Chapter 5

Beside a village in the afternoon, teenage students had gotten reunited with a few adults, that had organized a competition among all the present students. This competition wasn't a regular one, it was one between magicians, which had already obtained their magic powers. It was up to the students to perform anything with their powers to impress the available judges. Just like any competition, they would announce a winner and to their luck, he would get a scholarship for a school of choice. All kids stood side by side listening to the teacher's announcement.

"Eleven students compete against each other in this competition. The rule is simple. Do your best, don't disturb the others, and most important…..no cheating!" Warned the teacher watching the students nod. The teacher snipped with his fingers to obtain glasses on his face, then he took a list from his coat to see the row of the students, that were listed for the competition.

"The first student to begin is Florida," Announced the teacher watching the girl take a step forward, then took from her satchel out a small bag with seeds and took one to plant it into the earth under her feet. She went down on her knees, then began to move her hands over the earth, while the circle observed her on it. From the earth, a small branch grew out, then Florida used her hands to control the growing branch and it began to go around in a circle, going around itself, weaving a ring, similar to one of a basket. The dark-skinned girl began to build her circle up with the branch, beginning to form a small basket, making the teacher smile and notice down the girl's project. After a few minutes, the girl was done with the task, then went down on her knees to break it up gently of the ground, then used her hand again to change the branch into a green blade, which had the head of an unborn flower there. Florida got up and showed the basket to the teacher, then earned an applause from the students.

"Very well, Florida. I'll give you a 5 for that," Commented the teacher." It was quite very ingenious. Next time try a bigger level. I'm sure you're up to it,"

Florida smiled, then watched the teacher look at his list and look towards a raven-haired, muscular teenager.

"Grey. I'd like to see your transformation skills. Are you ready?" Asked the teacher earning a nod from the student. "Alright, I'd like to see you transform into the following animals. Ram, Wolf, Weasel, Horse, Bear, and Deer,"

"You'll be impressed Mr. Merlin," Assured Grey confidently, then closed his eyes and placed his hands openly together to focus on his task. Grey's transformation kicked in and he transformed into a gray and white colored Ram with large, snail house-like shaped horns. Grey landed on his hoofs and bleated. "The-eheh….re you go,"

"Very well," Complimented Mr. Merlin, watching the ram close his eyes and put the front hooves together as if he was praying to activate his transformation turning slowly into a gray-wolf.

"I'm a wolf, I'm gonna a-whooo!" Howled Grey doing a backward salto making the crown clap at the jock's athletic skills, despite being in another body.

"Good, now a weasel," Announced Mr. Merlin watching Grey transform into a White and Gray-Blackish ferret. Grey stood on his hind legs, then moved his snout similar to a rodent, while looking around the students.

"Alright, I don't know, what a weasel does," Confessed Grey making Mr. Merlin shake his head and notice down what he had seen until now.

"Now do a horse," Commented Mr. Merlin watching the ferret put his paws together and sink its head to use his power and grow up while morphing into a large, white horse. Grey puffed and began to tap with his left leg counting the number of times he had transformed yet.

"There you go, Mr. Merlin. I can count as well the times I have transformed. As you see, I managed now to get into another color. White like the snow," Grey said proudly making Mr. Merlin chuckle.

"That's great, Grey. Except, white horses are naturally gray," Commented Mr. Merlin watching Grey whinny and shake its head. Grey bowed down with his head and moved his hooves together to transform into a brown bear. Grey growled loudly earning the applause of a few students. Grey got up to growl like a threatening grizzly bear making Mr. Merlin roll his eyes while taking down the notes. "Okay, I think you can transform back. Your transformation seemed to have worked untained. You looked exactly like the animals I have asked you for and the noises were spot on," Explained Mr. Merlin. "I give you a 5, this is why you transformed into a ferret instead of a weasel," Mentioned Mr. Merlin making Grey frown. "Still, you did pretty well, no need to feel bad about it," Stated the teacher making Grey nod, then transform into a raccoon to remain with an unimpressed face. The brunette boy beside Grey chuckled to see, what Grey had turned into and reached his hand down at the friend, which made him squeak annoyed.

"Get your hands off me, Luca!" Complained Grey making the friend chuckle.

"Dawn, it's your turn. Telekinesis," Asked Mr. Merlin, then watched the brunette place her hand beside her forehead and held her index and middle finger up, which began to light up in blue. The students watched the girl remove the pen and the notice book from the teacher's hand to move it around the air. Dawn used her other hand to obtain with the telekinesis the basket of Florida to guide it over the air to put it together with Mr. Merlin's school utensils. The kids found it amazing, then applauded at the girl's gift, then she had an idea and used her free hand to carry up Grey, still in a raccoon form up in the air, causing him to squeal like a raccoon making the students laugh. Dawn was amused by her entertaining the crowd, then she looked at their shortest student, which was a redhead boy. Dawn added Grey into the other flying objects and tried to pick the redhead up, slowly beginning to lose control of her other hand. Dawn tried to split her mixture off and accidentally had Grey crash against the objects and fall down on the ground, followed my transforming accidentally into a guinea pig.

"Sorry Grey, I had expected this to go more smoothly," Commented Dawn embarrassed, then watched Mr. Merlin pick up his things to write down short notes about Dawn's act.

"I think about the risks, you need to keep them off sight for a while and focus on a few things first. I give you a four. Otherwise, it was good," Mr. Merlin said making Dawn nod, then the teacher looked around the area to look at a light-blonde girl in a blue dress standing there waiting for her turn. "Ila, you're next," Commented Mr. Merlin watching the blonde girl trot forwards to the middle and rib her hands together. Ila began to gather with her hands snow on the ground, then moved her hands, while trying to shape with her hands something. From the snow, she began to shape a horse doing a heroic pose. Upon being done with it, she held her hand under her chin and blew at the horse watching it turn into ice, then saw the snow disappearing slowly up to the ground, where the snow stood, which was replaced by the ice. Ila afterward remembered a little detail and added onto the back of the horse a human, then analyzed it, then turned around at her teacher to bow.

"I'm done, Mr. Merlin," Announced Ila making the teacher nod and approach the sculpture to analyze it.

"Very well, Ila. I give you a 6. You're so far the student with the highest score. I hope, she wasn't the one for now, right kids?" Asked Mr. Merlin watching the kids nod, while Ila smirked amused feeling lucky about the day.

Later on, almost all the students had gone through and the second last one named Hanna had set burnt the ground in front of the students and left a few shocked about her failure. The brunette girl stood there abashed, then got patted on the shoulder by a taller green-haired girl, which tried to cheer her up.

"Good thing, Mavka. Moana, Grey, Irma, good job at putting the fire down," Complimented the teacher making the three different placed teens nod at the teacher's comment. Hanna, if you want you can sit out and calm yourself down," Suggested the teacher, then the brunette ran out, starting to cry, making the two nature-wizards go after the friend. "Okay, Irma. You're our last student. As I know, you're our multi-tool. Have you picked something special?"

"I thought about showing all the seasons or weather conditions here on the ground,"

"Okay, go on. Students, take a few steps back," Asked the teacher watching all the students go back, while Irma was now in the middle all alone. In the meanwhile, Ila, which stood near the fences splitting their practice area from the village the girl had an idea and sneaked behind the fence to observe the brunette girl from there.

Irma closed her eyes to focus, then moved her hand down at the ground beginning to have the earth excavate itself with her magic to show the darker side from the other side of the earth. Irma exhaled out, beginning to create over the ground a field of grass making the teens look fascinated at the girl, including Florida, whose topic was flower culture. Irma, then opened her eyes to see, what she had created and smiled a little. Up next, she walked aside the field with her hand managing to bring up from between the grass several flowers astonishing the kids along with the teacher, which raised his eyebrows impressed, then took down notices from her act. Irma was fascinated about it, then stopped at one corner and used both of her hands to pull from under the earth with her magic a medium-sized maple tree seeing, she was making the students curious about her ability. Irma moved her hands up at its branches to let them grow all over the arms green leaves in various shapes earning an applause from the students. Irma smiled and kept her hands on the crown of the tree watching them slowly exchange colors, moving into the autumn season making the audience happy about her capacity. Ila behind the fence watched Irma change the leaves' colors, which slowly began to fall down one after the other and Ila prepared herself to sabotage the plan of the brunette, waiting for the end of the fall. As Irma was almost done, Ila used her hand to create a large ice block on the head of the tree, then sneaked back into the circle as the students had gasped at the ice formation over the three, which left Irma shocked as well.

"Wow Irma, this was going so well. Unluckily the last bit didn't come out the way I was expecting," Mr. Merlin commented while writing on the block, while Irma gazed at her hands confused.

"But I didn't plan to have ice over there," Irma began and looked at Ila, which stood there faking a whistle. Irma frowned, then Mr. Merlin placed his hand on Irma's shoulder.

"It was great, I'm sure, if you practice this a few more times it turns out perfect. I only can you give you a 5. For a non-wizard blood girl, you're already amazing," Commented Mr. Merlin making Irma sink her head down and look at Ila, which had her arms crossed with a smirk.

Later, the students had left along with the teachers and Irma sat back under her three with her arms crossed annoyed about having not make it. From behind the fence appeared Ila making her way towards the girl and stopped beside the tree, leaning with her elbow next to it.

"You did a pretty good act there before. Too bad the crowns had gotten frozen in the end," Ila spoke, then Irma glared up at the girl.

"You did that Ila, didn't you?" Questioned Irma annoyed watching Ila shrug her shoulders.

"You could have won anyway, Irma. You just weren't careful enough and have let someone sabotage your test," Commented Ila.

"If I knew you were behind this, I would have rat you at Mr. Merlin,"

"Have you any proof?" Asked Ila. "Everyone was looking at you. You can't as well prove I did anything. You were focusing on passing through with your act, right?" Questioned Ila making Irma frown.

"You're worse than the Snow Queen," Commented Irma making Ila laugh.

"Have you even met her before?" Questioned Ila. "Oh wait, she had taken over you before,"

"This was years ago. I was still a child and the reason I got caught by her was because of people like you. I thought here in this village, everything was better, but you for some reason are just like them and you're a wizard as well!"

"We're all here wizards. All, but you;" Corrected Ila. "You won't ever be one,"

"Oh really?" Asked Irma. "You're just jealous, I one day will be more powerful, than you, right?"

"No one can be more powerful than the Snow Queen. Despite both of us having similar power…..correction, I," Commented Ila.

"The real Snow Queen would have defeated you in one go," Commented Irma making Ila chuckle.

"Please, she could never," Ila defended herself. "If I could, I would show it to you, but I can't,"

Irma rolled her eyes and looked at the long landscape leading across the icy hills, making Irma ponder about Ila's words, then she looked back at her schoolmate.

"Do you know the way to the palace of the Snow Queen?" Asked Irma, then Ila looked at the hills and shrugged her shoulders.

"I heard it's on an empty, snowy landscape. Didn't you read that book at school?" Questioned Ila with a little sarcastic facial expression.

"If you really think you can defeat the Snow Queen, why don't we both go there together?" Questioned Irma watching Ila think about it, then she had an idea.

"I have a better idea. What about both of us go there to fight here? The loser will have to avoid using the powers for as long as we're attending school. Is that a deal?" Asked Ila watching Irma ponder about it, then nodded. "Get yourself ready. Only a real wizard can take it up with the Snow Queen," Announced Ila making Irma roll her eyes down a little worried about their agreement.

The pirates were traveling on air with the airship, that at the moment was steered by Kai, which had from above sight at the entire crew, that was letting Alfida count the money for all the pirates. Each of the pirates had a bag, where they had filled the coins in, that had been counted through the afternoon.

"5006 coins," Commented Alfida. "And those 4 remain," Alfida said showing the last four coins to the pirates.

"They could be given to Rollan, Kulekonge, me, and Alec," Suggested Hawk. "We're the ones, to have gotten into the tomb,"

"Or we give it to your friend over there," Suggested Kulekonge looking up at Alfida's boyfriend steering the ship.

"It's okay, I'm fine," Responded Kai making Alfida shrug her shoulder.

"One coin more or less, doesn't matter to me," Alfida said snipping each coin with her thumb at the ones, that had as their task to enter the tomb.

"It's funny. By looking at the number of coins we had in the bag. I assumed more score would have come out for us," Mentioned Rollan making Hawk nod.

"Well, Hawk had to be smart and move one of the books, which was connected to a trap. Otherwise, we wouldn't have any trouble and have all the money," Commented Kulekonge making Hawk nod.

"We got a good amount of money. That's not bad after such a long time," Commented Alfida. "I believe now I have enough money to buy a cottage near the harbor. So I will be able to see Kai more often,"

"You want to buy a home?" Questioned Kai curious making Alfida nod. "That's great,"

"I make space for you, I expect you visit me there more often as well," Alfida said in a playful tone earning a thumb up from Kai. "Rollan, what about you? I'm sure you want to buy a home as well, now that you and Gerda are getting married at some point,"

"When I'm back I want to put it aside or keep it in her home and both of us can use it later together. I think the best for us will be, that we go together to look for a place together," Commented Rollan. Kai frowned about Rollan's plans, then heard a cry of a falcon and looked aside to see a large, brown bird fly beside the ship making Kai smile.

"Cool," Spoke Kai, then watched it flap with its wing and disappear from his sight and Kai gazed down at the crew again. "Alfida, beside us just flew a brown falcon. It looked pretty cool from up here," Commented Kai earning Alfida's attention, which nodded.

"Where did it go?" Asked Alfida watching Kai shrug his shoulders.

The ship suddenly began to sink, still going forward making Kai frown and look around to see, what was going on. Alfida got up as well to notice something and looked up at her boyfriend.

"Why's the ship sinking?" Questioned Alfida making Kai shrug his shoulders.

"I haven't touched anything, besides the steering wheel," Commented Kai earning a nod from Alfida.

"Rollan, Hawk, Alec, Redhorn. Can you go up and see, if something happened with our balloon?" Asked Alfida watching the men get up and go in a duo to the side of the ship, then they began to climb up carefully on the net.

"Do you think the balloon got broken?" Questioned Kai, while Alfida stared at the men climbing.

"It better not or we have to make out way home by water," Answered Alfida placing her hands on the steering wheel as well. Moments later, Hawk and Alec returned first, then Alec waved at the captain.

"Captain, there's a hole in the textile. It's small, but it could be covered easily," Suggested Alec, then Alfida looked at the rest of the crew.

"Has anyone something, that could help? Quick!" Asked Alfida watching the pirates look at each other questioningly. Kai had an idea and moved Alfida on her arm.

"Have you got a pencil or something similar?" Questioned Kai seeing Alfida shrug her shoulders.

"Perhaps in the cabin. I'm not sure," Commented Alfida, then Kai ran at the cabin to open the door and shriek to see the amount of stuff placed in the room, making Kai sigh.

"Captain, there's another hole on the ship," Mentioned Redhorn jumping a few steps down of the side net of the ship to look at the woman. "A large falcon stung with its beak on it,"

"Can you guys shoo it away?" Asked Alfida watching Redhorn take out a small knife from his pocket to show it to the captain. "I think that's not going to help much," Stated the raven-haired woman, then watched Redhorn look up at Rollan near the top on the net stretching his arm far at the falcon, which had stung his beak on the balloon. The falcon flew off making Rollan drop his chin as the balloon began to let off air. Rollan looked up to see the bird fly above the balloon, then the Spaniard climbed up at the top and helped himself up on the feet by holding himself on the rudder. Rollan spotted the falcon sticking his beak into the balloon again, afterward it moved further up to the front of the airship, leaving the hole behind. Rollan walked carefully over the textile to approach the falcon, then faked a terrible eagle noise earning the look of the falcon, which tilted its head, then flew around the Spaniard's head shrieking Rollan, which stepped back and shove his leg into the hole of the balloon making it bigger.

"Oh oh," Commented Rollan looking at the bird fly up at the rudder to sting on it. Upon realizing it was made of metal, the bird realized it was hunting something uneatable, then flew away leaving Rollan back.

"Hey!" Complained Rollan, then he tried to move his foot out of there, seeing it only made it larger so that Rollan now slipped through it. "Ahhhhh!" Rollan cried causing a loud vibration rang inside the balloon earning the attention of the pirates, including Alfida, which glimpsed up at the ship, having an idea, where the noise had come from. Alfida watched the balloon skin drop, making Alfida warp her face from seeing Rollan had landed on his butt there and facepalmed.

"For real?" Questioned Alfida, then glimpsed out of the ship to see how far they were from the water, then she returned to the steering wheel and waved at Redhorn. "Get down, it's not worth it," Alfida announced earning a nod from the pirate, which went down along with the pirates from the other side. Redhorn looked up to see a bulge under the balloon and laughed.

"How did you get there man?" Questioned Redhorn amused at the sight.

"Someone help me out of here. I've fallen through the hole the falcon made with his beak," Rollan echoed from the balloon, making Alfida shake her head.

"You got a knife as the others, use it to cut," Ordered Alfida, then watched a knife rupture the rubber, watching the balloon rip and Rollan fell down on his back. The balloon began to lose more air, making the ship sink faster and from the cabin, Kai jumped out with a pencil in his hands, then looked up to see a large hole in the ship.

"You haven't got papers or canvas, right?" Asked Kai watching Alfida shake her head.

"Forget it, Kai, only a miracle would bring the ship up in the sky," Stated Alfida, followed by Rollan getting up to massage his back.

"I think that falcon was looking for his meal and somehow mistook the shark design for some big fish," The Spaniard recounted and approached the side of the ship to see them go down at the ocean.

"Brace yourselves for our water landing. It might get a little hard," Warned Alfida watching the pirates get at the front of the steering wheel at the fence and Kulekonge along with Inkbeard got on the small staircase in front of the cabin door to be protected from the water as well.