I stand infront of the crowd. The stage is all mine. I‘m supposed to show my skills. I already regret agreeing to this. Jayce definitely didn’t prepare me for this well enough. I can barely hold the sword and I am supposed to fight the magical illusions which they will show. It‘s like the king- my father- wants to show the whole kingdom that i‘m not made to be their future queen. Oh wait, that is exactly the point. He wants everyone to think that I need a man, which i don‘t! I don‘t wanna just sit still and look pretty.

I take the long and heavy weapon from it‘s stand. I feel the heavy armor pressing me into the ground. “This is an armor made for a queen, not a disappointment.“ i still hear within my head. Those words keep on echoing inside me. As if that would help with the pressure.

I breathe in while trying to not look like the biggest coward. I breathe out and look into the faces staring at me. I whisper to myself:“Nobody here wants to harm you. You can do this. You‘re only fighting illusions!“

As i hear myself yell:“ Ready!“ i can see the illusions starting to appear. They are too many to count. I try to fight them back.

After what feels like 5 minutes i‘m already out of breath. If this were a real fight i‘d already be dead. I defeated like one or two illusions but that‘s it. The king himself interrupts:“Stop it! This is of no use!“ As the crowd turns silent I realize how badly i really did.

God Jayce! You should have prepared me better!