"Nice to meet you, am Xavier?"
Xavier says awkwardly extending his hand to a frozen Lillith.
"…"
"EH."
Lillith exclaims as her state of shock comes undone
"You."
"Huh?"
She mutters looking over at Xavier once more who exclaims inquisitively
"Just…"
"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE!!!!!"
"EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
Lillith shouts! Finger pointed at a startled Xavier who shouts in confusion as well?!?!!!
"…"
"HEY! HEY! HEY!!"
"What's wrong with this girl?"
Xavier thinks in a sudden subconscious panic as Lillith goes on a rant
"She's acting like I tried to steal something from her."
He thinks panicking
"UAAaahhhh… This is especially not cool…."
Xavier thinks, reminiscing about the embarrassment he just felt from his ill-fated crash landing just now. A landing that mind you, was face first in damp, chunky sand with a mouth full of dirt and whatever creepy crawlies inhabit this thicketed area and oh yeah if that wasn't enough this all just so happened to occur infront of some of the most powerful and famous people this side of the continent.
"…"
(sighs)
Xavier sighs to himself disheartened by the whole ordeal.
"Still though…"
He thinks
"Ofcourse these dumb royals already made it this far…"
Xavier thinks much calmer as he straightens up and locks eyes with the frantic Lillith
"A-a-a-nd that's why you shouldn't be here, b-b-because am a royal and I'm going to win this whole damn thing so you better--Ah!"
Lillith exclaims mid rant when her eyes suddenly catch the more composed and serious gaze of Xavier.
"W-What are you? --"
Lillith mumbles confusedly turning her head when… (!!!DOOM!!!). She comes face to face with all the people who have made it to the second terrain thus far!
All ominously gathered right behind her…The Royals of The Beneath!!
Sierra Cloud of house Cloud sitting comfortably on a branch in a tree.
Jimmy Blanche of house Blanche laughing haughtily at something as yet unknown.
And Cassey Raine, whom she travelled alongside, sitted cross-legged at the foot of a tree.
"…"
Lillith pauses at the almost awe-inspiring sight for most of the beneath's native… "HMPH!" But not her. She scoffs, throwing her hair back and joining the group.
"I see we're all here."
Lillith says as the powerhouse group of this year's trials is complete.
"…"
"…heh."
A sly Xavier exclaims for a second.
"I've come along way haven't I…"
Xavier thinks as his memories trail all the way to willow sands… and to his meeting with Rin! His fight with Murdock, his training with Yasser, encounter with Lucius! In every sense of the phrase Xavier 'has' come a long way. And that's only further magnified by counting the two years of absolute hell Xavier had to endure before this point.
This terrain.
The end of the first and beginning of the second marks an important occasion for him. One of progress. Progress grasped by his hands alone! Progress… that might lead him to the future he desires.
But before that he must face off with the Beneath's finest. And if Xavier's progress is to continue, he 'MUST' win against them.
Drawing the curtain inevitably on the second terrain of the first Trial. The terrain simply known as…
'The Dead-ridge Swamps!'
Stretching for a measly 6 and a half kilometres the place long dubbed as the 'Siyah's personal hunting ground', was once a strategic vantage point for the Siyah. The terrain markedly known as a maze of death, trapped any who wandered into the swamps. And as history would come to tell us, these unfortunate people would never make it out, forget making it out alive at all.
Boasting the thickest of thick forestry and animals of the night indigenous only to this area. The swamps are one of the hardest places to track out of on the continent, even for experts in this field.
And although their distance is easily the shortest of all the terrains the first trial has to offer, its probably safe to say it doesn't lack in difficulty to the rest.
The swamps are not to be taken lightly. Vanir Siyah's hunting ground, is not to be taken lightly.
The place almost solely responsible for the steady rise of the Siyah in its early days, and forestry that hasn't once stopped to excel since hundreds of years ago…That, Is the 'Deadridge Swamps'.
"…"
"Judging by how this area looks it's probably safe to say this is his area of expertise, right?"
Xavier thinks eyeing an ignorant and boredom filled Cassey ahead of him.
"…."
"I wonder how long getting through this terrain will take…"
He thinks as his feet drag across the thicket of grass beneath him, the weight and dampness of the ground beneath almost startling him.
"The first terrain took a little over a day…"
"So, if we had 5 days does that mean we're going to have to pick up the pace for this terrain?"
He thinks
"…"
"I wonder how everyone back there is doing…"
"Huh?"
Xavier exclaims aloud mid thought when the unerring feeling of being watched turns his eyes forward where he is met by the steely of the Beneath's finest.
The leading pack of the trials thus far and future leaders of the Blades!
"…wh-whoa…."
Xavier exclaims lowly under his breath
"HMPH."
Lillith exclaims turning her gaze from Xavier
"We meet again."
She says throwing her hair back
"… So, it seems"
Cassey adds readjusting himself and folding his arms behind his head as he eyes the first two participants to make it here.
"…"
"AAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHA."
Jimmy laughs haughtily to the sky, hands at the hip as he watches the pair.
"…."
"hm."
Sierra exclaims lowly in recognition of the pair as she watches the group from above, her back laying comfortably against the trunk of the tree.
"…"
"Wh-whoa…"
"They're all here."
Xavier thinks
"The heirs to the sense names all gathered in one place…. all around me!"
He thinks.
"Huh??"
Xavier exclaims turning his head upward and bumping eyes with Sierra who looks away instantly.
"…Her again"
Xavier thinks
"Why does she keep…"
And as the words are about to form in his mind, Xavier is cut off by a memory… A memory of him and Yasser having a conversation by a fire when his training was still in full flow.
"…."
An unerring silence befalls the groups that feels almost timed.
"I've gotta say, now that I get to see your ugly mugs properly after all this time, I kinda just wanna get away from here as fast as possible."
Cassey says slick-like as a smirk grows by the side of his face
"U-u-u-UGLY MUGS?"
Lillith echoes him obviously stung by the childish insult.
"w-WHAT DO YOU MEAN UGLY MUGS?"
She explodes
"Hey you should be grateful you got to travel with someone of the likes of me."
She shouts
"From my brother to my sister, and my 'Oh So Beautiful' mother, the Cane family is well and easily the most beautiful family in all the continent!"
Lillith says smiling smugly
"A word that your Raine family clearly doesn't know a thing about."
She says proud with herself and throwing a childish insult of her own.
"Yeah, yeah shout all you want, it's not like you're actually a member of the family any--"
Cassey begins to say before immediately stopping himself. Like realizing he had just made a big mistake.
"…."
-silence-
"…"
"…. what did you say?"
Lillith says blankly before quietly beginning to make her way toward a stout-faced Cassey as a tense silence befalls the group when…
(TUT!)
(TUT!)
(TUT!)
(TU-)
"Uhhh… Hi."
Xavier says cutting through the tense atmosphere, and halting Lillith in her tracks.
"…"
"What? -"
Lillith's response is cold and blank as all the eyes are drawn to Xavier in a tense silence. A cold shiver down his spine and the feeling of dread welling up inside him… Did he maybe misread the read the room?
"…"
"…"
-To Be Continued-