Day pushes the door open, and his face feels like it's being attacked with snow. He continues on his path, trying to not let the chill worry him.

"How are we meant to find healing herbs in a snow covered land?" Alec mutters, his hands running up and down his arms, trying to keep himself warm.

"It is not covered in snow, it's just really wet," Aarush replies, stepping up to stand beside them.

Alec rolls his eyes. "It might as well be covered in snow. It's fucking freezing."

"What? Can't handle a little bit of a chill, Bacani?" Amisha remarks, a smirk playing on her lips.

Alec raises his eyebrows at her, and then chuckles, too cold to bother with a witty comeback.

"So Alec, you're the herb expert, how do we do this?"

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

"First we need to warm ourselves up," Noah says. "Zoe and I will warm everyone up, and then we can get moving."

Zoe and Noah move around, adjusting everyone's temperature and Lucas marvels at seeing Noah's healer vestiums glow. It was very common for Noah to channel his magic as a Bender. Though Lucas knew Noah also took classes that a Healer witch was assigned, he had never actually seen Noah perform any healing magic.

"Alright, we want a Coreona's flower. It's redish-orange and really good for healing bullet wounds."

Before Zoe is done speaking, everyone is already moving through the wetland, trying to find the next item on their list.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

"Is that the only plant?" Sierra questions, her eyes roaming the piece of paper in her hand.

Alec scrunches his eyebrows together, holding the Coreona's flower in his hand as he asks, "What do you mean?"

"It specifies a bullet wound where the bullet has entirely pierced the body. Does the plant still apply?" Sierra elaborates.

"Oh, shit," Alec says. "Coreona's flower only works if the bullet is still in there. But you can't heal a wound like that with just plant."

"Well it doesn't say heal, it just says a plant you can use," Day adds.

"You all are geniuses," Alec replies, the gears in his mind turning. "I know what we're looking for. We're looking for a green bush with white flowers and pink berries. We can use the stem to disinfect the wound but we can't heal with it."

"Let's get onto it then."

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

"What's next?" Lucas asks, finding himself walking in front again.

Raylene glances at the paper. "No two the same, a fire like no other, and a sense of purity unmatched by others."

Lucas's eyes scan his surroundings. Ice, and the more they walk forward, the more snow appears. Each step he takes, sinks his shoes into more snow.

"Are we going the right way?" Lucas asks, his voice unsure.

Noah pauses in his walking. "I don't know where else we can go, it all looks the same."

"Maybe if we figure out what we're looking for it might help us go into the right direction," Orion suggests, his long sleeve t-shirt bellowing in the chilly wind. Seeming to only just notice how cold it would usually be without the spell, Orion glances at Zoe and Noah. "How much longer can you guys keep us warm for?"

"Not much longer," Noah replies, making eye contact with Zoe.

"Then we need to hurry," Raylene adds, her eyebrows scrunched as she peruses the words in front of her. "What is always different?"

"Snowflakes," Lucas replies looking at the nearby snow. "Which would make sense."

"But snowflakes don't make sense with fire like no other," Zoe contradicts.

"What's the purest? Virgins?" Orion says, question and confusion written all over his face.

"We're sacrificing virgins?" Lucas questions. His eyes shift to Noah. "Woods, you're up."

"Fuck off, Faye." Noah shoves Lucas's shoulder lightly.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

"Does anyone's phone work? Surely, we can google this," Alec suggests, as they walk, his hands in his pockets and his brain focused on keeping everyone warm.

With no purpose but humouring Alex, Amisha pulls out her phone, presses the power button and glances at the bars and the cross across it.

"Unlucky," Aarush mutters, glancing over Amisha's shoulder.

"I don't think we'll need a phone actually, the words, they sound familiar."

Sierra reaches out for the paper, her eyes scanning the paper, and her lips moving slightly as she mutters and mumbles. She tries to ignore Day's intent stare on her as she has been doing the entire task. Sierra can't figure what his look means, it's not mad but it's not happy either. It's a look of confusion mixed with something else.

"No two the same, a fire like no other and a sense of purity unmatched by others. I am in the rough, I am under pressure, I am the unbreakable diamond," Sierra says looking up at everyone around her in a triumphant smile. "It's written in Castle Adamantem."

As her eyes land on Day, he smiles back. Sierra can't help the widening of her eyes that follow.

"We're looking for a diamond in the snow?" Alec asks disbelief clear in his voice.

"That can't be right," Day adds. He turns around, facing away from everyone. "Do we just keep walking forward and hope to find something's that not snow?"

"Maybe we're already here."

They look at Aarush, waiting for an explanation. In response, Aarush kneels down his jeans digging into the snow. His hands brush the snow aside revealing a brick in the ground. Aarush shoves more snow aside, and not that far away is another brick.

"What are we looking for?" Day asks, his eyes moving between Aarush and the bricks.

"I don't know, but something's not right. The more we walk, the more there is snow," Aarush replies.

"Aarush, wait, you'll just be making yourself colder and Alec can only do so much," Sierra says, bringing Aarush's hands to a stop. "Calorus Liquiscim, Calorus Liquiscim."

They watch in wonder as the snow on the ground melts away. The ground is a pattern. The brick's appear in a higher frequency the more they walk.

"The diamond has to be there," Amisha states, pointing to where the bricks come together forming a cross a few meters further.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Noah's hands rest on the cemented wall. He pushes.

"Etus, consilisdam," as he mutters the words, a crack appears on the wall. He repeats it, "Etus consilisdam, etus consilisdam."

The wall shatters.

Orion whistles. "Impressive."

"There it is," Zoe says, her voice awe-struck. "The ring of Morrigan."

Zoe reaches out, her hands eager to touch the ruby red ring placed on the pillar emerging from the ground.

Lucas's hand wraps around her wrist.

"Wait, that seems too easy."

"I highly doubt nearly suffering from hypothermia is easy," Raylene remarks dryly.

"No, Lucas is right." Noah raises his hand so that his palm is over the ground. "Accerso Humus," he chants.

A piece of the Earth breaks and appears, hovering above his hand. "Terrum impento, terrum impento."

The piece flies toward the ring and just as it hovers above it, it shatters scattering into smaller pieces.

Zoe's eyes widen. "That could've been my hand."

"How do we work around that?" Orion asks.

"We need to break the protection spell around it," Noah answers.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

"Is that it?" Alec asks, looking towards the door past the pillar where the Ring of Morrigan used to sit. The magical ring feels heavy in his pockets

"Are we sure it's safe?" Aarush asks, his eyes warily searching the door. "It could be like the ring again."

"I can try the same spell," Amisha offers, raising her hand. "Prasedium contritum, prasedium contritum."

The door knob twists, and powdery dust falls away from it.

"Good thinking, Bhatia," Day says, acknowledging Aarush with a nod.

Aarush splutters out a thank you, and Alec amusedly wonders to himself if Bhatia's skin was lighter that he may be blushing.

Alec twists the door knob, and pushes the door open. He's instantly hit with the hot wind of the grounds at the academy. Alec looks past the grass, raising his hands to protect his eyes from the August sun. The spectators stand up and cheer as Day, Aarush, Sierra and Amisha join him outside. Together they walk, and take the stand at the candidate line.

Alec doesn't miss how the bills of cash are exchanged between his peers. As the cheering slowly dies to a low hum, Principal Cashore stands up.

"Congratulations candidates, you are the first team to come through the door. That will award you two points each. To earn the other three points, you must have collected the correct objects required." Pause. "Please present what you've acquired during this task."

Day holds out 'The Potion of Merida' , and beside him Sierra lifts up the potion that allows nutritional sustenance at a time of no food, their choice of a potion of survival. Aarush reaches into his pocket and pulls out the diamond, and Amisha holds the herbs for cleaning a bullet wound and Alec the ring of Morrigan.

The Revealing council walk down the line of candidates, examining the objects and jotting down notes. They walk towards the Principal and the tall man whispers in her ear.

"Congratulations, Team A, you have earned a further three points."

As Principal Cashore finishes her sentence, the door bursts open and Noah, Lucas, Zoe, Raylene and Orion stumble out. The tall man examines the objects collected and then walks back to the Principal and whispers in her ear.

"With today's events taken into account, Team A gains a total of five points and Team B no points, as they failed to retrieve all of the correct objects. The individual points after today's collection are as follows: Amisha Jeet sits in first place with twenty-two points. Mr. Bacani and Mr. Blackwood follow her with seventeen points. Noah Woods and Miss Kingsley sit close behind with sixteen points. Orion Winders sits at fourteen points with Lucas Faye at thirteen points. Zoe Argent and Aarush Bhatia hold ten points with Miss Raylene Tan at eight points.

"As Miss Tan holds eight points and sits at the lowest spot, she will be eliminated from The Revealing and will not go ahead to participate in the next task." The Governor's eyes roam across the faces of the candidates, before he continues speaking. "You have competed bravely today, I hope you will continue to do so. Do not forget what awaits us."