It was quiet in the morning. Each of the contestants were sitting, silent, mind lost in one thought or another. No one spoke. No one complained. All glad about the few hours Harith acceded to let them leisure around before they had to move again to avoid attracting monsters. The more they stayed in some place, the more their scent lingered, borrowing into the earth itself. 

Though they had rested for hours, their movements looked lethargic and sluggish. Some were near the water, others were leaning on rocks, eyes closed and heads turned towards the sun, while others were still tearing into their breakfast. Grilled fish fresh from the lake. 

Ayah and Harith sat at the edge of the lake, dipping their legs in the cool water. They couldn’t see it yesterday with the darkness, but the color was a beautiful emerald green. It glimmered under the sun’s golden light. Fish of different colors were gliding leisurely despite the presence of their predators who had just caught their brethren.

It must be nice being a fish. Not a single care in the world.

Together, they ate their grilled fish. Ayah ate much faster than Harith. She flicked small pebbles into the water while she waited for him to finish. The fish excitedly swam up to the disturbance, flashing their beautiful colors, before they noticed it was just a rock, then waddled away in their disappointment.

Suddenly, an obsidian black fish, bigger than the others, caught Ayah’s attention. She shook Harith’s shoulder, pointing excitedly to the fish.

“Look, look! Doesn't it remind you of someone?”

“Hm?” Harith raised an eyebrow at her. “The fish?”

“It looks just like you!” Ayah declared with a grin. “Look at it go! It even acts like you!”

The fish waddled away, separate from the others. Now that she thought about it, it didn’t even bother to check what Ayah was throwing in the water. While the other fish flocked to her at each throw, the obsidian fish remained undisturbed by all the inane happenings around it.

Harith glanced at her, then at the fish, looking torn. “I look like a fish? … Is this supposed to be a compliment?” He mused to himself, frowning.

Ayah snorted, a laugh bubbling through her chest. “Don’t worry, you’re way more handsome than a fish,” she declared. She gave him an appraising look, nodding at what she saw. “Actually, you’re the most handsome man I know.”

Harith choked. He clutched his chest and looked overwhelmed. Ayah yelped and started slapping him on the back.

Harith coughed and gasped in precious lungfuls of air. His eyes were wide, staring at the water. He then pointed to another fish with white, black, and golden strips and said, “That one… It almost looks like you, does it not?”

The fish he pointed to had broken away from the group and barreled towards the obsidian one. It didn’t stop. It slammed into it with full force. The obsidian fish didn’t seem to mind, it shifted, creating a space for its new companion to waddle.

Ayah bursted out into laughter, wheezing and nearly falling to the ground. She clutched at her sides. “I – I can’t believe you –”

Harith then did something surprising. He laughed. His laughter bubbled out, full, bright, and unrestrained.

The rest of the morning passed in heavy silence. All the other contestants seemed on edge, waiting for Harith to announce their dreaded departure. Harith, the worrywart that he was, went to survey the forest for any upcoming threats.

Ayah stayed by the water, watching the ripples the pebbles made upon its clear surface.

A teenager stood a couple steps from her, throwing rocks in the lake. The rocks sank as soon as they made contact with the water, and the boy would let out an annoyed huff each time they did.

Ayah stood up, picking up a couple of decent rocks.

“There’s a couple errors in your technique,” Ayah said as she approached him.

The boy startled. He eyed her suspiciously. Ayah smiled, showing him the pile of rocks in her hands.

“First, you have to choose the right rock, flat with a nice weight to it.” She held up a flat stone. It wasn’t circular, and had a bit of a flunky shape, but it would do. As her old orphanage’s reigning champion, Ayah was confident she could skip any rock, no matter the shape, on the water. She showed it to him. He looked at it with so much concentration it brought a smile to Ayah’s face. 

“Rest it on your middle finger, then use your forefinger and your thumb to sling it off,” she explained.

She stood sideways, looking where she wanted to skip. “Lean a bit on your foot, but not too much lest you lose your balance.” She leant on her opposite foot. “Bring your arm low, like this. Put your elbow forward, and then sling it off your fingers.”

She slinged the rock. It skipped several times, with no sign of slowing down, then hit the opposite bank.

Ayah chuckled, a sheepish smile pulling at her lips. “I might have used a bit too much force there.”

The kid looked at her, blinking. “Does that mean you lost?”

Ayah nodded. “Exactly! It’s a valuable lesson. Sometimes raw strength can be a hindrance. You have to be smart and patient.”

The kid frowned, looking down at his dirt stained hands. “Do my throws mean I’m dumb?”

Ayah sputtered. “No, of course not! It – It, uhm, it means you’re bold and a bit too hasty. Sort of like –” she flailed around, trying to think of something that wouldn’t bring the boy’s spirit down. “Like a lion.”

The boy smiled, nodding. He turned back to the water, and following her earlier instructions, he threw another rock. It skipped twice before sinking.

Ayah clapped him on the shoulder, grinning. “Nice! Keep at it, and you’ll become an expert in no time.” 

The boy grinned back.

They skipped a couple more rocks, before Harith’s rigid form caught her attention. She helped the kid choose more stones before she left with a couple words of encouragement.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

Harith frowned at the forest. “It’s been hours and none of the monsters I sensed earlier had shown up.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It’s quiet. Too quiet.” He turned to her. “It’s never this quiet here.” 

He stilled, his eyes darting towards the lake, widening. “Something is coming.” He put his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to unsheathe it.

As if a herald of bad news, his words were followed by the system’s loud ding. The messages sprung in front of her face, blaring red.

[Warning : The Black Serpent monster has appeared!]

[Escape with your life and survive!]

Ayah startled. A monster? Here? Where was it? She couldn’t see anything!

The surface of the lake split open and the monster emerged. A towering form with elongated fangs and obsidian scales.

“Get away from the water!” Ayah yelled.

Warriors scrambled to their feet, their faces awash with terror as their eyes stared at the serpent. They started running, all their complaints yesterday about tiredness forgotten in the face of death.

All of them except one.

One of them wasn’t moving. The boy Ayah had taught rock skipping to, was standing on trembling legs, his mouth opened in a scream.

Ayah yelled at him to run, but the kid was rock-still, his eyes fixed on the monster. The serpent, having glimpsed him, whooshed towards him, fangs raised.

Someone yelled the kid’s name.

Ayah sped towards him. The kid fell back as Ayah pushed him. She gritted her teeth as pain shot through her shoulder. She held the serpent’s mouth open, her arms straining under its strength. His fang was buried in her shoulder, it kept digging deeper and deeper into her flesh.

The system went mad with the same sequence of messages reappearing again and again.

[Warning : Harmful substance detected : Black Poison.] 

[Passive Skill : Immunity activated.]

[Black Poison nullified.]

She shot the kid a stern look. “What are you still doing here!? Leave!”

Broken out of his trance, the kid’s face scrunched up as tears started falling down his cheeks. He scrambled to his feet and started running.

Finally, Ayah thought.

She narrowed her eyes at the serpent. How was she going to get away from it? Both her hands were occupied. She couldn’t use her sword.

“Ayah!”

She startled as Harith’s voice called to her. She turned to him just in time to see him sending his sword flying towards the serpent’s head. It cut the head with one strike. She staggered back, then fell on her knees. Harith was in front of her the next second.

“Are you alright?” he asked, an agitated look on his face.

Ayah blinked. “I’m fine.” Except from the throbbing in her shoulder, she wasn’t harmed. She glanced at the torn flesh.

His face twisted when his eyes looked at her wound. “You’re hurt.”

She waved his concern away. “I’ll be fine.”

His frown deepened further in concern. “It might be poisoned.”

“It’s okay, I have a high immune system. It’s already healed.”

The ground trembled around them. She glanced at the serpent’s corpse and stilled at what she saw. From the fatal wound dealt by Harith, there were now two serpent heads twisting around.

The monster hadn’t died. It had not only healed, but multiplied.

“We need to leave,” she grabbed Harith’s arm, the one hovering over her wounded shoulder, and tugged him till he faced the monster.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

The, now two, serpent's heads twisted and dived towards them. Before Harith or Ayah could get to their feet, two pillars of rock sprung from the ground and struck the heads. The serpents recoiled.

A woman clad in a black and red armor stood some distance behind them, her hands held high in the air. The kid Ayah had saved was hiding behind her. He was wearing the same armor as her, Ayah noted.

The serpents twisted around. They opened their maw wide, thin and sharp projectiles hurled towards them, shattering the rocks standing in their way. Harith stood his ground, his sword already back in his hand. He swung it around, deflecting the knife-like objects.

He pulled her up to her feet, and they sprinted away. The monster followed them for a while, but soon stopped and returned back to its dwelling waters. No longer interested in them.

Only when they were a great distance from it, did Ayah allow herself a breath of relief.

No one had died. They had all escaped with their lives, unscathed.

“This isn’t normal,” Harith hissed under his breath, his brows furrowed. “None of these monsters had been heard of for the last century. Why did they awaken now?”

It was certain now. Someone was out for the contestants’ blood. But who?

An image sprung to Ayah’s eyes. A brown haired man with his fingers dipped in blood. She paused. Could it be him? Loaye had said he had arranged for Shoaib to be assassinated? Were they witnessing his machination in play?

Could be.

The woman approached her. She stood in front of her, her face stern and unsmiling. Ayah regarded her with a querying look. 

Then the woman bowed, deeply.

“Thank you for saving my little brother. I’ll be indebted to you for life.”

Ayah raised her hand. “It’s fine. I’m glad he’s okay.”

The woman nodded. She turned to the teenager, and tugged him from his ear. “Adil, where are your manners? You should thank your savior properly.”

The teenager squirmed in her grasp. She forcefully bowed his head in front of Ayah. Ayah flailed around, asking her to release the kid as his faint cries of pain sounded the longer his sister scolded him.

“No, please. It’s fine.” 

The kid turned tearful eyes at Ayah. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

Ayah put her hand over her hip, an eyebrow raised. “Your fault? Why? Was it you who summoned that monster?”

He gave her a tearful shake of the head. 

“See? Everything is fine now.”

Harith remained quiet during the whole exchange.

They found the others huddled together at an outcropping of rocks. Their faces eased as they saw them approach.

After saving her little brother’s life, Laila seemed to warm up to her. They talked about their profession. Laila was in the king’s guard, a position that most of her ancestors held. Not knowing what to say, Ayah stammered that she was, somehow, the same.

Well, she did help Shoaib once… So …

“You’re a volunteer?” Laila asked, her eyes widening a bit.

“Kind of.” Ayah scratched her cheek.

Laila nodded. “I see. It seems we have more in common than I thought.” She held a fisted hand to her chest. “I volunteered to be here. After my brother had been chosen as a contestant, I couldn’t just let him go alone. Not when he can barely protect himself. It falls to me, as the elder sibling, to ensure his protection.”

Ayah nodded, understanding. Then she paused.

“Wait, chosen? He didn’t choose to be here?”

Now that she thought about it, the man yesterday had said something similar.

The woman looked at her as if she was speaking in another language. “Each year, five tributes get chosen to participate in the competition. It’s their bound duty to uphold the honor of their kingdom and remain till the last day of the hunt.”

Aya blinked, confused.

Tributes?

What was she talking about?

…The contestants were forced to participate?

“What happens if the tribute refuses to participate?” Ayah asked, voice slow and hesitant.

Laila looked at her. She stayed silent for a while, then said, “refusing such an honor is a disgrace punishable by death. Punishment extends to the whole bloodline of the perpetrator.”

Ayah’s mind reeled. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

What the freaking hell…?!

She glanced at Harith, who was cradling his black sword, polishing it, his armor carefully laid by his feet. She approached him, and stood idly by his side, watching. He paused for a second, then resumed his work.

“The warriors,” she started. “The ones from Temsia…” She hesitated, not knowing what to say.

He looked at her, waiting. When she failed to articulate her question, he turned back to polishing his sword.

“None of my warriors are forced to take part in the competition,” he said. 

Ayah shifted. So he had heard her and Laila speaking.

“What if no one wants to participate?”

“Then Temsia withdraws,” he said simply.

“Good.” She smiled.

Harith nodded, still polishing his sword.

Ayah walked away, a frown slowly inching its way into her face. Something seemed odd… Amiss.

It was such a peculiar sight, to see him so silent and so reserved. They’ve been throwing jabs and quips at each other since they stepped foot into the forest. Not to mention, he hadn’t spoken about her training, something she had thought she would have to suffer through for the whole duration of the competition, if not beyond− with how displeased he looked with her nonexistent skills.

She stopped.

His posture was a bit rigid, his grasp too tight over his sword.

An idea came to her. She called up the team party’s status. She had yet to disband their party.

She blinked, her mind unable to comprehend what she was seeing. She had been sure he hadn’t been hurt. She was there. Laila had stopped the serpents' heads with her earth magic.

Then, why was his health bar dwindling?

The serpents’ projectiles.

She made a beeline for him, ignoring the teenage boy as he approached her, mouth open to ask her something. She stopped in front of Harith, her breath short, and her mouth dry.

“Are you hurt?” she asked him.

He looked at her, his expression faltering for a moment before it turned blank, his hands still polishing his sword in mechanical movements. A small discolored patch of skin peeked out from under his sleeve. The hand was still, keeping the sword in place. Ayah didn’t know if the action was deliberate or not.

She admonished herself.

How did I not notice before? All the signs were there. He was quiet. Too quiet.

“I’m fine,” he insisted. A bead of sweat ran down his temple.

Ayah took hold of his hand. He let her. She folded his sleeve, exposing his arm.

And time froze.

A wound no bigger than an inch was right under his elbow. It had long stopped bleeding. But it wasn’t what made Ayah’s hands start shaking.

The skin around the wound had darkened, black veins ran along his arms and disappeared under the upper sleeve of his shirt. 

Ayah froze. Only her heart seemed to move. It thundered against her chest, threatening to burst.

“What is this?” she whispered, her voice catching in her throat.

“Poison.” Laila stood in front of them, her eyes fixed on the wound. She glanced at Harith. “It was the serpent’s venom, wasn’t it?” she asked.

No.

Ayah refused to believe it.

 “I said I’m fine,” Harith said firmly. He shook Ayah’s grip from his hand and unfolded his sleeve, hiding the wound.

“Like hell you’re fine!” Ayah burst out. “Come, we need to get it treated.”

Harith remained seated, unyielding under her pull.

“There are no antidotes,” Laila said, her expression apologetic.  

Ayah stilled, turning to her. For a second, Laila’s face morphed into an old man wearing a white coat over his green scrubs, a pitying look on his wrinkled face as he announced to a little girl that she was the sole survivor from the crash.

Ayah raged. Her heart stuttered before it burst like a summer fire.

“Then we’re going back. Jamila can treat you then.”

“There is no known treatment. The monsters here are still an unknown breed. The healers won’t help much.”

Ayah glared at Laila. It seemed like the woman wanted him dead.

A voice in Ayah’s head whispered it was not true. Like the doctor didn’t want her parents dead− had no reason to− Like him, Laila was merely saying what she thought was true.

 

The healer drew from the mana stone, again, then held his hands over the wound, a warm green light trickled from his hands to the skin below. She watched with bated breath, waiting for the dark color to fade, for the wound to heal…

Nothing.

The healer turned to her, hesitant.

“Just− heal him… please,” she pleaded. 

The healer looked back at the wound, and tried again. His brows furrowed in concentration, and beads of sweat ran along his temple and chin.

After a while, he turned to her, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I tried, but It’s not working.”

Ayah bit down on her lip, drawing blood. She glared at the healer, who took a couple steps back, his eyes glancing nervously between her and Harith. She wanted to shake him, to yell at him. He had to try harder. He had to−

He can’t die.

“It’s okay,” Harith said, his voice gentle, as if he was trying to comfort her. He looked tired, his shoulders were a bit sagged despite his attempt to remain upright, his frown almost etched onto his face.

She inhaled, shaken, realizing that she'd been holding her breath. Tears clouded her vision. She scrubbed her eyes with the back of her arm, but to no avail. Warm tears spilled over her cheeks, down her chin, and landed onto the ground below.

“I’ve been trained to deal with poison. I’m sure I’ll be fine in no time.”

That wasn’t true. Ayah could clearly see his health bar dipping with no sign of stopping. But Ayah wouldn’t let it stop her. She refused to.

“There is a cure,” Ayah said stiffly. “And I’ll find it.”

She trudged away. Harith made an attempt to stop her. But the pain halted his movements. He winced, a slight tremor running along his arm.

Liar. You’re not fine.

She darted away, sprinting, and only stopping when she was sure she was away from any prying eyes.

“System,” she called.

The screen sprung before her.

“What is the antidote to the black serpent’s venom?”

[The system is here to help player get to her full potential.]

Not help others, its words implied.

Why was it refusing to help her now when it had helped her save Shoaib before? When it had made it a quest to save his life?

Ayah bristled. If she didn’t get what she wanted, neither would the system.

“Listen here, you little shit. If you don’t tell me what the antidote is, you can kiss your quest goodbye.”

[Failure to fulfill the Quest results in death.]

“Yeah? Well, guess what. I don’t care. Either tell me what the antidote is, or I’m walking out of here. You can find another player to save Morr. ‘cause right now, I don’t give a shit about it.” She took a step. “I’m leaving.”

Ayah gasped as hot pain shot out throughout her body. She doubled over, digging her fingers into the rocks to steady herself as the pain intensified. It kept on for minutes, hours, for days… Or it felt like it did.

Then the pain stopped.

[Player is advised to rethink her actions.]

[Failure to fulfill the Quest results in death.]

Ayah huffed. She wasn’t going to back down. Not now. 

She took another step. “Good luck finding a new player, arsehole.” She clenched her fists, readying herself for another wave of excruciating pain. But the pain never came.

The system was silent, pondering over her words. Three dots appeared and reappeared on the screen.

Ayah took the next step and the next, waiting for its response, her heart a beat away from stopping.

Then the system replied.

[Black Venom]

[Type: Poison ]

[Effect: Victim dies after 48 hours of poisoning. Excessive usage of mana could result in reducing the time. ]

Her heart stuttered at the time displayed.

48 hours? How much time had already passed?

[Antidote : Blessed Elixir ]

[Type : Craftable ]

[Ingredients : Black Serpent Blood x 1, Golden Lotus x 1, Blessed Valley drop x 1 ]

Ayah nodded. Good. Good. She knew where she could get the serpent’s blood. As for the others…

“Where can I find the golden lotus and the blessed valley drop?”

[In the blessed Valley ]

Ayah frowned. That wasn’t helpful. There was no such place here.

“Do you have a map?”

The map of the forest sprung before her, and right at the center of the forest, was a drawing of a small pavilion with the name blessed valley under it, right where the guardian of the lost souls was supposed to be.

 

 

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Author’s note:

Hi guys, thanks for reading! :)

If you have enjoyed the chapter, please consider reviewing. It really helps!