So here I am in life.

I am stuck inside an arena with no way out. I also have a ginormous manticore in front of me, which I have to slay. There is a crazy maniac spirit that could change anything anytime. And Hatchett is left outside to watch me be killed. Things werenʻt so good right now.

The only good side to all of this was that I had a weapon. A weapon that could possibly backfire and kill me. Curse that witch!

I clutched the sword and bended my knees, really to make any move necessary. The manticore, however, struck me with its tail and sent me flying into the wall of the arena. It knocked the breath out of me for a second, but then I got up and went at the manticore. It lunged at me, teeth bared, but I slid under it and grabbed onto its tail.

Behind me, I heard unaudible shouts. I turned around for a second to see Hatchett yelling something, then had a feeling to raise my sword up. As I did, I whacked the manticore in the face. The manticore had almost bit me since it swirled its tail in front of its face.

The manticore fell in pain for a moment. That was all I needed. I raised my sword over my head and slashed down. I hit the manticore right in the head! However, my sword kept going and split the entire front half of the manticore in two. What a pleasant picture.

"That was way too easy," I thought.

The witch just cackled, "That was just the warmup!"

"I figured," I said silently to myself.

"Now your next challenge is to duel Daring Charming himself!"

"Wait, what?" I looked at Hatchett. He just shrugged.

"I mean someone as good as him," the witch corrected, "Heʻs not dead yet."

"Okay," I said, "This is the last round, right?"

"Weʻll see." Not a very satisfying answer, but it meant that she would evaluate. That was a plus . . . more or less.

As I gripped my sword, the witch created a human figure from black mist. It was tall, buff, and very princelike. I despised it. The misty human grabbed its own sword and charged towards me. I raised my sword up and met the otherʻs sword to block it. However, I wasnʻt going to get anywhere with blocking, so I pushed against the misty human in hopes of knocking it down.

Unfortunately, the misty human saw what was happening and started pushing back even harder. Meanwhile, he was trying to kick my legs so I would fall and he could take the victory. Soon, I was pushing with all of my strength, but it wasnʻt enough. As I was pushing, I pictured what would happen if I let the swords go. If I was correct, the person pushing would make themselves fall, like when you let go of the tug-o-war rope and the other kids fall down.

I set out to test my theory. I pushed even harder so the misty human would give max strength. I had to do this quickly, otherwise his sword would slice me and Iʻd be dead. I took a knee to the ground, to support the pressure, waited three seconds, then rolled away to the side. The misty human fell and I chopped off its head.

The weird thing was the head started rolling on the ground. I didnʻt even know mist could roll. I was too busy wondering why mist was rolling that I didnʻt pay attention to where it was going. It kept moving until it reached the spirit witch.

She simply picked it up, "You may pass. I do hope you realize who this is."

"A figure you created out of mist?" I asked.

"No," the witch kept looking at the head, "This was Romeo from thirty-one very long generations ago. You just killed him."

I didnʻt know what to say at that. Itʻs not very flattering to say, "Hey, Juliet, you just killed Romeo in a battle to the death, and with a shadow sword too!" While I was thinking about what the witch had just said, the shield collapsed and Hatchett was able to get to me.

"Wow, Julia, that was amazing!" Hatchett exclaimed as he walked into the arena, "I didnʻt know you had it in you!"

"That felt . . . weird," I said, "And not because I just killed Romeo. It feels like I just killed my brother, not my lover. And it felt kinda good to strike down Romeo. Monroe is a complete idiot."

"Yeah, well, we have to get going," Hatchett grabbed my wrist and led us through the arena, "I have a feeling weʻre taking longer than we should."

"Alright," I looked up, "What happened to that witch?"

As I said that, the arena disappeared and we were back on the path up to the Cliffs. We both looked at each other, shrugged, and continued walking. Finally, we reached the top of the Cliffs. There, not too far away, was a large building that looked a lot like a prison. And the doors were chained with huge locks and a sign that said, "DO NOT ENTER".

Hatchett walked up to the door and started fiddling with the locks, "Donʻt worry. Itʻs just to keep spirits away. Just stay there."

Hatchett finally broke the lock. As the lock was split in half, a shock of white lightning ran through all of the chains, disintegrating them. Hatchett carefully opened the door, "Come in. Be careful, though, and donʻt touch the doors. Theyʻre still electrocuted."

I carefully stepped in the huge room. On the walls were some sort of mysterious writing. I looked up and saw a huge net separating the writing and a jumble of scrolls. I pointed up, "Whatʻs going on up there?"

Hatchett walked over to the walls before saying, "This is the year that we sort through the scrolls of everyoneʻs life. My assistants usually do it. Since Iʻve got an entire Underworld to run, I donʻt have the time to come and check."

I nodded, "Ah. So whatʻs with the writing over on the walls?"

"They tell the story of Ever After," Hatchett explained, "However, itʻs mostly about the beginning. Ever After keeps repeating itself, so weʻve got an entire two walls to fill up. I came when I was little, and I remember asking why we had such a little amount of history."

"What was your answer?" I asked curiously.

"I was told it was because of stubborness and stupidity," Hatchett laughed, "That Ever After is so afraid of collapsing it stays with the old ways and lets in very little new."

"Itʻs probably true," I said simply.

Hatchett continued walking the walls until he stopped in front of a nearly blank wall. He started stepping back until he was in the center of the floor. "Thatʻs weird."

"Whatʻs weird?"

"That writing up there is new," he said, "Iʻll go up there. Ferdinand will find your scroll in a few moments."

"Oh, okay," I walked directly under the big net. Soon enough, I saw the ghost butler drifting over the scrolls.

"Miss, what is your name and age?" he asked in a monotone.

"Julia Capulet and 14," I said.

Ferdinand scanned the scrolls. In three seconds, he scanned over all of the scrolls, but he tapped his chin in confusion, "I canʻt find it. The closest I could find are these two scrolls." Ferdinand took a closer look at the names, and instantly dropped them. Unlike the emotionless ghost at the castle, Ferdinand was now shaking and even paler than before.

"Whatʻs wrong?" I asked. Iʻd never seen a ghost this frightened.

"You really need to read these," Ferdinand said as he dropped the scrolls.

I caught them and looked at the names. I immediately dropped them and sat down on the floor. "No, thatʻs not possible."

Hatchett immediately appeared in front of me, "Whatʻs wrong?"

I showed him the scrolls, "Can you stay down here, please? I may not handle the shock of reading these scrolls."

Hatchett sat down beside me, "Okay, letʻs open this one first."

On the ground laid a scroll and a scroll was in our hands. Both of them had names on them. The names were "Julian Capulet" and "Rome Charming". And beside each of them had a gender symbol. Julian Capuletʻs was a boy symbol and Rome Charmingʻs a girl symbol. As we held Rome Charmingʻs scroll, it showed a picture.

Of me.