Curse Uncurse - ONC 2020 [Completed]

Chapter 3: Devil and Angel

Plamen plans to step forward, with no distinctive plan in his mind, just to shield Vid from whatever is supposed to come out from that wretched man's opened mouth—

"Good work, you three!" a very familiar voice hollers with confidence dripping out.

His eyes snap to the person who spoke and he feels himself deflate. He's been strung with so much tension and only one person could defuse it.

Yana...

She approaches them to stand at the same distance as Zlatan does, though ignoring his waspish glare sent her way, her strong physique seemingly unbeatable by anything, at least, in Plamen's eyes.

Her light brown skin makes a striking contrast to the silvery-white locks rising in an untamed halo. As far as he could remember, Yana has always been a mix of two opposites – light and dark, gentle and rough, excited and calm, happy and sad.

The smile on her face can be mistaken for tenderness, broken only by a vicious scar pulling the left side of her face and making it look manic, something Plamen's would bet his both arms on being the case rather than any kind of misinterpreted softness.

The familiarity of it makes it easier to breathe, to think, to relax, and, for now, it's enough.

Dark brown eyes are the only ones holding a gentle sparkle and Plamen knows she's proud of him, though, no matter how many times she has told him that, he'd never really believed it until now.

"Three finalists stand before us - three Champions have risen!" she exclaims, loud and piercing, the conviction and finality of her words enough to make the onlookers shut up.

And Plamen finally, finally grasps it: he did it! He passed the test.

No... They did it. Three of them, just like Yana said, three Champions have risen.

***

It's early afternoon and the Sun has just passed its zenith. The sun rays don't manage to find their way to the windows of this chamber. At this point of the day, they never do from the west but the room is lit up with the light from the outside.

Plamen sits on a lone bed with an elaborate woodwork frame and silken sheets. All the furniture seems over the top, but it's rather unsurprising considering he's currently located in the main Castle.

As Yana declared them Champions – something that is part of the tradition and is usually done by a high ranking official – the red miasma following them shook and sparkled until careering toward the tree of them. He tried to put on a shield but failed, and ultimately, the red magic settled on his skin, forming a reddish dragon-like pattern on the upper side of his hand. Vid and Zima fared the same.

The Armsguard then came and took them to the Castle. Yana followed, offering reassurances in case they were surprised.

"That's how it is done. You get the special treatment like you're a king or something," she said with a smile. "The mark of a Dragon King ensures it."

He didn't really register much of happenings back then, having been exhausted, barely standing upright after five days of constant vigilance and little to none sleep.

The test had been brutal; at first, there were no clues where to go, just the forest surrounding him. The rest of the applicants were the first hurdle, but he managed to lose them almost immediately which made him realize that not all of them 'started' from the same spot. Yes, they entered the testing grounds from the same place, but just like the enchanted grounds spit out different obstacles at the same time, it probably transported them to various starting points.