As I hurried to the Birchpath field, I prepared myself for any and everything. I’d thought that the Bison tribe had been sneaky, but it seemed to be a running theme within the Flock of the Eagles. I’d eagerly snapped up the chance to go to the Mountain Lion tribe next. I wanted to be in the Pronghorn tribe the most, and the Mountain Lions appealed to me the least. I wanted to leave the best until last, as it were. Phoenix’s words had also intrigued me. Perhaps there was more Mountain Lion in me than I thought. The slim competitive streak that ran through me longed to be accepted into all four tribes, though I knew that the possibility of that was slight. I shook myself. It was tough to get through the trials, let alone succeed at them.  Birchpath was a lot closer to the training field than Autumnkeep and Pinereap had been, so I reached it quickly. Chu’a was stood towards

Dakota was grinning at me broadly as I scurried along the path towards the Wildflower Meadow. Her blonde hair had been loosely curled today, and hung about her shoulders before falling in coils down her back. “Hi,” she called over to me, and I jogged across the last of the distance to her. There were a few other tribe members milling around, too, and I waved to them before coming to rest in front of Dakota.Her bright blue eyes sized me up, and then caught on my injured face. She frowned, and gestured for me to tilt my head back.I sighed, but resigned myself to doing as she wished. “What did you do to it?” She asked.“The Mountain Lion’s trial was a brawl,” I said. “I got thrown about by Ryker.”“I’m not surprised,” Dakota said, letting my head drop forwards again. “He’s huge. Why on earth were you fighting him?”I shrugged. “To determine my innate bravery.” It sounded ridiculous, even as I said it. “Anyway, I’m fine.”She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, our trial is simple enough. Y

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB JA X-NONE

My vision blurred as I followed the flickering of the candle’s flame. Then I felt as though I was being pulled forwards, and I let myself tumble into the darkness.I felt myself roll over, and then I scrabbled with claw-like hands to right myself. I stumbled onto my feet, and stared into oblivion. There was nothing for me to catch sight of; there was no way for me to orient myself. It was just… black.I span around, searching desperately for anything. The emptiness was vast, and then my vision began to blur once more. I felt compelled to sit down, and I crossed my legs as I had done before. I let my hands come to rest in my lap, and I stared forwards. There was a sound. It was like the beating of a heart, growing gradually louder with each breath that I took. I didn’t know where it was coming from, and then I realised: it was coming from within me.My eyes flickered, and the candle was back. The Candle Dragon had disappeared, and the rest of the space was still black. I rocked forward

“Wait! No, no, no,” Samyak chanted. My arm froze in mid-air, ready to push the kitchen door open fully. “What?” I frowned. I couldn’t smell anything; I’d assumed he was cooking us dinner, but the usual scent of fried onion and garlic wasn’t seeping through the air as it so often did. “Wait there. Sorry,” he added, poking his head through the crack in the doorway. He smiled dopily at me, and I cocked my head at him with a smile. “I thought you were calling me because it was ready?” “I was. But I just need you to grab me something from the bedroom. Then stand outside, right by the front door. Okay?” “Okay,” I nodded, the bridge of my nose crinkling with confusion. “What do you need me to get?” “Could you get me something warm – a big jumper will do