Young Writers Society

Authors note: I know that there's minimal use of strong language and violence and mature content at the moment but possibilities of this happening later on is high therefore all chapters will be given this rating and possibly going up to an age 18+

The Elemental survival games

Chapter 4: The Start of The Survival Games

Saturday 21st September 2013

Upon awakening Ben rubbed his eyes still traumatized from what had took place yesterday “…I barely got any sleep at all last night because off that…” He shuddered trying to forget it, then finally opening his eyes he realized that he was not in his bedroom he was in some place sacred, everything around him was an electric (light) blue colour. “Is this a dream?” Ben went to pinch his arm but was baffled and horrified to see that his arm was in a completely different state made out of ice “wha-what the?!” upon further inspection he also noticed that his whole body was like it, he was even a bit taller than before. He could see that he had a bunch of very small spikes coming out of his upper back and his finger and toes were all pointer like an animal’s claws were. His eyes were also a cobalt (blue) colour, his body was more muscular. “Is this that ice power I have, how the hell am I gonna go around in public looking like this!? There must be a way to undo this.” Remembering that he hadn’t found out yet he pinched his arm with a meagre amount of hope, nothing happened, it wasn’t a dream

“Hey, looks like another one’s appeared” stated someone behind Ben. Still on edge Ben jolted himself turning around in an instant around.

“Who’s there!?” yelled out Ben. As he saw a whole group of people spread out all over the place who looked similar in some ways to him. There was someone walking towards him who was made entirely out of burning flames. Some of the others glanced at Ben, some did not they were too distracted about their own unique but cryptic bodies. “Who are you people?”

“You know I could ask the same about you.” Replied the fiery one.

Ben asked “where is this place, what exactly is happening”

The fiery one grunted coming back with “I don’t know, none of us know where we, who each other is and personally I don’t want to know who you and the others are.” He turned around and walked off.

Ben whispering to himself “Jesus what did I do to him, I guess we’re all just on edge at the minute though.” He looked back down at his hands still confused with no idea at all on what was going on.

Suddenly there was an announcement coming from the PA speakers. “Everyone please enter your designated area corresponding with your colour and elemental power the creator has now arrived I repeat the creator has now arrived.” Fifteen areas lit up all forming a circle next to the massive sacred throne towering over anything else in the room, with a gap right inside the middle shaped like a donut.

Ben muttered to himself “creator? Creator of what? Maybe I can find some answers from him.”

The green one stated “it seems like something’s starting up.”

The black muttered underneath his breath “I better get a fucking explanation for this bullshit.”

Ben saw a light blue one the area closest to him up that had “ice” written in bold right in the top middle “I guess that’s my section then.” Ben stepped inside seeing that the fire section was to his right and one that read “metal” was to his left. The fiery person saw this and glanced at Ben with a “disappointed” look in his face. Ben thought to himself “what the hell did I do to him!? Why is he so angry at me for no apparent reason at all!?” Ben ignored him and looked back down at his segment, it was polished well and very reflective. He looked closer at his new form he was in still confused with worry. His whole body did resemble his old one yet He looked back up as he heard a sound coming from the throne and so did everybody else.

Blue swirling rays of energy surrounded the throne circling around very slowly but gradually increasing in speed. Ben gulped as he felt and ominous vast amount of power coming from this, yet he continued staring, his eyes would not look away. As more lights appeared and they became faster an image started appearing inside it and the overwhelming power kept increasing and increasing with not halting for anything. The outline was no clear and the image became clearer and clearer and then there was some sort of explosion of light, everyone was blinded temporarily by this light. Ben covering his eyes now began to regain his stolen vision until he could see the figure standing at the top of the throne.

The fiery one was shouting “AH my eyes! What just happened!?”

The light grey one said “Huh? Who is that?”

Ben now with his fully regained vision looked up at the figure to see that he was not human, he looked like himself and the others here but a lot more important and advanced.

He opened his mouth and spoke “greetings elementalists, I am the creator of the elements”

Everyone looked surprised but still confused at the same time.

The fire one spoke “so for what purpose did you bring us here for then?”

The creator looked down at him replying “I was just about to get to that part. I brought you all here to participate in my elemental survival games!” He laughed as he thrust his open hands into the air.

“Survival games…?” Ben quietly thought to himself.

The creator went on “In this game you also known as the elementalists will have to battle each other until there is one left standing and he or she shall be the victor.”

The black shadowy elementalist burst out speaking out of turn “why the fuck should we participate in your game!?”

The creator who was ecstatic slowly shifted his eyes to the black elementalist. “Who do you think you’re fucking talking to you maggot!”

Suddenly there was a huge wave of power emerging from the creator and everybody was being crushed by it, especially Ben. Ben slumped down to both his knees, unable to stand and eventually being pushed down completely to the floor by this enormous amount of power. “I-I can’t…breathe…”

The shining white one, on one knee looked to the shadowy black one. “Oh great look at what you’ve done you idiot.”

The black one glared at him ignoring this pressure as much as he could. “Shut up! I didn’t ask to be here!”

The white replied back. “None of us have you ignorant fool!”

The brown one muttered “Jesus Christ screw this crap.” The bright yellow one started to moan out in pain, covering his mouth with his hand.

The creator bellowed out “ENOUGH ALREADY!” The pressure from his overwhelming and crushing power started to ease off and people gradually stood up clumsily. “If anyone speaks out of turn again, then every single one of you will regret it.” Everyone nodded their heads slowly, now noticing their every action, being very cautious to not anger the creator; however there was a brief and weak cough echoing throughout the room, it was Ben. He was still on all fours spluttering everywhere unable to catch his breath, unable to stand and unable to comprehend the massive power that had just completely dominated him.

Ben heard a sharp, bitter and violent voice in his heard saying “wow you look so pathetic right now, you make me ashamed to even be a part of you.” Ben still recovering recognised the voice from before and clamped his head with his hands shouting “ARGH! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”

The creator looked at him like his was looking at a dog that had to be put down “hmm seems like the ice elementalist is weak and crazy this time, no matter I guess he’ll just be one of the first to die this time. Okay now that that’s over I can get on with the explanation. I have brought you all here to participate in my survival games, you may have noticed now that you all have a new power bestowed upon you, and with it” he grinned “you must kill the others in this room.” Everybody looked horrified and shocked as before they thought it was just a joke or a lie but now after being dominate by this huge power they felt like that they had to believe him. “For this survival game you can choose up a hundred members to join you in your fight to help you win, they will not be given elemental powers so make sure to choose some good fighters and once you tell them they also have to join or else I’ll personally kill them” he explained with a large and pain striking grin on his face.

Ben had gained his breathing pace back again and could hear what the creator was explaining, he thought to himself “what!? This is crazy I-I don’t know what to do, AM I SERIOUSLY GOING TO HAVE TO KILL PEOPLE FOR MY OWN SURVIVAL!?!? No no no th-this can’t be happening it’s a dream, it’s a dream it’s a dream.” He continued pinching his frozen arm, again remembering that he looked completely different to how he used to look. He kept pinching his arm, yet it was useless, no matter how much he tried or believed he was about to be put into in a life or death situation.

The light green one rose his hand “could you please explain these new forms we’re in to us?”

The creator nodded “ah yes because my standard form that is the one I’m currently in looks so similar to all yours I forgot all about that, these new forms are your elemental forms that you can learn to enter whenever you engage in battle as it allows you to maximize your health, defence, speed, power and any other combat abilities you also possess like your new elemental form, so they can be turned on and off whenever you want but do keep in mind that they do drain away your elemental energy. Ah! Also before I forget elemental energy is basically the stuff used to power your elemental attacks it will recharge over time, which can be learnt and explained by a book that will be given to you the next time you wake up, the more attacks and abilities you learn the stronger you’ll be and you can also increase the amount of elemental energy you can hold at any given time.”

The creator continued on explaining the survival games to the newfound elementalists. “If you are worried about finding people that are actually capable of fighting in aiding you then you have nothing to worry about as I have released…two-thousand criminals from all of the prisons in the whole of the UK!” Again the creator had instantly caught everyone’s attention as they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. “I have brought all two-thousand criminals here in the south-east area of England so once this meeting is over I recommend that you go and round up as many as you can before the police catch them all and put them all back behind bars.”

The dark grey one put his finger to his chin whispering to himself “so I guess the first part of the survival game, is a race to see who can find the strongest fighters first.”

The creator glanced down at him “aha yes yes that’s a perfect way of describing the first survival part of the games. Just remember that you can only have hundred, and no more and that does not include yourself.”

The large and well-built orange one rose his hand to ask a question and the creator responded by nodding his head, accepting the question. “So what happens if we don’t participate in the game and what is the winner’s prize?” He looked hopeful at what when he asked about the winner’s prize

The creator spoke. “Well if you don’t participate, then you die clean and simple by my hand.”

Ben was horrified about how calmly he talked about killing but felt like he could believe anything he said now.

The creator then went on to answer the second part of the question and as he opened his mouth and he was going to say something that would shock everyone with joy and hope. “…The winner of the game will be able to bring…” Everyone peered in and what was about to emerge from his mouth. “Someone back to life that has died.”

Silence filled the room, the only thing that was active was everybody else’s reactions. “I have indeed done research on all of you and I know that you all have at least one person who died that was something special to you, be it a sibling, a lover, a dear friend a mother or perhaps a father” Ben’s eye’s pupils enlarged widely very rapidly “or some other person that you would prefer to be alive. Once this person has been brought back to life they will however be at the age they would be at in the present as if they never died so say if someone died seven years ago and was twenty-five years old then once brought back to life they will be thirty-two years old.

Ben had never felt so motivated before in his life but he still remembered that he would have to take someone’s life if he wanted to restore his father’s, he thought to himself “what…what do I do? I want dad back but I’ll have to kill for it…no wait I could just hide and remain low that way the others might end up killing each other and I’ll be left as the victor. Wait what am I thinking!? Am I really content with these others killing each other just so that my dad can come back to life? It’s the only thing I can do though I just have to remain undetected.”

The creator went on with his explanation that destroyed Ben’s only hope. “Oh but in order to bring this person back to life you will have to kill at least one other elementalist in this room for those of you who think they could just escape by hiding away in the shadows. And also if that wasn’t enough motivation then I’ve given you all another drive to kill.” His face light right back up again with a grin as he put his elbow on his arm rest and placed his head on his hand. “I have placed a tiny insanity crystal into all of your brains.” People’s faces started going darker and darker with depression as all hopes and joy were drained out of them at an alarming rate by hearing one disastrous thing after another. “Up to this point you may have heard voices inside you’re heard, well that is basically you going insane” he rejoiced as he sadistically smiled in people’s horror and shock. Ben now felt a glimpse of relief that he knows what it was but still he knew that this small relief was still shrouded but clouds of depression, insanity and disparity.

“Hehe cat’s out of the bag now it seems, and I was enjoying seeing your confusion too.” Whispered the voice insanity inside of Ben.

“Just…just shut up…leave me alone…” Ben whimpered out in response.

“Well you may be able to resist me at the moment… but as the insanity grows ever stronger, I WLL TAKE OVER AHAHAHAHA!” The insanity voice boasted out as the voice became fainter and fainter slowly dying out waiting to make its return.

“It’ll grow even worse!?” Ben blurted out in his head.

The creator went on explaining “the insanity will however grow in strength and at around six months from the day the insanity started you will be so engulfed in the insanity that you’ll commit suicide!” He chuckled to himself eagerly watching the reactions especially from Ben. “But there is a small hope for you all hehehe… whenever you kill an elementalist you can take their insanity crystal and put some of your current insanity inside them, each elementalist you kill will regain about two weeks of sanity back, but that’s if you can actually kill them, this game involves many risks and gambles the chances of survival are slim to zero! What will you all do I wonder? Hide away like a coward? Go insane and kill all of the innocent civilians? Brutalize the others standing inside this room just for your own survival and the life of your precious person!? Yes I can’t wait, I can’t wait for this ruthless survival game to begin!!!” His voice completely filled the room bouncing off the walls and going into everyone’s ears countless times, the horrific truth would soon start to ravage them physically and mentally. “Oh and another little detail, everybody that joins you in your cause will gain the elemental symbol of the one who is their boss and they too will be consumed by the insanity.”

Ben just couldn’t bear it anymore he was attempting to hold back the tears he had but he knew that he was most likely going to be dead in six months’ time, he thought to himself. “Damn it! Why!? Why was I put into this stupid game!? It’s…it’s not fair, I-I can’t fight at all I’m probably going to die in the first month! Wha-what do I do?”

Just then without hesitation an announcement boomed throughout the room “warning warning subject red death is approaching and fast! Repeating subject red death is approaching and fast!”

Ben thought to himself “It’s that female voice from before, but wait what’s subject red death?” And why do I get a really bad feel about this?”

The creator looked surprised and slightly worried “damn she’s fast” he coughed “okay we need to begin the spinner game then and now.”

The yellow one rose her hand and asked gently with a very nervous voice “umm…what’s the spinner game?”

The creator replied with “to see which one of you will get the red death subject. And for those wondering what this subject exactly is… well she’s a genetically modified human that is extremely strong and brutal but will obey her master at all times. She probably has the strength of ninety-five human men put together with insanely fast reflexes, she will be a huge advantage to the lucky elementalist that gains her now in the chance game.”

The light grey one spoke out of turn “woah isn’t that going to make it unfair for the rest of us!?”

The creator looked down at him annoyed that he spoke out of turn, the grey one realising what he did looked down at the floor, scratched his arm and used all of his effort to murmur out an apology “oh… er sorry…”

The creator sighed closing his eyes and opened them again “I’ll let you off because we’re in a hurry, it’s not good to keep red death waiting after all. And yes it would be unfair so anyone who has red death on their team will only be allowed to choose four more fighters making them only allowed five in total.

The cream one muttered “Only five?”

The orange one whispered to himself “she must be extremely strong then… hmmm she’d be good to have on my team hehe.”

The creator put his finger on his ear piece and talked through it to his workers “hey put lift up the spinner now, and be quick about it! Also send any guards we have available to apprehend red death.”

Everyone apart from Ben was too busy glorifying how helpful it would be to have red death on their team, like she was their beacon of hope to hear what the creator’s worker replied back with through the ear piece “but si- m-st of ou- forces ---- been sent -- the wa- so th-t go- do—n’t kn-w w-at we-‘e d-ing.” It was hard for Ben to make out what the worker had said but he had figured out that not a whole lot of guards were available as some had been sent to a war so that someone doesn’t find out what the creator of element is doing.

He thought to himself “huh? A war? And who exactly are they trying to keep secret to then?” Before Ben could come to any specific conclusions the ground started shaking the whole middle section of the ring where the elementalists started sinking down into the ground and then up rose another piece of floor to seal the hole but with an arrow on it.

The creator grinned and now explained this part of the survival game. “Okay the rules are extremely basic, the spinner shall be spun and whatever segment it lands on the elementalist standing on that segment shall have red death recruited into their ranks. Let’s begin then!”

The spinner start turning clockwise and built up its speed as it accelerated more and more, Ben started to feel dizzy at how fast it was turning. Before long though it started to slow down; whilst contrastingly people’s heart rates quickened, becoming very rapid as everyone was eagerly watching and hoping to receive red death. As the spinner came to its last rotation it stopped right on Ben’s segment. He was astounded and didn’t know what to make of it.

The creator announced “well well looks likes the ice elementalist has red death on his team.” Everybody else looked gutted whilst Ben had some relief mixed with anxiety as to see what the red death was like, his expectations of a friendly personality weren’t very high though. “In order to make this game more interesting though I’m adding in a new rule this time hehe, whichever elementalist that kills the red death, shall receive a bonus reward if they then manage to survive the survival games.” The elementalist’s ears perked up and became increasingly interested in what it was. “The reward shall be whatever you so desire, it could be money, fame immortality or anything else you can think of, so indeed ice now has a bigger chance of winning the game he is unable to gain the bonus reward but you all are able to.”

Ben raised his hand “bu-but wait doesn’t that mean that most elementalists will be coming after me then!?”

The creator snickered and replied with a booming voice “ahaha why yes of course it does after all I’m offering a reward that could be anything here, and it’s only human nature to desire something extraordinary! They only have to kill red death though and not you but if they do manage to kill her then you’ll be pretty defenceless and you’ll be targeted along with her” Ben was looking horrified, his situation had only gotten worse and worse. “Ahaha stop looking so weak you’re only going to make yourself seem more vulnerable ice!” Ben realised that as well as his eyes darted around the room to observe that everyone was looking at him, some jealous about not getting the red death, some with a murderous intent and others just looking down on him like a king looks down on his weak feeble servants.

There was another announcement on the Speakers “warning warning red death has entered the building, the guards can’t hold her back anymore!”

The creator put his finger on his ear piece “okay okay I hear ya. Well I think ice should get to see what the red death looks like, I’ll be teleporting you all back to where you feel asleep last night and I shall be teleporting myself.”

Ben called out “wait! What about me?”

The creator replied with “I’ll be setting a timed teleport that’ll take a few minutes so you can greet your first recruit.” All of the lights suddenly started to turn of leaving only the centre lights “oh great red death is fucking around with the lights, oh well I’ll get someone to fix that later.”

There was another different female voice now being emitted on the speakers “hello? Ice I’m coming now! Hehe wait for me!”

Ben realised the voice and looked distraught “wait…was that Isabella’s voice!?” No no no there’s no way it could be! But it sounds so alike.”

The creator started the teleports up on himself and all of the other elementalists “it’s time for us to go, I’ll be interested in seeing what happens with you ice.”

The red one looked at Ben with a look filled with rage “you’re going to be my first target.”

Ben turned his attention towards him “wha- no what why?”

The cream one then darted his eyes towards Ben declaring “I’m going to crush you ice!”

Ben still terrified whimpered out “Bu-“

Before he could finish his sentence the black one blurted out “I’ll consume you in shadows and darkness. Ben was just speechless, before the game had even started people had already started targeting him.

The light green then stated “I’ll strangle you to death”

Then one after another the orange one opened his mouth and couldn’t stop laughing in a sadistic manner “euhuehahahaha I’ll make quick work of that red death and you!” He pointed his finger at Ben.

Then the pink one in a very erotic and mature voice “aww poor thing, don’t worry I’ll make it painless.”

The dark green one held up his fist and clenched it bringing it down whilst saying “I’ll disintegrate you.”

The yellow one next said “I’m going to win and I’m going to take you down first ice, at lightning speed.

After that the white one folded her arms “that red death bitch is going down with you so fast you won’t even know what hit you.”

The dark grey one then whispered behind Ben which startled him badly “I’ll cut you in half.”

Then the purple one “as soon as I find you, you’ll be as good as dead” she grinned.

Then the dark red one shouted out whilst laughing “I’m going tear you to shreds!”

Then the brown one also bellowing out “I’ll beat you to a pulp!”

Finally the last one that was the dark grey looked down at him said nothing at first and merely ignored what was going on as he slid his hands into his pockets but changed his mind and said “I’m not interested in any bonus rewards, so I personally won’t be going after you and the red death.”

Ben felt slightly relieved that not everyone was going after him however he still knew that he wasn’t in a good position; furthermore he started to feel very dizzy and tired as he collapsed to his knees and his eyes slowly shut. He then reopened them to find that he was the only one left in the room. “Huh why haven’t I gone yet? Oh wait that’s right the creator said my teleport was a timed one, but wait where’s the red death at then?”

He anxiously stood up and the doors behind him opened and he heard a distant voice that sounded a lot like Isabella’s. “Aha found you Ben!”

Ben turned around in horror to find Isabella running towards him very excitedly filled with joy. He was speechless at first and then managed to talk “no…no…NO! WHY! WHY ARE YOU HERE! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BE THE RED DEATH!?”

Isabella was only ten meters away now and slowed down to a walking pace “I know it was you who saw me kill that man.” Ben was petrified, he didn’t know what was going to happen next. “I saw the other elementalists threatening you, and don’t worry” she smirked put her hands on her face whilst blushing and said very erotically “I’ll kill them all for even thinking about killing you, because I love you Ben!”

Ben was confused and thought to himself “she loves me!? But sh-she’s a murder!” He said very loudly “WHAT DO I DO GOD DAMNIT!” As he started weeping and tears flooded out of his eyes.

Isabella walked towards him, knelt down “just trust me, put your faith in me, and we’ll win” She lifted Ben’s head up as she embraced by hugging him, then moments later kissing him on his cheek. Ben was confused, tired and very shocked by everything that had happened so much that he slumped down to the floor as he lost his consciousness. Isabella continued hugging him as the teleporter turned on around him, catching her in it as well and then teleporting them both away.