The sharp beep-beep-beep of alarms echoed through Room No. 8 as the clock struck 6:00 AM. Almost at once, Ruhi, Kian, and Aarav stirred awake.
Ruhi groaned softly, rubbing her eyes before sitting up. Aarav ran a hand through his messy hair, mumbling something about wishing for five more minutes. Kian, however, was already out of bedcalm and disciplined, as always. He quietly folded his blanket, his expression unreadable, and headed straight to the bathroom to get ready.
Ruhi soon followed, while Aarav dragged himself up reluctantly.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the room, Ekaksh lay sprawled across his bed, his hair sticking in every direction. Aarav shook his shoulder."Hey, Ekaksh, wake up. It's six ."
Ekaksh groaned and pulled the blanket over his head."Mmm… 10 more minutes."
Ruhi laughed softly, shaking her head. "You'll regret it if you're late for the first mission day."
By 6:30, Ekaksh finally rolled out of bed, still half-asleep. The others were already dressed neatly in their Topaz house uniforms , each marked with the Topaz logo stitched on the uniform where the heart is situated.
By the time 6:50 AM arrived, all four were ready. They left their room together, the morning air fresh and slightly cool, the sun barely peeking over the horizon.
They reached the Topaz Headquarters Mission Room, where a large notice board stood at the center, covered with mission lists and rankings. Other squads were gathering too, their chatter filling the hallways.
The four of them found a bench just outside the room and sat down, waiting for the meeting to begin. According to the schedule, they had to report at exactly 7:00 AM and none of them wanted to risk being late on their very first day.
The four of them stood outside the Topaz Mission Room, watching other warriors hurry past, some in uniform, others in casual gear with badges pinned proudly on their coats. The soft murmur of footsteps and chatter filled the air as the clock ticked closer to seven.
Just then, a tall man, probably in his early thirties, with slightly messy brown hair and a lazy grin, walked up to them. He had the confident air of someone who'd seen it all.
He stopped in front of them and said with a friendly smirk,"You must be the new batch, huh? I've been in the Topaz House for, what, fifteen years now? Maybe more. I've actually lost count."
Ekaksh's eyes widened. "Fifteen years? You didn't get bored?"
The man chuckled. "Oh, plenty of times. But boredom's a part of life here, kid. Anyway since you're new, let me give you a few inside tips."
The group straightened up a little, listening closely.
"Tip number one," he said, pointing at Kian's perfectly pressed uniform, "You don't need to wear that boring outfit all the time. Just keep your Topaz Warrior Pass on you, and if you really want people to know where you're from, just wear the Topaz badge. That's enough."
Ekaksh grinned. "Finally, someone understands me."
The man laughed. "Yeah, I can see you're not the 'discipline' type."
Then he continued, "Tip number two do you want to know about missions?"
Ekaksh nodded eagerly. "Yeah! I had a doubt yesterday. How do we even get assigned missions?"
The man leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Simple. The Prince keeps a record of all the missions and divides them equally among the six houses. The captains then assign those missions to warriors depending on their rank and skill. You're all pawns for now, right?"
They all nodded.
"Then here's how it works," he said, his tone turning a bit serious. "As pawns, you'll either have a morning or night shift helping the people of the realm small jobs, errands, defense patrols, you know, basic stuff. For every helping session you complete, you earn five points. If you have a skill or magic that could come in handy, the captain might assign you a special small mission. The riskier it is, the higher the reward."
He pointed toward a big mission list posted near the notice board."And if you really want to earn extra points, you can pick up a mission from that board. But remember missions can turn deadly. The difficulty level isn't always accurate. So think before you jump in."
Aarav crossed his arms. "So, if we have a morning helping session, we can take missions in the evening?"
"Exactly," the man said, nodding. "If you have a morning shift, your evening is for training, resting, or doing special missions. And if you have evening shift, the morning's your free time. Pretty flexible. Oh, and one more thing -"
He raised a finger, smiling,"In one month, you've got to do at least 12 helping sessions. No excuses. Or your points freeze for the month."
Ekaksh whistled softly. "Got it. Twelve. Noted."
The man continues to enroll for a special mission you must give your names minimum one day before you go for the special mission.
The man chuckled again and straightened up. "That's all for now. Oh, and before I forget" he added with a grin, "the food here is really good. Don't skip meals."
Ruhi smiled faintly. "Thank you, sir."
"Sir?" He looked mock-offended. "Nah, don't call me that. I'm Kiran. Just Kiran."
And with that, Kiran gave them a lazy salute and walked off down the corridor, whistling a tune as the group exchanged amused looks.
All four of them :- Aarav, Ruhi, Ekash, and Kian were walking toward the mission room when another group approached from the opposite side.
"Hey, look who we have here!" A cheerful voice called out. Ruhi instantly smiled.
"Anya!" she exclaimed, running forward to hug her best friend.
Anya laughed, "How are you ru?"
Behind her stood Karan, Vedant, and Jiya the rest of her squad.
Karan grinned at Aarav. "I hope we have more missions together?"
Aarav chuckled, bumping his fist with Karan's. "Wouldn't trade it for anything."
Jiya crossed her arms, her expression calm but clearly proud. "Well, as long as your squad doesn't slow ours down."
Ekash tried to ease the tension with a laugh. "We'll see who earns more mission points first."
Meanwhile, Vedant had his attention fixed on Ruhi. "Hey, Ruhi. You look… different today. The badge suits you."
Ruhi smiled politely, "Thanks, Vedant , making ekaksh envy."
"Anyway," Anya said brightly, "let's see when our first mission is.
Ruhi Agreed
Karan shrugged dramatically, "If we all stay here we wont know."
The two squads shared a small laugh, the tension melting away for a moment. The doors of the mission room slid open and the glowing board inside lit up with dozens of missions waiting to be claim.
All eight of them entered the mission room together. The place was vast, with glowing walls and floating glass panels that shimmered with golden runes.
Near the entrance, a bright sign read "Pawn Section", and below it stood three crystal boards.
Board No. 1 displayed the schedule with names glowing in neat rows under Morning and Night shifts for a week.
Anya's eyes widened. "Morning shift?!" she groaned. "That means no sleep-ins for a week!"
Ruhi sighed as she read their names under Night shift. "Guess we're not together again."
Ekaksh muttered, "Perfect. Morning for you, sleepless nights for us."
Board No. 2 listed the regular missions appointed by the captain mostly basic tasks for pawns: patrolling training zones, assisting higher ranks, cleaning the topaz house gate, or castle gate, or auditorium, or chasing and catching the invisible cats or dogs etc with value points beside them most of them didnt even touch 15.
Board No. 3 caught Ekaksh's attention instantly. It displayed the special missions, glowing brighter, each with approx. point values beside them 25, 50, even 100 points depending on estimated difficulty . under the board it was written
If the mission turns out riskier than estimated, more points will be allotted. If less, points will be reduced accordingly.
"Those look tempting," he said, eyes glinting.
Karan grinned, "Yeah, but also kinda deadly."
Aarav folded his arms. "Let's first plan our shift timetable for the week."
Both squads nodded in agreement, deciding to meet later .
both the squads sat around tables Infront of the boards planning they own schedule for the week ahead.
After studying the boards for a while, the group started planning their week.
Ruhi spoke first, her voice calm but firm. "I think for the first week, we should at least complete three helping night sessions. It'll get us points and help us get used to our duties."
Kian nodded. "Agreed, but remember ,for special missions, we need to inform a day in advance. So no special missions today."
"Alright," Aarav said, folding his arms thoughtfully. "Monday is night shift then, five points for helping the people."
"Tuesday," Aarav continued, "let's take one of the captain-given missions from Board 2. We should pick the highest-point mission available for pawns."
Kian glanced at the board. "That would be cleaning the auditorium. Twelve points. Not too hard."
"Wednesday, we go back to night shift for helping," Ruhi suggested. "Five points again, easy."
"Thursday and Friday, we can take a special mission," Ekaksh said, excitement flashing in his eyes. "There's a case about disappearing villagers. Estimated value: 53 points. It sounds interesting… Actually, wait- shouldn't we take the highest point task?"
Aarav shook his head. "No, that could be risky. We don't know what might happen. It's better to start with a medium-level task."
Ekaksh raised an eyebrow. "Like the disappearing villagers case?"
Aarav nodded. "Exactly. Sounds challenging. We'll need to prepare properly. So Thursday and Friday, we'll complete the disappearing villagers mission. It's a two-day mission. Who agrees?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Saturday, let's finish the week with another night shift," Ruhi concluded. "Five points to round it off."
With the plan set, the group looked satisfied. Their week was balanced helping sessions for completing the goal of 12 helping missions per month, captain-given missions to create a balance, and a special mission to earn points They could already feel the excitement of their first week of duties.