The Chosen One

Chapter 6

My eyes were filled with wonder the minute I stepped into the back garden, if you could even call it that. There was a massive arena in the middle, with closed-off areas around it. Each area had a specific environment. A deep-water landscape, Snowy - icy mountains, a dry desert, a dark and mysterious jungle, a bustling city, and a small island surrounded by fast-moving waters.

"C'mon, I'll show you around," Corey wiggled his eyebrows, "It'll be fun!"

Before I could reply, Saph grabbed my arm and dragged me off to the first biome, the desert. The minute we opened the door, we were hit by a blast of sand. It was dry inside, and there was sand everywhere. The wind howled in our ears as we pushed our way through the sand. I called out for Saph, but her grip had disappeared from my arm. I whipped my head around, but all I could see was sand swirling around me. I began to panic. The winds were getting even stronger now.

Suddenly, everything stopped. The sand slowly fell onto the floor and the wind quietened down again. I saw Saph kneeling on the floor, holding onto a small lever in the sand. She grinned. "Sorry it took me so long to find the switch," she dusted off her clothes, "I'm a tad rusty after being undercover for so long."

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We then opened the door to the jungle area. My ears were instantly greeted by chirps and calls from various animals.

"Are there real animals in here?" I questioned.

"Some of it's real, some are recordings from a real jungle."

I looked around in amazement. Even the sky looked different, it was a perfect jungle down to the last detail.

"How do they make it so realistic?" This was beyond any special effects I had ever seen. She grinned and waved her hand through the air.

"It's done with magic, these areas are all copies of real places in the world. And, as the world keeps changing, these places all change too. That way you can never know what to expect. We recently had to change the jungle environment because the original place we used...well...it was destroyed by humans that were looking to make money off the massive trees." She sighed, "I loved that place, it reminded me of my childhood. Climbing the massive trees, swinging across on the vines," Saph looked up at the sky, "This used to be my favourite place but not after..." For the first time in my life, she looked sad, broken, empty.

"After what?"

"After my father... died." She let out a small sigh, "At least he died honourably in battle."

I was about to reply when I heard a low growl. My head whipped around but I couldn't see anything hiding in the green shrubbery. All of a sudden, a blur of yellow and black flew at me and I barely ducked to escape its massive claws. I spun around and there behind me was a massive jaguar. It had a tan-yellow fur and black spots. It growled again and crouched down, ready to pounce on me. I looked around for a weapon and as if on cue, a sharp sword appeared next to my feet. I picked it up and it fit perfectly into my palm, almost as it was made for me. Feeling quite scared, I slowly stood up and got in a fighting stance. The jaguar ran towards me faster than I expected, I swept the sword around, trying to hit the damn thing but it was too fast. This was a losing battle and I knew it. I desperately thought of a strategy but couldn't. I looked over my shoulder and saw Saph trapped in a transparent tube, bringing against the sides.

"This is your test, you must win the fight. But you shouldn't harm the jaguar in any way. The Hunters are all about peace, so harming animals will cost your points and earn you a lecture from Enol. I learned that the hard way," She shuddered.

I faced the jaguar again, this was going to be so much harder than I thought. My eyes searched up in the trees, hoping to find something useful. My eye catches on something shiny. I quickly realise they are the metal bars of a perfect jaguar-sized cage. The cage looked like a giant birdcage, suspended from the branch of a large tree. At the base of the tree was a metal plate, slightly jutting out of the ground.

I ran as fast as I could towards the tree, but the jaguar was catching up at a very fast rate. I could feel loud paws pounding at the earth behind me. At the last second, I slammed my foot down on the plate and the cage dropped out of the sky. Trapping the jaguar in bars of metal.

I collapsed next to the roots, puffed and out of breath. The transparent tube around Saph lifted and she immediately rushed towards me.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, probably just traumatised," I managed a weak laugh, "that creature is going to appear in my nightmares tonight"

"I'm so sorry, it was testing you for your powers. The machine would've made a profile by now." She looked down, "I should've been there, my job is to protect you and I've failed." Saph looked so sad I felt bad for her.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay. We're both alive and that's all that matters." I pulled her into a hug.

We both stood up and made our way to the door. We were greeted with a concerned Corey when we stepped out.

"Holy crap! Are you okay?" He questioned, looking at me for any injuries.

"I'm fine, how did you know what happened?"

Corey hesitated, "I saw you guys through the cameras, duh"

I was too tired to do anything except nod as they lead me back towards the mansion. They took me back to my room and lay me down. A small boy came to check up on my temperature and check for injuries. He seemed pretty shy and didn't speak much, only asking if I had any cuts or bruises. He then grabbed his medical bag and left. The boy gave me some pills to help me sleep, I grabbed them and swallowed all three pills in one go. I quickly started to drift off as the pills did their job. It wasn't until I was on the brink of sleep that I realised.

There were no cameras in any of the biomes.