Morningstar

There are worse things than death, Ilya repeats in her mind. She watches the dart that struck her on her right leg. She is not feeling the pain; her adrenaline is too high to feel it. She continues running, using her shield to block the others upcoming darts. She strikes her rapier at the woman near her. The woman rises her shield to block it, and that’s when Ilya witnesses a dart hit the woman on the waist. With that small second of distraction, Ilya stabs her rapier in the woman’s neck.

They had arrived at a huge part of the caverns. Shin had instantly said that it was a trap. It was indeed. Darts began to be thrown out from the walls. Ilya would have made it through the obstacle course if it weren’t for the four people that appeared from another team.

As Ilya pulls out her rapier from the dead body’s neck, she sprints towards the next person, but she sees all three of them turn around and run away. She reconsiders following them but stops. She needs to help her team. Her team goes first than a kill.

She places the rapier on the belt around her wrist. She goes to the dead body and steals her shield. She spots Rin jumping and then rolling on the ground to evade the coming darts. “Rin,” Ilya yells. She throws her the shield that she stole. Rin catches it and uses it to deflect the darts.

Ilya searches for the rest of her team. She finds Xeon walking fast. His black cloak covers him completely except his head. He moves smoothly evading every dart without stressing about it. She knows that he is fine. She looks for Shin who is running as fast as he can. Shin is the same height as Xeon, but he is bigger than him. This part of the trial is going to be more difficult to him.

She dashes towards him. She moves her shield, blocking the darts that are difficult to evade. When she gets to Shin, she doesn’t speak. She jumps on his back and he holds her as if they are having a fun time in a piggyback ride. He sprints as Ilya uses her shield to block the darts from hitting her and him. She is glad that he is stuck with her on the trial. They both know how each other think.

When they reach the end of the room, he lets go of her. “Thanks,” he says as he catches his breath.

“Don’t mention it,” Ilya says as she lets go of her shield. She is breathing heavily, more than usual after a workout. “Let me… sit for a while.” She sits down on the floor.

“What’s wrong?” Rin asks.

“That,” Xeon says as he points at Ilya’s leg. She forgot that she was hit by one of the darts.

Rin throws herself on the floor. She pulls the dart from her and scans it. “Fuck,” she says. “Poison.” She throws the dagger away from them. “Xeon, the backpack!”

“What kind?” Shin asks as Xeon gives the backpack to Rin.

“I don’t know,” Rin answers. She checks the backpack. “Fuck. There isn’t anything in here that can help. Give me one of your axes.”

Shin does. She uses the axe to cut part of Ilya’s pants to expose Ilya’s injure. Ilya sees her injure. It is already turning black. “This is bad,” Rin says as she lets go of the axe. She then presses her mouth against Ilya’s leg. Ilya feels her suctioning. She is trying to get rid of the poison before it spreads. Rin spits on the floor before returning her mouth to the exposed injure. She repeats for a while.

Rin then takes a bottle of water from the backpack. She takes a big sip and spits the water on the floor. She is cleaning her mouth. “That’s the best that I can do,” she says as she closes the bottle of water.

“How long does she have?” Shin asks. Ilya feels her body becoming number by the second. “Not long,” she says. She looks at Ilya. “Remain awake. I have a plan.” She looks at Shin. “Carry her. The only chance that we now have is to finish the trial and hope that Morning won’t let one of the winners die.”

***

Zanna watches the shadows that the flame of the torch creates. She looks at each person in her team. Her team couldn’t be any different. Killam is holding a backpack that they were given at the beginning of the trial. He hasn’t spoken much since the trial started. He only argued with Norm when Norm wanted to take the backpack but his big sword, which he carries is against his back, wouldn’t let him. Fey offered to take the torch and lead the way.

“Did you say something?” Norm asks Killam.

“No,” Killam says. “You must be–”

“Shh!” Fey says as she stops. She holds one hand high, stopping them from moving or talking. “I hear something.”

Zanna focus her eyesight, but she cannot see past what the flame shines. She closes her eyes, trusting her ears. The first thing that she hears are small steps closing in. Then she hears a growl that is starting to turn into a snarl.

“Wolves,” Fey whispers. She must know. She is one of the hunters. Zanna grabs her rifle as she takes a couple of steps back. She won’t be of much help if she is in front. She throws the torch to Killam. “Whatever you do, do not let it turn off. We need as much light as possible.”

Zanna places one knee on the floor in order to keep enough balance. She looks through the scope. She keeps staring at the darkness, hearing the steps and the growl. She hears Norm pull his sword from his back and Killam take one of his katanas. Then she sees the first pair of yellow eyes. She points to the middle of them and fires. She hears the wolf cry. That’s when the trial starts for Zanna.

Every single wolf picks up their pace. They jump at each of their pray. Zanna keeps pointing through her scope and shooting. She manages to shoot one. It falls to its side before she turns to another one that is stalking its way towards Killam. She shoots it.

How many wolves are there? She tries to guess, maybe twenty or thirty. She stands up quickly. She needs to retrocede. She cannot make the shots this close to their target. She runs several feet before turning around and kneeling. She sees Killam throw the torch at Fey and pull his other katana just in time to stab a wolf.

Zanna continues shooting. She changes positions when another wolf founds her. This is the weakness of her weapons. It is difficult to use her rifle in fights where she is forced to fight up close to her target.

“Norm,” Fey calls. She throws the torch towards him. He launches towards it but doesn’t catch it. The torch falls to the ground, its flame extinguishing.

“Shit,” Killam swears.

“Use your ears,” Fey shouts.

Zanna closes her eyes. She has done this multiple time before. She has used her rifle in the dark. It has been hard to find her target when it is far, but this time her target is close. She can use her ears to find them.

She hears a growl and shoots. She hears the wolf’s cry. She focuses on hearing another one. She hears Norm struggle. She now knows where he is. She shouldn’t shoot there. Before she moves, she hears a wolf growl. She turns, but she feels something push her. She pushes back in the dark, trying to keep the wolf away from her. She punches towards where she thinks the head is, but she misses. How can she kill it? How can she stop all of these wolves in the dark, where she can’t see but they can?

Then, she feels the wolf separate from her. Someone must have pushed it away from her. She kneels and begin searching for her rifle. She needs to help. She hears the cries of the wolves, one behind the other. Then when she finds the rifle, a flame comes to life. Icarus is standing with the torch in his hand. Around him lies a pool of blood and wolves.

“Icarus,” Fey breathes. Zanna has never been so happy to see him.

“Are you all right?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Killam asks as he looks at his arm. He has a bite of a wolf on it.

“Made it just in time,” Norm says.

“I did,” Icarus admits. “One second more–”

That’s when Zanna feels it. The cold breeze hits her. She smells lavender in the air. The cold breeze lasts a second, but the smell lingers. She knows what it is. She has heard Icarus mention it. This has to be the feeling of some magic.

Icarus hands the torch to Fey. “Go that way. Turn right and continue going down. That will lead you to the exit.”

“What are you going to –” but Fey doesn’t finish because Icarus sprints away.

Zanna knows that whoever is using magic must be in some kind of peril.

***

“One goes up and one goes down,” Hakea says as he looks at both of the openings. “Which way should we take?”

Moneo scans both of his options. They could be already underground and going further down will complicate their lives. They could go up, but there is the possibility that they are in some kind of mountain.

“Up,” Slier says.

“I vote down,” Tilray says.

“Why don’t we decide it by luck?” Moneo says. He looks around for something and finds a rock. He picks it up and passes it near the flame of the torch that he is holding until it burns one side of the stone, turning it black. “I’ll throw this rock in the air. If it lands with the burned part up, we go up. If it lands with the burned part down, we go down. Alright?”

“Fine,” Tilray says as Hakea and Slier nod.

Moneo throws the rock in the air. He watches it flip around several times. He is not hoping for anything in particular. Either way it lands, they will be progressing to a new part of the dungeon. When the rock lands, Moneo leans in the torch. The cleared gray side is up, which means that the burned side is down.

“Down it is,” he says.

He leads the way down the tunnel. Slier, Tilray, nor Hakea argue. They follow him. He thinks of other things. He doesn’t want to think about Beta, or he will start worrying about her, even though he knows that she can handle everything that is thrown towards her. He thinks about what he will do once he is out of this trial. He will hold Beta close, kissing every bare skin of her. He will joke with Kobo until he laughs his ass off. He will mock Fey until she yells at him.

“Is it me or is it turning colder?” Hakea asks.

Moneo hadn’t noticed, but now that Hakea said it, he does. The temperature has dropped significantly. He looks up, searching for anything that might give a clue of the sudden change, but he doesn’t. Then when he looks back at the path, he stops. “Wait!”

Everyone stops walking. He lowers himself. There is a pool in front of them. He moves the torches around. There is no way past it. The only way to continue is by swimming.

“No way out,” Slier says, “unless we swim.”

“In the cold water?” Tilray complains.

“It is the only way, unless we take the other route–” Moneo stops talking when he sees something poke out of the water. Hakea screams and Tilray takes a step back. Moneo sees the green eyes staring back. They seem familiar. They are rough as if they are always used to analyze a prey. He moves the torch closer. “Oh, hi, Kobo.”

“We made it,” Kobo only says. Then Moneo sees, as Kobo moves away, more heads poke out from under the water. Moneo recognizes Phoenix, Lexan, and then East.

“That’s not fair,” Hakea whispers. “Their team is better than ours.” Tilray overhears him and punches him in the arm before moving to the edge to help everyone out.

“I’m freezing,” Phoenix says once they are out.

“What were you doing there?” Moneo asks.

“We were on the other side,” East says. “The only way out was to swim.”

“Then we better take the other route,” Tilray says.

“I said we should have gone up,” Slier murmurs.

“Oh, shut up,” Tilray answers.

They start making their way back. Moneo holds his torch near Phoenix and Kobo, warming them with the heat. Hakea holds the other group’s torch close to East and Lexan. But even that cannot stop them from shaking. Once they find themselves back to the division of the cave, they take the other path up.

“I hear something,” Kobo whispers. Moneo and the rest stop walking. Kobo turns around. “It is coming from behind us.”

Moneo holds his torch with both hands. He cannot use his staff with one hand, so he opts to use the torch as his weapon. The rest grabs their weapons too. A shadow appears, forming the silhouette of a person. Moneo sees that the figure is holding two scimitars.

“Eight in one go,” the figure says. That is when the figure becomes visible enough to know who it is. It is Lodge, the leader of the Prophetic team and the previously top student of Morningstar. “That will only leave me with two to pass the trial.”

Moneo’s heart skips a beat. Icarus said that he was going to be a strong opponent, even for him. There is no way that the eight of them can fight against him. If they are lucky, two or three of them will die and they will kill him, but Moneo doesn’t want that. He wants everyone to survive, and for that to happen, they cannot face him.

“Run,” someone whispers. It takes Moneo a second to realize that is Slier who is speaking. Then, she yells, “Run!”

Moneo grabs the first person that he finds by the hand, which ends up being Kobo, and begins to run. He hears East shoot as he runs beside him.

If Slier backed down from a fight, it means that this is a fight that none of them can win.

***

Wither’s breath is heavy when he is caught in the air. He sees the spirit of his old friend Yenta holding the rope that is tied around him and Agrion with both of his hands. He floats away, pulling them to the nearest flat surface. Agrion continues staring eyes-wide at Yenta, even when he places them down gently.

“Wither,” Vil says as she and Beta approaches, climbing down the mountain.

“W-What happened?” Wither asks. He looks away from Yenta’s dark eyes. He then smells the scent of lavender in the air. “You-you-you… You used your g-gift. You s-spoke to a spirit.”

“I did,” Vil says. “I had to! You were going to die!”

“You all have abilities too?” Beta asks.

“Too?” Vil asks. “You do?” Beta nods.

“I-Icarus told you to n-not use it,” Wither says. He eyes Yenta again quickly. “H-He said that he c-could n-not be Y-Yenta. He could be a-another spirit.”

“But I am Yenta,” Yenta answers. Wither then sees Yenta look at his body. “Wait, I can speak? I can speak!”

“What are–”

“Don’t talk to him!” Wither says, stopping Agrion from finishing his sentence.

“Let me do the talking,” Vil says. Wither wants to stop her. “I already talked to him. The damage is done.” She looks at Yenta. “What do you mean that you can talk?”

“I couldn’t,” Yenta answers. “I tried a million times, but I couldn’t form words. Now, I can!”

“It must have been due to Vil’s ability,” Beta answers.

“Yenta,” Vil asks, “what are you doing here? Why haven’t you moved on to the afterlife?”

“I-I-I don’t know,” Yenta answers as he looks at his clear hands. “I don’t remember. I know that I have something to say to Wither, but I don’t remember what it is.”

“We need to move,” Agrion says, snapping awake. “I’ve heard Icarus talk about this to Slier and East. If Vil used that gift that she has, we need to move before someone detects it.”

“How?” Beta says. “How will someone detect it? I have used mine, and Icarus has only told me to stop using it.”

“Didn’t you smell the air?” Agrion asks. “It smells of lavender. That must be the scent of Vil’s ability. We need to move.” He pulls Wither by the rope to begin descending again the mountain. He is quickly joined by Beta and Vil.

“Go away,” Vil says. Wither notices that Yenta is following them.

“I can’t,” Yenta says. “I’m being pulled towards you.”

Wither thinks back to their conversation with Icarus. He told them to never talk to a spirit. Is this why? Do they form a bond with the person that talked to them? “I-I think that you formed a bond,” he says.

“A bond?” Vil asks.

“A link,” Wither answers. “I-I-I think that y-you are now at-attached by an invisible b-bond.”

“All right, then what do I need to break this bond?” Vil asks.

They all look at Yenta. “I don’t know,” he answers.

“Then if we have to stick with you, then at least remain quiet,” Vil answers.

“All right,” Yenta answers as he begins to float near her.

He smiles, and for the first time, Wither doesn’t want to look at his best friend.

***

“Keep running!” Rin yells over the gunshots.

Xeon continues pushing through the crowd of jackals, opening the way to Shin, who is carrying an almost sleepy Ilya. With one hand on the torch and another with the scythe, Xeon keeps burning and slashing at the jackals. As he comes to an opening, he hears screaming. He finds a group of people fighting the jackals. He doesn’t recognize them. They must be from the other team. He turns to the opening. This is every team for themselves.

“Xeon, they are gaining,” Rin shouts.

“All right, switch!” Xeon stops and runs past Shin and Ilya at the opposite direction. He throws the torch at Rin so that she can lead the way. He is now at the end of the group, protecting them from the back as Rin protects them from the front.

The light is dim at the end of the line, but Xeon doesn’t care. He works better in the dark. He holds the cloak with one arm as the jackals launch towards him. He moves around, evading and striking with his scythe at every jackal that tries to get near his team.

“We are going down,” Rin announces for Xeon, who is not paying attention to the road that he is running on.

He feels the floor incline. He almost trips but pushes himself off the ground quickly. He sees that a jackal jumps towards Shin. Xeon pushes himself faster and tackles it before it strikes Shin and Ilya. He feels the jackal bite, but luckily it only bites the cloak. Xeon stabs the scythe in its neck.

“I see a light,” Rin announces. Then the jackals stop following them and the light comes. They are out of the cave. They have made it alive.

“Ilya!” Norm calls when he sees Shin and Ilya running out. He, Killam, Zanna, and Fey have made it out already. Xeon is glad that Zanna is all right, but he doesn’t let it show. Norm rushes towards Ilya as Shin lays her on the floor. “What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s been poisoned,” Rin announces. Then, Xeon and Rin see a cloaked figure standing a few meters away. He must be working for Morning. “Help her!”

“No,” the hooded figure answers with a grave voice. “You have not cleared the trial.”

“We did,” Fey yells. “We are already out!”

“No,” the hooded figure answers again. “To clear the trial at least ten of you need to be out here. There are currently eight.”

“You need to help her!” Shin yells.

“When the trial is cleared,” the hooded figure answers.

Xeon looks back at the cave. He notices that is not a cave but a huge mountain. Anyone from their team could be anywhere in there. They will have to wait for at least two people to come out before they lose Ilya.

***

Icarus hears someone yell run. He cannot mistake it. He knows that it is Slier’s voice. He also knows that if Slier is ordering someone to run is because they cannot face what they are about to face. Something dangerous must be chasing them. He sprints faster towards the voice.

As he makes his way to an opening to reveal another room. He wishes to have a torch to see better, but he knows that he cannot show everyone his location. Just as he runs through the room, he feels the floor tremble. The floor is crumbling with each step he takes.

“The assassin!” someone yells. There are some students running towards him from the opposite direction. He doesn’t have time to face them. He has to get to Slier before something happens.

One of the people swings his sword at Icarus. Icarus moves as the floor under him and the person crumbles down. He runs past them, unbothered to killed them, but none follow him. They stay behind to help the student that is almost falling to his doom.

Icarus stops running when he makes it to another room. He hears people running and gunshots clearly. He moves towards the wall and places an ear on it. They are definitely on the other side, but how can he hear it? He knocks on the wall. It is fake. This mountain has some fake walls, probably to create more rooms for more obstacles.

He takes several steps back. Then, he runs towards the wall. He hits the wall with its side, and it breaks. It only takes him a second to regain his balance and spot Lodge. He runs towards him, pulling his long daggers out. As he clashes with Lodge’s scimitars, he hears footsteps. As he evades an attack of Lodge, he sees the students that he left behind already catch up to him.

“We have to help,” Lexan yells.

“Icarus concentrate on Lodge,” Tilray says.

Icarus’s attention falls completely on Lodge. He trusts his team to watch his back. Lodge is fast, faster than what Icarus expected. He can match up to Icarus’s speed. “Night’s personal assassin,” Lodge says between blows. “I never thought that I would face you. You were supposed to be one of the final three standing with me.”

“Funny,” Icarus says. “I never gave much thought about you.”

He sees Lodge’s right eyebrow twitch before he strikes harder. Icarus moves from his swing and tries to stab his dagger, but Lodge quickly recovers. Icarus found Lodge’s weakness. It is time to exploit it.

“I’m surprised that you made past the second trial,” Icarus lies. “There is a rumor out there that you are the worst champion of Morningstar, even though you graduated first.”

“Lies!’ Lodge yells as he strikes harder. This leaves an opening. Icarus evades his attack and moves his dagger to Lodge’s neck. He stops at his neck when he feels the sharp point of Lodge’s scimitar at his rib.

“We can both strike, and both die,” Icarus says. “Or we can back down and restart our fight.”

“Sometimes risking everything is the way of winning,” Lodge says. He jabs the scimitar, but Icarus was expecting that. He jumps back from the jab, unable to cut Lodge’s throat. As he does, he pulls one of his flying knives and throws it at Lodge. It lands on the middle of his chest.

Lodge’s eyes go wide. He looks to his chest as he drops to his knees and lets his scimitars fall. He looks at Icarus. “How…” Then he smiles weakly. “It was… an honor to… die on the – on the… battle… field.” He falls on his chest.

“May the saints guide you,” Icarus whispers.

“Icarus!” he hears Moneo. Icarus turns as he places his daggers on his belt inside the cloak. He spots every single one of the standing people. Moneo, Lexan, East, Slier, Tilray, Hakea, and Kobo are there, but his eyes fall on Phoenix. She is all right.

He smiles, even though no one can see him because of his mask. “Let’s get out of here,” he says. The biggest threat of the trial is already gone. The trial is already over.