Chapter 97: A Near Broken Girl (2/2)
Zinnia took a little while to respond as she spoke in an uncertain tone. ”I know. There was something else. At the centre of the storm was the biggest tree I've ever seen. At the top was five figures.”
”A tree? Five figures? You don't mean the stages of gr-.”
”That's enough, Gale.” Emil roared cutting him off. ”That was just a made-up future which played in her mind, it isn't going to happen.”
”What did you see during your trial Emil?” Zinnia whimpered.
He let out a longwinded sigh rubbing his face. ”What I saw? I saw a future where I stayed with my mother. A future of drugs and debt. That's it. Of course, that never happened or will happen. She's dead. As for you, though. I demand you stop these trials.”
”Give up?! No, I can't!”
”Alton would not want you going through this for him! This is madness, your eating away at your damn mind! Give it up Zinnia, before it's too late!”
”Never, I will never give up till I die!” Emil kicked a chair over storming out, slamming the door shut behind him. Zinnia began kicking her legs against the bed in frustration. ”Alton's life is at risk, and he wants me to give up?! Fuck him!”
”Don't hold it against him Zinnia, he's just worried about you. I agree with him.”
”But why? What's so wrong that I can't go through with these trials?”
Florence eyed her down, shaking her head. ”Being bedbound for two days should speak wonders. But it's more than that. These trials don't just prove who's worthy. It also changes you. Successful trial goers are completely different people coming out.”
”Different people?” Gale says, looking lost. ”I don't get it.”
Florence gave a little giggle covering her mouth, embarrassed by laughing. ”Believe it or not, but Jinx wasn't a nutjob at one point. She was actually a really caring and adorable girl. I met her just before taking the trial. We became good friends. After the trial, it seemed her mind snapped. She became who she is today. All the others were the same. Monty was just as caring. Always sticking up for everyone being the big brother. The Hero of the Montagues they called him. You two were actually quite alike but after the trials, well, you know what he's like today.”
”The trials remove all weakness…” Zinnia muttered.
”Exactly any personality tied to the person seen as a weakness is swept away, and all that's left is the worthy streamer Christopher deems so. A husk of their former self. It's been like this for generations. Some people want to become streamers no matter what. Others are clueless about what the trials really are.”
”What about you? Did you change after the trials?”
”I'm not sure. I don't remember anything about myself before the trials. But most likely, I did change for better or worse is up in the air. The Montague trials are vile acts of torment and torture. If it was up to me, I would destroy every last semblance of those nightmares and make the creators pay.”
”The person changes entirely? What will I become after these trials? Will I even remember who I once was?”
”A fate worse than death. So that's why we were warned going through this wasn't worth it…”
Florence tried smiling but couldn't bare the concept. ”I'm sorry, Zinnia, your strong. You're doing this for a good cause, unlike everyone else here you're here to save someone close to you. Maybe that can change things. If you hold onto what makes you; you then maybe you can come out the other side unchanged.”
”Is that possible?”
”I. I don't know. I hope for your sake. The second trial starts tonight. If you want to save Alton, you can't mess up. I heard he only had a week to live. Keep getting bedbound like this, and he won't make it.”
Florence left looking slightly angered as Gale budged up closer to Zinnia. ”Are you alright?”
She took his hand, trying to find the words to make herself feel better. She shook her head. ”I don't know. That first trial it was hell. The others are harder, according to everyone. I don't know if I can do it.”
”You do not doubt yourself, do you? I know you can do it. Alton does as well. If Percy was here. He would say the same thing.”
Zinnia let out a small smile. ”Yeah, he would.”
”You just have to hold on to what makes you; you.”
”What makes me; me?” Zinnia gave a long thought trying to figure that question out, that was when the picture presented to her on her birthday crept into her mind. Her mother. She gripped Gale's hand tighter nodding. ”I am a hero, like my mother and father before me. That's what I aim to be. That is who I am. Zinnia Trost, daughter of the legendary heroes. I'll carry the torch and make them proud. That is who I will be, and nothing will change that. Not these trials and not that future I witnessed.”