A death race

What did her words mean?

She said it was her way of helping him but it didn't sound like helping at all. The whole place looked like a park; it was just the toys, that were supposed to help in entertainment, were the real deal. The race would start with each one starting on his own then at a certain point everyone would meet and continue the second phase of the race. The winner would get a reward at the end. However, since Stephan wasn't a prisoner, who knows what kind of real reward he would get?

"Oy! What are talking about?" he pushed her strongly until she fell backwards. "What are you talking about? Why do you keep pulling me into situations where I am not certain I would survive? What the hell are you doing? Do you call this training?"

"What are you saying to me? I am not a bad girl. Stop treating me like a bad girl!" she cried. Her hand slapped her legs continuously rebelling against the apprentice mage's words.

On the other hand, Stephan was walking around, checking on his surroundings. There was an opening on the faraway wall. However, before reaching it, there were a set of puzzles or more like tests. There were a lot of sharp weapons, each waiting for a living body to turn it into a corpse, hungry for more than blood.

"Why is this happening?"

Why was it that every time he was confident in something it just backstabbed him? There was one road taking to the door by the end of the underground strange place. Aurora simply watched him check on everything until something resounded. It was a robotic voice that explained the rules of the game. It was an underground race made for prisoners of Zaskuaria, the vampire land. Since vampires lived a long life and everything the same happened, the down and fall of kingdoms, always the same conflicts, the same kind of betrayals, everything was the same.

Therefore, the Ambrosia conquered and the vampire Lords punished. They created a show for themselves using the lives of the ones who rebelled against them. It was always wonderful to break the will of rebels. Surely, they were the ones with the powerful wills and energy. They always found hope in everything and it was entertaining breaking them slowly. Stephan was caught in one of their games and supposedly, Aurora pushed him to it. As she did the first time, she pulled him to Masmoenia and since then, he embarked on a dangerous journey.

The robotic voice said one rule, to keep running and survive the game until the end. Running from the game meant date, stopping in place for more than five minutes meant death, trying to overturn the race by cheating meant death… Everything meant death except if he kept running towards the end and dodged everything.

Stephan felt scared and all his confidence seemed to dissipate. There was no way he would just run to his death. He wasn't confident in his agility to dodge. He didn't have any power to block the attacks. However, he had to move forward; the clock started. The five minutes started and once it reached the zero number, he would die.

Aurora stood up, her legs shook slightly because she stayed too much sitting. "Yosh! Let's go! It seems we need to start the run. Let's hope our luck will get us to the end," she raised her hand in the air cheering on both of them.

She moved to the starting line next to Stephan and stretched her muscles. She stepped outside the safe area where the race started but she couldn't move ahead without him. After all, the five minutes only applied to her. He wasn't marked by a number so even if he didn't participate in the game, he wouldn't die. If he stayed away from her, he wouldn't have participated. He would be still up there in the hole waiting or the whole thing to end. However, simply staying there would attract the attention of vampires. The best chance was to participate. Since they were both with different outfits than the other prisoners, no one would suspect much.

"What are you doing?" she glanced back. "Do you want to die? I thought you cried so much about survival that you were ready to do anything. You are such a loser!"

Stephan watched the first part of the race. There was one road to the end. If someone tried to step outside it, he would fall to the pit. It was full of spikes. Not everything was spiked. There were other torture devices that worked on magic. The spikes changed to iron maidens then rack. Anyone who fell there would be pulled to one of the three.

Stephan started running alongside Aurora. "Don't think I will trust you after this?"

"You need to survive to be able to do that, dear disciple," she smiled warmly until her eyes closed. "Let's go ahead! Don't forget to protect me! My death will be your death."

"What are you talking about? Isn't each one for themselves?"

"Yes for other prisoners. No, for you," she raised her hand exposing a bracelet he didn't notice earlier. The jewel stuck to her skin blending smoothly. If he wanted to remove it, he would have to tear her skin apart. "Look at your wrist! You have one as well. My death means your death. Therefore, protect me well, disciple."

"Isn't it the same for you?" he smiled nervously. "You need to protect me." A glimmer of hope blossomed in his heart but it faded alongside his smile. Her grin terrified him.

"Do you think so? Remember, if I could break a simple curse, I can as well break this simple spell. Don't you know? I am the one who cast it on you. I made sure to make us bound. After all," she clasped her cheeks together. "I don't want you to push me to my death."

"I see why the witch called you a crazy woman."

"Of course. I was always like this. I don't care for people or anything that happened unless it affected me. I told you several times… Don't trust anything you see! It's the future me who needs to take care of you, not me. I am not obligated to take responsibility."