Sorry it's been a while. Forget how often I was writing chapters before because I was out of school then. Now, I have tons of homework every night thanks to my math teacher. (bitch) and then I went on vacation for a week, which I would have written sooo much during but NO COMPUTER. So, my apologies, but here's a new chapter!
"A TEST!" exclaimed Aranir. He and the other candidates were just told that they had to perform a written exam in order to move on.
"Of course, " said chancellor Ocato. "You can't expect us to let you into a team such as the Spec. Ops without a testing your mental skills. Regardless of how skilled you may be, we can't trust you with a mission if you can't think straight."
"That makes sense…I suppose…" said the bulking Nord, named Ned.
"Right. Well the test will take place tonight, in the Palace itself, so I shall lead you inside to explain. The show for these fine people is over." explained Ocato
With that, Ocato dismissed the crowd. After a minute of some complaining and mumbling from the citizens, they finally dispersed into the gates around the tower. Ocato led the group, consisting of all nine winning contestants and the proctors, towards the Imperial Palace. None of them had ever been in the Palace before, or so Aranir gathered from overhearing the whispers of the group. With a wave of Ocato's hand, the doors glowed a brilliant yellow hue, a golden ring making its way down the centre of the great wooden doors. The doors swung open revealing a tall, circular hallway. Directly in front of them, was another set of doors that led to the counsel room, according to Ocato.
Then, Ocato swung a right, and walked down the hallway. The walk seemed to take forever to Aranir, the walls were unbroken with no doors at all. Then he spotted a ramp that curved towards a door at the top. Ocato led the group through the door and into yet another hallway. The walls were only broken by a single door that lead onto a balcony overlooking the counsel room. Finally, the group traversed to a final hallway, this one with many doors. They walked a little further and finally Ocato stopped at the third door on the left.
"This is one of the libraries in the Palace. It was where the original Spec. Ops members took their tests, and it is where you will take yours." explained Ocato
Using the same technique he did to open the palace doors, he opened the library doors. The room was a small room, with only four shelves on either side, extending about 3 meters from the wall. Between each set of shelves was a desk. Totaling in 10 desks, there was a final, grand, oak desk at the end. It had intricate designs of rocks and birds, with pillars of lightning travelling down each pole.
Ocato stood in front of the desk and the group assembled in front of him, the archers in a line, with Aranir in the front, and Wade at the back. The other groups followed suit. Finally, Ocato spoke:
"Now, let me explain the rules. First off, the test will take place immediately after I explain."
"Wait! You're not going to give us a chance to study, or rest even?" asked the Imperial archer Elizabeth.
"No. Everything we do has a reason. You will not always be well rested in the field, and you need to be able to do create ideas and plans even while exhausted. Now, without further interruptions… Secondly, you will have one hour to complete 14 questions. Next, is you must get at least 12 questions right. And the last question you must get right in order to pass. Finally, only one person from each group can pass."
"WHAT!" exclaimed the group in unison.
"Well, if we allowed all nine of you in, it would almost double the squad in numbers."
"Well… then what if there is a tie?" exclaimed Neilson the Breton
"We have a number of tie breakers ready, although the chances that any of you will tie are low."
The group was silent. In fact, the world seemed silent. Aranir looked around the room and saw faces of anger, fear, but mostly faces of determination. This is not going to be easy. But I've made it this far.
"Okay then, we'll assign you each a desk." said Ocato
After a few minutes, all the contestants had been given a desk. They each had a sheet of parchment turned over, an inkwell, and a number of quills. Aranir was in the front corner with a bookshelf on one side, obscuring the adjacent contestant, and a wall on the other. Across the room was Neilson, one of the mages and next to him, Aranir could make out James the Redguard. He had no idea as to the locations of the Dark Elf Trio.
"Very well." said Ocato. "The proctors will stand watch and make routine rounds to keep you from cheating. BEGIN."
The room filled with the sound of ruffling papers and then the sounds of quills being sloshed in ink. When Aranir first saw the page he panicked. Each question was a paragraph long, many with another space for a paragraph long answer. He saw similar expressions of fear on Neilson's and James' first question read:
An iron battle axe with a weight of approximately 5 lbs is thrown at a target 25 feet away with the wind blowing at 23kmph in the opposite direction. The target is 1ft in length and width. what is the probability that the axe will hit the target?
"OH MY GOD!" Aranir thought "How am I supposed to answer these things? The only time I have ever thrown an axe is when I couldn't cut down a tree and got frustrated. Okay, calm down…let's read the next one." It read:
A steel arrow weighing10g, being shot by a bow with a 30lb draw –force being pulled to the shooters shoulder, who has an arm length of 71.5cm, with no wind. How far will the arrow go?
"EEEK! Even I can't answer that question!" Suddenly, Aranir felt something brush against his mind. Then it disappeared. After a moment, it returned, only this time, it had a voice.
"SHHHHH! Don't do anything, they'll notice!" said the voice
"Who are you?" Aranir thought, hoping the voice would receive the message
"It's me, Neilson. Now, just hear me out okay?"
"HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS!"
"I'm communicating telepathically. The scholar I studied under at the Arcane University was a candidate for the first Spec. Ops tryouts. He didn't pass the test so when I told him I was trying he taught me this so that I could use it this very moment."
"Isn't this cheating?"
"Kind of… Well, they're asking for us to cheat! Have you seen these questions? Anyway, I thought we could work together. Like, you can answer the second question right? Then I'm sure I can answer a few others. We can work together!"
Aranir thought for a minute. "Okay, I'm in. I'm sure I can work out the second one, but what are we going to do about the first?"
Neilson's reply didn't come for a while. "What about James? He's close enough that I won't be straining myself to much to communicate him, and he sure looks like he knows what he's doing."
"Alright then, contact him."
"Hold on, I'm not very good at this yet, I can only communicate with one person at a time."
…a minute passed…
"He's in too!" said Neilson "He says the answer to the first question is 23% of a hit."
"Alright!" Aranir wrote down the answer. "I was thinking about number two…I think the answer is 47ft"
"Good! I'll relay that to James."
"45 minutes left!" said Ocato
Through James, the three of them were able to get the first 13 questions within about 40 minutes. They each combined their knowledge for question 9 which asked about a battle between a mage, and thief, and a warrior. Any questions that had to do with places and history, Neilson was able get easily, saying he studied Tamriel's past very thoroughly at the University. With only 5 minutes left, they needed to get the last question
"If we don't get this question, our efforts will be useless." said Neilson . The question read:
You are on a top secret mission with a package of information on a unique spell/technique/weapon. (depending on your combat preference) You were given strict orders by your employer to not open the package, no matter the circumstances. You need to get the package from point A to B which happens to lead you through a dark forest. You are ambushed by bandits of immense power and numbers and you are cornered. What do you do?
"Well, shouldn't we surrender and see if they even want the package?" said Neilson. … "Oh, James says you should attack them all and defend the package at all costs."
"Problem with that is that if you die, they will be able to take the package" Aranir pointed out.
"Well, maybe we should just look at the damn package. Maybe there's an awesome spell inside that can destroy them all!" said Neilson. … "James says that's a terrible idea."
"It is. We were strictly told not to"
With a sarcastic tone Neilson said: "Well! That's a surprise! A little thief like you doesn't want a peek?"
"HEY! That's uncalled for!"
"ONE MINUTE" Ocato bellowed.
"Okay, we'll all put what we want. There's no time to argue now." said Aranir
They did that. Finally the proctors collected the sheets and passed them to Chancellor Ocato who said:
"I will take these to my office to mark them, I will return when I am complete. If you make a single peep you will be disqualified." And with that, the High Elf left the room, leaving the proctors to stare at the candidates for what seemed like hours. Suddenly a quill rolled off the desk of the Wood Elf mage.
"Leave!" said the Battlemage Amande
"But…I…er" said the elf
"You have proven yourself incompetent. Now LEAVE!"
Scared, with tears flowing down his cheeks, he ran out of the library.
Aranir sat perfectly still for the remainder of the time. Aranir swore he could see the first rays of light flittering in from a window when Ocato returned.
"Well, those tests were some of the most interesting things I've ever read. First off I will save you the suspense and get rid of who didn't get the last question right. Ned the Nord, who insisted in butchering the lot of the bandits. Shubae the Dark Elf, who peeked at the package and Gregorin the Wood Elf who would have gotten the question wrong by looking at the package as well but it seems he has been disqualified anyway."
The two candidates who failed slowly rose to their feet. Ned left quickly, his pale cheeks hot with anger. Shubae however, insisted on walking to a table near the door and slammed his hand on the table.
"Please, leave Shubae." said Ocato
The Elf ignored him and drew a knife from its sheath on his boot. Slowly he brought the knife to the table. He placed the thickest part of the blade directly above the first digit of his index finger. He inhaled a deep breath and brought down the knife upon his finger, sending blood across the table and taking off the top of his finger. He screamed in agony and began to cry, leaving the finger part, he tucked his hand under his armpit and left the room silently.
Creepy. Anyway that was pretty long wasn't it? Guess it's only fair. The results will be announced later!
