Page 28 of Forging Bonds: Part One

Ty's expression becomes severe, "I can't tell you what the trials will involve. That changes for every Choosing, and it depends on the teams involved. I can tell you that it will take place in two weeks. You will be staying in the castle in the pocket realm where the Choosing always takes place. The Draconian Team will be staying there as well. Neith will have her own separate set of rooms. The rooms, the castle, and the temple are not broadcast to the supes, only the trials themselves are shown. However, there have been tasks in the past that have started on the grounds of the castle, and the contestants haven't realized straight away."

"So we need to be really fucking careful," I say, not liking that we could be filmed and not realize it.

Ty nods, "Yes, but if you feel with your magic before you start a conversation, you will be able to pick up the signs of the broadcast spell, so it's not that difficult to figure it out, so long as you remember the spell and they never film in your rooms or in the castle itself, only on the grounds, and wherever you get portaled to for your trials."

"We're going to get portaled?" I ask.

Ty nods, "Yeah. So, the pocket realm that it is held in, is actually quite big, but not all of the trials are likely to take place there. There is a good chance that you will get portaled to another realm for a trial. Because the realm is so big it is sometimes easier to use the portal to travel as well."

"So it's only going to be us and the Draconian Team, that's it?" Neith asks.

Ty shakes his head this time, "No, there are staff there that will help with looking after you and equipping you with certain things for the trials. They are your guides to the realm as well, and they all have homes and families in the realm. It needs to be taken care of when there isn't a Choosing."

"Okay, I'm good with that," she replies. "It's actually reassuring, in a strange way."

Ty nods, "They are the overseers, and they know a lot about the trials. Their species have been looking over the trials for as long as they have existed."

"Not all of the trials will be done together, right?" Doc asks.

"No, Neith will do some by herself. Some will be done with the Draconian Team, and some will be done with your team. In the past, the teams themselves have done tasks without the person that they're competing to have on the team as well. However, it doesn't happen every time. Sometimes, you will know what is being asked of you, but sometimes, you will have to work it out for yourselves. The Choosing lasts for seven days, and the trials last for five. The sixth day is a day for you all to rest and recover before the scroll names the team, and the seventh day is the naming. Your walk to the temple, which is completely separate from the castle, will be filmed, but the broadcast will stop when you enter the doors; it will restart when you come out and announce the winning team."

"What happens to the team that loses?" Griff asks.

"They go back to their normal lives," Ty says with a shrug. "In the case of the Draconian Team though, and considering that they have called a Choosing involving someone that they believe to be a human, knowing that it could mean Neith's death, along with the other things that have been reported about them, they will be immediately put under investigation, and then we will go from there."

"What about the team that wins? What exactly does winning mean?" Neith asks.

"The winning team gets a magical bond that bonds them for life. They are gifted extra magic, and they become incredibly sought after. That is whatwe know for certain. Warrior Teams aren't exactly vocal about what they are capable of after they have been through a Choosing," Ty explains.

"How did Kyrous train them then? Surely he would need to know what it is like to be a part of a Warrior Team before being able to train them?" River asks.

I expect the question to throw Ty, we haven't managed to speak to him since he told us about the Choosing other than to say that we were on the way home. After hearing that he was Kyrous' second in command, it makes sense to ask him any questions that we have because it stands to reason that Ty knew him the best. I watch Ty's reaction closely, and sadness tightens his expression.

"Ro was a Berserker, so that gave him a lot of natural combat talent. He also went through the Choosing. He is the only person in the known history of the Choosing to come out of the scroll room without a team," he explains.

"What?" I ask.

"No one knows what happened in the room, there is a silencing spell put on the room, so nothing that happens in there can be told to anyone else, bar a couple of exceptions. All we know is that although he went in with several teams, all of which wanted him on their team despite being terrified of what he was, he came out with no team."

"Wow, that's pretty fucking crazy," Neith mutters, looking impressed and intrigued.

"Yeah, it is," Ty replies with a fond but sad smile.

"Is there anything else that we should know?" Doc asks.

"Can we use our magic?"

Ty nods, "Yes, you can, but I would suggest that you all exercise caution. You don't want the whole supe world to know exactly what you are capable of."

"We had already considered that," Evander replies with a nod.

"What about Neith?" I ask. "Her supernatural side isn't out, hell we don't even know what she is, but she is stronger and faster than she should be, and putting her in this kind of situation is likely to bring her supernatural side out even more. Does she need to pretend that she is human?"

Ty frowns as he thinks about the question, and the rest of us just wait to see what he's going to say. It's a tricky one. On the one hand, we don't want HID to think that she is a supernatural. We also introduced Neith to everyone as our human liaison, and everyone knows that she worked for HID and that, unlike us, they don't employ supernatural liaisons. However, there are ways that we can explain her appearing to be a supernatural now. What we can't explain is how she was dead, and now she's alive and doing the Choosing. Humans don't get to watch the Choosing, but we know that HID are working for supes, most likely Dimitri and the blue fucker. We also know that whoever is the one that is working directly with HID made their interest in Neith known.

Raiden is obviously coming to the same conclusion that I am because he curses, "Shit. If Dimitri isn't the one that is talking with HID and giving the supes to the blue fucker then that means that it's the blue fucker instead that expressed an interest in Neith, and there isn't a chance that it wasn't Dimitri just checking on her to see if she had been released from HID's protection. If he realizes that she's alive, then he's going to be after her again. Let's face it, there is a very small chance that he isn't going to watch the Choosing."

Doc curses, "Shit, you're right. In that case, I hope that it was Dimitri that was working with them for the blue fucker, or even just by himself."

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