Trigger warnings - Mention of falling, swearing and a minor character death. 

"Adri?" Finley questioned, "you came back?"

"Of course I did. I couldn't leave you two losers by yourselves. You could end up getting yourselves into trouble."

"We were fine," Kaiden replied. "we're alive aren't we?"

"As I recall, Finley was being killed as I approached."

Finley and Kaiden shared a look. They didn't want to tell Adri what had happened since she'd left. So, Kaiden attempted to change the subject.

"What happened after you left?" Kaiden asked.

"We can talk about that after you've told me how you almost got killed. And don't try to change the subject."

Finley sighed, but gave in, "well, I was meant to do a trial where I had to swim to the bottom of the lake. I did that, and at the bottom was a box with a padlock on it. Inside, was a set of ice picks, which Kaiden used to climb up the mountain."

"Ok, I don't think I understand how this leads to you almost being killed?" Adrielle replied, sounding very confused.

"Well, to put a long story short...I fell," Kaiden said.

"You what!" Adrielle exclaimed. "How far did you fall?"

"About ten metres," Finley replied.

"Oh God," Adri muttered. "So then what happened?"

"Well after Kaiden fell, the boy you just killed showed up. He offered to help but he wanted something in return."

"No one does anything for free. What did he want? Your sword? Food?"

"In return for helping me, he wanted to kill Castel," Kaiden explained. "He agreed."

"Why? Surely you want to win the Ceremony?"

"Yeah," Finley said, quietly. "But we all know that I'm not going to win. Like Kaiden said, without him, I'd be dead in a day."

"Now, will you tell us what happened to you, Adri?" Kaiden asked.

"Yeah, ok."

"Just before you do though. I don't think you would die without me around, Castel. I think you'd have a good chance."

Finley smiled. "Thanks, Kaiden."

"Well, I guess I should tell you what I know," Adri interrupted. "Do you want the good news or the bad news?"

"The good news?" Finley replied, questioningly.

"The good news is that now he's dead," she paused and looked over to Adam, "there's only five other contestants left, if you don't include us."

"And the bad news?" Kaiden enquired.

"The bad news is that unless one of us can climb up that mountain, we'll never win."

"What do we even do when we get up there?" Finley asked. "I mean, what if we're the last three standing."

"Well, to start with, kill me and then you two fight amongst yourselves," Adrielle replied.

"Wait, why are we killing you?"

"Well, Kyrah's never had a Champion. So, it's about time someone from there won."

"Or, you two kill me and then you fight each other," Finley suggested. "I have no chance of winning against either of you."

"No, you two have been through everything together. If we're the last three, kill me and fight each other." Adri instructed.

"Kaiden would win in that case. He's much stronger than me." Finley said.

They noticed at this point that Kaiden had been very quiet.

"You ok, Kaiden?" Finley asked, slightly worried about him.

"I know how we can do this," Kaiden replied, not answering Finley's question. "All we need is for us to be the last three standing."

"Then let's go out there and make it happen," Adrielle said.

"There's just one small problem, Kaiden injured his leg. He can't even stand up." Finley explained.

Adrielle tried to help him stand up, but Kaiden screamed in pain as soon as he needed to put pressure on his leg.

"Ok, I've got an idea," Adrielle said, running outside.

She returned with a large stick. "This can function as a walking stick."

"Thanks. Is the storm over?" Kaiden asked.

"No, I came in here to get out of the storm. It was lucky I did or you'd probably both be dead by now. Speaking of being dead, we should move him." Adrielle pointed to Adam.

Together, her and Finley moved Adam outside so the game runners could collect him.

"So, I guess we're staying here for a bit," Kaiden said.

—-----

Several days passed before the snowstorm finally ended. When it did it was the seventh day of the Ceremony.

The voice echoed from somewhere outside the cave, "attention, selected. As all of the remaining contestants are in alliances, we wanted to...take things up a notch. At the bottom of the lake are several boxes. Each one is labelled with the number of one of the contestants in each group. The boxes contain something you need very badly. You must choose one person to go and retrieve it. Remember, inside a demon hides."

The trio looked at each other.

"The only thing we need is something to help Kaiden's leg," Adrielle said.

"Then it should be me who goes to get it," Kaiden replied.

"Kaiden, you can hardly walk, let alone swim," Finley explained, "I'll go."

"Are you sure?" Adri asked. "You could be killed."

"I'm sure. Adri, you saved my life, so if you went and didn't come back, I would hate myself."

"Castel, can I talk to you before you go?" Kaiden questioned.

"Sure, Kaiden." Finley looked at Adrielle. She left the two of them alone.

Kaiden used the stick and stood up. He held out his arms and hugged him. Finley couldn't believe what was happening.

"Please be careful," Kaiden told him.

"I will," Finley replied.

"I believe you'll come back. But if you don't, I want you to know, I'll try my hardest to win. If, by some miracle I do, I promise I won't let your dad die. I'll do whatever I can to make sure he survives. I'll feed him, care for him, hell I'll pay for him to see a doctor. He should be really proud of how far you've come, Castel. I know I am."

Finley was letting out a few tears.

Kaiden reached up and wiped his tears away. "Thank you. For everything." Kaiden said.

"Thank you too, Kaiden. I'll try my best to come back, but if I don't then tell my dad I love him."

"I'll never forget you, Finley Castel."

"I'll never forget you either, Kaiden Lynch."

Finley made his way out of the cave.

"Finley! Wait!" Adrielle called.

FInley turned, just as she ran over and hugged him.

"Good luck," she said, "and even if you don't come back, I won't forget you."

"I won't forget you either," Finley replied.

He pulled away and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Adri called again. He turned again, beginning to get annoyed. Then, Adri kissed him. Not just any kiss, but a kiss on the lips. It was the first time Finley had kissed a girl. In fact, it was his first kiss ever. He decided one thing at that moment. If he somehow managed to come back from the lake, and somehow managed to win the Ceremony, he never wanted to kiss another girl in his life.

—-----

A while later, Finley had arrived back at the lake. He was hiding in a bush to spy on the other contestants. He could hear voices approaching.

"So there's eight of us left," a voice said. "Who's left excluding us?"

"Well there's the Phians, they'll have teamed up with the Haleians like they usually do, so those four. Then the Astreans and then us." The other voice replied.

"You reckon the Laveans and the Kyrahians are dead already?"

"Yeah, the Kyrahians are shit, Josh, they're always the first to die. They've never had a Champion."

"Maybe they've stepped up their game?" Josh questioned.

"I doubt it. Anyway, who's going in for the box?"

"I will," Josh replied.

Finley watched as Josh removed his backpack, and left it with the other boy on the other side of the lake. He was standing with his back to Finley. This gave him an idea.

He didn't consider his plan for long, before he jumped out. The boy turned towards him, and Finley jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground.

"B-blue," he stammered. "That's Kyrah's colour. The Kyrahians are still alive?"

"I am," Finley replied, not wanting to tell him who else was alive. "Who are you anyway?"

"Thomas," the boy replied, "Ronera."

"So you and Josh are from Ronera?"

"Yes," Thomas replied, quickly. He was clearly starting to panic. "Who are you in an alliance with?"

"I don't think that matters considering you'll be dead in a second."

"Josh!" Thomas shouted.

Finley placed a hand over his mouth. Thomas tried to pull his hand away. The soft material from his black gloves was rather pleasant to touch. The gloves matched Thomas' jumpsuit.

Finley knew that Josh wouldn't be much longer. He removed the knife from his pocket and placed it at Thomas' throat.

"Just one final statement," Finley said. "Kyrah will have a Champion this time. I'm going to make sure of it."

Finley slid the knife across the sides of his throat and waited for the foghorn to sound. It did. The foghorn sounded and Finley had a thought. He and Adri had moved Adam outside, but they hadn't heard a foghorn.

We probably just didn't hear it. Finley told himself. He desperately hoped that was true.

—-----

Back at the cave, Adrielle and Kaiden were sitting by the fire, trying to take their minds off of Finley. Both of them were struggling.

"What do we do if Finley doesn't come back?" Adrielle asked.

"He's going to come back," Kaiden replied.

"But, what if he doesn't, Kaiden?"

"He's going to come back!"

Kaiden didn't want to think about the alternative. He hated the thought that the two of them would have to carry on alone. Maybe without Finley, Adrielle would kill him so that she could win. He wouldn't blame her. He was pretty useless.

Then, a foghorn sounded,

"Shit," Kaiden said, "do you think that was Castel?"

"Oh I know that it was Castel," said a voice from the entrance.

The duo turned to face them. They were shocked to see Adam.

"Y-you're supposed to be dead?" Kaiden stammered.

Adam patted down his whole body, sarcastically, "pretty sure I'm still alive, Kyrah."

"How? I killed you?" Adri said.

"Well, did you hear a foghorn? No. Then I guess you didn't kill me after all."

"What did you say about Finley?" Adri asked.

"Castel's dead. I saw him getting killed by the Phians. I was with them just now and they killed him. I left them so that I could tell you. Kyrah has no chance of winning yet again. Their only remaining contestant has a busted leg."

The two of them were quiet for a while. Kaiden thought about what they'd been through. He was desperate to believe that Adam was lying, but the chances were that if Finley had bumped into any of the other alliances, he'd be killed relatively easily. Kaiden was horrified to find that he was almost crying. Why? He thought. Castel probably didn't even like me that much.

"I'll tell you what," Adam said, coming further into the cave without being asked. "I'll make an alliance with you."

"Whatever you're offering, you can forget it," Adri snapped. "You tried to kill Finley, just so Kaiden would survive. You knew from the start that Kaiden's leg was busted. You only made that deal with Finley to destroy Kyrah's chances of winning. You were scared that Kyrah might actually have a chance of winning this Ceremony."

"Oh please! I didn't know that this idiot had injured his leg. I only looked at him after Castel agreed to my offer. I don't do anything for free."

"What do you want from us anyway?" Kaiden asked.

"Well I've managed to find an easier route up the mountain. I'll show you it and I'll protect you until we're the last three left, then we can fight. In return for my generosity, I want my own personal servant. Someone to carry my bag and protect me in a fight. What do you say, Kyrah?"

Adam stared at Kaiden. He wasn't sure what to think. He wanted to win, but he was also pretty certain that he and Adri couldn't beat Adam in a fight. He wanted to say no. He wanted Finley to come walking into the cave and prove Adam wrong. The horrible thing was, Kaiden believed him. Adam may be the only thing that could help him win now.

"Alright," Kaiden replied, "I'll do it."

"Oh and I'm sorry about your boyfriend, Astra." Adam said, looking at Adrielle.

"What do you mean?" Kaiden asked.

"Oh, shit, she didn't tell you?" Adam said, in mock sympathy. "I saw Astra with your friend, Castel, a few hours ago. They said a rather heartfelt goodbye to each other, which ended with a romantic kiss."

Kaiden simply glared at Adri. For some reason, this didn't sit right with him. He didn't know what this feeling was, but something told him that it was jealousy.

So, our duo think Finley's dead. Of course, we know Adam's lying. How do you think Finley will cope now? Also, he's just killed someone so go him! Do we think our trio will win? How do we feel about Adri and Finley's kiss? Will that go anywhere?