweet cinnamon scent crept into my nose. My heart began to beat faster and louder and I whipped my head around to the doors. Aurora stepped into the warrior home with a weird piece of paper in her hands. She looked out of breath but very determined as she took in her surroundings. She scanned around until she saw me. Her eyes went wide and she dashed towards me in half a second. She gave me a big hug and held my face in her hands,

“You look dirty! You haven’t been taking showers or eating…Are you ok? What did they do to you? Where have you been? You know what…it’s okay we can talk later. I need to deliver this.” I looked at the paper in her hands,

“What is it?” She looked at the receptionist who still had surprised and shocked expression on her face,

“Excuse me—I need you to tell me where the Imperial Estates are mam, I need to deliver this to the emperor. It’s an official declaration of war—a declaration from the entire world.”

I looked into her eyes with shock and confusion before she snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Hey! I know it’s a lot but we need to get this declaration to the emperor or somebody. I have no clue why they chose kids to deliver the message but I got it and it’s really important. You need to–” I smiled and looked into her eyes before holding her face in my hands. Her eyes went wide and she lit up like a tomato while seemingly being frozen in time. I laughed softly and whispered softly into her ears,

“I know–I believe you. It’s the middle of the night though and we won’t have much success finding the emperor now. Let’s get some sleep, relax here for a bit, then find the emperor or someone else in a more orderly fashion–what do you say?” She stared into my eyes for a bit before snapping out of her trance,

“Um…..yeah! Yeah! Totally! Um ... .I think that that’s a great idea ... .I'm really tired…very tired. It took me all day to run over here and I had to stay up all night helping out at the academy camp and… and…it’s just been a really, really, really long day.” I pushed some loose hair out of her face and wiped off a smudge of mud from the corner of her forehead,

“Let’s get you some sleep–like right now.” I waved over to the receptionist and she handed me a pair of keys. I made my ways up the beautiful marble and mahogany wood stairs while Aurora barely made her way up. Her eyes were halfway closed and she was stumbling and tripping over her own feet as she grabbed onto me and the rails for support. I put my key into the very beautifully crafted spruce door filled with shiny golden embroidery as it opened with a resounding click. The room was even nicer than the ones that we stayed at during the tournament. The floor was made with navy blue carpet which felt soft and fluffy on the soles of my feet, the pure white marble walls were speckled with flecks of gold, and there was a giant bed with luxurious cotton sheets right in the middle of the room. Aurora gravitated towards the bed and literally threw herself onto it–passing out as soon as she hit the sheets. I suppressed a laugh and slowly guided her under her sheets and lifted her head onto a pillow. Her pretty face fell into a deep sleep as she whispered into my ear,

“Than–thanks Evay.. I..I’m going to..to sleep now.” I laughed and pulled the blankets over her body,

“No problem–tomorrow we wake up and immediately deliver that declaration and then hopefully meet up with everyone else. After breakfast of course.” She laughed while still closing her eyes,

“Breakfast…can we have kiwis…I want kiwis.” I smiled and looked into her closed eyes,

“Sure–we can.” I walked away from her bed and slowly made my way to the door as I heard Aurora’s breathing and heart start to slow down. I put my hand on the door knob and prepared to leave before Aurora spoke in an entranced voice,

“Thanks Evay, I love you.” My heart stopped and my eyes went wide before I turned around to look at Aurora. Her back was turned to the door and her chest rose up and down in a slow rhythm as she laid completely still like a stone statue. I stood frozen in place as my heart started to beat faster and faster and faster and butterflies started to flutter in my stomach. She was completely asleep–those were her last words before she passed out. I looked at her with wide and surprised eyes as her breathing continuously rang out in my ears. I opened the door and stepped out into the empty, silent hallway as I looked at Aurora’s sleeping figure one last time,

“Good night Aurora, I love you too.”