Dark Horse

Dark Horse is an original novel co-written by Daughter of Ares (DCOMadicted23) and BilboSwaggins (DragonSlayerDaughterofZeus).

"Welcome to the wild, no heroes and villains, welcome to the war, we've only begun, so pick up your weapon and face it, there's blood on the crown, go and take it, you get one shot to make it out alive."

-Dark Horse Tagline

Official Description
The world of Haggard is in utter destruction. The only thing that keeps the races of Haggard from going to war is the mysterious caretaker, Dark Horse. Every year to appease the "leaders" of the tribes, two members of each society are chosen to be presented to Dark Horse. Nobody knows what happens to them, because none of the chosen come back out. Kelsey is living a decent life with her boyfriend Luca; Keefe is fulfilled by tricking others into thinking that he's harmless; and Ahri can't master her magical abilities. They have nothing in common, but they must work together to survive...

Released Story
Keefe is minding his own business in Atlantis, where he mentions the Choosing several times. After baiting Connor Akali into getting into a fight, Keefe, who seems easy to defeat, pounds Connor with his magic, and steals the unauthorized rations Connor purchased from an unknown vendor. Keefe walks away grinning, without a care in the world to who might have been chosen.

Sofia trains with her brother Will, but the two are stopped by their war hardened mother who brings them and the rest of their nomadic group to Ansmond, captiol of the Mortals. Sofia seems excited and hopes that she and Will are the Chosen pair for the Mortals, expressing that she wants to know why no one has ever come back after meeting Dark Horse. Meanwhile Will chides her to calm down and hope that they aren't chosen so they don't get separated or die. It's announced that Sofia and Will are chosen, much to the distress of Will.

Kelsey awaits Clide Illona in the transport, but is stunned to find her boyfriend Lucas Agrippa approaching with the gaurds. Luca takes on the aliases Clide Illona, and Kelsey asks what happened to Clide. Luca waves the question away, and the two are on their way to Dark Horse's capitol.

Keefe attempts to "get to know" the other Chosen, and makes easy smalltalk trying to get them out of their shells and figure out his competition. He gets Ahri to come out a little, as well as Clide and Kelsey, while the Mortals hold their own and ignore him. Dark Horse interrupts, and welcomes them to her games.

Sofie trapped with two new roommates, Ahri and Kelsey, decides to ignore them, and be as hostile as possible. When Thalia Dudras comes trying to greet them, as well as let them know Dark Horse is ready for the first challenge, Sofie is rude and makes sure the weapons are visible. She teams up with Will to get her hands on the prism, but lets him go ahead while she takes on Kelsey and Clide.

Kelsey and Luca are finding their way through the so called maze, when they run into their first opponent, Sofie Ewell. Sofie wounds Luca, climbing onto his back and cutting into his shoulder with her dagger. Luca fends her off, but she escapes the two of them, leaving Luca with a possible infection that he won't let Kelsey take care of.

Keefe leads Ahri to victory during the first challenge, collects the prism for Dark Horse, and upon his return meets Thalia, who attempts to fill the awkward silence. Keefe can't help but feel suspicious of Thalia, and he makes up an excuse to help Ahri find her room.

Release
Dark Horse was released and teased on May 19th of 2021, when a full chapter and introduction were released. So far four chapters, not including the introduction written by Dark Horse, have been released.

Keefe Carlsey
Keefe likes his snarky jokes, and although he dosen’t look like much, he is a strong sorcerer and plays that to his advantage in the games. Never without his sarcasm and magic tricks, Keefe is a force to be reckond with. He tends to be different than the other people living in Atlantis, and prefers to use magic on pranks or against people he deems annoying. Keefe tends to be tricky around people he's just met, and is usually very catious to make friendships that don't benefit himself in some way or another.

Kelsey Mood
Kelsey is chosen to fight for the elves alongside her boyfriend Lucas Presley. Kelsey is sweet and tries to be kind, unlike most sarcastic characters. She has a sweet and sensible style, and fends for those she loves. If one of her loved ones is threatened however, Kelsey will enter what Luca calls “Beast Mode” when she can take down almost any enemy with her bare hands. Kelsey is very cautious to use this ability though, because she hates violence, and is sorely against fighting. But Dark Horse seems somewhat fond of the ability and involves it into her twisted games.

Sofia Ewell
Sofia is lively and curious, always down for something new. Unlike her brother Will, she wants to be Chosen to see what happens to those Chosen by Dark Horse. Sofia is very physically gifted, since she has spent her entire life preparing for the Choosing, and is known to be very handy with an axe, but not as talented with a sword. Mentally, however, Sofia had a rough childhood as her parents wouldn't give her the childlike attention she needed, and pushed her into training for the Choosing.

Trivia

 * Dark Horse is written by two authors (Daughter of Ares and BilboSwaggins)
 * Dark Horse is an original and not tied to any Multiverses or fanfictions