Chapter 1

Vesper laughed as her prisoner screamed. The huge Black Panther lunged again, biting the woman's arm. The panther backed off, toying with the woman. Vesper cackled, but the woman managed to avoid the black panther. She stumbled backwards, and slipped into a shallow but quick moving stream. Letting the current take her, the woman was deposited in a pond with a waterfall where she promptly dived under the wanter and out of sight. The panther sniffed around for a while but eventually moved on, unwilling to be bothered by trying to find the woman. The woman surfaced, this time with a knife. Vesper raised her eyebrows, the woman had found the hidden cave in the pond and was hoarding supplies. Vesper pressed a button on a silver control pad, and a small wooden crate with a parachute attached fell beside the woman. The package was only little more than a foot each way.

The woman scrambled out of the pond and over to the crate. She ripped the lid off and peered inside carefully finding that in this particular crate, there were two vipers. Tied to the vipers with string, were supplies. From what the maimed woman could tell, there were at least anti-septic, bandages, and a hunting knife.

Vesper leaned over the metal railing circling the artificial jungle and watched. So far, the woman was proving resourceful. She had survived two days in the jungle, and was almost done her third. She was learning quickly how things worked.

Vesper knew she was cruel, but she was also fair. She had never stepped foot in the jungle, except for when it was being constructed. She only manipulated it from outside, with her control panel. All the animals, bugs, fish, or and some plants had all arrived by package, just like the vipers.

In every package, there was some sort of living thing, or seed. Some were helped, other hindered.

The woman stumbled back to the bushes, and for a second Vesper was disappointed. But then the woman came back with two sticks. A small 'Ooooh….' escaped Vespers lips.

As the woman worked on sliding the supplies off the vipers, the fake sky began to dim, showing the sun outside was setting.

After the second snake slithered away there were fake stars on the TV like roof. The stars glowed brightly and realistically. The woman packed all the supplies back into the box and ran towards the lake where the waterfall was.

The woman dived into the water and disappeared from sight. Vesper sighed. Another good day watching someone almost get themselves killed.

Vesper strolled through a maze of hallways, suddenly very tired. When she reached her room , she was greeted by a large four poster bead with black and red covers and a lace black curtain hanging down from the frame, almost brushing the floor.

Vesper changed her clothes and looked in her en-suite bathroom mirror. Her black, purple, and blue hair was growing out. Too long for what she did. But she did want to make a statement anyways. Her defined face was coldly beautiful and she moved with an odd feline quality. She was of average height, thin, and straight backed. Unlike most twenty-five year olds, Vesper couldn't care less about being social. Vesper wanted one thing. She wanted the world.

Vesper brushed her hair out and crawled into her bed. She flicked out her bedside lamp and sank into a deep, peaceful sleep. Vesper dreamed that she won. In her dream, she was standing on the pedestal with her submission and she was receiving the pendant. Her dream ended after she put the pendant on a plain silver chain and slid it over her head. The pendant hung on the chain and rested perfectly just above the top of the busted corset she was wearing.

When Vesper woke, the screen of her computer was glowing eerily. Vesper swung her legs out of bed and ran her fingers through her medusa-like morning hair. Yawning, she stretched and walked over to her desk and the computer. She fell into her desk chair and clicked on the notification displayed on the computer screen. It was an update on her prisoners' health. The womans heart rate was slowed considerably and she was moving around sluggishly.

Before sending all her captives into the arena, Vesper injected them with a serum that gathered information on their health and sent it to her computer system. It told Vesper their co-ordinates as well.

Vesper hoped she would bounce back. She wasn't done with her yet. Although, she pondered, it wouldn't be a surprise. It seemed that each person she'd attempted to use hadn't fared well. Perhaps her standards were too high, but anything less than would be too weak. The stakes were too high now. To bring anything else would be sure defeat.

"Send down box 7." Vesper buzzed the command with a sigh. It was the last test she'd have a chance of completing if her health stayed how it was currently.

"Yes ma'am." Vespers only servant confirmed her demand. The man that worked for Vesper was the only one that had completed all the tests she had set out. He was the lone survivor. He was a supreme fighter, and survival was his sixth sense. He had already been in the arena though. One could only compete once in the arena.

Vesper pulled back a theatre-like red silk curtain and revealed a bullet proof two way mirror that ran the length of the wall, from the floor to the ceiling. Vesper watched, brushing her hair as the package dropped. The woman stood waiting for the box to hit the ground. Her eyes showed resignation and sadness. No more fear. She was okay with death coming. She had a steely expression on her face though. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.

The box was a meter in height and half a meter in length. The woman approached it without caution, she wanted this to be done and over with. She carried a wooden stick that she had fashioned into a make-shift spear. Vesper doubted she was going to use it.

The woman paused for a moment, gathering her bearings. Vesper took that moment to quickly dash over to her instant coffee pot and threw in her favourite blend. As the cup of coffee brewed Vesper ran back to the window.

The woman was just prying the lid off the packaged, but the creature inside forced it off and tried to escape. It took to the air, with a swiftness that surprised both Vesper and the woman. The woman launched the makeshift spear into the air and the vulture fell with a thud with the spear sticking out of its stomach. It was dead.

The woman's success seemed to fill her with a new energy, a new hope. She eagerly set to work sorting through everything else in the box.

Vesper set to work on pouring her coffee and getting dressed. The woman was proving to be competent. Vesper knew it wasn't fair to herself to get her hopes up. The woman could make it, she could not. The woman had not been told what would happen to her if she survived. She thought that she would be let free and that this was just a sick game. Vesper knew it was much more than a game. It was about control.

She thought back her dream. Could she really win the tournament, could she win the pendant? The pendant that signified so much to those who understood it, even to some of those who didn't. It meant she wasn't one to be reckoned with. She would gain control of the Lytic cult.

The Lytic cult was not well known. The members focused on the manipulation of peoples minds and bodies using organic plants and liquids. They would take the ancient myths of magic and research them, because all myths have a beginning. The secretive members would take their findings and they would apply them to modern herbalism. It was a slow process but it paid off. They would sell their salves and mixtures to only the richest, to those who could afford. If Vesper was their leader, she could use the knowledge to take the world, city by city.