winter knight: a coming of rank story

The map led them to a beautiful garden that smelt floral and fresh, the air was pleasant and magical, some plants were alive and some were not, they saw strange pollinating insects not found in the outside world. They got to where the special roses were and the map flew away.

"Hey, come back! How are we supposed to get out of here?" Snow whined.

"Shhhhh!" Diah hushed her then pointed to a huge figure sitting facing their opposite direction.

It was the demigod, they moved quietly and as stealthy as they could, they put on their helmet and turned on the camou in their suits, they got to where the roses were and quietly plucked the amount they needed. The roses were of two types, black and transparent with lots of torns on them, the team was very careful to avoid being spiked, they put the roses in a container they brought, a container made of ceramic with a water compartment under, it's supposed to keep the roses fresh and hide the scent from the demigod who was sensitive. They left the garden undetected by the demigod. In the meantime, other team members navigated their way through the secret passage way. When Diah's team left the garden, the map returned and transformed to a huge flying ray fish, they mounted it and it flew them back to the academy, being the first team to complete the mission, the received a heavy bonus mark on their score.

Before dusk all the teams were done with the mission, they lined up to submit their mission gears and the roses they collected from the garden.

"I wonder what they do with these" Sharna said, she stood behind Diah in the queue.

"Probably keep it in the memorial hall to track our progress" Diah said with a shrug.

"Or, maybe they'll use it to make our quests' gears" Ross commented from the front.

"Mind your business!" Sharna queried.

"Ooooh, issues?" She asked Sharna.

"Yeah, caught him flirting with an ice knight's daughter"

"I wasn't flirting i was only assisting her put on her gear" Ross tried to explain.

"Oh yeah? A gear that a five year old Kauohan can put on without missing a buckle!" Sharna yelled.

"Whoa, easy now. Your blood is boiling mama" Diah tried to sound playful to ease the tension.

"He's so freaking annoying." She exhaled "but we broke up so, i'm over it now"

"Bean head, what did you do about it" Diah flicked his head from behind.

"Ow! What else am i supposed to do, she didn't give me room to explain myself properly" Ross tried to defend himself.

"Oh, so you needed room to explain yourself but you flirted in the open" Diah said sarcastically and other eavesdropper 'ooooooed' when she dropped the line. She turned to Sharna "do you still want him though?"

Sharna exhaled. "I dunno, Kibi has grown fond of him and he cries every now and then and i hate it when kibi cries, it makes me cry too" she sniffled.

Diah pinched Ross and in a stern tone she said "fix your mess or i fix your pretty face!"

In pain, all Ross could do was wince and nod real fast.

"Good" she let go of him and turned to Sharna and whispered "if it makes you happy, make him pay"

Sharna smiled. "Thanks. You always look out for others" she gave Diah a tight bear hug cause she was taller than her.

Psst! May i ask a question?" Snow whispered to the water soldier in charge of inspecting and receiving the items they collect from tournaments.

"What is it stbsk?" The soldier asked.

"What happens to the items we submit and why are the roses referred to as 'special'?"

"The roses have a present chemical compound that gives them a special smell, color and appearance, and the items you collect from tournaments will be used to create the armour and weapons you'll each need for your quests when the time comes."

"Oh i see...."

"NEXT!" The soldier shouted and snow moved forward.

At dusk, the stbsk gathered in the compound for a mini celebration organized for them by the academy staff for their remarkable victories so far. Ross, Sharna, Diah, Snow and Briggard sat in circle round a burning log with few others.

"So Diah, how did you figure out the mirage world?"

"Yeah, that's a good question" Onyx chipped in few feets from them with a tray of drinks. They each picked a drink then Onyx sat beside Diah.

"My father is a huge fan of Kauoha fables, stories, myths, legends and history, he's read literally every book about Kauoha in Kauoha and he always tells me the story in forms of lessons and puzzles, cause he believes each piece of writing is inspired by the gods in form of a deep message and way out solutions whenever we are stuck. So when we studied about the garden and the demigod and the roses, all that my mind kept picturing was the three eyed farmer giant."

"Cooooooooooool" Briggard said half drooling.

"Aw come on!" Onyx shrugged him from the rear.

"What? It's all thanks to her wisdom and memory we got out of the mirage world into the real world and got the roses."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean you should drool all over the hero like that"

They all burst into laughter.

The night turned darker and the celebration got wilder, the stbsk had fun to their fill and over, they laughed, talked, danced, drunk, and partied to their heart feel.

Diah excused herself from the crowd and went to the fountain to have alone time to think and thank the gods for successful victories so far. When she got to the fountain, it glistened.

"Wow, never knew you could do that" she spoke to the fountain as if speaking to someone who could respond.

"The thing about her is that she always always find a way out" someone spoke from inside one of the halls.

Diah hid behind the fountain as the voices grew louder and nearer, she held her breath and steadied her poise.

"I don't care if she's the chosen one or not, kill her else i would you" someone else threathened the other.

"Yes your..."

"Ah ah! No honorifics here!" The voice cut the other short.

"How are we sure she's the chosen one?" A third voice asked.

"You saw what happened on the bloodline test day at this fountain didn't you? That is all the sign you need."

"And her both parents are ice soldiers too"

"Finish the job and you can have your promises"

"Yes miss" they both chorused.

"Good, now get lost before someone sees you"

The footsteps resecended.

Diah came out of hiding panting, she wondered who the chosen girl targetted for a kill was. She ran back to the party and pulled her friends aside. She narrated what she heard to them.

"I told you there was a winter knight amongst us" Briggard announced happily.

"Yeah... What tattoo did you say the person got?" Diah asked.

"Um, the creature of the gods. On the thighs" answered Briggard.

"We need to find the person and warn whoever it is." Snow said.

"Yeah but we can't scat through tweleve hundred stbsk and look at their tattoo, it'll raise suspicions." Onyx said.

"Hmm... We can" chipped in Sharna.

"We can?" Chorused the rest.

"Yeah, on black day where everyone's tattoo would be painted with bio luminescent ink, then we can easily spot anyone with an odd or different tattoo and help out" Sharna explained.

"Great idea. I'm in." Diah said

"Me too" chorused the rest.