This is a story that I just started by mashing two of my older works together and rewriting them into this. Any constructive criticism is gladly welcomed as are your general thoughts. Please read and I hope you enjoy. ---------------------------------------------- It's a strange town that we live in, one of the kingdoms that allows humans and their guides to co-exist in peace until the age of eighteen. At eighteen, your guide is either brutally murdered before your eyes or they can stay with you, if you're lucky. They call it a test, but with so many deaths from the actual humans that are put through it each year, it really doesn't seem worth it. No other kingdom has the test and I think of running away, I beg my guide to run with me but he tells me that we must stay put. I know we can do it, even if all he sees is a weak girl with her pale features on the outside, and I know that he knows. I cease my thoughts and rise from the mattress that I'd been sat on for the past hour or so, deciding to try to find my guide. It isn't long before I see the messy brown hair and long ivory wings that protrude from his broad shoulders standing over the stove. "Alex," I mutter, causing him to turn away from the frying pan and look at me with his kindly hazel eyes, "We need to talk." Alex sighs, lifting a hand to push a few stray strands of hair from his eye, "Cammie, we are not talking about this again." "But I--" "Forget it. We're not running, we're staying put." I sigh and shake my head at him, "If we stay here, we'll die." "If we leave we could die! It's no better out there than it is here!" He shouts back, "Do you really think that anything's better out there!?" "'Lex..." I move over to him, place a hand on his arm as he turns back to his cooking, "Calm down. I just... I don't want to watch you die." He doesn't answer me, instead turning off the stove and wrapping his arms around me, pressing me into his body. We both know what the other is thinking, that we'll know for certain tomorrow. Tomorrow is when they reveal the nature of this year's test, it's when they show us the testing grounds or Arena and dress us to fit. Tomorrow the King comes down from his castle to wish us luck. It's a sick tradition, really, but one we're told we need to upkeep. The embrace ends and Alex straightens up, looking around shakily. Maybe he's accepted his fate, even if I haven't. "I... made bacon." It's the first thing that he says to me after we break apart as he turns back to the stove, pulling out two plates so that we could eat our last meal in silence. The tension's unbearable, but there's nothing to say between us anymore. We can't run, we can't hide. We have to stay. It's these thoughts that stay with me throughout the night, until morning comes and Alex is waking me. It's the day of the test, and fear grips me as I dress in an old blue dress and walk out to find Alex, who is wearing a shirt for once. He gestures to the door and we silently walk out, we haven't eaten breakfast since we're both too nervous for it and it's the same nerves that are strangling our words. We turn into the alley that will take us towards the Town Hall from where we'll get a carriage that will take us to the ceremony. It's in this alley that Alex suddenly stops and places his hands on my shoulders, "Cam, I have something to ask you before we--" He loses his voice for a second, looking down at our feet. "What is it?" I ask, trying not to cry at the thoughts of what could happen. "Before your parents died, they made me promise that if anything happened to them, I'd raise you." He mutters, "Please, Cammie, tell me that I raised you right." I smile at him, stand on tiptoes, kiss his cheek reassuringly. "You couldn't have raised me better." He smiles slightly and lets go of my shoulders, taking a firm grip on my hand as we walk almost certainly to our deaths. We reach the Hall, and see the lines of carriages as well as boys, girls and their guides. I immediately notice how different they all are, there's guides with horns, some with jewels set into their skin as well as some with different wings like Alex. The other humans vary as well, in size, weight, hair and eye colours. I see a girl with her pink hair in bunches and wonder how many times she's been waiting to say goodbye to her guide, a woman with obsidian hair and full red lips. There are parents seeing their children off as well. I quickly count over 30 people and try to make sense of how only 15 get to the test, but I don't question it, instead I sign my name and wait clutching Alex's hand. We're told to get into carriage fourteen so we do, Alex heading in first and helping me in. As we set off towards the test site, I turned to him to say the one thing I needed to, "Thank you for everything 'Lex." "At least I raised you right, and I'm not letting anything happen to you in the test. I promise." We sit in silence for the rest of the way, watching the scenery pass us by until we pulled up next to the test center, where the King was stood in front of a podium, waiting for us to climb out and onto the stage beside him.
