"Huh?" Hayden woke up, startled by the scent of fresh air which seemed to destroy his sense of smell. A shimmering light blasted him in his eyes, and all he could do was try to shield it. At least he saw light. After Hayden was sent into this 'world', he had a feeling that something was amiss, but didn't know what caused him to feel it. Hayden arose from his concrete bed, eyes peering around the room. He spotted some teenagers about 18 years of age, 3 female, one male. He sighed. Why was he here anyway?

Feeling better, Akira quickly hopped off the slab. Seeing bits of dirt on her, she dusted it off, and heard the faint laughter. She wasn't sure where it came from, or what was so funny.A entrance popped up, light beaming from it. Only one person decided to go towards it.

Before Akira could think of another action, someone newly awoke questioned the validity of their current life. "Maybe. Doesn't feel like I'm dead though." she responded. There wasn't anything left to do but either wondering about this, or going ahead into that unknown doorway. Feeling a bit more proactive with the mask hidden in her coat pocket, she went for the latter.

Hayden heard the entire conversation, but wished not to partake in it. He sat upright, as he thought to himself for a bit. "Stay here, while hearing disturbing cackles every now and then? Or go through that promising doorway with that girl?"He muttered, hinting some doubt. He took some time to ponder upon it, until he finally reached a conclusion. "Definitely the doorway."He said, as he was last seen entering the other ominous room.

Jack listened to the others and watched as a few had already went through the doorway, at the same time laughter had filled the room. "f*** this, I'm out." He declared, not really talking to anyone in particular. Now that he made his decision, he got up and walked through the doorway with his back still sore.

"Drat it. Everyone's going out." Chris thought in his head. "Hey! Care to tell me why you're taking such big risks? For all we know, we're dead and this is the afterlife!" he shouted out, hoping for an answer.

Like many of ones that have awoken here, Pierre had also postulated that this was the afterlife, but on the bright side, a wizard used to say that death is merely a necessary transition in life. Or something, there wasn't too much to be done brooding down in the dark like this. If this was the afterlife, if he lingered then he would probably turn in to a ghost or something similar. That just wouldn't do when there were things he did not know of, perhaps even untold adventure awaited.

Still despite all the people moving out there were skeptics. Instead he moved from where he standing and looked to the boy who shouted out as the others left.

"Allons-y."

He spoke to the boy and turned to the doorway unafraid of what may come.

Leaving the claustrophobic confines of the previous chamber seemed to lead to the sky itself. A clear blue sky spanned over them while two golden suns, one distinctly smaller than the other, shone brightly from above. They stood in a field that seemed fairly maintained, the grass was green and lush, and shimmering reflections danced throughout the area. Looking back from where they had came, it revealed a giant tree with leaves seemingly made of gold that reflected the brilliant rays of sunlight onto the ground below. However it further revealed that they were in an arena of sorts, as the roots from the tree created a roughly wide circular perimeter around them, and a small collection of people sat on the roots looking down expectantly at the people below and cheering as they exited the room. To some, it seemed like an odd re-imagining of a scene from Gladiator.

"Oh god" murmured Kayla "This is one of those fight to the death things, isn't it?" And she began to eye the strangers that she had been in the room with earlier warily.

Once again the ground began to rumble, however large roots began to rise from the ground, twisting and churning until they created a group of humanoid beings wielding various weapons fashioned from roots. They stood stoically though they also seemed tense, as if ready to run towards the group who had left what now seemed to be the safety of the room. Oddly however, they could not find the location from where they had entered the arena, the door probably having closed while the roots were taking form and the ground shaking.

"Champions" spoke a voice loudly "Your fore-bearers did not wish for you to have to anguish in search of your vambraces, the key to your powers within. As such they created this tree, comprised of all your powers, to guide in the principal part of your quest. Let the challenge begin."

The humanoid root-creatures stirred, ripping their last bindings to the ground and turned towards them with their weapons readied. Without a further word, one of the creatures pointed what looked like a sword at them and they all charged at the group.

-----------------------

Kayla, seeing the approaching monsters did the reasonable thing and ran in the opposite direction. She solely hoped that one of the slower ones, probably the man, kept them busy while they mauled him and hopefully provide her with enough time to devise a plan to save herself.

"I've seen this before." Zane muttered under his breath. Sure whoever locked them up and forced them to fight some weird plants called them "champions", but that didn't exactly clear up the biggest question each of them had. The closest he had been champion of was his little league baseball team. He also noticed the other girl from earlier was already making a beeline. With no weapons or anything of the sort, he made the only logical choice. Run. He quickly darts away -in the same direction- from the chaos that would inevitably form, already trying to come up with a plan. Maybe if they all work together, they would have a chance. But what would they do? They don't have weapons or any type of knowledge on what these things are. Maybe something would come to him if he studies their movements. He glances back as he runs, soaking in every detail.

Jack looked around and immediately could tell nothing good would happen, the group of strangers was in a arena which would probably signify some fight to the death s***. A voice then spoke, although Jack was a bit distracted to make out everything that was said, he did hear one word, champions. "What?! Champions of what? Man this s*** ain't making sense" he shouted, rather quickly, Jack turned to see some roots coming from the ground to form humanoid shapes carrying weapons made of roots, they then charged at him and probably anyone behind him. "The f***?!" he exclaimed with his voice, he looked and saw that two of the strangers that were in the room with him were already sprinting away. "Cowards!" he shouted out to them, Jack wasn't about to crap his pants and run like they did from some root creatures. He was going to fight them until either the root people or he were spread across the arena in pieces, after all there was still the possibility that this was some very realistic dream or that he was drugged up. Without thinking, he charged at the root humanoids, surely with his strength he would tear apart a few of those things, he thought as he was running toward them.

After observing the others for a few moments, seeing as how they didn't appear particularly dead, Kassidy concluded that this was not a trap. She followed the others nonchalantly as they stepped out of the confines of the small chamber. As she crossed the threshold into the open, she raised her hand to cover her eyes. In stark contrast to the darkness of the cave, it was extremely bright outside.

As her eyes adjusted yet again, she realized that two suns hung in the sky. How very odd. Just as odd was the fact that she and the other strangers stood in a large stadium, surrounded by what appeared to be roots. Upon turning around, she discovered that the entrance to the cave was now gone, replaced with a large tree. Kassidy's head spun as she took in all of these details, none of them making the least bit of sense. As if that weren't enough, some sort of announcer spoke to the group, relaying a bunch of information that came across as gibberish to the girl. Vambraces? Powers? Champions?

As a bunch of humanoid creatures rose from the ground and took up arms against the group, everything suddenly became clear. None of this was real. It was all a dream. Kassidy was sick, and this was the manifestation of her sickness. Feverish hallucinations. It had to be. Comforted in the knowledge that none of what she was seeing was real, the girl traipsed right up to one of the root creatures.

"Perhaps you would like to see a magic trick?" She suggested, no longer sure of her own sanity.

The outdoors was a nice change of environment for Sydney, but that sense of relief only lasted for a brief moment. Taking in her surroundings, the first thing she noticed was the gladiator like ring. The next thing was the the strange beings that got placed before them. This confused Sydney so much, she didn't even notice the two suns or that the entrance to the cave was completely gone. In shock for a moment, she was frozen in place not knowing what to do. As soon as they charged towards the group, the shock rose even higher, keeping her still. She wanted to run, she wanted to jump out of the way, she wanted to go home. When the thought finally hit her, the enemies were very close. Sydney let out a high pitched scream which was all she could do.

As Hayden walked outside, something strange hung in the sky. Two suns. Hayden was starting to grow insane. "Am I hallucinating, or what?"He thought to himself. All of a sudden, a voice boomed throughout that area and Hayden could only make out one word-Champions. "What's that guy saying?"He thought. "He must be as delusional as I am."

Suddenly, sentient roots began to form something like a human. Hayden looked at all the others, and knew they were just as surprised as they were. "Madness."He thought to himself. "It has to be." As the roots began to take form of a human, they also carried something in their hands. A sword? "Oh no." "RUN!!!"He screamed, running in the opposite direction of them, hoping to outrun the 'root men'. Along the way, he also saw a girl, with caramel-like skin, and long, flowing black hair. Maybe she was thinking it too.

"Just when I thought that this couldn't get any worse." thought Chris in his head. "But think. This can't be the afterlife, can it? Just do what you do in class. Use your instincts." He took a quick glance at his surroundings, then deduced that there would be no possible way out with normal human ability. The walls were too high, they were too fast, and none of them seemed to have any equipment that could distract or climb. "Magic reigns free in this world, though, and they're still roots even after their magic." he muttered to himself, and then smirked.

"Don't bother trying to fight back with human capabilities, my friends!" he called out. "The sole fact that these things can come to life is a sign! A sign that magic could come to us as well! If anyone has any weapon, try to fight back, but don't get too close! Trust me on this one!"

Hayden stopped right in his tracks. Someone called out to the others, including him, saying something about magic. But could it really be possible? "Yeah, yeah. Its all true. Along with the tooth fairy and flying pigs!"Shouted Hayden. "In addition to that, how do we even know that they don't have chips inside them enabling the programmer of the chips full control?" "Isn't that right?"Hayden was now looking at Kayla, searching her eyes for an answer.

It all seemed so much like a game, the planet they were in even had two suns, like Alpha Centauri. However, that was where fun and games ended. Plant-based humanoids were formed amidst the shouts and screams of confusion but there was one thing that was clear in his mind when he heard the word quest. Yup, definitely something out of a role playing boardgame. An alien world, testing him for something, a grand tree of knowledge, sort of like a Yggdrasil, it all fell in place but Pierre wondered why this didn't seem to faze him. Perhaps it was the training kicking in.

It must be as he did not take a step back, he stepped forward, he didn't even hear anything else now, his focus on the plant being attempting to strike him down. Read in to it, the movement, the aim, the target and act to change it. Step in, do it now, the swing is starting and it is coming. And so he did, to meet his attacker head on.