Entrance Exam (II)

The rest of the day was the easy one, I wanted to make sure that we had enough food and water. The three of this would continue to show how new I was to all of this. In my old life I never had to do any of this. I was not the type of survivalist that could make a hut or house out of the ground. I only ever had the thoughts from what I have seen in games or on the television. Survival games were a huge hit right now anyhow. Thinking that I would not be able to play any games anymore made me a little saddened until I took some water with the pot where I dropped everything to drop and touch the water.

The water rippled even more since the pot was pulled out. I could barely see and was glad the others were doing their own tasks. My hand went to my face. This was the first time I stopped to look at myself. I know that they had to make me a body that would allow me to hold the mana, but what was this? My face was smooth which was fine, my eyes still held the crystalline blue hue to it, but my hair and ears. My hair was like before with a natural curl, staying a few inches long.

My ears though were pointed and were longer than any finger. I ran my hand over it thinking back to all the times that I stated that I was a human to my teammates when I did not know what I am anymore.

Garthe was coming back from where he was setting up a pit so we can either use it as a latrine or as a pit, we have not thought about that yet. He noticed me touching my ears and raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. "So, you said that tomorrow we will worry about the other teams, but are you just saying that to try and think of something? I think that we should start to scout tomorrow. At least find out who we are up against before making any plans."

"Oh, hey. Yeah, I agree, that would probably be better than just sitting around and figuring out what is around us. Maybe we could have Halla go up the mountain a bit, see if there are any caves." Takes a step towards him to see that he held a pickaxe and the antler we got from the bags. "We can hopefully use one as an outpost. Still keep this one, while going up there to scout the horizon at least. If we can do so by tomorrow night, we might be able to see some smoke or light from a fire."

"Let's just hope none of the other team have a similar idea." He said with a nod.

Halla returned later with her hands full of berries and odd shaped fruits. "Now we can eat. I will fish tomorrow. We should not light a fire just in case. There is nothing around to hide the light from. We can dig a pit to hide it?" She smiled the whole time, and I couldn't help but admire that about her. The optimism of any situation that we have been through.

Sitting down we ate for the night and took turns keeping watch. I took a little longer to let them sleep. My thoughts were a jumbled mess. Okay first off, I need to find Savrin and figure out what they did to my body..

The next day came and we went to work. Collecting some food for the first part and Halla went up towards the mountain while we tried to collect what we could right now. I found out that the white rune in the center of the water is something that helps to filter most of the water while the filtrum is a small piece of cotton or canvas like a cheese cloth. It is used to help filter the rest. This was to be our water source. Garthe and I decided to hide our tools that we would not use this day, burying them nearby.

Once Halla came back we knew something was up when she looked a little frightened.

"We have trouble." Her voice was a little grim but confused. "Well, not trouble, more like annoying. Hmm what is the word for it…" She started to hit her hand against her head. "Just something I did not wish to happen."

Garthe spoke up first as I was finishing up wrapping the new food into a small basket, we all helped make. "What is it Halla?"

Now starting to see her quirk of forgetfulness I smiled thinking it was something that helped define instead of just annoy. Don't get me wrong, I am annoyed.

"It was… Oh I am not good with names. The three we met back before. They were up there already."

"Wait, one of the teams is Zaya's team?"

"Dha'wae was there?"

We both looked at each other in annoyance. "Now how are we going to do this. I need to think about the math.." I said before sitting down on a rock. Garthe was flushed trying to think as well. Halla knew we did not wish to fight or go up against their group.

"Just as the note said, the other teams have been here longer than we have, knowing when they went up there was plenty of time for them to map out the island." Garthe reasoned.

"True, we should keep a watch on them if we can, we might be able to talk with them before tonight if we wish. With everything on the line, I don't think that we can afford to work with them. Either we give them one of our points, or they give one to us." I bite my lip not liking the thought of having to give one of ours to them. Seeing Garthe twitch a bit he may try and ask us to give up one of ours.

"What if we work together against the other team?" Halla said with a smile. The thought made my stomach turn since that would not be a fair match.

"If we give one of ours up, we will need four more points. Two of those badge things from the third team.. That would leave them out by 7 points. Other than waiting until the end of the survival then every team can make it through this with the 8 points. I hope the others have thought of this. Not going to lie I do not have much faith in my fighting capabilities right now. I am quite rusty and all we have is a fishing spear and a sword which does not last too long. I need to find myself something before the end of the day. At least something that are not antlers." My words were mostly to myself, but out loud invited the others to chime in.

Halla came over to place a hand on my shoulder. "It is all right. We can take our time. We have days until this is over. DO not stress out."

"She is right, no sense in trying to solve something like that right now. I would not mind making an alliance, but that does not sound right either. We need to know both sides of this fight. Even if we know them, we do not 'know' them. Their honor is something that we know nothing about." Garthe stated as if it was no big deal.

"You both are right. All we need to do is focus on the point ahead. We need to find their base camp, as well as the third team. That will be today's goal." Sets a smile before looking towards the mountain.

We split up, Garthe went up the mountain a bit after hearing about some caves up there as well. Halla went to go watch Zaya and her party, while I went south more. I stayed along the beach. Instead of using the filtrum as a strainer, since we have three, I decided to turn mine into a map later. I took out the knife, along with the flint and steel. It took a moment to light a small stick and let it be before I could use the tip as charcoal.

After hours of mapping the island the best I could from the edge of the forest along the beach to the mountain. A clear set up of where our base was. I managed to at least get some time to think about all of this. Getting thrust into this might not be so bad. I still had my mom and dad, they would be sad I was gone, I did have my friends, but that was all. No partner, no commitments, nothing. This was a new start for me, and I plan to make it that way. Okay so when thinking that they may have been either south or to the east of the mountain. If Halla finds out where Zaya and their group are then we can find the third.

We all gathered back at base to get what we needed. When I came back Halla was cooking with the pot over the red rune in the center, looks like it produced heat. She learned that Zaya and her group went off to the south, so I needed to start going the other way next time. Garthe came back much later with a basket full of rocks. He explained how he found some caves and they had quite a lot of minerals, he can craft weapons now if we can heat them up enough. It would take time to build a kiln if needed. I left that to him. Halla and Garthe both added that they found a waterfall from inside the mountain leading down. The base of such is where Garthe wished to set up the smithing area, the sound of the waterfall would drown out his hammering.

We must see what the last team is like before deciding if we want to give up our totem or get one of theirs. The main goal now is finding the last team and decide before the fourth day. My eyes widened a bit, and I went to the other two, "how many days are in a week? I know stupid question, but still."

"Where I am from a week is 10 days. Three weeks to a month." Garthe spoke up.

Halla confirmed the same. "Not stupid question, just query. Why, what about you?"

"Where I am from a week is signified through 7 days instead. I do not know if we will have that long or the 10 days. I am hoping for the latter since both of you had such."

They both agreed and we ended the day after some food in our bellies. Laying near the fire rune for warmth. The next day we went on our business again, Garthe seemed excited to be starting up a new smithy, while Halla was just Halla. A happy go lucky girl that seemed to want nothing more than to do something. Creating the map of the island felt fun to me, I always loved cartography in the first place. I knew that I would end up going up the mountain to get the rest now that I have a point of reference for length I was using. After half the day passed, I decided to do just that.

Climbing this mountain reminded me of a time I climbed Point of Rocks in Texas. It took just as long even though it was three times the size. When I reached close to the top, I set about finishing the sketch to the island. I was entranced in my work that I did not hear or see much of my surroundings.

"You might be forgetting that there is a waterfall at the base of this, and that over on the eastern side we found a cave entrance in the middle of here to the beach. Can't really see it up here though." A familiar voice rang out.

I turned around and Zaya was just laying upon a rock, her copper skin almost glinting in the sun, "surprise, surprise." She whispered with a grin, her head leaning back to look down towards me upside down. Her horns scraping the rock face. "Looks like we need to talk."