The Hero's Crucible

“Madeline Lane?” The announcer calls my name, and instantly a shiver of panic goes through my bones. One hundred and eighty others have already been called forward today, and yet none of them were chosen, so I’m optimistic I won’t be one of them either.

I’m shivering as I force my body to stand on quaking legs. I beg my limbs to relax, to act as if my fate isn’t potentially about to shift forever. I run my fingers over the white lace dress Mother gave me for this day, and it offers me a hint of strength… but just a hint. I feel the eyes of every silent face watching me, holding their breath to see if I’m the lucky one… if I’m the one that will end this insanity.

I should want to help, to end this for all these people, to make the chaos in our land finally cease, and yet, I would happily pass the burden on to the next person on the Chancellor’s ‘randomized’ list. I don’t want to be a hero, especially when I know what that title entails. I gulp in a breath and move up the aisle as gracefully as I can, even with the painful echoing of my clicking heels and the uneven beating of my heart.

The man holding the thin scrap of paper with my name on it watches me with quiet anticipation, oddly unbothered by my hesitant steps. I feel my breathing becoming labored, but I desperately pray that no one else can see my terror. There’s no reason to even be afraid… it’s not like I’m likely to be the one person in thousands to be chosen. It can’t be me. That would be ridiculous… my internal voice whispers encouragingly.

I finally get to the alter at the front of the entirely white space—no variance in color even between the lines of chairs to the high arching ceiling. One might be inclined to think they’ve entered heaven with all this brightness and white… but that’s just because the blood has yet to spill.

He offers me his hand and I hesitate, my eyes widening like an animal that realizes too late that they are about to walk right into the hunter’s trap. “Come forward, Miss Lane. Nothing to worry about!” He says with a friendly chuckle, and I notice how the others in the crowd seem to relax… so why can’t I?

I gulp in another breath, glancing from side to side as I search for a quick exit—there’s no exit for me though… not until they realize I’m not the one. I force a thin smile, shaking my dark brown curls off my shoulders as I nod to him. I take his hand and he guides me up to the top of the stairs.

I’ve watched him do this one hundred and eighty times already, yet I’m panicked when he hands me the little black book with thin leather binding. I know I’m shaking like a leaf, and I’m not naïve to the fact that everyone will certainly see my fear.

“Miss Lane, please offer me your hand.” He says so invitingly.

I finally give my hand and he holds my palm steady as he pricks my index finger hard enough to make it bleed. I gasp, begging tears not to come. He then dabs an old-fashioned quill with my blood, then released my wrist. I gladly pull my hand away. He says nothing else as he hands me the quill.

“Please write your name on the next page.”

Panic takes through my body, but I nod, acting like this is nothing… I’m just signing my name. It’s nothing….

I set the book on the podium in front of me, and I fan through the pages of red signatures until I get to a blank page. My pen hesitates over the page, and then I force myself to sign my name with the red ink created from my life’s blood. I stare at the page with anticipation, waiting to make sure the color doesn’t change. That’s how they know, at least that’s what I’d heard before today. I close my eyes, unwilling to cause further paranoia, knowing the man will tell me any second that I’m free to go.

That’s not what happens though… no, instead, my finger starts to burn as if I’d been bitten by something poisonous. I gasp in agony, opening my eyes to discover why my hand is acting out, but at that moment, I instead watch as my name on the page changes before my eyes. I can’t breathe as I observe the blood red ink change to the blackest black, branding the page with my name.

No! The voice screams in my head, and tears pool in my eyes.

The man grins, “Congratulations, Miss Lane!” He says, and everyone in the crowd breaks into applause. He closes the book, and now the cover too is branded with my name, but it almost appears to be embroidered with my name in red.

I gape, looking back at him, “Wait… no. It can’t be me.” I plead.

He tilts his head at me in brief apprehension, but decides to ignore my panicked question. “Miss Lane, you have been honored with the privilege to protect your people! And with it, $20,000 will be immediately placed into your bank account.” There’s so much I want to say, to do, but no words leave my lips. He continues as if he hadn’t shattered my world, “You will receive the monthly stipend for the rest of your life… well, once you successfully complete the assigned tasks.”

He might say “successfully complete,” but really, he’s saying, “If you come out of this alive.”

Everyone is roaring with applause still, looking at me with hope… and I don’t dare look at any of them… because all they will see is the pleading in my gaze, begging to be set free. It’s been 10 years since the last sacrifice… though of course that’s not what they call it, instead they refer to the death sentence as “The Crucible”. Every time it happens, the ‘hero’ loses though… because here’s the deal, if you win, it means someone else dies. There’s no true winner in this freaking challenge. There hasn’t been a ‘hero’ that came back alive in almost a hundred years… that’s how they can so freely offer money for life, particularly if they are certain your life won’t continue.

My ears begin to ring, blocking out the crowd’s roaring applause, and I feel like an animal led to slaughter… and isn’t that sort of what I am? I’m doing this because my people believe a sacrifice is needed in order to pacify the Earth Spirit that supposedly protects us. We are at war, and the only way to have a victory is to pay tribute the way we have for millennia.

The chancellor guides me down a darkened hallway, and progressively the air seems to heat up, and the closer we get to the end of the hall, I swear my tears start to sizzle from the overwhelming temperature. He continues though, until we reach a tall black door, and then he turns to me, a regretful look on his face. “Miss Lane, you are about to enter the Crucible…” he winces, closing his eyes.

“What’s going to happen to me in there…?” I whisper.

He hesitates for a long time, and then finally lifts his gaze back to mine with a somber, sad expression, “The Earth Spirit has chosen a champion… if you beat that champion, you win.” He says, trying to be optimistic, but I see the agony in his eyes.

“And what happens when I don’t beat the champion.” I say seriously, because we both know it’s beyond unlikely that I, a willowy girl of 19 would be able to beat a champion of a goddess.

He breathes out a sigh, and I notice the hint of wetness in his eyes, “Then… the goddess will accept your offering…” he grimaces, shaking his head.

I nod, clenching my eyes closed tightly as tears pour quietly over my reddened cheeks, “So… it’s death then?” He doesn’t speak, but he raises his head once, pursing his lips. I glance back down at the leather-bound black book in my hands, the one engraved with my name, “Then what’s the point of all this?” I whisper, lifting the book to him, asking the question I’m certain no one else has asked. Everyone else is honored to be chosen… I’m the only one, it seems, that has researched the topic, even though not enough is known.

He considers me with wonder, “The book is your link to the goddess. If you win, it is said that the book will fill with all of her knowledge, allowing us to find our own way to protect ourselves instead of doing it for us.”

I scoff, “So, basically, our people are gunning for me to die because it’s easier to let her fight the battle for you than to just get the information we would need to fight all our own battles?” I growl back at him.

He winces as if I’d slapped him, but the guilty look on his face says it all. I roll my eyes, “Let’s get this over with.” I say through gritted teeth.

I walk through the door and into the fiery depths of what feels like Hell personified. I realize quickly that I’m standing at the edge of an active volcano, lava bubbling up in the chasm below. In the center, held up above the volcano’s core, is an arena of sorts. At one end stands an Amazonian looking woman, arms so thick with muscle that they likely were as wide as my skull. Beyond that, she’s holding a massive spear with glittering silver points. I gulp, knowing that my death won’t even be fast… it will hurt like hell, especially since there is not even a weapon left for me in my corner.

I slowly meet the champion’s eyes, and I gulp down as much of my fear as I can, but she simply grins back at me with all the confidence of a person that knows they have no fear of death. I don’t even attempt to defend myself as I walk towards her, the book held tightly in my hands. If all I have to defend myself is this damned book, then you can certainly bet I’m going to use it.

The woman comes at me without warning, and I do the only thing I can think to do as the spear points straight at my heart—I raise the book up to meet it. The amazon gasps, stumbling backwards with a hard grunt. My eyes pop open to see that she is bleeding from a gaping hole in her stomach. I gape at her, looking down at the book, and I see that her wound mirrors the gash in the leather binding. I look back at her in shock—she’s connected to the book. I pull the spear out and the woman cries out, falling forward to her knees, looking back at me in utter confusion. I now know that the Earth Spirit never intended the hero to die… she always gave us the one tool that would grant us an easy victory… and when I finish off this champion, everyone in my village will know too.

It’s time for our world to grow, and it is time for it to change. I lift the spear, the amazon’s eyes widening in horror, and I slam the point as hard as I can into the book again.

I didn’t think I should be the chosen one… but clearly the Earth Spirit knew something about me that I didn’t believe I had inside of me.