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ONE- Rogue

A circling hawk in the clear sky suddenly dives to the ground. Its beak slowly shrinks to a nose; sharp claws gradually lengthen to lean legs, and its wings steadily narrow to arms. By the time Mason hits the ground, he is completely human; loose soft feathers from his transformation flutter slowly to the earthy ground.

I run towards him as a forced smile slowly spreads on my face. "Anything?" I ask with eager impatience.

But the disappointment on his face is enough to answer my question. I push my frustration aside, determined to keep going. It's sweltering and humid, and I try to ignore our pants of exhaustion, but it's evident vitality is seeping from our pores. But I push my group forward, leading them hastily through the evergreen synthetic jungle, desperately searching for the flag. Drowned in this perilous hunt. A mindless, savage game. 

Retrieve the flag. The words echo in and out of my head. 

I then find my trio in the middle of lush, emerald-green shrubs and trees. The petrichor emanating from the leaves hangs in the air. Based on my intuition, there must be an oasis around the area. 

Maybe we can swing by to quench our thirst. 

Celeste, my twin sister, takes a moment to catch her breath. "No time for breaks, Rogue. We've got bigger problems to worry about," she calls out from my left. I take a cautious step back as my breath hitches in my throat. "I sense something coming." She closes her eyes, raises her fingers and rests them on her temples. "Right ahead of us."

I know better than to doubt my sister. She's almost never wrong. As a skilled Whisperer, Celeste can sense the presence of any life forms around her and get into its mind. Mason, on the other hand, is easily one of the best Shapeshifters in the whole batch, having mastered the ability to transform into any living being. That's a huge surprise, considering he was only taken from the middle-class rank of the caste system, the Merchants.

I ready myself with the sharp scraps of metal I always keep hovering around me like a reflective barrier. Like every other Silvercrest, I wield the ability to manipulate metal. It would be quite difficult to survive as Silvercrest with an uncreative mind, for the weapons we create are based on our pure innovative ideas. 

The best Silvercrests in Valburn are known to be the most formidable for their ingenious minds. 

As the three of us prepare ourselves for a chaotic battle at any moment, there is nothing but the hum of eerie silence and the constant scrapping my metal makes when it collides. Everything around us stands still. Even the air doesn't permit a breeze to disturb us.

"I can't find it... it's shifting." Beads of sweat trickle down Celeste's neck from intense concentration. Mason's keen eyes scan the area for any other dangers while I steadily adjust my metal scraps into a defensive position. Suddenly, Celeste's emerald eyes flash open. "Everyone, six o'clock!" she immediately alerts us.

Mason and I whirl in unison. He effortlessly transforms into an eagle and takes off into the air as my metal scraps attack the lunging beast. A manticore.

A blaring holler sends Celeste cowering as several of my shards dig deep into the creature's flesh, spilling droplets of blue blood onto the grass. Some of my shards slash massive holes into its dragon wings, keeping the ponderous beast grounded. It does little to weaken the strength of the fiend, though, as the furious creature gives me one menacing glare. Without hesitation, it pins me to the ground. My metal field collapses as the strike takes me by surprise.

Just an illusion, Rogue. This is all just an illusion...

Illusion or not, panic surges into my veins as I think of all the worst possible outcomes. As I struggle with all my might to break free, the beast's lion claws are ruthless and its vicious scorpion tail is already in position, ready to strike.

Just as I am about to capitulate, a deafening screech pierces my ears as an eagle transforms into a lion, tackling the manticore. I treasure the few seconds I have to rest, but I know it can't last. Both creatures attack each other fiercely as I ready to blindly plunge myself into the battle once again. My metal shards recover around me as I run to help my friend.

"Took you long enough!" I call out to Mason as my metal shards form a dagger. "Heads up!" I quickly caution as I throw the deadly weapon.

He doesn't even look. He instantly turns back to human form, catches the dagger mid-air and gashes the manticore from behind. The beast's thunderous roar almost drowns the voices out, but I make out a few words. 

"Hurry up! We found it!"

My eyes dart across our battle to another group heading for something inside a stone cave. The sense of urgency takes over my mind.The flag.

It shimmers lightly, reflecting its gold from the sunlight. Temptation taunts me to abandon the battle and bolt straight for it. Then this nightmare would be over. But I slowly realise that it would compromise my whole situation, and probably fail all of our test scores in the process. I then remember our third teammate.

I fix my attention to Celeste, and she stares at me for the briefest moment and then nods back in understanding. I never do get used to her invading my thoughts. Celeste bolts to the flag, and I run to the opposite direction, back to the battle to help Mason. 

He comes in for a second strike, but the beast dodges his assault. The dagger then disintegrates and takes the form of four strong steel chains, clasping the beast's limbs, struggling to keep them down. It takes so much concentration, but the brute wouldn't stay still, breaking my chains one by one.

You can do it, Celeste.

Mason looks over to Celeste and when I see his face, I don't want to turn around. But I do, and I watch in horror as the other team grabs the flag in victory, just as Celeste reaches the cave. Game over.

And, with that, the jungle, the manticore, everything suddenly vaporizes, leaving us and all the other teams standing in an enormous white room. 

Defeated, again.

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