The morning of the Hie, Lucindeya was boarding a private jet to a location all seasoned Hie competitors had been, but where she herself had never set foot:

Temple of the goddess Riora, Codru forest, Moldova

And the reason she had never been there was because the competitors were the only ones told about the temple, and they were only told the morning of the first day of the Hie. Although she had tried to focus plainly on the prize, Cindey found herself excited and intrigued to show the other species of the Lore that she could fight and kill as mercilessly as they could. She would show them that she wasn't just a siren who would use her voice to get what she wanted, because plain and simple, she couldn't.

'Are you nervous?' Olivia asked, as she took her seat beside Lucindeya, the bravest siren she had ever met.

'No, I'm excited more than I am nervous,' Cindey said, obtaining, tossing and catching her sapphire dagger in the air.

'I want to give you a gift Lucindeya, and I hope it will help aid you in the coming battles against the other immortals,' Olivia began and when Cindey looked down curiously she was gifted by their leader's ruby encrusted great sword.

'Olivia, please I can't take this…' she began to deny.

'Please, this is the most I can do for you. However if you do need anything else do not hesitate to ask and I will deliver. Great honour is at stake for our clan in this Hie as well as for you. Do not be one of the very first to fall, and sister please do not get yourself killed. I know you are a well-trained and seasoned siren but you have the habit of getting lost in your thoughts of the past, and that is something that the other species will not hesitate to use against you.'

'I have the element of surprise also Olivia; remember we sirens are considered one of the more peaceful women of the Lore. They will go easy on me, hoping not to kill me and I will dismember them. Oh the surprise on their faces as mine is the last they will ever see, it's almost too good to be true,' Cindey sighed and when Olivia pushed the sword into her hands once again she took it.

'You know how to use one of these, use it only when in battle with a much larger foe, for example a lykae or a demon,' Olivia suggested and Cindey smiled.

'Of course sister, but a Lykae has never before even entered into the games let alone gotten at all very far.'

That was what she had thought on the morning flight to the temple, but when she reached the temple that was built from the very nature itself she had to take back her words. For there was a Lykae competing, Bowen Macrieve. The most sombre werewolf that Cindey had ever seen in her life, there was rumour that he too had lost someone very close to him, but not just anybody. He had lost his mate.

Cindey turned away from Bowen lest she feel too much pity for him and that would not do, and turned her attention to the rest of the temple. It was like many other temples that she had briefly visited before, sporting the Palladian marble, with dishes of fire and candles lighting it. But that was where those similarities ended and differences arose.

As she had noticed before the temples lent itself well to nature, and the lichen-covered oaks lying fallen inside showed it very well. The roots of these trees lined the floors and thee roof was a domed skylight with glass cut in patternless designs. It was different, it was odd, it was…impossible, just like the goddess herself.

'Order overcome, impossibility incarnate.' That was Riora's motto and her temple reflected that. There was no sense of order whatsoever in the temple, and Cindey found that she was at peace for a while here and that she liked it. She too was a big fan of the impossible because she hoped to gain the impossible. The life of one taken from her.

Cindey looked up and saw Kaderin on the balcony watching the rest of the contestants with a stoic manner, yet something seemed to be out of place in her whole body language. Was it possible that she could be feeling something, anything one again?

When Kaderin noticed her Lucindeya saw shock light her features before she scowled again. So the cold hearted Valkyrie wasn't so emotionless as she would like to be. Did anyone else notice? And would this new development make her sloppy for the competition this year? Cindey hoped so. But before Cindey could read into it any longer Kaderin turned away and took in the rest of what seemed hundreds of competitors that were waiting for the arrival of Riora. Was she late, or perhaps they were just early? Cindey didn't know but she would wait.

And as she waited she noticed all around her that Kaderin wasn't the only one with shocked expressions on their faces when they noticed her presence. So what that this Hie was all about killing, Lucindeya was just as much a killing machine as they were. She had killed possibly just as many vampires, if not more than Kaderin. If she could she would boast that she had more of a reason to kill the vampires than the Valkyrie did. Well as long as the vampires didn't get in her way in the Hie then she would be fi…

Just as she was beginning to think that she could have a shot at winning this Hie one of the vampires himself traced into the building, looking straight at Kaderin. Cindey's hands twitched, reaching for the sapphire sword at her back. She would render his head from his shoulders in less time than it took for him to swallow.

Especially this forbearing vampire, who might not take blood directly from the veins, but with whom Cindey and all sirenae still had a bone to pick with. Sebastian Wroth, one of the grave-walkers strongest vampires was competing in this Hie.

'Fine if he wants to play it that way then he will be the first to fall and I…' she'd barely finished her sentence when the grave-walker himself appeared beside Wroth. 'That bastard,' she muttered and even though she'd kept her voice low he still turned and gazed in her direction as though he knew she was there.

And with a nod of his head her anger and her hatred and her sorrow built up inside of her. What she wouldn't give to take his head.