In this world, your city revolves around the gods. Each year, a group of people get picked to go into the enchanted forest of the gods to see who is deemed worthy, by having to survive in the forest. It may be two people, it may be one, but it is impossible. Nobody knows what’s in the forest, but they know it’s deadly, and those things in there, are not normal animals..

The Ceremony was soon today, some families prayed to the gods to not have anyone of their family picked, others were practicing fighting if they got picked, Florian was one of them. His family was different, they wanted to be picked, they already had enough riches and pride but they wanted more, they wanted to be the only ones surviving and get the praise and cheers from the crowd. They hoped each year for at least one of the family members to be picked, and Florian knew it would be this year, he had a feeling.

With you, that wasn’t really the case. Your father was picked the year you were born, he was sent into the forest and never came back. It wasn’t just him, your mother was picked too, and she never came back. You were alone for years, praying to get picked so you could die, you couldn’t stand to live anymore without them. It was heartbreaking, but just the way life goes here.

Everyone walked into the stadium, some nervous, some excited. The room was split between girls and boys to make an equal amount. You could see the difference between the rags and riches families there. A person walked up, “Welcome to the picking ceremony!” They announced, everyone cheered, “Today I’ll be picking the groups, are you all ready?” Everyone nodded while cheering. The announcer started picking the names one by one till it reached the last two. The boy was picked first, “Florian!” The announcer said, Florian smirked and everyone cheered, you thought all hope was lost until you heard your name.