The Crystal Trials

27

The fall wind blew through strands of hair that didn't make it into the single braid down my back. The boat was taking us to Trial Island, filled with every team in their colored robes. I stared down at the scrap of paper a teacher had handed me. We all had one. Every one of them different. Mine had some swords on it and some print on the sides that didn't make any sense.

The masters had said it was our clue for the trial. But even been given it early, we could not make any sense of it. Besides, that would require us to all speak to one another. Evander was avoiding Faolan as much as I was avoiding Alden. Seraphina and Taury were both fuming at Garren. There were too many divides.

The masters opened the massive doors to the mountain again, four on each door. Each team walked in, less confident than the first trial. We knew the dangers of them. I saw the girl from the infirmary with her purple team. She gave me a small smile and wave. I didn't even know her name. I offered a friendly wave in return. Taury looked at me, confused and I shrugged at her.

"It's good to see that she is doing better," Dath approached me.

"It is. I really don't hope the virus or parasite spreads. By the way did you catch her name?"

"Eliza, I think."

Our conversation was cut short as we moved forward to the arena. The area below was free of the horrific sand and the bottomless pit. Instead, what we saw was much simpler. Below there was a ground covered in ice with many very large icicles erupting from the ground. The only way down into the arena was a slide made of ice.

Erix addressed the students. "There are very little rules for this trial. You must complete the task in four hours or less using only Pyromancy and Armancy. The surface below is being maintained at extreme temperatures. You must find a way to keep your internal body temperature high enough to remain conscience. Should a member pass out, you fail the trial. The clues we gave contain the answer. Hopefully, by now you have worked through some of it."

Erix looked to our team and said, "As before, Team Cobalt will be the first to attempt, as their scores remain the highest. On my mark, take the slide into the area and begin. Ready... Go!"

We ran to the slide and took it down. I had tried to stay seated, but ended up falling onto my back, making my speed increase. I laded at the bottom right after Rion and Sharin and kept sliding. Using a spurt of fire, I melted the ice to slow myself down. I stood up and the melted ice had already frozen back over.

The rest of the team came sliding down and I melted the ice under them, so they didn't crash into a sharp icicle. Faolan had come down the side after Evander and they both had tumbled while sliding down. Evander went still and looked at Faolan's back as they lay next to each. As Faolan rolled over and noticed, Evander quickly stood up. Hmm. Faolan scowled and came to stand by me.

We all split off, only a few of us conversing. Emyr, Ameer and Seraphina had joined me as we walked to a nearby blade of ice. Emyr, unsurprisingly, tried melting it first thing. Within seconds of becoming a puddle, it shot back up as ice, stabbing the air again. Emyr got mad and shot a fireball through it, the hole closing. We could hear Syphor's laughter echo down where we were, ice not deadening the sound the way the sand did. Emyr flipped him a rude gesture. I was going to have to ask about their story later.

Seraphina was sitting on the ground, shivering, while she studied her paper clue. We had been heating our skin, but the cold was still biting. She turned her paper every which way. I tried melting a chunk off the top of the ice. The tip broke off and when I melted it, the water particles move back to the shard. Frustrated, I sat down with Seraphina.