I didn't notice my descent into evil. Each time I bent morality, just a little you see, I could rationalize my actions—I was helping people I cared for, and so what if I hurt a stranger? Okay, in the end I hurt someone I loved, but that too was easily justified. Little by little, I edged closer to the abyss, and when I emerged, fully evil, that was when I realized I'd fulfilled my destiny.

And deserved it.

This seemed unfair!

No notice.

No countdown.

No warning.

Just boom!

One minute you're calmly pointing out how stealing that which is most loved by your enemy is not the best idea; the next, you're swimming for your life. (Haven't we all had this exact thing happen?) Did anyone even ask me if I knew how to swim? No. My mentors were totally irresponsible. Would Yoda have thrown Luke into a moat if he wasn't sure Luke could at least dog paddle?

Doubtful.

A responsible mentor challenges her mentee but doesn't kill her. Because killing your trainee means you suck as a mentor.

But at that moment, none of these thoughts entered my head. All I was thinking was: AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!

My heart pounded as I thrashed through the foul moat, desperately trying to evade the ravenous moat monster nipping at my feet. I kicked hard, trying to stay far enough from Nellie's jagged-toothed maw to maintain a complete set of toes; I mean, I also wanted to hold on to the entire leg and the rest of my body parts, but dare I dream?

The only light was from the full moon, which meant that it was so dark I couldn't tell up from down. I could barely see a foot in front of me and just hoped I didn't swim straight into a stone wall. The water was thick with slime, and with every stroke, my fingertips brushed against something slimy, making my skin crawl with revulsion. The moat was a gurgling symphony of sound—groaning, creaking, grasses swishing.

"Rowen! Rowen! Rowen!" my trusty familiar's squeaky voice yelled inside my head. I'd forgotten Vermeil was still inside my pocket, but his tiny presence was a beacon of support amid my disorienting predicament. Sadly, my predicament was his predicament. "A plan? We need a plan."

"My plan is not dying!" I said, my lungs about to burst, my head throbbing.

"That's an objective, not a plan," my familiar said unhelpfully.

"I can't tell which way is up. It's so dark. How am I supposed to find that which is most loved by my enemy before I drown when I can't see anything? Just hope I crash into it?"

"Conjure a light."

"Oh, good idea."

(Hey, stop judging me! I would've thought of this if I wasn't trying to keep us from being eaten by a moat monster!) But how could I cast a spell underwater when talking didn't work very well? Nellie's raspy tongue scraped against my toes as if she was sampling her lunch, seeing if she might need to add salt or hot sauce. Yuk! I kicked hard, my foot finding purchase against her slimy snout, making a horrible cracking sound. She let out a massive roar that got further away as I swam, giving me a moment to work on a magical flashlight.

I concentrated, channeling my energy from my core into my palms. At the same time, I yelled: fiat lux! Which was Latin for 'let there be light.' The spell came out super garbled, sounding like 'lurble.' As soon as I opened my mouth, something nasty and sharp floated inside, making me gag. I sputtered and coughed out whatever I'd nearly swallowed, still swimming, when my hands prickled, and two glowing globes emerged from my palms, casting an eerie light through the murky water.

Now I could see what I'd choked on. A fishbone! UGH! The orb illuminated the grimy water around me. My stomach twisted. The moat was a cesspool of filth, littered with rotting debris and forgotten relics. It was a grotesque graveyard of discarded items.

Naturally!

But look on the bright side, Rowen! You don't have to worry about sharks or jellyfish or killer whales, not only because the moat isn't a saltwater environment but also because the only creatures in the water (other than me and Vermeil) were dead.

Wait, was that good or bad?

An angry roar sounded not far away. Terrific! My foe had recovered.

I pushed aside the bone and swam frantically, passing through a stone maze lined with piles of abandoned treasures from the castle's past—weaponry, intricately carved chests, old furniture, and an abundance of torture devices, every surface shimmering, slick with a sickly sheen of algae.

I kicked hard, rising out of the maze; the threat of Nellie's teeth and my burning lungs urged me upward.

The surface was close! So close I could make out the rippled image of the full moon! I was going to make it! Arms outstretched, side aching, I kicked hard and surged through the water, ready to pierce the surface, when my glowing hands hit an invisible obstacle like a sheet of thick glass.

The balls of light floated away, and I drew back my aching hands, cradling them against my belly.

Ouch! And what the heck? "Vermeil, what was that thing blocking our escape?"

"Must be a Magical Trial Completion Guarantee Shield."

"A what?"

"They're quite common in the questing world. Keeps people from leaving a trial until it's complete."

"So unfair! What about a Magical Trial Oxygen Guarantee?"

Dark spots prickled in front of my eyes. Panic surged through my veins as my lungs screamed for air. "Vermeil, I'm going to black out now. Leave me! Save yourself before Nellie catches up. She can eat me, but that doesn't mean she'll have to eat you too. I'm sorry I failed."

"Quickly, Rowen! Cast a spell to allow us to breathe underwater!"

Just as the blackness was about to take me, I felt Vermeil's soothing magic join mine, and I uttered the phrase: opus oxygeni. Like Sandy, the squirrel in SpongeBob, an iridescent bubble enveloped my head. I sucked in a breath, relief coursing through me. "Can you breathe?" I asked Vermeil.

He floated out of my pocket with a little rat-sized oxygen bubble over his tiny head. "Yep. However, rats can last quite a while without oxygen. Just another reason we're a superior species!"

"Cool, cool. But now's not the time for bragging. Look!" I pointed toward a swell of churning water where Nellie hurtled toward us, her maw wide open. She could fit us both inside easily inside her mouth with room to spare.

Fitting inside. Hmmm. This gave me an idea. What better place to escape my pursuer than a tight corner of the underwater maze? Plus, if I was going to hide an object I loved, what better place than a junk pile?

I commanded the balls of light to stay close, though I did not know whether they'd obey, but I had no time to worry. Summoning my last vestiges of strength, I grabbed Vermeil and kicked my legs with fervor, muscles screaming in pain, and dove, swimming hard for the maze.

Shockingly, the globes floated just ahead of me, lighting the way.

"You're going the wrong way," Vermeil noted.

"It's okay, Vermeil; I know what I'm doing."

"Famous last words?" Vermeil said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I replied, gritting my teeth.

Nellie was gaining on us. I could feel her hot breath on my heels. But there it was! The maze! I slipped in, searching for a safe corner so I could think straight for a minute and figure out where to find the object of Nellie's love. Hard to imagine Nellie loving anything other than a sizeable chunk of flesh, but who was I to judge?

There! I could hide behind an iron maiden that had turned onto its side close to the stone wall. I could squeeze into the space, avoiding the pointy bits. I swam carefully behind the medieval metallic machine of pain.

"Good one, Rowen," Vermeil said.

"See, I have ideas too!"

"I have faith in you."

"Now I just have to find this object so we can get out of here," I said as Nellie roared, pummeling the iron maiden, with a clang, clang, clang, in a desperate attempt to get to me. As the spikes came closer and closer, I shielded Vermeil with my body.

A string of panicked thoughts flickered through my mind. I did not know what I was looking for. What would a moat monster love? A tasty whale? A boy moat monster? A signed copy of Moat Monster Monthly's Hottest Male in the Realms?

And how would I distract Nellie long enough to search?

"I need to distract Nellie," I said.

"Good idea," Vermeil said. "Sooner rather than later. The delicious fish bits in the moat are making me hungry."

Gross! "I should just blow the place up and the shield, too."

"Or not," Vermeil advised. "Since that's the only rule Tyra gave you."

"Sure, take away my biggest talent! Okay, help me focus my powers again." Vermeil's calming energy flowed through me as I guided my powers outward, slowly, carefully ...

... Oops!

My powers burst out of me, tossing the iron maiden straight into Nellie's open maw. Her tail thrashed, and her head swung wildly as she tried to dislodge the iron maiden, whipping the water into a frenzy. It wasn't as gross as swallowing a fish bone, but definitely qualified as a distraction. I could barely see, even with the magical lights, but I swam in the opposite direction of Nellie, further and further into the maze.

My eyes flitted from one slime-covered treasure/artifact to the next, locating no tasty whales or handsome sea monsters. I opened drawers, checked behind a sunken dingy, and searched every nook and cranny until I discovered an old carved sea chest that pirates might use to bury treasure. Could it be this obvious? Would Nellie hide her most beloved possession in a treasure chest? Kind of cliché. The little hairs on my arms and neck stood on end. Because, unlike all the other items in the maze, the chest wasn't coated in slime.

It hadn't been here as long as the other items.

My hand trembled as I raised the lid of the ancient chest, its hinges creaking in protest. My heart skipped a beat as my gaze landed upon a fragile egg with a moat monster embryo barely visible beneath its translucent shell.

Nellie's most treasured possession.

Her child.

Of course!

And now, all I had to do was grab it and escape the moat before Nellie spit out the iron maiden. Or ate it.

"You did it, Rowen!" Vermeil said.

"I did."

I reached slowly for the egg in case there was an Egg Magical Protection Spell that would fry my hands off the second I touched it, but my fingers wrapped around the shell without incident. It vibrated beneath my palms. My heart twisted.

"Rowen! Get it, and let's go!" Vermeil said, swimming into my pocket.

"But ..."

"What?"

"Can I steal her child?"

"That's the task."

"I know, but ..."

"Now!"

I didn't have a choice. Did I? If I didn't do this, my fathers would remain toads forever. And I couldn't fulfill Olivia's wish to be magical.

The water seemed to go still; the moat holding its breath as I retrieved Nellie's most beloved treasure, clutching it tightly to my chest. "Non possum volare sin scopa!" I shouted the spell for flight and shot up through the water.

Below, Nellie's mournful cries reverberated off the slimy stone walls of the moat. Here was a mother who loved her child and wanted to protect her like my dads had done for me.

My heart broke a little that day, but the thing about breaking a heart is the scar tissue it leaves behind. The scars toughen up your heart, so the next time it's broken, you barely notice.

Hello lovely readers! I decided to give each of the four tasks a chapter because I think it's important for the plot. My hope is that the three additional tasks will be shorter, and I can get them up quickly. I need to finish the story by the end of the month!!!

Thanks again for your brilliant comments and for reading the story!

Did you vote? I heard 100% of people who vote for every chapter will not be sent to the dungeon!