Author's Game Entries

Task 2: Civil War

Andie looks up as she feels her platform start to rise. Above her seems to be some sort of watery substance, only glimmers of violet light filtering through. The girl squeezes her eyes shut as her platform continues to ascend, and she winces as her head is pushed against the substance.

It disgustingly slowly allows her through the thick membrane as she's continued be pushed up into it, like it's swallowing her, before it snaps shut again around her feet like a bubble. She keeps her eyes shut though, nervous as to what she'd see if she opened them.

She realizes she feels weightless. Andie can feel her hair floating around her face, stray strands brushing against her cheeks gently. She continues to keep her eyes closed as she tries to calm her racing heartbeat, adrenaline spiking through her veins as she thinks of the fight to come.

Breathe in...

Breathe out...

Each of her slow breaths feel like she's trying to breathe through a wet cloth, leaving the feeling of liquid being sucked into her lungs. A brief amusing thought flutters through her mind; is this what a mermaid feels like?

Breathe in... Breathe out.

When she finally opens her eyes, Andie is amazed at the sight around her. She finds herself floating just above her entry platform in the middle of a purple galaxy, the platform seeming to be floating itself. A little ways away from her is Plutus Areima, the other tribute from One, on his own platform.

The other awed tributes are on their platforms as well, forming a sort of circle around what seems to be a frozen splattering of supplies. The frozen objects aren't just there though, as all around them in the seemingly infinite galaxy are objects; all miscellaneous items varying from random objects like broken baby dolls and silverware to completely bizarre ones like toasters with wings and clocks with darting eyes.

The one similarity between every object is that they are all frozen, as if stopped in time. Andie is transfixed by a pocket watch stopped just above her, and she slowly reaches up to touch it curiously,

only to be stopped before her fingers even brush the object, as she's startled by a sudden earsplitting explosion. Her ears are left ringing and her wide eyes instantly dart around around in search of the source of the detonation.

She finds it across the circle from her, her eyes locking on what's left of the district 11 male. He's nothing but a charred platform and a mess of gore that can't even be described as human anymore. Beside him is his district partner, Willow Victus, trembling in horror and splattered with his remains.

Even with this blow to their morale, none of the tributes are allowed time to recover from this startling incident before another loud reverberation echoes through the arena. The sound of a gong rings, the teeth shattering noise sending visible ripples through the water like galaxy, and disrupting the objects were they rest and throwing all of them adrift.

Andie feels her heart skip a beat, her mind momentarily shutting down in panic. The other tributes are already surging off of their platforms without a moment's hesitation, the awaited sign to begin received. The games have begun.

As she sees them, her brain does a little jump start reaction, hotwiring her into action and subconsciously forcing her off her own platform. Andie doesn't realize she'd reacted until a moment later, but by then she has no time for panic anymore, as her life is officially on the line. She needs to make it to the weapons.

...Easier said than done. The galactic substance they're all in isn't just making it hard to breathe, it's also affecting their movements, and darting towards the floating weapons becomes much more of a challenge. While her swimming isn't the most graceful, Andie thinks she's pretty damn good at it as she makes her way over there, even if she actually looks like a drowning ferret.