I observed my surroundings for my plan.

And yes, I'll admit, this is going to be an insane plan.

I stepped out from the bushes, and I took a few steps closer to the still-dazed rhino. I raised my staff and created a snowball, now, this will be the 'insane' part.

I took a deep breath, swung my arm as quietly as possible, and threw the snowball, at the rhinoceros. The snowball hit it right in its booty. The rhino trumpeted in frustration and turned around to face the direction where the snowball came from (oh, that's where I am!)

The rhino exhaled steam from its nostrils, blood vessels had started to appear on its face, I had succeeded in triggering it. I turned to Eloise, who was staring at us, and from the loon on her face, she was probably thinking of something like, Yeah, he's an idiot.

And I agree with her.

I faced the rhino, "That's right! I threw that snowball at you! And I'm proud of it!" I yelled at the gigantic beast.

Actually, I'm not proud of throwing snowballs at endangered and magnificent mammals. The rhino stomped its hooves, it let out a more powerful trumpet, furious on what I just did. This signals that it's time for the second phase of my plan, and it will only work on whether I can outrun it or not... The rhino charged, and it is already a few meters away from me when I had started running.

I chanted the Second Position, and tapped my staff to the ground, causing the path in front of us to freeze. The path is now more slippery, and also more slide-like. I sat down so that I won't fall, which will result in my plan failing, and sadly, I don't have a plan B. We slid down past trees, the rhino seems to accelerate towards me due to the ice, despite this, everything is going perfectly.

The Pyro snorted in confusion, it's like as if it never saw ice before, or it didn't know that ice is slippery. But that didn't stop it from trying to get closer to me so that it can squash me or pierce me with its horns. I should get off now, my back hurts sliding down at high speeds, but I can't stop now, we're almost done, just for a few more seconds.

I scanned through our surroundings before I put this 'insane' plan to motion, I recalled that there's a huge boulder in front of us, and it will be in sight any moment now.

Any moment now...

I saw an object with a sharp top in front of us, there it is, the final step. Before I knew it, I was only a few inches away from the boulder, I ducked out from my 'ice path', and landed into some bushes (there are lots of bushes around here), but the landing still hurts. The Pyro was too slow and confused to react on what's happening, and before it could comprehend on the situation, it crashed head first into the boulder.

The boulder now has a large crack on it. The rhino grunted, its eyes rolled up, and it collapsed. I stepped closer to the Pyro to check on it, it wasn't moving, but thankfully, it unconsciously let out a loud snore. Which is proof that, this Pyro Rhinoceros is still alive.

I got up, and sighed with relief that the rhinoceros was fine, before bursting out laughing at my own victory, "Hello? You alright?" Eloise's voice made me realise that I almost forgotten that she is there. "Yeah! Give me a moment!" I answered.

I managed to climb out and reunite with her. Now, that our odd-toed ungulate foe has been defeated, I would need to do something with Eloise's leg wound, "This will get chilly." I told her as I created an 'ice-bandage'. I wrapped it around her wound, I don't even know how does these kinds of magic work. The bandage that I had created from the ice is actually soft and is elastic like a normal cloth.

"Thanks." Eloise whispered, since we knew that the Pyro Rhinoceros won't be the last creature that we'll encounter. "I don't know your name yet." She added, "Oh, yeah. It's Edward." I replied, and I took a royal bow, "Edward Clifford the First." Her eyes widened, "The First... Wait, so you're a?" I tilted my head, "Yes?"

"Holy... I'm Eloise Carmichael the First of the kingdom of Skyremia." She, too took a royal bow as she said that. My eyes twitched a little, and I gasped. "Really? I heard of that kingdom!" "Same as yours!" Eloise replied excitedly. This is the first time that I had met another prince (princess, in this situation) from another kingdom, since they rarely go out due to their fame. "Right," I said, "We have to keep moving. Are you able to walk?" Eloise tried to stand up, but she winced as she tried to move her leg with the cut injury.

I helped her to get up, and offered to carry her if she can't take the pain. But she denied it and I secretly agreed as well, it's embarrassing and awkward to carry a girl. I found a cool piece of wood that is perfect for a walking stick. We decided to team up for each other's safety. "Since this forest is a hill, I think we should move upwards and then we'll go down." Eloise told me, I nodded with agreement as we continued on with our journey.

And until today, I never knew that primates can be so horrifying.

As we hiked upwards, hopefully to the top of the hill, with Eloise used her staff to make a torch, since her Element is Fire, and with me at the back, ready to protect her from any creature who wouldn't want to miss out an opportunity of tackling an injured princess.

I heard some strange growls and chirps in the distance, those sounds must have been the calls of the creatures native to the sanctuary. And sometimes, I can hear screaming, from people too. And according to Owen, the contestants can't die since there will be a barrier that will protect them before the creatures can manage to deliver a could-be fatal attack to the contestants.

But, the experience must have been terrifying to those contestants. Being cornered by a aggressive beast and having the thoughts that they were about to be killed, even if it's clear that they won't.

Another sound, much closer this time, awakened me from my thoughts.

I heard a grunt from the canopy above us. Me, along with Eloise, raised our staffs, preparing to cast spells onto the mysterious entity, and also preparing to hold our staffs back just in case that the grunt actually came from another fellow contestant.

The being grunted again. But this time, it was followed by another grunt, coming from the bushes behind us. Then more grunts responded from the canopy, and soon, it seems that they were coming from every direction.

"What's going on?" I asked Eloise, who turned to me with a nervous look. "I have the same question in mind too." I'm not sure on what these fellows are, and my instincts are telling me that we should get out of here, right now.

But they have other plans.

A shadowy figure leaped down from the canopy, and landed in front of us. We turned our staffs to point at it, ready to cast a spell. The figure stepped out from the shadows and into the moonlight, which was bright enough for me to figure out what it is.

It was a baboon. And like the Pyro Rhinoceros before, it looks like a average Chacma baboon, with a dog-like face and large, canine teeth (which makes it look way scarier). But, by the looks of it, this guys definitely wants to pick a fight with someone, which is, us in this situation. And unlike normal baboons, this one has a crest on its head, which resembles a helmet that soldiers wear.

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The baboon grunted loudly, and more loud grunts responded from the canopy as more baboons appeared, snarling at us as they bared their teeth. Some of them are notably smaller, and they lack the helmet-like crests on their heads. So those must have been the females of the troop, but that doesn't take away the fact they, like the larger males, want to pick a fight with us too.

And soon, we were surrounded by the troops.

The baboon that first appeared stepped forward to observe us, it looks like it is the leader of this troop. We turned our staffs to the baboon leader, not wanting to let our guards down. The leader eyed our staffs, and growled. "We should lower our staffs." I whispered to Eloise. "They might find them threatening."

Eloise, gave me a 'you can't be serious' look. "I know what they are." She whispered back.

"I don't think we should take our chances in fighting these guys, we're outnumbered two to like, thirty." I spoke in a assuring tone. "But-" "No. Let's try to convince them into letting us go instead."

Eloise, though reluctant, finally agreed to lower our magical sources of defense. In hopes of bringing my imaginative formula of this situation to life, and let me demonstrate.

So, a prince plus a princess, minus two weird magic sticks, put these two in a parentheses, times a angry troop of baboons, equals to a satisfied troop of baboons. And a satisfied troop of baboons plus a harmless prince, plus a harmless princess, equals to the baboons letting us go. And finally, a prince plus a princess, minus a troop of baboons, equals to a happy prince and princess.

And hopefully the formula that I made works out well. But, it seems that I may have messed it up.

Instead of being satisfied that we had lowered our weapons, the baboon leader made an expression as if he was grinning. He let out an blood-curdling grunt, and two baboons stepped forward and bared their teeth, revealing their lovely and beautifully sharp canines. The two baboons snarled, and charged at us.

It's a good thing that I'm still holding my staff.

I chanted the Second Position, and tapped my staff to the ground. The path in front of us froze into ice, and the baboon duo were unfortunate to slip on it and fall on their faces. This would have been hilarious if the baboon troop didn't decide to become more aggressive.

The rest of the baboons stared at the scene with shock, the two baboons who fell on their faces began to get up, and the two gave me a raging death-glare. I may have succeeded in defending ourselves from the first attack, but I may have also proved that we are a threat to the troop.

More baboons decided to charge at us, and I did the same thing again; turn the ground to ice so that more baboons will fall on their faces. Baboons began to slip and fall, it was going so well, until they manage to figure out that they can just avoid the ice and use another path: the trees.

The baboon leader, alongside seven more baboons, began to climb the trees. They swung from branch to branch, and they landed a few meters in front of us, in front of the ice trap. They snarled as they approached us, I was prepared to cast a snowball (though I'm sure that it won't do any good) or craft a non-lethal weapon. And that's Eloise's time to shine.

"Element of Fire. First Position. Raging Wall."

She chanted and tapped her staff to the ground, while carving a line on the soil with her staff's end. Before the baboons can lunge at us, a wall of flames burst out between us and the primates, in the form of a line. The baboons shrieked with fear as they backed away from the firewall. The leader and his volunteers began to distance themselves from the fire. The baboon leader howled, and the troop began to retreat back into the forest, with some slipping on the ice in the process too.

"Sorry!" Eloise apologized to the baboons as they retreated. I was speechless on what had happened. And I only managed to speak once the flames died out.

"W-what?" I asked. "That was..." "They're Corythopithikos." Eloise replied. "It means helmet monkey in Greek, they got it from the crests on the males. And yeah, they fear fire, they'll even flee at the sight of a candle."

I facepalmed myself. "Sorry, I should've listened to you." Eloise smiled, "It's no biggie, I do agree that we should end this without causing harm to either side. And, this is my gratitude for you saving me from the Pyro Rhinoceros."

I nodded. "Thanks. And, we should be heading to the top right now." Eloise nodded back with approval, and we continued on.

We finally managed to reach the top in a few minutes.

From the top of the hill, the scenery was the most relaxing thing I have seen so far. The crescent moon shining down on us, the trees blowing smoothly in the peaceful wind, I can even see the lake where the first game took place, where it reflects the shining moonlight.

I wanted to stay here forever, the place is so calm, that I almost managed to forget the encounters with the beasts. But, I knew that we have a game to win.

We sat down, and we took a break. It feels more cooler at the top since we are on the top of a hill, plus the temperature always drops at night. We saw some footprints of shoes and some paw or claw marks, that will mean that someone and something had been here before.

We decided that we follow the footprints of the shoes after our short break. We did stop again since we found some food and drinks on a random table, I realised that I haven't ate anything since I got here, and I remembered that Owen said that there will be food and drink supplies here, maybe this table is an example.

We took another short break as we ate and drank, but we made sure that we didn't take much so that the other contestants who happen to stumble upon this table will have something to eat and drink. More creatures stood in our way (including one very, angry sparrow), we fended them off, with some minor bruises and lots of sparrow pecks, which hurts a lot.

We noticed that it is going to be daybreak in a few... well, I'm not sure, since it sucks to not have a watch with you. After freezing the legs of an unlucky and unfriendly Loch Llama as it was distracted by a mini fireball (the spit that they spit out is really hot). I saw an opening between the trees in front of us, I looked at the sky, light started to shone down from the treetops, I held Eloise's hand, (cause I want her to keep up with me, it's not what you think it is), and we walked towards the opening.

I estimated that there were forty of us at the start.

Now, there were ten of us left, which includes the two of us, the JJJ triplets, the Pharaoh guy, a girl with a white hood which covers half of her face, Gunther, and my friends: Felix and Aisha.

But, this also revealed that many other contestants didn't make it through the night, including the guy who ditched us. But, I don't blame him for his actions. Many people would have fled from the sight of a rampaging, flame-resistant rhinoceros, it's a natural fight-or-flight-or-freeze situation. Which I had thankfully chose to fight.

"He didn't make it out, didn't he?" Eloise asked, with worry in her eyes. "You mean the guy who left us and fled?" I asked, she nodded. "I first met him when he was at the mercy of the Pyro Rhino, I then distracted it to save him. And he..." She sighed. "He looked so timid and terrified, he could barely raise his staff... I-I don't know how is he going to defend himself without our help..."

"Edward! You made it out!" Felix exclaimed and waved at me, Aisha was with him, smiling at the fact that I made it out. I waved back, and turned to Eloise. "Those are my buds." I told her, I waved at Felix and Aisha to come to my side. "Guys, this is Eloise, from the kingdom of Skyremia. Eloise..." I turned to her and whispered. "What's your surname again?"

"Carmichael the First." Eloise answered out loud. "Right! And introducing my friends:" Felix and Aisha took a bow. "I'm Felix Malcolm." Felix said, "And this is Aisha Powell." He added and pointed to Aisha. Eloise nodded and shook hands with them, but she looks a bit nervous with she did that, I'm not sure why though...

"GOOD MORNING FELLOW SURVIVORS!!!!!!!" We all covered our ears as Owen's voice boomed with his loudspeaker. "Jeez, can he please stop shouting for once?" Gunther mumbled as he covered his ears. And for once, I kinda agree with him, Owen seriously needs to talk without his loudspeaker.

"Nope," A girl with the white hood replied to him. "I don't think he will..." "For those who are here, you had completed all the three games in your first Magician Games!" Owen continued. "Congrats! And, for the ones who had lost, this isn't the end! You all will have a chance to shine in The Magician Games next year! You can do it!"

After that, we received our trophies, which would be proof that we had completed this year's Magician Games. The four of us walked together to reunite with our families, with the exception of Eloise, since a pair of medics (I can tell from their clothing) arrived to assist her, and the princess agreed that she would need proper medical attention for her injury.

Ah! I had almost forgotten that she had an injury on her leg, and the bandage that I had made has already melted offscreen.

A few more medics arrived to check on the winner's injuries, some of them concluded that some of us were fine, while others would need to go to the hospital, like the Pharaoh for example, who got a cut on his forehead. And for those who are fine, are allowed to go home.

Claude was waiting for me, he nodded with approval once I got to his side, I waved back at my friends, who are by their families' side, and we began to walk down the... oh no, I forgot! THE STAIRS!!!

NO!!!!