If I was interviewed about four months before the Festival, I would say it was repetitive. There was just nothing new. Even dramas at Aphrodite's red table club became boring.

And so 8 months of working your ass off, suffering through muscle pain, depression and hysteria, I was ready. The dance and song were printed in my head, I knew all the points and poses when I will throw knives, if you woke me up in the middle of the night, I would tell you the whole ritual. I was ready to face the stupid crowd and their imaginative Gods. I even mastered to put out the candles with my bare hands.

The night before the Festival for me was restless. It was the time to actually think about forgotten things. Because of the Festival, I stopped thinking about my family, old life and friends. I was so concentrated on my performance that I looked passed celebrations that I was supposed to celebrate at home. I was curious if my parents searched for me, if they are still waiting for me, if they pronounced me dead. Have they accused Holly or themselves for not teaching me the responsabilities of safe and perfect life?

At that moment homesickness hit me hard and I felt tears starting to stream down my face. I was so used of this place that I never even tried to remember the faithful night and I was sure that I will never know.

I was stuck, for the rest of my life, in ancient Greece.

With that thought I finally fell asleep.

I woke up deep into the day from someone knocking on my room's wooden door. A groan escaped my lips and I rolled in my bed to face the door.

'Come in' I said with my eyes covered with my hand and listened as someone pushed the door open and walked in.

'Girl, you have really nice body, but you need to get up and begin preparing' I heard Astrid's voice and a smile came to my face. I lifted my arm away from my eyes and looked at her. She still wore her usual grey tunic with her hair braided across her head.

'You are not prepared yourself' I replied and sat up. She looked at me with a frown.

'Didn't you know? You are the first to go before the Gods' she said and I frowned as well.

'Why me?' I watched her sigh angrily and plop down next to me.

'They said to other marked ones that Hades will be the most powerful out of all Gods that marked us, but I heard the head of the monastery say to other monks that you are the first because you have the highest chance to die' she explained and it was my turn to sigh.

'I see. Then I will show them such a good performance that they will regret not putting me last' I smiled at her and she returned the smile with one of her famous smirks.

'It's past lunch already so how about we begin preparing you, Princess of Death?'

'We need to make you pretty too' I smirked and stood up.

'I'm a warrior, Era, not a Queen' she rolled her eyes and stood up as well. I simply giggled to her remark.

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I tugged my belt across my chest as my last run of checks and feeling it safely holding onto me, I turned to my beauty table. Sitting down I picked khol in one hand, mirror in another and began tracing my eyes making them stand out even more than usual. After I was satisfied with my work I dipped my middle finger into ripe red liquid and traced my lips. It shone like a firefly in the middle of the night compered to my almost black outfit.

I looked down at my outfit. Black knee boots, black leather pants with two belts hugging my hips, white baggy shirt held by one of the belts on my hips and another two making an x across my chest, black leather wristbands securing my arms up to my elbows and black hoodie sown to my shirt's neck.

I pushed all my knives into belts' mini holders when Astrid opened the door.

'It's time' she said and I nod.

She wore pure white tunic with cuts in right places, but enough to hide her own costume underneath. Her waist was adored by thin silver chain. Her hair was out of her usual braid and fell down to her shoulders, hiding the shaven sides. Everything was finished with a veil that will cover her face from others. She said it would be better for her face not to be showed before hand and because she was right after me to be up before the Gods. White was the obvious choice for the "sacrifice".

'Let's get this over with' I said walking pass her and pulling my hood on, both of us leaving the room.

We arrived to our destination by a train of closed off carts and I saw that it was an ancient theatre. A podium made out of wood stood at the far end and the huge circle, gradually climbing up and in width making a circle with a chunck of it missing where the podium was.

But what cought my attention were first two rows. They were covered in bronze colour tent, not giving others a glance of the inside.

'That looks like a rotten banana' I thought not impressed. Gods sitting inside rotten banana, pfff...

Because it was almost midnight, the whole place was lit by tousands of torches. It gave a creepy vibe and for the first time in eight months, I became nervous. My palms became clamy and my breathing hitched a bit.

I felt a light tap on my shoulders and turning around I saw Astrid. As always, she was smirking.

'We have about 20 minutes until start, Princess, so I'm off to my position. Good luck' she said and hugged me with her muscled up arms.

'You too' I smiled and let her go. I watched her go around the theatre before she disapeared.

I was left alone and a sigh came out of my lips.

'Let's do this' I whispered and took a prepared candle in my arms.

Then I faced the crowd.