Nicasia and the Challenge

Darkness engulfed me. The clouds were closing in and I couldn't escape. I was running as fast I could to beat it. I had to beat the force behind me. My will was propelling me forward; faster than I had ever ran before. Time was running out. I was going to be l...Finally the light I was running towards shined like the silver on a freshly shined gun and blinded me. I shut my eyes to it and the dark clouds were chased away. The light didn't go away. Instead it pierced the safety of my closed eyelids and forced me to do the one thing I dreaded: wake up.

God must have been sending me a message to wake up because my alarm clock was three minutes away from waking me up myself. On any normal day I would have happily stayed in bed, but there was no way that was going to happen today. It was the day of the Challenge. I had prepared for this my whole life, and I needed to get it right or I'd have to search for another job. To sum it up briefly, the Challenge was a test I had to pass in order to become what I had always wanted: to protect the princess of the kingdom and become her personal guard. The Challenge was designed to make you fail in essence you had to locate your charge amid tons of chaos. For the past 18 years I had been preparing for this, and I didn't want to waste another moment. 

My heart was beating fast, the anxiety building already. One hot shower later and the anxiety had dulled to butterflies in my stomach. I pulled on a kimono style blue dress that could transform into a long blue shirt with leggings at the pull of a string. My converse completed the outfit and I was ready.

The apartment was quiet as I ate a full breakfast of scrambled eggs and chai tea. I grabbed a banana and my purse, although if history repeated itself one of them would end up in the trashcan, and walked downstairs. 

Normally all I would have to do was walk downstairs to meet my charge, but as a special day I had been relocated so they could design the test without me accidentally overhearing or getting any other clue. I walked out to the stables and heard my horse before I saw her. Gwen had a beautiful brown coat and white mane. I hadn't liked it at first, and thought her too mainstream and like too many other horses, but she was unique and had a sass that matched her rider. She had served me well.

"Are you ready Gwen? After today everything changes." I muttered as I gently petted her side. In response she snorted. I could have rode her bareback, but it was a special day so I picked out the brightest saddle and attached it to her. With a swing of my leg and a throw of a banana, we were on our way. 

Fortunately, it didn't take long for us to arrive at the castle. It was large and intimidating but home. Like the princess, I had lived in the stunning Persisian style castle since birth. I pulled Gwen to a stop outside of the gates and dismounted. A small figure came through the front doors and let me inside the gates. She was the evaluator and administrator of the Challenge. If her height wasn't intimidating, her look was: an expression that said "regardless of how you do, I will be eternally pissed off." I smiled hoping to prove her wrong, but she didn't return my smile. 

"Take your horse to the stables, then report to the arena." With that, she turned and left. 

The arena...ok. After putting Gwen in an empty stable at the back of the castle, I went to find the arena she had talked about. My father said that it was similar to what a mobile home had been a few hundred years ago; it was brought in every time a new recruit was ready to transition to become a royal guard and it was never the same twice. My father said his test had included part of the ocean, and according to him my mother's had involved the jungle. I only hoped that mine wouldn't be too hard. 

I took a right and followed the castle walls until I saw a huge building at least seven stories tall. It was circular and had windows near the top every three or four feet. The doors, which looked like ordinary oak doors lay straight ahead. I stopped walking when my feet were inches from the door. My hands shook a little with anticipation and fear as I took a deep breath. I had been trained not to react to things like this, but I would allow myself to do it this one time. This was of course the most important test of my life. Another unsettling breath and I opened the door. 

The antechamber was simple. Everything was tan including the man in the room and the desk he sat at. It was supposed to be calming, but it felt more claustrophobic. I was in a tan box that was going to squish me. The only thing that wasn’t tan was the evaluator who had been standing against the wall.

“Your Challenge is about to begin. This is the last time you will see me today, unless by some slim chance you pass. The first step of your test involves a race. The rest you will find when you come upon it. Remember you are the only one testing, but there will be others present. You have a minute to ready yourself before you must enter the arena.” She waved her hand and a door appeared at the back of chamber. “Good luck.”

I didn’t need a minute. I took one last deep breath and swung the door open. The first and only color I saw was green. It was a spring green and once my eyes adjusted to the outside light, I could tell that it was the leaves on birch trees. The trees lined a dirt track where seven other people were lining up at a makeshift start line. Behind me the room had disappeared. I lined up behind one person and to the left of another. Eight people in lines of three; not even! my head screamed. Focus, I yelled back. A sound that I couldn’t place, similar to a motor starting but more electronic, sent us on our way. Running wasn’t something I was particularly good at, but I easily pulled in front of a large group. A few were in front of me and as the minutes passed by the group at the back grew more clumped and the two in front of me fought for first place. I wasn’t worried, for speed could only take you so far in this test. In order to succeed you needed to be well rounded. Luckily that was something I was good at. Soon the two people in front came to a stop in front of a hedge with an opening barely big enough for one person. Once I got to this point, it was stop and go, stop and go in a dark passageway. I could have become annoyed, but I couldn’t allow myself to do that. I had to keep a level head for the sake of the princess. Fifteen minutes passed and eventually the hedge opened up to a fork in the road. I lost sight of the two who had been in front of me, and I no longer heard people behind me. I was all alone. Do I choose to take the path through the forest or up a sandy mountain? The green called to me and without a second thought I turned left.

The forest path led me down near a river. Forest and water, a combination of the tests my parents went through? How symbolic. I followed the path until I heard someone up ahead. Ducking into the trees, I waited to see what horror was coming next.

As the sound came closer, I discerned it was a groan. There was only one monster that produced that sound. Zombies. In all my history classes, I had never been interested in them or scared of them. Sure I’d been told that they had the power to tear your insides down and destroy your emotions, but what did that mean? I didn’t want to find out. The creatures were scary enough in person that I didn’t want to get close to them. They were a slight green color and had cloth covering their eyes and strings hanging from their ears. I decided to walk farther in the forest away from the zombies. I could only go about four feet before a giant boulder blocked my path. I couldn’t go above it, and it was too large to walk around. That meant that I would have to walk by the zombies. I couldn’t go out there the way I was, they would know I was different. I had to do something. Suddenly an idea struck me. I plucked two leaves from the nearest tree and found two sticks. I stuck the leaves over my eyes, luckily I could see through them, and pushed the curved sticks into my braid to make it appear I had strings coming from my ears. I made it back down to the river amid a pack of zombies moaning to blend in. They seemed not to notice me and fifteen minutes later, without any altercations, I made it to a large building.

The building was made of bricks and had ivy climbing up the sides as if it was trying to reach the princess before me. As I watched, I realized the ivy was moving. This was no normal ivy, it would strangle anyone who touched it; I had to hurry. I opened the doors and saw a pair of staircases. This room looked like the throne room in the castle. I had been here before. The way to the princess’s bedroom was up the right flight but I felt a pull to the left. After quietly making my way upstairs, I opened the only door that had light shining under the frame. My innate sense of danger increased the closer I got, and I reached for a sword that was on display in a suit of armor. My right hand grasped the handle and my left hand my instrument. This door swung open and I had arrived. The way to the princess was through this door. I could sense the many dangers that stood in front of me, but I was ready. I would find her.