The Trials of Ascension ~ Chapter ⅠⅠⅠ

Instructions

S T O R Y : The next morning, Sunrise woke up to bright light, and Tifón or Tif, as Sun had nicknamed him, perched sleepily on her shoulder. Tif chirped as Sun slowly and carefully got out of her bed and walked into the kitchen. She browsed their pantry and finally selected some fruit. As she ate it, Cloudwing came into the room. “Good morning!” Cloudwing said to her daughter. Sunrise smiled at her. “Good morning,” she replied. “I’m going to go outside for a bit.” “Okay,” Cloudwing smiled. “Just make sure to be in the town square in about an hour. Today is the Day of Selection!” Sunrise nodded and walked out the door, breathing in the sweet smell of honeysuckle. She blew a small spurt of fire to warm herself up, and then flew the short distance to the part of town that had shops. She had originally intended to get a blueberry pastry from the bakery, but decided on a chocolate muffin instead. As she munched the treat, she looked around. In the Town Square, she could see preparations being made for the Selection happening soon. Sunrise shivered with anticipation as she watched. She turned away after a while and glanced at the time. Almost a half hour had passed! She turned and walked towards Town Square. She decided she would stay in the nearby store until it was time for the Selection. As Sunrise walked into the store, a bell tinkled cheerfully. “Hello!” greeted the store’s owner, Starling. “Hi, Starling.” Sunrise smiled as she walked through the store. She finally settled on getting a small scarf. She paid for it with some bronze flariots, and walked out of the store as the Selection was about to start. She took her place in the front row, where all of the eligible draganets were. As horns blew, Lady Peregrine herself came onto the stage, with attendants behind her carrying chests. As Lady Peregrine cleared her throat, everyone fell silent. “Today,” she announced, “we are gathered to witness the Selecting of five lucky draganets who will compete to be the Great Queen of Sirroca!” This was met with loud cheers. Lady Peregrine continued. “I sincerely hope that one of us can become queen, and beat the streak of the SongWings!” More cheers at this announcement. Lady Peregrine nodded at the attendants, who then brought forward the Selecting chests and scale. Sunrise noted, Dusk was right. Only the 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, and 20 chests are that large-the 12, 14, 18, and 19 chests are tiny! There really aren’t many! Sun wondered how many eligible contestants other tribes had. She could watch their Selecting process on the screens that had been set up around town later. Their teacher had told everyone about how they could. Or maybe,”Sunrise thought with excitement, I could meet the other contestants! Lady Peregrine brought out a ruby feather. “I will weigh the feathers!” she called out, gesturing to a crimson scale with a stone in her hands. “The owners of the five feathers that are lighter than this stone,” she brought out a ruby, “will be our five contestants!” Sunrise knew that every dragan in the tribe had one of the feathers. It was given to them at birth. She held her breath as Lady Peregrine went to the closest chest, the 20 chest, and reached in. Sunrise held her breath as Lady Peregrine drew out her hands with a few feathers. She weighed a few feathers before one feather was lighter than the stone. Sunrise realized, The scale must be animus touched, and only selects the right dragans! Her heart raced with excitement and anticipation as Lady Peregrine read out the name, “Raven!” An almost- black draganet with scales similar to Dusk’s walked up to the stage, as her family cheered and cried tears of joy. Lady Peregrine weighed the rest of the feathers in the 20 chest, and none were lighter. Then, Lady Peregrine weighed the feathers in the 16 chest, and called out 2 names after weighing quite a few feathers. “Scorch!” A large draganet walked up. She was burly, but lithe. The other name was, “Firefall!” A small dragan with steaming scales walked up onto the stage. She was a firescales, the same as Celosia. It was rare for a firescales to get into the Trials, so she would have lots of supporters. There were no feathers from the 15 or 13 chests, with sighs and sad looks from draganets. Lady Peregrine spent a short time on the 11 chest, but no one was called. Sunrise was filled with anticipation as Lady Peregrine reached into the last chest, the 10, and brought out two ruby feathers. After weighing them, Lady Peregrine read out one name. “Comet!” she called, to a pang of disappointment from Sunrise. A fiery red-orange draganet Sunrise knew from school came up to the stage among more cheering and clapping. Lady Peregrine weighed about 10 more feathers before finding the final feather. As Lady Peregrine read the name of the last feather, Sunrise’s heart stopped for a moment. “Sunrise!” Lady Peregrine read out, as Sun stood there, stunned.