Trigger warnings- Swearing, electric shocks (shown), panic attack (shown), snakes (shown), violence and a poverty mention. 

After they'd been walking for about ten minutes, Adri broke the silence. "So, what's Kyrah like then?"

"Why do you want to know, Astra?" Kaiden snapped.

"I'm only interested, Lynch."

"Well, isn't it obvious? It's shit. Considering the fact that our kingdom is essentially a laughing stock."

"So what does Kyrah produce? Astra makes media content."

"What's that?" Finley asked.

"Like TV shows and magazines and...oh my god, you don't have that stuff?"

"We have TV's but we don't watch them."

"Speak for yourself, Castel," Kaiden muttered. He turned to Adrielle. "Kyrah mostly does experiments and shit like that."

"Like what?"

"Like testing inventions and side effects of medicines and things like that," Finley explained. "We learn all about the process of experimentation at school."

"Wow, you're such a nerd, Castel," Adri complained.

Kaiden smirked, "huh, isn't that the truth."

"So, you two aren't friends then?"

"Ha! No, I wouldn't be friends with a loser like him!" Kaiden replied. Finley tried not to be offended, though it was difficult.

"Then why make an alliance?" Adri asked.

"'Cause without him I'd be dead in an hour," Finley explained.

"You really think you'd even last an hour?" Kaiden questioned.

"Well, if he's the loser of your school, what are you, Lynch?" Adrielle enquired.

"He's the school's resident bad boy," Finley replied.

"Oh yeah? What's the worst thing you've ever done?"

The two boys looked at each other, remembering one of the few times that they'd interacted before the Ceremony.

Kaiden seemed to decide not to mention that incident. "Well, I did put a stink bomb inside a teacher's car once."

"Why?"

"Cars are expensive in Kyrah, and she deserved it. She didn't realise that she'd left her window down, so I went over to her car and put the stink bomb inside. She must've forgotten something, so she came back and opened her car door, just as it exploded. The look on her face was one of the best things I've ever seen."

"That was you!" Finley cried out.

"Yeah it was me," Kaiden replied, nonchalantly.

"What happened?" Adri asked. "Did she find out that it was you?"

"Yeah, some brat from the year below snitched on me," Kaiden explained. "She gave me detention for a week and forced me to clean her car to get rid of the smell."

"Wow, your teachers can make you do that?"

"As long as the principal agrees, and he hates my guts. He'll probably be delighted that I died in this thing."

Finley was surprised at Kaiden's attitude. He thought that Kaiden believed he would win. Finley wanted to believe that Kaiden could win. He was one of the most promising contestants Kyrah had had in a long time.

"Wow, bleak. You have a lot of hope don't you?" Adri said.

"Yeah, my dad doesn't have any faith in me either," Kaiden explained. "All he said when my brother and I were saying goodbye to him was....ah!"

Kaiden grabbed his wrist and stared at the bracelet. Adrielle seemed confused for a moment, but then, she grabbed her wrist too.

Finley stared at them in confusion for a moment. Then, he understood why they had both cried out. He suddenly felt a sharp pain coursing through his body. It hurt unlike anything he had ever felt before. He screamed in pain, and was only quietened when Kaiden shoved a hand over his mouth. Finley shoved him away as the pain lessened, though he could still feel a tingly sensation all over his body. His breath began to quicken and he collapsed to the floor. He closed his eyes as his heart began to race.

"Castel, what's going on?" Kaiden asked.

Finley tried to answer, but he couldn't speak. He knew what this was, but it couldn't happen here, not now. But he was defenceless, he couldn't stop it.

Kaiden knelt on the ground and grabbed the front of his jumpsuit. "Answer me, Castel! What the fuck is happening?!"

"Oh....," Adri said, suddenly. "Move aside."

"What?"

"Move aside, Kyrah!"

Finley was surprised that Kaiden moved. Adri crouched down beside him.

"Castel, can you hear me?" She asked.

Finley nodded.

"Can I touch you?"

Finley shook his head. No, he didn't want anyone to touch him again. Kaiden had already made things worse by doing that.

Adrielle continued. "Ok, name five things that you can see?"

Finley opened his eyes and looked around, "t-that tree, you, Lynch, your bag, and....the sky.

"Good. Now, four things you can feel?"

"The grass, the mud all over me, the coldness of the bracelet, and that weird tingly feeling."

Adrielle nodded, so she must've felt it too. "Three things you can hear?"

"Your voice, my voice, and the wind."

"Two things you can smell?"

"How long does this shit take?" Kaiden questioned.

"Ignore him, Castel. Go on." Adri encouraged.

"Ok," Finley replied. "The mud from the pond, and the grass."

"And finally, one thing you can taste."

"Last night's dinner 'cause I feel sick."

"Do you feel better now?" Adri asked.

"Yeah," Finley said. He was slightly in shock. No one had ever helped him through one of his panic attacks before. Usually, he suffered them out in silence.

"What the fuck was that?" Kaiden hissed.

"A panic attack," Adri replied. "My sister has them too. Not very often though."

"What do you think that was?" Finley asked.

"An electric shock," Adri replied, bluntly. "I guess that's what they meant by 'torturing' us."

"Do you think it'll happen again?" Kaiden questioned.

"Who knows, but I don't want to stick around here. Someone might've heard Castel's girly scream."

Kaiden laughed, "he did that at the Ceremony too."

Finley followed them as Kaiden told the whole story of the selection from the beginning. He hated listening to them, but he had little choice as he listened to them laugh at his reaction to being one of the selected.

—-----

A short while later, they reached a clearing. Only forty five minutes had passed, but Adrielle and Kaiden were starting to get along. Kaiden was surprised at how quiet Finley was.

When they approached the clearing, they saw a sign nailed to a tree.

Adri read the sign, "121101, welcome to your first trial."

"What the fuck?" Kaiden said.

"Do you have to swear all the time?" Finley asked.

"Shut up, Castel."

Adrielle continued reading, "you will have fifteen minutes to complete the trial. Step into the clearing and kill the intruders. You must complete this alone."

"This hasn't happened in past Ceremonies, has it?" Finley questioned.

"No," Adri replied. "This must be another way to torture us. You're not scared of anything are you Lynch?"

"Fuck off. I'm scared of nothing." Kaiden snapped, and he stepped into the clearing.

The clearing was a large field, in the shape of a circle. In the centre, was a large rock. Kaiden walked over to it and leaned against it. He turned around and looked at the others. They were watching him anxiously.

Just at that moment, he heard a hissing sound. Almost like gas leaking from somewhere. Kaiden covered his mouth and nose with his hand to protect himself, after all, it could be toxic.

Kaiden turned to where the sound was coming from and discovered a huge snake, slithering towards him.

Kaiden moved his hand and reached for Adri's knife, which he'd stowed in his pocket. The snake was as large as a tree branch, and it was fast too.

"Fuck!" Kaiden shouted. He tried not to show the others that he was scared, but as more and more hisses came from all around him, it became difficult not to show his fear.

One began slithering up his leg. He stabbed it with the knife and shoved it away from him. His breath started to quicken. He was starting to understand how Finley felt earlier.

As the snakes came closer, he stabbed them. The whole trial felt endless. It felt like much longer than fifteen minutes before he stabbed one final snake, and the constant hissing stopped. The whole world now seemed quiet without it.

Kaiden fell to his knees and put his hands over his ears. The noise had stopped, but he felt like he could hear nothing but the hissing of more snakes, coming towards their victim.

—-----

Finley ran over and placed a hand on Kaiden's shoulder.

"It's ok, it's over." He said. "You don't need to hide your fear."

"So, you're scared of snakes?" Adri teased.

"Thanks, Castel," Kaiden snapped.

"It's ok. Even the people who pretend to be tough are scared of something."

Kaiden leapt up and grabbed the front of Adri's jumpsuit. "I'm not pretending to be anything, Astra! Don't you dare accuse me of faking anything!"

"Ok, I'm sorry!" Adri blurted out, Finley could see that she was a little scared.

Kaiden let go of her.

"Do you think that will happen to all of us?" Finley asked, changing the subject.

"Maybe," Adri replied. "The sign did say 'first trial' so I guess there may be more of these."

"What's your biggest fear, Castel?" Kaiden asked.

Finley conceded that if he was going to die in this anyway, he might as well tell them. "Water," he muttered.

"Why?"

"I almost drowned when I was seven. My mother saved me. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her."

"Cute," Adri replied. "She must be really brave."

"Yeah," Finley replied, then he lowered his voice so that it was practically inaudible. "She was."

"She sounds like my sister, Reina. She's brave too. We really didn't know which of us would be playing the game."

"My brother's called Raven," Kaiden added.

"Yeah," Finley continued. "He's like one of the top students at school. He's really smart. He was in the running to be head boy next year. He even..."

"Shut it, Castel. I don't want to talk about my brother anymore."

"But you were the one who...."

"I said shut it!"

"Ok, sorry," Finley replied, though he didn't know what he'd said to warrant Kaiden shouting at him.

Then it happened again, the same pain shot through Finley's body. By the looks on the others' faces, he wasn't the only one.

"It's happening every hour!" Adri exclaimed.

"It's helpful for keeping track of the time at least," Kaiden remarked. "Now, let's keep moving."

—-----

After eight hours had passed, Finley had had enough. He had listened to Adrielle and Kaiden talking about him as if he wasn't even there. Going so far as to make predictions on when he would die. He knew that he was a failure, so it was pointless to argue. He just hoped that he'd outlive their predictions.

"We should probably find somewhere to rest for the night," Adri suggested.

"No way," Kaiden replied. "If we stop, we're sure to lose."

"We can't keep going forever, K," Finley said.

Kaiden turned around and shoved him, hard. "Don't call me that, Castel!"

"Sorry, I just think Adri's right. We'll wear ourselves out if we don't rest."

"Fine," Kaiden grunted.

Adri pointed to a small cave. It seemed as good of a place as any, and it was empty.

"Great," Adri remarked. "We should eat something to keep our strength up."

"I'm not hungry," Kaiden muttered.

"You have to eat something," Finley explained.

"Will you two stop telling me what to do, I'm seventeen not fucking seven!"

"You sure act like it sometimes," Finley said, quietly.

"What was that?!" Kaiden shouted.

Finley didn't answer.

"I asked you a question, Castel. You don't insult me and expect to get away with it."

"You're really aggressive, Lynch," Adrielle pointed out. "Are you like this all the time?"

"No," Kaiden replied.

"Yes," Finley said at the same time.

"I am not!" Kaiden argued.

"You are, you always argue with everyone. It's why no one likes you. That's why everyone prefers Raven. Everyone says that he's much nicer than you, and he'll actually have a job in the future. You're so aggressive that no one would ever want to work with you."

Kaiden didn't answer. Finley was sure that Kaiden would kill him for saying those things. For some reason, he didn't.

"You really think I'm aggressive?" He said at last. "Fine, I'll try not to be, just to prove I can."

"What's your name?" Adri asked. "Your first name?"

Kaiden sighed. "It's Kaiden."

"Mine's Finley," Finley added.

"Good, now that we've opened up. Can we get to eating?" Adri said.

Kaiden grabbed Finley's bag and pulled out a pack of crackers. He took out one and threw the packet to Finley, who handed one to Adrielle.

"Thanks, Castel," Adri said.

Finley was starting to get a little annoyed that they never called him anything other than Castel. They always sounded so aggressive too when they said it, like they didn't want him around. Though, that was a feeling he felt all too often.

Finley ate the cracker and immediately felt sick. He ran outside a few minutes later.

"Feel better?" Adrielle asked when he came back.

"Yeah, I guess it was too dry."

"Yeah right, when Adri was doing that thing earlier, you said you could taste your dinner from last night. You obviously haven't eaten since then."

"Is that true?" Adri asked. Finley was surprised that she sounded concerned.

"I was scared of being selected so I didn't feel like eating."

"So were all of us, I still ate," Kaiden remarked.

"Fine, I might as well tell you the truth. It's not as if I'm the one going home anyway." Finley said, taking a deep breath. "My family isn't exactly well off."

"Hardly anyone in Kyrah is, Castel," Kaiden smirked.

"My family can only afford to eat once a day," Finley snapped.

Kaiden looked startled. "Fuck, is it really that bad?"

Finley nodded.

"That's awful. Why don't your parents do anything?" Adri asked.

Finley tried to hold back tears as he explained. "My mother died when I was ten."

"Oh god, and I.....Finley, I'm so sorry. You should've said that she...."

"It's ok. I'm used to people not caring. My dad's sick and can't afford to see a doctor. My sister, Cadence and I both have jobs to try and raise money for him to see someone about it."

"That's fucked up," Kaiden said.

"It's wrong," Adrielle added. "I never realised how bad Kyrah was."

"We're not all as poor as Castel."

Finley decided to stay quiet as Kaiden started telling another story about home. This one was one about his brother, Raven. Finley remembered when he had first met Raven. Finley couldn't help but feel jealous of Kaiden for having a sibling who actually cared and didn't make him feel useless.

"We should get some sleep," Adri said a few hours later.

"One of us should keep watch, just in case someone attacks us while we're asleep," Kaiden suggested.

Finley was elected to take the first watch. He didn't want to, as he was actually really tired. He didn't want to start another fight though, so he agreed.

—-----

Light began to stream into the cave.

Finley opened his eyes and realised that he must've fallen asleep. Kaiden was sure to shout at him.

He turned over and saw Adrielle sitting on top of Kaiden.

He was desperate to close his eyes, or turn over and forget what he had just witnessed, when he realised Adrielle was holding her knife to Kaiden's throat.

"Castel, pass me the rope from my bag," Adri ordered. .

"What are you going to do, Astra?" Kaiden teased. "Tie me up?"

"I deserve to feel safe in this alliance, Kyrah. In case you've forgotten, you tried to kill me in my sleep. Castel, the rope."

Well, it seems all is not well in the cave. How do we all feel about Adrielle? She seems like she's one to watch. Do you guys think her and Kaiden will be able to make up? Whose side will Finley choose? And will this alliance last much longer?