"Okay, participants, " a voice came booming from above as if the God himself was speaking.
"Take your position beside the edge of the lake in front of your respective stone."
I took a step forward in front of the stone I was assigned to.
"When I blow the whistle you'll step on that stone, not now. After you step on it, a question will appear on the surface of the water body and also three stones with answers written on it. Only one answer would be correct. If you step on the correct, only then would the next question appear and so on. However, if you step on the wrong stone, it will sink and the participant will have to cross the lake by swimming. Rest assure you will not sink since the lake has been enchanted by me, your Archmage."
Oh, so he is the Archmage, though I can't see him.
"Okay now participants, let the competition begin." He paused as if taking a deep breath.
And the next second my eardrums burst by a high pitched sound.
After recovering from the initial shock, I took a step on the blank stone and soon a question surfaces itself with three other stones circling around it.
4+5 =
Oh. My. God.
I knew it would be easy, but this easy?
Wow.
I looked at the answers on each stone.
45. 9. 15.
I jumped on the stone which had 9 written on it and another question pooped up with three stones.
8 - 3 =
As I jumped on the stone which had 5 written on it, I noticed two boys swimming.
Wow! Already? I'm impressed.
I overestimated their intelligence.
I started solving the rest of the questions, jumping from stone to stone. Once I was halfway through the lake I turned around to look at people still struggling near the edge.
And that fueled a spark inside me to get to the edge first.
I looked at the next question.
Fast pass: Add 10 to the number you are standing on and then keep on adding it till you reach the end of the lake.
Oh, that's easy.
Right now I'm standing on 18 so I need to step on the stone with 28 written on it.
I quickly jumped on that stone.
28
38
48
58
68
As I jumped on 68 a person who, I just seemed to notice now, also jumped on the same stone.
At the same time.
And guess what.
There was only enough space for a single person to stand.
I was going to fall.
Nooo!! Not after I've come this far!!
My brain screamed at me and I did the only thing I could think of to keep myself from falling.
I wrapped my arms around the guy's neck (I knew he was a guy because he was just sooo freaking tall).
And I think the guy was thinking the same thing cause he wrapped his arms around my waist and we tightly hugged each other till we were stable.
If someone looked at us now, they'd think we were long lost lovers who finally united.
I slowly moved away from him (though still holding onto him) as I wanted to look at the face of this tall kid.
And the same thoughts were going inside his mind as he also pulled away from me.
My eyes met his dark blue ones with a pinch of red as our noses brushed against each other.
Oh, isn't that a familiar shade?
We just stood there for a second staring at each other, our noses touching.
I never appreciated noses in my entire life as much as I did at that moment. If not for our noses, our lips would have touched, which would have freaked the hell of this guy who still seemed like he was processing everything.
Traashid was a lot slower than I thought.
His eyes widened in realisation.
Ohhh! Here it comes!
"You- YOU!!" Traashid stuttered as he pushed me.
This bastard!! He is pushing a woman in the water! Piece of trash! Just like his name.
But I clung to him more, squashing his neck with my arms as I stood on my tiptoes.
"STOP!! I'LL FALL IN THE WATER!" I screamed at him.
"LIKE I CARE!!" He screamed back, still trying to get me off him.
"Stop being a pussy and man up! I'll step on the next rock so just deal with it for a-"
"Fuck it! I'll just swim!" And with that, he removed my iron grip on him and dived backwards into the water.
I just stood there, shocked, as he resurfaced and started swimming to the edge.
He really did hate Adailia from the bottom of his heart.
Or so I would've believed it.....if I didn't just happen to see red ears as he swam.
Now I'm confused.
__
_____
I stepped off the last stone and onto the ground. Traashid was a fast swimmer but he was still swimming. Actually, swimming wasn't all that easy either cause I saw few people getting caught by enchanted weeds and some getting caught in the whirlpool that appeared out of nowhere.
So stepping stones were the safest option.
"Lady Adailia!" Kyles came running to me once he saw me. Mages were already given instructions regarding the next challenge.
I handed him the key and before he could move on, I asked a question even though I knew the answer, "Is the next challenge a maze?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Yes, but how did-"
"Keep your right hand on the wall of the maze and keep on moving, you'll get out of it." I instructed him, this was a trick I read in some other novel, hope it works.
"Now go!" I gave him a light push and he nodded before running away to a gate.
"Lady Adailia, here." A professor who taught us Geography, called me. I could hear some movements near the edge of the lake, meaning someone came out of it, probably Traashid.
I headed over there as he instructed me, "We will give you a Pegasus who will drop you at the end of the maze from where you and your partner will search for the magic ball in the forest."
Wait... Did he say Pegasus???
I looked at the beautiful black horse with black wings as he made his way towards me.
The professor helped me up to sit on him as my eyes shined with excitement.
This was my first time sitting on an animal, especially an animal with wings.
As I sat I held onto the Pegasus' mane like I was instructed and it started walking plus flapping his wings. I got a bit scared so I held onto his mane a bit tighter.
Wrong move.
The horse first jutted forward and then on his hind legs. And within seconds, I was floating in mid-air.
Normally, I should have started going down by now but no. I was just flying up and up.
This thing was again a reminder that I'm in a novel world where some basic laws of nature are ignored.
Was I going to disappear in the sky and then shine once like Team Rocket at the end of every Pokemon episode?
Hah!
Gravity.....
I thought as I looked at the blue sky above me.
....WHERE ARE YOU AT??!?
As if on cue, gravity started acting and I came down at unbelievable speed.
If this had happened with the original Adailia, I would've commented, 'lmao. Bish deserved it.'
But this is me, Choi Haeun and I did absolutely nothing to get my nose broken.
Lemme just hide my face real quick.
I thought as I stared at the sky a second longer before quickly covering my face and preparing myself for the impact.
However, it never came and I found myself being lifted up by a pair of hands.
My Saviour!!
I removed my palms from my face to look at the guy who saved me.
Wrong move, once again.
Cause sadly, on seeing my face, the guy dropped me on my butt.
Ouch!
I winced plus glared at Traashid who glared back. Then he ignored me and took another Pegasus and left me there on the ground.
"Lady Adailia are you okay?" Asked one of the armoured men helping me get up.
I nodded and then asked, "How am I supposed to get to the end of the maze?"
"Wait a second." He said and then motioned two of his men.
They quickly brought a pony. A cute pony.
"This should've been done earlier," I said as I sat on the pony who quickly rode me to the end of the maze where Traashid seemed to be waiting for Seanna.
I got down carefully and the pony made its way back to the front of the maze.
"Seriously, what are you planning? Asking Lady Seanna to be my partner?" He said suddenly.
I stared at him with my brows furrowed.
"Can you stop being paranoid for a second? I wasn't planning anything." I told him.
"Then why would you ask her to be my partner?" He retorted.
"Because nobody was asking you."
"And whose fault do you think that is?"
"Yes, it is my fault that is why I asked her to be your partner." I said as I sighed. He never believes whatever I say.
Suddenly the gates opened and a tired-looking Kyles came out of it.
"Kyles, you okay?" I asked as I approached him. Kyles is a commoner so he doesn't have a title.
"I think I'll go crazy, I opened six doors which looked exactly like this one, only to end up with a monster in it. But your trick did work." He said as he sighed.
"Do you want to take a break?" I asked him.
He looked at me, surprised (probably wondering why I was being so nice) then he just shook his head and said, "No let's keep going."
We approached the forest just behind the maze, leaving Traashid alone.