THE GOLDEN AGE, sejanus plinth

016. the games

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE GAMES
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HER EYES WERE still puffy when she arrived in the Academy's auditorium. The drawing in one hand and with the other smoothing her uniform, she walked over to Coryo, who'd just been talking to the dean.

"What did he want?" She asked with a side glance at the man, who was already walking away again.

Coryo shrugged his shoulders.
"He told me to find Sejanus a seat close to the door."

Aurora raised her eyebrows in confusion. The mentor seats were placed in a half circle in close distance to the giant screen and a little corner where Lucky's interviews would take place.

"But he already has a seat," she replied, pointing at one of the chairs in the distance. They were sorted by the district number, so everyone automatically had an assigned seat.

The blonde just shrugged his shoulders again.
"You know High-As-A-Kite-Bottom."

"Always being in a higher sphere than us normal people," she finished the saying with a sigh.

The dean had been on Morphling as long as she could remember, hence his nickname.

"Before the Games start, we have to announce the death of Dennis Fling's boy tribute from District Five. He died of natural causes, asthma complications, last night," one of their professors announced via speaker.

Aurora's eyes widened in shock. They were talking about Hy! His coughing had been bad, really bad, but she would've never imagined that it would be the cause for his death.

Poor Sol, poor Hy, she thought, but hoped it had been an easy death, although she didn't believe it had been.

Lysistrata marched towards them, sending Coryo an annoyed glance. There were dark circles under her dark brown eyes, she hadn't found sleep the previous night either.

"Oh, before I forget, Coryo," she mumbled quickly and gave him the drawing of Lucy Gray, "Sol drew this."

"Thank you," he gave back after taking a quick glance. Lysistrata stood before them now, being annoyed that Coryo wasn't really working with her although their tributes were allies.

Aurora took that as her sign to find her seat. She didn't mind the other girl's presence, she had been one of her close friends years ago after all, but she just wanted the day to be over.

The chairs had a little attached table with a small monitor on them. They would use that to send the gifts into the arena.

Dennis was already sitting on his chair with his head hung low so he could look at his feet.

"I'm sorry, Dennis," the girl told him. Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pouted, she stared at him sadly. And it made her even sadder that the professor, who had just announced the boy's death, hadn't called him by his name.

"It's fine, he wouldn't have lasted for more than ten minutes anyway," he gave back bitterly.

She stared at him, not knowing if she had heard correctly. Hy had been a human being, a child. Not just some toy or a doll. A little compassion wouldn't hurt, his words were like a punch in her face.