The Outsiders Chapter 4

The Outsiders
Ch. 4

Liana stood outside the gate. Shadows stretched across the floors, walls, and ceilings. The crowd beyond that gate was howling with cheers and boos as two girls were fighting for their lives in the arena. The arena where Liana would soon be fighting for her life as well. Over three hundred competitors, ten champions, champions are the only ones that walk out alive, the rest are already dead. Liana had an advantage. She had been trained personally by Aki, the leader and one of the strongest person on the side of darkness. A side that liana did not choose, but had no choice but to join. She had forgotten about Heather, her best friend. She had forgotten about her family, the only people that had really cared about her. She now stood ready to face her destiny, a destiny intertwined with darkness, heartache, and pain. Ready to live with her fate as an Outsider, as someone she once despised.

A fatal crack sprang out over the crowds roaring. One of the fourteen girls had been killed. The girl starting with the record stood over the body and smirked. The crowd was going wild. The gates opened and two men carrying the corpse of the young girl dragging behind them on a rope. They signaled for liana to enter the arena. Liana took one last look at the girl. There was burns all over her body along with a frightening expression. Her skull was cracked. Liana now knew her competitor. It was a girl named Laura. Laura was a fire master who could control fire just as well as she controlled her breathing. Liana stepped into the arena know how to defeat Laura. They had battle many times and liana had won. Liana stepped forward and shook her hair out of her eyes putting it neatly into a ponytail. The crowd was on Laura’s side so far. She was the current champion. Liana stared Laura in the eyes and waited for her to make the first move. They both stood there daring each other to move. Finally Laura made a move. The whip of fire shot past Liana’s left side. Liana jumped back and ducked knowing that the whip would be back over her head. Laura knew this too. It had happened many times in practice. There was another pause that seemed to take forever. They were sizing each other up. It was something that neither one could do. They knew they were a pretty even match. There was only one difference between them. Liana wasn’t going to lose.

She took a step forward and laughed at Laura. “You really think you can stand up to me pyro? You only mastered one element lets see how fire can stand up to ice, water, thunder, rock, and earth. I'm not the little girl that failed her tests anymore. I’ve mastered them all even fire.” Liana threw her hand down by her side and it caught fire. The flames slowing crawled up her arm and down her body. Laura’s eyes widened. She thought that Liana was going to be the same girl that she had practiced with. A girl that under different circumstances would have been a great friend for Laura.

The battle was short. Laura fell within the first few minutes. As Laura was dragged away by two men. Liana stood there laughing. “I told you that you were no match for me Laura!” The thought that she had just done something like murdering and innocent girl never even occurred to her. The real Liana would be crying right now. She would never do such a thing. But that Liana was long gone. As far as anyone knew, that liana was dead and would never return. As her body stood their laughing, her true self was sleeping quietly waiting and watching. Knowing what was going on but not able to do anything to stop it. Aki had done something unforgivable. He had taken away her free will. But it didn’t matter to him. He had liana in his clutches and wasn’t about to let her go. The competition was long from over. There were going to be twelve more bodies in a pile behind the arena. The crowd was ready and waiting for the next contestant to walk through the gate.

Liana stood there smiling as Jordon walked in with her staff in hand. Jordon had not yet mastered any element, but was skilled enough with her staff to use it as a sword and kill someone without magic. Jordon had always walked with confidence, but today it was faltering. She eyed liana with a careful gaze. She knew what she was up against. This time Liana made the first move. She flew forward at Jordon with ice forming into a sword in her hands. She slashed out at Jordon. The swing missed by inches and Jordon jumped back and started to cast a spell to bring forth thunder. Liana was faster, she jumped back as the thunder crashed down to earth shattering the ground where she had been. The blast had been to slow to hit liana with full power, but the ground was crumbling and liana was in the air above a pit of rocky ground. Liana turned her sword into water and let it go as she hurried to get her senses to tell the earth to move. When it did a large piece of rock flew up and liana landed on it. The rock floated in the air for a moment and then settled lightly on some of the hard land next to Jordon. Jordon had already started on another spell, but liana was tired of lightning strikes. She grabbed the staff from Jordon's hand and spun around once letting the staff out at arms length. With a sickening crack Jordon fell to the ground after being hit with her own staff with full force. Liana let go of the staff and it was sticking out at an odd angle from Jordon’s head. Another contestant was dead. Liana was the standing champion.

Kiaren was up next. This cocky girl had always been up for a fight. She was one of the strongest in her class and was great at hand to hand combat. Kiaren walked halfway up to liana and pulled out her two small knives. Liana smiled and made another sword of ice appear in her right hand. There was yet another advantage on liana’s side. Kiaren was stronger than liana by far, but liana was faster. She rushed forward with her sword to her right ready to cut Kiaren in half. Kiaren expected as much and crossed her knives and bent them at an angle. The sword met the blades and was stopped. Kiaren threw her strength out and liana stumbled back. Kiaren jumped forward and threw a knife at liana. It was easily dodged and landed point down in the dirt. Liana advanced on Kiaren. “You think you can win by throwing your little sticks my direction? You have no idea how to win a battle like this. In the Outsiders life, anything goes.” Liana pointed her sword at Kiaren. “Die.” Liana said as her ice sword shot out at Kiaren and pierced through her stomach. Kiaren fell to the ground. Liana walked away from her and got a glass of water from her corner where she would wait for Kiaren to either die or get up for more. Liana waited for five minutes before Kiaren was pronounced dead. The next contestant was on her way.
The next three contestants were all the same. They walked in Confident and left the arena dead. They didn’t have a chance against liana’s newfound power and ruthlessness. There was no stopping her. Seven were down, only 6 left to go. Was more than half way to making it into the finals between the final 10 girls. It wasn’t going to get any easier for her. Aki walked out onto the field while they waited for the intermission to end.

“You are doing fine Liana, I told you that you could win.” He smiled and handed her a piece of bread. She took it and sat down on her chair. “There was never a question on whether or not I could do it. It was whether or not I would.” She smirked. Aki smiled, his plan at making her into the perfect Outsider had so far gone well. Nothing could stand in his way. Not even the love of her friend could stop this. All seemed hopeless for Liana. What was worse was that the real Liana knew it. She was seeing everything, but was unable to break free of the spell. She couldn’t believe what she saw herself doing. She prayed for a way out, she prayed that Heather would come and rescue her, but that wasn’t going to happen. Heather wasn’t going to come. Liana lost all faith in her friend. She was a killer, a villain, an Outsider.

The next contestant was Tisa, a girl who roomed with Liana for quite some time. Tisa wasn’t sure that she could do what liana was doing. Tisa wasn’t a natural killer either. She walked up to liana and looked at her. “What has happened to you?” was all she said. Tisa walked to her corner and waited till intermission when the battle would begin. The crowds slowly worked their way through the rows back to their seats. Another battle was about to begin, no one wanted to miss it. The tension was building, liana was close to her 13 kills to get her into finals. All was quiet as the match began.

Tisa stood before Liana, she could feel the hatred in Liana’s eyes. Liana was no longer afraid to die, no longer giving mercy. Tisa started to cry. She was no evil soul, she was strong, but she knew it was no use. She would die by Liana’s hands in this battle. Liana laughed. “You already start to cry and beg for mercy I feel sorry for the man who chose you as his partner!” At that moment Tisa decided to do something no one had ever done in this arena. She wasn’t going to fight. “Liana I consider you a great friend to me and I will not fight you. Kill me if you must but I will die knowing that I have done what is right.” Liana gave her a sideways look and walked towards her. The real liana was trying to pull away but it was no use. She grabbed Tisa by her hair. “The ‘right’ thing? Who cares about the right thing! We are Outsiders no one cares about us and we care about no one. Death is what we live by and no one will stand in our way! If you think that ill spare you just because you were a ‘friend’ to me while I was weak then you are sadly mistaken!” Tisa died knowing she had done the right thing. Liana walked away with no feeling about what she had done. The real Liana was sobbing, she had now killed someone helpless. There was no hope left of being forgiven. There was no turning back, she was an Outsider.

There were only five more competitors before she made it to the finals. No one knew what would happen. Liana watched the gate carefully, she sensed that there was someone dangerous on the other side. This person was different from what she had seen so far. Even Liana wasn’t sure as to what was going to happen. The next girl didn’t enter the arena there were three men running out the door onto the field. All of them had weapons and were heading right for Liana She thought they were coming to tell her news of what was to happen with the next competitor. After all they were in staff uniforms. She walked towards them. “What is it? Who is to battle me next?” Her eyes widened when the men didn’t stop. They all ran forward and their weapons hit their marks. One in the right arm, one in the left, and one through her side. The men backed up and started to ready for another attack. Liana didn’t know what was wrong, but she knew she couldn’t let them hurt her further. She jumped up and threw a ball of fire at each of them. They all fell to the ground in pain and died only seconds later. Everyone was confused and no one knew what had happened. A bit later everyone found out. A girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere and smiled at Liana. “The power of the mind is simply amazing. The staff around here are so easy to control. Liana you are no match for my power. Just give up”

Geenalia was the girl on the field. She was a psychic who majored in mind control. No one else had chosen this as a subject.Liana was strangely uneasy. She hadn’t expected to face Geenalia so early in the tournament. Still she smiled and was ready for battle. “Geenalia dear you surely don’t expect that I will be frightened by you using mind control to take over the staff here. They are no threat even with their powers combined against me. Oh, and if you believe that you can take me over, think again, I learned from the best.” She motioned towards Aki who smirked. Geenalia tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. “Taking over your mind would be completely useless Liana, Aki favors you so he would pull you out one way or another anyways. I wouldn’t waste my time or energy on that. Instead I have a better plan."