Before I could say anything else, there was a loud blast of horns from nearby. Four louds booms, resounding from right next door seemed to shake the entire building we were standing in. They slowly faded off in to the distant forest before going completely silent. This was clearly a well-known signal because Lilith shot direct to her feet and a wild smile crawled up Viktor's face.

"What does that mean?" I asked, a bit confused.

They both looked directly at me and, in perfect unison, said "It's Arena Time!"

I thought back to what Viktor had said about them having arena days and that today was one of those days. I still had absolutely no idea what exactly was going to happen at the arena, I could guess it was going to take place in the large marble coliseum next to the infirmary. I had seen the building on the way in to camp, but at that time it was completely empty.

"What exactly are we going to do at the Arena, though?" I asked the pair.

"Well, we are going to participate in a series of challenges and potentially win some amazing prizes in the process. It's so much fun!" Lilith answered, excitedly.

Viktor and I exchanged nervous glances "Umm, Lilith do you really think you should be competing in your condition?" Viktor asked hesitantly.

I nodded, she was really not in any position to be participating in any kind of strenuous physical activities. Her wounds had almost completely healed up, but I highly doubted that their effects would go away as easily. However, even in her condition I doubted that either of us were really at all capable of stopping her from participating.

"Viktor, are you really going to try and stop me, you know how that'll go for you" Lilith responded dryly, narrowing her eyes and looking even more menacing.

Viktor sighed and put up his hands in a sort of 'I give up' gesture "Well, I guess if I can't stop you, I can at least tag along to make sure that you do die. That would be a bit problematic."

Lilith smiled and stood up, removing the few bandages she had remaining on her body "Well then, I suppose we're going to head over to the Arena, I do hope I get the opportunity to participate!" She giddily headed towards the door, beckoning us to follow her.

Viktor waved his hand dismissively, noticing my discomfort "Don't worry about her, I'm sure she'll be perfectly fine"

I somehow doubted that would be the case, but I didn't feel like fighting him, choosing instead to follow him, quite reluctantly I might add. We walked out of the infirmary, as all of the lights inside flickered out, apparently knowing nobody was in there anymore, somehow. We quickly made our way over to, easily the most impressive structure in the entire camp, the arena.

The building was like the big brother of the coliseum in Rome, easily twice the size and considerably taller. The entire exterior was composed of hundreds of tall, white, polished, marble columns intersecting large slabs of marble that made up the majority of the building's exterior. Similarly to the guild hall, on each wall there was a golden torch, illuminating the entire building. There were already hundreds of people filing in through the large wooden doors.

When we entered, there was a staircase to our left and our right, we went up the right one, slowly climbing the massive staircase. When we finally reached the level we were trying to reach we made our way left down a long corridor. The whole place felt exactly like the stadium's back at home that I had occasionally slept in. After a bit of walking, we finally turned left into an alcove and in to the main section of the arena.

The main area of the arena was even more impressive and grandiose than the outside. Surrounding a large open circle were several hundred sets of golden seats cushioned with red, each looking like a throne. We made our way over to a set of three empty seats and sat down, the cushion compressing under the new weight. It was an extremely comfortable chair and we had an amazing view of the area where everything was most likely going to be taking place.

The large central area didn't seem to be anything very special, being just a simple circle of marble with grooves cut into it from both directions, creating four equal quarters intersecting at the center of the arena. I then realized something very peculiar, there were no competitors to be seen, nor was there any holes or doors in the arena that I could see, who was going to be competing?

I leaned over to Viktor and whispered "Where are the competitors?"

He leaned over to me and whispered back "They choose volunteers from the audience, they choose a few random people as well, just to keep things interesting and fresh."

I felt the color drain from my face at the last comment, if they were choosing random participants that meant that I could be chosen to participate. I didn't even know what was going to be happening, there was nothing in the arena that would suggest anything as to what was going to take place. I continued to frantically scan the arena for any signs that could help me out with what was going to be taking place.

Before I could lean over and ask Viktor, the entire arena went dark, all the torches had gone out, but I couldn't tell how. In the center of the arena, a small circle of marble carved itself out and then gradually floated upwards, a dark figured suspended on top of it. Before too long, two large beams of light formed and illuminated the figure on top of the circle. It was a man of average hat dressed in a full black suit that seemed to have some black jewels embedded in the cloth.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to tonight's arena entertainment!" He boomed, sound resounding throughout the entire arena.

"Tonight will be a very exciting night indeed! We have many brand-new challenges planned for tonight's competitors" he sounded like the host of some early 80s game show, comical and boisterous.

"Speaking of our competitors, we will be taking ten volunteers and six random picks from the audience for the challenges" he said, gesturing around as spotlights swept across the seats illuminating everyone.

"Alright, you all know how this works. If you want to participate, all you have to do is stand up and hope you get chosen" The lights behind us lit back up, faintly illuminating each row.

Lilith immediately shot to her feet along with several other people, creating a vibration that spread throughout the arena as everyone slowly made their transition to standing. One by one, spotlights situated themselves on random people that were standing. When the light shined on Lilith, she jumped up excitedly then quickly returned to the ground, realizing she was causing a lot of attention around her to be directed on her.

Once all the volunteer participants had been chosen the lights slowly began to dramatically sweep across the crowd, surprising members and choosing them to participate. Every time the light passed over my head I swallowed hard, growing more and more anxious. Then, all my fears were afirmed when the light stopped on me, I gulped, hoping there was some way I could get out of this. All the attention in the audience seemed to fix itself directly on me.

Once the final participant had been chosen the man's voice rang again "And there you have them our sixteen competitors for tonight's arena challenges. All competitors please make your way down the aisle and in to the ready room. As per usual, you will all be given ten minutes to prepare yourselves before everything begins."

On the walls in the center ring, four doorways had opened up, presumably the entrances to the ready room. I slowly made my way out on to the aisle and down a newly formed staircase, descending to the floor of the arena right behind Lilith, who was practically skipping down the stairs in excitement. Once we reached the bottom, we turned left and made our way in to the ready room, the wall sealing up behind us as we entered.

The ready room was far more dimly lit than the brilliance of the marble white exterior. The torches hung around the room were more orange than white, creating a much darker feel to the room. On the walls, there were tons of different weapons and other accessories that the other competitors were collecting. I unsheathed the sword from on my back and looked at the blade, my reflection appearing in the polished metal.

"Oh cool, you got yourself a weapon" Lilith said from behind me, causing me to jump.

"Oh yeah, after me and Viktor dropped you off at the infirmary, we went over to the armory and I picked out this sword" I responded

Lilith nodded "Well you chose a fine blade"

I smiled as she walked towards an empty area and began doing some stretches. Everyone else here seemed like they at least somewhat knew what they were doing and I could tell that they could see my lack of experience and unease with the current situation. I sheathed the sword and my way over to a wooden bench and sat down, needing a bit of time to think. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time, shortly after I sat down the hole in the wall reformed, engulfing the room in white light and the sounds of cheering.