Jasmine, soaked with sweat and legs trembling, awaiting their group's fate.
"The spiders has been eliminated"
She felt shocked, why weren't they eliminated?. She stole a glance at the witch who didn't seem the bit concerned, which baffled her.
15 minutes was over and they left the dining hall. Jasmine felt compelled to apologize to the witch so she waited for a moment when they were alone.
"I-I'm sorry" she apologized, her voice sincere.
The witch looked at her with a neutral expression, neither anger nor concern visible on her face. She didn't feel any hate, why was that? She was conflicted as to why this girl, jasmine, didn't bring a sense of danger to her. No matter how much she tried hating her, it didn't just seem to work.
"For?" she asked, In a low yet scary tone.
"Touching you" jasmine replied.
"Oh, that! Don't worry about it, it's no big deal…Getting into the academy is my top priority and I won't risk it for the world." She paused. "I'm Beatrix by the way, Stage 2 witch"
Jasmine's eyes widened slightly at the introduction. "I'm jasmine, princess of vee kingdom", she replied, still trying to process Beatrix calm demeanour despite the earlier incident.
After the introduction, they chatted for a while, exchanging small talks and getting to know each other. It was indeed rare to see a witch and a human having a pleasant conservation, but Beatrix calm nature and jasmine's curiosity made their interaction surprisingly smooth.
As they wrapped up their conversation, Beatrix nodded politely and excused herself, "I should probably get going." Jasmine smiled and bid her farewell, feeling a sense of relief that the exam for the day was finally over. With lighter step, she headed out of the examination area and looked forward to returning to her dorm.
When she got back, she found her roommates standing curiously at the door. Upon her arrival, the three jumped and cheered.
"Jasmine! You made it!!" Lydia cheered, excitement written all over her face. "You should have your bath then we can talk." They all nodded in agreement and handed her some clothes. Seeing them all pout, she scoffed taking the clothes from Lydia and made her way to the bathroom.
As soon as jasmine was out of sight, ruby spoke, "What's the plan?
"I don't know, it's impossible to kill her here" Lydia replied.
"How about we kill her in her sleep, how does that sound?" Amanda smirked.
The three of them had been putting on a facade of friendship with jasmine, but in reality, they were secretly plotting against her. Upon hearing that jasmine would be attending the academy, they quickly applied for the school as it was their only chance to eliminate her before the four kingdom war.
The four kingdom war is a war between the four major kingdoms in the human realm, it occurs to determine the kingdom with the most power and strength. The vee kingdom won every year, all thanks to jasmine as she is the strongest woman who participated in war. Without jasmine, the vee kingdom is as good as nothing. Rumours also have it that, the vee kingdom wasn't recognized before jasmine was born.
Though, the three knew they were also enemies, who would eventually clash, they understood that their immediate priority was to eliminate jasmine, the backbone of the vee kingdom for their husbands and fathers.
Lydia thought hardly of a way to kill jasmine, they couldn't do it in her sleep and it's not safe here. Just as she was about to give up, an idea popped into her head. "A way to kill jasmine…hmm…Amanda, did you perhaps bring scorpion's venom poison?" Lydia asked.
Amanda nodded, bringing it out of her clothes. "I always carry it with me"
"Good! Let's put this in her tea, she won't be able to escape from that. And if they ask, we'll just say she hit her head somewhere or took her own life" Lydia smirked.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. I don't know how bad the poison works and also…I'm not sure we should kill her, she would be in the academy when the war starts" Amanda suggested.
"No, she might be eliminated." Ruby paused for a while before bringing out three things shaped like a clam. "I found this somewhere in my kingdom. It can help us communicate In case one of us is eliminated"
Each of them took one, tested it and then hid it in their clothing after confirming it worked. With their task complete, they shared a laugh and retired for the night.
~~~
Jasmine got back, surprised to see her roommates asleep. They all promised to have a chat with her…or were they just too tired?
Arranging her materials, she left the dorm to get some fresh air. As she walked, the harsh landscape stretched out around her- sand hills and jagged rocks that seemed to crush all sense of beauty. But above, the moon shone brightly, its gentle light a comforting presence in the darkness. The stars twinkled across the sky, and for a moment, they made her feel less alone in this desolate place.
The peaceful night made her think about her life. Was she really making the right decision? Even if she wanted to deny it, she didn't really care about her father and her step mom, it was just an excuse to find her mom.
"Mute!" Someone called, disturbing her train of thoughts which made her turn back.
She noticed someone running towards her in the shadows, so she squinted her eyes to get a better look. As the figure grew closer, she was taken aback, "Ethan?"
"Oh! You finally notice me, after being all snobby in the circle, yesterday" he said. Yh, she remembered that! She was shocked that he passed the first exam with that arrogance.
"What are you doing here?" She asked
"Of course, I'm human!"
"That doesn't answer my question" she smirked turning back and continuing her walk.
Ethan hurried to match her pace. They walked a few distance before jasmine turned to him with a confused look on her face.
"Why are you following me?" she asked, almost shouting.
"What's your name?" He replied innocently.
Does this guy have a habit of leaving people's questions unanswered? She thought to herself.
"I'm jasmine, nice…'
Before jasmine could finish her statement, a red light shone on them, casting an eerie glow. What's going on?