Time's Mistress

Only the strongest thrive

It had taken a total of a week and a half,but Iris had finally finished the courses that they would use to access the troops. She needed a team of five more people to help her. But she figured that this would also end up being the team that she would take when it was time to break the curse on her and Aurora. So they needed to be the best.

Iris walked with her siblings to the place where she designed the ultimate test for the troops. She would see who the real soldiers were.

Everyone stood outside of a tower that was four floors high. They looked it in the ashy light. It seemed intimidating and slightly ominous. They all turned once they felt a presence that almost mirrored the tower's own. Iris and her siblings walked over to the front of the tower, where the double wooden doors sat closed with a padlock and chain covering them. Iris looked over them before speaking.

"Welcome. I'm happy that you have made it to this place. This," she gestured to the tower. "Is the place where the best are made and the weak will break. We will see how tough your spirits really are. As you can see, there are four levels of this tower. In my kindness in considering how difficult these tasks will be, you will ascend a level a day." They looked at her and then the tower and then back to her. "But there is a catch. If you fail in your task, you will be locked on that floor until the rest of the troop has finished, no matter what happens on the inside, you will experience it, until everyone has finished, whether they have failed or succeeded." She looked them over with a cold face.

"Whoever fails will not be able to continue on to the next challenge. In fact, depending on where you fail in the tower, that will determine where your retraining will start. Even if that means starting from the beginning and maintaining the grounds in order to earn the right to train for the force once again." She smirked at them as their faces paled in shock.

The people who kept the grounds as it were were people in their late teens and the elder who could not move so well. It would take years to earn the right to train again. They all had done it at one point or another in their lives, and they would not go back to that. A determined look came over the crowd of men and women. There would be none of that. They will all succeed without fail.

"The last thing I will say is that every day, the floor will get harder. So level 1 is the easiest. After that, it will only increase for you all. So make sure that you mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for this. Today, you will all enter together for this round."

Iris and her siblings turned towards the doors. The soldiers heard as the chains and locks fell to the concrete floor. The noise seemed to echo in the gray field that they stood in. Iris looked to them and smirked. "Follow me and my siblings inside. We will be watching everyone. And remember, murder is not the key here." Her eyes glinted, and she chuckled before walking inside, disappearing into the darkness behind the door. The soldiers looked amongst themselves in slight worry before filing in behind them.

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All of the soldiers widened their eyes in shock. They had never seen a place like this before. It was completely different from the world outside. There were trees and grass and flowers. The wind blew fresh air, and the sun was out. It was big and beautiful and made the soldiers tear up at the sight of such a thing. They looked across to see a rolling river that disappeared into a small mountain range that the peaks were capped in white to show that there was snow there. A group of birds flew by, and they all gasped in wonder. They had never seen anything this magnificent before.

Iris gave them time to take in their surroundings before clearing her throat to get their attention. She pointed to the highest mountain top before speaking. "On that mountain top is the rarest flower known to mankind. They are in bloom right now. So that means that there are exactly 200 flowers. That is enough for each person to take one and bring it back to me. The people who fail to bring it back will fail. This is a test of your endurance and physical strength as well as your intelligence. There is no wrong or right way to achieve this goal. But, the first ten people to bring me back the flower will be given a small advantage in the level tomorrow. You may switch into groups and squads, do it all together, or do it alone. However, you may choose. You have until the sun falls and the full moon shines. Also, the terrain can get a little rough, so take caution as you are moving. There are also animals and enemies lurking about. So make sure to take care of them quickly. That is why you have been allowed to bring your weapons along." She smiled at them. "Happy climbing, soldiers." She waved her hand for them to go off.

Iris and her siblings watched as a few brave people broke away from the big group. They immediately started walking in the direction of the mountain range. She looked curiously as she saw one woman start walking along the river and following its course. The others set off in the general area. A few smaller groups broke off next to start going towards the mountains. Iris closed her eyes and inhaled the wind as its whispers grazed along her ears. She smiled. There were a couple of people who seemed very promising already.

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Sim walked her way along the river, following it towards the mountains. Something told her that this was going to be the best course of action. But considering she was walking along a life source, she was alert for the danger that it could bring for her.

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Jan looked around as he inhaled. The environment around him was amazing, but he was still tense. He had never been to this kind of place before and had no idea of what to expect. So he stayed on guard, with his left hand forever resting on his sword. He could draw it at any moment to make sure he could protect himself from possible danger. He was airing more on the cautious side as he realized he was at the base of the mountain. The world around him went quiet as he stopped. He had been hearing noises of animals this whole time. So for it to just suddenly stop, there was something either watching him or coming for him...

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The small group of two men and one woman continued walking towards the mountains. They had found a path close to the river that we followed. Every time it seemed to wind somewhere else, they corrected the path and continued on. It led up to the bottom of the mountain range. They stopped and looked up in the distance. They looked at each other.

"It's going to be cold up there, guys. Just make sure we are still close in case we need the body heat. But we will deal with that when it comes. Plus, I don't want anything to catch us off guard." The other two nodded in agreement. The small group climbed up the mountain, and at one point, one of them slipped, almost to tumble down to their death. But their team mate saved them. And as they got to the top, feeling exhausted, they saw two other people there already picking a flower and securing it before they got noticed. The small group greeted the two people.

"Jan, Sim, we should have known you would have already made it." The two smiled before looking at each other.

"Well, my brother thinks that he can do everything better and faster, so we split up to see who can get here first. But we got here at the same time." The small group laughed.

"But we should have known that it would be you three who would get here soon after us." The two siblings chuckled. "But we were the first ones here. There are no other flowers that have been picked besides ours." They looked out before looking at them. "Well, hurry up now. Me and Sim agreed to go back down together in case of any surprises. We find it hard to believe that we made it up with only a little trouble from the terrain so far. But we're thinking that something might pop up now before we get back to the Lord's." The three nodded and quickly each picked a flower of their own. The small group of five started to slowly go back down the mountain. They grew suspicious when nothing continued to happen.

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The wind whispered to Iris as soon as the small group picked the three flowers. Five flowers have been picked. She inhaled deeply with eyes closed as she felt her power active under the skin. She opened her eyes to reveal the three colors swirling together. She exhaled to release a golden wind. She looked at her siblings, who watched in shock at the scene of her. She smiled at them.

"The first five have been picked and chosen. Now the fun will begin for everyone." They nodded at her. It was time for the first test to actually begin for the troops....