You can have the trash

Slam!

The doors shut behind them after Reed and Hegan entered the room.

Reed looked around at their surroundings, taking note of how much more spacious and luxurious this place seemed compared to where they had met the Empress. The walls were decorated with paintings and tapestries depicting various scenes throughout history. There were several chairs scattered across the floor alongside tables filled with books and scrolls.

"This must be one of the rooms used for meetings," Reed whispered to Hegan.

"Gross! Your breath stinks, or is it your bleeding arm?" Hegan pushed Reed off him. "We're no longer in the maze, you don't need to stick to me like a leech anymore!"

Reed let out a chuckle and playfully slapped his friend's shoulder as he walked past him towards a large desk that sat against a wall opposite a window that overlooked a beautiful garden below.

"It's about time you fuckers made it here," Shanks called out as he stood up from his chair and approached them. His eyes narrowed upon seeing blood stains on Reed's clothes but quickly turned away when Hegan stepped forward instead of backing down.

"You are late," He growled, glaring at Hegan who returned a glare for a glance back, then continued, "you kept us waiting for far too long."

Hegan took another step closer, staring straight into the man's cold blue eyes without flinching or blinking, daring him to make a move first. "It's not my fault that I had to help a friend, unlike your sorry lonely ass."

Shanks' face contorted with anger and frustration before turning around with an annoyed sigh.

Reed placed a hand on Hegan and shook his head, "it's fine, you don't need to do this. We can handle this ourselves. You've done enough already today."

"But–"

"Hegan, don't pull your composure because of m–" Reed's voice suddenly felt strained as he stared ahead in fear.

Hegan looked to his friend whose body was trembling as he tried to speak through clenched teeth.

"What is it?" He asked as he looked at Reed curiously.

"He must be reacting to the cold while he was injured." Tristan said, stepping out from the shadows, causing Hegan to turn his attention to the newcomer, "I'm guessing you're the one that helped him get out of the maze?"

Reed dropped to his knees, his eyes wide in horror as the memory of what he had witnessed flashed in his mind.

"No…" he whispered in disbelief.

"Yes," Tristan replied with a smirk as he walked over and knelt beside Reed, placing a comforting arm on his shoulder.

"You k–k... k!" Reed stammered, pointing at Tristan with a shaking finger.

"I what?!" Tristan retorted, "is the injury messing with your brain or something? What did I ever do to deserve such fear in your eyes?! Did you happen to feel your head take a barrel roll over those mazes?"

Reed flinched at the reference to their previous encounter but remained silent after seeing how much more composed Tristan appeared compared to earlier when they had spoken.

Hegan pulled Reed to his feet, "pull yourself together, you look pathetic right now." He turned his gaze towards Damian who had been watching them silently.

'No matter, I am rightly enjoying that look on your face even without doing anything yet.' Tristan thought smugly as he watched Hegan and Reed walk away from him and stand next to each other beside Shanks and Damian.

"Just because you two made it here before us, don't get any funny ideas!" Shanks pointed at Tristan and Damian with a glare.

"That's enough!" Selkie shouted angrily as she stormed into the room followed by several guards who were carrying weapons and wearing armor made up entirely of hardened shell plates and spikes. She glared down upon them all before turning her gaze towards Tristan. Her expression softened slightly when their gazes met but quickly turned back to anger once more at the thought of their interaction earlier on.

"You all have one more task before your fate is decided by the Empress herself."

'Tch– pathetic. My fate isn't determined by anyone!' Tristan thought bitterly under his breath while glaring at Selkie in defiance.

Selkie ignored his glare as she continued speaking, "I will be reading the rewards."

Holding the shimmering, clam-shaped book. "Hegan–three points, Reed–three points, Milo–nil, Shanks–three points, Lance–nil, Damian–thirteen points, Tristan–seven points," Selkie said as she read off their rewards before turning towards Tristan who had been watching intently since she started reading their points aloud.

'There's no way he could have gotten second! This must have been intentional!' Selkie thought bitterly, biting on her bottom lip to keep from screaming out loud with rage and frustration.

Tristan chuckled and patted Damian's back with a smile on his face, causing Damian to turn around with a confused look on his face.

"What are you laughing about?" He asked with a frown as he looked between them both curiously.

"Nothing," Tristan replied innocently before looking over to see Shanks staring daggers at him. He rolled his eyes as he turned away from him and back at Damian. "Don't get too cocky, remember there's still one task left. Besides, you can have what I discarded, probably you'd be interested." He whispered the latter part of the sentence so only Damian could hear it.

Damian's mouth dropped open in shock when he heard the words come out of Tristan's lips but quickly recovered himself after seeing the smirk that was plastered across Tristan's face.

Selkie narrowed her eyes at the duo but beckoned Damian to follow her as she walked out.

"As expected, you all get to have the sirens give you a fun time." She related in spite, sparing Tristan one more glance as she stormed out while four naked sirens stepped into the room behind her.

*****

A/N

¶ Any idea on what the final task would be?

¶ Who knows why Tristan chose not to be first in this task?

1000 summoning pens= 1 bonus chapter.

I would really appreciate your comments and support of this novel with your power stones. Your active comments would motivate me to write more chapters.