The Alliance

The girl stared at him for a short moment. Her icy blue eyes seemed to brighten slightly in the darkness.

"You… You are from the center."

Ark quirked a brow.

Her gaze was more than intense, the girl was looking at him as though he was the one that had imprisoned her. 

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

His words seemed to anger the girl because her gaze became more fierce. She was burning with so much anger that her cheeks turned pink. 

She took a single step from the wall as though she was afraid to come too close. 

"Answer."

Her voice was emotionless, Ark could not tell what she was feeling from those words. 

Was she happy? Worry? Scared?

He had no clue, but he was sure it was neither of these things. 

"Yes, I am." He paused. "I'm Ark by the way, what is your name?"

It's either she did not hear his question or she outright chose to ignore him because instead, she asked a question of her own.

Judging by how little the carriage they were in was, it was definitely the second. 

"What are you doing here?"

'That same cold tone...'

"I'm not sure either. It looks like we are taking the trial together for whatever reason."

It seemed she was giving his words some thought because she was silent for a moment. 

He had purposely made mention of the trial, that way she would know he was actually from the real world and not just something conjured out of her memory. 

'Damn, I feel like I'm at a job interview.'

He had never been to one, but Ark suspected this was how it felt. 

The girl's shoulders visibly relaxed and then an intense look appeared on her face. 

She practically ran towards him. 

Her voice sounded scratchy, no doubt caused by lack of water. Her movements were weak as well, it was either they were not feeding her, or they were feeding her very poorly.

'And we just got that Buck too…'

She got to the rusty cell bars in a heartbeat. 

"What is going on outside? Have you figured out a way to beat the trial? Why haven't we been moving?"

Ark unconsciously took a step back. 

"Wait, wait, wait. Before you start bombarding me with questions…"

Ark pulled out a bowl from his coat, he had used his jacket to shield it from the cold to keep it slightly warm. 

He slipped the bowl and the bread through the cage and passed it into her hands. 

"I'm guessing they don't feed you much?"

The girl eyed the food warringly. 

'So she's the suspicious type.'

Ark then took a piece of the bread, stuck it in the stew and ate it. Drinking some water from his water skin to wash it down. 

The girl grabbed the water from him first and greedily drank from it, then went to work devouring the beef stew and bread. 

Within seconds the entire thing was gone. The plate was wiped so clean that Ark wondered if there was any need to wash it. 

"I guess that answers my question…"

She glanced at him, this time her gaze was slightly better than before but still a cry from friendly. 

They only had five minutes but luckily for Ark, she had swiftly eaten the food. 

She passed him the bowl. 

"How is the situation outside?"

Ark picked it up and returned it back into his coat. 

"Your 'uncle' hasn't shown any signs of restarting the journey. He just spends most of his time with his guards."

The girl brought her fingers to her chin. 

"So he does plan on killing me first…"

She had come to the same conclusion as him which was good. It meant she was smart enough to consider things logically, so she would understand his plan—

"We need to—"

"I'm going to escape this place tomorrow morning," She said, cutting Ark off. 

"No, you won't."

She gave him a blank stare, her confusion clearly evident. 

It made sense that she did have a plan of her own, she was meant to face this trial alone after all. 

But now the situation was different. Ark had spent the last few days exploring the camp and hatching up a plan, so he was sure his plan was far better than whatever she would have cooked up in isolation 

And yet he could not just invalidate her plans… This was her trial after all. 

He was the interloper. 

Ark let out a sigh. 

"Alright, what do you have in mind?"

*

Much to Ark's surprise, she had already formed a rather solid plan. Her escape was pretty much guaranteed which was impressive considering the little things she had to work with. 

After that, she planned to become a ghost. Due to the aid of the Archive, she was privy to information Ark lacked. 

She knew her allies, she knew who to trust and she had planned out what to do with that trust.

After a few days of hiding out, she would confront her uncle, challenge him to an old fashioned duel to prove her innocence and she was more than capable of taking him down. 

By then, she would have already built up a steady following so he would have no choice but to accept. 

A good plan in all ramifications.

But not good enough. 

Maybe they would have gone with hers if Ark had not already thought of something better. 

And yet—

'This girl… she's pretty smart.'

That was because, at some point, their plans coincided just before branching out once more. 

She definitely listened to the professor's parting words. Her plan consisted of using every single tool within reach to accomplish her goals. 

What resources did they have abundant here in this trial?

It was people, they were their greatest recourse. 

"Why are you looking at me like that? Is the plan not good?"

Ark quietly stood up.

"It's good…but not as good as mine. I've run out of time so I'll keep this short."

He then went on to tell her some parts of the plan, rushing sure to the important points due to his lack of time. 

When he was finally done…

The girl rose to her feet and began walking back to her corner. Ark saw a flash of steel but it was quickly concealed. 

"Kiera."

"Huh?" Ark asked, slightly confused. 

"My name is Kiera."

"Oh."

He nodded and was about to leave the room when he remembered one crucial detail he had missed. 

"One last thing."

Ark's voice suddenly took a darker tone, his golden eyes becoming far more ominous. 

Kiera almost shivered under the intensity of his gaze but managed to retain her composure. 

Yet, his next words nearly broke the well crafted mask of indifference she had put up. 

"You are going to die the day after tomorrow, I will personally kill you myself."