ROSWAAL MORROH
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“So you’ve both taken this exam twice?” I asked my party as we roamed the forest. “No two phases are ever the same. What were the tests then?”
“In our first year, we were dropped off on an island and each team was given one of five copies of keys,” Chris explained. “Each copy led to a different entrance to the meeting point and the deadline was three days. I had a good team so we passed.”
“I was unlucky,” Zwergin said as he marched proudly. “We found our door quickly but a team was camping nearby and stole our key.”
“What was the first phase for the second year?”
“We were placed at the top of a wide and tall tower with different entrances. There were entrances at the top and our goal was to make it to the bottom in five days.”
“Why not climb down from the side?”
“Some tried. They got picked off by a flock of rammots.”
“A rammot?”
“It’s a type of bird monster.”
“This one sounds harder. I take it that both of you failed?”
“Yeah, neither of us made it past phase one last year. I have a good feeling about this year, though. Acquiring a peggy should be easy.”
“Yes, they’re highly sensitive to a sudden change in mana. But other than that, they are regular birds. As long as we don’t startle them with spells, catching one the old-fashioned way should be easy.”
“Do you really think it’s that easy?” Zwergin questioned. “Everyone is pretty relaxed right now. But sooner or later, people will start to get desperate. Parties with birds will start killing other parties to decrease the competition, teams without birds will set up ambushes, and teams that have lost a teammate will act unpredictably.”
“Roswaal, what are you planning to do with the Earth, Wind, And Fire kids?” Chris used her cat tail to point to her nose. “I have an excellent sense of smell and I’ve memorized their scents. I’ll let you know if I smell them.”
“Yeah, do that. It’s good to team up with parties you know, but unless both our teams have a bird, I don’t think teaming up is a wise move. But even with birds, there’s still a chance they could slit our throats.”
“They’re children.”
“Children can be just as or even more violent than adults,” Zwergin said. “Adults don’t grow up to become killers. Children do.”
We found a giant tree resting above a boulder and chose it as our base.
Our plan was fairly simple. We either wait and, if luck was on our side, catch a peggy without jynx or steal another group’s bird.
Chris and Zwergin were my party members but they were careful not to reveal their capabilities. Even now I still didn’t know what those two were capable of. That was a smart move. Information won battles and there was no guarantee that we wouldn’t be facing each other in the next two phases.
I hadn’t yet revealed my ability to them either. But if push came to shove, I wouldn’t hesitate to. I just had to be careful not to show them all of my cards.
For the first couple of days, Bad Attitude stayed by the giant tree in hopes that a peggy would show up. Occasionally we would go out in groups of two to collect water from the lake.
On the fifth day, Zwergin and I heard an interaction that was happening. We followed the voices and hid in nearby bushes.
It was Jay Geils and his team standing over a fellow rookie protecting something. The rookie’s team were on the ground, both dead. One had been decapitated and the other cut in half.
“Just give us the bird, kid,” Jay Geils demanded. “Your team is dead. You can’t advance to phase two without them. Just hand it over.”
“I-I-I can’t,” the kid answered. “They told me to protect it…”
“You’re not listening. Your team is dead. Keeping the bird to yourself is useless. If you give the bird to us, we’ll make sure their sacrifice wasn’t in vain.”
The rookie wouldn’t budge, continuing to hug the birdcage.
I tapped Zwergin on the shoulder. “Do you think—”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“No,” the dwarf said. “Jay Geils is a prick, but he’s no killer. At least that’s what he’s led us to believe.”
“This should be easy then. What do you say? Do you think the two of us can take on the three of them?”
“I don’t even know what you’re capable of. We’ve still got two days to catch a peggy. Patience is key.”
“Yes, good things come to those who wait. But not to those who wait too long,” I retorted. “Opportunities come and go. Don’t regret not grabbing one.”
“Fine then. I’ll cause a distraction and you grab the cage from the kid.”
I shook my head. “Can’t do that. The kid’s not prepared for this. She’ll die out here if we leave her alone. I want that kid to come with us.”
“Have you gone mad? We have no possible idea what that kid is going to do.”
“We can always take this exam again next year. Or does the name Van sound so good that you’d let a child die?”
Zwergin sighed. “Fine. But if that kid pulls something and we fail as a result, it’s on you.”
That’s something I can deal with.
“White Stripes!” I announced as a thick cloud appeared beside me, materializing into a humanoid clown.
“I see,” Zwergin said. “You’re a Familiar User.”
White Stripes’ ability was to summon smoke that I can control however I wanted. I had my Familiar create cloud clones in the shape of Chris, Ilias, Thaddeus, and Erina. The smoke was completely white, but I was able to change its colour by changing certain parts of the clones into a different density and therefore distorting the reflecting light.
I called these clones Cloud Troopers.
“Leave the kid alone,” I ordered as Zwergin, the Cloud Troopers, and I approached the scene. “You were annoying, but I never took you as a murderer.”
“I’m not,” Jay Geils argued. “This kid’s team managed to catch a peggy, but unknowingly walked into rammot territory. We heard the commotion and saved her. Her friends weren't as lucky.”
“The girl is thankful for that but that is her team’s peggy. We kindly ask you to leave.”
“We saved the girl, her team is dead, and she has a peggy. Even if she has the bird, she’s not passing without her team. We just want the peggy.”
“Her team died for that bird, she’s not going to just give it away.”
Jay Geils irritatedly stomped on the ground. “My Apocalypse!”
Jay Geils’ teammates jumped ahead of the fire, heading straight for the girl. Since the Thaddeus and Erina clones were closest to her, I had them stand in the way.
Before the fire could get to me, I had White Stripes turn the remaining troopers into a shield to protect me. Zwergin sucked the flames near him and returned it to Jay Geils, who blocked it by summoning a Doom And Gloom orb to absorb the attack.
Just then, Jay Geils’ teammates grabbed the girl and boosted themselves up a tree.
The commotion attracted three giant bird-like monsters with blunt beaks and inverted wings.
Rammot!
“No!” the girl cried. “No, not them! Please, not them!”
A rammot dove from the air in an attempt to attack the girl and Jay Geils’ teammates. But at the last second, it dodged and spun around, attacking one of its own.
Zwergin rubbed his opaque eyes which turned back to normal. “Roswaal, it’s hard to stay warged in these monsters. You’ll have to catch the girl.”
Zwergin’s eyes turned opaque once more as he warged into one of the rammot. The bird monster swooped down and plucked the girl from the branches before dropping her above me. White Stripes summoned smoke beneath her to cushion her fall.
Jay Geils and his team were gone by the time we finished the last rammot.
“T-they ripped it from my hands when we were up in the trees,” the girl cried. “What am I going to do?”
“It’s fine, girl,” Zwergin said. “You’re safe and that’s all that matters.”
Just then, both of Jay Geils’ teammates approached us and handed over the cage the girl wanted so desperately to keep safe.
“What’s the point of all that if you were just going to give the bird back?” the dwarf questioned.
I chuckled playfully. “You still haven’t noticed?” I made White Stripes morph Jay Geils’ teammates back into Thaddeus and Erina. “I had my Cloud Troopers knock the real guys into the bushes and impersonate them while we were busy dealing with Jay Geils.”
Zwergin roared with laughter. “You are someone I definitely don’t want to face off against.”
I bent down to the girl. “What’s your name?”
“Billie Jean.”
“Listen, Billie.” I handed her the birdcage. “We’ll keep you safe and let you hold onto the bird, but once we’re back at the rendezvous, we’ll take it, okay? You already know that you can’t pass, but I know you don’t want your party members’ deaths to be in vain. We’ll take the bird and, in your stead, make sure their deaths meant something.”
Billie hugged the cage. “Thank you.”
Since there was no reason for us to conceal our mana anymore, I had White Stripes summon troopers to carry the bodies of Billie’s party back to our base.
“What’s all of this?” Chris asked curiously, her tail playfully fidgeting. “And a girl with a peggy!”
Zwergin and I explained everything that happened, causing Chris to complain about how she was left out of the action.
“At least we have a peggy. And there’s still two more days until phase one ends,” Chris told herself. “There’s still enough time for people to come after us. I can get some action then.”
“Don’t sound so enthusiastic about it, you damn cat!” Zwergin complained. “People will get desperate in the coming days and this whole island will be engulfed in chaos when that happens.”
“Don’t worry about that.” I ordered the troopers to start digging temporary graves for Billie’s teammates. “I’ve got something that’ll keep us safe from the danger.”
Zwergin sat down with Billie in an attempt to calm her anxiety while Chris continued to bug me about this ability I was hiding. But the quiet moment was disrupted by a familiar explosion down by the lake—followed by a mushroom of smoke. Just for a quick moment, it rained ice and it didn’t take long to put the pieces together.
Those idiots…
Chaos would be descending faster than we had expected.