Day 1 Morning

[Erik Vrell]

Erik was falling. Again. Not long ago, the psychic was afraid of heights and falling, but it was something he got used to surprisingly fast. Erik took his time to examine his surroundings instead of the quick scanning he was used to. The area he found himself in was lightly forested, with a large variety of plant life sprouting around the small clearing. Erik marvelled at the lush garden that he had landed in, doubting that he could have found himself in a more scenic spot if he tried. Erik snapped back to reality as he remembered that he was still in a competition. He remembered the spirit briefly mentioning weapons as the champions were whisked away to the graveyard. Erik scanned his feet for a weapon. Nothing. There was no weapon to be seen in the clearing. Panic swept over Erik as the full weight of the situation hit him.
"If I don't have a weapon, how the hell will I defend myself?" Erik screamed internally. He resorted to digging through the leaf litter, desperately searching for something to defend himself. To Erik's despair, his search bore no fruit. The only things in the clearing were exactly what you would expect to find in a forest, twigs and leaves. Erik was almost brought to tears for the second time in the last twenty four hours as he felt his impending doom.
"I should at least take something to defend myself." Erik mumbled to himself, barely finding the strength to push forwards.
Erik bent down to pick up a good sized twig from the ground and swung it around, testing its weight. It didn't have the heft of a club, but it was the biggest stick in the grove, which wasn't saying much. The twig was only a foot or so long and less than an inch thick.

Erik looked in all directions, searching for something of interest. Soon enough, the ruins of what appeared to be a city came into view.
"I may as well go that way." Erik thought to himself. "What's the worst that could happen?" Erik began the treck towards the ruins. As Erik breathed in the forest air and took his mind off of everything, his despair began to fade away. Even if it was just for a little while, Erik was trying his best to forget about being thrown into a violent death match without a weapon. The path towards the ruins was... Peaceful. Serene, even. Erik couldn't kid himself for long though. Soon enough, things were going to get violent, and Erik wasn't confident about his chances against an armed opponent while he just had a stick. As Erik approached the ruins, the age of the ruins became apparent. There wasn't a visible surface that wasn't dominated by some sort of foliage and some walls were covered completely in vines larger than Erik himself. The whole scene was mesmerising in a way, Mother Nature fighting back against those who attempted to subdue her. It was all very poetic. Occasionally, a loose rock would fall from the crumbling walls and startle Erik from his stupor, and on the outskirts of the ruins a rather large chunk of rock fell, startling not only Erik but someone else nearby. Fear took Erik immediately.
"Should I run?" He thought. "Or maybe I should come out with my hands empty and try to show peace." Erik peeked around the corner to see a slightly familiar figure clad in green.
"Well, what are the odds?" Erik said to himself. The psychic collected himself quickly.
"I believe that we were in the middle of something." Erik grinned as he held out his hand once more for the stranger.