The Trials

preparing.

I yelped as I was pinned to the ground. "GET OFF ME!" I growled.

My trainer shook his head as he held out his hand for me to take. I slapped it away. "I don't think you're ready," he told me.

I blew away a strand of balayage hair from my curtain bangs. "I AM."

"Then how come you lost to me and let you pin you to the ground?"

I glared at him. "I was UNFOCUSED."

He held his hands up in defense. "Just helping you, Nancy. You never know, you might get chosen for the trials tomorrow."

I wrinkled my nose at him. "I know."

"Then stay FOCUSED."

I rolled my eyes and kicked him right in the nose. Before he could react, I used his thigh as a stepping stool, put both legs on his shoulders and squeezed his neck to choke him. He clawed desperately at my legs, until we both fell to the ground. His face began to turn red and he slapped the ground repeatedly, signaling me he gave up. I removed my legs from his neck and he started breathing heavily. I got up and smirked. "You tapped out," I pointed out.

"I KNOW."

"Am I ready now?"

He smiled. "Hopefully."

I walked up the stairs to my dorm. I entered it, where no one was. My roommate was down training for the trials also, which was tomorrow. I stared at my calendar. I had been preparing for this my entire life.

My name is Nancy Bennett, an 18 year-old Caucasian girl. Every year, two students at Nars Academy and are in the Skilled Arts level (which I'm in) are randomly chosen to complete multiple trials and return with the five medallions in order to move onto the Sorcery level, in which you are taught sorcery and magic and all that fun stuff. 

You are only allowed to bring one weapon of your choice to survive, and of course all you have learned. Oh, and of course teamwork. I was really hoping I would get paired up with my roommate, Mariam Raad, a fierce Muslim girl. She was always a good friend to have on your side, as she DOMINATED on the battlefield. Her favorite weapon, a double-sided axe, was always guaranteed to win whatever the event was. My boyfriend, who had already passed The Trials, said it was hard, so I was trained and prepared. But for those who didn't get picked tomorrow, they would have to wait an entire year to go. Lucky for me, I had a lot of patience. Usually.

The next day

I woke up groaning. Mariam was standing over me with a scowl on her face. "Get up," she said to me sternly. "Shower, get changed, get your weapon. We have to meet at the announcement area. For The Trials."

I shot up. "When do we have to meet?"

She looked at the clock above her. "In an hour."

My eyes became wide. I bolted out of bed and did what my roommate told me. When I got out of the shower I scanned my closet for some appropriate thing to wear just in case I got chosen for The Trials. I got a sleeveless brown cardigan, some dark brown high-waisted jazz pants and a white bustier tank top that was cropped. I got my signature weapons: sharp silver claws that clipped onto my fingertips. They were technically one weapon, so it still counted. I put my hair in a half up half down do with my curtain bangs framing my face. I looked at myself in the mirror. "Hey."

I turned around to see my untamed roommate with her hands on her hips. "Let's go. We can't be late."

I nodded and ran after Mariam, who had her double-sided axe on her back. She had a gray hijab on and a gray knitted sweater tucked into some cream colored jeans. Finally, we arrived at the announcement area, which was our normal meeting area for reports and stuff like that. The announcer was a short skinny African American man named Charles Jefferson. All of the students (even the ones who weren't in the Skilled Arts level) gathered in front of our announcer in a large crowd. We made our way to the back of the sea of people. "Good morning everyone!" rumbled Charles. "Today is the day. The day of The Trials, which happens every year!"

A whole bunch of cheering and clapping erupted from us. Mr. Jefferson held up a large bag. "I will be sticking my hand in here and swirl it around and pull out two slips of paper, which include the names of two students in the Skilled Arts level and their trainers," he continued. "If you are chosen, please join me up here and stand next to me patiently. Then we will go over the rules again and search you for any unnecessary items that you aren't allowed to bring on The Trials. We will then send you to the huge forest for you to complete The Trials-- well, IF you do, that is-- and collect the five medallions! Are you all ready?!"

"Um, excuse me, sir," said a voice. A wiry boy with red hair came up. "What exactly do the five medallions look like again?"

He grinned. "That's the challenge, boy! We never tell you what they look like! You have to figure that out when you're there."

Next to me, my Muslim friend clenched her jaw. She was so determined to complete them, I was desperate to have her as my partner. We had already established a bond and we understood each other completely. She was my best friend, for that matter. Our announcer snapped us all back to his attention. "NOW are you guys ready?!"

We all screamed "YEAH!" and he rummaged around in his sack until he pulled out a piece of white paper. He unfolded it and smiled brightly at all of us students.

And then he called out a name that actually shocked me. "Nancy Bennett, please come forward."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: ayee, so if the spacing between the paragraphs look weird for some reason, don't ask me why because I don't know why it's like that hahaha. just ignore it and read the fic. hope u like it so far ;)