Entering the Competition (10)

"I can't believe we're back here," I groaned as I stepped out of the car.

Since the sun was starting to set, Luke decided it would be best if we returned to the arena. Knowing that Luke was reaching the edge of his patience, we listened to him, retiring from the computer room. Plus, we didn't need to eat dinner here as we ate at a pizzeria from my suggestion. I never had so much fun as today before.

I looked through all the pictures in my bedroom. It felt like I made more precious memories here than all the time I spent in the first district. Maybe I would look back at these memories whenever I felt down in the future. I closed my screen as it was starting to get deeper into the night. I would need to sleep to win the competition tomorrow.

The next time I opened my eyes, I wasn't inside my room anymore. I was inside a cave, full of mana crystals. I watched the poor children cry and bleed inside the planetarium, which was also connected to one of its tunnels. I walked deeper inside as I couldn't look at them suffering anymore.

Not knowing where I was going, I continued to walk deeper into the cave. I squinted when a bright light was coming out in front of me. My eyes adjusted to the light as the cave transitioned into a glass cage. Inside the cage was a transparent coffin with a girl sleeping with her arms crossed. She was covered with white wildflowers that grew around her.

Her skin was fair as snow while her lips were red as ruby gems. Her light blond hair was neatly placed on her blue ball gown that changed into pink depending on the light. She was almost as beautiful as the inhumane fairies. Was this sleeping beauty?

My hands were placed on the glass cage, not allowing me to come inside. When I looked closer at the engravings on the glass, it read, 'she waits for the day to be freed from her sleep'.

"What do you want from me?" I whispered in front of her.

Many paper notes drifted from above. It started to fill the space where I stood. I read each of the rustic writings on the pieces of paper.

[Please kill me]

[Please find me]

[Kill Sleeping Beauty]

[I want to be free]

Her words echoed inside the cave as I covered my ears. I didn't know how to help her. I didn't know where I was right now. This place seemed like it had been abandoned for a long period of time. I looked at how my steps didn't leave a trace of my feet, walking around the cage. I had to be inside a dream.

A tear dripped down her perfect face as her eyelashes fluttered. My heart panged from her last note that kept from coming from above. She wanted to be from the cage. It was too relatable to the situation I was in.

"How can I help you when I'm the same?" I stared at her.

"I can't help you," I mumbled.

The world started to crumble down as someone started to shake me awake for the brand-new day. The next time I blinked, I found myself staring at Luke's face. I coughed, feeling my dry throat lacking oxygen. Luke frowned as he began to take my temperature.

"You have a fever," he looked at the results.

"I told you not to eat anything from the third district," he scolded me.

I was sure my fever just came from my broken dream. My hair was covered in sweat as it dripped down from my forehead. My hands felt damp as I struggled to rise to sit down. This was worse than I thought it would be.

"I'm sure it's not from the food," I coughed uncontrollably.

My eyes widened when I coughed blood. This wasn't a simple fever anymore. Luke called for Lucius to come into our room. Alex pulled out some machines he brought from his villa like he had prepared this for emergencies.

"Did anything happen during the night?" Lucius read the results from the machine.

"I found sleeping beauty," I managed to whisper.

"Your internal organs are a mess. It appears like you touched something you weren't supposed to. This will take days to heal," he grimaced.

"Can you grab eternia from the shelf?" Lucius turned to Luke.

Luke began to feed me by tilting the bottle after picking the right medicine. Meanwhile, Lucius continued to study the diagnosis as if it couldn't be right. I was barely able to swallow the liquid as I coughed some of it out. This was almost similar to the time I was stabbed in the stomach.

I instantly felt better as my body started to absorb the medicine. I was able to talk now as my throat wasn't parched anymore. Shelly passed me a tissue to wipe the blood off my mouth. I shot her a thankful glance before beginning to explain what happened.

"I was in the second district before I woke up. Inside a cave connected to an abandoned planetarium was a glass cage. There was a coffin inside the cage and the girl was called sleeping beauty," I recalled.

"I think she was trying to take me to her with the fire and the people we sent to the authorities," I shuddered.