Each MC must pen a letter to a loved one before entering their challenge. Below is Syere's Letter to Gage
My dearest Gage,
I have arrived on the campsites of Elderton. Though we’d speculated that I might be the only contender here, our suppositions were wrong. Apparently, Mother Goddess has decided that more than a few species need testing. Elderton is full. No less than eight challengers are here, though I’m not sure when any of the others will enter their houses. I don’t even know when I will have the mental fortitude to enter mine.
But today is the day, the end of my forty-eight hours, and inevitably I will enter. Whether I will submit in the 41st hour or wait until the absolute last moment….I don’t have that answer yet. As for the atmosphere….there is already someone’s house burning to the ground. Apparently, Mother Goddess did not smile on him. Even as his house burns, he just continues to sit on the ground outside, flames raging behind. I suspect that he fears returning to his people with news of his failure.
I sympathize with him.
Truth be told, dearest duke, I fear his outcome, but also long for it...because the doors have opened and released him.
What if they hadn’t?
I admit that I wasn’t ready to see the terrible outcome of failing the trials. Even as I move about the campsite, all I can hear is the loud crackling of the fire devouring the house. The smell of burning has forever imprinted itself onto my memory.
This is a feeling that I haven’t experienced in quite some time: fear. I am afraid, Gage. But there is no one I can talk to.
My whole heart believes that the valravn burden will hit me, too, and I will never leave the shores of Elderton. I fear failing our people, I fear losing my civility to the wild magic, and I fear never seeing you or Tineek again. The last part is extra unbearable….
Please, share my words with Tineek since I could not write two letters….time does not permit.
So, I have said it. But I know that you will never read this, because I don’t have the courage to bare myself so raw to anyone. It seems that this was a letter to myself.
Love always,
Your King, Syere
Read Syere's Story
