When the End Began (Thundy)

The first morning of training… Julian blinked his eyes, surely he was dreaming. So often in both his dreams and nightmares he found himself in this very room. It was the room that he was born to enter. He gazed around, doe eyed as he took everything in. It had improved a lot since his parents’ days in there, at least based on their stories. There seemed to be so much more to choose from, so much knowledge to take with you into the arena. A small grin twisted the sides of Julian’s pouty lips upward as his mind wandered to the arena. Just what type of place was in store for the lucky tributes of the quell. Just as long as it wasn’t a frozen arena… a brief flashback of Midas laying lifeless in the red snow pierced his memory. He winced and clenched his teeth. Not now, he thought to himself. The time for mourning Midas was over, but the time for revenge—that was just beginning.

The twist for the Quell had of course thrown a slight wrench in Julian’s plans. As most from his District, he would have been all for forming a career pack, but now any pretense of alliances could be thrown out the window without regret. Now that he had no need to at least pretend to be nice, he had barely spoken to anyone. Occasionally he would exchange a brief word or two with his District partner or the girl from District 1, Avon Lightwood. Any of the lower Districts, however, he deemed beneath him. If any tried to casually converse, for the most part he would simply sneer. If they were lucky, they might get a one-word answer.

There was a time that Julian would have been kinder to his fellow tributes, perhaps even pitied some. If he was honest with himself, there was probably some pity deep in the depths of the hole of a heart he kept permanently sealed. He wasn’t about to open that wound up to see though. No. He was the perfect career tribute now. The loss of Midas left him cold, heartless and brutal. It was the only way he could survive, or his emotions would rip him apart from with in. The Bryzes were never good with feelings, and Midas had been Julian’s remedy to that fault. When the only way he had known to love was ripped from his life, Julian could only find solace in an emotional state of numbness.

He found his way over to the blades station, watching one of the smaller tributes fiddle with some knives out of the corner of his eyes. They were actually about the same size, Julian had to admit, but the tribute clearly lacked his toned physicality and agile abilities that only came with a lifetime of training to kill. The boy was attempting to throw knives but was barely making the targets, if at all. Silently, Julian grabbed one of the throwing knives from the station. Taking aim not to hit the boy, he thrust his arm outward. The blade went whizzing past the tribute’s right ear before it found its mark on the bull’s eye of the head of the target. The tribute turned and looked at Julian in horror. A pearly white smile spread across Julian’s pretty face. He even looked almost kind, in a rather sadistic way. The boy quickly scurried off to another station and the blonde boy from District 2 continued to smile to himself. Bloodbath…, Julian mentally noted to himself. He had been calculating all morning just how long each tribute might last based on the skills they were exhibiting. Of course, he wouldn’t make any final judgments until training scores and interviews, but for now, the odds seemed to be in his favor.

He brought is fingers softly to his lips as he turned and looked over the blades station to get a better idea of what his cornucopia options might be. Before he could make a selection of which to play with however, he noticed a large figure staring at him from the corner of his eye. He turned to find the boy from District 1 who must have just watched his little interaction. He was quite tall and muscled as most career boys, and like most District 1 tributes, he was admittedly attractive. Of course, the latter didn’t phase Julian much. His mother Pashmina was of District 1 and he had certainly inherited her appearance. Julian placed his hands on his hips when Reyes continued to stare. “Can I help you?” he said coldly.