A piranha sank its teeth on Felix’s butt. He lost his air and howled bubbles of pain. From below, more tiny mouths bit through his clothes. Felix kicked and slapped at the fishes, trying to keep them from his face and neck, while struggling to focus on manifesting his relic. Seconds felt like minutes. When Intent Bank and Out of Mind manifested, Felix launched towards the surface, propelled by the buoyant movements, he broke through, grabbed the nearest tree, and climbed on a low branch. Several piranhas peeled off of him, dropping back into the watery chaos of beasts and flailing interviewees.

“Bii! Are you okay?” Felix opened the backpack to find Bii pinging frantically. “Crap. Sorry Bii, this is my bad. Can you hide a while longer? I’ll make it up to you, promise.”

Bii pinged in protest. Suppressing his guilt, Felix shoved Bii in the backpack. He had to. All the creatures had Rodmar’s pale-gray eyes. This entire mini-jungle watched him, and he wasn’t about to get accused of cheating for using a denizen.

“Heeelp! I give up! Help!” A boy’s cries were cut, when snakes dragged him underwater.

A good third of the crowd was gone, claimed by creatures of the jungle. Probably evacuated to safety. The others, like Felix, were drenched in brown muck and clinging to the trees with hooked talons, tails, animated clothes, and various other relics. Most of the others had resurfaced. Pink light did outline the silhouette of one girl with a long barbed tail and horns wrestling with the catfish-snake underwater.

Byss bless her guts. Although, the jungle likely wasn’t much safer than the water.

Canopy rustled. A cacophony of gibbering, chirps, and hisses heralded the emergence of monkeys, exotic birds, crawling insects, lizards, and snakes, all of them unnaturally vibrant and twisted in appearance. All of them hostile.

A branch smacked Felix’s in the face.

“OW!”

Followed by another, which he ducked.

“Hey!”

Two fire-furred monkeys gibbered above him and launched projectiles at Felix. Nine of their friends were about to join the fray. Felix took the hint and bolted, releasing one of his stored intents to ‘go fast’.

While testing his relics, Felix had discovered Intent Bank could store more complex intent than those of a movement. Downside of storing more generalized intent was that they were less potent, but the upside—the huge upside—was that they could be released through all limbs at once.

Intent coursed through Felix’s arms and legs, propelling his dream-like motions to a speed that might’ve made the monkeys jealous, if Felix had known how to traverse a jungle. Slick bark, sloped footholds, face full of vines and branches, and a constant danger dropping into monster infested waters.

Fire monkeys chased him, though not as fast as they could have. Either way, Felix released another burst of ‘go fast’ and kept an eye out for anything pink. He had only eight charges in each braided leg, so spamming them wasn’t usually smart. However, to Felix, a veteran failure of delving interviews, Rodmar’s game was pretty obvious.

He had yanked the floor from them to startle them, then thrown them into a deadly environment to gauge their honest reactions. Well, an illusion of a deadly environment. The jungle was holding back. If the night torch had wanted to, his relics could’ve captured them all before they plunged underwater, or anytime afterwards. Instead, the jungle kept poking at them, keeping them off balance, while measuring their response.

Be swift. That was the name of Rodmar’s game. Take the risk, or fail.

A loud dull thud exploded across the jungle to Felix’s left. Colors drained in an area in front of a boy with an odd bulky lens protruding from his face. Black-and-white creatures crawled in slow motion, helpless to stop the boy from picking up a colorless beetle from a nest of frozen wasps.

Behind Felix, trees snapped. An enormous black panther and a younger girl surrounded by layers of wildly moving purple sheets wrestled a path of destruction through the jungle. Pink glow of a beetle peeked through the panther’s jaws.

For a repeat interviewee, Felix didn’t feel swift.

“Congratulations, Julia Roos for being the first to pass. Rest of you, be warned. Only fourteen beetles remain.”

Someone already passed? Aaahh crapcrapcrap!

Felix’s gaze flicked through the overgrown trees, frantically searching for—

“There!”

Bright pink glow slipped behind a mossy trunk. Felix released another charge of ‘go fast’ to chase it, and slammed into two bodies running through the jungle.

“Oof!” Felix stumbled backwards, grabbing a vine to save himself from the water. He prepared to fight, but stopped upon, realizing the two were interviewees.

One was an angry red-headed girl in black-and-silver delving attire. The other a short boy with his face half-hidden behind bushy blonde curls. Hook-ended cables stretched into the canopy from where his fingers should be. The trio looked at each other. Then at the pink beetle scurrying away.

Bark cracked. The race was on.

Felix clawed through the labyrinthine canopy, releasing ‘go fast’ after ‘go fast’, burning through his charges, afraid to check if he was keeping up. Foliage rustled above him. A black-silver shadow darted from branch to branch in zig-zagging bursts. A frustrated cry from behind, and frantic pinging from Bii Felix were the only warning either of them got.

Hooks dug into Felic’s backpack and clothes. One bit through and punctured his thigh. A rope leashed his neck and peeled him off the tree. Idiot, Felix thought while choking. He and the girl were slammed against the roots and dropped into the water.

“That one’s mine!” shouted the kid, swinging past them.

Felix coughed, resting on roots to catch his breath. He gave the kid a pitying grin, and shouted after him, “Thanks for resigning.”

The boy looked confused for exactly half a second, then screamed. A swarm of wasps and insects engulfed him, snakes and huge centipedes strangled him, and the resulting mess of horror and squirming dropped down, only to be swallowed whole by a gigantic crocodile.

“What a fool,” said the girl.

“Yup,” agreed Felix as he climbed up. “Wonder how he figured any sane organization, let alone the Knights, would allow backstabbers and psychopaths to join?”

Twelve meters ahead, the pink beetle crawled up a tree. Felix bounced onto the branch, and dashed across the roots. A shadow chased his tail, catching up, if not surpassing him.

Felix burned charges of speed, his focus locked on the pink glowing ball blinking between leaves. Foliage slapped his face. Something went in his eye. Slick moss and plants slipped under his fingers. His footing failed. He scraped a knee. Heartbeat, labored breaths, and the footsteps of his adversary filled his ears. Eight charges left. Felix kept on burning through them, forgetting everything else besides that dastardly beetle that always found a new hidey hole.

He made a swipe to catch it, and missed.

The girl landed on a branch above him, lunged for the beetle, and missed.

Buzzing wings carried the pink bug straight into an enormous snake coiled in the canopy. Pale gray eyes of the snake locked on Felix, and its maw hissed to display four arm-long teeth.

“Ah crap.” The girl hesitated.

Felix, however, was ready this time. He released another charge of ‘go fast’ and leapt towards the snake, howling a not so manly warcry, as his instincts told him he was dead. It’s just a test, it’s just a test, it’s just a test…

Shadow of a long tail whipped past Felix’s vision. He released a charge of ‘defend myself’ intent from his left arm, and somehow managed to catch the blow with his knee and elbow. Before the snake could react, Felix grabbed on and drained its intent. A stream of primal thoughts of strangling, biting, and devouring flicked through his mind like a strike of lightning, followed by the briefest flash of pale gray eyes and painfully strong and complex intent of something not entirely human.

“Bibii!”

Felix caught the snake’s tail as he was about to fall, released another ‘go fast’ and grabbed the beetle. It buzzed violently in his hand, until he drained the intent. Its desire was simply to flee, though again backed by Rodmar’s headache-inducing presence.

Gleeful, Felix glanced at the girl, displaying his catch. “I’ll be off. Good luck!”

“Watch out for the snake,” she said, disappearing into the jungle.

A furiously hissing head reared back up, slit irises narrowing on Felix. He released the beetle’s intent, and a few charges of his own to run to the edge of the jungle. Where, thankfully, the beasts let up their chase and allowed him to climb up a rusty ladder.

Bruised, drenched in swampy water and sweat, Felix collapsed on his back and stared at the gray clouds, while heaving to catch his breath. A familiar knight with brown hair came to pick up his beetle, giving him a faint smile.

“Good job,” Saga said.

Felix smiled back, drawing a few breaths before replying, “Thanks.”

Saga scurried away to a bald barrel-chested knight with papers before him. Another familiar face, though one Felix avoided from meeting eyes with.

“Bibibii…”

“Oh no…” Felix sat up and helped a frazzled Bii out of the backpack. “Bii, I’m sorry about all that. You okay?”

Bii’s head lolled from side to side. It’s feelers drooped. “Bii…”

“I’ll get you a handful of chips, when we get home. Just… hang on, okay?”

Bii pinged, hopefully in agreement.

“Congrats!” Linda hugged them both, and shrunk back the next instant. “Yuck. Is that poop water?”

“Jungle water,” Felix stood.

Hannes patted his shoulder. “Well done. Keep that up, and I’m certain you will walk home with a torch tonight.”

“You think so?” A flash of cheer beamed through Felix, lifting a grin to his face.

“It’s not a matter of what I think. You were the third to climb up.”

“Third?” Felix looked around, and indeed. Only two muck-painted figures stood among the crowd of knights and spectators. “Third…”

It felt surreal.

“Yes. Very well done, Felix.” Mom reached out to hug, but decided against it after almost touching his brown-drenched clothes. She gave him an uneasy smile. “Good luck on the rest of the interview. When you come home. Give me a sign of how it went, and I’ll know to prepare accordingly.”

“Prepare?” Felix furrowed his brows, until it hit him. She had prepared for his potential torch party on top of Reclamation Day dinner. A surprise party to celebrate him becoming a delver.

Byss bless her. Felix would’ve given her a hug, if she had not been so squeamish about the jungle water. Instead, he gave her a grin, and pretended he didn’t know what was up.

“Sure,” he said, “thumbs up for yay torch, thumbs down for nay.”

“Good. Good.” Mom glanced towards the exit. “Now, we oughta hurry, if we want to have everything set up before your grandparents get home.”

“You can do it.” Linda patted Felix’s shoulders from afar. “Go go brother! Kick ass.”

Felix chuckled, flexing his muscles. “Rraaaaah! Linda power is filling me up! I can feel it. Victory is inevitable!”

Linda giggled.

“Second round is no doubt combat,” Hannes mused. “Likely combined with an endurance test. If they give you a choice between incapacitating an opponent and surviving for longer, I recommend you focus on survival. Fresh copper torches aren’t expected to bring combat power to a team. It’s far more important that they’re able to take care of themselves and not die in the Abyss.”

“Thanks.” Felix bobbed his head in understanding. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well. Best of luck.” Hannes gave him a last shoulderpat, and moved to follow Mom out of the fortress.

Linda walked backwards, waving at him until they reached the stairs. “Bye byeeee! See you soon.”

“See you soon,” said Felix.

And he felt alone.

Those who made it climbed out of the jungle to be cheered on by family and friends. Failed interviewees were brought up by jungle creatures, and led out. Some bawled. Others tried to hold it in. Others still stared ahead with blank looks of acceptance.

Felix knew exactly how each of them felt. He clenched a fist. This time, that’s not gonna be me.

He found a bench to sit on and had a snack. A cup of coffee and mombar later, the last interviewee climbed out of the pit, and a sudden wind nearly knocked Felix off his chair.

Birds, bugs, animals, trees, plants, and even water, whirled as if it was being whipped into a tornado of colors, which slurped up the entire jungle, leaving behind a courtyard of packed dirt. The torrent surged to Rodmar, and materialized into various medallions around his uniform.

His voice boomed the parrot, “Knight aspirants. Fifteen of you remain, to move on to the next round of interviews. Gather at the courtyard, and follow the instructions of the knights. Remember the qualities expected of a copper torch, and do your best.”

Felix picked up Bii and his backpack and headed downstairs. He noticed the girl in black and silver, the one who’d fought the catfish-snake, the grayscale boy, and the one formerly surrounded by purple tapestries. Before he could puzzle out who he might be pitted against, a boisterous voice called out.

“Felix Andersson. What a coincidence. It really is. A welcome one, though. At least for me. Fine showing in the first round. It really was. Come on over. Let’s get your interview interviewed. Unless you’d prefer someone else.” The boisterous voice belonged to a barrel chested young man with a shaved head. Muscled build and thick blonde moustache gave him an appearance of a man decades his senior. His blue eyes sparkled cheerily, and the smile he shot Felix was as wide and genuine as they come. This was Daniel Ylikämmen, an iron torch.

Beside him stood a fidgeting female knight with green eyes, and Saga—Daniel’s girlfriend, Felix’s first love and former best friend.

Felix drew a deep breath, gathered his guts, and returned Daniel’s smile. “Sure! Just don’t go too easy on me for being friends. Ha-ha-ha. Ha...” Why mouth, why did you say that?

“Don’t you worry,” Daniel took Felix’s hand and shook it firmly. “A fair and thorough test. We’ll do our best to give you that.”