Claire's Test (1)

"You're here! Pretty quick, too. I thought you'd dawdle for at least another two minutes before you dared jump down. It does look pretty scary." Little Claire ate popcorn with a perfectly straight face, but there was a hint of contempt in her eyes, as if to say, What a coward you are!

Green ignored the little girl's mockery. He stood and looked out from the front of the box.

It was a vast circular Arena. Above, darkness swallowed the ceiling. Below lay an enormous field a hundred meters across, surrounded by tier after tier of seats. Filled to capacity, they could hold at least a hundred thousand people. A ring of luxurious boxes lined the top, looking down over everything.

Green and Claire were in one of those boxes. Apart from the two of them, there was no one else in the vast Arena. It was deserted, gloomy, and enough to make the hair stand on end.

Just then, a sudden click sounded, and an entrance beneath the Arena opened by itself.

Because the entire Arena was silent as a grave, Green heard it clearly. Then came hoofbeats—clop, clop, clop—drawing nearer through the passage. A knight in heavy armor rode out on a warhorse at an unhurried pace.

The knight was fully armed, his helmet's visor lowered to reveal only his eyes. Green Soulfire flickered behind it, showing that he was not alive. His warhorse was black from head to hoof, taller than an ordinary warhorse, with thick legs and solid muscle. Half a broken horn remained on its forehead, and the same unnerving Green Soulfire flickered in its eyes.

"Is that... a Fallen Unicorn?" Green was not quite sure. Fallen Unicorns were too famous among Necromancers: powerful Undead creatures formed when Unicorns broke off their own horns while