Chapter 29: Eve of the Festival


Steve didn't exactly expect to find himself moping about within a high-end, well-kept bedroom, but nevertheless, here he was.

His arms still felt a bit sore after being dragged along for a few minutes all the way to a separate wing of the building, which led him into a space that seemed to be more populated. More voices came to his ears, breaking the silence in a manner that by all accounts should've made him feel safer, but he still found himself unable to relax. He hadn't even been given the mercy of being led there on his own, instead being subjected to the intrigued glances of unfamiliar strangers as he was led to his room. He was initially planning to at least try to make an escape, but to his added horror, guards were placed around the area, monitoring the various different people that were there as they conversed excitedly with each other, oblivious of the situation that they were in. Though he wasn't locked in his room, per se, he was still very much trapped where he was.

No matter who he looked at as he was dragged in, all he could see were vibrant, pinkish-purple eyes. Every single last individual in this room who wasn't a guard was a champion.

Sitting on the floor beside a large, criminally bare bed, Steve leaned back against its side, laying his head against the edge as he stared blankly upward. His legs were outstretched in front of him, but his hands were placed on his lap, tapping against the fabric of his pants in a rhythm that matched no specific tune. Though he wished to focus on the conversations that were happening outside, he couldn't find the strength to listen closer, instead finding the sound of his own breathing much easier to examine.

His heartbeat had calmed down, but the stress that filled his body was unrelenting. The primary reason why his hands were even in his lap in the first place was because if he held them even a centimeter above his legs, they'd start shaking madly. He didn't know if it was frustration, sadness, or fear that was drawing such a response, but the more he thought about it, the more he supposed it was a mixture of all three. He was frustrated that he allowed himself to get caught, but more so that he'd even followed Joules into the building in the first place. He was sad due to his current isolation and the fact that he now knew how little every champion truly mattered to the ones who'd organized the festival in the first place. He was fearful because he didn't know what he was going to be subjected to when the time came for the festival to commence. He was scared to think of what Herobrine was going to think or do should he find out about what had happened to him, since he got into more trouble.

Steve's eyes filled up with realization at the fact that he never got the chance to inform the others of what the side-effects of the potion looked like. He never got the chance to go back and ease their fears about Herobrine's current state.

How was the demigod, anyways? Would he and the rest of the group realize how much time he was taking to gather information, and would go out to search for him? Were they too busy with their own festival preparations to even spare him a second thought? Had Herobrine even woken up yet to consider anything?

What were they doing while he was gone? Did he even truly matter to them when he wasn't there?

Sighing at his own frustration with his thoughts, Steve glanced at the door of the room he was in, eyes focused on the intricate details of the wood it was made of. There were small carvings of moon phases along the edges of the door, adding welcome decoration to the room that matched the overall theme of the kingdom quite well. Among most of the furniture within the room, Steve spotted the theme of moon phases upon their surfaces, adding to the sense that whatever building they were in, it had to involve people with high status within the kingdom. Perhaps a government or royal building, of some sort, if they were that prideful of their kingdom's aesthetic? Regardless of whatever type of building they were in, whoever it belonged to must've had some sort of vendetta against him because he found, to his utter dismay, that there were no windows whatsoever within the small space, preventing him from escaping that way as well.

Standing up slowly with a wince at the movement of his arms, Steve made his way toward the door he had been previously examining, finding himself with newly fueled determination at the idea of finding a way out from where he currently was.

Upon stepping out of his room, he found a couple of eyes laying upon him as he left, making the surface of his face feel a bit hotter. Though nobody approached him, thankfully, he found himself approaching the railing that was just in front of him and his room, gripping the surface lightly as he took a look at his surroundings.

The place that the champions were being held in was massive, With several floors spanning down toward a place that seemed to be some sort of indoor garden. Each floor held several rooms, where presumably more champions were being held. A skylight was just above the middle space, adding the shining rays of the sun and moon to the lighting of the building whenever the time came for either.

Now he really wanted to see what the outside of this building looked like. It had to be pretty extravagant, yes?

Judging by the light that was coming in from up above, it seemed like sunset was coming soon enough, with the sky appearing somewhat of a noticeably darker colour of blue the longer he looked at it. Finding himself with the energy, he began to walk away from where he currently was, going in the opposite direction of a couple of nearby champions and guards as he began his short little journey.

Whatever he was going to do, he wasn't going to get others involved.

Walking along the railing, Steve looked at the various doors that passed him as he moved, eventually coming to the realization that the only way in and out from the floor he was on was through the hallway that led there, where there were currently guards placed on each side of the opening. Though he managed to spot a stairway at the end of the hallway, when he tried to move towards it, the guards moved from their posts and prevented him from doing so.

After another round of aimlessly walking, in total defeat, Steve resigned back to his room.

Locking the door and flopping upon the bed, Steve let out a long groan as he allowed the silence to take him. He didn't know how long he'd be cooped up for, but at the moment, he was rather determined to at least sleep through most of it. He didn't even know what kind of information he'd be able to pull from the situation, other than the life stories of the other champions there, which would no doubt haunt him should he come across them later as horrid, rotting corpses, animated or otherwise.

Shaking his head at the thought as he turned to bury his face within the sheets, Steve forced himself to rest and fall asleep, even as his brain resisted his desires.


When he woke up, he was unsure of what time it was. Having no windows in the room he was in to give him at least a small hint, he stepped out, only to find the early, twilight sky draining in from above through the skylight.

It was looking to be a beautiful morning, and yet, he found no desire to participate in it.

Without much else to do, Steve went back into his room, plopping back down onto the bed with not a single sound coming from his mouth. Instead of searching for the company of others, he'd be searching for the company of his own thoughts.

...

Where did Joules go, anyway? The other must've been worried sick about him, no? Though he hoped that he was alright, Steve also found himself wishing that the other would've at least gone back to save him before being dragged off, or heck, even get kidnapped along with him. He also wished desperately that he could've at least had his journal to sketch in. Regretting that he'd left his belongings at the apothecary, Steve let out a small groan at his realization. Hopefully, he could trust Joules to not make off with his belongings and essentially leave him with nothing but the sword that the guards had neglected to take from him and the armour that was literally attached to his body, should he make it out alive.

What else could he do at the moment? What did it matter?

Despite coming to slowly hate the feeling that came with the action, he wished that he had the ability to teleport, mostly so that he could escape his current situation in a relatively easier way. It was the only solution he had at the moment for the burning question of how he'd get out of this, despite it not being even remotely within the realm of possibility.

Why did the universe make him look identical to Herobrine and not give him the same abilities? Why was the universe being so unfair to him?

Steve allowed the silence to take him once again as he began to count himself off to sleep, his lips moving along silently to the numbers forming in his mind.

One, he'd somehow get out of this, hopefully. He'd make sure of it. Two, he wouldn't go insane from his current solitude. He couldn't afford it at the moment, and he had been desperately trying to postpone his eventual breakdown up until now, anyways. Three, he'd meet up with Herobrine again somehow, hopefully when he was finally awake and relatively more emotionally healed. Four…

He was asleep.


Another day came, and despite getting enough sleep to make up for the rest he'd skipped out on, he found himself rather exhausted.

It was almost pitch-black outside, and yet, he found himself leaning against the railing in front of his room once again, staring up into the dark night sky with no one to keep him company apart from the nearby guards and his own thoughts.

There was nothing to suggest that their captivity was going to be lifted anytime soon. No guards making any announcements, no added excitement from the champions coming from outside his room, nothing. How long did they even intend to keep him here for? How long were they planning to keep them all there for? He was beginning to only grow slightly more impatient than before, it was only a matter of time before he combusted from the sheer anticipation and anxiety he had for whatever was going to happen to him.

Looking down to view the garden space below, Steve found himself growing a bit curious about the building they were in, once again.

How big was the building in reality, and how many other champions were being housed here for the time being? He counted roughly three floors being present in the space he was in, starting with the floor he was currently on, but there were about thirteen rooms per floor, all circling around the gap that led toward the middle garden. That would be about roughly thirty-nine champions, sure, but who's to say that multiple people weren't being held in each of these same rooms as well? Who's to say that they didn't leave him in solitude on purpose? Making sure that everybody else had a partner except for him so that he'd purposefully go mad as a result?

That idea was utterly stupid, but at this point, he was desperately trying to search for anything that would justify his anger against his current situation even more.

With a gentle sigh that betrayed his growing inner frustration, Steve turned back and entered the room he'd been given once again, fully intending to ruin his sleep schedule even further. Despite feeling totally uneasy with the concept of sleep, he'd force himself back into it until the end of time, if only to find relief from his current reality.


Waking up to ringing bells was not all too pleasant, but with residual fear on his expression from the sudden awakening, Steve sat in bed for a moment or two, processing the sound rather slowly. After realizing that it was coming from directly outside of his room, as well as the fact that it didn't seem like it'd be stopping anytime soon, he stood up slowly, stretching a bit as he moved toward the door in order to answer it.

Steve soon found himself in the presence of a shorter girl with light brown, flowing hair, who stared up at him with curious, pinkish-purple eyes. It took a few moments, but eventually, after a brief, awkward staring match, she began to speak.

"U-um...hello." Came her quiet voice.

"...Hi?" He said, mentally slapping himself for making his tone sound so unsure.

She began to fiddle around a bit with her hands.

"...I noticed that you've barely done anything in preparation for the festival. You haven't even really left your room."

Steve chuckled at her words.

"Is there even anything to do? I mean, we only have these rooms to hang out in, and-"

"They didn't give you a tour?"

Confused, Steve tilted his head a bit.

"...Tour?"

The girl nodded.

"Yes. The tour where they show you the...wait, did anyone tell you about the schedule?"

Even more curious, Steve raised a brow.

"Sche...schedule?"

The girl dug into her pocket, digging out a small piece of folded paper that she handed off to the miner.

"The champions' quarters have a lot of facilities installed to help us train for the challenge that's gonna find us at the festival." She explained, making sure that he was following along.

Had he really been wasting his entire time sleeping instead of preparing for his inevitable demise? Had he been sneaking away into the realm of dreamless sleep instead of preparing his sword arm for a possible hostile encounter?

What was he even doing with himself? Had he really given up that easily?

Reading his expression, the girl smiled at him as he looked over the paper. Pointing at a specific time slot, she looked up at him with excitement.

"Here, now we have some training at the moment, so come with me! We can't be that late!"

With a slight yelp at his sore arm being pulled and surprise at the fact that it appeared as if the other had read his mind, Steve suddenly found himself being dragged off by the other champion, going into the hallway without a single movement coming from the guards placed there.

Before he even realized it, he found himself within a large, outdoor training space, one where various individuals were facing off against each other with swords, spears, and everything in between. Only a single tree was in the area, placed directly in the middle of the small field, growing freely as it reached well above them all. While most of the champions appeared to be handling themselves quite well, it was more than apparent that they were in the presence of a few future first victims of the challenge. He hoped that he at least wouldn't appear all too similar to them.

The stranger that had brought him there turned toward him with a smile on her face.

"Just pick up something to use and ask anybody for a round or two, the guards will tell us when training time is over." The girl explained briefly.

As she left him to go off to grab a spare weapon, Steve found himself remaining where he was, seemingly frozen in place as he watched the people before him. While everybody was either fighting or conversing with each other, he was standing there, watching them as they participated in their obliviousness. He felt pity for them, sorry for them due to the fact that the people who brought them here in the first place seemed to hate them actively. Despite all their hard work and their current dedication to performing well in front of them, those divine beings wouldn't even think twice if they learned that these champions had perished in their quest, seeing them as being entirely replaceable.

Looking down at his sheath, Steve found himself a bit confused as he reminded himself of the girl's prior instructions. Did she really just tell him to get a weapon, not noticing the one he already had?

Leaving the sword where it currently was, Steve began to walk off, searching for a lone opponent to face off against, or at the very least, anybody to talk to. After a minute or so, he found himself exactly where he had started, alone with his own thoughts as he stared at the other working champions. Whether it was nerves or something else, he found himself unable to approach anybody. Maybe he was afraid of getting to know these folks, only to potentially later find out that they had died. Maybe he was just afraid of introducing himself in general due to his current partnership with one of their future targets. Whatever the case was, he was frozen in place with no hope of moving toward building a friendship or two.

Maybe if he didn't see talking to them as "building friendships," he'd be able to speak to the others freely? If he treated this as a way to gather some information, no matter how useless or irrelevant, he'd be able to manage himself better?

Placing those thoughts into his mind, Steve forced himself to go out again, searching for any potential groups or individuals that he could rope into a conversation. Eventually, he found one such group made of two men who were currently taking a small break underneath the large tree in the middle of the field.

Briskly walking up to these two in particular, Steve put on as kind of a smile as he could muster, hoping that they wouldn't respond poorly to him.

"H-hey! Do you guys have a minute?" He called out once he got close enough, earning their attention as they turned to meet his approach.

One of the two men, who was currently leaning against the tree with his arms crossed in front of his chest, gave a slow nod.

"...Sure. What's up?" He responded, his deep voice somewhat startling the miner before him.

Nervously, Steve collected himself for a moment before clearing his throat.

"I...I just want to get a better idea of this whole champion business, so...do you mind answering a question, or two?"

Both of the men in front of him shook their heads.

"Nope."

"Not at all."

Steve nodded eagerly at their words.

"Okay! Then...say uh...when did you notice that your eyes changed colors? Both of you?"

The two before him looked at each other for a moment before shrugging. The second man, who was sitting on the ground in front of the tree, let out a small hum.

"I don't remember. Just that they were brown one moment and pink the next. Or purple. Whatever color!" His voice was a few pitches higher than the other's.

"...My village Elder performed the blood test on me, that's about when I realized it." The man leaning against the tree answered.

Steve looked at him curiously.

"Blood…?"

The man before him nodded.

"Plenty of people can trace their lineage back to the old champions. Said that if my eyes reacted this way, I was born to be just like them."

"Really? Wow…" Came the voice of the other man on the ground, causing Steve to mentally roll his eyes at the other's awe.

"...So...what was this test like? Did a doctor do something specific, or…?" Steve asked carefully.

The first man shrugged.

"...They cut me with a small, pretty knife, took some of my blood, and low and behold, I was appointed. Simple as that."

Steve found himself growing a bit jealous of the other's situation, finding it a bit upsetting that his own little "test" hadn't been so passive. He still felt the moment his flesh had been cut by his Elder rather vividly, almost as if it had only happened moments ago and not ages.

A chuckle from the man on the ground broke him from his thoughts and directed his focus downward.

"Same here, only they just looked over my blood then and there to see if I was a champion, they didn't even test it, or whatever. Just a quick look."

Steve sighed.

"Both of you are lucky. I...at my evaluation, I got blindsided, or whatever. Thought I was being attacked, actually."

Earning a laugh from the two others, Steve found himself relaxing just a bit as they did as well. The one leaning against the tree extended out a hand for him to shake as he recovered from his previous laughter.

"I guess we're all still feeling it, right? Name's Erwin. Yours?"

"Steve. And you?" Steve responded, shaking the other's hand briefly before releasing it and extending his own toward the other man on the ground.

"James. A pleasure to meet you here!" James responded eagerly, shaking the miner's hand before moving to stand up.

Taking a glance back to the field around them, Steve found his gaze being captivated by the many champions around them, most of which were heavily engaged in combat.

"Say, how much actual fighting are we gonna do in the festival?" Steve asked, looking back toward the others for a clear answer.

Both James and Erwin shrugged, however.

"No one knows, We just know to expect something because they provided weapons for us to train with." Erwin answered, looking up to the leaves above him.

"Yup. All we know is that we better know how to manage ourselves with something sharp, and that's it. Everything is intended to test our ability to deal with the unexpected, I guess." James added on with a laugh, placing his hands behind his head in a relaxed fashion.

Steve nodded, taking in their information as best he could.

So that's how they were being trained to deal with Herobrine, at the very least. He remembered being told about the other's advantage when it came to being unpredictable, so making the champions perform with no prior knowledge of what they'd be facing would, in a sense, prepare them in facing off with the demigod. Having them train with humans significantly increased their chances of failure, but nevertheless, at least they had a vague idea of what to expect (or rather, what not to expect).

"...What drew you guys here, anyway? Besides wanting to be a part of this place's group of champions?" Steve asked, now properly engaged in eager conversation with the others.

Erwin laughed at his question, earning the miner's brief confusion.

"What else? Wanting to save the world, of course. To make it a better place, actually."

"Didn't you hear the news? Apparently, there's something huge that's threatening to end the world as we know it, so the champions are getting together to stop it. Getting to be a part of that group does a whole lot of good, but even if we don't get there, we can do everything in our power to make sure that they're being backed up! Aren't you here for the same reason?" James asked him, pointing a finger close to his face.

Steve found himself even more confused.

So the champions here didn't know about the dragon? Or, at the very least, they hadn't been told about the dragon yet? Either way, whatever they were being told, he was willing to bet that it wouldn't exactly be all that helpful on his side of things, whether the champions had good intentions or not.

"I...I got scouted out, I think. Some lady came and brought me here because of my eyes, I just happened to be in the neighborhood."

The others nodded at his words in understanding.

"So...can you fight, even?" Erwin asked, crossing his arms over his chest once again.

Steve nodded.

"Of course! I didn't come here unarmed, just...unprepared, that's all."

With a smirk, James nodded his head over to an open patch of land close by the tree, patting the sheathed blade attached to his belt while doing so.

"Wanna see how unprepared you are, then? C'mon, we only got so much time to spend here!"

Though he wanted to say no initially, Steve found himself rather intrigued with the offer. If he fought the other, he'd get a sense of how ready he was for the outside world, no? He'd been receiving training from a demigod, however sparsely, and even then, he was still rather shaky when it came to facing off against others. How intense would James be in comparison?

With a nod, Steve drew his sword as he moved over to the open patch of land, watching as James smiled at him in response.

"I knew you'd be up to it! Now don't be too easy on me. I wanna know what I'm up against!"

Steve found himself silently agreeing with the other, nodding at his request.

It'd been a solid minute since he was last involved in a duel that involved actual training and not a threat to his life, but nevertheless, he braced himself for the action ahead, getting into a fighting stance as he waited for the other to respond to him.

"Alright, since I'm third-wheeling here, I'll give the okay to start. You ready?" Erwin announced, glancing between the two as he awaited an answer.

"Ready as always!" James responded eagerly.

"Ready." Steve said, keeping his gaze focused on ahead at his opponent.

Erwin nodded at their words.

"Then go!"

Perhaps studying with Herobrine was more beneficial than Steve ever realized.

The moment that they began, as James leaped quickly into action, Steve found it quite personally amusing how he found himself immediately beginning to look into the other and his attack pattern. James was eager, and quick, which should've indicated the markings of a well-trained individual, but his attacks were sloppy at best, particularly weak when it came to making contact with the miner's blade. He was so used to feeling the potentially arm-breaking weight of Herobrine's blows that the attacks James produced felt more like a butterfly hitting his weapon, essentially feeling like nothing. They didn't stagger him, or force him to remain on his feet, they simply were...underwhelming.

Meanwhile, James was struggling to keep up with him, backing away to place more space between them as the miner gave swing after swing, testing the other's grip upon his handle with every contact between the two blades. Though Steve was nowhere as close to attacking as swiftly as Herobrine, he was getting pretty quick, surprisingly. James barely managed to parry or block him, taking several hits with a silent prayer that the miner wouldn't end up hurting him by accident.

With a bit of inner laughter, Steve thought about the possibility that training with Herobrine was beginning to make him think like Herobrine, concerning how he judged others in a fight and what approach he attacked them with.

Eventually, Steve managed to knock James's sword away from him, ending the match rather quickly, much to his delight and the other's dismay.

"Man, you hit like a beast! Where'd you learn to fight like that?" James asked, walking over to where his sword landed in order to grab the blade and sheath it.

Steve shrugged with a laugh.

"I...I guess you can blame my friend. He's been coaching me, in a sense."

"Tell him that I'm kinda interested in his services, I think I need some pointers." James responded, chuckling a bit as Erwin nodded his head as well.

"Make that two. That was quite a show, however short." The other man added on.

Steve gave them a quick nod.

"I'll let him know, but...he's not that social. He'll probably say no."

Hearing some sounds of disappointment, Steve let out another laugh, looking back towards the entrance to the field with a bit of intrigue.

"Do...do you guys think the guards will mind if I take myself on a little tour around here?"

Following his gaze, Erwin shrugged as James shook his head.

"Can't say for sure." Erwin answered.

"I mean, I took one myself, so...maybe? Dunno, nobody was around to watch me, so maybe that's why I wasn't told anything." James replied as well, earning a look of intrigue from Steve.

"I'll take note of that. I think I'm gonna test how far I can make it though, now." Steve said, beginning to walk off.

Erwin nodded at his words, giving the miner a small wave.

"Alright, see you later, then. Nice fighting skills, by the way."

James looked a bit confused at the two for a moment before waving as well, smiling as Steve turned back to meet them with a wave of his own.

"See you at the festival, Steve! You better bring that energy back later!"

Placing his hand down soon after, Steve continued his exit from the field, trying to appear as inconspicuous and non-threatening as possible.

Perhaps he could find an exit if he searched on his own quietly under the guise of a self-tour. If he did, then nobody would notice if he'd left or not. Hoping his theory was correct, he passed the guards by the entrance quietly, beginning to focus his gaze around the area as he looked for anything that seemed to be remotely promising.


At first, he fully intended to sneak his way around the building, keeping out of sight as best as he could so that he wouldn't have to worry about any potential encounters. He'd use the daylight to look as innocent as possible, and use the cover of night to hide himself even more.

Now he was running as fast as he could, guards trailing behind him as he took turn after turn, attempting to throw them off of his trail as he tried to disappear into the darkness of the night within the building.

Given that he had literally no idea on how the building was laid out, he was essentially running with the hopes that he wouldn't find himself in a dead-end, praying that every corner he rounded would lead somewhere. His legs were burning and so was his throat, but at this point, if he were to stop, he'd be immediately captured.

Granted, he never had great planning skills, but this was possibly the worst plan he had ever thought up, considering his track record.

Where was he? At this point, he was completely lost, and with the guards gaining on him ever so briskly, he had to make a move sooner or later.

Darting into a room just out of the guards' line of sight, Steve shut the door gently and let out a brief inner sigh of relief before taking a look at his surroundings. As his exhaustion caught up to the rest of his body, he was nearly heaving as he struggled to catch his breath, his gaze falling in and out of focus as he tried to keep himself from passing out. As he composed himself slowly, he found himself within a relatively dark room, one that was only illuminated by the moonlight that came from the sparsely placed windows within the room. Moving away from the door, Steve drew closer to one of the windows as quietly as he could. Looking over it, he tried to search for a latch of some kind so that he could open it, but to no avail. Finding himself left with so many options, Steve let out a sigh.

He could either:

A.) Break the window entirely and jump out, no matter how high they currently were from the ground.

B.) Leave the room as is.

Looking back to the rest of the room behind him, he noticed a couple of chairs; ones he could probably lift and swing, if he managed to use all the rest he got as a source of energy. Briefly taking a moment to debate the morality of the action, Steve eventually gave in and went toward one of these chairs, trying to hype himself up before actually doing the job. Picking up a chair, he took a moment to adjust it within his grasp before giving himself a quick nod, turning back toward the window once he concluded that he could lift and hold the chair rather effectively.

There was no way in hell that he was going to do anything for these people other than getting out of their clutches. There was more at stake that he needed to take care of, and the only thing between him and his goals was a window that he really, really needed to break.

Raising the chair enough to make ample contact with the window, Steve pulled it back, almost accidentally letting it go as he prepared himself to swing.

"Put that down. The glass is made to handle the rage of gods. A mere chair will do nothing to it."

Never so badly in his life had he been more startled than in that single moment in time.

Dropping the chair with a loud thud, Steve turned back to find the woman who had initially called for his capture, finding fear coming to him which was soon followed by slight anger. Whether she had been there the whole time or had teleported there, he wasn't sure, but nevertheless, he was upset at the fact that he'd gotten caught. She appeared to be rather indifferent to his current state of distress, looking upon him in a slightly condescending manner. Her cold gaze made him feel weak, powerless even.

She let out a sigh.

"You know, you could've at least put the chair down nicely. You didn't need to let it fall like that."

"Y-you scared me!" He rebutted.

The woman let out a laugh.

"I? Scare you? How rich!"

She slowly stood up, moving to approach him in a suddenly threatening manner. Lowering herself to meet his gaze, the woman glared at him with clear malice.

"I don't know what your intentions are for disguising yourself in this ridiculously obvious fashion, but rest assured, you will be dealt with."

Confused arose in his expression.

"I...W-what?..." He asked, his voice a bit meek.

"I knew that you disguised yourself to get in here."

The woman stood back up.

"You've sensed the barrier that we've placed around this area, yes? You're aware of the fact that you're stuck now, aren't you? You got past the guards by disguising yourself as a champion, then tried to spy on our planning session so that you'd learn of our next move against you. Is that the truth, or not?"

Steve shook his head, coming to the realization that she was, unfortunately, mistaking him for being his doppelganger.

"No! I told you, I came here to drop something off with a friend of mine! A-a potion maker!"

"...Do you really think that I'd even remotely buy that story? What kind of fool do you-"

"-It's the truth! The honest truth! Look, I don't want to fight you, and I don't want to participate in whatever this 'challenge' is! I-I just want to get back to my friend's place! Is that so much to ask? I'm...I'm not the guy that you're thinking I am. Maybe I look similar, sure, but I'm not him." Steve interrupted her, his voice rather shaky with frustration and the threat of angry tears.

Standing back up straight, the woman began to pace around in the room slowly as she thought to herself, leaving him in total silence for a moment or two as she did so. Casting a glance back toward him, she stopped near the other chairs within the room, resting a hand upon the back of one.

"...The festival is tomorrow. Though I'm unsure of your full intentions, I will let you know that, when the time comes, I'll have the champions attempt to slay you. With our weapons in their hands, you'll have quite the fight in your hands, now will you?" The god before him let out a small laugh, much to his added distress.

Was this his breaking point? Was he really going to meet his end tomorrow?

The festival had rapidly approached without him paying much attention to it, the hours counting down in a way that seemed nothing more than a total blur to him. He supposed that it would now, unfortunately, drag on for a tortuously longer time than what he could possibly bear, all leading up to his inevitable demise. Was there even a chance of the gods realizing their error? The divine being in front of him was actively choosing to disregard his words in favor of her own misjudgment and certainty, would she even feel remorse once it became clear that he wasn't the one she was originally aiming to kill?

Finding his blood running completely cold as he took in and processed the other's words, Steve took a shuddering breath, finding his emotions growing to be too much for him to actively handle.

Looking up at her with a blank expression, Steve found it somewhat difficult to hold himself back from yelling at her in an attempt to make her realize her error.

"...At least tell me your name." He said in a controlled manner.

"...Pardon?"

Steve sighed once again, casting his eyes downward so that he'd avoid her harsh gaze.

"...Your name. I want to know the name of the person who sentenced me to my death. Tell me."

He heard silence for a few seconds, then a small chuckle from above.

"You don't deserve my name. I refuse to have my name grace your hellish tongue. Instead, refer to me as Iridescence, the holy, brilliant light that will send you to an eternal darkness, fitting for one such as you."

He nodded in acknowledgment.

"...Thank you."

Moving to exit the room, Steve found himself fighting his own two feet below him in order to move forward, absolutely loathing the mocking gaze that he could feel settling upon his own back.

...

Why were the gods so cruel, here? Was their kindness location-based, or what?

"I'll take myself to my room. Sorry for the mess."

Stepping outside, Steve closed the door gently before beginning his walk of shame and impromptu search for the pathway back to his room, hoping that there were no guards present on his way back so he could at least have some solitude in what he assumed to be his final hours. Whenever he'd get back, he'd allow sleep to take him. Hopefully, if he was lucky, it'd take him through the entire length of the festival, so that he'd miss it entirely and avoid his planned demise by sheer luck.

...

The universe was currently toying with him. If anything, he'd be waking up extra early for the festival, if he'd even get any sleep at all to wake up from.


Sorry for the little in-between chapter, here! I didn't feel like having a major time skip exactly, but I wanted to show y'all how Steve's dealing with things! This chapter's a bit on the shorter side bc I wanted to focus more on the next one, lol. This one is kind of a filler, but also kind of not?...Idk, but I'm pretty excited about continuing the fic further! Had to just get this bit out of the way lol (mostly bc I wanted to pace things out a bit, and also I wanted the chapter titles to be very specific to my vision haha)

Fun Facts!:

1.) "Iridescence," or Iri, is the god of Wealth, more or less. Her power is to bestow "riches" upon folks, though that doesn't just apply in terms of money! Whether it's emotional wealth, financial wealth, or whatever, she's in charge!

2.) I've said it before, but the whole "blood test" thing for the champions is a pretty rare way of finding them, lol. A lot of villages aren't able to perform the test due to a lack of proper equipment, but the ones that do have such a thing perform it usually after a champion has completed another task worthy of their title.

3.) In case I haven't made it that apparent, Steve is still pretty shaken up about the whole Julian incident concerning sleep, lol. Though he gets some relief with having an actual dream, his dreamless nights are starting to bite back at him, unfortunately, lol

Anyways, that's it for now! My schedule is a mess, but given my excitement for the chapter ahead, expect it quicker than usual, lol. Or not, idk. Whatever the case ends up being, leave a review if you have any thoughts!