Vaatu stared at the remaining trainees. “Alright listen up this is the last test. You pass this one you are officially a Makara. In the lake you see behind me are some of the deadliest sea creatures you’ve seen and heard of. At the very bottom of the lake are some tridents. Your mission is to swim, get the tridents, and bring them back. If you surface without a trident you’re out. If you don’t want to participate then go with the desk sergeant to sign your papers.”

  A few more than half of the trainees left. “At least they listened this time. As for the rest of you jump in now. You have thirty minutes.”

  Rin

  Rin calmed herself and took slow deep breaths before finally jumping in the water. She could not see more than 5 feet in front of her. As she swam deeper into the lake she saw another trainee swimming in front of her. Suddenly a naga wrapped itself around him. The trainee attempted to fight it off, but the naga just crushed him as it took a bite out of his head. As the blood spilled from the trainee’s corpse more sea creatures appeared. Rin swam away from the blood as she tried to find a secure spot.

  Vaatu

  Vaatu looked at his stopwatch counting down the minutes to the end of the exam.

  “How many do you think will make it sir?” Asked Olkin.

  “Who knows?” Said Vaatu as he lit a cigarette. “Last time we only had nine pass the test. Although many more took part in this portion of the exam. Maybe the advanced class will have better luck. They always pass between twenty and thirty.”

  They saw a man surface and swim to the edge as quickly as possible. Vaatu saw that he had no trident with him. As he was about to reach the shore a naga pulled him back into the lake. The man tried to fight the naga. Olkin was about to go help him, but Vaatu stopped him.

  “Let’s see if he remembers his training.” Said Vaatu.

  The man freed one of his arms from the naga’s grip. As the naga opened its mouth the man reached inside with his hand and pulled out an organ from the naga. The naga died instantly as it loosened its grip on the man. The man reached the shore exhausted.

  Vaatu stood over him. “You don’t have a trident so you fail.” Vaatu kicked some sand on the man’s face. “Get the fuck out of here.”

  As he walked away he could hear the man begin to sob. “What a waste.”

  Rin

  Rin finally reached the area with the tridents. She picked one up and started swimming for the surface. As she neared the surface she felt something grab her ankle and pull her down. She saw that it was another trainee. She tried to stab him with her trident, but the trainee moved out of the way. She did manage to cut him enough to draw blood. The trainee wrapped himself around Rin to make sure she carried the scent of his blood. He gripped the trident as he tried to wrestle it from her hands. Suddenly Rin felt something crash into her as she let go of the trident.

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  She saw that it was a marani, it had two fins that were aligned horizontally. Its eyes glowed yellow and were protruding out of its head. Its mouth was a gaping maw that had thin and sharp teeth like toothpicks. It had two sharp talons at the tip of its fins and swam in an up and down motion.

  Rin could not swim fast enough as it almost gained on her. Just as it was about to bite her foot off she saw a woman pierce its head with a trident. The woman had a spare trident that she gave to Rin. Rin took the spare and pierced the marani in its belly. Blood spilled everywhere as it covered the two women. Rin and the woman pulled their spears out of the creature’s body as they tried to swim back to the surface.

  Rin saw a few more marani chasing after them. The woman gave Rin her trident, and broke off from Rin and guided them away. Rin stared in awe at the woman who could actually swim faster than the marani. Rin swam closer to the surface, but she did not come up just yet. Rin saw that a marani was about to gain on the woman. Rin swam towards the woman holding out both tridents in front of her. As they almost collided with each other woman immediately turned up as she placed her hands on the tridents and guided them inside the beast’s mouth. Rin and the woman pulled them out quickly as the other marani feasted on their own dead.

  Both of them finally pulled themselves out of the lake. They collapsed on the beach with a death grip on their tridents.

  “Thanks… Rin… My name.” Panted Rin.

  “Mio… Thanks.” Panted Mio.

  Vaatu approached the two women. “Congratulations on passing.”

  “Sir… I… Was there… Another trainee took my trident from me.” Said Rin as she regained her composure.

  “So?” Started Vaatu. “My orders were for you to get a trident then reach the surface. I never said that you couldn’t steal it from each other.”

  Rin saw the other trainee wrapped in a blanket. She glared at him.

  “Leave it. We passed Rin.” Said Mio as she patted Rin’s back.

  Suddenly a man surfaced with a trident, but he was missing a leg.

  “Ah shit! Get a medic over here! You two help me out!”

  They rushed to the man’s side and carried him as quickly as they could to the medic. The medic applied a tourniquet as quickly and tightly as possible. The man screamed in pain as he felt his leg was being torn off.

  “Congratulations kid you passed. You hear me? You’re officially a Makara now.” Said Vaatu as he tried to calm the man down.

  “Thank you sir.” The man replied weakly as he tried to maintain consciousness.

  The medical team took him back to the medical tent to begin treatment.

  “What’s gonna happen to him? Without his leg I mean…” Asked Rin.

  “Well he passed so he’s a Makara, but that leg…” Vaatu sighed. “It’ll take longer for him to climb the navy ladder. There are no prosthetics that can handle the kind of work we do. He’ll be forced to work on ships. If nothing else he can still be of service.”

  Vaatu looked at his stopwatch. “Well that’s it then no one else is coming up. Only four huh? I guess that’s about right.” Said Vaatu as he left the newly ordained Makara.

  “So…” Started Mio, “Wanna get wasted?”

  “Sure.” Said Rin.

  Vaatu

  Vaatu entered the Broken Lantern Inn where the two sellswords were staying. They all gathered at a table to discuss their next move.

  “So what’s the next move?” Asked Ryder.

  “Now I take you to your destination. I’ve already acquired a ship to take us there. It’ll be a long trip through the part of the Edrian Sea we call the Dark Pit.” Said Vaatu.

  “Why’s it called that?” Asked Ryder.

  “Cuz it’s the part of the sea no one dares to enter. It’s the domain of Bahalosh.”

  “Oh. Can’t we go another way?”

  “We could but there’s pirates, and it would take too long.”

  “We can handle pirates. Right Warden?” Said Ryder as he nudged the Warden.

  “Lately they’ve been getting clever. They’re all joining together under a single banner. Plus I only got one ship not a fleet. There’s less questions that way.”

  “Well shit.” Ryder sighed. “Alright fuck it let’s go.”