Morningstar

This time, Lexan is already out the door for the second trial. He won’t be late like last time. He has already stolen food from the lunchroom and returned to his room to bring food to Wither. He helped him out of the room and towards the main hall, where they announced the rules of the first trial.

“Can you stand?” Lexan asks Wither. Unfortunately, no one can sit when Morning is present so Wither will have to stay standing as the rules are told.

“Here,” Icarus says, handing a wooden cane to Wither. Everyone is divided inside the room in their own teams. He returns to the front of the group like every other mentor.

“Good morning students,” Morning says. His hands are behind his back. He is smiling without showing any teeth. “Welcome to the second trial. Each team will face another team in this trial. The teams are as followed…” He proceeds to mention each team and whom they will face. Lexan does not know most of the teams. He only waits for his team to be mentioned. “Malefic versus Draconic.” The rumors were true.

“The rules are as following,” Morning begins. Lexan feels his chest tightens. “For the past weeks, we have built ten pits. Each one has been divided equally in one hundred squares. Your second trial will consist of a game of chess.”

Lexan heart drops. Icarus knew. He knew all along that the second trial was going to be a chess game. How did he know?

“Chess consists of sixteen pieces,” Morning continues. “Since you are teams of twenty-one, each side will have four more pawns. Twenty members of the team will be a chess piece and the twenty-first will be the player. You will not be allowed to use your weapons. You will be given a weapon depending on your role. For example, pawns will use spears. The only chess piece allowed to use their own weapon will be the queen.

“You will be given earpieces that contains a microphone and they are going to be connected to each earpiece of your team. You will play exactly how chess is played. Each team will take turns and each piece will move when the player tells you to move. There is also going to be some changes. When a chess piece meets another chess piece on the same square, they won’t automatically kill the opponent. Both chess pieces are allowed to kill each other. Whoever gets the kill first is who gets to stay on the square. If the player decides to move that chess piece before anyone has killed anyone, then they both remain alive.

“Is that clear?” Morning asks. Lexan does not know why he asks that. They cannot ask a question anyway. The only ones who can ask are the mentors.

“Lord,” Quin interrupts. “If one of the pawns manages to get to the other side of the board, will they be allowed to become any other chess piece?”

“Of course,” Morning says. “If the player chooses for the pawn to be queen, they would be given their personal weapon.” Quin nods. “You all have one hour to choose your chess pieces. I will be waiting by the coast.”

***

“You knew,” Slier says. They have arrived to Draconic 23. Slier has remained quiet on their way there. She is thinking about the trial, but she knows that Icarus has known this all along. “How?”

Icarus is looking out the window. He turns and moves to where the desk is. “They always send hints,” he says. “They left a bunch of chessboards and chess pieces in this classroom. They did not leave anything else. It was clear that the trial had to do with chess.”

“That’s why you’ve been making us play chess,” Slier says.

“It does not matter if he made us play chess,” Tilray says. “One of our teammates has a broken leg. We will lose because of him.”

“We won’t,” Icarus says. “I’ve been pairing you, searching for the best chess player. The best chess players of the group are Wither and Zanna.” He looks at Wither. “You will be the player of this trial.”

“What?” Wither asks.

“No, no, no, no,” Shin says. “He cannot be the player. I can bet that everyone’s going to choose their mentor to be the player. The mentors know their team and have had many years of experience in chess. Wither will not stand a chance.”

“Oh, he will,” Icarus says. “He has to trust his instincts if he wants us to win.”

“Who would play what chess piece?” East asks.

“I will play king,” Icarus says.

“That’s the most vulnerable piece,” Phoenix says. “You won’t probably get a weapon. We need you to play any other piece. You are strong.”

“I don’t care,” Icarus says. “These are your trials and I have faith that you will win without me.” He turns his head towards Slier. “You will be playing queen.”

“Why her?” Phoenix shouts.

“It should be me,” Tilray says.

“No, it should be me,” Phoenix says.

“It could be me,” Fey says.

“Because Slier is one of the best warriors,” Icarus says. “And I am sure that she will not hesitate whenever she has to kill someone.”

“But I wouldn’t either,” Phoenix says.

“You hesitated on killing me at the assassin’s trial,” Icarus says. Slier sees Phoenix’s eyebrows furrow. She opens her mouth to yell something but instead takes a deep breath. “East and Fey will be bishops. Ilya and Moneo will be knights. Norm and Killam will be rooks. The rest of you will be pawns.”

“What?” Tilray shouts. “A pawn? You are putting me, and even Phoenix, to be pawns?”

“You two use guns,” Icarus says. “Being any other chess pieces will require a mastery of close-range weapons, which I do not know if you two possess it.”

“You clearly have not been paying attention to us,” Tilray says. Slier sees that Phoenix only crosses her arms.

“I beg to differ,” Icarus says. He opens the bag on the desk. He starts taking out the earpieces. “Make sure that each one has one and that it works.”

Slier takes her earpiece. It is small, round, and black. She places it inside her right ear and presses it. “Testing,” she says.

“I can hear you,” East answers and it sounds on her earpiece.

“We all can,” Tilray answers.

“All right,” Icarus says. “Turn them off.” Slier presses the earpiece again. “Today we will face Malefic and your second trial. We will win if we trust each other. We are not individuals anymore. We are a team, and teams help each other.” He pats Xeon, who is the closest, on the back. “Let’s win this trial.”

***

When they arrive at the coast, Phoenix watches that there are many boats standing at the sea. Each one has a banner with the name of the team.

“Aboard the boat that has the name of your team,” Morning says. “They will take you to where the second trial is taking place.”

They spot Draconic quickly and begin to board. Once everyone was inside, the boat begins to move. Everyone remains with their group. They hardly talk. They are all anticipating what’s to come.

Phoenix spots Icarus at the front deck. His arms are on the railing. He is alone, looking at the sea. Phoenix decides to approach him. She places her arms on the railing next to him.

“Hey,” she says. “Nervous?”

“I’ve done many things before,” Icarus says. “I have passed these trials and done some other things that I regret, but the nerves never leave.” He continues staring at the sea for a few more minutes. “You expected me to choose you as queen.”

“I did,” Phoenix says, nodding.

“You are not fit to be the queen,” he says.

She faces him. “What?” she asks. She cannot believe that he said that.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Icarus says. “If it were for me, I’d… I’d choose you to be queen, but I have to think of the team, and Slier is the best person suited for the role.”

Phoenix feels a smile appear on her lips. “You would choose me to be queen?”

“I… It does not matter what I think,” he says.

She sighs. “Are we returning to this again?” she asks. “I thought that yesterday was something.”

He closes his eyes. She knows that he is remembering. She knows that he is thinking about how they lied together, holding each other. They had lunch that Icarus brought from the lunchroom. He meditated while she read a book that Icarus had in his room, and they lied once again together. They hardly spoke and she knew that it was because they were afraid of ending up in an argument.

“Phoenix, I do not think that we should be doing this,” he says. “You might think that you know me. You might think that you want me. But I am not what you need; I am not what you deserve. I am flawed, Phoenix. I have done things that I regret. I have killed more people than what you can imagine. I have a past that will haunt me for years to come. You might think that you want to be a part of my life, but believe me, you don’t want to get involved with me.”

“I…” Phoenix begins but then she stops.

“What?” Icarus asks.

“No,” she says as she shakes her head. “If you want my answer, you are going to have to wait after the trial.”

“Why?” Icarus asks.

“Because I like making men wait,” she says, even thought that that is not the reason. She wants him to survive, and even though she knows that he will, she wants to give him another motive to do so.

***

As the ship arrives to the coast, Hakea feels his chest heavy. It is not the same to think of the upcoming than to witness it. He looks at Xeon and Agrion. Agrion must be scared just like he was at the first trial. Hake moves to hug him.

“Don’t,” Agrion says.

“I thought that you needed it,” he answers.

“I do not,” Agrion says and begins to walk to where everyone is heading.

Xeon steps besides Hakea. “He might have accepted your apology, which I think that it was a horrible one, but it won’t change his anger toward you.”

“What?” Hakea asks.

Xeon shrugs. “I think that he accepted your apology because he wanted to clean his conscious before today, in case if any of us die.”

“We won’t die,” Hakea says.

“We do not know that,” Xeon says and begins to walk towards the side of the ship, where everyone is already leaving the ship.

Hakea follows Xeon. He thought up until now that Agrion was fine with him. He knew that they were not going to be the same, but he thought that at least he could do things that they used to do before. He liked hugging Agrion; he liked to comfort him. It also helped him to calm himself. Now, Agrion does not want that.

A man in a red cloak, that was the captain of the ship and is one of Morning’s followers, is leading the group through the sand and towards the forest. After a while, Hakea sees that the forest ends, and an opening appears. There is only grass on the floor and clouds on the sky. Hakea looks around. He can see that far away there are trees surrounding the opening.

The hooded man leads them farther inside the opening. Hakea stops once he sees an opening on the ground. He knows that the opening leads them to the pit and the beginning of the second trial.

“My journey ends here,” the hooded man says. “This path will take you to the preparation room. The weapons are already there. Whenever you are ready, you may pass the door and begin the trial.”

Icarus nods and the man steps aside. Icarus is the first to step into the opening and then everyone follows. Hakea rises his chest. He will win this trial. He will survive this trial. He will thrive in this trial and no one will stop him.

***

The room is quite small for twenty-one persons, but Vil knows that it is not meant for people to hang out in there. The underground room is made of stone and it is lighted up by torches. There is a table in the middle with a ten-by-ten chessboard with chess pieces on it already in place. Vil looks at it. It is weird to see four more pawns on each side. The new pawns are placed at the end of each side, and two of them are beside the rooks.

Icarus remains looking at the table as everyone picks their weapons. Vil chooses one of her spears because her role is another of the twelve pawns. The bishops, which are Fey and East, hold spears that seem stronger than Vil’s spear and two katanas behind their back. The knights, which are Ilya and Moneo, have a shield and a sword. The rooks, which are Killam and Norm, have huge double-sided hammers.

“Gather around,” Icarus says, looking at the odd chessboard. “Looks like we will be playing white. From left to right, the back row is going to be Agrion, Killam, Ilya, Fey, Slier, myself, East, Moneo, Norm, and Lexan. Are you memorizing this, Wither?”

“Yes,” Wither says as he nods, “Agrion, Killam, Ilya, Fey, Slier, you, East, Moneo, Norm, and Lexan.”

Icarus nods. “The front row will be Phoenix, Xeon, Kobo, Shin, Beta, Zanna, Hakea, Vil, Rin, and Tilray.”

“Why am I at the corner?” Tilray asks. She does not even sound demanding. She sounds sincerely curious. “I wanted to be in front of the king or queen, protecting them.”

“The chances are that the other team will not be paying attention to the pawns at the corners,” Icarus says. “Wither can use this to his advantage.”

The door opens and Morning walks in. “Draconic, are you ready?” he asks.

“We are,” Icarus says.

“Who would be the player?” Morning asks.

“Wither,” Icarus answers.

“Interesting,” Morning says. “Malefic has chosen Kline as the player. I expected yourself to be the player too.” He stops for one second. “It does not matter. The player will stay in this room. He will keep track of the game with the chessboard inside. Whenever him or Kline makes a decision, it will be notified only to the players. Now, get into position.”

Everyone begins to walk past Morning and through the door. Vil looks back at Wither, who is standing with his weight on the cane. “Trust yourself,” she says. “You can do this.” He looks at her, his black eyes showing fear, but he nods. Vil walks through the door and into the second trial.