The Harvest Prelims

"After months of training. It's finally time for us, to begin." Says George, standing next to Nana & Kayn. All three gazing up at the gigantic statue, of Augustine Maximillian. The founder of the Larrisan Empire. The wind howls, as the breeze lightly blows back George's hair. "Today, is the day." George looks at Nana. "We become heroes." He then looks at kayn. "And restore, your families names." He looks back up at the statue. "We move forward." Nana smiles & says "no matter, what happens. We stick together. That's our only way of survival." "I agree" says Kayn. "There's strength in numbers." They all nod, & begin walking towards the entrance of a building, called The Factory. As they enter, they hear an old man, saying "Participants! You have 10 minutes, to get to your seats." Over the tele stone, that was given to them, by Professor Zoro, awhile back. The three rush to the auditorium, narrowly get into their seats, just before the bell rings. A very old man, wearing a golden robe. Is standing on the a stage, at an alter. He tells the tributes "Welcome Harvesters, to the bi-annual Harvest trials. Every two years new tributes are chosen. The tributes must enter a series of trials, to prove their strength, courage, & wits. I am this years inspector, Grandmaster Orion Gold-crest. Today, 30,000 of you will have come, to prove yourself, to your families, to your nations, & most importantly, to yourselves. Today is the day, you show honor. Tomorrow is the day, you show courage. The seventh day of the trials, you will show the world, your futures. We will first begin the trials, by making our way, to the designated training area. There, you will test your aura control in a target field. You will test your strengths, & agility at the obstacle course. You will also test your intelligence, by escaping the third training zone, The Maze. Next, you will be taken to an area called The Garden. There you will be transported, by teleportation monoliths, called Harvester pods, to a location, called the Forest of Golems. Each of you, placed in different zones, within the forest." He pulls out a glass orb from inside of his rob. He throws it into the air. A blinding light emanates from it. Within an instant, a giant projection appears from the orb. It fills the room with images of the Forest of Golems. "There are three zones within the Forest. A zone, B zone, & C zone. Zone A is the outer most zone. Covering 2/5ths of the land, is marshlands. Then you have zone B, which spans 1 million square feet of forest. It stands between zone A & zone C. Last we have Zone C. The deepest, & most inner part of the forest. It is filled with lakes, streams, & mountainous caves. The Forrest of Golems, is infested with golems, & dangerous creatures. You will be faced with the task of survival. You must survive 7 days. After the 7th & final day. The remaining Harvesters, will be brought back for healing, & treatment. You will be given a week of rest. Once you've recuperated. You will be led to Challengers Square. An arena that was designed specifically for warrior battles. We will then pit you up against each other, one on one, in a tournament. To discover who among you, is the strongest. Now please make your way, to the designated training area. & may the Father of Strength, be ever in your spirit." As the tributes make their way to there designated training area. They are met by a middle aged edgy woman. "Welcome harvesters, my name is Anna Eberheart. I am the conductor of the first trial. First you will broken up into, 15 groups of 2000. Each individual within each tribute group, will show their skills. by entering 1 of the 3 training zones. You will be monitored, & examined by a member of the Signoria." George looks over to Nana and asks "what's a Signoria?" "They're a cadre of Magi's. Nobody really knows what they do. Now, shut up & listen." "Each examiner will determine, who passes, & who doesn't. You will each, be given a chance to show off your abilities. You will be monitored by a Signoria member, & given a grade. There are 3 criteria we grade you on. Aura control, physical strength, & wits. The grades are S, which is the highest grade, A, B, C, D & F being the lowest. We will then tally, all the grades from each criteria, & give you a final grade. You will now be handed a pin, with a number on it. Now please put on your pin & we shall begin. Group 1, make your way to the training area. Everyone else make your way to the spectators area." Kayn who spots Nana & George. Rushes over to them, & asks "guys what's your number?" George says "I got 3.141, what about you guys?" I'm number 2.300" replies Nana. "I'm 11.998. Wait! Nana, that means your the 300th member of group 2" "yeah, I'm kinda nervous. There are some really tough people in group 2." Kayn looks back at Nana. "Yeah, like number 2.10 Julius Alexander, The Prince of Titania. I heard, he's as strong as a Lieutenant." "What?! What do you mean a lieutenant?" Asks George. "He's strong, really strong. We should also keep an eye out for #1.2 Prince Shi Xi, of Xi, & #2.1 Prince Ash Hadrian, of Hyperion." Nana Looks at the both of them. "Both of you listen. We each need to make it through these preliminaries. The only way we all make it through the Forest of Golems is to stick together." Kayn replies, This is an alliance." George nods "we'll place our faith in each other. & pass these stupid preliminaries, then we'll beat the Forest of Golems." After the 1st group of Tributes return. Nanas group, group 2, make their way to the first prelim, the obstacle course. After a a few hours. Group two returns, & group three is sent to the obstacle course. After a day & a half, the tributes complete the obstacle course. All 30,000 tributes are then taken Harvester Pods, ready to transport them to The Maze. Anna, who's smiling standing in front of a statue of Light. Surrounded by monoliths, that creates a portal to other monoliths. "Alright harvesters, the 2nd prelim trial is The Maze. You will step through these portals & be transported to a Maze world. Where you will have 3 days, to make it out of the maze. Out of the 30,000 18,000 make it out of the Maze. The 18,000 tributes make their way to the auditorium. There, they find Grandmaster Gold-Crest who's standing in front of the Alter with a Tele Stone. "Uh-hm, Congratulations Harvesters! You have survived the maze world. You all have done well to show your abilities. We are handing each of you a letter. Inside this letter is your grades, & your final grade. If your final grade is a C & above, make your way back to the Harvester Garden. If you've received, a grade that is less than a C-. You must exit the building. You have failed, but worry not. Go home, train. The next Harvest festival is in 2 years." George, Nana, & Kayn find each other, in The Harvesters Garden. With excitement in his voice. George says to Nana & Kayn "Yeah! We all passed!" Nana chuckles "I can't believe we all passed that maze." Kayn replies "I really though I'd be trapped in that maze." Nana replies back "it's a good thing, you & I found each other, & partnered with Flynn Nightwing, Claudius Zelretch, & Davina Petrova." Kayn nods his head, "Yeah, I know. Those guys are a great team. They're definitely going to be tough to beat. If we ever have to face them in a battle." Yeah, I heard out of the 18,000 Harvesters. He had the 27th highest grade." Nana looks at George with a shocked look on her face. She says "George! I just realized you made it through the maze. I truly though you might've not be able to get through it." "Yeah, it was difficult. & I got really lost. Luckily, I met a guy named Author Pendragon." Kayn who's shocked yells "what? You met The Prince of Elysia?" "Yeah, & he was really strong. We got attacked by some guys, & he defeated them single handed." Nana looks over at George, & says "He has the 3rd highest grade, in the prelims." "We're now friends. So we can count on him, during the next trial. Nana reply's "We're going to need more allies." Kayn nods his head in agreement. "If we can find more of our classmates, we could possibly get them to join us." Grandmaster Gold-Crests voice is echoing through the Harvest Garden, via tele-Stone. " eh-hm, to all 13,000 Harvesters who have made it this far. Congratulations, your time is now. Today is the begining of your story. If you survive the Forest of Golems. You take control of your futures. This will be a difficult, & daunting trial. For 7 days, you must will have to survive the Forrest of Golems. But fear not, for you have inside of you, what it takes to prove to the world, that you have what it takes to gain control over your future. Now please, make your way through Harvester Pods. May Lady Luck, smile upon you. May the Grandfather of fate, shine down unto you. May history be woven. And may you all return, champions of your destiny."
George, Kayn, & Nana place one hand on top of each other. "Remember, we have to find each other. We'll each place a small amount of our aura into the each persons tele-stone. That way the stone will guide us to each other." Kayn interjects "George place your aura on my stone. I'll place mine on Nanas, & Nanas on yours." Grandmaster Gold-Crest can be heard over the tele-stones saying, "Tributes, it is now time to enter the pods. May you all return, victorious."
The three walk into the Pods, not knowing what will happen next.