Playing the Game

Prologue: The Nightmare

I was standing in the middle of the Capitol arena. I don't know how I got there, and I don't know why the place was completely empty, but it was like there was nowhere else I was meant to be. The last thing I remembered was being in Tiberius' training grounds, gloating over the suffering Lucius. And then suddenly I was exactly where I needed to be to save my brother.

"Marcus!? Marcus, where are you?" I hollered into the vast expanse, waiting for an answer that wasn't my own echo. "Marcus! It's me, Candra. Where are you hiding?! I'm here! I've finally made it!" No response. "I'm here to take you home! Come out, Marcus! It's safe!" I had no way of knowing whether or not this was true, especially with no recollection of the time between Tiberius' grounds and this moment, but I had to see him; I'd come far enough. "You wouldn't believe what I had to do to get you back. What a story I have! And it can all end right now if you just show yourself..." I spun on the spot, waiting for him to emerge from one of the tunnels. I scanned the rows of seats, expecting to find him sitting somewhere above. I even looked to the sky in wanting, as if he could drop down from his hiding place in the clouds. "Marcus, please! I've had enough of this! I just want to go home... please, take me home!"

"Hello, Candra."

My heart began to pound. It wasn't the voice I had become accustomed to hearing every morning, afternoon and night; the sound of my favourite person saying my name.

No, this voice belonged in the past. It was the stuff of dreams... and nightmares.

I spun around, choking on my own voice. "Father..."

He chuckled, "So formal, my love. What happened to papa?"

He took a step closer. I took a step back.

"This is a dream..." It wasn't a question. There was no other explanation.

"Call it what you will. I'm glad to see you all the same."

I couldn't respond.

"Aren't you glad to see me?"

I was afraid. No longer were my dreams of my father stuck in the past, reliving memories as a form of torturing myself. This was an entirely new method; a scenario that was completely out of my control where I was the puppet and he the puppet master.

"Why have you brought me here?"

He smiled as he asked, "It's where you wanted to be, isn't it?"

"In the real world, yes."

"To save Marcus."

"Of course."

"No other reason?"

I frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean..."

He began to pace in a circle around me. I spun in time, always alert to his presence.

"You've been avoiding the Capitol for eight years. And now, based on a wild rumour that your brother is supposed to be the final attraction of the tournament, you're prepared to run back without a second thought."

"You know I'd do anything for him..."

He laughed. "Oh, I know! I saw what you did to that poor fellow." He was referring to Lucius. "It seems you've grown to be just as vile as I was..."

His words stung, both his conclusion of my character and his disrespect for his own memory. This wasn't my father, for there was never a cruel bone in his body. This was just my mind inventing a shadow of a man that resembled him in body alone.

"My father was not a vile man."

"I am your father-"

"You are not!"