The girls sat up straight as they heard the next part.
Savra blinked. "So the final trial was a death match?"
"Did you win?" Velra asked, leaning in.
Zain smiled a little. "Not really."
Zelia frowned. "What do you mean, not really?"
Zain leaned back and looked at the ceiling.
"The trial didn't say I had to win. It only said ten would survive. That was the real test."
Savra crossed her arms. "So what did you do?"
"I waited," Zain said with a smirk. "I just sat on the edge of the pit and watched them kill each other."
All three girls stared at him.
"You didn't fight?" Zelia asked.
Zain shrugged. "Not until I had to."
"Tell us the full story," Velra said.
Zain nodded. "Alright, listen up."
---
The twenty children stood still at first.
No one moved after the guard left.
Then the loudspeaker above the pit crackled again.
"MOVE! Or you all DIE!"
That was when it began.
One of the older boys let out a scream and rushed at another with a broken blade.
