Chapter 174. I want to Live
Back near the tents, the student encampment had begun to stir into reluctant life.
Inside one of the larger tents pitched near the edge of the field, Mia sat quietly beside Verena and Kaelira. The three had chosen not to mingle with the larger crowd, at least not yet.
The tent interior was surprisingly livable—three bunks stacked vertically, a table and chair bolted to the floor, a makeshift fan humming with minimal power, and a corner-mounted water filter dripping into a dented steel container.
Verena was busy rummaging through the drawers. A few seconds later, she pulled out a small white box, then another. She tilted one open, revealing silver foil packets and tiny glass vials.
"Well, look at that..." she muttered, juggling the bottles in one hand, her voice laced with bitterness. "Depression pills, anxiety meds... sleeping agents. They knew."
She turned to the other two girls, shaking her head in disbelief.
"They knew we’d suffer the moment we arrived. And yet they still dragged us here. Forcing children to fight."
Kaelira raised an eyebrow, not even looking up from her book. "Children? Really?" she said, flatly. "Girl... most of you are pushing twenty. Some of us already are. Don’t go lumping us into the toddler category just because you’re nostalgic."
Verena scoffed, "Yeah? And that’s not old? Do you even know how ancient some of our instructors are? Or the nobles who govern this continent?"
Kaelira shut the book with a thump. "No. Should I?"
Verena grinned, teeth flashing. "Miss Celia’s over two hundred years old."