Cyrus Solaris
It took a couple of hours fighting through tangled growth, climbing over fallen trees, and swimming through a murky swamp of unknown depth to finally reach the end of our path.
Before us was a mine covered in moss and vines, with multiple entrances into the large sparkling mountain.
"Your group is designated to the far left cave," A voice shouted from above.
I raised a hand to shield my eyes from the bright orange light pouring down from the sky and looked toward the voice. It was Professor Thorne, perched high on a cliffside.
"You'd better get moving if you want to be first, Sora. Five other groups have already made their way here." She continued, pointing toward our cave entrance.
Nerena quickly pulled out her drone and flew it over the mountain. She said she noticed something in the distance.
The drone did a quick scan and returned to her.
"What did you see, Nerena?" Sora asked.
"There appears to be some type of large pyramid deep in the jungle. But we shouldn't have to worry about it."
Sora nodded and led us to our cave. Outside the entrance were rusty old pickaxes, shovels, and a broken cart.
That Professor really does hate me. How are we supposed to mine with these materials?
"Simon, are all of your tools dull, or will some of them be of use?" Sora asked, tossing a pickaxe in her hand.
"Well, no, but I did happen to find a whetstone on the way here. So I'll use that to sharpen the pickaxes.
"Alright then, I'll leave you to it."
Simon made a makeshift workbench out of some loose bark lying around the mine and began sharpening the tips of our pickaxes. He was meticulous with the task, sliding the whetstone at just the right angle every time.
Can he hurry up?
In a few more moments, he was finished.
Every pickaxe was sharp enough to sever flesh clean through. He tossed them to us, then unclipped a machine from his belt and walked toward the entrance.
"What does that do?" Voen asked.
"It's a mineral and ore detector. We gotta make sure we know exactly where the celestium is; otherwise we would just be blindly hacking at dirt."
Huh, maybe he's not too bad.
The group followed him down the dark cave; the only sound was the small, infrequent drops of water falling from the cave ceiling.
When Simon's machine beeped, it meant he had detected a Celestium deposit. But for some reason, his machine only beeped twice by the time we reached the end of the cave.
Oh, she definitely hates me.
I looked at Simon and Sora.
"So what do we do? Is there one thousand pounds of celestium ore in here?"
"I'm afraid there isn't."
Sora stroked her chin and looked down the cave at Voen and Nerena, swinging away at celestium deposits.
"Voen and Nerena, can you weigh the amount you guys have, and after you do, meet us down here." They both followed Sora's request.
"So exactly what is your plan?" I asked Sora as she started to knock on the wall that was our dead end.
She had a wicked smile tugging at her cheek.
"We are going to keep digging as close to another group's settlement as possible. We can't even enter another cave that isn't assigned to us. But what they don't know won't hurt them."
Voen and Nerena trotted down to meet us.
"How much do we have?" Sora asked.
"One hundred pounds."
"That's not enough," Sora said
"No, it's not," I muttered.
"Alright, well, here is my plan. Simon, let me know if I'm correct. Miners sometimes use heavy vibration machines to loosen up the rock before digging, right?"
"Yeah, that's right, but we don't have that machine here."
"Well, actually, we do. Voen, you didn't lose your flute, did you?"
"I would never," Voen said, tossing it in the air.
"Perfect, I want you to blast a sonic wave with a frequency that can loosen this wall."
"And Cyrus, I want you to use the same ability you did on the dam, once the rubble in the wall loosens up."
Voen nodded and asked us to take a step back.
My ears began to ring to the point where I started to lose my balance. The wall before us shook violently, rock loosening and falling out of place.
"Cyrus now," Sora yelled over the high-pitched ring.
I gathered my bearings and focused on the point I thought the wall looked the weakest before firing off my Tidal Push ability.
The force of my ability slammed into the stone, the impact echoing like a cannon blast through the cave. The entire cavern shook as a crack formed in the wall.
"Everyone, grab your pickaxe and dig," Sora yelled.
We flew into the hole with pickaxes reinforced with cosmic energy and opened it further, only to reveal another layer of rock.
"Simon, check to see what's here, and Nerena, can you go and see how many groups have come and gone, but discreetly?" Sora said.
Nerena and Simon both nodded and did as she asked.
Simon scanned the new layer of rock.
I pulled out my astral globe tablet and checked the time floating above it.
Eight hours had passed already.
Come on, we can't fall behind more than we already are.
Simon turned around, his face grim.
Dang it.
"Looks like we're gonna have to keep going until we find some," Sora said, gripping her pickaxe.
Then Voen stepped forward again.
We continued this cycle so many times I lost track.
"Sora, are you sure this is gonna work?" Voen asked.
I was on his side, and it felt like we were duped from the very beginning. I could tell just from the way Professor Thorne spoke to us that she had no intention of us ever leaving the mines today.
"It has to work; we have no other choice but to keep pushing, so Voen, blast the dang wall, please." Voen took one hesitant step forward and followed directions.
I played my role, and this time, to all of our surprise, there wasn't another layer of rock. We blasted into another settlement of celestium sparkling with dazzling ore.
It really worked.
"Thank the pantheons, let's get to digging," Sora said, charging in, leading the way for the cluster.
We swung into the walls and ground as our lives depended on it.
It wasn't long before we started to dig large mounds of the precious ore, and as I took another swing, I saw Nerena sprinting down the cave.
"What did you find, Nerena?" Sora asked.
"We are the only group not to have made a trip back to the starting point. Some groups have made a couple of trips already."
"Damn it."
Sora paused, scanning the piles we just dug up.
"Let's bring the full amount back all at once," I said.
Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.
Maybe I was, but we need to be crazy right now if we want to win.
"And just how are we gonna do that? It was difficult to traverse that jungle by ourselves."
"I can carry most of it with my ability," I responded, giving them a look filled with conviction.
Truth is, I really didn't know how much I could carry. But I was willing to risk it for the chance to win this exam.
Sora gave a slight nod.
"Alright, if you say so."
The team pushed the celestium ore into nice, neat piles. Piles that made it easier to determine their position in the fabric of space.
My stress ball is three hundred pounds. What's twice the weight really going to do?
I took a deep breath, activated gravity well minor, and slowly levitated the rocks about a foot off the ground.
"Ok, I think I got it. But I need you guys to do your best at keeping the path clear. Because the higher I have to raise the celestium, the more cosmic energy I expend, and the strain it puts on my brain."
The group nodded, picked up their smaller portion of celestium, and we sprinted out of the cave.