Scene 4 - Land of Black Sand and Scales

Diana opened her eyes in a flutter around her the camp was wrecked, the back of her head hurt she had guessed she had been knocked out by Libra’s kick. Eyes opened wide in shock she saw Jayce face held within Libra’s grasp.

“So troublesome… Good thing I knocked that princess out first.”

Diana watched on as Jayce became particles of light fading into Libra’s card making her filled with rage. Even without a weapon she got up and charged at Libra with the intent to kill smashing forward with a fist at his face.

Libra turned to her and smiled, “Ah you woke up quicker than my expectation in you go as well then I’ll be at the limit for the card.”

“Die!”

“I refuse.”

Sidestepping her punch in quick move Libra made a palm gesture aimed at her gut taking the wind out of her lungs from the impact.

Turning into particles of light Diana eyes held a mixture of pain, anger, and fear all at once.

“One day I’ll beat that pretty face of yours in with my sword!”Whispering in her ear Libra gave a shallow laugh, “A flimsy fist and sword art, train more newbie and come again at me later now in you go.”

Diana faded away from her eyesight going dark as she entered the Libra card her final thought came to her, ‘Was I really wrong?’

|H|E|A|R|T|

“Hey princess so glad you join us!”

Diana heard the familiar words next to her was one of her comrades turning her head in their direction was one of her comrades that Libra made disappear. Relieved that they were ok despite a few bruises and cuts when they fought against Libra.

Dusting herself off Diana stood and took stock of the area as far she could see was black sand that stretched across the horizon. No matter where you looked sand was the only thing around besides a large bronze-colored scale in front of them that stood like a tower in the light.

She was confused at where they were until Libra appeared before them atop the scale, sitting in some sort of built-in thone. Raising his hands in the air he gave out a chuckle, “Welcome to the world of Libra! Are you ready to play a game? If not you can leave for the price of 100 points any takers? You only get one chance to decide!”

Without saying the rules not knowing the challenges they would face only a few figures stood proudly with Diana by this time finding her greatsword now wielding it. Her sword pointed forward in her right hand she declared, “This warrior will not back down from a challenge! Tell me about your so-called game rules so I may crush it!”

Pronouncing proudly Jayce stood behind her as did Garundi and strawberry the rest stood from afar not knowing what to choose. Seeing this Libra frowned and yelled at the people hesitating, “Stop being wimps and decide or I’ll break your limbs!”

Hearing this six of the youth's eyes harden with resolve and moved to stand together with Diana while the other three backed away clearly saying they wish not join.

With a wave of his hand, Libra removed 100 points from the group in the back and marked them with a tattoo on their foreheads, “Leave cowards this mark will protect your coward lives for a day. As for the rest, you have a chance to gain a tattoo of protection for a day and get to keep your one hundred points!”

The three vanished into particles of bright light that made Diana have a hint of sorrow in he eyes seeing her comrades leave in such a way, ‘Maybe I could have convinced them to stay?’

While thinking of the ifs and buts Libra snapped his fingers at that moment and the two weight scales dropped to the sand floor with a thud spread sand in every direction. Motioning with his hands Libra spoke in a serious tone, “Would you please split up into two groups of five and step onto the center of the scales?”

Diana tilted her head in confusion but then ordered her comrades, “Split up into even groups of strength that way we can help each other.”

But one of the youths spoke up rejecting her words with a snort, “Heh why should we listen to you? It’s obvious that this will be a battle of teams just look! We’ll be fighting each other don’t you see? I’d say we form the strongest group and destroy the weaker group!”

‘Ah that ah that Grand Elder sure is a twisted fellow for making this the first challenge.’

Jayce stepped forward and snorted, “How can you be so sure about that Kin? For all, we know this game will test something else!”

Anger appeared on Kins face, “All the more reason to take the strongest people and put them in one group! Come on guys let’s go and leave these weaklings!”

Four youths nodded in response to his words that made sense, as they were indeed stronger than Jayce and Strawberry currently. Diana couldn’t seem to say a word as the group split apart in an instant it filled her with more grief over how small her group had gotten.

Only Jayce, Strawberry, Garundi, and another ram-demi youth named Ruth stood by them she was the weakest out of the ten contestants here in battle prowess. Seeing the others make their choice Diana’s group headed to the left scale.

When all contestants were on the scales Libra raised his hands, which in turn raised the scales back to their levels. Despite the weight of the two groups differentiating somewhat the two groups remained even to one another.

Jayce was the first to notice this odd change, “if this scale doesn’t measure weight then what does it ‘measure’?”

Libra’s voice resounded throughout the air< “Now let's begin the test of whose Dao Heart is strongest! Let the challenge begin!”

In a snap of his fingers, a dark bubble eclipsed the two scales, putting the two groups into total darkness.