Author Games: Vengeance (The Punished, #2)

THE ARENA

The only thing you remember when being forced into the platform, is that instead of the normal dome that encases the tributes until the last seconds before reaching the arena, there's a white bed, silky sheets covering every inch, where a single flower lay out. You quirk a brow, shrugging your shoulders and motioning towards the unusual sight but the only thing your mentor has to offer is a deep sigh. 

The nerves have already been jumping inside your stomach, and in all the hopes you can, try not to spew. So standing there in the dank room with a slight buzzing, you reevaluate yourself. Shoved on your feet is a pair of mickey boots oddly enough, with spandex materialized pants. You feel clunky, stiff even as you ruffle the hood of your grey army jacket. Though, out of everything, the metal half gloves you wear with small spikes sticking out of the knuckles scares you the most. 

If this was a common item given to all the tributes, what could you possibly expect to find in the Cornucopia? That's the question you ask yourself as you lay in the bed, flower abandoned with the unsettling feeling that will only be proven true in the next minutes. 

As you rise, the darkness gatherers around you, a swarm of nothing but anxiety and desperation fills. Lost in a daze, you don't expect to be thrown into a glass case. 

As the bed clicks around it, almost as if this was planned, you can already feel the air becoming thin. Minutes is all you have before the oxygen runs out. Seconds to realize that the flower was poison, and as soon as you touched it, the side affects have been triggered. 

Through the panic filled state, you must get out, no exceptions. Not only that, you're in the bottom of the sea, where sparse light shines through. Can you do it all? Escape and swim for your life?

Above you is a land of many adventures. Plants, flowers, and everything mother nature ever created is back and ready to kill you. Swamps are doused in bloody thirsty animals, with false sounds above. The cries of your families will pierce through you as they sweep above the canopy of trees. 

Forestry is all around you, waiting until your wandering in a lost daze before fighting back. Veins become lifelike, trying to strangle and tie anything that moves. Tigers, panthers, and animals so unknown to the eyes of the lower districts walk without a designation, guarding and growling at anything that seems threatening. 

As you sink farther into your unconscious state due to lack of oxygen, you know that to save yourself, you must did further into the arena. 

Below the platforms is another set of life and game. As the arena is a sphere against all laws of gravity, you're in the dead, and center core. Swim any direction, as it will always lead you somewhere even more devious and outplayed then before. 

In this section, you'll swim to your safety only to end up in an underwater cave of sorts. Like a maze, it leads to no where particular, and can set any tribute up for a life of confusion. Walls shift during this constant night, and can sometimes leave you trapped for days before allowing an exit.  Though, this option allows fresh water springs, and edible flowers. 

One of the few types of vegetation around. 

The only way to cross into each of these sections is to dive back to the platforms, a risky decision that could cause any to drown. Fifteen feet deep on either side, a grand total of thirty if you plan to make the daring escape to each section. 

Remember, the water has no light, you don't know which direction you'll swim. There's no sun, only night. 

The Cornucopia- well, that's up to you to find.