Almost forgot to stick this in, but via a wicked glitch and you lovely readers, Cobalt somehow made it to #4 in fantasy, and #5 in action and adventure!

Thank you for all the love and attention you've been giving Puf- this book! I hope you all enjoy future updates!

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          Truvius squinted, hoping that pinching his eyes enough would help him see through the sea of black his group had ended up in. They had found the cathedral from the last game, and everyone seemed to know exactly where they were walking.

          Except him, for once.

          He gasped as a stone caught his foot, shoving into Káel's shoulder to catch his balance. With a stiffled grunt, Káel steadied him, his friend's face half a foot away and still completely invisible to Truvius.

          "What are you, blind?" a voice hissed, its owner signifying Vera was about a meter ahead of him.

          "It's pretty dark," Alestra whispered, her voice sending a shiver up Truvius' spine when he realised she was directly behind him. 

          Káel's voice came out a little louder than the rest. "I can see."

          "Me too, everyone else must be blind as coinkidinks," Vera huffed, her softened steps quickening as they slapped against a puddle. "There's a wall ahead, don't run into it coinkidinks."

          "Lead the way dragon princess," Alestra hummed, the air chilling at her retort as Vera breathed out a sharp sigh.

          Truvius smiled at the silence it brought.

          Vera really didn't like comebacks.

          After a few more close calls and phantom trips, Truvius finally found his solution in gripping Káel's arm, following his footsteps like a crippled elder to minimise anymore hiccups as they descended deeper into the building.

          Nestled into the pit of it's icy stomach, Vera found the smallest dip where the floor had fallen in. A perfect sanctuary to plant the blue flag Káel had stuffed into the back of his shirt like a strange banner. It was then that Vera finally allowed Cinder to wiggle out of her jacket, the small fiery bird immediately filling the dirt packed shelter with an orange glow.

          Despite now being able to see, Truvius could feel an anxious squeeze in his chest at how close everyone was, the claustrophobic nip at the back of his mind pulling his feet out of the space to look on at his friends.

          And Vera's disappointed smile.

          She definitely seemed to fit right in with the dark cave. Through fear or anger, any person that came upon her travelling would likely leave out of pure fear or frustration. Truvius was still patting himself on the back for keeping up a semi stable friendship with the Latos Fireball, Káel's role in the act pulling the bulk of his relationship to her.

          He tossed Káel a quick smile, the boy completely oblivious to his attention. 

          He was definitely worth putting up with snobby royals.

          "I'll protect the flags," Vera started, pulling everyone's attention with her pompous tone. "So you guys split up and scout out the other team flags."

          "Because splitting up worked last time," Alestra replied, stealing the words right out of Truvius' head as she gritted her teeth to hold in a yawn. "I really don't think there's a way to win. The molves could still beat us if the entire class was one team."

          A strange glint flickered in Vera's eyes, but the words attached to that idea never fell from her lips as she smiled at Alestra with a soft shrug. "Then I suppose if we're going to lose no matter what, it wouldn't hurt to split up. I'll call your senders if something happens to the flag."

          Alestra frowned. Truvius knew she rarely had the drive to deal with idiots and this time was no exception. "I'll go with Talli."

          Truvius tried to hold back a smile from the way things worked out. He was positive she'd choose Káel, but definitely wasn't arguing.

          Putting aside Káel's knack for running of course.

          "Good," Vera replied, more smug than usual as she made herself comfortable on the soily ground. As if to emphasize her point she clutched the flag and drove it even deeper into the dirt, Cinder perched upon her head in equally strange amusement. "This flag will be safe as a dragon's nest, you have my word."

          Truvius frowned as Puff warbled in confusion, Vera's metaphor definitely sitting on poor taste in the presence of a baby dragon that had been kidnapped by dragon hunters. 

          Nonetheless she was paid with quick nods from the rest of the team, everyone sparing their doubts for the smile plastered to her face. 

          Even Truvius knew the face of mischief.

          She was definitely plotting.

—————

          "Puff! Everyone's going to see us!" Káel called, his words bouncing off the terrified drake that had treed itself as a giant fluffy dragon, his weight bending at the massive pine's trunk as it swayed and groaned.

          With a sharp sigh Káel looked down at Jeremiah, the cat's smug gaze fixed to the dragon he had surprised and chased up the giant green annoyance. 

          "I'm throwing out the catnip," Káel hissed, his nose scrunching to match his cat's souring expression. "All off it, you're not getting a pinch ever again."

          Káel waited for the cat to snort in contempt, the feline getting up to make its leave into the bushes to sulk at the punishment in privacy, while Káel worked out a way in rescuing his guardian. 

          "Just jump," Káel whispered, cupping his hands around his mouth in the hopes that Puff could hear him from their distance.

          Puff warbled, his tone trailing into a soft whimper as he scrabbled at the scaly trunk to hold his balance.

          "He said jump!" Phantom yelled, giving Káel some relief in knowing he still had someone who could scream at the cowardly drake.

          Despite Phantom's calls, Puff failed to move, frozen to his perch and only shrinking into travel size when the tree swayed a little too much for his liking. 

          "How are we going to get him?" Káel whispered, receiving a concerned shrug from Truvius and confused warble from Puff.

          "He said if you don't jump, he's going to throw you off of Cobalt's roof the first chance he gets!" Phantom hollered, his jest striking even more fear in the shivering drake as he curled into a terrified ball.

          Káel bit back a retort in Truvius' presence, deciding on taking Puff's rescue into his own hands. After rounding the tree once, he found his route, taking a few steps back to run at the side and throw his arms up to grip a jutting knot.

          With a shaky hold he wrapped his legs around the trunk, feeling a flurry of pinches as he slowly scooted up the rough bark. When he finally reached the canopy of prickly branches, he pushed open a route with his head, carving his way up to the trembling dragon as every shred of amusement he had left fell with the sappy pinecones and needles he dislodged.

          He finally got a good foothold on the lowest hanging branch, the rest of his route laid with a generous trail of branches to climb as he quickly reached his whimpering guardian and snatched his scruff. Warbling package in one hand and sticky trunk in the other, Káel couldn't help but look around from the vantage point, stuck so high a tickling breeze could kiss his face as he scoured the viny grey expanse of ruins.

          He could see almost everything, the massive map now squeezed into a tiny ring of towering trees from his angle. The cathedral, once a massive cage of potential doom was the size of a small house, a few moving shadows weaving around outside of it as the frightened students listened for molves.

          Káel pulled Puff in to rest on his shoulders, squinting to make out any moving rocks close by. But as if their teacher wasn't cruel enough, the molves bore a coat strikingly similar to their current setting and could pass off as a pile of rubble until a group of students passed.

          He sighed. Although he couldn't see a single molve from the view, they could most certainly see a treed boy and his guardian if they decided to look up. "Don't claw me," Káel muttered, feeling Puff's claws clench his combat suit as he hopped down to the next branch. 

          As he readied to skip down another few feet, his guardian tensed even more, a low growl sounding right next to his ear.

          "Don't worry, Phantom was lying. I'm not throwing you off the roof," Káel retorted, confusion twisting his frown as he felt Puff's tail curl around, puffed up to twice its size and wrapping in front of his face as his guardian gazed into the ruins.

          Káel quickly looked to where Puff was growling, a darkened wall of trees sat out of bounds to their game and empty of any visible intruders. 

          "There's nothing there Puff," Káel whispered, his tone faltering with doubt as his guardian continued to curl defensively. He didn't exactly have the eyes of an airborne beast, so who was he to doubt Puff's senses?

          Káel gave the trees one last timid glance.

          He just hoped Puff was paranoid.

—————

          Mi'karu stopped, ears to the sky as he sniffed at the air and pawed a dusting of loose dirt and leaves. Talli had asked her guardian to sniff out the closest group, but wasn't quite sure what Alestra planned to do when they found another student.

          She tensed as a scream ripped through the air, closer than the last two and immediately turning them in the opposite direction.

          "Those molves are really racking up on points," Alestra muttered, 

          "Y-yeah," Talli replied, her heart pounding a mile a minute as she imagined every scrape and dancing blade of grass to be a bloodthirsty molve perched around the next corner. She had told herself it was just a game half a dozen times, but even with the words on repeat in her head, giant stone wolves chasing her for the ribbon flapping out of her pants only fueled the anxiety pulsing through her veins. 

          The only thing that could possibly be worse is if Mr. Mudelin joined the game and started chasing them.

          Talli stopped again as Mi'karu sniffed the air, the sand maine letting out a quiet chirp and rounding the corner. He always did that when he found something, but Talli didn't dare to follow without Alestra leading the way.

          Alestra had stopped however, her wandering attention now fixed to one of the mostly intact walls hugging them into a tight corridor. Talli couldn't see a single thing that was odd about that particular patch of stone, bleached by time and stitched with snaking vines to stand tall as a phantom taste of the past.

          But Alestra had a habit of inspecting weird things.

          Talli stiffened when she noticed her staring at her, the hint of confusion on her face calling on an explanation. "It's so quiet."

          "O-oh ah- don't worry," Talli fumbled, smiling with a spurt of terror at the wall. "I-I stare at walls too!"

          Alestra laughed under her breath, giving Talli's shoulder a soothing rub and moving to follow Mi'karu's lead. "It's not the wall. We're close to the forest, you can usually hear the birds singing."

           Talli paused, she hadn't noticed how dead the air was. Not a single song or squawk to break the sterile air, and yet, the lack of sound brought anything but a hug of tranquility.

          She tensed to keep the shivers from crawling up her spine, a cold touch washing over her cheeks as the blood ebbed out of them. "M-m-maybe it's the molves."

          Alestra smiled. "Maybe."

          They both rounded the corner, expecting to see what had pulled Talli's guardian in that direction. But the sight did not sit upon the dried and cracking soil, and empty corridor ahead like the last, and Talli's guardian gazing at the clear blue sky with another chirp.

          Talli cranked her head up to see what Mi'karu was so fixed on, the sight of a small fiery bird coasting on a higher breeze to scout the ruins with an unknown purpose, it's bright blue ribbon still flapping carelessly behind it. "I-is that...?"

          Alestra nodded, just as confused by the sight. "It's Cinder." 

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Quality Quip #25:

'To have a good enemy choose a friend - he knows best where to stick the knife.'

~Anon