Story:Dawn Royale

This is a collaboration between Sethanic and Zeokx about the Dawn Royale in the year 4000.
==Prologue==
It was a long queue. R'C'Gukal was slowly making his way to the front to enter the games. There was only one space left by this point, so the majority of the people had gone, though there were still hundreds lining up. A woman in front of him started talking to another woman about how they were lining up for no reason.
Gukal sighed and pushed them both to the ground and weaved his way around the queue to the front. He wrote down his name and home province. He walked away glad that it was over. Now he just had to wait.
----
One hour later, Gukal joined the crowd of fiersome looking warriors surrounding the man above them announcing the competitors. A cheer and a curse went up for every name.
'Stone! The mighty beserker!'
'Grage Yrew! The infamous dracomancer!'
'Henry Tenas! Archer from the east!'
'Ridicully Tyro! Leader of the Mage's Guild!'
'Rita Desandro! Thief and scourge of the south!'
'Dante and Meris Imr'Tue! Brothers to the end!'
'Teris Doq! Rogue Abyssal Magic Mage!'
'Rick O' Sé! Son of a mother with bad humour!'
'A'C'Erka! Feared warrior of Raxus!'
'Trey Exanus! Defender of right, vanquisher of the wrong!'
'And last, but not least, A'C'Gukal! Mysterious Veptim Warrior!'
Gukal walked up the steps to the open oak doors. Without a word, he followed the others inside the palace, though Belden was a democracy it used to be a palace.
Emperor Cinahtes, fifty years old, was on his throne waiting for them.
'Adard agrar ux!' he bellowed. 'It is my honour to make you all die in horrible ways in these "games!" You will have to persist through arrows and dragons... and then each other. The greatest... no, the only worthy of you will be crowned the Champion of Dawn and will wield the third Blade of Dawn to prove it.' The man snapped his fingers, calling forth a servant who bore a long, slender case engraved with a golden dragon. Cinahtes opened the case with a small golden key and pulled out a long, elegant silver blade, bejewelled with shining rubies. He looked them all in the eye one at a time. 'If any of you wish to leave, now is your chance.'
Nobody even considered leaving at this stage.
After a few seconds Cinahtes went on. 'The first challenge begins tomorrow at 7:00 sharp. If you are late you will be shot on sight. G'Day.'
The group were escorted out of the room to their fancy chambers made up for them. Gukal couldn't even shut his eyes to sleep because he was of the Warrior Brood and the Warrior Brood never dared to sleep.
==Chapter 1: Hammer and Arrow==
The group where lined up. Rick O' Sé was lying dead in the mud after getting hit by Trey's hammer as he threw it. Cinahtes called Gukal up next. After a little preparation, he threw it further than Trey by about ten feet. Satisfied, even with pain coursing through his shoulder.
Each person threw their own hammer, but only Stone's managed to beat his recor, but only by a metre at that.
The next day, the people all arrived an hour early in case something like what happened to Rick O' Sé happened to them.
Gukal reached out for his bow first, but was rammed into the side by Dante. 'Sorry there,' he said as he clutched the handle of what was going to be Gukal's bow. He instead took the on next to it.
With careful aim, the eleven contestants fired at command. Dante's arrow fell short of the target. Gukal's arrow barely hit the edge of the target, while the other shots were better.
The Emperor pouted and strode over to Dante. He whispered in his ear. Dante went pale and nodded. Cinahtes walked back to his spectating position while Dante walked the length of the field. He stood at one end, by the targets, and waited.
The Emperor shouted 'Fire!'
Most of the players were confused as to what to shoot, but Gukal, who wanted to shoot someone at the first opporunity, immediatel fired. His arrow flew true and a jet of crimson blood flew out of Dante's head as he fell over backwards.
'NO!' cried Meris as his brother died before his eyes. 'I wanted to kill him myself!'
'There there,' said Cinahtes sarcastically. 'We all care very deeply for how you feel.'
'I want to quit!' he raged. Gukal was smirking.
'Very well,' the Emperor responded. In less than a second, he pulled a crossbow out of his robes and fired. Meris collapsed, having been shot exactly in the chest.
'Tomorrow you will fight one another,' Cinahtes addressed the astonished group, without paying any attention to the crime he committed.
Category:Fiction
Category:Collaboration