Death Starts It All

Chapter 2

Nike (Ancient Greece)

Fight.

That is what your taught growing up among the Amazons.

Fight for the Gods.

Fight not to be held down by a man.

But most importantly, fight to bring honor to your fellow sisters.

If you are weak here, you either die or are forced out.

There is no place for love here.

It’s odd that I even know what the concept is. Love. I only learned of it from when I was at a stream near a non-Amazonian village. I overheard two women from the village speaking about it. At first I was completely appalled that a women would want to belong to a man, but then I thought about what it would be like to be cherished by someone. The thought tantalizes me, but I cannot have it.

I am an Amazon. I am a fierce warrior and I am strong.  I can’t let emotional drivel get in the way of that.

Besides I have more important things to occupy my time with, such as preparing myself for the final round of the tournament coming up.

You see, at the last festival celebrating Athena, our people's seer had a vision. She then proclaimed that there must be a tournament to find the strongest among us. The winner would then have a great honor bestowed on them by the Gods.

There have been three rounds so far and we are about to start the fourth and final round.

The first round was a test of our archery skills. Since that is the weapon style that I excel the most in, I passed that round easily.

The second tested our ability to handle a horse. It was slightly more difficult, but I passed it as well.

Round three consisted of a wrestling match. The woman I was paired against was laughably easy to beat.

The final round coming up is going to be a sword and shield fight between four others and myself, where the last woman left without being disarmed will be the winner.

We have one more hour in which to prepare for our fight. The other women are sparing with others around me while I sit there.

I can tell that the other women are underestimating me because all it looks like I've been doing is sitting around with my eyes closed.

In actuality I'm watching them, from under my lashes, practice in order to understand all of there tells, all of their weaknesses. Planning ways in which to beat all of them.

Suddenly there is a call for to come to the ring. Our hour is up.

I stand and follow the others. We are directed to stand in a large circle, an equal distance away from each other.

"As everyone here knows, this final battle is a test of these five warriors strength and prowess in battle. The winner of this match will receive a great honor gifted upon them from the gods." our seer called out. "Let the match begin!"

After that it became a blur as the other women rushed to the center of the arena. I too rushed towards the others, sword and shield raised.

The first woman that I come across fights me with precise and quick movements. From my earlier study of her I had learned that she prefers to keep her attacks close to the center of her body. In order to throw her off I send a sweeping blow up over her left shoulder.

She blocks me but I quickly make another strike, this time coming towards her opposite shoulder. Another block but it's shakier then the last.

I then aim my sword for her legs. She blocks again but it allows me to spin around her and kick her in the back. She falls to the ground. I quickly slam my foot down onto her sword arm and disarm her of her blade. Thereby ousting her from the round.

I spin around and see that that there are only two other women left, who are currently locked in a battle of their own.

That soon changes as the taller of the two is disarmed.

While the last woman is distracted, I quickly rush towards her. I use my leg to sweep hers out from under her but she is able to recover before I can even try disarming her. She blocks my next few attacks and I block hers.

Back and forth we go attacking and blocking.

I finally see an opening when she raises her arm just a little to high for the next attack.

I block her attack while ducking under her arm. I swing around and shove my elbow into her side.

She stumbles from the hit. I take the opportunity to bash my shied into her sword arm and raise my knee into her side.

From the shock of both of these attacks, she ends up dropping her sword. Naming me the winner of the entire tournament.

There is a deafening cheer coming from the crowd standing around the fighting ring.

The seer holds up her hand, which quiets the crowd, and says "Nike, daughter of the great warrioress Alkaia, you have shown through these four rounds of tournament that you are by far the strongest and most worthy of the Amazons. Now that you have proven yourself, you are to be named as a champion for the Gods. For it has been shown to me that there is going to be a great battle in which eight champions will be needed to win in order to save the very earth itself. You shall be the champion to represent the Amazons. But in order to fulfill this you must first be transported to a place far from not only this place, but also this very time."

As the last words escape her lips, a blinding light flashes all around me.

I feel as if I am falling.

Then everything goes black.