The wave of killer ducks strikes!

Our steps echoed in the huge underground halls. They were enormous, lit by the silvery flames burning in some dark wood torches. They nearly seemed out of a storybook.

"What the mother of potatoes is this place?" I whispered, amazed. My head was spinning as I was trying to memorate every detail, even if it was impossible.

"If I were you, I wouldn't mention the Mother of Potatoes." said the dwarf, rolling his eyes.

" There actually is someone called "Mother of Potatoes"?" I asked.

"Of course. And she doesn't really like me, huffed the little man beside me.

A heavy silence fell above us as we went through the forest gallery. In the middle of the second hall, another weird character was waiting impatiently for us.

He was a tall, bald man, with muscled arms and tanned skin. His face read a severe expression, glaring as if he just saw something utterly disgusting. His eyes were analyzing us, and when he looked straight into my eyes I could see coldness and determination, as he started heading straight to us. When I got closer, I noticed a detail that couldn't be seen from farther away. There seemed to be a flame in his eyes. His pupil was red, an odd glint being noticeable.

I already knew I wasn't going to get along with this guy. Just by the hardness of his stare and the way he tapped his foot on the floor I could realize he got annoyed very quickly. And getting on other's nerves has always been a special talent of mine.

"Miss Lissandra Prior?"

"I'm not..." I started, but I was interrupted by the dwarf, placing a chubby hand over my mouth.

"He is the General Animorphegus. His power is shapeshifting into any kind of animal. He hates talkative new-comers. And you clearly are one of them."

I laughed quietly at the hearing of his name but stopped when General Ani-I don't know turned and glared coldly at me. I decided shutting up was the best thing to do.

And now we get to the magical power part, the one I won't believe 'til I see it happening! Sure, I was kidnapped by a dwarf and pulled in an underground hall, but it's still a long way to go until they get me to believe such a fantasy... Very long way, buddy!

"Follow me, miss!" said the General. Yet somehow his hard, cold voice made it sound like an order.

After passing through a few underground corridors, I gathered all my guts and decided to break the ice.

"I am not Lissandra Prior. I have no idea why did you bring me here. And I don't even know any of you people. I have never seen you before. Who are you, actually? I burst. I had so many questions, I just couldn't hold it in anymore. And how am I even supposed to, I was brought here by force!

The General abruptly stopped walking and turned on his heels, facing me. He didn't seem too happy. He asked, glaring fiercely towards me :

" Then who are you?"

"Onyx Prior. Lissandra's twin sister. But we're nothing alike." I don't know why did I feel the need to add that. Probably to let them know that if they wanted to kidnap an arrogant, annoying girl, they got the wrong person.

The General's eye started twitching. His face became red all of a sudden, he was fuming. He turned robotically to the dwarf.

"You absolute idiot! You brought me someone else! In my hole career, I've never seen someone make such a big, stupid mistake!"

Geez, thanks! Really feeling the love here.

"But... but... I checked her fingerprint! It was fitting. Their fingerprints are so much alike, that the device confounded them!

"Lissandra had a place reserved for her here ever since she was born!

Well, I agree to that. If they were so keen on kidnapping someone, Lissandra is just the right person!

"Please, sir, give her a chance!" insisted the dwarf. "Being her twin sister, Miss Prior is supposed to be a lot like her!"

The General huffed. He moved his gaze from the dwarf to me and back to the dwarf.

"Oh, fine! Two days. If in two days she gives no sign of magical powers, the girl is going home and you're losing your job!" he thundered and then walked away.

I hardly understood something anymore, but I followed him, not having anything else to do. Magic? What kind of magic? Magic doesn't exist. Everybody knows that. The dwarf was coming, with his head dunked down shamefully. He didn't dare to look up, clearly terrified by the General.

"Come meet the other new recruits", I heard the General in front of me saying.

When I entered the next underground gallery, my mouth practically fell open.

I couldn't believe my eyes! A huge hall full of children of my age and teenagers, fighting each other with axes, spears, bows and arrows! And that's not even the most shocking part! If You throw a closer look, you can see some of them making objects levitate or appear, invoking shields, weapons and even animals. Taller or shorter, they were all fighting, one against another, one with another. Some of them even seemed to have different nationalities, because I'm pretty sure I saw some young ladies with Asian looks and even a boy that seemed African, with afro hair and everything. They were all looking tired, sweaty, but I couldn't see one of them whining about it.

I hardly unglued my eyes of the young fighters to analyze the hall. The walls were covered in battle signs, such as shields, mighty, but broken swords, some silvery shields, resembling the ones in the welcoming hall, even a few helmets and other pieces of armors I couldn't name. Right above the entrance and above our heads was hanging an enormous flag, at least twenty meters long, with a huge, round, burnt hole in the middle. A few parts of a complicated black pattern were still visible, on the scarlet background.

"This is incredible..." I said my voice not above a whisper.

I had no more time to wonder because the dwarf pulled my arm and I was obliged to follow him, right behind the General. While we made our way through the fighting teens, I took the chance to observe them more. I noticed an athletic teenage girl, her straight black hair pulled in a ponytail, freeing a furious battle shout and attacking a well-built redhead, that easily managed to defeat all her attempts at winning. I stared, contemplating the skills a boy and a girl, a few years older than me, proved to have, crossing swords with another duo. I was amazed I reached the opposite corner of the hall in one piece, where other three recruits were enjoying the show, on a wooden bench.

Two boys and a girl. The boys seemed to be brothers because they were so much alike! Both of them had brown, messy hair and hazel eyes, but the younger one wasn't sitting next to the other two, he was bouncing around, nervous and energic. Andreea the girl had long, blonde hair that resembled the color of caramel and eyes as blue at the summer sky. She was surprisingly calm, considering that her life probably just turned upside down.

I sat next to her, and the General positioned himself in front of us, the tiny kidnapper following him closely, like a shadow.

"Hello, new recruits, and welcome to Iridyum. I am General Animorphegus, Shapeshifter, code 673349," he announced.

I leaned to the blonde girl on my right.

"Do you know what is this place?" I whispered to her.

"I haven't got even the smallest idea," she said, shrugging.

"To paraphrase Miss Prior's excellent question, this place is a recruiting center. And not just any recruiting center. One for young people with magic powers. We are here to turn you into warriors."

Boom. That's what my brain did when it processed the information. I just couldn't believe this. I've had a perfectly normal life, until this very day. Why would I, out of all people, have magic powers? But then, I realized what the answer was to all of my questions: I didn't have any magical talent. My sister did. And I was only sent there by mistake.

Animimanus or whatever his name was continued:

"You've all been chosen for this since your birth, when we took a sample of your blood, to try to detect the magic in your DNA. And you've been recruited because of the magical talent you have. Or, at least, most of you..." as he said those words, he fixed me with an icy glare, that made me shudder involuntarily. As if it was my fault that I've been ripped out of my banal, normal routine and brought here by the delivery dwarf.

"What exactly are we recruited for?" asked the older one out of the brothers.

"Our researchers have found out that the Armageddon is coming."

The others showed confused faces, the younger kid seemed immune to the tension around him and stuck his toe up his nose, while I uncontrollably burst out laughing.

"Pfft... Armageddon... That's practically the most stupid name I've ever heard!"

"Don't laugh! the General said. "The Armageddon is the Latin name for 'End of the world'!"

Oops.

"Anyway, let's continue. Our predictions tell that it's going to happen over a few years, or even more. Then, The Serpent of Darkness will slither around the Earth and start holding it tighter, and tighter, until our planet will be destroyed, smashed. Here, the recruits with magical powers are trained to stop the Serpent from completing the journey around the Earth he will soon start, when he will manage to free himself from the prison he is, now, held captive into."

At the hearing of this explanation, everybody seemed shocked. General Animatronix or however he was called didn't seem to be lying.

"And...how can we know if we truly have magic blood?" asked the blondie next to me, furrowing her eyebrows.

"That's the point where I wanted to get. At every five days, we have a fight in the Gladyus Arena. All kinds of magic or fight are admitted. Nobody dies, because when they reach their breakpoint and they just can't fight anymore, the recruits are frozen until the end of the game. Oh, speaking of Gladyus! You, beginners, are lucky! You got here on the day of a fight! Follow me! And suddenly, his face lit up and he became so cheery as if the fights were some sort of parties.

He lead us to the back wall of the huge training hall. Next to the wall were some glass tubes, like the one we slid on to get there in the first place. They were really big, large enough that one person could easily stand inside one of the tubes. Next to each of the tubes was a small metallic panel, covered in lots of smaller and bigger button.

"Get in the capsules! They will get you straight to the top, in the Arena!"

I shared a worried glance with the blondie, gulped and turned to the glass tubes. I walked to them, alongside with the other new recruits. Right before we went in, The General stopped the younger messy haired boy.

"Oh no, you're not going there. You're way too young to enter the Gladyus Arena. You have to be more prepared."

"But...But... Please, I want to go kick asses too, begged the little boy. And I honestly couldn't understand his peculiar wish at all. Hasn't he seen the other recruits? If one ass is going to be kicked, that would be ours. Oh, how I wished to be a few years younger!

"No buts" interrupted the General rudely." You will go with Grook, the elf, to the kiddos of your age."

The little guy gave up and followed the dwarf (who actually proved himself to be an elf), and I kept watching them until they got lost in the sea of warriors(that sounded better in Romanian). The General pointed to the capsules, and we hesitantly boarded them.

The capsule was around two meters tall, and as I stepped on the glass, I almost felt as if I was floating. It was a strange feeling, I knew I was standing on something, yet nothing was visible underneath me. It filled me with insecurities. What if the glass breaks under my weight and I fall? What if it takes me in the wrong place? Well, you won't find out unless you try!

The last thing I saw was the General pressing a button on the panel before the capsule unexpectedly sprung high up the tube.

I had again the feeling I had when I entered Iridyum, that my brain is harshly plucked out of my head by the fast air hitting me from all sides, while the capsules went higher and higher. The next second, I found myself stumbling in a huge, round arena surrounded by thick rock walls, that seemed to reach the clouds. Everywhere in the Arena were spread dozens of young warriors, wearing determined expressions. And the other new recruits couldn't be found, their capsules probably landed them in another corner of the Gladyus Arena.

The General's capsule landed in the middle, and when the man stepped out of it, the transparent glass oval disappeared. When he started speaking, I turned to him, wondering how could I hear his voice so clearly, because there was a considerable distance between me and him.

"Don't forget these rules, my warriors! No major injuries, you can use any type of magic, but don't forget the weapons! A good weapon can make the difference between winning and losing a fight. You have many weapons of choice. Use them wisely," he finished, before turning and pushing forward a table full of knives, swords, bows and arrows, spears and axes.

And then... Chaos! All the warriors ran to the table, almost stepping over me, pushing each other and yelling and grabbed a weapon, while I just stood there, thinking hopelessly that I'll be the first stunned recruit.

After everybody chose their weapons, I headed shyly to the table. The only thing left was a broken, rusty sword, that hardly seemed to be useful in killing mosquitoes. I was about to drop it when I first grabbed it, being so heavy and unfitting for me.

After that, Amiminorfis( I still don't remember his name) blew in a horn, and, as the sound echoed off the walls, the warriors started attacking.

The fight was of a ferocity I've never seen before. I figured out it won't last too much, considering that in the first few minutes half of the warriors were already stunned. Most of these fighters have never had more than a few minutes in the Arena before they froze and lost any chance. But these few minutes were of pure adrenaline. You could feel the blood running through your veins, the energy exploding inside, like fireworks, filling you with this strange dizzy feeling, making your feet tremble and your muscles hesitate, and euphoria, turning your blood to burning gold and making you feel alive. Your senses, sharp as blades. You're not human anymore, but a beast, guided only by the thirst for survival, of winning. Not only defeating the others but yourself too. Defeating your fears, your hesitations, everything that could make you weaker. This is, probably, the best way to simulate a real fight.

I was absolutely shocked by the magical powers of the ones around me. Some of them had impressive forces, like invoking knives, throwing fireballs and even turning into animals. But not all powers seemed useful. I noticed a girl that could invoke Adidas's and a boy that could make flowers grow. Not too useful in a life-and-death situation.

The fighters were becoming less and less. Around ten of them were still standing, not stunned, trying to defeat each other, attacking mercilessly, apparently not realizing that a new-comer with no idea how to hold a sword and no magical talent was standing right in front of them, mouth gaping.

After a few minutes, they finally noticed me. They turned to me... And I wished I hadn't woken up from my bed this morning.

They were getting menacingly closer to me, weapons shining dangerously in their hands.

I begged in my mind:" Please, please, if I have a magical talent, show it to me!" I had no idea who was I begging for help, but I could de nothing but hope it worked.

A tall, red-headed girl rose her sword, ready to attack. I shut my eyes tightly, preparing to feel the impact.

Suddenly, in the Arena rung the oldest quack I've ever heard. I opened my eyes, afraid of what I might see, only to notice something big forming behind the warrior. It was pretty far from me, so I couldn't see what exactly it was. But the object, seeming to be a yellow wave, was getting closer and closer, bigger and bigger. And when it stopped above the fighters, I realized it was made of... Ducks!

"Attaaaack!". I looked around trying to find out where was the shout coming from, but all the warriors were mute in amazement. So I can only guess it came from the ducks.

The wave of ducks fell over the Arena.

Gladyus was a sea of ducks. Everybody was on the ground, under a layer of yellow, moody, quacking animals. Surprisingly, I was standing on the only duckless place in the whole Arena. I straightened my back, brushing the dust off my already too dirty pants. And then the horn was heard again. The General had declared the game over. All the stunned ones could move again and the ducks melted into nowhere.

Still not able to believe what just happened, the General announced:

"And it looks like today's winner is the new-comer Onyx Prior, that defeated all the fighters by invoking a killer wave of ducks! Now let's give her a loud clap!"

I guess it's needless to say that nobody clapped. They were all too busy rousing and glaring at me.

"Wait... I did that?"I asked, confused.

"It looks like you did,"answered the General promptly. "Now, everybody, turn back to Iridyum, for lunch!"

A capsule appeared next to each fighter, ready for the short trip. Maybe the others were used to it, but all this high-tech stuff could easily awe me. The General was just boarding his capsule, when I stopped him, earning a glare. Immune to his obvious annoyance, I asked:

"General Animornachos?"

"Animorphegus," he corrected me, his glare intensifying.

"Whatever. Look, this morning you said that I can stay here if I discover a magical talent. I did. So, can I stay?"

"I guess so. Now, go down and don't even think of disturbing me again."

I freed a breath I didn't even know I was holding in. I think, for some reason, I even wished to stay here, I wished to be the one boarding this adventure, and not my sister. Even though my life became way more complicated and strange since I discovered I could invoke waves of ducks whenever I pleased.

Without any further addition, I headed to my capsule, the only one left in the otherwise deserted Arena.

Konichiwa everyone! Thanks for reading this! I really hope you liked it. Some feedback would be really useful. I know this may not be the greatest translation ever, but I stayed really late to finish it, so please understand.

Thanks, I'm waiting for your comments!:)