Narrated by Alex
Benji went with the two lovebirds to give them their task. I lay down on the grass, and Gordon looked at the view of the Green Sea.
I said,"Now that you know who Anne's dad is, have you stopped bugging her?"
He smirked,"I'm leaving her alone. She should be thanking me."
I scoffed,"Is it because you're afraid of what would happen if her dad got to know?"
He slightly frowned,"Yeah."
"What about John?"
"Well, I don't wanna mess with him right now, but I'll surely get my revenge for what he did to me."
I scoffed,"Yeah, right."
Benji came out of nowhere (or maybe I didn't see him coming) and said,"Alright, are you two ready?"
We nodded.
He said,"Good. Follow me."
We followed him into the woods, and came in front of a swamp. The water was deep brown in color, and we couldn't even see what was inside the swamp.
Benji said,"See this swamp? Well, it's not actually only water on the surface, but a semi solid mixture of mud, clay, sand, and water. You won't be able to see the mid and clay, because they are right under the water, and the water is too opaque to see through. This swamp works kinda like quicksand. Take a step inside, and you'll get sucked in till your knees, and as you move forward, you'll slowly go deeper inside, and it becomes harder to move. When you reach the other end, I'd say you'll be neck-deep in the swamp. And, I've placed a lot of rocks in the other side. Your objective is to go through the swamp to the other side, and bring all the rocks that I've placed there to this side. It would probably take you around four to five hours. Best of luck!"
He left, and we looked at each other.
I asked Gordon,"Work as a team?"
He scoffed at me,"Afraid of dying here?"
"No, we could reduce the time taken if worked as a team."
Benji's voice echoed,"Also, this is a competition between you both! Both of you have an equal amount of rocks divided between you, and the one who brings them to this side first wins! The other person must put all the rocks back to the other side!"
I processed this, but Gordon pushed me back,"See ya, loser!" and got a headstart.
I walked to the edge of the swamp, and put my foot in. It went inside easily, but was very hard to pull out. I stepped into the swamp, and began the training.
It was very hard to move in there. It felt like the weight of my clothes had exponentially increased. I kept moving, and my body slowly went deeper inside the swamp. I'd made it halfway, the water had reached my waist.
I finally reached the end, and saw a pile of huge rocks waiting for me. They were pretty close, and I didn't need to exit the swamp. I grabbed one, and saw Gordon on his way back to the start. I moved too, and now I'd gotten used to the weight holding me down.
I reached the other end, and Gordon pulled himself out of the swamp. He didn't have to do that, as it would waste time. I just threw the rock to the bank, and made my way back, thus gaining on Gordon as he stepped back into the swamp.
After an hour of this, I'd adapted to the movement, and could move pretty quick. Gordon did too, but slowly, so I was still ahead of him.
Another hour passed by, and I'd finished transporting half of the rocks. Gordon was still behind me, though he'd fully adapted ti the swamp, and was only a couple of metres behind.
Hour 3. I was spent, and the only thing that kept me moving, was the consequence of coming second. I was in no shape to do this all over again.
Time went passed slowly, but we were both on our last rock. Exhaustion had taken a huge toll on is, and neither of us had any energy left, and only adrenaline and the consequence kept us moving. I was still ahead of Gordon, but I had to keep my pace constant, or he'd catch up.
I grabbed the last rock, and was halfway across, when I felt something slither under the water near me. Something was monitoring my movements. I was dead sure that it was a snake. I froze, and the surface of the water bulged slightly.
A reptilian head broke the surface, and out came a huge python! I tried to move, but it had somehow wrapped itself around my legs. It opened its mouth to gobble me. I didn't have any strength left, and what happened next, was purely out of instinct.
As it closed in around me, my fist connected with its head, and sent it away from me. The python looked like it was gonna recoil, but it prepared to strike. It lunged and my fist did too. Another strike head-on, and the python slithered away in pain.
I nearly blacked out, but I caught sight of Gordon getting ahead of me. I tried to catch up, but was too exhausted to get to him.
He had won.
He got to the edge, placed his rock, and dragged himself out of the swamp. He was too exhausted to celebrate. He just lay there, panting.
I reached the end, and came out too, and lay down. I'd lost. Now, I had to do the the same thing all over again. And I had to place his rocks too. Double the time.
I heard many footsteps. I looked up, to see Benji coming with John and Anne. Both of them looked exhausted too.
Benji said,"Well, looks like you've done it! Who won!"
Gordon's voice turned tiny,"I... I.... Won."
"I see. Good. Alex, I'm giving you four hours. I want all the rocks on the other side. As for you three, you can grab some rest, and after four hours, we'll do the same exercises again."
Gordon got up, and dragged himself to the house. I sighed at my task.
I felt a hand on my shoulder
"Wanna use some help?" John asked.
"I'd love to. But you look exhausted too."
"Well, it's no problem!"
Anne joined too, and we finished the work in three hours. We went back to the house, and napped for an hour.
Benji woke us up, and we got to the training again. It was dusk soon, and we went for dinner. No one said anything, for we were too busy gobbling up the food.
As soon as I landed on the bed, my eyes closed, and I slept.
The next day, we meditated for three hours again, and I had transport rocks again, but this time, I had to climb a cliff. John was probably training in the swamp.
This was our schedule for the week.
Finally, it was Saturday. It was time for our sparring matches.