“Never, in all my tenure, have more than half of the first-years returned alive after their Hunt.”

- Professor Boaz Redmoor

Heavy breaths.

The metallic chinks of armor and weapons as they rubbed against one another, moist with sweat and oil.

Grunts of pain and anticipation as leather bit into shoulders and torsos.

These were the only sounds as eighty-nine Orions exited the realm of man and entered the domain of monsters. I felt every strong thump of my heart as it pounded beneath the amulet from my brother. My simple chainmail, courtesy of Gorg, laid like a heavy blanket under the rugged leather armor I now wore. It leant mobility over true protection, which was exactly what I needed. I wasn’t planning to tank many blows like the blokes around me with their heavy shields and heavier plate armor. Me and my team were dressed for speed and survival.

The quarter-mile tunnel that connected the Wilds and the border city of Halistair disappeared in moments and a new world birthed before my eyes. Trees scraped the heavens above me, as thick as four horses across at their trunks. Their bark was raw and red, like the essence of flame encased in amber. Below them, rotund bushes ripe with berries and flowers lined the informal entrance to this untamed world. Critters dashed about in blurs of motion, while larger beasts lumbered about lazily. It was inarguably the most captivating sight I had ever seen.

Two teams, each geared for war and months of survival, turned at the edge of this mysterious forest. Their leaders each pointed their sword in our general direction. We were near the back of the line, choosing to reserve our strength rather than get caught up in the reverie of battle and competition. But as those finely armored warriors shifted toward us, The sinking feeling I experienced at the entrance to the gate returned.

The air felt off.

The exchanged glares between the two groups was forgotten as more teams joined their line. A man encased in glimmering armor of gold and red whispered something to the gathering crowd before he pointed the tip of a two-handed sword in our direction. Claws of red and gold trapped the hilt like some feral beast frozen in time as it clamped down on its prey.

The eyes of Prince James connected with mine through the magical helm the warrior wore. My blood went cold at the smile that peaked through. He mouthed something to me, but I didn’t catch it. Instead, he sheathed his weapon into the soft soil and waited as those around him rushed toward me and my party like a swarm of angry basilisks.

“Hey! They're ours!” One of them, a young man with slightly pointed ears, screamed. He shoved a pair of dwarves out of his way while he prepared to throw his javelin.

“Fat chance, Stephen! Not if we get them first,” the girl who led another team screamed. In one fluid motion, she nocked an arrow and aimed at me. My mind went into overdrive as the tense situation that devolved around us crystallized into explicit danger.

“She’s mine!” The girl screamed. But before the human Orion could loose her projectile, a tongue of steel gouged its way through her throat. The shot went wide and hit one of her teammates in the bicep, completely ignoring the leather armor that covered it. Those two fell while the other three of her party whirled on the backstabbers. Scenes like this arose all around us.

“C’mon!” Azuris yelled, and his unwavering command was what I needed to get out of my shock. A hand grabbed mine and yanked me to the left where there was an opening in the bloody skirmish. One dwarf ducked the pike of another cadet and cleaved into her ankle, removing the appendage from the joint. Light flashed as someone activated an enchantment. Screams and the howls of monsters filled this new killing ground. Blood coated the trees, turning their illustrious color macabre as life spilled complemented the red bark.

“They’re getting away!” Someone bellowed and the barrage of boots rose up behind us. I finally looked away and let Gwyn guide me deeper into the forest, grateful that it was her, and not Azuris, who’d pulled me toward freedom.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

“What in the seven hells is going on?” Lysandra screamed to no one in particular.

“Shÿnka, shÿnka, shÿnka,” I breathed, incapable of erasing the gory images I’d just witnessed from my mind. This was so much worse than the arena. Barbed vines cut into my cheek as I failed to duck under a low branch, but it barely halted our mad sprint. I didn’t know which direction we were going. Azuris, ahead of us by a few feet, drove us deeper into the Wilds. But he forced us through the sides of bushes and through a thin creek whose water shimmered with bioluminescent green algae.

What beauty I noticed of our surroundings was numbed by the shouts that haunted behind us. My lungs screamed. Gwyn pulled me forward. Insects hummed their alien songs all around us, ignorant or uncaring of our plight.

“What’s going on?! Why are they after us?” I yelled to Elio and Azuris in front of us. I hated how they slowed to ensure we weren’t separated, but forced myself to focus on the true issues in front of us. Azuris’ golden eyes scanned behind us and pointed to a bush larger than the rest.

“Don’t make a sound once we're in,” he said, ignoring my question entirely. I bit back a curse I wanted to throw at his face. Without warning, he took three large strides and dove straight into the bush. Midair, the thin purple branches of the squat plant widened around his form only to grasp him around his limbs. He slipped into the flora without a trace. Elio whooped and jumped in after him. Lysandra surprised me the most and was right on his heels, leaping clumsily into the bush. Gwyn and I were left alone, but I knew it would be moments before that would no longer be the case.

“What in the actual hells is this?” I demanded, slowing in front of the massive organism. My hand brushed the plant and was alarmed to discover the rigidity of the structure. It was like my hand grazed iron. “What the—” I started, but Gwyn flew through the air and disappeared into the purple embrace that had swallowed the rest of our friends.

“I found their footprints! This way!”

“I hate this so much,” I whispered, knowing I was out of time. Whoever spoke was barely twelve paces away, though I still couldn’t see them through the maze of flora around us. I stepped back, then rushed the bush and leapt at the last moment. Like my friends before me, the plant expanded around my aerial entrance and then snaked its violet tendrils around my torso and limbs, slowing my fall to a gentle halt. I resisted the urge to scream as the unnatural sensation encompassed me for several heart wrenching seconds before it plopped me down in a tight circle where my friends awaited. They all reached out and caught me, and Gwyn placed her gloved fingers over my mouth as I reflexively started to speak at the strangeness of our situation.

The reason why quickly became apparent.

“They were right here!” A gruff voice barked from somewhere beyond our eerie barrier of brambles.

“Figure out where they went, Jarl, or your sister will learn what it feels like to coexist with a dagger in her stomach,” a cold voice replied with a haughty tone.

I know that voice. Dread filled me. Is my luck seriously this shite?

“I’m trying. I’m trying,” the one called Jarl offered pleadingly. Boots brushed errant leaves next to our bush.

“What the—” Jarl whispered.

“What is it, lowborn?” Gavin asked, and I knew that death approached me. I waited to hear Prince James' poisonous voice as well, but it was thankfully absent.

“They—their tracks disappear…here.” I could nearly imagine Jarl as he kneeled aside our haven, the man I defeated in the combat circle lording over him. Several heartbeats passed, and while I couldn’t see the two men, I could feel the temperature drop in the area near us. Around me, my friends tensed instinctively, just as intent on the conversation as I was.

“What are you implying, lowborn? Do you jest? Or do you take me for a fool?” Gavin asked, heat entering his tone.

“I—I swear! They entered this bush here! I don’t know how, but they did!” Jarl’s gruff voice answered.

“Consider your sister before you breathe your next answer. Now, tell me, did they pay you off? Or do you simply wish to die?” Gavin brushed his gauntleted hand, likely his uninjured one, against the limbs and leaves of our bush. Metal scraped against the strange limbs of our temporary fortress and the nobleman scoffed. “You scum are all the same. You scheme, thinking us dimwitted because of our privilege.”

The unmistakable wet slurp of a sword entering flesh filled the silence. Jarl coughed and the sound of a heavy form colliding with soft earth followed. I held back a gasp of surprise, and I knew my friends were doing their best to do the same. In our hovel, I suddenly felt extremely exposed.

“It is our privilege that gives us perspective. We see farther than you lowborn ever could. You set a home and call it a kingdom. We create kingdoms and know them to be little more than homes. It was futile to try and outsmart me, but I respect the attempt. Fear not, your sister will join you shortly in whatever afterlife your kind foolishly bow to.”

Another stab of steel into flesh, and Jarl’s gurgled sobs ended.

The thin sound of a blade against cloth slid through the tiny clearing before Gavin’s armored form rose and left the area. Me and my friends waited for several more minutes, hoping against hope that this was not all some convoluted trap. And while we waited and cramps began to accumulate through my tense muscles, all I could think was one thing.

What in the hells is happening?