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VII: Being Watched
Amy stood twiddling her fingers nervously and tried to control her breathing. She could hear the cheering of the crowds and the loud voice of the Oracle announcing the event and she knew her father would be stood next to him soaking up all the attention.
"Today we witness Amy Rose!" The Oracle announced and the crowd roared with cheers and applause.
Amy squinted against the sudden harsh light as the guards pulled the curtains back and she felt her feet automatically carry her forward and into the old stone arena. It looked like everyone in the tribe had turned up for this event and they were all cheering for her. It looked like her father had really hyped them all up.
"Fighting her will be Creon of the Spider!" The Oracle said gesturing towards the curtains on the opposite end of the arena where a very large and tough looking green hedgehog appeared, storming out into the open confidently and glared at Amy with a murderous look.
Amy found her eyes drifting towards all the blood stains on the walls and on the floor. She said a quiet prayer to the gods and tried to slow down her erratic heart. I'm dead, Amy thought to herself.
The tribal drums began to play and everyone stopped cheering to watch in enthralled silence as Creon smirked at her.
"I see you haven't been chosen by a god yet? This should be easy." Creon yelled at her and Amy tried to maintain her composure.
"At least I'll be full of surprises." She was surprised she had managed to say that without her voice shaking.
Creon raised his eyebrows at her before laughing and charging towards her. Amy anticipated his move and quickly moved out of the way before he could hit her.
Creon's spider bracelet glowed bright gold and he shot a sticky web out of the palm of his hand that wrapped itself around her.
Amy struggled and tripped over as Creon laughed at her.
"Pathetic." He chuckled and Amy growled as she tried to break free. Using all the strength in her arms as she managed to snap the web and Creon looked at her in shock.
Amy summoned her hammer and she heard everyone in the audience gasp. She didn't even pay attention as she charged towards Creon with her hammer held high in the air.
"Whoa!" Creon gasped as he jumped out of the way after registering the crazed look in the pink hedgehog's eyes.
Amy picked up her hammer again and attempted to hit him, but he once again moved out of the way just in time.
"Unlike you, I don't have to rely on divine intervention." Amy teased and Creon glared at her before crawling up the wall with movement similar to a spider's. Amy smashed her hammer against the stones, trying to create shockwaves that would knock him back to the ground.
Eventually she succeeded and Creon fell back to the ground and she heard a sickening crack as his arm broke. Creon yelped in pain before glaring up at her. He picked himself up and charged towards her as his bracelet began glowing again.
Amy jumped up into the air and span around with her hammer creating a small whirlwind that easily knocked Creon off his feet.
"Where did you get such a weapon?" Creon shrieked at her as he tried to shoot more webs at her that she managed to avoid.
Amy ignored him and gasped as one of the webs caught her leg and locked her onto the ground, preventing her from moving.
Creon saw his chance and came charging towards her, his bracelet glowing brightly. Amy gasped in fear before picking her hammer up and smashing it against the ground as hard as she could. The shockwave shook the whole arena and the stones beneath Amy's and Creon's feet began to crack. Creon stared at the ground in fear before the ancient stones gave way underneath them and they plummeted into one of the many hidden underground chambers under the tribe.
Everyone in the audience tried to lean over the wall to get a better look, but could see nothing but pitch blackness in the area that the two hedgehog's had fallen.
They gasped as they saw a pink hedgehog struggle to pull herself back up with dust and debris entangled in her fur. Amy coughed violently before pulling up the unconscious body of Creon and laid him down on the ground that hadn't been destroyed.
The crowd erupted into cheers and Ezra ran down and raised Amy's hand high in the air.
"Ouch, I'm still sore father." Amy rasped out as she tried to cough up more dust.
"Nonsense." Ezra replied as he waved at the crowd. "You are victorious and you should be showing off your strength."
Amy rolled her eyes before coughing again and the Oracle held up his hand and everyone suddenly went silent as eyes drifted to the old hedgehog.
"I sense a great power at work here." He said with his eyes closed and Ezra's eyes lit up.
"I knew it!" Ezra smiled. "There's someone big and powerful that's got their eyes on you Amy."
Amy's stomach sank as Ezra continued to force her to wave at the crowd.
Creon groaned as he came round and Amy looked around awkwardly as she saw Creon's parents storming towards him.
"You have failed us!" His father snapped.
"I'm sorry father!" Creon begged. "I didn't know she had a weapon!"
"You vowed that you would never lose a fight!" His father yelled and Creon shrank away from him in fear.
"Father please, I'm sorry!"
"Sorry isn't good enough!" Amy watched in horror as dark magic began seeping out of Creon's father. "As punishment for this broken promise to your parents, I hereby disown you as my son and curse you to lose every battle from now on!"
"NOOOOOO!" Creon screamed in agony as he tried to run from the dark magic, but it caught up to him quickly and his body absorbed it. He dropped to the ground and began twitching in pain and Amy wanted to run over there and help him.
However, she was stopped from doing so by her father's rough hand grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him.
"Don't worry about those weaklings, today we celebrate your first victory." Ezra said. "Now smile!" He ordered.
Amy did her best to force a smile on her face and it must have been convincing enough as Ezra nodded at her.
Lots of people from the tribe came to congratulate her and Amy did her best to keep on her best false smile, knowing that her father was watching her every move. As the sun began to set her father finally dragged her away from everyone and into the Oracle's temple.
"That was an amazing fight." Her father complimented.
"Thank you father." Amy answered flatly and she couldn't stop herself thinking about Creon and how him losing the fight had now cost him everything. She felt so guilty.
"We must now push your initiation forward as you are obviously very powerful." Ezra noted. "By the way, where did you get that hammer?"
"A random guy gave it to me." Amy explained.
"A random guy?" Ezra chuckled. "What happened?"
"I was just wondering through this market and this hooded man stopped me. He told me I was incredibly special and that he had a gift for me." Amy told him and Ezra looked deep in thought. "He gave me the hammer and said only I had the power to wield it, then he just disappeared and I never saw him again."
"Show me!" Ezra begged and Amy easily summoned her hammer and Ezra looked at it greedily.
"Give it to me!" He ordered holding his hands out.
Amy rolled her eyes. "If you're sure."
She handed it to him and Ezra immediately collapsed under the weight of it and it fell to the floor with a loud clanging noise. Ezra tried to pick it up but to no avail and Amy giggled at his attempts.
"For some reason, it only works for me." She said easily picking it up as if it was as light as a feather.
Ezra looked at her, impressed as Amy made it disappear.
"You know what this is my child?" He asked and Amy shook her head. "It's a gift from one of the gods."
Amy laughed. "I highly doubt that a god would come all the way here just to give a little girl a present."
"But you're not just any girl, Amy. That god obviously thought you were something special otherwise he would never have given you such a weapon." Ezra explained as his eyes sparkled.
"If you say so." Amy mumbled.
"I need to stay here and do some work on your initiation with the Oracle, you just go and do your own thing." Ezra said and Amy nodded, glad for the excuse to be away from him.
Ezra watched as his daughter left and sighed happily. He couldn't wait to be the envy of everyone in the tribe once Amy was selected by one of the powerful gods that quite clearly had their eyes on her.
"Great fight Ezra!" He heard his best friend say and Ezra turned around with a smirk on his face.
"Indeed, my daughter has grown up to be quite the warrior." He said proudly to the dark blue hedgehog who was walking towards him.
"Ah if only my son was still alive." The blue hedgehog said. "I'm sure I would've trained him to be a great warrior."
"Didn't you ever consider having more children Nero?" Ezra asked and Nero shook his head.
"What was the point when we ended up sacrificing the first one? Obviously the gods did not deem us fit to have children." Nero sighed.
Ezra nodded remember that day all too well as Nero and his wife abandoned their son in the middle of the forest.
"Your holiness of the beetle." Ezra heard a guard call him from behind. He turned around to find two hooded Zanybe guards walking towards him.
"We have some news regarding your daughter."
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