Chosen: A Warriors Trial Fit for a Thief

Chapter 6

I walk out to the arena floor, a few meters behind Hood. The buzz of excitement that comes from the crowd dies down to a curious mutter as people from the crowd spot me.

We stop in the middle of the arena and Hood and I long among the crowd up in the stands surrounding us. I don't see an empty spot among the benches. There is many people with their hoods drawn over their heads. I guess the Chosen just naturally wear their hoods now because they're so used to them. I spot the group of apprentices and notice that there are a few more girls in the ranks of apprentices that weren't present at the morning meal.

"Hmm, that's a lot of people for one boy's initiation..." Hood mutters. I ignore him. I'm still angry with what he said.

Hood clears his throat and in a booming voice, he yells above the noise, "It is time for the initiation to begin!"

A cheer runs through the crowd but it dies to near silence quickly as they begin to listen to what Hood has to say.

"With me, I have a boy, no older than the other apprentice's that took their initiation into our ranks at the start of this year. Except this boy is different from them. Today, I am honored to be the first to tell you all that this boy is the first original Chosen in over a hundred years", he begins. The muttering begins as people begin conversing with each other among the crowd again. But it quickly dies down as Hood continues. "Not only is he the first original Chosen in many years, but he is also the youngest ever to be Chosen by the Gods! He is younger than any other original Chosen on record by more than ten years."

That one shocks even me. I hadn't known that piece of information, but thinking about it, I'm sure my knowledge of the Chosen barely scraps the surface of what there is to find out.

"His name; Dante!" Cheers erupt from the stands and I nervously shuffle my feet in the sandy floor.

The cheers die down and Hood pulls out an object from a pocket wrapped in linen. He unwraps the linen and a smooth ball like object that forms a long spike appears in his hand. It hums a vibrant yellow as if it has a pulse of its own. It's no bigger than Hoods palm. The arena is silent.

Hood talks casually but it's so quiet that his voice carries across the arena, "We will now discover who will be Dante's opponent."

He replaces the linen back in his pocket so he's only holding the glowing ball like object. A second later, he hurls in high in the sky. All eyes are glued to it, including my own. As it reaches its peak, it stops and glows brighter for a few seconds as if in thought and then suddenly it drops and lands at Hoods feet in the sandy ground with a dull thud. Mutters run round the arena and a frown crosses Hoods face. He picks up the object and again, throws it into the air but the same thing happens and it lands at Hoods feet once again. The muttering from the crowd is much louder now. Everyone is confused.

As Hood picks up the glowing ball spike a second time, another man that has his hood over his face jumps down from the stands, landing easily and runs over to Hood.

"Here, let me try!" he tells Hood. He takes the object and strides a few paces away. He hurls it high, just as Hood had did but this time it stays poised in the air, glowing brightly. I watch it for what feels like a minute and then it turns and flies towards the ground. The spike buries itself in the ground at Hood's feet and he looks down at it, confused.

"Hood! You have been chosen to test our new apprentice in his initiation. Would you please take up arms against him?" the new comer asks.

Hood looks at me and then looks at the new comer as if he's about to refuse, and then he gives a curt nod and turns back to be me, drawing his sword.