Chapter 2
The First day
White lights enveloped him and Kale closed his eyes.
When the light was gone, he opened them. What was before him was a world of grey. He looked around, and saw a nothing but forest all around him, stretching far and wide.
The other twelve was nowhere to be seen.
He couldn't see the High Voice anywhere either.
The tree's around him were quite tall and reached towards the sky, like hands grasping at the sky above.
Kale observed the area around him only to realise that most of the vegitation around him were dead. The trees had rotted and the bark was falling off. The ground was covered in gray-like ash, that creaked under his sandals.
The sky above was gray aswell -like i thunder storm- only, no thunder resounded in the distance.
He felt his body shiver as the wind caressed his light clothes. He was wearing nothing except a chiton, and linen trousers. He had a pair of leather sandals aswell; this is the clothes that the Crucible gifts it challengers.
'Couldnt the Crucible atleast have given me something more? I look like a beggar again!'
Kale let out a frustrated sigh and looked around him.
'Well, no matter. I bet the Crucible has already given the others weapons, armor or something of the like... but i need to focus! where am i?'
He started walking around the area for a place of higher ground, so that he could get his bearings. After a while he saw a tree that seemed perfect for climbing, so he did.
The climb wasn't very hard, since the bark was coming off the tree, giving him a lot of footholds.
When he was about halfway up the tree, he was finaly able to see his surrondings. It was just a endless forest all around him. As he was taking in the revelation of that fact, he saw something shimmering in the distance.
'Huh? what is that? Maybe another challenger?'
He quickly got back to his senses and thought:
'I think the dammed Crucible has sent me to a death zone... But what was that light? Maybe i should check it out?'
Kale sat on the branches for a while, pondering about what to do. Eventually he made a decision. He was going to travel to the shimmering light.
He climbed back down, and started his trek towards the light.
The terrain was rough, and hard to navigate, but with his thin and weak body, it was even harder. He discovered a few dried up rivers, but no water.
He was starting to get thirsty...
'Dammit! I have been walking for what? Four hours and still no water in sight!?'
'The Crucible is definently trying to kill me... I wonder how many of us was sent here... and how many will die here?'
After a long walk, and a few rests, he finally made it to the source of the light.
The frustrated grimace on his face twisted at what he saw infront if him. It was a macabre sight...
it was a challanger. What remained of one atleast...
In the middle of the clearing laid a corpse, ripped in two, blood pouring down onto the ground. The blood mixed with the ashen-like grass and became somewhat of a red sludge. He could discern that It was a girl, she had died only recently, around maybe four hours ago... And Kale could still smell the blood on the wind.
Her mangled face was frozen in a silent scream, and her eyes was still open, her mouth was still locked open in a soundless wail.
'By the gods!'
Kale tried to take a step back but stumbled onto the ground. Still in shock from the scene infront of him he thought:
'Who did this to her?'
'Why!? Why would anyone do such a thing?!'
'Whoever did this to her, can't be human, it must be a beast from the Cursed Horde'
'Was she alone? I have not seen any other signs of another challenger'
As questions were fillied his mind his gaze flowed down her shoulder, onto her arm, and saw what she was holding.
"A sword!"
Kale accidently said it aloud in excitement. Who could blame him? a sword was very useful. Especially when facing the creautures of the cursed horde.
He crawled to the corpse, and tried not to look at her, but his eyes could not stray away from the gruesome scene infront of him.
Kale felt nothin in his heart as he saw the young girl laying dead infront of him. He didnt know her name, he had never met her. But still it stirred something in him to see someone as youn as himself die, and much more so when in such brutal manner.
'How long have i been in the streets, that i have gotten used to seeing corpses?'
He shook the thought from his head and focused on the task at hand.
'The weapon... I have to get the weapon!'
He crawled a bit more and grabbed the handle of the sword. He picked up the sword and analyzed it
'It's not heavy, is this even a sword? I have never held a real sword before, but i heard it was heavy. Still I'm not going to complain.'
The blade was short, about half a meter, and the metal was black. It was a single-edged weapon, and had a simple design. There was no engravings, or gems, just a black, smooth, and simple sword.
'Is this a tachi? It a katana or whatever it is called?'
His thoughts were interupted as he heard rustling behind him
'oh shit...'
He slowly turned around, and that was when he realised what the shimmering from before actually were...