The Champion's Exam promises riches, adventure and the title that creates legends.
Only on problem; it is known for killing its applicants.
Eko Malone, a twelve-year-old boy stuck on an island his entire life, has only known one thing about his pa...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Jackson wasn't impressed with another run. He followed without complaint, but his shoes were designed for rolling, every step was dedicated to mud, sludge or something in between.
Eko and Nira ran among the applicants, everyone keeping a steady pace, but many slipping due to the sudden change in terrain. "Do you think it's a speed thing?" Eko asked.
Nira frowned, "What?"
"How he managed to pin everyone and fly around the crowd, that wasn't a speed thing, was it?" Eko asked. "I kept hearing a clicking." Eko remembered while Pete pinned everyone there was an ever present, constant clicking. Eko could hardly comprehend how many clicks he heard, but it sounded like many in a space of mere seconds.
Nira shrugged, "It might be. That clicking noise is his watch though," she explained, "He clicks it a lot. Maybe that's the source of his speed."
"I think it's time, you two." Zakora was close behind them, focused on not slipped in the sludge or tripping on reeds. "I think he's a Time Conjurer. They're known for pausing and jumping through time."
The pair each had great moments of realisation and agreed with Zakora's guess. "How do you know these things, Zakora?" Nira asked.
Zakora explained how his people were very knowledgeable, travellers would often visit their area and tell of their tales and once a powerful Time Conjurer had visited and left behind a book with all his adventures. "It's a fascinating read," he confessed, "Time Conjuring is a genetic thing though, can't be learnt by just anyone."
Everyone ran in silence after that, their focus on what was centimetres before them, as that was all the fog allowed them to see. Nira could only see the silhouettes of those who ran before her, Eko managing to see only inches further. Their eyes were stinging, Nira finding herself more often than not looking at the mud she ran through.
The air was thick and smelt of wet bark and rain drops. Eko remembered this smell from rainy nights back home, often leaving the window open to listen and take in the aroma. But running through the rain was another skill he had learnt, using the trees as a means of launching himself forwards.
But the air was wet, it wasn't raining, which caused Eko to be very confused.
Nira reached out and grabbed Eko's arm, not wanting to lose him in the fog. Eventually, all shadows disappeared, and no one could see anything.
Applicants stopped in the fog to check their bearings, attempting to find where the Examiner had run off to. Some realised quicker than others, but the mud gradually crawled up their legs, gripping to their boots and making walking a difficult task. Nira almost ran into a still figure, hunched over trying to rip their foot from the grasp of the swamp sludge.
Several applicants couldn't free themselves, once managing to pull one foot out they turned their focus to the other, only for the first to sink again, continuing the vicious cycle of sinking feet and dragging themselves through the swamp plain.
