Chapter 10: 10. Pass Or Die

I slept in the next morning since it was a free day to explore, prepare for classes and just have fun. When I finally got out of the extremely comfortable bed, Ella was already out doing something. With no immediate plans I did a quick run to the bathroom, then sat down in a chair and wondered what I should tell my parents about my first full day at school. I kind of wanted to see their faces when they saw the line, 'Hey Mom and Dad, you know how you always wanted a daughter, well congratulations you've got one!'

Looking around for one of my new notebooks I found a very fancy page of bone white parchment sitting on the desk. Not knowing why it was there, I started reading it, thinking Ella might have left me a note.

Petra, you have been selected for a special survival test today. Please be ready with all the equipment you think you'll need by 10am this morning. This is a pass or die test.

Good luck.

I looked at the clock and saw it was 9:59am. The world spun around me as I, dressed only in my nightgown, lunged towards the closet. My toe hit a rock that hadn't been there a second ago. Yelping in pain, I fell to my hands and knees scraping them on the rough rocky floor. Getting to my feet I quickly saw that I was in a cave, glowing green slime made it look like twilight. Bugs and things with way too many legs, crawled over my feet and bats flew overhead. The walls were covered in pink and red fuzz, where it wasn't being eaten by the glowing slime.

A sign beside a hole in the wall simply said, 'Make it down to the golden idol. For top marks beat your competitor.'

“OK, Peter, um Petra,” I said to myself, “you're officially screwed.”

Cringing, I tried not to think about the crunch of bugs and the squishy things that oozed up between my toes, with every step. Pacing around the room looking for anything that could help, revealed absolutely nothing that could potentially be useful. There were plenty of slimy rocks, some as big as my head, a lot of pebbles, and bugs, so many bugs. The perfectly useless fuzzy stuff on the wall was powdery and clung to my skin when I brushed against it. After about ten minutes of careful searching, I picked up a rock that fit easily in my hand and wasn't too slimy. It wasn't a great weapon, but just in case I had to hit something it was better than nothing.

Poorly armed, I started walking since waiting around wouldn't do any good. The first five minutes was easy, if you count walking barefoot in a filthy, dimly lit cave as easy, I was limping and wincing by the time I came to an intersection. With no signs or clues, I had a very important question and no easy answer, which way to go?

I tried to think about any tips or hints that could help me. Following a river almost always got you to a town, moss grows on the north side of a tree, basilisks always sleep facing the west. None of that was very good in a cave. Both directions looked the same, more glowing slime and colourful fungus, damp floors and bugs. Did I mention there were a lot of bugs? Because there were a lot of them. In some places the looked like a fancy living rug.

Wishing I had shoes, a sword, a warm shirt to deal with the cool damp air, a way out, a helpful geni, or even just a map, I crouched down to catch my breath. As I leaned against a cleanish part of the wall I tried to clear my mind, if I was going to survive I had to really think things through. The sign at the start had said there was a golden idol, and a competitor. Who was my competitor? Was the school actively trying to kill me or just challenging me?

If they wanted me dead, I was probably going up against someone like the girl with lots of scalps. Or Victor. Maybe it would be Micheal. If it was someone else, I could maybe make a deal. I was a close friend with Ella, as long as I didn't promise too much she'd probably support me. Maybe I should go looking for that person?

As I thought about it, I saw a small puddle of water. A trickle of water flowed out of it, down the tunnel. A thought rose up in my mind. The sign had said needed to go down to the golden idol. So that was the one hint I had, go down. Following the flowing water would at the very least point me in the right direction. Unless it was light water and went uphill.

Going to the water, I scooped some up in my hand and let it drip through my fingers. The drops fell like regular water, they weren't extra slow or falling upwards like light water would. That was good, not only for directions, but if worst came to worst, I could probably drink it. No one willingly drank light, it made peeing really awkward and didn't feel good in the stomach.

Giving myself another minute to rest my feet, something slimy fell straight on my head.

I instinctively closed my eyes. This was quickly followed by screaming as my skin started tingling. Reaching up, I grabbed the acidic slime which was trying to digest my head. My fingers went through the amorphous thing, and the tingling started to hurt. The slime started to head for my mouth.

Falling to my knees, I shoved my head into the water, accidentally banging it on the rock so hard I saw stars.

Scooping up water with both hands, I grabbed the slime again, pulling at it and making sure the water got right inside the disgusting thing. The pain faded a little bit, the water was helping wash away the acid. Rubbing my face along the wet rock, while scooping more water onto my hair, the slime started to fall off.

Then something wet and slimy poked my toe. I jerked away from the new slime, only to put my hand into another one. Even in my panic, I realized that if I stuck around I was going to get eaten by the composter of the animal world.

Grabbing one last handful of water, I used it to clear my eyes, got to my feet and ran as fast as I dared from the slime, following the trickle of water. The translucent slimes were hard to see on the floor. The best way to make them out was to look for places were the bugs were thinnest. With my hair slowly dissolving, and every step crunching disgustingly, I fled the cavern.

**

The last of the slime that had tried to eat me was trying to reform itself in the large pool of water that had collected in a convenient depression. Feeling my hair, I was practically bald in places, and the skin on my scalp, forehead and ears tingled unpleasantly. Touching it made me wince, it felt like a really bad sunburn.

I'd gotten lucky, if I hadn't closed my eyes, it would have blinded me. If they'd gotten onto my feet, I couldn't have run away, and if it wasn't wasn't for the water, I wouldn't have been able to wash it off. Doom Valley Prep wasn't lying when they said this was a pass or die test.

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I really wanted to rest a bit, but I didn't dare do it here. There was too much chance of being attacked by more slime. Sighing and wincing in pain, I followed the trickle of water further down into the cave.

There were a bunch of twists and turns, and eventually the trickle disappeared into a crack in the wall. “Well there goes that tiny bit of help,” I muttered.

There was no way to tell what time it was, and my stomach was growling from missing breakfast, so I couldn't even use that as a way to tell time. The cavern I was walking through was drier then the area I'd left. There was still the glowing slime on the wall, but it was a lot less abundant, making it hard to see. At least that meant I'd be less likely to be eaten by acidic slime.

Following the cavern I came to a fork in the tunnel. There were two ways I could go, both were going steeply downwards. The left tunnel had squeaking coming from it, and I could just make out a couple of beady red eyes in the darkness. The right tunnel seemed silent and there was a bit more of the glowing slime.

Easy decision, the right tunnel is the right answer.

As I walked there were several more forks in the tunnel. For each one I'd look, listen and smell, judging which one was safer. Usually the answer was pretty clear, the ones without any noise, smoke, signs of life or beady eyes, was the proper direction.

And then I reached a problem.

Coming to a stop I stared at the three tunnels. One led straight up a steep slope, one went down with foul smelling smoke wafting out, and the last one smelled like rotten meat. I sat down again and thought about it.

The smoke could be from a dragon, cooking fires, lava, a fire trap, salamanders, fire birds, lava trap, chimera, fire elemental, lava elemental, smoke elemental, and who knew what else. The rotting smell could just be a dead animal, a trap, a nest for a monster, a garbage pit for goblins, kobalds, troglodyte savages, or more. I really wished I had some shoes.

Deciding the potential garbage pit was safer, I crept down the tunnel with the rotten smell. Keeping my back to the wall, I wish I still had my rock. After walking for a minute, the floor became squishy, and I had to put a hand against the cold damp rock that was only lightly covered in the glowing slime to help keep my balance. Then I heard footsteps behind me.

I took off running.

Well I tried to run. Slipping and sliding in whatever was on the floor, I spent more time trying not to fall than I did going forward. The footsteps started running, and there was the harsh yapping sound of goblins yelling at each other.

Leaping out of the garbage pit, I never saw the net made out of giant spider silk that was strung across the tunnel. The strands ripped off from the walls, encircling me, wrapping around my arms and legs. I was able to duck my head and rolled a little, so my shoulder hit the ground hard, making me scream in pain. Then I rolled a few times, getting lots of bruises but my head came out of it OK. I was dizzy and gasping for air, but at least I didn't have a concussion. Five goblins came out of the darkness, circling me, poking me with spears and laughing, making comments about how they could eat me.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I shouted. “You want food right?”

“Food, yes. You food. Make good soup!” the largest one shouted, jumping up and down his earring covered bat ears rattled and jangled.

“My parents will give you LOTS of food if you let me go. Call them! They will give you a wagon full of food if you let me go!” I said.

“Lots of food?”

I nodded as hard as I could. “YES! Lots and lots of food.”

“We take you to camp. Talk to chief. If he say no, we eat you,” the goblin said with a toothy grin.

They attached ropes to the net and began dragging me along the ground. I really wish I'd kept my mouth shut about hero school. The regular schools back home were looking better and better every second.

It looked like I was going to fail this test.

I really didn't want to die.

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