Chapter 3, Part 3

A student of the future faces overwhelming odds during a life-threatening tournament.

As it did yesterday, the mouth of the warehouse opened into the field, yet unlike yesterday, I paused for a moment to bask in its glory. Yes, it was a death pit. But it was an amazing step forward in technology, and a gorgeous realm of scenery. I jogged slowly at first, admiring the unrealistic beauty of the Field, but as the second dwarf appeared, I picked up my pace, then trudged into the ocean. It was a thrill to swim beyond where my short, shapely legs could reach, and I back-stroked so quickly within the next six minutes that I couldn't even see the forest anymore. As the seventh dwarf appeared, I studied his facial features, in somewhat denial that I was in the kill box, my bravado dissipating.

The weird, alienistic, fantastical creatures that appeared in the sky were breathtaking. Even a giant fire-breathing dragon appeared. Nothing conjured in the sky above the ocean, but I was not about to relax. I unsheathed a wicked sharp khopesh from the video-game style augmented inventory and tread with my other three limbs efficiently, in silence while I waited for the inevitable. Screams, human and animal, echoed from the shore, and my heart fluttered within my chest.

Something brushed against my leg, and I suppressed a disgusted shout. I looked into the water as dark and blue as the Warden's eyes, yet I saw nothing. A gasp escaped me as a rubbery tentacle-like limb wrapped around one of my legs and dragged me underwater. My heart hammered my chest now, and I hacked my sword at the limb until the tentacle severed completely, swimming towards the surface. My head broke through the waves of the ocean and I swallowed air as quickly as I could before I felt teeth grind into my thigh and drag me under. I hacked, I chopped, I held my breath, but the water grew darker and darker, my ears popped, the pressure squeezed my chest as I was brought down painfully slowly by an unseen creature.

I'm not sure which killed me first; the water, or the animal.

Author's Note

This is an old work of mine, written when I was fifteen, inspired by a dream that I had. I discovered the work recently and liked it, so I have decided to revisit it. I will likely do a lot of editing and may add on to the story, or I may scrap it entirely. I would love constructive criticism over every aspect that could be improved.