Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 223: Like Every Other Event

Chapter 223: Like Every Other Event

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Back in the training ground, Maurice had prepared himself both mentally and physically as he took a deep calm breath. There was something that told him he couldn’t do this, he shouldn’t, but in order to get past tomorrow’s event, he’d have to speak with Bryn, even if his entire being told him not to do so, he had to, for the sake of winning, so there won’t be any form of misunderstandings before tomorrow.

"You can do this." He emboldened himself, subconsciously squaring his shoulders, and when he felt his courage building, he finally approached Bryn who was busy training with the bow and arrow his instructor had given him. When he let loose the arrow, it hit the bullseye squarely, and when he shot another one, it split the first arrow in half, effortlessly hitting the bullseye once more.

Maurice couldn’t deny that Bryn was skilled in all the arts, he was practically gifted, and if they had been in a situation that was nothing more than mutual, he would be glad that they had someone like Bryn amongst them, but, when that same person threatens him with defeat, how can he muster the strength to be paired with him? Most especially after accepting the fact he wasn’t up to his league?

He would die for sure!

"Don’t just stand there like a bodyguard, grab an arrow and join me." Bryn’s rogued voice resonated into Maurice’s ear, jolting him into reacting quickly. He went to the weaponry table and picked a few arrows along with a bow. When he joined Bryn, the targets had been replaced with new ones, and when he stood beside Bryn who was getting ready to make another shot, he copied the vampire and also set his arrow on the bow.

With precise measurement, he released it, but his arrow was just a single step away from hitting the bullseye. When Bryn made his own shut, he hit it squarely, and he didn’t even have to calculate. Was there a new trick that could be used to target a bullseye that he did not know of? Maurice silently thought to himself as he watched Bryn.

"How are you so good at it?" Maurice finally broke the silence between them in an attempt to feed his curiosity, and when he glanced behind Bryn to see his instructor watching him thoroughly, it was almost as if he was making sure that Bryn made not a single mistake on his countless shots, which he found rather odd since Bryn was already good at it.

"Calculations won’t work alone." Bryn said to Maurice who was a bit startled by the calmness in Bryn’s tone. "In order to get it right, you must first imagine the target to be something worth hitting. An enemy, it works better when you picture someone you don’t like, cause you won’t want to let that target go scot-free. Would you?"

"So you’re saying I should picture someone I don’t like and make that person my target?"

"Yes, try it." He prompted.

Maurice eyed Bryn warily, perplexed by his actions to even tell him this. But, it was a good thing. Maybe being paired with Bryn didn’t really signify his death after all.

Gazing at the Target ahead, Maurice fixed his arrow on the bullseye, preparing another attempt to strike, and just like Bryn had surprisingly instructed, he tried to picture someone whom he disliked, and at the thought of those slave traders, his calculative gaze swept through the training ground.

In one move, he released the arrow, watching it fly straight until it struck the center of the target, and he could hardly believe that Bryn’s idea worked. He hit it so perfectly, and he would have happily growled "YES!!" if the training soldiers/warriors weren’t staring awkwardly at him right now.

"Told you."

"I was wondering if there had to be a completely different method, what did you imagine?" He inquired from Bryn who lowered his bow.

"Nothing serious, just your head on a stick." He shrugged as if he said something that shouldn’t raise his shock, but that phrase was enough to wipe the smile from Maurice’s lips, whilst he watched as Bryn turned his back on him to go drop his bow and arrow. He exited the training ground as his way of saying he was done for the day, and Maurice knew he had to start packing safety gears in preparation for the event tomorrow.

The whole day he had kept Samantha occupied with helping him pick out safety gears, so much so that she ended up falling asleep on his sofa when night came.

He assumed he was ready, he kept telling himself he was, but deep down, he knew he wasn’t. Who knew what to expect once they go into the portal, though, he fancied the artifacts, and he wouldn’t deny that he enjoyed the surge of power that came with it. His first time practicing with a sword had been awkward, and although Herbert told him he was doing great then, he knew he wasn’t, but presently, he had faith in his skills.

"It’ll be like every other event, it has to be." Maurice murmured to himself as he turned on the other side of his bed so he could sleep, refusing to let his thinkable mind obstruct his moment of sleep.

Unlike last time when the event was held at noon, everyone had to rise as early as dawn to start preparing. The paired teams stood in front of a huge swirling portal, watching the water portal mirror their reflection right back at them. Since Ivan had kept Helena under control of the event, she rose to explain the rest to the paired teams.

"Once you go through this Portal, you shall be timed. The more artifacts you gather, the more your points are increased. Round four and five have been unprecedentedly combined, which means, once you go through this Portal, you will come across two extra portals which will open once your time is up. Failure to enter the portal before it closes leaves you disqualified from entering the fifth round, and that is the third portal, where the ancient stone rests. Whoever can make it to the fifth portal and bring back the ancient stone, will become the winner of this fabulous Event!!"

Hearing this, the crowds began to wail in excitement, anticipation brewing in the air at the exciting change. The six contestants were not expecting that the fifth round would depend on their skills on the first and second portal. In order to make it to the last round of the event, which was the Third portal, they would have to survive the tribulations of the first and second portal they encounter.

"Good luck! Your time starts now!"

The hourglass was flipped, and the contestants wasted no time going into the portal, including Maurice.

Being his first time navigating through a portal, it made him feel nauseous. It felt like he was thrust into an abyss that swirled around him, but with a clean vibrant blue until eventually, there was an opening at the ending. With Quick thinking, he knew he was going to land on the Earth soon, whilst he prepared for the impact, and as though he was flushed out, he landed on the green Vegetation like everyone else.

When he looked up, they were surrounded by big Sequoia trees, rising to the sky that he could not see. They were everywhere, and Maurice didn’t think he had ever laid eyes on such huge trees in his life.

The forest looked haunting tropical, with its biome hot, and moist. Rain dripped on the overgrown shrubs, and he noticed the coily path ahead of them was more muddy than grassy, which meant he was going to have to get dirty eventually.

"Listen here!" Bryn clapped his hand, earning him the attention of his mates. It then occurred to Maurice that it was more likely that the opposing team were taken into another portal. When Bryn snapped his fingers, the attention of his two teammates returned to him, and besides Maurice stood another human that had successfully made it to the fourth round.

It was his ill-luck that he got paired with them.

"I’ll be incharge of this team." Bryn stated, leaving no room for argument, "as I have more experience, you will have to listen to the things I tell you, and follow instructions without complaints. If we’re going to get the ancient stone–"

"We’ll have to work together." Maurice beat him to it, sounding rather thoughtful than trying to start an argument. "It doesn’t matter who’s in charge, what matters is joining heads.. and hands into finding the artifacts that are hidden here before the second portal opens."

"I would have suggested we split to make it easier but I don’t trust the calmness of this forest." Bryn murmured, eyeing the jungle warily. "Before the second portal opens, we need to find those artifacts."