Making her way back to the mirror, Shiara wasn’t sure if the teleportation array would take her back to the same location, but she had an inkling it would. She pulled some of the white flower petals out of her pocket and put them in her mouth, chewing in preparation for the slumbering pond.
Deep breath.
She reached out and touched the mirror.
Another blink in space, and she landed. Not in the water, but in a hive.
She was in the bees’ hive, looking down over the oasis from one of the towering willow trees. No time at all must have passed while she was in the treasure room, because the Queen and her two comrades were flying just over the spot near the bank where she had ripped the white flower from the ground.
The hive was sticky, smelling both of actual honey and the rotting substance that had been dripping from their stingers. She could fit her entire house in the size of this hive, and Sterling House was fairly large indeed.
There were tunnels all around her, some larger and some smaller leading into different directions. She could hear the growing buzz in the distance that told her the bees were edging closer, having given up on their prey.
Three bees, and two knives.
Thinking up a plan, she decided to lay a trap.
Picking one of the smallest hexagonal alcoves, she spat out the rest of the flowers from her mouth and emptied her pockets of the rest. She sprinkled the flowers about the area, enticing the worker bees to come investigate.
The buzzing grew louder and Shiara climbed her way across the sticky hive until she was on the opposite side as the too-small hexagon.
The bees came buzzing in, their large but somehow beady eyes unsettling her. Their wings moved so fast they were almost invisible, and it took all of Shiara’s concentration not to gag at the smell of their rotten stingers.
The two smaller bees started buzzing, and then looked to their Queen. She was even larger up close. She began buzzing something that could have been words but didn’t seem to be at the right frequency for Shiara’s ears to comprehend. Their aura was still purple, and Shiara realized she probably could have kept at least some of the white flower with her. She might need it if her plan didn’t work.
The two worker bees went into the small hexagon where the remnants of the white flower lay. The Queen stayed in the center of the hive, watching her worker bees. She never turned to look behind her.
Shiara waited until the two bees had gone further into the hexagonal tunnel, their buzzing wings becoming more and more distant.
Not another second to waste, Shiara pulled one of her new and shiny ThornKiss Blades from her thigh holster. She aimed and threw it straight into the right wing of the Queen Bee.
She missed by a hair, the wings being almost too fast to see. She wanted to force a landing, but she knew she was still successful when the Queen started dripping blood.
With a buzz of surprise, the Queen spun around, eyes immediately locked on Shiara.
Her thrown blade settled again on her holster, returning to her now that it had met its objective.
Returning blades? Fuck yeah. The description hadn’t mentioned that.
She wondered what else the description left out, both on her daggers and all the other treasures she had passed up.
She gave the Queen no time to react. Taking her dagger once again, she aimed. This time for her head — right between her unsettling eyes.
There was a low thud as the dagger found its mark. The Queen let out a high-pitched buzz, thrashing until she landed on the sticky floor. She was so large, the impact caused reverberations through the rest of the hive. Shiara’s dagger returned to her holster.
She sprinted over to the Queen, the mana gems finally hers to take. The two gems stared up at her from the sockets of the crown of bones, their purple color taunting her. The Queen still thrashed about, but she was bleeding profusely. It was only a matter of time before she would succumb to her wounds.
The Queen still had a bit of fight in her, so Shiara drew one of her daggers, and stabbed her right in the abdomen, slicing upwards towards the head to avoid the stinger. The Queen let out a shrieking buzz, and became still.
I’m the queen now.
She reached over and used both hands to pluck the two mana gems from the crown because why not, just as the two worker bees came rushing back, ready to defend their queen. They never got the chance, as Shiara was teleported away back to Mytheris.
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Shiara landed back in the Chamber of Crystalis, the Mytheris evaluators surrounding her in a great circle. There were several dozens of them, all looking at her with varying degrees of shock.
“Miss Sterling?” Elder Maston asked, stepping closer to her, his eyes scanning her up and down. His eyes locked on to the two mana gems in her hands.
Shiara looked around and realized there were no other students in the chamber. Shiara wondered if perhaps the other students were ushered to another location, but dismissed the thought when an impression of glowing words caught her attention.
On the wall in front of her, her name shone brightly under the title: Class Rankings.
1. Shiara Sterling
No other names. She was first to pass.
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That’s the opposite of wonderfully average.
Her anxiety about passing the practical test was washed away and replaced with the new anxiety that she was the first in her class.
“Congratulations Miss Sterling!” another of the evaluators called, this one a woman with stark white hair and a cheery expression.
Elder Maston looked at Shiara expectantly.
“It has just now passed the hour mark. Do share, what was the manner of your trial? And how did you come to acquire,” he coughed, “two mana gems?”
Shiara gripped her gems tightly, their purple color soothing while she panicked internally.
Weren’t they somehow tracking the candidates in the labyrinth? Could they watch what I was doing? Were they testing her again?
She bowed formally to Elder Maston and the gathered evaluators. She began explaining the ordeal, neglecting to inform them of her Aura Sight. She wasn’t sure how they would react, and didn’t want to take the risk they might view her gift as cheating. She lied.
They won’t know about my Aura Sight if they were only observing.
“I tripped and ran right into the wall. I hit a teleportation spot, then with the bees I laid a trap. I was able to take down the Queen with these,” Shiara said, gesturing to her new blades.
“Those are some daggers you have there. It sounds like fate smiles upon you indeed.” Elder Maston declared, a small smile touching his features.
So they had been watching.
The woman evaluator spoke up again, “Though we only saw part of your trial, the feat you pulled with the white flowers was quite clever - both times.”
Shiara straightened her shoulders. She had been clever. Her Aura Sight wasn’t all she had going for her. But still, to be first? She did not want that kind of attention.
“Thank you, Elder-” Shiara stopped, not knowing her name.
“Rosenward.” She finished. “I am Elder Maston’s First Assistant. Congratulations, again. You are now a student at Mytheris Academy for Wielders.”
The rest of the gathered evaluators clapped for her enthusiastically.
“You may rest here while we wait for the remaining students. Do you require a healer?” Elder Rosenward asked.
“I do not, thank you.” Shiara replied.
The circle around her separated and Shiara saw rows of benches that had been brought into the space. She sat down, her stomach churning. She decided to put the second mana gem in her pocket for safe keeping, not wanting other students to see once they arrived.
She felt disgusting. She was still vaguely damp from her swim in the purple pond, but the liquid hadn’t stained her clothes too badly. She tried to wipe her face off as best she could, and she swept her hair off to the side and out of the way. Her hands were a little sticky from the hive, and her boots were caked with the substance. Bee blood clung to her trousers and had spewed onto her white undershirt and vest.
There was a timekeeper who periodically called out how long the Maze had been opened for the rest of the evaluators to hear. It was an additional hour before another student made their arrival.
An enormously tall young man with golden hair emerged into the center of the evaluators. His name appeared on the list of class rankings:
1. Shiara Sterling
2. Valor Barrington
Valor? What kind of name is Valor?
Shiara knew of Duke Barrington in name only, and his reputation was…less than stellar. He was known for having many bastard children and keeping only Novas, non-wielders, as household staff so that he could pay them less for their work. She had never heard of Valor Barrington, however.
Her second ranked classmate stood proudly, clutching a large blue mana gem in one fist. In his other, he gripped a large battle axe. It was about two feet long and she saw notes of residual brown, yellow, and blue aura. After some discussion with the evaluators, he came over and sat on the bench neighboring Shiara’s.
I see I’m not the only one who emerged with treasures.
Upon closer inspection, Valor Barrington was covered in quite a lot of dirt. He also had extremely large muscles, and they were emphasized by the sweat and muck covering him. Shiara tried not to look.
She studied his weapon instead. The haft of his axe had a wooden pattern on it, though it was made of what appeared to be bronze. There were small yellow and blue runes that decorated the haft among the whirls of the wooden design. It had what looked like little branches that connected the haft to the head at the top.
“I assume you would be the one and only Shiara Sterling,” Valor Barrington stated, noticing her attention. He put extra emphasis on the one. His green eyes locked with Shiara’s, and he gestured his hand towards her.
“And I assume you are Valor Barrington,” she replied.
He looked her over, eyeing her new daggers just as she had his axe.
Shiara returned to watching the evaluators.
“You are sharp indeed. No wonder you’re ranked first,” he taunted, winking at her.
He’s trying to get information out of me.
Shiara began her breathing technique to help steel her nerves.
“My daggers are sharper,” she retorted, trying to keep her expression neutral.
If I’m going to be ranked first, I better start acting like it.
He laughed, the sound a deep chuckle that Shiara could feel in her bones.
Valor took the hint and they sat in silence, watching as time passed on and the other students emerged from the labyrinth victoriously. The list grew to twenty-seven, and Shiara bounced in her seat excitedly as her friend Mei emerged, looking a little worse for wear.
Her long black hair was disheveled, and her clothes had small scorch marks on them. One sleeve of her shirt was nearly burnt off, but her skin didn’t appear harmed. She clutched a brilliant red mana gem.
After congratulations, Mei ran over and joined Shiara on her bench where a seat had been saved for her.
“You made it!” Shiara exclaimed.
At the same time, Mei cried, “You’re first!” with a proud smile.
They exchanged abridged versions of their trials, being sure to speak quietly to avoid other students over hearing. Mei had battled a fire eagle and retrieved her mana gem from its nest. She had a treasure as well, showing Shiara a golden ring with an orange opal at it’s center. They didn’t share details of their weapons with so many ears around.
The class rankings slowly grew in number. After the fourth hour, the two hundredth name finally appeared on the list. There was roughly an equal amount of boys and girls, and about forty percent of the students had emerged from their trial with a treasure. A few dozen students had to be taken to be healed, but most were minimally injured and did not require assistance.
Gems of every color were presented: purple, blue, red, orange, yellow, white, black, and almost every shade in between. Towards the end, a few of the students had appeared simultaneously with similar gems, which suggested that they had worked together in the maze. If any had found other students and not worked together, they didn’t share that information.
Was my trial meant to be completed by two students? Was that why there were two mana gems?
Shiara put it out of her mind, telling herself it wasn’t her concern.
Elder Maston’s voice boomed out, mana enhanced, and announced the Trial of the Maze of Crystalis had come to an end. So begun their ascent through the Arcanic Arts.