Chapter 5 - Treasures

Thistle came back to our position. She had quietly moved forward a bit and tried to check out what happened to the students in front of us. We were interrupted on our way by shots and a lot of noises which indicated that they might not be okay. We had moved very close to the goal, only a few hundred meters until we made it. There was just a slight problem. A huge open field was in front of us again, but this time it was a swamp.

"The swamp surrounds the mountain completely. There is no faster way to get to it."

Thistle informed us. She ducked and snuck behind the huge fallen tree we all hid behind. We still were in thick forest, but it got way less vegetated in front of us. Just like if someone had taken all trees around the mountain and threw them far away. I peeked over the tree. I closely inspected the swamp.

"Are there any traces of the other students?"

Asked Gris. Thistle shook her head.

"Nothing. It seems like there was no one at all. But I saw something quite interesting."

She turned her head towards Eda.

"You said you two found an old airship earlier, did you?"

"Yes. Why? Did you find more of those?"

Thistle giggled, somehow sounding insane.

"You mean a few? If I saw it right, then I think there was a whole battle down there.

I found very old traces and parts of weapons, ships. Everything."

"What if a few of those weapons were from the other students, Thiss?"

Asked Pale. He pointed over to the swamp.

"Maybe they'd get ambushed up in there by something."

"No, I don't think so. All the weapons over there are rusty or completely out of our league. Nothing a student would use nowadays."

"Okay, so what do you say we shall do, based on what you saw?"

Lycide came closer to her, also crouching.

"To be honest, I think we shall risk it. I mean, there is literally now way to get across but the swamp. Or Darkin, you got a better plan. Because I am no strategic person.

I just follow."

"Honestly, I have no idea as well."

I replied. I addressed Lycide.

"I want to hear your opinion. What do you think?"

She was surprised, but she quickly got over it.

"Ehm, well, I'd say we take the swamp route. Everyone okay with that?"

"Sure."

Replied Gris. Yellwin took out her pen, but she reached behind her back and took out a thin blade and attached it to her weapon. Gris transformed his pike into its rifle form again, while Eda put her hand at her belt. She looked at it with widened eyes. I asked what was wrong.

"Uh, I really need to use my weapon more in its rifle form, because I don't have that many feather balls left. I only got three remaining. And my permanent one."

"What kinds of effects do you still have?"

I asked. Making sure what we all had equipped. Eda counted her arsenal.

"One fire, one ice and one lightning. I can use the ice feather ball for giving you guys cover, something like a fog."

"Good to know, but you won't be behind us this time. We all move together, I don't want anything to separate us."

"You got a bad feel, dog?"

Pale asked while he prepared his Yo-Yo and took out a gum.

"I have more than one bad feeling, my friend. Fine, I say we stick together as close as possible, just in case."

"Clever idea, together we are strong. Isn't it?"

Remarked Yellwin while she pushed her elbow against Lycide's arm while smiling so playful it was awkward. Lycide smiled back, slightly annoyed.

"Okay, okay, you don't need to rub it in my face."

Thistle took out both of her weapons. Ivory did the same, leaving her shield on her back this time. Eda nodded. We all were ready. I transformed my sword into the pistol form and stood up. We walked down the hill, leaving the thick forest behind us. The swamp wasn't that huge, it only stretched out for two hundred meters at most. I looked at all of us; I made the first step, slowly testing out the consistence of the soil.

It was dry enough to walk on it, but sometimes, our shoes would become stuck a little. There were nearly complete dry paths, but they always had turns and dead ends in them. The landscape was covered by fallen trees, and really, a lot of rubble, which was looking like the remains of an armada.

I had an uncomfortable feeling while leading everyone through the mud. We kept going though, before we even got stuck. Eda submitted something frightening.

"You know, what if there is a huge Grimm lurking right below us?"

Well, I had to admit, Eda scared us all. We all looked at the ground simultaneously. It could have been true, that was the scary thing. I quietly said.

"Guys, if something happens, we book it, okay?"

"Yes, sounds good."

Gris replied. He held his weapon tight in his hand. I did the very same. My eyes wandered around on the swampland. To our left was a huge wreck of another airship. I thought I saw something moving. The feeling of us being watched did not fade away. We made it half across the swamp, always looking out for any sorts of danger. Suddenly, something in the mud moved. It moved towards us.

It was too quick for us to react fast enough. A huge creature, looking like a salamander, shot out of the mud in front of us. It wasn't a Grimm though. It was normal living being. It rushed towards us, obviously trying to divide us all. We eluded, but shot at it. It roared and vanished in the mud again. I aimed my weapon at the mud and wanted to shoot my shockwave, Lycide however, she shot one of her shockwaves at the mud. It surely did more than mine. I hoped for the animal to understand that we were out of its league. Still, I shouted.

"Everyone run. Go."

We began to run towards the mountain. We had to make it in time, because the monster wouldn't wait for us to reach it. And really, it came out behind us and chased us. Yellwin noticed that as well, so she used her magical pen to draw a thin line next to her while she ran. She ended the line, and the red dust slowly floated towards the ground. As soon as it made contact with the earth, flames shot into the air behind us. The creature which was behind us got either roasted or it stopped following us.

We nearly reached the edge of the swamp, but of course, we got interrupted by the monster again. Only that it brought friends and family to the part now. Five of these monsters stood around us now. We instantly formed a circle and protected each other's backs. We stared at the monsters as they walked around us. They probably just waited for one of us to make a move. They were smart. Ivory whispered.

"What do we do?"

"Attack I guess."

Yellwin suggested.

"They won't stay around us all day."

"Well then, Ivory and I got the biggest one."

I said. Ivory smiled.

"A good idea you got there. It might be easy enough."

"Pale, you and I, against the one over there?"

Eda asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, Curl. I'll stick with ya."

"Yellwin, what do you think?"

Lycide asked her partner and pointed at one of the creatures.

"How about we take on that one over there? I don't like how he's watching us."

"He won't stare at us any longer."

Thistle moved a little bit closer to Gris. Everyone else had found their partner.

"You shoot it and I outflank it?"

"Good idea. Aim for the eyes, Snakes."

They exchanged looks. Gris grinned.

"Calm down, I need a code name for you, don't you think?

Pale called you Thiss, which sounds like hiss!"

Pale looked over his shoulder with the widest grin possible.

"Okay, for now it is good enough, but you promise me to come up with a better one in the future, will you?"

"I promise. Now, let's move guys."

We jumped at the monsters all at once. Now we had the upper hand. We struck the monsters down, on our own ways and with different techniques. I used my knife to throw it at the salamander's eye, and I aimed right. The monster screamed and rushed at me. I looked around and tried to analyze the situation.

"Eda, shoot it."

She shot a round at it with her high caliber weapon. I jumped up. The monster slid over the mud and kept lying below me. She had hit it in its front leg. I turned around in the air and transformed my weapon into the sword version. I used my momentum to slay the beast, and to manage that, I landed on its neck. Now all I had to do was too thrust my sword right into its neck. It did not die yet though. Eda had to use one of her feather balls. She took out the last remaining blue dust one. She held it high up in the end and hit it with her racket, why is she was, of course, doing a trick. It hit the beast's eye as well.

All our other friends were also nearly finished with getting all the remaining monsters away from us, or they were killing them. We had no choice but to defend us, I mean, the shockwave which Lycide sent into the mud was sign enough for them, wasn't it? Now there still was a problem. The fighting with the monsters had one disadvantage, because we all got far away from each other. A perfect target for more Grimm to appear. And what can I say; it was just if these things had read my mind.

I felt the earth shake below us. The mud got shoved to the side behind me. I turned around and held my sword in the direction of the noises, Eda followed my move. Ivory and Pale joined us. We stared at the earth. Something formed some sort of little hill. But it had to be big. At the same time, the others were concentrating on something coming out of a hole in the ground next to them.

It was a big Grimm. It reminded me a lot of a spider. Its eight or so eyes blinked and stared at our friends. At the same time, the top of the hill behind us shot into the air, and a Grimm looking a lot like a giant rat emerged from it.

It screeched and instantly ran towards us. It had deadly looking teeth, which were probably sharp enough to rip us apart.

"I sincerely hope you ain't afraid of mice."

Eda just gave me an incredulous look and inspected the Grimm while backing up a little.

"Trust me, sweetheart, no animal in remnant could terrify me."

"Guess we're a team now, right? It's neck or nothing."

Pale stated while he went into attack position. It was that moment that I noticed how surprisingly optimistic Pale was. He always had a loose lifestyle, like he was just hanging out with people. His attacks were always looking like he was thinking about something completely different whilst he was fighting scary creatures. For example, what kind of milkshake shall I get tomorrow? Or, how can I do an even better trick while fighting a huge, terrifying monster, which is the most feared thing in all of Remnant?

I looked at him, and he smiled back. His technicolor glasses were hiding his eyes. Ivory let her weapon fold out and the blade switched out on top.

"What's the plan, guys?"

The Grimm started to get closer. It soon would be in our reach. I thought about it quickly. I saw how the Grimm charged at us. It seemed like it was fast on its legs, but only on straight ways. It had to dodge a crater on the way, and it slowed down immensely. I said.

"Eda, go around it on the left side. Ivory, Pale, you take the right. Go."

The creature was now in reach. It kind of stalled, making itself huge in front of us. I made a back flip and crouched. My friends moved around it and attacked. Pale crushed his yo-yo at the hind leg. The creature just simply used its tail to hit him. He eluded, but lost balance for the attack surprised him. He stumbled back, while Ivory used her chance to walk behind it and to jump on its back. She thrust her weapon into the white bones which all the Grimms had. The Grimm noticed that and tried to get her off by jumping and bucking.

Eda used her massive steel grenade. She threw it up in the air and hit it with might and main. The grenade flew around in circles. It hit the creature's face once, but the creature quickly learned. It hit the grenade with its tail and brought it down into the mud. Eda surely had met her match. She got as mad as a hatter. She ran towards the creature and transformed her weapon. Its blade met the neck of the Grimm.

I also attacked the Grimm's head, to support Eda with holding it in place. The long and the short of it was that it yanked its head to the side, causing me to cross weapons with Eda. We both looked at the creature. It did something very interesting. It lunged at us with its body. Ivory lost the grip of her weapon and plunged down. Pale used his Yo-Yo to cause a flame ball at the creature, interrupting it from attacking us.

"Lets hit it, bro."

He shouted at the rat. It turned around, of course being slower than its running speed. Pale jumped onto its back and landed next to us. Ivory stood up quickly and backed away a little bit. The creature now stared right at her. I shouted.

"Keep the ball rolling, guys; we can get it that way."

Eda nodded and ran towards the rat. She went around it and stabbed it into its stomach. It was difficult; its body was covered by a huge rib cage, so it was taking her a very precise stab. The Grimm bucked again, obviously having enough of it. It roared and hit Eda with its front leg. She got knocked back a bit. She was quick enough to block its attack. I started walking towards it. My weapon pointed at the earth behind me. I focused on the creature. Ivory probably knew what I was going to do. She walked up to me.

"What are you doing?"

"I am going to kill it. You two have to make it stall again."

They both nodded and ran up to the beast. Eda crawled backwards, trying everything she could do to get away from the Grimm which was about to kill her. It made a growling noise, but it got interrupted by pale who hit his weapon right onto its head. Of course, that did not do something to it at all, but it got distracted from our friend.

Ivory rushed to Eda and helped her up. She also grabbed her racket and they both booked it. I stiffened my pose, casting my semblance and waited for the right moment. I went into posture, ready to attack. Pale did everything to make the creature to stall. Finally, he got it. It went up into the air, gave off a scream and growled, focusing its glaring red eyes at Pale. I had found the right moment.

I touched the black shadows in front me with my finger. I held my weapon tighter as I got catapulted towards the monster. My weapon struck its stomach. I did not waste a second, I turned around in mid air, and as soon as I landed on the ground I jumped with full force. The creature was not able to react that fast.

Its neck got sliced open as my sword forced its way through the Grimm. I landed behind it and crouched. Again, it fell and vanished; only leaving ashes behind. We did it. We worked as a team, and it wasn't that bad as well. I stood up and put my sword away. I happened to look at the ground in front of me, and found the steel grenade which she lost seconds ago. I picked it up, and my look went over to the others. They just dealt with the huge spider. It was probably even worse judging by the looks on their faces. They were even prouder of their work than we were. I turned around and walked to Eda. She put her racket at the side of her belt. I held the grenade up and remarked.

"Hey, that belongs to you I assume. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, just got dirty by falling down. Thank you all."

She smiled and took her grenade. I mentioned to her that she had some mud on the inside of her collar.

"You better get rid of that before it slips inside."

"Oh, there is nothing worse than that.

It gets cold and then it is stuck inside your clothing. Just horrible."

She said sarcastically, right after killing the biggest Grimm we have ever seen. We walked away from the huge pile of ashes which faded away in the wind. I noticed that no one looked out for a safe trail through the mud anymore. We all were hardened now. Lycide shouted at us while she waved her sword.

"Hey, guys, catch up. What are you waiting for?"

"First, we want a cold drink."

Ivory replied sarcastically.

"And an airlift to our destination wouldn't be bad as well. "

We laughed, obviously exhausted from all the running and defending ourselves. We had spent all morning in this forest. Don't think I'm whining, I have been through way heavier stuff, like escaping from a huge manhunt and traveling to a different continent while being chased. It seemed like I was finally free, although I was bound to protect the people who can't defend themselves. But that was something I could do my whole life, and it was something I was good in, too.

We climbed up the steep cliff. It wasn't that huge, it was not as large as the mountain of Haven. But it still took some sweet time to get up there. Lycide and Yellwin were busy with figuring out where we were. Everyone else kept silent, looking around to spot enemies and thinking about something to break the silence. I held the hilt of my sword in my hand, always prepared to draw. Thistle scanned the big rocks to my left with her eyes. Pale took out a normal gum.

"I don't think were supposed to be up here. There should be a cave system below us. are you sure we have to head up here?"

Lycide was surely worried about our way up the hill.

Yellwin seemed to know where we had to go. She pointed in front of us.

"Trust me. I have a feeling it is up there somewhere."

"Hey, guys."

Ivory spoke up. She pointed her thumb behind us.

"How did you get rid of the spider anyways?

We absolutely destroyed the Grimm that attacked us."

Thistle let her pistols spin in her hands and held them up.

"It perished after taking so many hits I lost count. But we killed it, isn't that right, Gris?"

"Of course, dear."

He nodded and looked at the scenery to his right.

"But honestly, I was scared a little bit. I think everyone was."

Lycide and Yellwin were still concentrated at finding the right path. They didn't even notice us speaking. Eda giggled.

"Oh we all were scared a little bit. Don't blame me; I nearly got killed by the rat creature. Although I like the quest so far. It was thrilling."

"Yeah, curl, but don't you overdo. There's still time left till we get outta here."

He spun his Yo-Yo around again. It landed perfectly in his hand, and it did not take him one look to precisely coordinate it.

"Grimms are still an issue."

"Trust me, Pale, I won't. I am cool-headed as always. So, boss."

She addressed me. She caught me off guard with that nick name. My concentration was interrupted. I had focused on a sound behind us. I looked at her.

"Are we out of danger? Or is there something heading for us right now?"

"Second."

I simply answered. This time, even Lycide looked up from the map. We all stopped dead in our tracks. I slightly drew my sword out of its scabbard. Eda took her last remaining feather ball grenade. A purple one, holding purple dust which meant she could move objects without having to touch them.

"Use it wisely, Eda."

Thistle said, getting into a stance. Lycide came closer to us all.

"What is going on?"

She saw I was concentrating on my surroundings. I felt something. A sound appeared in my ear. It was very quiet. I was the only one who was hearing that, judging by the expressions of my friends. I sounded very familiar. I haven't heard that kind of sound since… I widened my eyes and turned around.

"Get into cover! Quick!"

I screamed in horror. To my surprise, everyone reacted to a threat that wasn't even visible. We crouched down at the huge rocks and the cliff. Everyone looked at me or around us, to get a clue of what I was talking about.

"Darkin, what is going on?"

Yellwin prepared herself for combat. I said while transforming my sword into the pistol again.

"It's an airship. It is one of the bad guys."

"What?"

Thistle and Ivory looked at each other, then at me.

"Who are the bad guys?"

"Captain Verden. Stay low."

Then they appeared. There were two airships flying on low altitude with high speed, fortunately passing us. Each ship was a very rusted and old machine, kind of formed like a metal boat with six tiny wings when looking from below. Two large turbines attached below. The familiar three skis on legs attached to the flat metal chassis. The crane on the back portion of the vehicle was folded in. The middle of the ships was round, formed like a cylinder. It housed the crew cabins and storage rooms and so on. Both were relatively big, but they were fast. They shot through the air, luckily not seeing us. I stood up as soon as both ships passed us. Everyone else had a very confused look on their faces. Everyone was frightened except Thistle. She knew exactly what that was.

"What the fuck was that about? What was that?"

Lycide got somewhat hysterical. I sighed and pointed in the direction the ship was heading.

"Those were two smuggling ships. It was probably sent by Verden.

What was it doing here?"

Thistle shrugged, still holding her weapons tight.

"I dunno, maybe they were doing business."

"Do you know them?"

Gris asked us. We both nodded and said at the same time.

"Old friends."

We looked at each other. Thistle explained herself.

"I met those people before; they were having their ship unloaded in our little settlement. They are really mean."

"I cannot argue that. My family had to do with them a lot. They made deals with the leader himself. I don't know for sure, but these guys are very bad."

"And why did we have to get into cover then?

They seemed to be minding their own business."

"I tell you, Yellwin, I know these guys."

I replied while watching after the ship. It flew slightly higher now.

"And they don't like the law, especially not Huntsmen.

If they would have been in a bad mood, then we might have been killed."

"Those bad sons of salamanders smuggle shit?"

Pale stated. He continued walking up the mountain.

"Then we should be careful, boys."

Earning a teased look from all our female friends, he continued. We all followed the path up. The higher we went, the sadder the scenery became. Less vegetation, more rocks and sand. There was literally nothing beautiful in our perimeter. the swamp gave off a very creepy vibe when I looked down at it. I looked at the scenery as Ivory came closer to me. She waited a second before talking.

"Hey. Darkin. I wanted to thank you for the thing you did for me earlier.

You've totally proven yourself."

"It was no problem at all, my dear. I had to do something, you were about to lose it."

I replied simply but kind. Ivory was a wonderful girl as well. She had a kind nature and a very sensitive personality. But I understood how she felt after all, she reminded me of someone special, back in Vale, a few years ago.

"Listen, I really don't want to bother you with that, but."

Ivory looked at the ground in front of her. She put her hands on the sides of her belt.

"What happened to your mother?"

She caught me off guard with that. I looked at her.

"What do you mean with happened?"

"I am sorry, but all I heard you saying about your family so far.

You only told us about your father and your sister. Is your mother in your life as well?"

I just noticed what she meant, what she thought happened. I quickly smiled and shook my head.

"Oh, no, please. She is not dead."

I sighed. It was important to tell her. After all, it was a very quiet moment now. And a conversation was perfect to pass the remaining time.

"She left us when I was three years old. She couldn't handle the path our family walked."

"Was she a part of your family before?"

"No."

I replied.

"Her name is Onyx Yaming. She married into our family.

And luckily she was smart enough to leave when she was able to.

She was the kindest person I've ever met. I miss her though."

"I relived some memories of me and my mom."

"When I was little we played in the garden, a wonderful sunny day, peaceful. The sun was bright, if I looked in the direction of my mother, the sun would blind be so much I had to look away again. The sun seemed to sit above my mother's head; it was like she was the sun herself.

She was giving off warmth. But she did not need to be the sun for that to work. The day she left, my father was as sad as never before. That was the last time I have seen him cry. After that, it got way worse. The family started to become even more criminal, the future was about to crumble and fall down, shattering on the ground into a thousand pieces. Hunting, killing, operating the governments and kingdoms, overthrowing villages. He probably did that all because of anger.

I did not understand what was going on until I grew up."

"That sounds horrible."

Ivory rested her hand on my shoulder and gave me a confident smile.

"I feel bad for you. If you need to talk, don't hesitate."

"Thank you, that's kind of you."

Gris suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around. I looked at him.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

"We should run. Now!"

I didn't know what he meant. But I soon understood. We all looked behind ourselves. And what can I say, Thistle and I were right. They came back. The airship was flying towards us with insane speed. It shot missiles and bullets in our direction. Those things were equipped with everything imaginable. The bullets impacted right in front of us, causing the sand below us to shoot high up in the air.

The missiles took a little bit longer to reach us. We had time to jump away. One missile struck the exact same spot where I stood just half a second ago. My semblance brought me into safety. Gris and Thistle started shooting at the airship as it passed us. It made a roll and the turret was now exposed. These ships all have a square structure right behind the cylinder, which basically is the primary weapon of those ships, together with huge guns located at the front. Those can't be turned around; they can only be shot straight. But the turret can move. It targeted us and shot a few bursts at us.

Eda used her semblance to protect the others from being hit. Lycide jumped to the side and transformed her weapon. She shot, and she hit, but the airship was simply too strong to be affected by it. It flew a huge circle; they tried to attack us again. Obviously we witnessed something we shouldn't have. I shouted.

"Everybody, get to the cave, now. We can't defend us with our weapons only."

"What do you have in mind?"

Yellwin asked loudly, while we all began to advance towards the final goal of the quest. I shouted back.

"We use the terrain to our advantage. Now, we need to lead those guys towards the mountain. Eda, you still have the one feather ball left, right?"

"Yes, I have. Why?"

She looked at me with a very vulpine smile. She understood what I wanted from her. The airship was inbound again. It shot more rockets this time. Gris stopped and turned around. He lifted his pike up and changed its form into the blunderbuss version. He aimed at the rockets and, well, I don't know, but it seemed like he activated his semblance. He spawned many clones of him around him.

He made a move with his empty left hand in every direction, and everywhere he had pointed, there stood exact lookalikes. Instead of him standing there, there were nine more copies of him. They all shot at the rockets, causing them to explode in midair.

His versions vanished again, simply shrinking into Gris. It was like he sucked them in. He made a back flip and jumped away to elude the bullets which hit the ground in front of him. I started running. Thanks to my Semblance, I got up onto a huge rock. I crouched and aimed my sword at the airship. It flew at my friends who were booking it, obviously the pilot needed to react to my movement first. I don't blame him. It goes without saying that my Semblance surprises nearly every attacker I face. I turned my sword into its pistol form again.

The blade retracted itself, the pistol and the barrel pushed out, the grip bent. Now all I had to do was to distract the ship from my friends. I exchanged my weapons red dust silo with a blue one. The tank opened and dumped the next bullet full of the red liquid. I shot. The blue dust produced a huge fog. I shot again, after the second shot I changed to normal bullets again.

The pilot changed course and slowed the ship down. It now nearly hovered. I saw the one huge problem that came with that maneuver. The front wings of the airship lowered themselves, which meant that he was steering for me. A huge amount of bullets shot at me. I jumped backwards and nearly got hit by some.

The weapons probably had something like an automatic aim tool installed, or the pilot was very good at steering, because he really challenged me. I ran towards my friends who were now focusing all their fire at the airship. I dove into cover and landed hard on my hands. Pale helped me up.

"Come on, man, we gotta get out of here. It's cooking."

"You are right. Let's move!"

We continued on the path, followed by the airship. It was accelerating now, and luckily it hovered by, but the turret targeted us once again. It sprayed bullets at us as if it was raining. There was dude on the stern, operating a machine gun with four barrels. This wasn't a misunderstanding; these men really wanted us dead. We blocked the attack or jumped aside, whatever each one of us chose to do.

I chose to advance towards the ship. It hovered through the air in front of us, but the bullet rain was too intense. The ship accelerated further and flew away, but this time it did not turn behind the mountain. This time, fortunately, it made a turn in the open field. We all ran up the path, and just after a little while, the cave finally was in sight. But the airship flew right towards us again. But this time it would work, this time we could beat them. I nodded at Eda. She understood what I wanted from her.

She turned around and kept walking backwards. She took her feather ball and took a stance. I stood next to her. I aimed my pistol, ready to intercept the missiles. Thistle and Gris noticed what we were doing as well. The others backed into the cave.

"Be careful, guys. Catch up as soon as you got it to crash."

Yellwin shouted. Gris gave her a thumb up.

"Don't worry, we will survive."

We all aimed at the ship and focused. It flew at a low altitude again. But it still was vulnerable. It shot a whole arsenal of rockets towards us. We did our job to protect Eda. The missiles got shot and exploded, one by one.

Not a single rocket came even close. Eda stiffened and closed her eyes. She threw the feather ball high up in the air. She waited for the right moment to move, then she walked forward and spun her racket many times around herself, I guess to build up momentum. She made one turn and hit the feather ball with full force. The metallic sound echoes through the scenery. The feather ball rushed through the sky while whistling and making a whirling movement. I assume it hit the airship, because all we saw next was the airship losing control and flying through the smoke cloud caused by its rockets.

It was gliding through the air, its altitude decreased insanely fast. It was about to hit the mountains cliff above us, just as planned. We hurried up and bolted inside the cave. We ran as fast as possible through the darkness. It surely was a cave which was built by man, it just led straight down. Nature would never create something that linear. We heard that the airship impacted with the cliff. The cave got lit up because of the explosion. They had to be transporting something similar to dust apparently.

The fire ball rushed through the cave, and now I felt that we were in deep trouble. There was no trace of the others. They vanished, and the worst part was that the cave ended right where we stood. I looked around panicked.

"What? Where are the others?"

Eda shouted out hysterically.

"We are trapped guys! Look, the fire comes closer!"

Thistle said and pointed up. She was right, the fire came towards us slowly and it was like a flow of lava. We all backed into one corner. There was no way out. We were trapped like rats. Thoughts shot through my mind. We were about to be cooked alive. The fire would strip us from our lives. That had to be the worst way to perish. We were about to be burned alive. It was over, our great careers as huntsmen was screwed because of ourselves. It became way hotter in the small cave, and I just closed my eyes.

This had to be it then, whether we liked it or not. We were all so distracted, that no one of us noticed the wall behind us slide open. And we all were too frozen to feel that we were dragged inside a huge room. We fell on the ground behind us, and the heavy metal door closed again. It had to be heavy; there was a huge metal frame around it after all. No. The whole wall was a whole piece of steel in fact. My eyes were zipping around, trying to figure out what just happened. I met eye contact with the students who had pulled us inside. Doctor Greystep stood above me, mustering us all concisely, probably checking if we were okay.

We stood up. Well, Gris and Thistle did anyways. My eyes rolled down to noticed that Eda was lying on top of me. She lifted her head up, and I saw her confused look. She looked dizzy, but she soon noticed our weird position as well. We quickly got off each other. Eda knelt and rubbed her head.

"Is everything alright, students?"

Greystep asked careful. He supported his weight on his walking cane, a bit leaning down to us.

"Yes, I think so. Eda, are you okay?"

I asked. I knelt next to Eda. She stared at me, apparently regaining her senses now.

"I think so. Wow. I must've passed out for a second.

I never was so frightened in my life."

"Well, at least he caught your fall, Miss Eisengrau. I hope no one got injured to badly. Are you okay, Mr. Tangery?"

"Yes. Ignoring the fact that I nearly had a heart attack, I feel perfect."

I said, while I stood up and helped my training partner up as well. I had to cool down for a second and to catch my breath. I looked around. The room was huge, but probably from an ancient time. The walls were sculpted into the stone. The room was shaped circular, and there was a huge elevated platform in the middle of it. There were a lot of chests placed around, and many items were stacked around those. I walked up, followed by Eda. Pale and Ivory joined us.

"Hey, I'm glad ya made it, Dark. Curl, you feel good too?"

"Miraculously I do. I am dizzy. That was way too much adrenaline for my taste."

"Yeah, it was confusing to figure it out.

You were supposed to find a hidden lever on the wall. It was disguised as a torch."

How original I thought. If I had to write an adventure typed book, then that would be my choice, too.

"Well, we were in a hurry; we could never have made it."

We exchanged looks, giggled, and walked up to the treasures. At first look it seemed like a wild arrangement of items, but in reality, they were all similar in one way. They were depictions of different ranks and kinds of people. I took a closer look. Standing on the lowest possible point were pawns, traders, fishers and the lower ranks of society. These figures were made of very low quality wood and clay.

Above them were smiths, timber men, construction workers, couturiers, and people who take care of building and constructing things, made out of better wood and sculpted stone. I looked up a little bit and noticed the next shelf was full of architects, managers, soldiers, artists, and all sorts of those people, built out of metals and white stone.

And of course, above every figurine, made out of gold, silver and crystal, there were kings, queens, autocrats. Items like chains, rings, embroidery, various everyday things like keys, small knifes, and even gems and stones with engravings lay in between the figures. Everything had to do with different ranks and ideals. I began to get an idea what his was about, but I still asked Doctor Greystep.

"What do we have to do, Doctor?"

"Tell me what you see. All of you."

Eda inspected the shelves closely. She replied first.

"I see figures, various belongings and items, and they all are, how do I describe it, made out of the material which the positions are worth. At least in their perspectives."

Pale nodded.

"Yeah, those things are worth their choosing, isn't it?"

Ivory added something interesting.

"I think we each have to take one or more things of the items displayed here.

Maybe to test which position we think we're worthy enough for?"

"You're nearly correct, Miss Zogeiro. You shall pick one you find the most important. There is no wrong or right answer, you alone can judge your choice."

I had an idea in no time. Greystep continued.

"Maybe it seems complex, but honestly, you just have to think about it.

What does society need to work?"

My look went over to our companions. They all had picked their choice by now. Lycide held an architect figurine in her hand. Yellwins choice was an amulet which looked similar like the other items of the merchant. Thistle flipped the soldiers' coin in the air. Gris however, he had the pawns key to his shed strapped to his belt. I joined my friends at the shelves. I saw that Eda had taken the Queens ring.

Ivory chose the flower embroidery of the artist. I was surprised by Pales' choice. He took the couriers' scroll. It was a little chain with a metallic scroll attached to it. I stepped closer and thought. What does society need? Freedom, but rules at the same time. It needed leadership, but at the same time, it was important that there were many opinions. People needed to work and have wealth.

I stretched out my hand and took the stone figure of the smith. Because nothing could be done without crafting all the things that were required for all that. The pitchfork for the pawn, the instruments for the architect, the brushes for the artist, the soldiers' weapons, the managers' pencils, needles for the couturiers, the bag for the courier.

And one thing was important as well.

The figure which Doctor Greystep had sculpted on his walking canes grip.

The one who had to take all the different roles and had to lead all that to victory.

The smith had to make the scepter for the king.