By The Power Of Our Eyes [01]

Chapter One [Renge]

Fear. Anxiety. And even excitement.

I stood at the entrance to the Belle Testing Facility awaiting my turn to take my trial. I felt all of those emotions and more. My dark brown hair fluttering in the wind behind me as I stood as still as I could. My breathing was hard to control and I felt as if my lungs would just burst wide open right then and there.  I trained my eyes - which were a bright blood red color as if earlier today - on the facility's door as if it were a monster waiting to swallow me up.

After what felt like an eternity, the door opened to reveal an elder woman wearing nothing but simple gray robes. I kept my head lowered slightly before she took notice of me. But, when she spotted me her face lit up into a bright smile.

"Ah!" She cried out before she began moving towards me. "You must be Renge Akemi!" I resisted the urge to take a step backwards and instead nodded my head in response. The woman's smile grew and she reached forward to grab my right hand. I took in her features; her hair was a dark brown not unlike my own hair. Her eyes were startling as they were devoid of color and that's when I realized

"Y-You're a colorless!" I cried out softly and as I did so her smile faltered for a split second. But, before long it was back and she seemed to be effected by my words. I immediately blushed in embarrassment once I realized my mistake. Quickly, I opened my mouth to tell her that I am sorry, but it would seem that the woman wasn't going to let me apologize. The woman grabbed my hand and lead me into my trial arena.

"I can't believe I actually met one of them!" I thought to myself as I was led along the silver and gray hallways of the facility. "I've actually come face to face with a true colorless!"
•••
I sat in the dull gray cage as I awaited my results. The walls around me were all gray stone and the bars of the door matched the wall's coloring to the t. I had a small chair and a bed with white and black sheets. Nothing else was provided for me. It was depressing to say the least. Yet, I sat there all the while hoping that I was able to get a good enough scoring to pass.

It seemed like hours or maybe even a day since I was led into the cell after finishing my test. It felt like forever, yet I didn't complain. That wasn't how I was raised. But, I kept my thoughts as straight as I could as well. The door to one of the upper floors could be heard opening and shutting loudly before footsteps sounded above the wall of cells I was in. Finally, a guard came down from the upper floors and walked over to my cell. He looked at me with disgust before unlocking my cage.

"Come on, condemned!" He barked out at me. I seriously hoped that he was mistaken. That what he called wasn't true as that would mean the worst possible punishment for failing. He attached a chain around my wrists and ankles before leading me past the other cells up towards the stairs that go up to the upper floors. Each step I took I feared the worst. I was terrified that the man was correct and that I had failed. That I wouldn't be able to go home. And that I was indeed condemned to the Arena.

The guard stopped in front of a door that was labeled 'coordinator Miku' and knocked. I stood still with my head down as I waited for my fate to be decided. If it already wasn't. Moments later a muffled voice was heard from the other side of the wooden door and the guard opened it. Sitting in the back of the room was an elderly women behind a large oak desk. She had greying hair and matching eyes

"It would seem that she's a colorless too." I thought to myself as I was ushered into the room. My chains clinking loudly as I shuffled across the floor in bare feet. The women looked up from the papers that was sitting on her desk. She looked from the guard to me.

"Ah good," she said before she straightened up in her seat. "You've brought miss Akemi!" She then grabbed a paper and fingerprinting ink from her desk before she walked over to us. The woman nodded to the guard before he harshly grabbed my hand and forced me to put a fingerprint into some ink. He then printed it onto the paper. The woman looked over at me with cold eyes and she pulled out a metal collar from a cabinet that was to our left. She proceeded to clasp it around my neck and as it clicked into place she uttered the words I feared the most and I knew then that they were true.

"You are now a condemned."