HOME SWEET HOME

She was home once more. It felt nice. But there was a weird feeling. For some reason she felt guilt that she hadn't thanked them. They had taught her to be powerful, and her response was to run away. She knew they were evil and just wanted to use her, but she still felt guilt. She wondered why they hadn't attacked the goddesses and gods, they were clearly quite powerful. On second thoughts, there weren't many powerful people, so the gods and goddesses could defeat them even though they were less powerful because they had more people.

"Crysanthe, tomorrow's the test, I recommend we start training!" Arcus spoke, waving her hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, I was thinking, let's go get training!"

Arcus seemed to be quite surprised at her newfound ability. She was now quite powerful. She liked that feeling.

The next day came quickly, and Crysanthe felt confident. The time of the test was seven in the morning, so she'd get more sleep. Instead of waking up at her usual ridiculous time, she woke up at a less ridiculous time: 6:30. It was still slightly ridiculous, but she reminded herself that when she was fourteen, last year, she had been on the dive team, and the dive meet was at 7:15 am, so they all had to wake up at 6:30, including the youngest age group which was the eight and under. They were like six, and they had to wake up at literal SIX-THIRTY! They were younger than eight! By seven she was ready. She had tied her hair in a tight braid, and she wore her exercise clothes, yes, by now she had her own clothes, they were not Arcus's. She wondered why they hadn't sent out a search party, or why they hadn't welcomed her like they were surprised. Maybe they thought she was on a trip? That was pretty accurate, but not quite. Anyways, after that she flew to the platform to start the flying. All three lengths were easy for her especially comparing it to last night's fly from Enyo and Ares's base. Then came running. She ran like a swarm of bees were behind her. But this time she only went halfway and back like they were meant to in the test. She skidded to a halt.

"Okay, we have finished the first to segments of the test, and now it is time to race!" Arcus guided them. When they reached the race site Arcus explained the rules, "So you will grow your root as fast as you possibly can to the endless road and back, then you will run upon it until the end of the root. If you fall off you must start from the very beginning, so if you fall off I recommend you do that at the begging. Also, last over automatically fails. Ready, set, GO!"

Crysanthe grew her root way faster than the others, still keeping it wide. She got it to the end around the time the others started. This time the breeze didn't affect her. Not a single bit. She still ran like a bee swarm was behind her, but she saw one of the faster runners start to gain on her in the distance. She told herself to pick up the pace, but it was hard. She forced her legs to move faster, take longer strides. She soon found the finish line within a few meters. The person who had tried to gain on her was far back by now. She used the last of her energy for one final push. She shot like a bullet across the finish line. She beamed with pride despite the fact that she was so sweaty that she looked like she had bathed in it.