All the adventurers participating in the Cordarus exam stood in front of a huge glass globe with a forest inside. Each adventurer crew stood in front of a door leading inside the globe, waiting for further instruction.
Lamia cleared her throat. "If you may have realized, we didn't check you all for your levels. That is because the door to the forest has a force field that won't let anyone whose name isn't in our data base enter and by that I mean, it'll kill you immediately you step past it and your target gets an automatic win."
"That's brutal," Aline said.
"That's the world of adventurers for you," Luna said.
"Any questions?" Lamia asked.
Alston's arm rose up. "I realize that since you and your target have the same number doesn't that mean only half of the people here will pass."
"That is correct."
"But what if we hunt for more than one flag."
"It's allowed…it's a death battle after all"
His lips quirked up, eyes sparkling. "That's good."
Lamia looked around. "Any more questions?"
No one rose their hands and she smiled. "Then please be ready, the doors of the forest will soon be opened."
"This exam might be in another league of its own," Paolo said, his eyes staring straight forward and lips in a thin line. "If my predictions are correct, only four groups will make it out."
Their eyes widened as the iron door in front of them slowly begun to rise, the forest deep within coming into view.
"The exams starts immediately those door open, good luck."
Alston smirked,
Hyder yawned,
Luca stared straight ahead a scowl on his face,
Once the door opened, the adventurers took one step in to face off the storm that was the Cordarus exam.
.....
The Cross Heart Adventurers stared in awe at the large forest they stood in, different plants like cacti native to Alba growing in every corner.
"They really made this like a real life Alba jungle," Paolo said.
"We should be careful, I'm pretty worried about this being a death match," Aline said.
"Do you think there are any monsters?" Luna asked.
"Beats me," Octavius said, biting through his lollipop.
Paolo grinned, eyes twinkling. "You guys, I'll be going for a bit."
"Where do you think you're going?" Aline asked, hand on her hips.
"On an adventure."
Aline rubbed the wrinkles in her brow. "This kid…"
"I'll be back," Paolo shouted before disappearing into the forest.
Shinzo cracked the muscles in his fingers. "Since he's gone, I'll also go."
"Help me hunt some food," Aline said.
"Sure, I'll bring something you wish you could get in a million years."
"Wait right there you son of a bitch," Aline snapped.
Shinzo tilted his head. "What do you want?"
Aline lifted her chin, pushing up her glasses. "Are you implying that you're stronger than me?"
"What else would I be saying, stupid cook?"
"Then let's see who can big the biggest meal," Aline said.
Shinzo scoffed. "Fine by me."
The two separated into the forest, leaving Luna and Octavius behind. The two sighed, staring at where their three other crew mates had been.
"Why are they like this?" Luna mumbled.
"They seem to have forgotten why we're here in the first place," Octavius said.
Luna smiled. "Well it's to be expected from them."
"I'll go get us some flags, so guard our own," Octavius said.
Luna saluted. "Roger that."
...
Aline hid behind a bush, the insects buzzing near her ear. She ignored the noise, staring at her prey. A giant yellow spotted agama prowled around the area, chasing crawling insects.
She pulled out her blade, ready to creep round the bend when a loud voice called out her name. Aline quickly reacted, grabbing the person by the neck and pulling them down with her. She used the side of her eye to check out the reptile that went back to its haunt before turning to William.
"Are you stupid? We could have been in deep trouble," Aline snapped.
William clawed away at her hand still gripped to his neck. She released him, his lungs begging for air before he spoke. "S-sorry."
Aline spotted a boy with black hair wearing black lipstick standing behind William, a choker of the same color with an H wrapped around his neck. "Who is this?"
"I'm Ace, the cook of the Sloth Adventurers," he said. "I came looking for food and bumped into William on the way, so we're both searching."
Aline nodded. "I'm also hunting for food… I'd like to find the biggest thing if possible."
Ace pointed at the lizard she had been hunting. "Want us to help you catch that?"
William smiled. "With us swordsmen, I'm sure we could easily bring it down."
"Of course you'd also help us get our own," Ace added.
Aline smiled. "Then I'd like to ask for your assistance."
...
Shinzo stared at Ifeanyi, the navigator of the Harris Adventurers, the two in a deadlock.
"I don't like you," Ifeanyi stated. "More specifically, I don't like your captain."
Shinzo dropped the tail of the giant gecko he had killed. "If we're talking about people we don't like I don't like you either. Take it as you will, but my captain is going to become the greatest adventurer."
Ifeanyi raised his chin, his grip on her halberd tightening. "Greatest you say."
"Yes, got a problem with that."
Ifeanyi's eyes glowed bright yellow, a heavy breeze blowing and scaring the animals in the area. "It looks like we have a problem."
Shinzo's eyes glowed the same color, his head lifted high. "Yes, it seems so."
.....
A sudden rustling in the bush got Luna's attention, her head rearing to the location of the shrub. She summoned her wand, gripping their flag tightly.
"I know you're there." She held her breath then released it when she realized it was only Hana. "You idiot, what are you doing trying to scare me?"
Hana scoffed. "Who cares about you, we just got lost."
"We?"
Luna looked past Hana to see two girls hanging behind her. One of had flowing white hair held up by a blue headband and the other one wore a scarf over a tuft of auburn hair.
The one with the scarf waved shyly. "Um…I'm Samia of the Harris Adventurers." She turned to the other girl. "This is Joylene of the Sloth Adventurers."
Luna waved. "Hi I'm Luna." She turned back to Hana. "Are you really a navigator? Getting lost so easily."
Hana glared at her. "What did you say you stupid witch?"
And thus, an argument begun with the side of their faces pressed to each other. Samia tried calming them down, but the two didn't pay her any mind. The panicked adventurers turned to Joylene.
"We should do something."
Joylene stared at the two of them with a blank expression. "You guys… stop fighting." Her effort failed and she turned to Samia. "It didn't work."
Samia held herself back from crying,
"My, my, look what we have here," said a voice.
Luna and Hana didn't look up to see the pack of adventurers that had surrounded them while Samia yelped and Joylene remained expressionless.
One of them licked their lips. "You girls should give us your flags or be prepared to die."
Luna and Hana looked away from their argument, looking down on the adventurers. They released very dangerous auras which had Samia hiding behind Joylene.
"What did you say?"
...
"Captain Hyder, let us go look for our targets… we can't just sit here," the purple haired girl from the Sloth Adventurers complained.
Hyder yawned, scratching the back of his head as he lay on a mat in front of a giant boulder. "They'll come on their own. I don't have the strength to stand up. You can stay on guard, Anika"
She stared at her lazy captain in disbelief, brow twitching. "But captain-"
Her sentence cut short as she spotted Paolo who just came out of a nearby bush. Hyder smiled up at Paolo. "Ah Paolo, you're here."
Paolo smiled. "I just couldn't sit still since a big forest was presented to me."
Hyder pat the spot beside him. "Come join me and laze around."
"If that's alright with you."
The two sat down, getting along swimmingly as they chatted about nothing at all. Anika stared at them like they had grown two heads.
She moved her feet to leave when Hyder and Paolo suddenly appeared in front of her. Hyder flicked his wrists, a sharp piece of earth piercing through the air. And Paolo punched the air, a figure flying back while flicking through visibility and invisibility.
The piece of earth pierced through the heart of a person, eyes dulled and blood dripping from his wounds and open mouth.
Anika couldn't move, staring wide eyed at the two captains who sat back down as if they hadn't just done that.
"How long were they there?" she asked.
"A few minutes," Hyder said, yawning before turning to Paolo. "Shall we continue?"
Anika watched them continue their talk then looked back at the dead body,
...
Octavius whistled, twirling four flags as he stepped past the beat up bodies on the ground. "That was easy."
"Fascinating."
He stopped, leaning in to see where the voice came from. Two figures stood in front of a large monster. One had gray hair and large round glasses and the other had dark blue hair and a yellow scarf round his neck.
The one with the glasses flitted around the monster while the one with the scarf touched the creature and made notes. Octavius recognized them as members of both the Harris and Sloth Adventurers.
"What are you guys doing?"
The glasses boy turned, pushing up his glasses with a smile. "It's not every day you see a species from Alba. I'm recording it to memory."
"I see."
The one with the scarf smiled. "You're from the Cross Heart Adventurers right?"
Octavius nodded. "I'm Octavius, the engineer."
The glasses boy's glasses glinted, grabbing Octavius' hand in his. "So you're a man of science am I correct?"
Octavius nodded and the boy grinned. "Well I'm Clancy of the Harris Adventurers. It's always nice to meet a fellow scientist."
"And I'm Zachariah of the Sloth Adventurers also an engineer, nice to meet you," the scarf boy said.
Octavius smiled at them. "Well it's nice meeting you."
...
Alston and Luca walked quietly through the jungle, their Vice-Captains hanging behind them. Vernon nearly squirmed at the tension the captain's gave off, not wanting to comment on it.
"Why are you following me?" Luca asked.
"We just happened to be going in the same direction." Alston flipped his hair. "If anything, you're the one following me."
"Why would I follow you?"
"Because I am greatness personified."
The two became silent again, Vernon leaning into Jason, a boy with spiky blonde hair. "Will they be okay?"
Jason stared at his captain back. "He is like that, just leave it."
Vernon chuckled lowly, why do you sound so unconcerned?
Five people with guns came out of the bushes near them, weapons pointed at the captains. The leader smiled, his two broken teeth in full display.
"How careless of you to walk into our territory."
Alston smirked, head lifted high. "I would say you are the careless ones for attacking us."
They barreled forward, but Luca and Alston weren't nice enough to let them touch them. With a flick of their wrists, they had been burnt alive and frozen solid. The two walked past their bodies.
"Weaklings should watch themselves," Luca said, not bothering to look back.
Alston pushed up his hair. "We're not on your level, learn that next time."
Vernon shuddered while Jason picked up the flags they dropped on the floor,
.....
The Cross Heart Adventurers all met up back at their spot, everyone pulling in their toils of war.
Aline stared at the bodies lying around. "What happened here?"
"Well long story short, they attacked and Hana and I beat them up," Luna said.
"Interesting."
Shinzo pointed proudly at his gecko. "My catch is bigger."
Aline glared at him. "Mine is obviously better, look at how wide it is."
"This is a battle of height not of weight," Shinzo snapped. "Do you think you'll win the weight battle even though you've lost in the height department?"
"I hope you're talking about the monster and not me."
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Either way, they're both disgusting," Luna said.
Aline's squeezed her nose in offense. "Luna, this thing is packed with heavy protein and low in calories. How do you expect to survive in the jungle if you don't take basic nutrients?"
Octavius cleared his throat and they all turned to look at him. "Unlike you morons, I got us some flags."
At the sight of the flags, all five adventurers hugged the smaller boy and shouted praises in his favor. He smiled smugly, bathing in the attention.
"We've practically passed and we didn't even have to spend all three days," Luna said, ruffling his hair.
"We should still be careful though, people will still come," Shinzo said.
Aline rolled up her suit sleeve, bringing a knife from her bag. "Now that we're done, let's have a feast."
They all cheered and that's how they partied, not knowing something lurked in the darkness waiting for its chance.