IMPRESS. [Book 1]

Chapter Thirteen: The Deadly Stage 1

IMPRESS.

Chapter Thirteen: The Deadly Stage 1

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Ever woke up and wondered how you got to your bed the night before?

No?

Well, I've woken up and I am not in my bed, not in the castle and not in Icilia.

Actually, I am in the middle of a dark forest. With only the light of the moon helping illuminate the night. 

What is this?

I was cold, my fingers were trembling and my lips were quivering. I crossed my arms, rubbing my hands against them in an attempt to warm up my body. 

How did I get here- Wait, am I in the first stage of the IMPRESS event?

I threw my head back and shut my eyes in realisation, I am in the game aren't I? Oh great.

That was unexpected, I don't even remember going to sleep.

The last thing I remember was seeing all the dead bodies in the prince's bedchamber and then screaming from an horrendous pain.

I cannot recite what happened to me before this moment off by heart.

Opening my eyes, it occurred to me that this stage was a race on who could leave this world first so, I had to start walking to get to the exit.

When I looked ahead, all I saw were endless amounts of trees in the dark distance. I slumped my shoulders, well, this is scary.

I knew this was a fake world created by the black witch but it felt so real.

Being in this world was uncomfortable I felt like I was being watched by over thousands and I knew I was correct.

I knew that somehow and someway the people of Aeralin, Icilia, Agriassi, Miriadan and Weimos were all watching us six girls fight for our lives and for the prince's heart.

Little did the people know that I didn't want the prince's heart, I was doing this to avoid me and my brother being exposed by the unknown and killed by the people.

 I was doing this to hopefully find out who killed my parents and get revenge.

And a part of me was also doing this because I liked the idea of being a queen.

As I took a step forward, I startled myself by crushing a pile of crunchy leaves under the heel of my boot. 

I placed my hand over my heart as if I was going to pass out. This place is so eerie and dark that my paranoia levels are on a high.

I arched my eyebrow feeling something hard under the heel of my boot.

Waaaait a minute, boot?

I looked down and saw that I was wearing a fairly stylish tight, black jumpsuit with a belt that had large pouches for weapons such as knives. On my feet were black, knee-high combat boots that were almost blending in with the darkness.

Crouching down I swiped my hand over the crispy leaves that were covering the hard object I had stood on. 

A shiny, sharp metal bit made its way into sight and I brushed the rest of the leaves off it before picking up the lethal weapon.

It was a dagger, not just one dagger, but two.

Getting distracted whilst crouched down, I rummaged through the leaves more and more until I found a crossbow and a bunch of arrows.

Wait.

Alaric said this stage is about doing the opposite of what you would actually do, so if I naturally could pick a weapon I would go for the crossbow, therefore, to be different, I would have to go for the two daggers.