THE GAMES — Hive

‘What the f….?!’ shouted Turner as he received a fireball from Manny. The two twenty-two year old silver haired male twins were dressed in their battle clothes with Manny putting on a black robe that had a silver dragon crested on his breast side of the robe and wore a silver belt with a sword strapped to his left side while Turner wore the same but with his sword strapped to his right side.
The Eleventh Slitheran was around the corner and the twins were preparing as they were going to represent Kingdom first in the competition. ‘I wasn’t fucking ready!’ cursed Turner as Manny shot another ball towards him. ‘Am really sorry sweetheart’ said Manny in a mocking tone while he strolled away. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me man’, answered Manny, ‘at least give a not so deadly shot first’. ‘Keep on with this and I’ll attend your funeral before you turn twenty-six’ thought Manny under his breath as he shot a few more balls at Turner before leaving the arena.
Manny had always been the hot-headed brute right from birth and had even attacked his younger sister, Asher out of anger forcing her to unlock her necromancy abilities. When he was questioned why he had attacked his seven year old sister, he replied nonchalantly ‘she was too weak’ and walked away. On the other hand, Turner was the brainy cool headed one who was unfortunately a flirt.
At the infirmary, Asher who was a bit different from the rest of the royals cause she had an ebony colored hair just like the last necromancer who was executed for planning a coup against the governor instead of the usual silver hair most royal blood possessed. This often raised brows whenever she was seen at any occasion and only got worse after they found out she was a necromancer.
Asher worked in the infirmary and helped those critically wounded as she secretly used her necromancy to keep death at bay. The memory of her angry brother attacking her and burning her fingers after she blocked some of his fireballs with her bare hands. Her unlocking her necromancy was what saved her skin that day. Though using her burnt fingers as an excuse to escape the arena, her main reason for quitting was the terrifying memory of dead bodies in the arena rising up to defend her and extinguish the flames Manny had encircled her in.
Meanwhile back at the castle, Michael the castle chef was preparing supper with the maids setting up the dining. ‘Aren’t you going to eat anything’ the queen asked Manny. ‘Don’t feel like’ Manny grumbled as he excused himself and went to the arena.
While he staring into nothingness, he noticed thunder clouds gathering above him and then, a flash of lightning strikes right in front of him with a sinister laughter thundering in the darkness at the other end of the arena. That laughter which brought fear and terror into anyone who never lived to tell their story. ‘Who are you and what are you doing here’, Manny asked in a loud tone to mask his fear. The figure ignores his question steps out of the darkness revealing a six feet tall man wearing black clothes stained with blood. He didn’t look like one to be a fan of cleanliness as his teeth were very brown and he wore a skull as bag hung around his neck. , Manny turns pale after seeing him but maintains his composure.
‘Blackbolt!’ Manny shouted ‘Are you mad?! coming here or have you forgotten your name rests on number three of the most wanted list’. ’Oh!’ Blackbolt mockingly exclaimed, ‘I feel really honored being on the soon to be erased list’. ‘What do you mean by that’ Manny asked calmly. ‘Well, I just came here cause, you know how boring it gets after you stop doing what you love and I must confess, I haven’t felt the warmth of a royal heart in my hand and it seems like you just became my unlucky fish boy’. ‘Unlucky for you that is’, said Manny with an irritated expression.
Blackbolt had never let go of the grudge after his brother, the necromancer was executed for planning a coup against the governor. He had since then become an assassin with the only failure he ever encountered was killing the crowned prince.
Blackbolt walked towards Manny while showing off his brown rotten teeth with a few gold ones he used to replace after he lost them in a fight with the crowned prince. ‘So tell me, how will you like to die’ he asked as he roared out a stream of lightning bolts from his mouth while Manny dodged them with ease, ‘you’re kidding right?’ asked Manny ‘I could dodge your attacks with my eyes closed!’ ‘Oh really’, said an unimpressed Blackbolt as he quickly transformed his whole body into lightning and knocked Manny down on a few trees. Manny stood up with a pissed look on his face, ‘what do you really want Black?’
‘Oh don’t tell me you weren’t listening’ Blackbolt replied ‘I could tell you but its better I show you but then you won’t be alive so I guess I should just get over with it don’t you think?’ ‘Like hell!’ shouted Manny as he teleported to Blackbolt’s back giving him a round house kick. ‘how disappointing’ said Blackbolt, ‘I never knew the royals were this much cowards’.’ In all my fighting days, I haven’t seen such pitiful movements’. ‘Cowards you say’, scoffed Manny, ‘It is called strategy but you wouldn’t know what that is seeing that your mind is focused on killing’. ‘It’s called revenge’, Blackbolt said with an evil grin as he summoned black lightning from that covered a major part of the arena while Manny barely escaped the attack by jumping out of the way but gets his right hand is struck in the process. Manny lands badly and breaks his ankle as Blackbolt sends another bolt to his thigh rendering him immobile. ‘I hear you were the calvary of your team, it’s just so underwhelming that I just defeated you without even breaking a sweat’. Manny tries fruitlessly to roll away as Blackbolt pulls a sword stuck in the skull of a Shenial soldier’s corpse and drags the bronze sword on the ground as he strolls towards him. ‘Don’t you think its befitting for me to take your heart for what your people did to my brother’. ‘You could have just imprisoned him but no! You weaklings feared his power and used his crime as an excuse to get rid of him’. ‘After am done with you, am coming for the royals and not even your crown prince will stop me’. ‘You bastard! cursed Manny, we both know your brother deserved to die for his numerous crimes and was only pardoned cause of his rare gift’. ‘You can kill me now but it doesn’t change what your brother did or he was. So just fucking quit using your brother’s death to justify your actions’.’ Impressive’, Blackbolt said as he picked up Manny from the ground pinning him to the wall with the sword. ‘I have to admit, you’re the first of many to keep on blabbering incessantly even after being beat down’. ‘For that, I will let you have the honor of keeping your face’.
Blackbolt had made it a tradition to carve out his victim’s face he’s done. Manny spits on Blackbolt’s face ‘you asshole, you think…. ‘ but before he could complete the sentence, Blackbolt transforms his hands into lightning and puts it into Manny’s chest ripping out his heart drops it into his skull bag.