The Trials of Ascension ~ Chapter Ⅸ

Instructions

STORY “What?” called out the StrongWing. “I thought the Trials were in two days.” “Well, Aloisia, that was more of a sample. That determined who would get special treatments at the Sponsor Ceremony.” Aloisia smirked as the other Trial Candidates were brought in. Pine sniffed and called out, “What just happened?” “That was a sample Trial. Whoever stayed behind gets special treatment at the Sponsor Ceremony. And Sunrise, Dreamcatcher, Pacific, Citrus, and Aloisia stayed behind.” Pine sniffed haughtily. “I bet they already knew.” Lady Peregrine looked slightly miffed. “No. Nobody but me, Heron, and them knew about this. ” She gestured at the soldiers, who had been released from the vines. Pine sniffed again and whirled to the room where all of the draganets slept. Her entourage of SnowWings followed suit. Lady Peregrine shook her head and put on a smile. “You may either keep training,” she gestured at the training room. “Or, you may stay in your boarding room.” The SongWings all whirled into the boarding room also, but everyone else went back to the training room with nervous looks at the boarding room. Nobody wanted to risk the angry SnowWings or SongWings. There was mainly just muttering among clumps of dragans as they walked back over to the training room, mainly directly at Dreamcatcher, Sunrise, and the others who had stayed behind. Sunrise heard a few of them: “I wonder if they knew….” “How did they do it?” Sun sighed. “How long do you think this is going to last?” she whispered to Dreamcatcher. “I don’t know.” Dreamcatcher whispered back. “But I can’t wait until the Sponsor Ceremony!” “Neither can I!” Pacific whispered. They all arrived at the training room, and looked around at the rooms. “Wanna do swimming? Or darkness training?” They decided to do darkness training, which was an obstacle course in the dark. Pacific did the best, with Dreamcatcher and Sunrise close behind. They continued to train until the end of the day. When the three friends returned to the room where they slept. Pine, Aria, and Allegra glared at them as they walked to the beds. They found a group of cushions where some draganets could talk. “So, there are only two more days of training!” Sunrise exclaimed. “I can’t wait!” Citrus popped over to where they were. “Hi!” she chirped. Her scales were a light pink-orange outlined with gold, with red swirling through. “That looks really nice!” Dreamcatcher admired. “Thanks!” Citrus said happily. Some light pink swirled through her scales. “Ooh, the SnowWings and the SongWings are ticked off about the whole Sponsor Ceremony thing.” Her scales turned yellow. “No kidding.” Pacific laughed. The SnowWings were shooting death glares at the small group, especially Pine. She looked like she wanted to leap over and hand Sunrise’s face off. Citrus flew up to a balcony. “Let’s talk up here!” she called down to the others. The other draganets flew up to the balcony, and Citrus twisted her hands. Some vines grew down and covered the openings, so they could not be seen. “How do you do that?” Sunrise inquired. Citrus put her hands down. “This is plant-speak. PlantWings with ancestors who did it can do it. My plant-speak is more powerful than others because my parents both had the most powerful plant-speak in their generation, so mine is even stronger.” She held out her hands. “You can tell if a dragan has plant-speak if they have green veins in their hands.” There were vine-green veins in Citrus’s hands. Dreamcatcher looked at them with admiration. “Cool.” Citrus smiled a little. “I have a...friend at home. She wasn’t chosen, but I would always do this for her.” She twisted her hands and shimmering blue-white flowers bloomed all along the vines. The pollen inside wafted out. It smelled like vanilla and honey to Sunrise, which were rare treats for her family, because they were so expensive. Dreamcatcher smiled. “Roses!” Pacific sniffed and her eyes lit up. “Sea wisteria!” Citrus smiled. “This is a special flower that I created...it lets you smell the things you love.” A loud, bone-shaking horn blast interrupted her. “Lights out!” a voice barked. The owner of the voice was a brown-red dragan. Her name was Avalanche. She blew the horn again. All of the draganets flew down or up to their beds...except for the SnowWings and SongWings. Sunrise watched through her door, along with other draganets, as Avalanche walked up to them. “LIGHTS OUT!”