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Well here's another chapter redone. Not much of it changed from what it originally was.


Chapter Three: The Plata Test

Three years in the past

Second day of Nivenna being Takinom's apprentice.

"This dress feels loose." Nivenna said as she was looking at her reflection in one of three large mirrors. Takinom was only a few feet away, sitting on a beautiful hand-made chair, watching the female tailor work on one of Nivenna's new dresses, which Nivenna was currently wearing. Takinom thought the whole thing was adorable. Watching Nivenna squirm in the fabric as the tailor tried to sew, was the funniest thing Takinom has seen in a while.

"I'm not done with it yet Miss. Once it's complete it will fit like a glove, trust me." Loqa, the tailor, said. Takinom gave her credit for being so patient with Nivenna. Even with all of Nivenna's moving and grumbling, she was still doing a great job on the red and black dress.

Takinom and some other female warriors liked this tailor because she not only made beautiful clothes, but she also made them battle ready as well, with battle gear sewed in. But today, her job was just to make a few clothes, dresses and one outfit that Nivenna will be training in.

"I still don't know why I need new clothes especially this unbearable itchy and tight ones. What was wrong with my old ones?" said Nivenna, turning her head a little bit to see Takinom's reflection in one of the mirrors.

"I already told you, your old clothes were torn, dirty, raggedy, and well old. If you are going to be a warrior for the Underworld then you need to start wearing clothes that make you look like you didn't come from the streets."

"But I did came from the streets." Nivenna said in a smartelic way. Takinom rolled her eyes at the young girl's comment.

"You are getting new clothes and you will wear them. Now I am going to look at the armor down stairs. Do not give Lorqa any trouble." said Takinom, she got up from her chair and walked out the door. Nivenna so far, hated being Takinom's apprentice. Sure she liked living in her huge mansion, eating the best quality food in the Underworld, and all the other parts, but she was not sure the rich and powerful life was for her.

She so far did not have to do any physical training, but Takinom is making her learn how to read and write and other things of that nature.

Before Takinom gave her a spelling leason, she was only able to spell her name, that was very rare among Underworld orphans. Being an orphan in the Underworld meant that you would not get an education, but rather you would spend your days doing odd jobs or trying to find food. That even applies to the children in the orphanage, sure Sazo gives them food, but its one meal a day and every day it's the same thing watery soup, a small slice of stale bread, and a cup of water. Nobody ever said feeding an army of orphans would be easy, if it was not for the fact that Sazo had to buy milk for the infants, which in the Underworld costs its weight in silver, then the children could eat more food.

"Darn, I must have forgotten the red silk string." Lorqa said as she was measuring the sleeves, "Please forgive me, Miss, I must go get the red silk." She gave Nivenna a bow and left the room, leaving Nivenna alone.

Nivenna was not use to this kind of treatment. Nobody had ever before bowed to her or called her Miss. Just two days ago every creature in Underworld society looked down on her and thought of her as just a street rat that would steal to get what she wanted and would one day join a gang in order to survive. That is what all Underworlders thought about orphans, which most orphans do wind up in gangs, but there are lucky ones who become rich and powerful.

"Looks like I will be one of the lucky ones." she said to herself, looking in the mirrors.

"You have always been lucky, Nivenna. You have escaped from more dangerous situations than anybody else that I know of." Nivenna was startled to hear Ladro'n's voice. She turned around to see him sitting on the edge of an opened window holding wraped silk in his gray paw, wearing his trademark grin.

Ladro`n saw that she was oddly not looking at him, but at the red silk. He knows she is a smart little creature so she must have guessed where he got it and why he has it in the first place. "I got tired of waiting around to talk to you so I kind of snuck in after Takinom left and grabed the silk. For a plan that was not thought out, it worked like a charm wouldn't you say, little Sis." She did not answer him, she was still very angry at him for abandaning her at Chaor's castle.

"Where were you when the guards came after me!" she growled at him. She wanted to yell, but she was holding in her anger mainly because if she did yell then Takinom might hear her and come back. His grin vanished leaving a frown behind.

"Look, I'm very sorry for what happened. I didn't mean for you to get caught, I didn't even know about that alarm, it surprised me just as much as it did you." She always knew when he was lying, Ladro`n had a tick that you would have to look very closely to see. If he was lying then his left ear would turn slightly backwards and if he was telling the truth his right ear would do the same thing, but no matter how big the lie or if it was the complete truth, the ears would only move half a centimeter. So it's almost unnoticeable, Ladro`n does not even know he does it only Nivenna knows and she is more than willing to keep it that way. Since his right ear was the one that moved, she knew he was telling the truth.

"That still does not explain why you abandoned me."

"I didn't abandon you! When the alarm sounded, I was in a different section of Chaor's volt, looking for the battle gear I wanted, but you already knew that. The guards saw me first, so I ran in the opposite direction. That way you would have a better chance of escaping." His left ear did not move, and that would explain why there was not many guards after her. "Come on, little Sis, you know that I would never leave you when you are in trouble." Nivenna likes it when he calls her, his little Sis, but she will never tell him or anybody else that.

"I believe you." That is the closest thing to a 'I forgive you' that he will get from her.

"Good, now come on, I found the perfect place for us to hide out, until they stop looking for you." he put down the silk and jumped out the window. Nivenna stood right where she was. After a second when he realized she did not follow him, Ladro`n came back in the room. " Why are you just standing there? We need to leave before she comes back."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"And why not?" he asked in a slightly irritated voice.

"This could be a great opportunity for me, being the apprentice of the second most powerful creature in the Underworld means that I could have a very successful life." Ladro`n did not understand and did not want to understand. All he could think of is that Nivenna would one day become a poweriful warrior and that she would forget all about the good times they had together.

"Fine, when you come to your senses, you know where to find me." His voice was barley under shouting. He once again jumped out the window without saying another word. Since Nivenna was not going with him, he probably will go back to the orphanage and more than likely Sazo will have a punishment for him when he returns. He could not have left at a better time, one second later, Lorqa came back with the red silk. She was a little perplexed at seeing the red silk, that she thought she had forgotten about, was setting on the table next to the window.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Miss." she said as she began to sow. Nivenna did not say anything, her mind was too busy thinking about the creature she has always thought of as her big brother.


Underworld City, the present

Sam just ported to Underworld City. Nobody was around. There was nothing but dead silence, and all the building's lights were out. It looked like it was night-time, which you would think that it was always night-time in the Underworld, but the truth is the Underworld does have day and night.

When it is night, all the Underworld citizens are asleep with their lights out. Mainly because there was a law that says all Underworld citizens must be in their homes at a certain time. That law has been around for centuries, so it's second nature for them to obey it. The only creatures who have permission to be out at night were the soldiers who patrol the streets to make sure no one was breaking the law or the high ranking Underworlders who could do pretty much whatever they wanted to do as long as they don't cross the line too much.

As Sam carefully moved through the city, he started to hear the sound of Underworld guards on patrol coming his way. He hide behind a building as the large eight foot guards that were wearing red armor and carrying some kind of old weapons that Sam did not recognize, walked by him.

He thought it was odd that they would be carrying an old out-dated model like those. Looking around, he saw that some of the buildings that were suppose to be there were not and there were buildings he did not recognize.

"Okay, this is starting to freak me out." He just stood there for a minute, trying to figure this out."Kirvak Mound must be the key here, but what did it do?" Hearing more guards coming, he decided that this was probably not a safe place to hide. He knew some great hiding places in the city. If they were still there that is. He just has to be careful not to let anybody see him or he might go on a trip to the Underworld jail.


Kopond's Library

Nivenna had no idea what books to study first, she needed to study for a test Kopond whose about to give her in an hour. It was a suprise test that she was completely unaware of. Kopond never before gave her a test, why now would he start and wait till she only had an hour to prepare for it? Before she could question him about the test, he left the room and quickly closed and locked the door. Nivenna decided to start with the history of muges then move on to the formulas for different mugics. She got the books she needed and sat down at a table to study. After about ten minutes, Kopond came into the library, he walked towards Nivenna who was to focused on the book in her hands to notice him standing beside her.

"It's time for the test, Nivenna." she was startled to hear his voice behind her, but she was even more startled at what he said.

Looking up at him she said "But you said I had an hour to study!"

"Yes I did, that was a lie. Be thankful that I gave you any time in the first place. Creatures that take this test never have time to study. I only gave that ten minutes, because I think you're still too young for it." Nivenna was just more confused by his words.

"Then why are you giving me it, and what is this test about?" Kopond looked surprised that she didn't figure out what it was already. He folded his arms like this whole thing was pointless.

"Takinom thinks you are ready for it, and the test you're about to take is to see if you are capable to one day become a muge." Nivenna felt like a rock wave attack just hit her in the face. The test that can determine if a Underworld creature has what it takes to be a muge one day is one of the hardest test you could take in the Underworld.

How did Takinom even know that she has been studying mugic? She was sure that she was hiding that little fact very well. Maybe Kopond was not as good as keep secrets than what she thought.

"Do you mean, the Plata Test?" She felt like a wave of anxiety just rolled over her. She always thought if she ever took the Plata test, she would be at least twenty solans older. Why would Takinom want her to take the test, the youngest creature to take it was fifty solans old.

"That's right, now please follow me ." Kopond started to walk out the library. Nivenna did the same leaving the books on the table knowing that Kopond would make her put them back after the test. They walked outside into the streets of Underworld City.

"Kopond, where are you taking me?" Nivenna heard that the test could only be taken at a certain location in Underworld City, but she didn't know where.

"It is a secret, you will know when we get there." After that response she got, Nivenna knew she would not get any more answers out of him, so she thought it would be best not to make him angry with bombarding him with annoying questions.

They have been walking for about twenty minutes now. Nivenna didn't like this part of the city. It was filled with what she and many other Underworlders liked to call traitors. Creatures that wanted the tribe to stop trying to conquer the other tribes and make peace with them. The idea of the Underworlders making peace with the Overworlders made her want to vomit. Have they forgotten all the sacrifices that their fellow tribe mates made in order to defeat their enemies or all the fallen soldiers that will never come home to their loved ones?

Kopond stopped in the middle of the road, Nivenna was too lost in thought to notice and wound up walking into his back. The impact caused her to fall on the ground. Being use to falling on the ground from attacks, she quickly got up. It did not even leave a scratch or bruise on her just a little embarrised, not that you could see it though.

"Watch where you are going." he turned his head towards her, "You really need to be more aware of your surroundings." For a second, he sounded just like Takinom. Her caregiver always tells her to be more aware of what is going on around her and ,of course, she is right about it. When Takinom comes back from her mission, that will be Nivenna's next lesson, at least that's what Takinom told her.

"We have arrived at our destination." Nivenna looked around, they were still in the street, but for some reason nobody was around. There was no sound, the place felt like part of a ghost town. And really that was odd, even if no civilians were allowed outside during this time. She should have been able to hear the guards patrolling the streets, since this part of Underworld City is heavily patrolled at all times. It was a bit unnerving, if Nivenna were to be honest with herself.

Suddenly something hit Nivenna on the back of her head. Before she became unconscious, she could see black figures coming out of the shadows and her last thoughts were curses directed at Kopond.

Could have just blindfolded me. Not like I could have done anything about it anyways, being outnumbered. And then everything went dark.


Plata means silver in Spanish, I got that from Google.

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this chapter and please write a review.