Limestone

000

Ten Years Ago...

The arena sands were warm against cold feet as the eight year old walked, crowd roaring to life once they spotted him. It was his first time in the trials, doing what his siblings had already done once before.

It was a relatively new trial, one nobody looked forward to.

The child was the last of the siblings to go against the competitors, all worn down and wary from the first two fights. Just one week ago they were starting the trials, and now the second to last trial was about to come to it's climax.

And just about now? They were terrified.

"Ciro will be your last fight." Diosa Luna was older than the Sol Siblings, but she was not higher than them. The eight year old had been hearing from his brother and sister how it wasn't really fair to her that they were in more control at such a young age, that they were the children of the one all-powerful Diose in the world. "Ciro, do you have any rules?"

The eight year old tilted his head, confused at the competitors that towered over his small form. He wasn't so sure why he was supposed to participate, but maybe it was just another fun game that his parent was doing to reach out to him! He liked the time spent with Sol, even if it was not much.

"No? That is alright, you still have many more trials to define them." What a weird thing to say to an eight year old. "Anyway, this trial will finally end when you put little Ciro into the outer ring of black sand or all of you are immobilized and out. You have no time limit, and you may begin once I step out of the arena."

The competitors backed away from the small boy as Luna started toward the exit, vanishing halfway.

For a moment, all of the ten competitors stared at Ciro. Even the crowded arena stands were silent.

Then, Ciro looked at them with wider eyes than they'd ever seen from him. Within seconds, the sand around them curled around their skin and stiffened, turning into sandstone. It went even further and turned to Limestone before Ciro stopped, looking to his feet.

After a moment, screaming started. It drowned out the sound of horns, and Ciro quickly dropped himself through the sand, pulling the limestone shell off of the competitors and bringing them with him.

The eight year old landed in darkness, screams still echoing through the pool of sand above him.