Suddenly, a bolt of lightning the colour of darkness streaked across the horizon, a shapeless star searing into his wrist. He screamed in agony, smoke and vapour rising from the spot that shone red.
He held onto the edges of his wrist, falling on his ass.
He could not feel the pain again, and started laughing maniacally, rage suddenly taking over him.
He manifested his staff, and it was thicker than it had ever been, but he did not know that.
He began running, hoping to find the orchestrator of all of this, but all he did was hit a glass wall and fall back in pain.
He stood up, massaged his forehead, and glared up at the sky, covered in all his power. Unbeknownst to him, he was now visible to an entire audience who watched not only him, but the others who had just gone through similar nightmares like him.
*** ***
Raven stumbled backwards, her shoulders crashing against an invisible barrier. She slid to the ground, dazed, her fingers scrapping through the floor.
The memories swirled in her mind like a storm, fragments of her real life, and many of the life she had thought was real.
People she had loved and lost, choices she had made and regretted.
'Were they all lies?'
The words echoed through her mind, rage and confusion warring within.
She scrambled to her feet, her eyes scanning the empty expanse around her.
'Where am I?'
'What was this place?'
Her gaze landed on her hand, and she saw a three tailed whip clenched in her fist.
When had she...? She did not remember having it from the false life, but it felt normal, like a part of her she had always known.
Raven's eyes narrowed, her anger narrowing into a single question. 'Who brought me here?'
She looked up to the sky, a sickly yellow haze devoid of clouds. She stared unblinking, as if trying to bore a hole through the sky itself.
"Who are you?" She growled, her voice barely audible. "What do you want?"
Her jaw clenched, her fingers tightening around the tip of the whip. She would not be getting her answers it seemed, atleast not here.
She hit against the wall, grunting in pain. The force did not budge. It was like a cage that sealed her in, whichever way she turned.
She did all she could, but the barrier remained, keeping her inside. It felt like the walls were closing in on her, as voices collided in her head whispering words of death and suffocation.
She screamed, smoke emitting from her as she raised her whip in the air, striking at the barrier with her might.
It shattered like glass, and she ran out of it, into a dark corridor.
Her eyes pierced through the darkness, and she walked on till she found a door, and passed through it. She was in a maze, the walls twisting and turning like a living thing.
She checked behind her, the door was gone.
She took off, sprinting in the darkness, trying to find her way out of it.
The scent of decay and rot thickened in the air, vines from the maze trying to tie her feet. She lashed at them with her whip as she went, the maze shifting and reforming, trying to trap her. She did not worry, they would not stop her from getting her answers.
She already had an idea of what was going on, but she was not certain. She wanted just a single proof, and all her confusions would be cleared.
She moved through the paths with deadly purpose. Her smoke guided her, tracing the way out, and leading her through, her whip moving mechanically.
It was very clear now, it was trying to hurt her, rocks and blocks from nowhere falling on her. She dodged them am, running faster than she had been, and she finally saw the opening. Large rocks began falling, closing the way as if trying to see just how much she remembered.
She flew above it, a smirk on her face as everything crumbled into ash.
She landed on a floor with a thud, blinding lights flooding everywhere.
She stood in an arena, her eyes scanning the entire space.
"Who are you?" A voice growled.
That was when she noticed the figure clad in black armor, and a large sword in his hands glaring down at her.
"You are the one who did this?" He asked.
She looked at him in confusion for a moment, suddenly realizing who he was.
"Damen." She whispered in shock.
What had happened to him.
He looked like he had been corrupted by the dark continent, his eyes were totally black, without any sign of his former self.
The dome had broken him.
He lunged at her, faster than she had ever seen, his powers obeying him abnormally.
He suddenly phased into three different and yet same versions of himself as he charged at her.
'What was happening?'
She wondered, her eyes widening.
Smoke enshrouded her, churning quickly.
She waited until his three versions were near, and the smoke swallowed her whole.
She struck the main Damen from behind, but it barely hurt him.
She moved back quickly, the other two coming at her. Her whip was not enough, and she did not have full knowledge of her powers.
A dagger manifested in her hand, her whip wrapping around one and pulling him in to end it, and then the other quickly.
She ran to meet the main Damen, his massive sword dragging through the sand as he walked towards her.
She did not see that the other two had regenerated, and continued dodging Damens blows, trying to land her strike on him.
Her whip lashed out, but he caught it mid air. Her dagger aiming for his throat, but he struck it down with his sword.
Her knees connected with his stomach, but he did not flinch. It was almost as though he was playing with her, trying to see how much she could endure.
The second Damen struck her from her blind side, she could not evade it in time.
She crashed to the ground, the third Damen dragging her through the sand.
Stones, and tiny bits of rocks tore at her skin, but she made no sound.
She gritted her teeth, lashing him with her whip, and stabbing him with her dagger, but he did not flinch.
The other two watched as he flung her far away.
Was it fun for them?
She did not know, her body falling to the ground with a thud.
Her vision swam, her back badly injured.
They walked towards her in perfect sync.
They were done playing. She stretched out her hand, grabbing the tip of her whip, and standing up.
If he could do what he did, surely her smoke could do more.
She screamed, smoke rising out of her in large amount. They filled the entire place, each taking on her form.
She smiled. She loved this.
The smoke figures attacked them, and they attacked each one, searching for her amongst them, but they could not find her.
She came out of air, and used both legs to kick push one at the spinal cord, vanishing again.
Her whip lashed out, coiling around the necks of the two duplicates and she yanked them backwards, pulled them away with much strength. She stabbed each one several times in the vital organs, hopping between smoke figures when Damen caught onto her.
Damen generated more, the more she killed.
She was tired of this, but he did not seem to mind.
He struck her on her jaw, pulling her by the hair, but she managed to free herself from his grasp and vanished again.
She touched her jaw, cleaning the blood from her lips while she stretched it to reduce the pain.
She wanted to end him soon.
She thought up an idea, hopping through the smoke figures, and landing on his shoulders, her legs wrapped tightly around.
She used the dagger and carved round his head quickly, vanishing before she could see the effects.
There was a loud thud, followed by silence.
She approached cautiously, making sure that it was not a trap.
Damen lay on the floor, his eyes bulged, as blood flowed from his head.
He looked at her as she stood over him, his brain trying so hard to remember what it always knew, but it was no use.
She watched his other duplicates fade back into him, his eyes returning back to normal.
"Raven," he gasped. "Why?"
He asked, his face filled with confusion as he died.
The ground where she stood on began rising, no doubt the crowd out there were cheering.
She felt her eyes water, but no one had ever seen her tears, they meant weakness.
She smiled, giving them the face of their winner who now knew that she was in a trial to die or live.
The only consolation she felt was that he never remembered that this was something he had walked into to die. Something their parents forced them into.
Even though he saw her as his killer, that was fine.
She smiled widely, waving her hands in the air like she saw them all. But in her mind she did.