Chapter 43 Bechora
We woke earlier than I wanted to, in order to make it back to Magus House from Caulder’s Professor’s lodgings unnoticed. Shadrie and Miles were already in the living room of the dorm when we arrived, settled onto the couch, talking quietly.
“How was your night?” Shadrie asked, looking up with a knowing grin when we stepped inside.
“Don’t start,” I replied, not quite able to keep the smile off my face.
“For someone with so much dick on tap, you sure are cranky in the mornings,” she teased, before waving her hand toward the island counter that separated the living room from our kitchenette. “Miles brought coffee.”
“You’re a fucking saint, Miles,” I breathed, moving to the counter to grab one of the fancy to-go cups waiting there.
“We should shower and get ready,” Gabriel murmured as he grabbed one of the other cups. “They should be sending word of where the Second to Fourth Years need to go, for the trial announcement, shortly.”
I grumbled my displeasure before taking a sip of my coffee and moving to my bedroom to grab fresh clothes.
The coffee was the perfect temperature for drinking.
Not so hot that it would burn me, while not having yet gone cold.
I worked to down mine as I tore through my closet for the spare combat uniform I’d tucked away weeks ago.
Once I found it, I made quick work of getting to the communal bathrooms and getting showered and ready.
The others were trickling in not far behind me, each of them dressed in their own combat uniform, just before a note appeared on the island counter instructing us to make our way to the dining hall.
Unlike last term, we didn’t have to separate this time; the six of us entering the dining hall together and taking seats at our usual table. Where the buffet usually stood was a raised platform, a female professor I didn’t recognize standing dead center as students continued to file in.
“Good morning, students,” the professor said, her voice echoing through the space as if it were fed through speakers.
“Welcome to the first trial of the term. For those of you who haven’t had any of my classes, I am Professor Pelarian.
While Dean Femirea announces each of the trials for first-year students, I will be the one who announces details for the rest of you.
” She paused, letting her gaze scan across the crowd.
“The first trial is a solo trial. The Drowned Cathedral. You will each be transported to an ancient cathedral, where you must survive against traps and various threats, long enough to find one of the hidden relics within. You will have exactly ninety minutes to complete the trial before it becomes a failure. For those of you who survive and pass the trial, the relic you find will determine your team for the second trial.”
Murmurs went up among the second-year students in the crowd, and Professor Pelarian paused long enough to let them settle.
“I wish you all luck in the trial,” she said with a smile before clapping her hands together.
The room around us shifted, and I felt myself being pulled away from my friends and mates as my vision darkened.
A sharp tug in my gut sent me hurtling through darkened space, and a scream ripped from my throat at the sensation of falling.
Just when I thought it would never end, my feet slammed into marshy ground, and the sky lit up with a timer.
‘ 01:30:00 ’. The numbers burned into the sky, hovering just beyond the thick canopy of twisted trees around me.
I sucked in a sharp breath, boots sinking slightly into the wet, sucking ground beneath me.
The air was heavy, thick with rot and moisture, as if the swamp I’d landed in was breathing.
Every inhale coated my throat with something damp and cloying.
It wasn’t what I’d expected when the professor said the first trial was a cathedral.
My gaze lifted, scanning the dense overgrown jungle around me.
Gnarled roots twisted up from the ground like skeletal hands, vines hanging low enough to brush my shoulders as I took a cautious step forward.
Water squelched beneath my boots. Then I saw it.
Far in thedistance, barely visible through the haze and tangled growth, was the jagged tip of a spire.
I let out a slow breath, steadying myself as the timer ticked down overhead.
“Alright, first step, get to the cathedral,” I muttered as I started forward.
The ground shifted with every step. Soft patches threatened to swallow my boots whole if I didn’t move carefully.
The further I went, the thicker the water became, until mud started to give way to shallow pools that reflected the dim, green-filtered light above.
Something moved beneath the surface, and I froze.
Slowly, I crouched, eyes narrowing as I tracked the disturbance.
The water rippled so subtly it would have been easy to miss if I hadn’t already been on edge.
I adjusted my stance, shifting my weight to keep from getting stuck as I moved again.
Slower this time, my steps more deliberate.
A low hum built at the back of my senses, just as the ground beneath me gave way, and I dropped.
Cold water swallowed me to the waist with a sharp splash.
Mud sucked at my legs as I struggled to keep my balance.
My hands shot out, catching on a large, protruding root before I could go completely under.
“Shit—”
Something brushed against my ankle. Not water, not a fish, but bony fingers. I kicked out hard on instinct, jerking my leg free as whatever it was tried to tighten its grip. The movement sent murky water sloshing higher, the swamp churning as whatever it was tried to drag me down.
“Nope. Absolutely not,” I hissed, reaching inward and grabbing onto the familiar thread of power I’d copied from Caulder.
Heat flared in my calf, racing toward my ankle as I willed my leg to fill with the fiery magic.
The water around me slowly started to steam and bubble, and a screech tore from beneath the murky water just as the grip fell away.
I didn’t wait to see if it would come back.
With a strained breath, I hauled myself forward, dragging my legs free of the sucking muck and scrambling onto firmer ground.
For a moment, I stood there, catching my breath and watching for whatever it was to come chasing after me.
“Swamp bites back; noted,” I muttered when I was certain it wasn’t coming to grab me again.
I swiped a damp arm across my forehead, wiping away the sweat building along my brow and started toward the spire again.
More careful this time. The jungle thickened the deeper I went.
Vines snagged at my arms, branches clawed at my clothes, as if they were trying to hold me in place.
The air grew heavier as I pressed on, making it harder to breathe.
And the sounds… Low, wet, shifting beneath the water, the distance croak of something, far too deep to be natural.
The occasional splash that came sounded a little too close for comfort.
I didn’t stop moving, refusing to let myself think about what was hunting me beneath the water’s murky surface.
The spire drew closer, the cathedral coming into view as the jungle seemed to reach a thinning point.
Relief flickered through me at the sight.
The knowledge that I just had to get inside and find a relic, and I could be done with this place, soothing my fraying nerves.
Then something dropped from the trees. I barely had time to think as twisted, humanoid jaws snapped toward me.
I stumbled back, drawing flames into my hands and took in the monster before me.
Its limbs were too long, skin stretched tight and slick like it’d been dragged from the depths of the swamp.
The skeletal jaw that had almost grazed me appeared too wide, stretched too far down the expanse of its slimy chest, leaving rows of jagged, uneven teeth on display.
Its eyes were empty. Water poured from the sockets as it lumbered toward me, screeching at a pitch that made me wince.
“That’s not at all horrifying,” I breathed, my eyes tracking its movements.
It lunged. I reacted on instinct, throwing the fire forward in a sharp arc.
Flames slammed into the creature's chest, the impact forcing it back a step, but it didn’t burn the way it should have.
The fire clung to its chest, hissing as steam rolled off its slick skin.
The creature shrieked louder, jaw stretching impossibly wider as it surged toward me again.
“Shit, shit, shit!” I swore, already moving.
I pivoted to the side, boots sliding on the wet ground as skeletal claws slashed through the space where I’d been a heartbeat before. The thing’s momentum carried it past me, sending muddy water spraying, and giving me just enough of an opening to get behind it.
“Please work, please work,” I muttered, calling Vampiric strength into my arms as I wrapped them around the creature’s head from behind.
I planted my feet firmly on the ground as it clawed at my arms, bony fingers tearing through the long, protective sleeves of my combat uniform shirt, while I willed every ounce of the ability I copied from Gabriel into my body and twisted its head sharply to the side, leaning back to pull it from its slick body.
A slow, grotesque slurping sound filled my ears as I tore its head away.
It was disturbing enough I wanted to gag, but I fought against the urge as the body dropped and I waited to see if it would rise again.