I looked up at the sky and sighed. "Well," I said to myself, "I have no idea where I'm going."
Four paths. East, west, north, and south.
South? Nope. That one was full of bodies. Not going there unless I want to join them.
I was down to three options. So, I did what any very confused person would do. I spat on my hand, clapped once, and waited for a sign. It pointed east.
I looked east. It was a cliff. A literal cliff. So unless I planned on flying, that was a no.
The West looked too quiet. And creepy. You know the kind of silence that feels like something's watching you?
So I trusted my gut and went north. Not because it looked easier, it didn't but because sometimes you have to trust your guts.
Either way, if there's one thing I've learned out here, it's this, in a place like this, your only real hope… is yourself.
I heard the sound of a river and thought, Finally, water…
I ran toward it, splashing the cool water onto myself. As I bent closer, I caught a blurred reflection of my face. Curiosity struck me,
"How do I look now?"
I waited patiently for the water's surface to grow still. When it did, I saw dark hair, a diamond shaped face and a body shaped perfectly athletic and strong,
"Wow… " I muttered, satisfied with my reflection.
Even though the world has not been fair to me, I was destined to be handsome. I nodded to myself. Suddenly, I heard the sound of horse hooves. The cavalry rode in, swords at their sides, archers following behind.
"Neigh!"
They stop near me.
(Oh man, I'm toast. No way out now. Even if I run, those horses and archers will catch me for sure. My whole body's shaking. What now? Should I just drop to my knees.)
One man got down from his horse and slowly walked toward me. His friends stood nearby, staring at me like if I moved even a little, they'd shoot me dead on the spot.
He grabbed my right hand, then my left, inspecting them closely.
Then he burst into laughter.
"Hahaha… slave."
The others laughed too.
I didn't understand. Why were they calling me a slave? Why were they laughing?
Still, I forced a smile, trying to blend in.
He looked at me with disgust.
"You waste. Why are you laughing?" he said, then slammed his fist into my stomach.
"OOFFF!"
The pain exploded through me. I dropped to my knees, both hands clutching my stomach, gasping for air.
He pulled me up by the hair and dragged me toward a metal cage.
He shoved me inside.
I wasn't alone.
There were dozens of others. Men, women… maybe even children.
Their eyes were wide. Filled with fear.
"I couldn't even straighten my leg because the cage was packed. It smelled awful, like something rotting before it died."
They covered the cage with an old, thick cloth that smelled strongly almost like urine. Everything went dark. I couldn't see anything. I asked quietly, "Hey… hey! Where are they taking us?" In the dark someone almost replied, "Ahhh…" but was quickly interrupted. "Shh… be quiet."
Then, silence. Just the sound of fearful murmurs around.
Finally, the cages stopped moving. I could hear lots of noise outside. Someone pulled the cloth away. As it lifted, sunlight hit my eyes hard. I looked down.
He dragged me out. The houses were too crowded, like the ones you see in, "History books." We were lined up, about twenty people like me, and I was at the end of the line. They treated us like dogs, and the people here didn't care at all. No sympathy!
After a while, we started moving slowly. There was a man sitting in a chair, and in front of him was something like a wooden tag. He was giving them to each person.
When it was my turn, he asked, "What's your name?"
I said, "Yan."
He stood up, looked at me, and nodded his head. I could hear him quietly saying to himself, "Nice body…" Then he sat back down and picked up the tag.
He wrote "Yan," and under that, he wrote "arena."
But I couldn't believe what I saw, he didn't use a pen or ink. He wrote my name with his finger, yes! Just by damn…finger, and from the tip of his finger came something like a fire.
We were all taken to different places. While that was happening, I looked at the wooden tag. It had a symbol of fire on it. Then I was led into an underground tunnel, and that tunnel led to an open field!
I wasn't alone in the open field. There were others like me, and on the sides, some people stood holding bows, arrows, and spears.
"Wait… are we going to fight them?" I wondered.
The place looked like a football stadium, with people watching from above. Then, someone finally spoke from up high.
"Today, we have a special guest," the voice announced. "Elder Chen."
As soon as Elder Chen appeared, everyone went quiet and bowed. He spoke in a deep voice,
"Slave… if you want to be free, win this game. Show to me that you're worthy. Even though you weren't born with elemental cultivation, prove yourself that you're strong, and then you'll be free to roam my land."
"Let the games begin!"
The whole crowd cheered:
"Elder! Elder! Elder!"
When Elder Chen sat back down, everything went silent again.
"What is this game?" I thought.
"Man… if the elder could talk about the game, why didn't he just explain it?" I wondered. I looked up and saw him staring at me, like he could hear my thoughts. I swallowed my own saliva and quickly looked away.
I watched closely as a fast man started running. Maybe he knows how this game works, I thought. I kept my eyes on him.
The ones holding weapons began to laugh then suddenly, they started shooting at him. To my surprise, the crowd began cheering… but not for the man running for his life. They were cheering for the hunters!
An arrow almost hit him, but he quickly moved in a zigzag pattern. (Maybe he saw it coming,) I thought. The hunters kept shooting, but they couldn't hit him. Eventually, he made it to the other side.
Then another man ran, using the same zigzag pattern. But this time, the hunters had figured it out. They didn't shoot where he was, they aimed where he was going.
Squelch! One of the arrows hit him.
Someone walked over, grabbed him, and sliced his throat then cut off his head and held it up to the crowd. The crowd went wild, cheering louder than before.
"What a bunch of psychopaths," I muttered to myself.
It was finally my turn. I decided that if I was going to die, I'd rather face it head on because living in a world like this wasn't worth it.
I started running straight ahead because there was no point in trying to zig-zag, they had already figured it out. My legs got tangled, and I tripped, falling down. Then, an arrow came down from above.
I started to see golden light again, a screen appeared in front of me,
"Do you want this power?"
A timer started counting down. 30...29...28...
" Instead of dying here, I might as well face what ever this is..."
One second left.
I hit, " Yes!"
Screen disappear. Everything went dark, there was... Nothing.
Then, I heard the footsteps coming towards me heavily, someone emerged from the black.
He stood tall, monstrous. One body with three heads, each face has three eye, two normal and one glowing from center of the forehead. Six arms , each holding a different weapon, one blazing with flame, another crackling with lightning, another dripping water, and earth, wind and darkness.
"You are the chosen one," he said, his voice echoing like a thunder. But remember, power always come with a price."
Then he disappeared.
When I open my eyes, I was still lying there arrows flying through the air above me.