Tales From The Kronos

Like every night that passed since Neige's disappearance, Silva lived the same moment again and again in her sleep. The moment when Neige was taken away by the anomaly, happening right in front of her powerless self. She knew it was only a dream, that it already happened, but every time she wished it was her instead. If she was the one who disappeared, probably nothing would change. Silva couldn't stop but blame herself for what happened like everything was her fault, that her existence itself was the problem.

She woke up from her nightmare in her cell, with blood on her hands. She made sure that Sepide was asleep and quickly went to bandage her self-inflicted wound before she would notice them. It was becoming hard for her, her heartbeat was constantly fast, her hands were shaking, and she could feel that it was harder for her to focus. But all she could do for now was hope that it would be over soon and that she would be able to get her meds back.

The next day, every contestant regrouped in the arena like usual. Only twelve were left now, leaving the arena even more empty than before. The crowd on the other hand was cheering louder and louder, getting increasingly more excited as time went on. Opal was in her usual spot, next to the sleeping body of Neige. The spectators all went silent, waiting for her words.

"Congratulations, I didn't expect so many of you to be alive. It's quite practical, since now we can make three teams of four for the next trial. This will be the final trial before we enter the last phase of the tournament. The rules are simple, each team will have a flag to protect and the goal is to steal another team's flag. If you lose your flag, you will be eliminated. The two teams that manage to survive will advance to the end. Now, it's time for a little game."

A guard brought a box with a hole on top. Everyone looked at it curiously, waiting for the tournament organizer to explain.

"It's straightforward, just a lottery: eleven white balls and a black one, whoever gets the black one wins and will be granted a map of the area."

Silva went first and failed, the other contestants all tried, but all seemed unlucky. The leader looked carefully at the box, while Silva kept complaining about her loss.

"It's so dumb, it's just a game of chance!"

"No, I don't think so." The leader said, still in her thoughts "It seems like the anomaly pushed for these silly games. The first one was about taming her dragon, and it seemed like it wasn't planned that it didn't listen to her."

"So, she's cheating?" Asked Sepide.

"Probably, I think that she somehow is giving herself an advantage. If we figure out how we could maybe beat her at her own game."

It was the anomaly's turn to pick a ball. The leader analyzed all her movements, nothing out of the ordinary happened but the anomaly somehow managed to get the black ball.

"Hey, I won!" She yelled with excitation in her voice. The group turned toward the leader, wondering if she found anything.

"I didn't see anything, I think she just got lucky." Said Sepide to her leader.

"I think there wasn't any black ball in the box, I think she used her powers to cheat."

"But she said she wouldn't use them."

"Then it means that she's still using them, just not in front of us. It's like she tries to look like she follows the rules, while still cheating."

Silva and Sepide weren't sure what to think of it, but the leader seemed persuaded that she was right.

The time to form groups came, just like in the first trial. Sepide saw that Uriel was still there, she headed toward her to ask her to join them once again, it worked well last time after all.

"Uriel! Do you want to join our group again?"

"I would be very happy to, I hope that this time too, everything will go well!"

Sepide came back to Silva and the leader, happy to form their group again. Silva seemed happy too, but the leader still was in her thoughts, staring at the anomaly. Opal came to them, with a bunch of weapons in her hands.

"I know that you both lost your weapons, so here are new ones. Silva still has her gun with a bullet, but Sepide will have a rapier this time."

"A rapier?" Asked Sepide "Why is my weapon different this time?"

"I just figured it would be more balanced for this trial."

Opal left to give everyone their weapons. Everyone seemed ready, and the girl guided them to the place where the trial would take place.

The area was covered in constant snowstorms and mountains, making navigation hard in this place. Each team was brought to a different place, where a flag was waiting for them. The trial was about to commence shortly, everyone stayed silent, waiting for the signal. After a few minutes passed, the sound of a horn echoed through the mountains, indicating the start of the trial.

Silv, the anomaly, Kairo, and the girl with black hair all grouped again. The girl was clearly not happy to be here, but still joined them again. Everyone gathered around the anomaly to see the map that she got from winning the lottery. The area was forming a triangle, and the team's members were even written on the map. Their team was red, the Kronos's team was green and the third team was blue.

"We should probably eliminate Silva's group, if they go to the finals, it will be harder for us." Kairo said while looking at the map. The new girl stared at him, visibly unconvinced.

"Didn't you guys get humbled by them last time? We're just going to lose..."

"Why are you complaining, Eve? You did nothing!" Silv answered to the girl with black hair.

"Of course I didn't, I'm a nun, what did you expect? There's a guy with an axe and you have a gun, why should I fight?"

"We should have convinced the robot to join us..." Silv mumbled to herself.

"But she's right, we can't win by ourselves. That's why I have a plan." Everyone listened to Kairo, waiting to hear his strategy "The goal is to steal a team's flag, so if we go to the third team, we can convince them to help us. At eight against four, we should win for sure."

"That's a great idea!" Said the anomaly "We should head there right now!"

"Well, we should probably leave someone behind, just in case a team attacks us."

"You're a great strategist Kairo!" The anomaly clapped her hand to Kairo, who seemed to be a bit embarrassed.

"Neige taught me a lot... Anyway, who should we leave behind?"

Silv raised her hand, volunteering.

"Me, I'm not staying near any of those two nuns, they're exhausting. And besides, I have some ideas on how to place traps."

"Are you saying I'm exhausting?" The anomaly asked, but her question went without an answer.

The team ultimately agreed to leave Silv behind. With their map in hand, they headed toward the blue team, leaving Silv behind.

Once she was sure she was behind, Silv made a sinister grin. She wasn't going to follow the plan they agreed on and seemed to have a plan of her own.