Playing Fate

Chapter 3: Fated Aptitude Test Part II

I woke up in the room which I recognized as the testing area before I fell into the dream world. I sat up even farther to get a better look. The lady that had induced me was standing at the desk with the papers spread on it. She was looking down at first then became aware of my awakening and regarded me. She motioned me towards her. I walked over and she pointed her finger at the seat, silently telling me to sit. I took my place and peered into her eyes, wondering what to do next. Finally, she spoke.

"You surprisingly did well, congratulations for that. Do you have any questions?"

I thought for a minute until speaking up. "What's your name?"

She chuckled, much to my confusion. Did I say something funny? Nonetheless, she answered.

"How considerate," she smiled. "It's Delilah Armstrong, Miss. Pardon me for not telling you earlier."

I smiled and asked another question, "Why does the part of the test I just took matter, anyways?"

She replied, "It is to prepare you for any dangerous situations in the future."

I was puzzled at what she meant by future situations, so I pushed on. "What kind of situations?"

A blank look came across Delilah's face and had a look as if contemplating how to respond. Finally, she spoke, "If you tell anybody what I am about to tell you, you will have a severe punishment, understand?" She was giving me a dangerously serious expression so I gave a small nod. "The castle sometimes experiences, um, encounters with rebels and it is part of the Queen's duty to help defend from them. We test if you are physically able so if you become the bride of the prince you can be prepared to fight for your kingdom. That is one of the deciding factors of getting in."

I was shocked for a moment. I had no idea the castle faced attacks; I always thought this was a peaceful kingdom. I decided to leave it be and asked what I was about to do now.

Delilah seemed relieved that I changed the subject and told me that I was about to take the knowledge section of the test. "We will see how much you know about the kingdoms history, your math skills, and other things."

She pointed to the papers that she had now put in a stack. "You will go through the papers and answer as many questions you know within three hours. You may skip over questions that you do not know," she explained. "I assume you know how to write," she cocked an eyebrow and I bobbed my head.

She walked over towards the chair I had woke up in and sat down. I was looking at her, and she motioned for me to begin. I took up the first sheet from the pile and looked at the first question. When was the peace restored for Talas?  I was glad that the test was staring out east. I wrote down 2193 and moved on.

The next questioned asked who became ruler when the country first formed. King Dominic was kind enough to take over the poor country after the war was over. After fighting over property with another country, most of the original land was left destroyed and a ruler was needed for reforming the new kingdom. That's where King Dominic came in. He courageously took over, deciding it best not to rule the previous way. He also came to the conclusion that to find a suitable queen for the country was to create the Fated. His son was the first to hold the competition and took over the kingdom four years prior to the contest. Now, four competitions later, was the fifth Fated and I was currently taking the test to qualify.

The sixth question asked what the previous name of the country was before it became Talas. I thought for a short time before remembering it was America. I went through the paper skipping one asking when there was a disturbance in the ruling because some invaders once again tried to take over.

I quickly finished the paper and moved on to the next one. This one was asking math questions, which I was luckily good at thanks to my mother taking the spare time we had to teach me. I completed that and started the third paper. This one consisted of asking what to do in certain situations for survival and also verbal situations.

After completing the paper, the fourth one came up asking more questions about the history of the kingdom. Which king died at an early age and how did he die? The third king, the young King James, died at age 36 from an unknown illness that killed many other people. It was a sad death and many grieved for the loss of a great king that helped the young country.

We had never had a bad king before, thankfully. All had ruled well and helped Talas prosper. This upcoming king, however, I did not have much faith in; he always appeared on television, looking cocky and had plenty of girls drooling over him. That was not my problem, though; girls have every right in who they like. No, my problem was that he seemed to take more interest in appearing on screen than worrying about the kingdom. I do hope he will be a good king.

I went through the papers quickly, skipping questions every so often, and finally Delilah stopped me. From what it looked like, I only had around twenty pages left, which was excellent, considering I filled out nineteen sheets, each consisting around ten questions.

"Wow, I'm impressed," I lifted my head to Delilah, looking astonished. "You have to be the one that answered the most questions today. I mean, you left hardly any blank," she was shuffling through the papers, looking at how many I completed. She smiled at me and congratulated me.

"I am going to put these up and then it will be time to discover your talents," she smiled at me before turning around.

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Sorry for such a short chapter. I promise that soon we will get into some action. I can see it is going quiet slow, But don't worry. There just might be a little more romance in the chapters to come ;). Anyways, thanks guys! Vote, comment, promote!