Lillian

Pacing about my room, l tried to shake off the feeling of suffocation. The walls seemed to close in on me, the air was thick and stifling. 

My eyes glanced at the clock; it was already the early hours of the morning but sleep was impossible. Not when my mind was this restless.

It wouldn't be long now, I told myself. In just a few hours it would be time for the second stage of the duel. 

Would I make it through or would I die? I wondered. 

The second stage would be more brutal than the first and although my injuries from the first stage were all healed...