At the place where the Trial of Ceiline was taking place, the trees were replaced with high walls of an ancient ruin, overgrown with vines and bushes. There were multiple arched entrances, all of them numbered, and anyone finding the location had to choose one and enter the Trial. Their mission was simple… find their way into the middle and get their reward, the Golden Egg. Nobody knew how many correct paths were there, but they soon realized many led them straight out, redirecting them to the starting point.
The moment anyone entered the maze, a weird sensation washed over them, making them lose all sense of direction, failing to tell where was north or south. The first few people only walked around for half an hour before reappearing from one of the archways, never once realizing they were lost inside. On their second try, they tried to scale the ruined, moss-filled walls only for a weird, little peashooter to appear atop it, blowing slimy balls at them angrily until they let go of the wall. When they tried to fight back, directing their own spells at it, the vines suddenly on the walls stretched forward, blocking the spells. Then came the wild trembling of the earth, and the walls began to contract, spurring them to run and scatter when faced with multiple forks before them. After their incident, they were lost in the maze completely, only stumbling back out of it two hours later.
Finally, word spread, and some of the groups started selling their clues for CP to the newcomers. What was confirmed by then was that the walls couldn't be attacked or manipulated, or it would constantly change both before and behind them, raising the difficulty to a whole new level. Climbing was also out of the question as peashooters would appear, attacking them relentlessly. The more powerful spells they used, the more little plants popped up from nowhere, getting extra fierce and dangerous. Later they discovered that if using spells within the confines of the mase, not touching the wall with them, they were allowed to do so without any violent reaction from their surroundings. Soon, every group had their most proficient members use magic to try and find the correct way, either by following air currents, listening to the thumping of the earth, or trying to find the source of the vines.
"Are we going in?" A young, 14-year-old boy asked, part of a small party of just five, all of them being first-year students with varying elements and relatively weak powers. They only started to learn about magic this year, coming from a humble background from non-magical parents, so none of them even dared to try and apply to join the Misfits. They planned to do so next year but couldn't miss a chance to participate in the famous Egg Hunt.
"Sure we are!" A girl of a similar age nodded excitedly.
"I asked some of the others." Another boy hurried back to them, "It was a bit expensive, but they told me some tips!" He recounted what he had learned as they randomly entered one of the gates.
"So we can't use magic…" The first boy spoke up; his name was Timothy, coming from a city-state that bordered the House of Honu's territory.
"Not that we have any spells that would be good in a fight!" The girl, Melior, giggled, scratching her bronze-colored cheeks sheepishly. "We just started!"
"Yeah," Timothy teased her, "You should not cast any spells, Meli! You have no control over your fire!"
"I… improved!" She protested, making the rest laugh as they simply walked forward without any plan, turning randomly at any crossroads they arrived at.
"You all do realize we will be lost in here like this? Probably until the whole thing is over?" The group's oldest member, Ashur, a 15-year-old boy, sighed, running his fingers through his white hair and squinting against the sunlight with his red eyes. Being an albino, originating from the northern part of the continent, from a very small kingdom, he was greatly troubled by the arriving, hot summer. For him, the summer was cloudy but pleasantly warm, around 10 degrees Celsius. This...? This was torture.
"We are only lost if we believe we are lost!" Melior said proudly, making the others look at each other, confused. "And… I was thinking now…"
"That does not bode well!" The rest said in unison, and before they could say anything, Melior jumped up, casting a spell under her feet, making them act like rocket boosters, hurtling her toward the sky.
"Meli!" They shouted, but the peashooters already appeared at the top of the wall, ready to attack.
"Hey!" Melior laughed, waving at them, "Can you help us?"
To everyone's surprise, the little plants stopped, their angry faces turning friendly at once, blowing bubbles and bouncing around happily.
"You can?" Melior asked again, wholly stunned that it worked, falling back to the ground.
When her feet touched the dirt, two new peashooters sprung up before them, hopping around playfully before going forth, stopping and looking at them expectantly as if wanting to lead them on. The little group of friends was mesmerized by what had happened, pursuing them without asking questions.
"They are cute!" Melior moaned, unable to hold back and rush forth, patting one of their heads, making it blow many more colorful bubbles from its round mouth, blinking its beady eyes happily.
"Asking for help…" They looked at each other with a befuddled expression.
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Nobody tried that yet. Everybody thought, themselves included, that the little ones were there to prevent them from cheating… or gauge their strength. They heard some of the groups making alliances to overpower them and beat the labyrinth that way. But asking them for help? Nobody mentioned something like that. It took them around ten minutes, following the little bouncing plants, to arrive at a circular clearing where Ceiline was waiting, smiling, holding a head-sized golden egg in her arms.
"I did not think this would happen." She giggled, watching them come closer, barely believing what they were seeing, rubbing their eyes in awe.
Around Ceiline, the grass was soft, filled with small, blooming flowers, all following her, turning towards her as she walked forward. They were like sunflowers, always turning towards their sun, Ceiline. Multiple little peashooters were hopping around happily, bubbling and trumpeting a children's song, painting an otherworldly but peaceful scenery.
"You… did not?" Melior asked, her voice casual as if asking a friend, making the others nervously nudge her, "Then why did they lead us here?"
"Because you asked for help!" Ceiline laughed, walking closer to them, stretching her hands out, and giving her the egg. "Their core is ingrained with the will to help others. I did tell them to help anyone who asked them, but I did not expect someone would truly do it! Good job…" She whispered, watching the youngsters with a warm gaze, and as soon as Melior touched the Egg, a bright light enveloped them all, teleporting them back to the starting point.
"What… happened?" They looked around, confused, while other participants glanced at them only once, thinking they were sent out because they were almost crushed by the changing walls or killed by the weird plant-like creatures.
"Come!" Melior gulped, pulling them away.
No matter how hard they looked, none of them saw the golden egg. Still, when they were finally alone, Melior projected the message from her bracelet that had been beeping at her for minutes by now. When it appeared, it congratulated Melior for reaching the end of the Trial of Nature and obtaining a Golden Egg, being amongst the very first people who did so. The moment the rest raised their hands, looking at their own bracelets, they all had the same message. Even more… they all had the chance to enter any of the other challenges, now shown directly on their maps.
"Are we… going to try?" Timothy asked, licking his lips, feeling excited.
"We should!" Melior answered. "And look! The fact that the Trial of Nature is still there… means that anyone who reaches the end should get rewarded!"
"Maybe… this is why there was no announcement?" Ashur murmured, crossing his arms. He religiously examined all the recordings of the Mifits' three appearances in the Egg Hunt, memorizing all the previous rules and events in preparation for this one. All of the first years knew about the Misfits and their deeds as they were the only student organization to ever be barred from entering it… and instead, they were being tasked with hosting it. "Everyone can win it… there are no limits put up by the System!"
"Why?" One of them asked, and after a brief silence, Ashur replied.
"I think those who can reach it are to be rewarded, no matter how many do… that is why we can work together! I think the Headmaster wants to find all of those who are worthy of nurturing, not just by their talents! That is what I would do! With all of us receiving the CP that one egg represents… we just made sure that we could support ourselves in the remaining three years without any problems!"
"If it is true," Melior smiled, watching her friends, "It would be best to live up to that notion! So let's go! We should try another one!"
…
….
……
At a different part of the forest, a group of twenty students were huddled together, stopping and trying to find their nerves. They were a mix and match of four groups, starting out as a band of thirty-five, but the rest was already gone and ejected back to their starting point. They were traveling the forest randomly when they stumbled into the Trial of Darkness. The warm sun was instantly gone, replaced by a starless, black sky and a chilling cold as if they traveled into a different reality. Now every tree looked like a monster, hiding something deadly, which was not far from the truth. Without their knowledge, their minds were constantly under the assault of a fear spell, weighing down on their subconscious stronger and stronger as they remained in the forest.
"What is it?" One of the 'leaders' asked, watching his comrade suddenly raise his head from their map.
"I… I thought I heard something." He murmured, trying to listen as many others were already turning and twisting their heads with fear in their eyes.
Their Trial was clear as a message popped up for them immediately, saying, follow the route and escape. Since then, they had been stumbling forward in the darkness, barely seeing five or six meters ahead and unable to sense their surroundings. What was even worse was that randomly, shadowy figures dressed in all-black, wearing demonic masks, attacked them. They were working as a completely silent, perfect team and assassinating those who lagged behind, or they simply kidnapped them, dragging them away into the darkness just so the System's message would tell them they had been returned to the starting point.
"We are halfway there…." Another trembling voice whispered, watching the red route outlined on their map projecting from her bracelet.
"I don't know…" Her friend, from the same starting group, whispered. "Since following this path, we have been dwindling in numbers, and we couldn't even touch them! This… this road appeared from nowhere! Why are we trusting it? We don't even know its origin! This could easily be a trap!"
There was no immediate answer to his words, but some did share his thoughts, even if it was uttered from frustration. He felt like their spells just did not want to work correctly. It always came out at half strength, or the aim was off. It was something that further increased their fear and hopelessness, constantly feeding their mistakes and worries, doubling the deterioration of their offensive and defensive capabilities.
In the end, the twenty-person group splintered again, and ten of them left, following the trail on their maps, while the rest remained still. There was much uncertainty about whether they did the right thing or not and hesitating about what to do next. It took them over ten minutes to move forward again, deviating from their 'route' following a randomly chosen direction.
"Interesting." Aurora signed with her hand, crouching atop a tree, watching the splintered group from behind her demonic mask. Beside her crouched one of her subordinates, answering with sign language.
"Which one should we follow?"
"The one that is on the road. Dwindle down their numbers; they are going in circles anyway! If they are stupid enough to be enticed by an unknown 'treasure,' then they are disqualified from getting my Golden Egg!"
"Acknowledged!" He signed back, disappearing without making a noise.
"Now… let's see if this group can keep their confidence." Aurora smiled, watching the rest, following them without their knowledge. "If after a few ambushes, they keep at it… Not returning to my 'path...' Then these guys will earn their eggs!"