Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Chapter 7.5: Earth, Wind, And Fire

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ROSWAAL MORROH

"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.