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missvictoriam · 7 years ago

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The First Task @triwizardtournamentoc

‘I use seaweed face masks regularly.’

It was four o’clock in the morning, and Victoria was sitting on her bed, completely awake. This was the day they had prepared for all this time - this was the day of the first task. She couldn’t go back to sleep, and the only thing she could think of right now was the task and their plan. She knew she should get more rest, but she couldn’t even force herself to close her eyes. Finally, after sitting there for some more time, she decided to be productive and went to have breakfast in the Great Hall.

She felt like she was already underwater. Noise buzzed around her, but it was muffled and frankly, Victoria didn’t bother listening. She was like a robot, eating and talking as usual, but in her mind, she was still focused on their plan and thinking about all the possible cases of which things could go wrong. She knew overthinking this would not help, but she couldn’t help herself. She did not even notice what she ate. She vaguely noticed people wishing her good luck and she dutifully thanked them, but her mind was in a different place.

Soon, it was time to go down to the lake. The three champions had changed into Durmstrang wetsuits, with gloves and fanny packs. Victoria barely registered her surroundings until Headmistress Mercier’s voice rang out.

‘From Durmstrang, Horacy Antonczyk, Aino Koskinen, and Victoria Meyer. We have our three Champions. They will be given 1 hour to retrieve their keys from underwater. We will give them 2 minutes to discuss among themselves,’

‘So, we're all clear on our plan?’ Horuś said as the three of them gathered in a circle.

'I think so,’ Aino replied, and Victoria nodded. ‘Yep. The Neck, the seaweed, the distraction, the transfiguration and guarding,’ she said, closing her eyes briefly as she ran through their plan.

‘Cool, we got this. Aino, if you could hand me your knife,’ he said, turning to Aino. ‘Yeah, here,’ she handed the knife from her belt to him.

‘Good luck, children,’ said Headmistress Lenox, appearing behind them.

‘Thanks, mate. And Thanks, headmistress!’ Horuś said to Aino and the headmistress. Victoria smiled at Headmistress Lenox but stayed silent, trying to concentrate fully on their plan.

Then came Headmistress Mercier’s voice again, ‘Alright, champions. We're about to start. Please line up at the edge of the dock. Once I release sparks and you hear a gunshot, you may dive. Ready?’ We will slay this, she thought to herself. For poor Adrian who needed to drop out early. For everyone at Durmstrang who put so many expectations on them.

After a pause, the headmistress shot out sparks from her want. The Durmstrang champions instantly leapt from their position on land and began treading water.

Victoria watched as Horuś slits a wide cut across his palm and holds the bleeding wound above the wave. He passes the knife to her. She copied his motions, slitting a cut across her palm and hands it to Aino too repeated the actions before putting her knife back into her belt.

‘Niksy, posłuchaj mnie!’ Horuś said, and the Neck's face appears on the surface of the water. Victoria was glad the spirit summoning worked. ‘We've paid the fare, the sacrifice. We demand safe passage through these waters.’

The Neck somehow indicated affirmation with a motion, and Victoria felt a strange sensation on her neck - she guessed that was how it felt sprouting gills. Fins grow where their toes used to be, and a set of transparent eyelids had grown over her eyes. Breathing air was getting more and more difficult with every second that passed when they were above water.

‘Fuck, it's starting to get difficult to breathe above water. I'm going down.’ With that, Horuś ducked underwater. Victoria dove under too, with Aino just behind her.

Underwater was dark and murky. She could hear and see outlines, but details are blurred. After a moment, Horuś’s voice rang out, ‘Can you guys hear me?’ Victoria started nodding before remembering the waters are probably too dark to see clearly. ‘Loud and clear,’ she replied. She was thankful that the Neck also gave them the ability to hear and speak underwater. ‘Yeah,’ Aino’s voice came after that.

She figured they would need to keep diving underwater, go deeper to find the mermaid. ‘Piękny,’ she heard Horuś said. ‘wskaż mnie.’ She recognised the Four-Point spell. His voice came again, saying, ‘Do we want to head north, or go another direction?’

‘I think we just go further underwater, I don't know if the direction matters,’ Victoria replied after some thought. ‘I agree with Victoria,’ Aino said.

‘Gotcha. Let's go,’ came his reply, and they kept on swimming lower. Victoria was on constant guard right now. She was just about to tell her teammates to be careful of the creatures and weeds when she noticed Aino’s figure wasn’t moving beside her anymore.

Swimming back, she saw Aino's leg got caught in some seaweed. The fuzzy figure that was Aino struggled against the seaweed's grip. She grabbed her knife and with great difficulty, she tries to cut away the seaweed.

Horuś points his wand at the seaweed. ‘Relashio!’ The seaweed broke and Aino's leg was freed. The Durmstrang team kept going.‘Let's hope we find the mermaid soon,’ Victoria murmured, more to herself than her friends.

It was difficult to see with the murkiness and the rippling seaweed. Deciding it was worth a try, she said, ‘Lumos!’ Looking at her wand, she hoped it will work and provide some light.

Suddenly, a bright light appears and a creature emerges. Shielding her eyes, it took her a moment to register the creature. Victoria decided it was a she; she was not a pretty sight, with long hair, claws and dirty scales, looking at the three of them with a glint in her eye. She flinched at the sight. ‘Is this the mermaid? I have no idea how one looks like,’ she whispered.

Probably decided to be diplomatic, Horuś said, ‘Hey, it's nice to meet you. Would love to stay and chat, but we're looking to move forward. Would you be kind enough ... to let us pass? we're not looking for trouble. Though if you meet anyone wearing blue uniforms… I'm telling you, the French are trouble.' Victoria frowned for a second, wondering if it was wise to say that.

The mermaid shrieked - it was a high-pitched, terrible sound. It stared at Horus and swims closer, beckoning one claw. ‘You want us to follow you?’ he said. ‘Sorry lady, but my dad told me not to trust strangers.’ Victoria looked to him, hoping he would not anger the mermaid.

The mermaid screamed again and beckoned Horus once more.

Victoria spoke, ‘I think she or it just wants you to go closer.’ She wondered if the mermaid would be helpful, or if she would tear his face to shreds the moment he swam closer.

‘Sorry lady, but I don't swing that way. Aino!’ he said. Just then, the mermaid hissed, "Restore me to my former glory and I will let you pass."

‘Former glory? You want us to make you beautiful or...?’ Victoria asked hesitantly.

Horuś held his wand before him. ‘Considering how I’ve never met you before and therefore have no idea what your former glory looks like, I'm not sure that's possible.’

Aino looks down towards her wand before picking up and pointing it at the mermaid. ‘Rikkaruohot!’ The seaweed began moving towards the creature.

The mermaid screeches again and creates a rip tide. The seaweed trick became useless as everyone got sucked into the water tornado. ‘Not so fast - Arresto Momentum!’ Horuś said, but it didn’t seem to work.

The mermaid screeches again. ‘Restore me to my former glory.’

‘At least tell us what do you mean by former glory!’ Victoria managed to shout in the rip tide.

‘I used to be amazing: beautiful, full of power, youthful. I am now reduced to this withering mess,’ the mermaid said, with her cat-like eyes glinting.

‘Could this be some trick of transfiguration? Reparifarge!’ Horuś said, but the spell bounced off the mermaid.

‘Puny mortal,’ the mermaid sneered. ‘Restore me to my former beauty, you damn fools!’

Desperate, Victoria blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, ‘Look, if you let us pass, I promise you I can go bring you some makeup! You can really use a highlighter and eyeliner.’

The mermaid scowled. ‘Why would I trust you? Your eyeliner is slightly crooked by the way.’ Victoria held back a gasp, offended. ‘Hey, don't blame me, being transformed into a creature with gills and transparent eyelids is not exactly the best condition for makeup!’

‘Maybe we're overthinking this. Revellio!’ Horuś shouted out the spell, but it didn’t work. The mermaid bared her teeth. ‘A good try, not but not good enough.’

‘Aino, do you see any plants around here that could help us?’ Horuś asked. ‘’It wouldn't be unlike the professors to have hidden the solution right before our eyes. I for one remember Adrian telling me about the great uses of seaweed for improving one's countenance…’ he trailed off, and Victoria held back a smile at that.

The mermaid scowled again. ‘I use seaweed face masks regularly,’ she grumbled. Victoria looked at the mermaid, confused at how weird this conversation was getting.

Maybe Aino got impatient; she grabbed her knife, throwing it at the mermaid. It hit the creature in the ribs, and the mermaid ripped out the knife and blood flowed out of the wound. The angry mermaid threw it at an unprepared Aino. It missed her narrowly and she could see blood in the water. Even with all these, Victoria could see that the mermaid’s wound healed quickly. She could hear that Aino swore.

Out of ideas, Victoria said, ‘Come on, what do you have in your pockets? Maybe there's something we can trade.’ ‘I think the blood might attract the others - we have to hurry,’ Horuś said and covered his ears. ‘Sorry, you can't take these. besides, all my earrings are steel, not silver. Cold steel. You'd hate to touch that.’

‘I have seaweed, seaweed, and more seaweed,’ the mermaid hissed. ‘You can trade your own beauty. After all, you do have such lovely faces. Merfolk can see through magic, you know.’ Victoria’s immediate reaction was objecting, but she didn’t get the chance.

‘What is this, Face/Off? how's this!’ Horuś cast a transfiguration spell on the mermaid. It worked for a second, then faded away. ‘Pitiful,’ the mermaid said, and the rip tide stops momentarily.

Suddenly, Victoria felt the waters around her move. Glancing around, she noticed that other mermaids started to appear. ‘Shit they've smelled the blood,’ Horuś muttered under his breath. One of the mermaids said, ‘Isla, what are you doing?’ Another said, ‘Isla, whatchu doin to these fish?’ She guessed Isla was probably the original mermaid’s name. Victoria narrowed her eyes; she was surprised by the modern style of speech they used, but mermaids probably caught on to the world’s trend quickly.

Isla let out a laugh. ‘They fell for it,’ she said. She took a claw and shredded her tail. It shedded and she appeared as a youthful and beautiful mermaid. Victoria’s eyebrows shot up; what kind of trick was this?

‘Girl stop punking them,’ The third mermaid said. ‘Go on, little fishies.’ Isla laughed and said in a musical voice, ‘We're terribly sorry, it was so much fun though.’ She grinned. ‘Umm... alright, glad to provide you entertainment, we'll go now…’ Victoria trailed off, starting to swim away. She wasn't sure if she should be amused or angry.

‘Jezus chrystus, what was that,’ Horuś said. ‘I used Revellio as well!’ ‘Stop talking Horuś, let's go,’ Victoria hissed. She certainly didn’t want the mermaids to change their mind. They had already lost too much time, she only hoped that they would have enough time to get to the Occamy. ‘It wasn't a glamour, Merfolk has their own brand of magic as well,’ Isla explained. ‘Go on then.’ ‘Yeah, yeah,’ The three mermaids said and dragged Isla away. ‘But beware, the Occamy is a female.’ ‘Does it matter if it's male or female?’ Victoria asked, confused.

‘I guess we're just gonna operate under the assumption that female animals are going to defend their young more fiercely than males,’ Horuś said with a shrug. Aino nodded, saying, 'Females are more protective over the eggs than males are.'

‘Though, my father would definitely argue against that. He's sensitive about these things. Anyways let's cut the chit chat and go,’ Horuś said. ‘Okay then,’ Victoria nodded.

The Durmstrang champions moved forward. Victoria shook her head. She couldn’t believe that the mermaid was only there to waste their time, but she guessed it was good that they didn’t need to use any difficult spells or resort to violence.

‘You have 36 minutes left,’ a voice rang out to notify them. She crossed her fingers, hoping they would have enough time.

The water gets colder and darker the farther they venture down. Suddenly, the waters become completely dark. She suspected that a giant octopus inked them. She started saying, 'Oh, seriously? I wonder if - ' She was about to try Lumos, but at that exact moment, she heard Horuś’s voice saying, ‘Aqua Eructo!’ The octopus disappeared and so does the ink. She recognised the spell that shot out a strong jet of water which probably worked to dispel the ink. ‘YES!’ Horuś said. ‘Come on guys, let's go.’ She was glad he had a spell to solve that so quickly.

After a while, they encountered a cave that's protected with jagged rocks. They were sharp and teeth like. It seemed that there was no way to get in without getting hurt. They could hear snarls coming from inside. ‘Do you think we can blast the rocks away?’ Victoria thought out loud, looking at the rocks in different angles.

‘I would object to that,’ Horuś said. ‘If we let the cave grow any larger, we'll make it possible for the Occamy to come out, and when it's out of its cave... god knows how large it's going to grow.’

Victoria started swimming forward - and found that her shirt had snagged onto a sharp rock. ‘This is ridiculous,’ she muttered. She tore the shirt away, leaving pieces of cloth on the rock.

‘Wait, before we go in, let's try this first,’ she heard Horuś said. ‘Dissendium!’ She remembered that it was a spell that revealed secret passageways. The cave's top raised up momentarily before slamming down again. The jagged rocks start opening and closing like teeth when any of them got near.

‘Let's swim up to the top. I'll cast Dissendium again, see if you guys can slip in,’ Horuś suggested. ‘Are you sure this is going to work, Horuś?’ Aino spoke up. ‘It's worth a try,’ he replied. ‘Well does anyone have a better idea? If worst comes to worst, I'll try to prop it open for longer with an Aqua Eructo spell.’ ‘Lets try it then,’ Aino said.

‘Alright, Victoria, you're in first. try to stay out of the vision of the Occamy before the rest of us get in there,’ Horuś said. ‘Got it,’ she replied with a nod. ‘Here,’ he transfigured the red uniform into black. ‘That should be better. Dissendium!’ The cave widened quickly and only Victoria managed to slip inside. Hearing the Occamy in distance snarling, she pressed against the wall to blend in.

‘Aino, your turn. Dissendium!’ She saw the cave widened again and Aino swam inside. The rocks started to shut together. ‘Fuck, alright, it's just me now,’ she could hear him say outside the cave. ‘Dissendium!’ The cave opened quickly and let through Horuś through.

The three of them slowly swim closer to the Occamy. She could hear the Occamy's shrieks. ‘Okay. goddammit,’ Horuś rolled up the sleeve of his wetsuit, exposing at least a dozen moving tattoos swimming across his skin. Victoria had already gotten used to them, now her only concern was if it would work.

‘We ready for the distraction?’ Horuś asked. ‘Yeah,’ Aino replied. ‘Yep, go do your thing,’ Victoria said, nodding. Suddenly, a mermaid she hadn’t seen before appeared behind them and tapped on Horus' shoulder.

‘Lady, what do you want?’ Horuś said to the mermaid. ‘Rude. I can help you with the Occamy.’ ‘I'm allowed to be disgruntled if someone pokes me out of nowhere, okay? Well, what's your proposal?’ She whispered, 'I'm Calliope. Alright, keep your reasons. I can distract it. I'm half Siren.’ Victoria narrowed her eyes. She had no idea if they could trust the mermaid, but they needed all the help they could get.

‘Cool. Well, in that case, let's act according to plan - Victoria, you keep an eye on all the exits. Calliope, you do your thing but I am watching you, if you do anything out of line I can and will stop you and take over. Aino, stay hidden until the time is right. You know what to do.’

As soon as he finished speaking, the Occamy came into view - it's beautiful with glistening scales, but also intimidating with its sharp eyes. Calliope swam near the side of the cave and started singing. The Occamy screeched louder and stared at the half-siren. Victoria swims closer to the exit to guard, keeping an eye on whatever that was happening.

Calliope started singing gently and Occamy's movements got slower. Horuś tailed calliope closely, and slowly, the Occamy started falling asleep. Ther mermaid then continued singing softly.

Calliope turned to Horus, saying while still continuing her singing, ‘If you're going to try to steal them, do it now while it's asleep. I'm only half Siren, I don't have full power.’ Behind the Occamy, Aino started picking up rocks and transfiguring them into replicas of Occamy eggs. Horuś nodded to Calliope and dove towards the Occamy's nest, picking up eggs and putting them into the magic bottomless fanny pack that comes with the Durmstrang diving uniform as Aino put replacements into the nest

After a while of watching, waiting and listening to the mermaid, Victoria could hear Horuś whisper, ‘Alright, that's all of them.’ She felt a pang of relief, and then it all went downhill. At that very moment, Calliope stopped singing and started shrieking. Victoria only had time to think, I couldn’t believe this is happening when she felt something grabbed her and she was yanked from the exit. It took her a second to realise the Occamy had woken up and had her in its grip. ‘Oh god,’ she exclaimed, exasperated, and started struggling to get out of the Occamy’s… claws, or whatever it used to grab her. She should have known the mermaid would betray them.

Calliope took the chance to go to the entrance and sealed it. ‘Well, see, this is why I have trust issues,’ Horuś said, clearly annoyed. The mermaid laughed. ‘You are too easily fooled.’ Victoria swore to herself that she would slap that mermaid senseless when they get out of this situation.

‘Obudzić!’ Horuś said. She could see a whirly tattoo began to pulse under his skin and she winced at the sight. The black substance breaks through his skin. The black figure turned white and formed a large, flat skeleton.

Calliope lifted Horus' chin up with a mischievous grin. ‘I mean, I thought you'd already hate merfolk after what happened with Isla.’ ‘Shut up lady, I'm in the middle of something,’ he snarled at her. The mermaid grinned and immediately starts shrieking, trying to break his focus.

Victoria got impatient and struggled to point her wand at the Occamy’s grip. ‘Diffindo!’ she said. Occamy growled and screeched as loud as it could. ‘No be patient! We can't kill it!’ Horuś shouted at her. ‘I’m just trying to get the claws or whatever thing off me!’ she shouted back.

The manta ray skeleton soared through the water, light reflecting off its white bones. It dove fast and close to the beak of the Occamy. ‘This wasn't intended, you know. I know you probably hate all Merfolk now but I can still help you. For a price,’ Calliope said. Victoria resisted the urge to roll her eyes and scream at the mermaid, well what makes you think we would trust you NOW?

Horuś elbowed the mermaid in the ribs and then proceed to slam the heel of his hand into her chin. Watching the commotion, Victoria got bored and started saying, ‘I'm just going to wait here.’ when the Occamy released her at that moment. ‘Thank god,’ she said and swam as far away from the Occamy as she could.

On the other side, Calliope snarled. ‘You should be thankful I haven't attacked you yet.’ ‘Thanks, Calliope, for taking the top half of this challenge! It would have been more tiring if I had to distract the Occamy the entire time.’ Turning his head to Aino, he said, ‘Aino, open the passage while I still have the Occamy occupied!’

‘You have 18 minutes left,’ the voice came again. Victoria felt herself getting more and more frustrated.

‘What's that spell you used to open the cave, again?’ She racked her brain. She couldn’t believe that her memory failed her now, at this crucial moment. ‘Dissendium!’ he said. ‘Maybe we should do it together to strengthen the spell,’ she suggested.

‘All of us at the same time?’ he asked. ‘We could try,’ Aino said. ‘Well if you're occupied, then just me and Aino,’ she replied. ‘It's fine, I can do this,’ he said, taking his wand out. ‘Necromancy is second nature to me by now.’

Suddenly, the Occamy shrieked and grabbed Aino. ‘Bad snake!’ Horuś said, and the ray cut through the air over its head again to poke the Occamy, but this time the Occamy didn’t release her. ‘Ok, on three?’ Victoria said, gripping her wand. ‘Uhuh,’ Horuś replied, and Aino said, ‘Yeah.’ Victoria assumed that meant Aino could do spells even when she was stuck.

‘One, two, three... Dissendium!’ they cried out - and the mermaid backstabbed them. Again. Literally. She drew a knife and promptly stabbed Horus in the back, digging it in deep.

‘Oh god,’ Victoria exclaimed, not caring about the cave now. ’I could've helped you but now you'll pay a bigger price,’ Calliope snarled, twisting the knife deeper.

‘Oh, if this is the way it's going to be…’ he trailed off, eyes rolling back into his head. ‘Rusalka, I'm calling you now. Jokes on you, I've shed enough blood to make a bigger sacrifice now.’ ‘Good for you. I'll be sure to call all the merfolk on your way up to the surface,’ Calliope said, but she didn’t notice a long-limbed creature with long hair leaping out of nowhere and grabbed the mermaid to stop her from swimming away.

‘Nie sądzę,’ Horuś said. Calliope growled and shrieked as the cave started to rumble and pebbles rained down on them. ‘Protego!’ Victoria yelled immediately, throwing up a shield to protect herself and others from getting pelted by rocks.

Horuś turns towards the rusalka and said, ‘захватите её. я достаточно заплатил.’ The Rusalka nodded at him. 'Aino, Victoria, on a count of three!’ ‘On the count of three do what?’ Victoria shouted. Aino was still in the Occamy’s grip. ‘Dammit is Aino still stuck?’ Horuś asked. ‘Yeah, and I'm still holding up the shield, but not for long!’ she replied.

‘Come on…’ Horuś ripped open his uniform, and the cloth fell apart to reveal a large ouroboros coiled around his collar. 'Please, you're my only hope. We've watched star wars together. you're my best friend. Do this please.’ Victoria had no idea what he was talking about, but for all their sake, she hoped it would work. As the cave started rumbling violently, it snaked off his neck and turns into a giant skeleton of a Runespoor. The Runespoor begins pecking at the Occamy, and Horuś said, ‘Guys, I can't hear anymore. If we're going to use Diffindo on the count of three, signal at me instead.’ Victoria bit her lip to stop the sound of distress; he did warn them about the consequences of summoning souls.

In a swift moment, the Occamy ate the Runespoor, but the Runespoor immediately forces its way back out of the Occamy. On the other side of the cave, Calliope struggled and broke free. ‘Are you stupid?’ she yelled. Horuś instantly shouted, ‘Incarcerous!’ The mermaid was bound in ropes and the Rusalka went back for her. ‘You're absolutely mad!’ the mermaid shouted, struggling against the ropes. ‘That’ll never work!’ Victoria was too worried about their lives to care about the whining mermaid.

Meanwhile, the Runespoor started pulling at the Occamy's tail, trying to free Aino. The ray still hovered over the Occamy’s head. Calliope started singing again, and Victoria instantly covered her ears. For all she knew, the half-siren might be trying to put her to sleep.

‘I can't hear what's going on! Should I be glad?’ Horuś said, and Victoria honestly had no idea what was going on either. The cave started trembling more violently, and Calliope continued singing. She wished there was some magical tape she could use to shut her up.

‘The way you're doing it, you'll kill all of us,’ Calliope said, staring at Horuś. Oh, like you’re not trying to kill us? Victoria thought to herself.

‘Let me go and I can assure you at least 2 people will stay alive,’ Calliope continued. Yeah, you and the Occamy, obviously! Victoria screamed internally.

She watched as the Occamy made sure the eggs were okay, and almost laughed at it. The Occamy didn’t have a clue that the eggs were replicas.

‘You have 12 minutes left.’ Victoria was ready to smack whoever that was announcing the time.

‘Fine. I can be diplomatic. идите,’ Horuś said, and the Rusalka dissolves into water. ‘You can't see or hear, how the hell are you going to be diplomatic,’ Victoria started saying before remembering that he couldn’t hear her.

Again, Calliope took a deep breath and used all her ability to sing. The Occamy went into a lull. ‘Aino, Victoria, go,’ Horuś said. ‘Sirens apparently are Legilimens, and I'm a terrible Occlumens.’

‘Whatever! Aino, let's blast this thing off,’ Victoria said, but Calliope whistled and the cave entrance opened. She assumed there were mermaids outside helping her. ‘Go!’ Ther mermaid shouted. The Occamy released Aino, and Victoria swam outside. ‘Are you coming?’ she said to Aino and Horuś, despite knowing he couldn’t hear. He could probably read her lips or something. ‘Yeah,’ Aino said and followed her out of the cave.

‘Grab the eggs, and go! Hurry!’ Calliope said and continued singing. Horuś beckoned at the Runespoor, which swam back, curling around his neck as if it was a huge scarf, and pushes itself under his skin. Horuś undid the fanny pack and tossed it through the mouth of the cave. The cave mouth started to close, and Victoria caught the pack.

Horuś let out a whistle, and the ray came back. He grabs its tail and it managed to drag him through the closing cave mouth.

‘You have 8 minutes left.’

Victoria looked at Horuś - he was badly scratched but he seemed to be holding up well. She guessed the wound on his back probably healed by being a sacrifice for summoning souls. ‘Guys, hold onto this thing!’ ‘Yeah okay I'm never letting go,’ Victoria held onto the fanny pack and grabbed one of the ray’s fin-bones. Aino swam over and too held onto the ray.

‘Go before it comes after you!’ Calliope snarled. Ther mermaid seemed to be snarling a lot lately, Victoria thought mildly. The ray shoots upwards through the water and she gripped the pack and the ray tightly.

‘You have 4 minutes left.’

‘Come on, baby,’ Horuś muttered, and Victoria shouted at the ray, ‘GO GO GO!’ She could see the water beginning to lighten, and the pressure started feeling lighter. ‘That's it!’ Horuś said, but Calliope had to chime in, ‘You won't make it in time unless you get a boost.’

‘You have 2 minutes left.’

The spell that sent spurts of water came to Victoria’s mind at the same moment Horuś pointed his wand downwards. ‘Aqua Eructo!’ he shouted. The water shots them upwards momentarily but they were too weak for it to have much effect. Victoria wished she had a third hand to do spells.

Aino and Horuś shouted at the same time, ‘Aqua Eructo!’ The ray shot forward for a little bit but slowed down again. They still had a little bit more distance to go until they reach the surface. Calliope swam upwards quickly and grabbed them. ‘You are an idiot,’ she said and created a rip tide that brought them upwards.

‘Godammit, Aino! Use Bombarda Maxima, use it now!’ Horuś said forcefully.

‘You have 30 seconds.’

Calliope said, ‘On three! One, two, three!’ ‘Bombarda Maxima!’ Aino shouted. Victoria felt her pulse quicken -

BOOM! They broke the surface and landed on the deck. Victoria thought that it must have been a strange sight: a ray, three soaked champions with several cuts and injuries, a mermaid, a fanny pack, and lots of seaweed.

‘You have made it with 4 seconds to spare.’ Victoria was honestly too tired to be relieved right now. She felt the air tightening around her; she almost forgot they still had gills.

Horuś said, ‘Spiritus!’ A stream of clear alcohol shot from his wand into the water. The Neck came up, accepted the gift, and undid the enchantments for the three of them. Victoria instantly dropped the pack to the ground and shattered the eggs. ‘And here, are the keys we went through all that to get,’ she said, a little out of breath. She could hear Headmistress Lenox in the background yelling, ‘Suck it Atlas!’ She held back a smile at that. Beside her, Horuś shook his head. ‘Great, my hearing is finally coming back in.’

Victoria inspected the keys. Each of them looks different. One is steel grey with jagged spikes at the end. One is tinged slightly pink, forged out of glass. The last one is made of marble, engraved with gold. ‘Ooh they look so pretty,’ Victoria said, forgetting her tiredness for a second.

‘Well, ladies first. You have the first pick,’ Horuś said. Looking to the different boxes, she could see that Horuś had one made of ice that never melts. Her own was made of stained glass that can reassemble itself to form pictures, and Aino's box was made of jade and decorated with silver engravings.

Victoria took a wild guess and picked the pink glass key. Horuś sighed and took the steel grey spiked key, saying, ‘Why do I always get the sharp end of the stick…’ but smirked afterwards. Trying on their boxes, neither of the keys work.

‘You've got to be fucking kidding me,’ Horuś laughed and said at the same time Victoria said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ He threw the key at Victoria and she gave him hers. Trying on the steel grey key with spikes, it worked, but she decided to look when everyone opened their box. ‘I was hoping for something... less spiky, but I guess this one is okay,’ she muttered to herself.

Horuś tried the glass one, but it took him a while since he was shaking so much from laughter and pain. Victoria watched him, impatient. Aino picked up the marble key and tried to open her box. Their keys didn’t work.

‘Heads up,’ Horuś said, wanting to toss the key to Aino but then thinks better of it. ‘Okay maybe I should just hand you this one,’ he said, carefully putting the glass key in front of Aino. Aino took the key and gave him the one she just used. Horuś used the marble key. Both of their keys worked this time and their boxes opened. She guessed that the keys were supposed to symbolize each different champion; why they all got a key that was not themselves, she had no idea. To promote team unity, perhaps.

Horuś brushed his dripping bangs out of his face. ‘Well shit, what's in here?’ They all looked inside. In the boxes, Victoria found a scroll bound by a ribbon that listed some ingredients. She raised her eyebrows. 'Potion making?' she said, making a guess. She was a little unsure of her abilities in this field. 'Darn.' ‘Hey Aino, resident herbologist, do you recognise any of these plants?’ Horuś said, looking to Aino.

Aino wiped some blood off her face and stared at the scroll. ‘Yeah, I’ve heard of some but never actually seen or used them.’ Squeezing water out of her hair, Victoria said, ‘Well I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go take a shower and sleep.’ Frankly, she didn’t want to deal with the ingredients so soon. She would go into research mode later, but now she just wanted to rest. It seemed like Horuś thought the same as he said, ‘Well, I'd suggest hitting the books but now I'm feeling wiped. I could use a good nap right now.’

Suddenly, Calliope spoke up, annoyed, ‘Glad to see you guys are finished, but would you mind giving me a push back in?’ Victoria turned to the mermaid; she had nearly forgotten about her. Pushing her back in, she said, putting in as much sarcasm in her words as she could in her exhausted state, ‘Thanks for all your help.’ She knew that the mermaid did help, but Victoria was too mad at her to be grateful right now.

Horuś picked up an Occamy eggshell and tossed it at Calliope and said, ‘Something to remember us by.’ The mermaid slicked back her hair and popped above the waves. ‘Hey, don't blame me! I was told to do this by the Headmasters.’ Grabbing the shell, she said with a smile, ‘Thanks. I'll catch you guys around!’

Headmistress Lenox said, ‘Congratulations children! Who was that?’ ‘Calliope, though I thought you knew her. She told us that you guys put her up to this,’ Horuś replied quickly.

‘Me? Psh, it was all Atlas,’ she said. Rolling her eyes, Victoria couldn’t hold back a comment, ‘Yeah yeah everything is Atlas's fault, of course.’ She was joking, of course. Well, half-joking. ‘God is that why they hate me? Because I told them to watch out for the Beauxbatons kids?’ Horuś said, and Victoria couldn’t help but actually consider that possibility. You never know how those creatures' brains work.

‘Great job guys,’ Niara said with a smug smile. ‘Let's see if anyone can beat that.’

‘Ugh, no one better beat us. I nearly died for this shit,’ Horuś said, and Victoria nodded. ‘I don't know what I will do if someone beat us,’ she said, and she hoped she would never have to find out what she would do, because the results would not be pretty. ‘I will retreat to the depths of my father's mansion and never emerge again. my eagle will bring me food and there I will spend the rest of my miserable days,’ Horuś responded. She was just about to say that not everyone had a father who owned a mansion for hiding, but she decided against talking since it drained her already diminished energy. Niara said, ‘Doubt it, you guys did amazing. As for the scroll,’ she looked at it. ‘You should probably get some rest. I'll start researching.’

‘Thanks, Niara, you're a real friend,’ Horuś replied. ‘Thanks, Niara,’ Victoria said, and Aino added, ‘Kiitos Niara.’ Niara gave them a small smile. ‘Yeah, of course. let's get you guys back to the ships.’

And after that, it was all a flurry. The three of them were ushered here and there, between the hospital wing, the ship and the dormitories. Time went by slowly when you’re stuck in a hospital bed, but Victoria could feel her energy slowly coming back, and her brain started functioning again. She knew the second task wouldn’t be far away - and she would be ready for it.

#whew #first task #wtf is that graphic

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