Chapter 211

Chapter 211

ARIA

9 Finished

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I had no water purification. No fire-starting capability. No proper rope. I’d lost my bow and arrows in the stream. All I had left was my knife-I checked franticall and breathed relief when I found it still secured in its sheath-and my waterlogged clothes that were making me colder with every passing second.

I had no idea where I was. No idea where the other competitors were. No idea where Ivory was. No idea what the boundaries of the Hunt area were or what the first actual challenge was supposed to be.

I was alone, unprepared, and already compromised before the competition had even truly begun.

A sound made me freeze. Not natural forest noise-something else. Something that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up despite the cold.

A figure materialized from the trees. Not walking from behind cover-actually materializing, appearing from nothing like smoke coalescing into form.

One of the elders. I thought it was Lunaris based on the size and build, but it was hard to tell because the figure was translucent, ghostly, more spirit than solid body.

“Competitor Aria Blackwood,” the apparition said, its voice carrying that same melodic quality Lunaris possessed but with an echoing quality that made it clear this wasn’t fully present. “You have successfully survived the initial placement. The Hunt has officially begun p>

“What-” I started, but the ghost held up a hand.

“The first challenge is simple,” it continued. “Partners must find each other within two hours. Those who fail to reunite will be immediately disqualified from the Hunt. Your time began the moment you woke in the water. You now have one hour and forty-three minutes remaining p>

One hour and forty-three minutes to find Ivory in what looked like miles of dense forest. With no map. No compass. No idea which direction to even start searching.

“How-” I tried again.

But the ghost was already fading, dissolving back into nothing, leaving me alone with the ticking clock and impossible task.

I forced myself to my feet, ignoring the way my muscles protested. Ignored the cold that was making my teeth chatter. Ignored the fear that was threatening to paralyze me completely.

I needed to move. Needed to find Ivory. Needed to do it in less than two hours or our team would be disqualified before we’d even started competing.

I picked a direction at random-away from the waterfal following the stream upstream on the theory that Ivory might have also been placed near water and would follow similar logic. My feet squished in my waterlogged boots with every step. My clothes clung un omfortably, chafing against skin that was already irritated from the morning’s exertions.

But I kept moving. Kept scanning the forest for any sign of my partner. Kept pushing through the discomfort because the alternative was failure.

15:03 wed,

Chapter 211

6 p>

Finished

Time seemed to simultaneously crawl and fly. Every minute felt endless while also disappearing too quickly. I had no way to track exactly how much time had passed. No watch. No sun visible through the dense canopy. Just my internal sense that I was running out of time rapidly.

I saw tracks at one point-boot prints in soft mud near cluster of ferns. Fresh tracks. Recent enough that water was still seeping into the impressions. I followed them desperately, hoping they were Ivory’s, praying I was closing the distance.

The tracks led me to a small clearing. And there-there she was.

Ivory sat on a fallen log, calmly sharpening her knife with smooth, practiced strokes. She looked completely dry, completely composed, like she hadn’t just been dumped in a freezing stream and subjected to sabotaged supplies. Her hair was neat. Her clothes were pristine. She didn’t even look particularly concerned about the ticking clock or the partner-finding challenge.

Relief flooded through me so intensely I nearly collapsed. “Ivory!” I called out, moving toward her with what energy I had left. “Thank gods. I’ve been searching-the time limit-we need to p>

She didn’t look up. Didn’t acknowledge my approach. Just continued sharpening her knife with that same steady rhythm.

I got closer, my relief starting to curdle into concern. “Ivory? Did you hear me? We found each other. We can report to whatever checkpoint p>

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” Ivory said, her voice flat and cold in a way I’d never heard from her before. She still didn’t look up from her knife. “Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting here for thirty minutes. Thought maybe you’d drowned. Would have made things simpler p>

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