Reclaimed Life

Chapter One: Not Alone

I entered the arena with everyone else, no one knew why we were being ordered to be here, there were fights only two weeks ago. There shouldn't be another one. "What do you think is going on?" Caden asked as he sat down next to me. Caden and I had grown up with each other, we worked together now. We were closer than brothers, if there is any kind of relationship closer than that.

"No idea, where's Blair?" I replied.

"She's coming," he replied. We were talking about Blair Abbot, Caden's fiancee.

"Good afternoon boys," Blair greeted as she sat down. Just by her looks alone you could see why Caden loved her, why every boy loved her. Her hair was long and naturally the color of ash, her eyes the color of the sky on a cloudless day, her skin was pale from working inside, but still had the bronze color. Factor in her personality and she's quite literally the perfect girl, I had to hear about her nonstop for years before Caden finally asked her out. Caden was handsome, every girl loved him. His skin, like mine, was dark due to our work. He was well built, tall, a smile plastered on his handsome face. He had light brown hair and dark brown eyes. And then there was me, the third wheel of this trio and plain in comparison to those two. I was tall, about as tall as Caden, but I was thin when compared to him. I had muscles, I was just thin. I wasn't as tan as him as he liked to use the forge outside, I liked the one inside. My hair was black, and I should probably cut it since I hadn't in a while and it was starting to get into my eyes. And my eyes were weird, as if I wasn't weird enough, my left eye was what my mom called turquoise and my right was a light green.

"Hey Blair," I greeted.

"So any ideas what we're doing here today?" she asked and we both shook our heads. While we talked a projection came up in the arena, probably from the silver's arena. The king started talking, but we still didn't fully understand what was going on until two people were brought out. A girl, who couldn't be much older than me walked out next to a boy who was also about my age.

And then the king announced, "Rose Amaya Loera, you have been found guilty of treason. Ignace Anthony Alain, you have been found guilty of regicide. You both have been sentenced to death." Now it was clear. This was an execution. Alain. That was the royal family name. The boy was the younger prince and he had killed the old king and his mother, we heard about that the other day when our new king was crowned. The king then went on to introduce their executioners and the fight began. This was nothing like any of us had seen before. The fight began shortly after the introductions and is wasn't looking good for the two traitors, until a man who had been in the background had fallen. And then the bronze, Rose, began fighting with electricity. That's when the executioners started to be brought down one by one. Until all five of them were on the ground. Ignace said something to Rose. That was when the fight got really interesting.

Rose began to speak. "My name is Rose Loera. You see the color I bleed. I am a bronze with the power of a silver. The royal family created the charade of me being a silver and King Bernard tried to cover it up by using a Thibould to nullify my power. But that didn't last long.

"Bronzes run this country! We do everything for the silvers! And how are we repayed?! We live in squalor. We get internships as children in hope of getting jobs before we're 20. We fight a war that is nothing more than population control! We are the majority! But we live in fear of the silvers who have power. But they are no longer the only ones to have power." The king yelled at her to stop talking. That didn't work. "NO! We will not be silenced any longer! You can steal my life. You can take way the people I love. You can hide the truth. But you will not take my voice from me! You can't treat us like garbage and expect us to take it forever! So you can kill us. You can kill every Undertaker alive right now, but there will always be more to replace us! We will not stop fighting until everything changes!"

""What a lovely speech Rosa, too bad only silvers are hearing it," the king replied. This entire time the prince had stood by Rose's side, almost daring anyone to take a hit at her while she talked.

"Oh? You think I let you turn off the broadcast? I told you Al, you can't silence me any more," she replied. The girl had a nickname for the king? How close were these two? "So while I'm talking I will also take this time to uncover the truth. Your new king killed his father and his stepmother in hopes of getting rid of his brother! He has set up this entire lie to kill someone he once loved! That is not the king I would want ruling!"

"LIES!" he shouted and then shot ice at her, my entire arena gasped as the ice sunk through her back. We watched on the edge of our seats as she sunk to the ground in Ignace's arms, a barrier formed around them before the broadcast cut out. No one moved. No one made a sound.

"What the hell just happened?" Blair asked.

"Nothing good," Caden said. We were then ordered to go back to our homes and stay there for the rest of the day. None of us dared to defy that order, when I got home my mom was already there with the kids, my mom ran an orphanage for the city.

"That was something wasn't it?" she asked when she saw me.

"I can't believe it. I mean the old style execution was unbelievable enough, but what that girl was saying..." I said.

"No Skylar, you aren't," my mom said.

"How'd you guess Mom?" I asked.

"Because I know you better than you know yourself. Please Skylar don't leave," she begged.

"Mom, I have to. I can't stay here, that girl she was right. Our country needs to change, and maybe I can help," I said.

"Skylar, you see dreams, how can that help?" she asked.

I smiled. "You never know Mom, everyone can be useful at one point right?"

"Skylar please," she begged.

"Don't worry Mom, I'm going to be fine. I'm going to pack some stuff before heading out," I replied before going up to the room I shared with four other boys from the ages of seven to thirteen. I grabbed a bag and packed some clothes, a little bit of money I had been saving. When I went back down stairs I kissed my mom on her cheek before stepping out of my house to see Caden and Blair there with bags over their shoulders.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked.

"Same thing you are," Blair replied.

"You think we're going to let you do this on your own?" Caden asked. "We've always been together Skylar, and I told you that it wasn't going to change when I got engaged and it sure as hell ain't going to change now. So brother, how do we find our potential new friends?"

"Well, that's part of the adventure, isn't it?" I replied.