Tournament of the Unknown

Chapter 8

I heard the door open quietly but quickly. I heard the rustling of paper falling on the floor. I sit up and stared at the now closed door. I walk toward the door. I stare at the paper on the floor. Should I pick it up? I slightly reach to grab the paper but then I pull back. I reach for the paper again, but the door in front of me slammed on my face.

“Ouch,” I said as I place my hand on my face.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you,” Laru apologizes. 

“It’s okay,” I said as the throbbing was slowly going away. “It’s not like you meant to hit me.”

“Guess what?” Laru asks excitedly.  “I got chosen to participate.”

“Are you serious?” I ask.              

“Yeah can you believe it,” Laru states happily.  “What about you? Did you get chosen?”

“I haven’t checked yet,” I answered truthfully. I grab the paper on the floor, and I hesitantly start reading it.  

“I was chosen,” I state as I in disbelief.

“Are you okay?” Laru asks worriedly.

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting this,” I answered as I stared at the paper. I place the paper on my bed.

“I wonder when the actual tournaments are going to start,” Laru wonders.

“Do you want to go train?” I ask. Laru looks at me for a few minutes before nodding. I grab my sword before following Laru out of the room. We walk besides the trees, and we reached the same training grounds that I had visited earlier.  There was two wood dolls out and ready to be trained on.

“Which one do you want to take?” I ask Laru.

“Obviously the one to the left,” Laru says teasingly as she takes out a knife from her pocket. I nod as I went toward the wooden doll on the right. I unshed my sword and got into a fighting position.  I move my left leg forward, then my right, as I swing my sword down into the left shoulder area. The wooden arm was slightly torn apart from the body. I charged again, faster, and with more precision on the same area. The arm came undone. The arm was on the floor looking defeated. I grasp my sword tighter.  

I swung again and this time I went for the stomach.  A cut appeared from the top of the missing shoulder to the bottom of the right hip. The cut wasn’t big enough for the doll to fall into the ground though. I tried again and the doll fell into the ground broken and defeated.

“You took a number out on your doll,” Laru teases as she cuts off the arm of her wooden doll.  “Although you look like you were in pain when you did it.”

“Even though they’re just wooden dolls they remind me of real humans, and I can’t bring myself to train on them without feeling remorse,” I state as I stared at Laru’s disfigured doll.

“I get what you mean, but you do realize the tournaments are coming up right, and we both need to be able to defend ourselves. Especially against other participants,” Laru states as she puts away her knife in her pocket.  I nod in understanding. Though inside I was screaming I didn’t want to hurt anyone even if it was for self defense. 

“Laru! Cantalia! It’s good to see you two so up and early in the morning. Did you come to train?” Elis asks as he walks up to us. Night was walking behind him looking at the ground.

“Yep, I’m assuming you two aren’t out here for a friendly stroll around the campus,” Laru teases.  “Are you two participating in the tournaments?”

“Yeah, we just got word today,” Night answered unsure.

“That means all four of us are going to participate,” Laru lets out a squeal of happiness.