Outside, it was as if nothing had happened. People continued on with their days as normal, full of optimism that would dissipate in a second if they knew what the future held. I couldn’t blame them for being optimistic though, they’d just been through hell and survived, no wonder they thought they could take on the world.

  Rolene and I both paused to breathe, take in the brief moment of normalcy, of what life could be, even as she got some weird looks for the blood running from her split lip.

  “Do you trust them?” she asked. “Do you really think they’re going to make a difference?”

  I nodded.

  She considered it for a moment, the possibility that the Lion Legion might actually succeed, what that world might look like. Then she appraised me, bruises and cuts still healing from the previous challenges, scars poking out from my shirt. I didn’t know who she saw but she obviously had faith in that person because she handed me the pouch of pins, her only instructions being, “Keep them safe.”

  I didn’t know what to say and by the time I found the right words she’d already started walking again.

  As we weaved through the crowds back up to the surface, I tried to decipher the mixture of emotions on her face. I read hope there, somewhere, but also defeat and sadness, and maybe relief? Eventually I gave up, deciding Rolene’s demons were her own and not for me to decipher. The important thing was we might actually pass the final trial and that was cause enough for celebration and joy. Even the weather, which had turned grey and rainy in the time we were underground, couldn’t extinguish the hope rising within me.

  Until we rounded the corner of an alleyway.

  For all the good the world contained, there was always a shadow of evil that remained. The universe’s morality needed balance, and sure as steel, here it came. I didn’t see them at first, the two men waiting in the shadows with their knife. Didn’t know how they managed to clock the gold pins in Rolene’s pouch so quickly. We were so close to the portal it hadn’t occurred to me to fear anything not from the Estate.

  They confronted me first, flashing that silver knife in my face and demanding I hand the pins over.

  “Don’t you dare,” Rolene warned, still weak and bloody from her fight with Daniella. Before I could do anything else she grabbed the one with the knife from behind, crushing him so he couldn’t move. “Run!” She yelled but I couldn’t leave her. While the other man was distracted I shoved him hard as I could into the wall, his head thunking against the brick. He slid down the length of it and didn’t get back up.

  The other scrambled out of Rolene’s hold but she managed to cling to his arm before he could lunge for me. They engaged in a dance for a moment, whirling around each other like swinging pendulums.

  He seemed to realise the dance he was locked into and changed tactics. No longer pulling away, he went for her, got right up close in her face and pinned her against the wall. Rolene grunted with the impact.

  If it weren’t for the seething hatred in both their faces I might’ve thought he was going to try to kiss her. It wasn’t until he pulled away I saw the glint of silver, the knife covered in Rolene’s blood. She barely reacted, her hands frozen over the wound and her jaw slack.

  The only sound was the scream that erupted from me as he reached for the pouch. I held on tight as I could but my arms shook, too preoccupied with the red liquid dripping between Rolene’s fingers, mixing with the rain. After a brief back and forth he snatched it away and fled the scene. I didn’t see which direction he went.

  I raced to her side, no longer caring about the pins as I ripped a strip of my shirt and tied it around her waist. Hot tears ran down my cheeks.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry,” I cried.

  Rolene groaned and made to stand before I could stop her.

  “Not as sorry as the others are going to be when they find out we’ve all lost.”

  She stumbled down the rest of the path as I watched her incredulously. How she kept moving in that state I didn’t know but I followed her, awed by her determination to keep going even as I begged her to stop so we could seek assistance. She wouldn’t hear of it. Marched down the few remaining roads as if the rain and her gaping wound were holes in her clothes, mildly annoying at best. As if that was all every horror in her life was, a hole in a cloak that simply needed a quick patch up.

  It took a while to find the others and my lips trembled as I told them what had befallen Rolene, that we had no way of convincing the Estate even by trick that we’d killed the Lion Legion.

  Thunder clapped loudly overhead, everyone remaining dead silent as dread crossed over their faces.

  Time would be up soon and the portal would open so everyone could witness our failure. We’d spend the rest of our lives in servitude to the Customs who’d put us here, not even allowed the dignity of our whole selves.

  “Are you serious?” a young woman asked, her voice shaky in the cold, “We went through all of that, we were at the finish line.”

  The loss of hope in her eyes fractured my heart.

  “We- We’ll get it back,” stuttered a male participant, but everyone knew it was a useless proclamation. Where would we even begin to track down the thief?

  Someone groaned, vocalising everyone’s frustration that we failed at the final hurdle because of something mundane, and how perfectly fitting it was. Our whole lives had been dictated by others. People who wanted to do nothing but take from us. We had always been at their mercy and this was the culmination of it, the perfect representation of how people would do anything to make sure we kept our shitty lot in life.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  The portal then opened in a flash of blue, having the complete opposite of perfect timing.

  I placed my hands firmly on my hips, a deep sigh escaping my lips as I looked up to the sky.

  “Great.”

  With a flicker of dark humour Rolene laughed from where she lay against the wall. “At least we’ll go down together.”

  Something cold pressed against my chest. My fingers instinctively grasped for it and I felt the outline of a pin through the fabric of my shirt. I’d almost forgotten it, even as it became routine to fasten it onto every new shirt I changed into. Ever since they’d given it to me at that meeting. Because I was technically a Lion Legion member, and I had the pin to prove it.

  I gasped, my face lighting up.

  “Or you could all stay here together.”

  Rolene rasped, “What do you mean ‘you’? You’re stuck here as well.”

  I hesitated, cautious that if I revealed too much they might use it against me. Someone might kill me and claim that as their victory. Take it all the way to the Chancellor as their ticket to get Customised.

  He’d probably be quite happy to see me dead.

  But there was only one of me and I didn’t believe we had time to fight over who’d get the kill. So I unclasped the pin. Held it up to show everyone its golden light. A symbol to show I would fight for them. Always.

  “Ah,” she snorted, “I should’ve known. What else was a girl like you going to do.”

  One of the Relegates yelled. “So what? You go and get the reward, live a life of luxury while the rest of us are stuck here? That hardly seems fair.”

  “No,” I stated, “I don’t plan on becoming a Custom and laying back while our people suffer. I’m going to fight for a better life for all of us and when the time is right, when Relegates can live normal lives in safety in their own homes, then I’ll come back for you all.”

  “The Estate soldiers will come looking for us,” the male participant countered.

  The young woman with no hope in her eyes finally gained some, stepping a sure foot forward with renewed steel. “Then they’ll be looking for ghosts.” She made it sound so easy and simple. In truth it would much harder than that, but I believed they could do it if they had to. “We could have lives here.”

  Nods of agreement rippled through the group in solidarity.

  “But none of you will be Customs,” I warned, making sure they knew what they were getting into. I looked to Rolene. “You won’t be able to visit the Hotlands like you always dreamed of. Not for a while.”

  She gestured towards herself with a sneer. “Does it look like I’m in any state to travel?”

  I curled a hand over hers.

  “You could take the pin. If you become a Custom they might heal you during the procedure. I don’t know if you’re going to make it otherwise, Rolene.”

  A little chuckle escaped her lips, her voice so weak. “You think? Maybe I should start singing.”

  Her skin was icy cold but she was holding on as long as she could. The effort of it must’ve been unimaginable but her eyes only fluttered, the only sign of emotion she’d allow, even as my own eyes streamed with tears. She sighed. “I only wanted to travel so I could escape the way things are in Saxanglain. I figured if I became a Custom and lived surrounded by nice things then I could forget the atrocities that exist in our world. I thought I could get used to a life of hand-cooked breakfasts and silk beds, that it would help me ignore my past, somehow. But I still feel the past bearing down on my shoulders. Despite what I’ve said, I don’t think I could live knowing the things our people are going through. I don’t think any of us could. This version of Saxanglain will be a better future for them.” She tilted her head towards the group. “It’ll be different.”

  My voice tinged with concern. “It’s not that different.”

  “Different enough,” she replied. “Those who want to stay here can protect each other. The Lion Legion will still be around, they can negotiate with them to smuggle the medicine they need. It could be a fresh start. Look at us, Ayla, we’re tired of fighting. We don’t want to go back to the Estate, not really.”

  The sobs racked my body. Very few things had hurt as much as seeing the life slowly draining out of her but I would’ve gone through them all again if it meant it didn’t have end like this.

  “I’ll stay, I’ll stay with you as long as I can.”

  Even as I said it, the portal flickered. A sure sign it was about to close. I could’ve fought time itself in that moment, with how little respect it showed my friend. It didn’t care what this woman had done. That she’d all but saved my life and had done extraordinary things, led and dreamed of extraordinary adventures. Had dreams she’d never get to realise. It. Didn’t. Care. But I did. And I wouldn’t let anyone forget it.

  “You can’t,” she whispered hoarsely. “You have to go. You have to fight. Just do me a favour. Promise you’ll fight hard as you can while you’re still young and able to. Fight hard enough that no one else has to go through what we did.”

  I nodded solemnly. “I promise.”

  “Thank you.” A bittersweet smile played on her lips as she addressed the group. “Now come on, Relegates, we haven’t got long.”

  It took everything to tear myself away. Were it not for the couple of people hoisting me up by the shoulders I don’t think I could’ve managed it. But with one foot in front of the other I reached the portal, casting one last bleary-eyed, puffy cheeked farewell at the people beginning to surround Rolene.

  I stepped into the portal, and completed the Relegate Project.

  Back at the Estate, everything was quiet. Everyone stared as I knelt on the floor.

  The Chancellor’s boots scuffed the polished floor. I looked up then, at his confused face taking in my bloody hands still clutching the lion pin.

  “Is that it?” He asked. I nodded.

  “But how? How are you the only one to make it?”

  I swallowed, the air thick in my throat. I had to make this good, had to protect the others and made sure he believed me.

  I heard myself say, “I killed them. I wanted to be the only one.”

  He raised an eyebrow, the only sign of his surprise.

  “I didn’t know you had it in you, VC2104. Or Ayla Pickering, I suppose, now.”

  No disapproval, no judgement. Was I really so believable as a monster? I didn’t know it was my worst fear until that moment. I couldn’t blame him though. Even though I felt relief I was protecting them, for some reason guilt rose within me. For all Rolene had said, I was still depriving them of the lives they wanted. The blood on my hands perfectly matched what I believed myself to be. What I would have to become before this fight was over. And that was probably what the Chancellor saw in me that made him believe I could be a killer.

  Maddox swiped the pin from my hands without emotion or reaction. The same could not be said for the other lords and ladies in the auditorium, sat on the edge of their seats to better hear my exchange with the Chancellor. I didn’t see Elian among them.

  He marched to the podium and called out my name as the only person to make it through the final trial.

  They gently applauded as if it was the end of a show, merely entertainment and nothing more. It set my teeth on edge to such an extent I had to distract myself with visions of shoving them into the portal to be eaten by dinosaurs. It made me feel slightly better.

  “So there you have it,” the Chancellor called out, marching over to the podium and wrestling the attention away from Maddox, “Our newest Custom. Enjoy your last day as a Relegate, because after tonight’s ball you will be living among us like the incredible Custom we will make you. You’ve earned your position through hard work, and now it’s finally being rewarded. Congratulations!”

  The nobles echoed the Chancellor’s congratulations, their acceptance washing over me, allowing me to join their ranks now that in their eyes I was finally worthy of attention, as if the ball was some ritual to fully integrate me among them.

  Tonight was going to be rough.