Chapter Ten

Levi

Sage turns to look at Cain, "What the fuck is the Warrior Games, and why is everyone freaking out?"

Cain smiles and replies, "I'll explain back upstairs. I don't think this is the safest place to be right now."

"Agreed," I reply, as I usher Sage to get up, barely holding back the urge to pick her up and carry her out of the increasingly frenzied crowd. I share a look with Jett, and I can tell that he's having the same problem as I am. We both settle for just ushering them out of the door as quickly as possible, pushing through the crowds of people.

We're all silent as we rush through the halls and up to our rooms, I can feel eyes on us the whole way, and I don't fucking like it. I'm also slightly disappointed that we didn't get the excuse to leave: just more confusion and questions thrown at us.

Automatically, everyone just heads straight for our room, and we all take seats as we look at Cain expectingly. I have never heard of the Warrior Games before; just from the name, I can tell that it's my kind of thing and something that I absolutely want to know about.

I wonder if they have some kind of trial that you can do in order to join, or whether it's by invitation only. Maybe that's why the headmaster said that it only affects Black Onyx; perhaps you have to be in attendance there in order to take part. If that's the case, then I'm even more convinced that we're in the wrong academy.

"Okay, so what are the Warrior Games and how do we take part?" Damon asks, and the rest of us all grin. We're all thinking it, and we're all on the same page. Something called the Warrior Games sounds a lot more like something that we'd like to do than whatever the fuck is going on here; we're all far less political and much more interested in protecting the people.

The Warrior Games sounds like something that may allow us to do that, or at least compete to do that.

Cain smiles, "I had a feeling that you were going to ask me that. The first thing I need to point out, even though I'm fairly sure that you have already guessed, is that despite the name, the Warrior Games are definitely not Games. They aren't made to entertain; no one can observe them apart from the Gods, and even then, they have no say about what happens to contestants while in them. They do grant the winners or those that deserve it with extra gifts in order to help them protect the Realm. It is controlled by the Fae Realm herself, and she is ancient, far older than any God. She follows no rules and has her own agenda. She sees everything and strategically constructs things in order to keep the Fae world alive and thriving. She focuses on the bigger picture rather than things that she considers small, like kingdom disputes. Her sole purpose is to ensure that the Fae World doesn't go the same way as so many Realms before it and just disappear."

"Whoa, hold up a fucking minute," Asher says, interrupting Cain, "you're speaking about her like she is an actual being like you could talk to her if you wanted to?"

"Like she's a Goddess herself but above the Gods almost?" Sage asks, curiosity shining bright in her eyes and making her look even more stunning than usual.

This conversation has already brought back some of that spark that we've all noticed has been missing since we got here. She's not herself, and she's not happy; we all know it, and we all wish that we could do something about it. The only thing is that other than just leaving here, we don't know how to help. We can't just leave here because we have nowhere to go and nowhere that we can stay. It's not like we have contacts in the Fae Realm that will help us out.

Since we realised that the teachers are being controlled and it's given us a purpose again and more danger, she has started to perk up and get that spark back, but I have a strong feeling that when we've fixed it and the teachers are back to normal, she's going to become unhappy again and lose that spark, she wasn't made for this, in fact, none of us are doing very well here. I want to ensure that it doesn't happen, but I have no idea how to go about it, and it"s something that is constantly in the back of my mind.

"Yes, she is; in a way, she is so ancient that no one knows her origin anymore, and she doesn't communicate in the ways that Nyx, for example, communicates with you," Cain replies to Sage, pulling me out of thoughts.

"How do you know how Nyx communicates with me?" Sage asks and then immediately shakes her head, "You know what, never mind."

"The games are brutal and deadly tests of strength, intelligence, and strategy, all things that determine the ultimate Warrior." Cain starts to explain again, "The Warrior Games are a centuries-long tradition that the Fae Realm herself used to determine the warriors that were capable of protecting our Realm from outside forces and the best warriors to ensure that the Realm continued to thrive."

"That's pretty amazing, actually, but it hasn't happened for a while?" Erin questions.

"No. The last games were over one hundred years ago, and the Realm hasn't started another one since, despite the need to with the rise of the Order."

"So around the time that the Order waged the war on the Centres and their Bonded?" Jax questions, noticing something that I hadn't.

Cain nods, "Yes, somehow, the Order managed to block the Fae Realm and stopped it from being able to pull warriors into the games."

Asher tilts his head, "I've come across the Warrior games in my books, and the information wasn't nearly as detailed as what you're telling us."

Cain raises his eyebrow and smirks, "That's because the books weren't given all of the knowledge, only a brief overview. I know more."

"Is there any point in us asking you why you know more than the books that are supposed to teach us?" Sage asks.

"You can ask, but I won't tell you," Cain replies, making my lips twitch. At least he's amusing with his mystery. He continues his explanation, "The Fae Realm pulls in the Warrior teams that are to participate, and they are always pulled from Black Onyx Academy. Every team there will be pulled in and expected to compete whether they want to or not. However, they don't all get pulled in at the same time it"s staggered. Each round was different for each team and was specifically designed to play on their weaknesses and strengths. It wasn't rigged, so winning wasn't impossible, although, at times, I'm sure it could feel that way. The length of the rounds all depends on the environment they were transported to and their swiftness in identifying the objective and completing it. Sometimes, the objective was clear, and sometimes, the participants had no idea what it was. No round was ever longer than twenty-four hours though. If the objective wasn't completed in time, then the Realm deemed you unworthy."

"What happens if the Realm deems you unworthy?" Cole asks.

"The Warriors that failed were brought back to the Black Onyx temple, where the Gods and Goddesses decided their fate, usually death." Cain replies, no sign of joking in his features anymore.

This is a serious fucking thing to be facing. One that the Black Onyx Academy students don't actually get a choice to participate in. Looking around at the faces of my family and friends, I get the feeling that none of us would actually mind, and if the opportunity were presented to us, we'd all choose to participate.

"There were worse things that they would face than their lives being forfeited for the Realm. The Realm, at least, would take them within seconds, and they'd feel nothing. But the terrains and situations that the warriors were up against were very real. Some of them are not even in this Realm. After all, how can the Realm herself be sure that the warriors were up to the duty of protecting it if they were only tested against things that they were familiar with?" Cain asks.

"Wow, which makes a lot of sense, but holy shit, that's intense," Sage replies.

Cain nods, "Anything in these rounds could and would take great pleasure in killing the participants. Some of the beings that they were put up against would simply take them prisoner instead. Since the failed participants wouldn't be able to be brought back here when their time was up and held in the temple for the Gods and Goddesses to deliver their punishments, they were simply abandoned to whatever Realm and creature they couldn't defeat."

"That's pretty harsh," Jett points out with a frown.

Cain simply nods, "Yes, there's no denying it, and there's no sugar coating it. As I said before, it's brutal, and there's a high chance that you won't survive."

"Hang on, so there's only one team that wins? That means that all of those hundreds of other students at the academy get killed?" Sage asks, sounding horrified.

Cain shakes his head, "No, several teams pass the trials, and how well they do or how difficult the level is depends on where they're sent to protect. Despite it being a Fae Realm thing, the Warriors aren't always sent to protect the vast Fae world."

"That's not mentioned in the books anywhere either. It's always one team, and the rest either don't survive the games or die in the temple," Asher replies.

"That was done strategically, one to ensure that they train properly but also because the teams that were actually protecting dangerous or volatile places once they'd passed the games, they needed anonymity, so the winner so to speak was always a team that tended to come last and only just passed the tests and then was given the job of protecting one of the royal courts, and dealing with the people that way," Cain explains.

"Okay, that makes sense, I guess. I mean, you can't protect somewhere properly if everyone recognizes you and wants to talk to you because you've won the fae games," Ty replies.

"Exactly. Obviously, there's a lot more facets to it, and even those at Black Onyx Academy don't have as much knowledge as you do." Cain adds. "Those that make it through the games are deemed heroes, warriors that are worthy to serve this Realm and protect it."

"That's absolutely fascinating. I wonder if our rescuing of the Centres that were taken helped to weaken the blockage on the Fae Realm and helped her call the Warriors to Games again," I ask.

"It definitely did," Cain replies. "The Fae Realm knows that something big is on the horizon and that it needs the strongest warriors it can find in order to protect the Fae world from disappearing."

Sage sighs, the light dimming in her eyes slightly, "I wish we were able to participate."

Cain nods. "I thought that you would feel like that, all of you, actually. Unfortunately, it's always been only the Warrior teams from the Black Onyx academy."

"Yeah, that figures," Cole says.

"If we were pulled in, we'd be leaving Blood Moon to the Order, and that would be incredibly dangerous." I remind them all, "We need to break the hold that the Order has over the school before their claws dig in any further and the students here become victims and unwilling members of the Order."

"Yeah, you're right." Sage agrees.

"Actually, now that Godfrey is dead, and since he was the one that placed the object here to control the teachers, I wonder if the effects have been broken and they're no longer under the control of the Order?" Erin asks.

"I've heard of spells breaking when their casters die, but I guess it would all depend on whether or not his magic was the only magic that was put into it to help control the teachers," Maverick replies.

"I guess we'll find out when we go to class," Harry points out.

"I'm sorry, but I arranged to meet up with that teacher that I told you about, the one that was starting to break the control, so I've got to go," Cain says as he moves toward the door, once he's pulled it open, he adds, "don't forget that we're training tomorrow night, so get some proper sleep tonight."

"You've got it," Sage replies, "be careful. We don't know whether he's got some sort of failsafe in place that could make those affected by the control, it could make the teacher you're talking to dangerous."

Cain glances back at Sage, "Thank you. I hadn't actually thought of that as a possibility. I will be extra cautious."

With that, he leaves, and we're once again left in shocked silence as we all try to absorb the amount of information that's just been dumped on us.

Kai leans forward in his seat, "Do you think if we asked the Fae Realm very nicely, she would call us to join the games?"

His words bring smiles to all of our faces as Sage replies, "Even if that were a possibility, I don't think that the Realm would pull us away from our current objective. As Levi said earlier, there's a very real possibility that if we don't manage to get, control of the teachers removed, that they could essentially start training the students here to join the Order, and that would mean that the Order would have a vast amount of very strong new members and we can"t risk that. We're supposed to be weakening them, not strengthening them, so for now, I think this is exactly where we're supposed to be. Despite how frustrating it is."

Kai sighs dramatically, "I know you're right, beautiful, but I'm living in hope despite how unlikely it would be for us to get called."

I look around at everyone and ask a question that I probably should've asked a long time ago, "Are any of you actually happy here?"

Unsurprisingly, all of my team answer no, and so does Cole. And a couple of the others. However, Ty answers my question more completely.

"I used to be, I know the others were as well, and I don't think that it's just thanks to the teachers and them being under the control of the Order, which has made us unhappy here. It just doesn't seem like this is the right place for us anymore."

"I agree. We were actually really enjoying being here and learning a lot, and although I do think that the teacher"s change of attitude was the catalyst to us being unhappy here, I don't think that will change when we fix them," Jett agrees with Ty, and everyone is nodding along in agreement.

"I think for me, I always found it a bit more difficult going back to school, I'm twenty-four, for fuck sake, and I never did well in school anyway," Nate adds.

"Yeah, that's a good point," Hunt agrees, "it almost feels like we've gone backward."

I scrub a hand over my head, "Okay, I'm not sure how we're going to fix this, but we can keep the issue in mind and hope that something comes up."

"We're here for a reason. The Goddess wouldn't have led us here if that weren't the case." Sage points out, "I have a feeling that we won't be going anywhere until we've done what we're supposed to do, and who knows whether that ends with helping the teachers or not."

"So, what you're saying is that we could be here for a while longer?" Erin summarises.

Sage nods, "Yep, pretty much."

"Fantastic, well I'm hungry, anyone else?" Kysen says standing up.

There's a resounding sound of agreement, and several of us get up to go and grab some food from the dining hall. I'm actually becoming increasingly grateful that they allow us to bring food up to our rooms because the reception in the dining hall is always frosty and not exactly welcoming, a direct contrast to what Cole and Erin have described.

Sage

Ialmost have this craving for the games, although I don't actually think that it's for the games but more for adventure and something more than what we have here. Up until recently, I didn't feel like we actually have a purpose here; now we do, and I'm starting to feel more like myself again. I trust that the Goddess has a plan for us, and I understand that, but I kind of wish she'd hurry up a bit.

"Be careful what you wish for, daughter," the Goddess's voice warns.

She's right. I need to stop thinking about what ifs and focus on what's going on now. We need to help the teachers before it's too late, and we need to train and learn more about the Warrior Bond as well.

Over the next couple of weeks, it becomes increasingly evident that the teachers are still very much under the influence of the Order, in fact they've got worse.