A Tale of Life

vii. Sage

We entered a small room that had plain white walls and no windows.

A man with a thick white beard stood in front of us.

"Hello candidates." He greeted with a friendly grin. "I'm your MC for this year for the battles. You can call me Abdiel. And my daughter, Amara." He pointed to a girl in the corner of the room. "She will be the one monitoring all of you during the battles." Amara joined her father and unfolded a piece of paper she had in her possession.

"Okay. So here are the rules, teaming up is acceptable. In case you get eliminated, your bodies will be brought back to your families." She announced, her voice showing no emotion at all. "Lastly, only one will win." She said grimly, observing our horrified faces.

"Okay!" Abdiel exclaimed, breaking the silence in the room. "Within 5 minutes, the battles will start. And I want to give all of you one piece of advice before we commence, try not to die." He said.

"That was amazing advice." I heard Nova whisper beside me.

"Hey," I cupped her face, making her look at me. "You'll be fine. I promise."

"Please don't say that." She replied, her eyes glistening.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked. Her face growing dangerously close to mine.

"Just-" before she could finish what she was saying, our lips met and it felt magical. Just. Magical.

A couple of minutes later, we pulled apart. We stared into each other's eyes. For a that moment, I felt selfish. I didn't want this to end. I didn't want life to continue but it has to. For Nova. I need to make sure she wins and lives a life she deserves. Even if it costs my life.

Then, something happened. One by one, the people surrounding us were falling to the grounded, fainting. Why were they losing consciousness? I was immediately cut off from my thoughts when my eyes started to dim, until everything went completely dark. It felt like falling into a deep sleep.