Cyrus Solaris
I looked down at the arm of my astral body; the once vibrant magenta my astral form radiated was faint. I over-exerted myself trying to use my third node, and the portal's excessive drain on my cosmic energy didn't help at all either.
I noticed my astral form flicker more than before, and the thought of me having to leave the test sneaked into my mind.
I couldn't let it stop me. I had to push through.
I needed to succeed here; a lot depended on this test. If I failed, I couldn't get my provisional license or the lost piece of our family relic.
Mira extended a hand. I ignored it and got myself off the floor. "I'm fine, let's get going. The timer is already ticking down."
Her hand hung in the air. She gave me a subtle nod, and our cluster moved on, unlocking the doors with the keys Sora chose in the first zone.
Voen, along with Nerena, pushed the mattress through the door. It was too large to fit initially, so it needed to be folded to get it through.
When we got through the door, a bright light washed over me. It took a few more seconds for my eyes to adjust.
Before us was a vast open field of compacted dirt, with tall chain-linked fences topped with layers of razor wire to the left and the right of us. Rows of guard towers loomed over the field, mounted with floodlights and cameras. I had never been to a prison yard before, but I would assume this is what it would be like.
Based on the previous zones, I would assume we would have to cross this field. But I couldn't see over the horizon to spot where our destination would be.
180 seconds, 179 seconds, 178 seconds.
"All we have to do is sprint to the other side. That's easy," Mira said as the next batch of items manifested before us: a first aid kit, a megaphone, a metal pipe, dog food, and a bag of money.
Think Cyrus.
"Does anyone know what could be in a prison yard?" Voen asked.
Most of us came from royalty. But from what I'd learned growing up, the Arthenos region was known for having few prisons. I had no idea how to answer.
"Beats me," Jace said.
"Same here," Sora added.
Mira scoffed and walked up to the items.
"I really wish we had picked the guard uniforms; this would have been perfect right now, allowing us to sneak past the cameras in the guard towers."
"That or the whistle," Voen said, his eyes closed.
"You really miss your flute, huh."
"Yeah, but that's not it… We got company coming." Voen said, pointing at the horizon.
"Well, what type?" Sora asked, stepping towards him.
"Dogs, a lot of them, voices that I would assume come from guards and…. Clanking, metal?"
"Spit it out, Voen," I commanded.
Voen opened his eyes, "Our astral forms are bulletproof, right?"
My astral form began to vibrate as dogs and guards appeared on the horizon of the prison yard. I looked at the timer, and we had somehow already wasted two minutes.
As I watched the guards quickly approaching, I ran a few scenarios through my head, trying to figure out how I could use my abilities to get me over to the other side as quickly as possible. Still, they all would leave me with no cosmic energy afterward.
Potentially causing me to get ejected from the test.
I couldn't have that.
I went for the metal pipe; at the very least, I knew I could use this to defend myself.
But as I went to reach for it, another hand started to as well.
It was Mira.
"What? I'm not allowed to use constellation abilities."
"I'm low on cosmic energy; you at least have more to augment yourself."
"You guys, we need to pick as a team, not just for ourselves," Sora said, butting in.
Mira and I both turned to her and snapped back.
"No one asked you!"
Sora was taken back, her eyes narrowed.
"Guys, hear me out, I'm kinda on a roll right now. But I think we should take the bag of money."
All of us except Nerena and Jace shouted at Voen.
Voen covered his ears.
"So I take it as a no-go then."
40 seconds. 39 seconds.
I was growing tired of dealing with this and was going to push past Sora and Mira.
"What are you gonna do with that? Hit dogs with it?" Sora said, staring at Mira and I.
Hearing it out loud didn't sound good, but I didn't have many options.
"So no one learned anything from last time I see. You guys should really study more history. Might learn a thing or two from it." Nerena said, stepping closer to the items.
"Ya might want to listen to squids," Jace said, using his hand to block out the artificial sunlight.
Sora turned to Nerena, "You're right. Voen, can you tell how many dogs and how many guards are coming?"
"Thirty dogs, and it looks like 3 guards."
"Perfect. Well, we should take out the highest threat to us, which is the dogs."
"So are you saying we should pick the dog food?" I asked Sora.
She took a deep breath. " Yes, we are going to run through the field using a siege formation I learned in class. We will use the mattress as a shield, and my idea was to sprinkle dog food out to the sides to distract them. I figured we could take on 3 guards."
"I like the idea," Voen said.
The idea was solid, and I didn't have enough time to come up with a better one.
"Let's go with it, I guess."
A smirk formed across her face, and I rolled my eyes at the sight of it.
20 seconds. 19 seconds.18 seconds.