Kaden Vars

An obnoxious snore broke my sleep.

There goes Regis again.

Wait – where am I?

As I slowly opened my eyes and tried to move, my aching body reminded me of the last thing I remembered. I was in the arena, fighting, then everything went black.

I thought that was the end.

I thought I was dead.

There I was alive, hurt and aching, but very much alive.

Regis' gangly form was sprawled out in a chair in a corner of the room, with his head of messy brown hair leaning against the wall. He was young, growing tall, and had gotten into the habit of falling asleep just about anywhere. 

Reyna sat by the end of the bed, with a sleeping Mari in her lap.

Reyna, like her brother, had brown hair and tan skin. She was older than him but didn’t have his height. Her eyes were a dark amethyst that looked at me with uncertainty.

“Hope you had a nice rest, idiot” she whispered, afraid to wake the others. Still, I could hear the concern behind her words. 

Mari, for her part, was resting peacefully, coddled up in Reyna's arms. She was a sweet girl with a fitting, cherubic face. She was wearing her reddish-brown hair in an intricately woven braid--likely Reyna's work--that went down her back. She was small for her age, sickly, and very much needed her rest. Actually, the presence of Mari's small sleeping form was probably the only thing keeping me from receiving an earful of one of Reyna's famous rants. 

“Sorry. I must have worried you guys,” I muttered. 

The four of us were a family who had each other's backs. Mari Harlin, the youngest, was only ten. She lived with her grandparents, and they eventually died of old age. Her parent's whereabouts are still unknown. They probably perished back on Earth. Next were the siblings Regis and Reyna Tarone. Regis, being fourteen, and Reyna, seventeen, the same age as me. The two were aboard the Antaris with their father, who was one of the first of many unfortunate Antarins sent to the Arena because of some measly crime. I was the last member to join our lovely, patchwork family. As rag-tagged as we were, we were a family who looked after one another.

Why are they all here? Or rather how?

I looked around to examine the unfamiliar room we were in. It wasn’t our usual quarters. It looked like we were in the Med Bay, based on the monitors I was hooked up to and medical supplies in the room. Considering the pain I was in, it made sense that I would be here.

What happened? 

Did I win? How did I live?

Before I could get the words out, she put up a hand to stop me from speaking just yet.

“You wouldn’t have been in this situation if you weren’t stealing in the first place. What were you thinking?”

I closed my eyes and sighed. What I did was for them, and if they didn’t understand it now, maybe they would later.

“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again” I responded.

Reyna had always been the ‘big sister’ of the group, even before after I had met them despite the small gap in our ages. She was only a few months older than me, but was always protective over everyone, especially Mari. To be honest she could be very scary when she was mad, the way her sharp eyebrows 

Building up the courage to finally ask what happened. 

I shifted to sit up. “Hey, Reyna what happene-“ my words caught on my tongue as I noticed I was handcuffed to the rail of the bed I was in. 

“You don’t remember? She responded, looking at me with a distaste I hadn’t seen in a while.

I shook my head, and before she could open her mouth, the door slid open. Two guards dressed in the sand blue uniform of the Corzons marched in. Behind them stood a tall man with ash-blond hair, slicked back stylishly, and a neatly-trimmed goatee. He strode in as if he owned the place, radiating a pressure that could have suffocated the room. He carried himself with purpose and elegance, but the slight scowl on his face showed confusion as he scanned me. He was silent for a while, judging me with appraising, gray eyes as he stroked his chin. He then closed his eyes, and with a sigh, he broke the silence. 

“A pleasure to meet you, boy,” he said with a stern voice that didn’t seem all too pleasurable. “My name is Sir Vargas Corzon, head of the Corzon Family.