Last Man Standing

Chapter 8

(Sky's POV)

I had a slight problem on my hands.

First of all, I'm face to face with a competitor that probably has every intention to kill me right now.

And second of all, I now have a very hungry pack of wolves ready to make me their next meal.

The wolves were bloodthirsty, and I could see that this wasn't going to be an easy fight. The closest one to me growled, snapping it's jaws of sharp teeth. I flinched back, frantically looking around for some sort of weapon I could use to defend myself. There was nothing around but some small twigs and a few measly pebbles.

As I backed away from the wolves that were slowly surrounding me, my body must have thought it was a good idea to be my clumsy self, because I ended up tripping my own feet and falling to the ground. As I fell however, something cold and metallic lightly scraped the back of my neck. I instantly remembered the gold sword that I had taken from the chest when the games had first started. I quickly pulled out the sword. The wolves howled at the sight.

Holding the sword out in front of me, I managed to get a glance at who the kid was that I had saved from these wolves. The boy was frozen solid, but I knew who it was.

The purple sorcerer.

"Hey kid! I could use a little help here!" I cried out, swinging my sword at a wolf who jumped at my leg. It whimpered as my blade struck its nose, but it's whimper quickly turned into fiercer growling.

The sorcerer looked at me for a moment, and I was almost certain I saw the conflict he was fighting right now in his eyes. I knew what he was doing. Either let me die by the hands of these wolves or help me and possibly fight me afterwards.

In the moment I put my guard down, one of the wolves took its chance at me, and managed to bite me on the ankle. I hollered in pain as the wolves began to swarm me, scratching me with their claws and nipping me with their fangs. I thrashed as the wolf biting my ankle bit harder, causing blood to flow down my leg, heavily. I began breathing quickly, swinging my sword clumsily around, trying to hit any wolf I could.

Through fur and fangs, I saw the sorcerer still standing there, a look of horror on his face. At this point I had no more pride in myself. I needed help to live.

"Help me please!" I screamed through tears. The sorcerer looked at me for a minute, and then slowly raised his hand. A purple aura began to dance around his fingertips, and as I watched the sorcerer perform his magic, the scratching and biting began to stop. I watched through bloody eyes as the wolves began to be lifted in the air. They thrashed violently, scared and confused about what was happening. Then suddenly, they were thrown in all different directions, hitting the ground with massive thuds. They quickly stood up, and ran off, their tails between their legs.

I looked over at the sorcerer, who was now running over next to me. He bent down beside me, and looked me in the face. I looked at him, knowing what would happen next. I raised a bloody hand to his knee, and he looked at me, his face solemn.

"I understand what your going to do, it's all a game." I said, hoping he would understand my message. The sorcerer reached into his back pocket, which I thought would surely reveal a knife that would be used to kill me. Instead, he pulled out a small vile of pinkish liquid. He propped me up using a nearby rock, and took the top off the vile. He handed it to me.

"Drink." He commanded, pointing at the mixture. I looked at him, as if he thought I was stupid.

"Do you really expect me to drink this? I just came across you, whom Ive never met before, in a game where the whole point is to kill one another, and you expect me to drink some foreign liquid?" I asked him. The boy shrugged.

"I saved you from those wolves. And I think you should drink the liquid." He told me. I looked at him, unconvinced. He rolled his eyes.

"It's a health potion. It heals you so you won't die from the wolf bites. I promise it isn't poison. If I really wanted you dead I could've just fed you to the wolves a few minutes ago." He testified. I glanced down at the potion again.

He has a point. And at this point, I'm going to most likely die either at the hands of this kid or because of my wounds. So what have I got to lose.

I raised the vile to my lips and drank the potion. Setting down the vile, my body began to feel warm, and my skin began to tingle. I watched in awe as the the bite marks on my legs, arms, and hands began to magically sew themselves together. The blood caking my skin dissolved, leaving behind nothing but a slight scar from where the skin was torn. I looked at the kid, shocked.

"You saved my life." I said after a few silent moments. The kid stood up, and reached out his hand. I grabbed it, and he pulled me up, staring me down the whole time.

"Why? Why would you save me?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"Death by mutilation of wolves doesn't really seem like a good way to go for anybody. And besides, it would've been me they attacked if you had not come along." He said, kicking the dirt. "So I guess my debt is repayed." I nodded.

"Um, thanks kid. What's your name?" I asked.

"Seto. District 6." He said, lowering his gaze.

"District 6? Never been there. What's it like?" I asked, curiously. Seto sat down, and I did the same.

"It's nothing fancy like here in the capital city. It's just a lot of farmland and rivers. We have a small city with a few large buildings, but they're mostly used for government meetings when officials from the capital check in on us for the yearly crop gathering. That's when they collect all the crops we've produced to feed the citizens of the capital." He explained. "I come from a family of 5 kids, so food and money have always been pretty tight."

I nodded understandingly.

"So, uh, how did u find out you were a sorcerer anyways?" I then probed. Seto shrugged.

"I was born with it. Just kinda happened. One day I was out by the lake, throwing tiny pebbles into the water, and the next thing I know, the water is dancing with the will of my fingertips. Sure it frightened my parents awfully bad, but they soon became less afraid and actually curious about it. We travelled many places to try and figure out how I got the powers I do, but no one can give us an answer." Seto said, sighing. "Well, its best we become enemies again Sky. I'll cya around." And just like that he began to run off.

I waved goodbye, and began walking the other way. As I walked, I thought about Seto and what he said.

As I kept thinking and replaying the conversation from earlier, I noticed something off about Seto. As far as I'm concerned, I never told him my name. And yet he knew it.

I'm so freaking sorry for the delay. It's been like what, 8 months?

School has been a pain in the butt but it finally let out so I'm trying to get back to writing! I hope you enjoy the chapter I'll try to make it a good one! I know it's a little short but I promise the next one will be much longer!

Also quick side note, thanks for almost 60k reads on Captured by Squids! Love y'all <3

Until the next chapter!
~Citrus