Scara kicked up dust, the sound of her footsteps echoing the dark hallway. She turned on her heels and walked into a wide room with the only light coming from four candles providing the flickering flames shining brightly on a long, old table. Nerves rattled her but instead her rubbing her elbow like she did whenever she got butterflies in her stomach, Scara gave a confident smirk. She deserved the mark she was about to get and would even kill for it. Not a Signer could stop her now. She stood still a few feet away from the end of the table, while four hooded figures sat along the side at at the top, only one seat was empty. That one would be hers soon. Scara straightened her pose and raised her voice to a soft yell.
"I have beaten the other Apprentice and was victorious. I stand before you, the last Apprentice left, and I am ready to accept the Mark of the Hummingbird." She ended that little speech with an excited tone, for Scara never dreamed she would speak it now. Every night, she had burned it into memory by saying it over and over again to get ready if this moment ever came. Scara pulled back the sleeve of her left arm to reveal a glowing, violet scar the shape of a spider's web. The Apprentice's Mark. It would soon vanish, if every played out right, and a Dark Signer's mark would burn itself onto her right forearm. Scara imagined the power it would hold, what she could be able to do while bearing it.
"Roman?" She asked, signaling the broad man at the head of the table. Their leader. His hood hid his face except for his mouth. It was flat, unimpressed. Not a good thing. He stayed silent, not acknowledging her, and then he folded his hands together, in front of his face. Scara began to feel that nervousness she feared but refused to rub her arm. Then, a smile broke out from his lips. Her smirk disappeared replaced with a shaky frown. A smile was worse. The man on Roman's left wearing a blue-edged hood snickered and chuckled uncontrollably, but not loud.
"Kalin..." Scara hissed under her breath. That mental outcast was a Dark Signer, like all the hooded people at that grand table. He probably told Roman lies about her to Roman. Kalin and Scara never saw eye to eye. But instead of sending her to the Netherworld, Roman backed up his chair, an eerie screech coming from it. He rose and removed the hood from his head. Scara could now see his black as night eyes with its palest of blue iris and their pupils... as small as a pen's point. They would be her soon, too.
"The Dark Signers have agreed that your last duel was not enough to show your true value." Roman announced, his voice deep and wise. It kind of shook your soul, sort of thing. Scara bowed her head with respect.
"Another duel, then? I am ready."
"No. A... task, more like." He corrected and folded his hands behind his back. Scara tipped her head up, suddenly confused. Roman noticed her expression and sighed.
"Unfortunately, we cannot tell you what the problem of the task is, or how it is solved. Even we do not know." Unfortunately? Bull. He must be lying. But if he wasn't...
"The Shadows, however, have informed us that six months from today, you will come back to this very room to make a choice. Perhaps, the choice?" The choice? What was Roman talking about? Scara had never heard of the choice in her time living here.
"I can only tell you that the key to a Dark Signer's success is betrayal." Even in the fog of confusion, she secured that info in her mind. Six months from today, betray. Scara studied each of the four Dark Signer's faces to see of their reaction just as they were doing to her. Only, she could only see their lips. Misty. The green-edged hood. The person Scara was most surprised to find here. Misty was world famous model, yet she had not told Scara why she was apart of this group. Maybe she would. Her mouth was wavering between a concerned frown and an amused smile. Devack. The least known to her, but spent so much time thinking about who knows what. His mouth was hard to describe, but it was as if he had openly said, this is going to be interesting. Roman had on that same raised corners of the mouth grin that he held when he got up. Kalin. The jerk was... laughing? He was laughing! Scara started to breathe hard. Smiles and laughs. They were going to enjoy what was going happen! But what was going on? Roman made the first movement by raising his arms in the air. Scara had now froze stiff.
"Hold on to your deck, Scara. We'll be watching you." When he finished, everyone's mark started to glow. The Lizard, Monkey, Giant, and Spider. Even her own spiderweb. Roman's mark, surprisingly, emitted black wisps of what seemed like fog from it and creep it's way to Scara. It gathered at her feet and she didn't feel fear. Nor that stiffness anymore. Instead, she welcomed it. Then everything erupted in a blinding flash and the floor beneath her feet wasn't there anymore. Then, she fell into darkness.