Chapter 6

*Amber's Pov*

"Let the fight begin!" The announcer exclaimed and immediately, my opponent rushed towards me.

I narrowly dodged his fist and right now, I am extremely grateful for my self-defence lessons I took in my previous life. I am not sure if I could survive to the end of this fight but at least I won't die quickly... especially not when I just started this life not long ago.

Determination flashed in my eye and I steeled myself to survive, I must find out about my mother in this life, I might not have the chance next time!

I took a deep calming breath and focused fully on the fight, dodging the best I could. I finally found a break in his defense and threw a punch but, "What...?" it felt like hitting rock and he didn't flinch at all, he just smiled down at me and grabbed my hand, flinging me to the arena wall.

"AH-" I struggled to get back up, I could only feel pain all over my body but from the corner of my eyes, I saw him watching... Eden.

'I have to survive this. Eden is an unusual factor in my life, this may be the only time I will meet him,' I thought and groaned, trying to gather up energy to stand up.

The crowd was watching in silence and the announcer looked at me, wondering if I would give up so that my opponent would be announced the winner. I gritted my teeth and finally got up, my back and waist hurt so badly but I couldn't give up now.

The announcer looked at me with pity, probably concluding that I would die and it was best for me to have surrendered. After a short while, he announced that the fight should continue.

The muscle guy, my opponent, cracked his neck and gruffly said, "You should have given up when you had the chance," before coming right at me with a fist ready.

I looked at the fist coming towards me, trying to move my body but it was too weak, too battered up from the throw.

'Oh God please! Just do anything, anything to get me out alive!' I prayed, hoping that I won't die here.

The fist came closer and closer. I closed my eyes still hoping for a miracle.

5 seconds passed...

30 seconds passed...

50 seconds passed...

1 minute passed...

'What was going on? Wasn't he supposed to have reached me by now?' I opened my eyes slowly and saw his fist right in front of me, something was wrong though. He was not moving at all.

I looked around in confusion at everyone in the audience. Some had amusement on their face, some concern, some seemed like they were cheering, some covered their eyes not wanting to watch. They all had different expressions but one thing was similar to all of them, they were frozen in place just like the man in front of me!

I furrowed my brows and poked the man's fist, wanting to see if this was just my imagination. I poked him and... he was still frozen!

'Is everyone frozen except me? But who did that?' I suddenly sensed movement in my peripheral vision and turned to see Eden smirking at me.

'Did Eden do this? But why? I thought he wanted me dead with this prank he pulled.'

Eden eyes shined with amusement and he smirked once more, playing with the ring he wore before tilting his head at my opponent, 'What are you waiting for?' He mouthed and I jolted out of my surprise.

He is right, I should take my chance now before he decides to stop whatever he is doing.

I looked at muscle guy and wondered how I would defeat him. Normally if an opponent steps out of the arena, they would automatically lose but how would I move him away? Or has stopping time also reduced their weight?

I decided to test my hypothesis and pushed him a bit, he moved still frozen. I smiled and continued pushing him till he fell out of the arena.

"Now, I wonder how long it will take before time returns back to normal," I said quietly, now completely relaxed.

It seemed as though Eden heard me because time returned back to normal and the announcer looked shocked to see my opponent outside of the field. He finally recovered from the shock and declared that I was the winner. Some people cheered while some seemed confused and skeptical about how I was able to do that.

I smiled calmly and finally got off the stage, moving towards Eden who was sitted casually.

"Would you like to explain what you did there?" I asked calmly as I settled beside him.

"Me? I didn't do anything," he said teasingly and I rolled my eyes.

"Who else would have done that then? Would a random stranger help me?"

"They might if it is someone you know very well," his tone was amused and he seemed to know more than he was telling.

"Oh really? And who would that be?" I asked as he just looked at me with a smirk, "Ok, let's assume I believe it wasn't you, then why weren't you frozen like the others?" I continued, seeing he wasn't going to answer my previous question.

"We all have our secrets, I have mine too," he smiled and clasped his hands together as he faced me, "besides, you defeated him which means you can finally have your question answered."

My eyes widened and I looked at him, trying hard not to reveal my excitement, "No more tricks this time, ok?" I asked just to be extra careful.

"Of course. Why would I ever trick you?" He had the most innocent smile ever but the glint in his eyes was as sly as a snake's.

I pursed my lips, knowing fully well that he was anything but innocent but like always, I had no other choice.

"Go on then. You already know my question."

He smiled once more, "Yes I do, but we wouldn't want to talk about such delicate manners here, right?" He asked standing up and moving away, not even bothering to look back at me. It seems he already had a place in mind.

My expression grew grim but I stood up also and went after him, he was right after all. This was not a normal conversation and I will find out everything I want to know, one way or the other.