FC (Original)

Cher woke up to the sound of a distant explosion and instantly sat up, her brown eyes fluttering as she tried to remember what was going on. She took in a sharp gasp as her back arched in pain, the memories all rushing back to her.

Flashes of scenes from the night before came flooding back into her mind like a waterfall. “Oh no... Molly." She stood up in a rush only to slump back down again because of the painful burn in her spine.

Pranking the Erita guards was definitely worth the seeing their stupid faces scrunched up from the scare but definitely not worth the backache.

"I need to find Molly." She said to herself, running out, ignoring the searing pain in her back and feet. As she rushed towards the borders of Faldon, she was stopped by a voice.

"Hey Cher!"  She knew that voice. "You alright?" It was Kaiden. It had been awhile since she’d seen him- Kaiden was one of the soldiers from Faldon. He, and many others like him, protected their region from intruders such as warlocks, beasts and other beings that were banned from the area.

And since he was always so busy with trying to be a selected explorer, she never got to see him anymore. So instead, she always tried to hang out with Molly whenever she could. She was used to always seeing him around, climbing on walls, fake-fencing guards with a broomstick but now with all that and the choosing ceremony advancing every so quickly, the chances of meeting seem to dwindle with every conversation they had.

"I'm alright, it's nice seeing you again, Kaiden." Cher smiled cheerfully, glad to see her friend again.

"I heard last night took a heavy toll on you. What were you thinking, sneaking up to prank the Erita guards like that? Be glad that the high sorcerer didn't catch you! You guys could have been imprisoned!" The brunette looked at Cher with minor hints of amusement. 

"I'm fine you big worrier, it's just my feet and back that hurt,” she rolled her eyes. “But have you seen Molly?"

His brown eyes lit up in recognition. "Yeah I did actually, she told me she was going to see how you were doing."

 "I see,” She trailed off.  

“Well I'm doing alright." Cher simpered her toothy grin. Molly wasn't the warrior type- she was more adventurous and straightforward. She liked that.

After a few minutes of typical discussion, Kaiden told Cher that Faldon was about to elect their chosen victors to be this year's explorers in a few days. He was really nervous since it would be his first time attending and actually having a chance of being chosen.  He admitted that the pressure of getting rejected had significantly increased lately, always on his mind pushing him down. Still stressed and worried, he came over to a few of his friends- Cher being one of them -for reassurance that it would be okay.

Cher placed her hand on his shoulder and told him to stop thinking about it. She reassured him that it would be just fine. She grinned. "And if it isn't... You're good at being sneaky."

Kaiden didn't know what Cher implied him on doing but he shrugged anyway, leaving her to go attend to his duties.

---

A few days passed by like minutes and before Cher knew it, her mother was already making her dress up. She didn't like dresses, but today was an exception.

Hours later, she walked into the sanctum where all the other people were gathered for the ceremony and was placed in a line along other people- trollers, to be in fact. At least one person from each group was put into a team of ten to explore the bounds, where monsters and evil beasts lingered.

She noticed a few familiar faces as she glanced around, like Molly from Foreign and Nia, who was from the area of Erita.

A short lady in the brightest pink and heels- higher than Cher could ever imagine -sauntered onto the stage and flashed everyone a winning smile. "It is time, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the 25th annual choosing ceremony! We are gathered here today to pick our choosing ceremony victors!”

She made her way towards the leaders of the classes who had all decided on who was going to be chosen. Cher chewed on the inside of her cheeks, nervous that she was going to be chosen. The lady then picked up a scroll and read out the names.

Her voice was sharp as it cut through the air. “From Soreign we have Molly,-”

Cher’s heart almost stopped. No, it couldn't be Molly. The brunette bit her lip as her friend walked up to stand by the woman.

"- and Stanley." She didn't know who that was, but she could see that from his expression that he obviously didn't want to go.

"From Colen we have Sandi and Angus,” the lady continued. “From Neidon we have Todd. From Erita we have Nia…” She paused and squinted at the paper, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. “And-and Katie." A few gasps flew around the room as the crowd watched the high sorcerer walk up, the clicking metal on her sole and the sound of the deep blue crystal swinging against the platinum necklace around her neck, echoes throughout the hall silencing the hushed gasps.

She volunteered to go? Cher thought in shock, fear slowly sinking in as she remembered the events that happened a few days ago.

The woman didn’t hesitate at all at the crowd’s reaction. "Anyway, last, from Faldon, we have: Abbey, Kaiden-" Cher could imagine Kaiden's shocked eyes and huge smile as clear as day. "- and Cher."

Wait what?

Cher looked around to see if there were any other Cher's in Faldon until she was pushed by a nearby troller. Sucking in a breath, she forced her nervous feet to walk up to the lady as she began to start her closing speech.

"And that is all we have, folks! The ten lucky victors elected to be the explorers for this year! Please await your applauses until they leave the stage. Anyways, good luck to those chosen, and thank you to everyone for attending! Good day everyone!" The applause rose to a roar as the ceremony began to close and Cher saw everyone in line with her either nervous or beaming ...but her. 

As she was ushered forward towards the exit her vision blurred and the sounds around her merged, the muffled conversation between Katie and lady in pink echoing in the background, it was filled with “thank you” s and praise, the sorcerer’s cold, cynical tone cutting in every once in a while with unsatisfactory comments.

She was worried, knowing that after today, she would have to leave her family and possibly never see them again.

Kaiden nudged her, and she broke away from her thoughts. He flashed her a lopsided grin and the anxiety bubbling up inside her seemed to cool down for a bit. “It’s going to be fine,” he whispered. “Just think of it as the adventure of a lifetime.”