Panic forced Evina's heart to run and leap as if it was on a racetrack. Not only had the Master of Seven Acolytes, Ra'gir, gone missing, but now Laeshirra was as well.

Thulok's narrow gaze landed on Kean. "You're going to search for her?"

Kean nodded firmly. "Yes. Aderri is coming with me. Laeshirra can handle herself, but something doesn't feel right about this."

Evina's eyebrows creased in their center. "Can you feel it?" she whispered.

Surprisingly, it was Pimret who answered. "Yes, even I can. Dark Magic brews in the air." For once, all jokes and laughter had vanished from his expression and his voice held no sarcasm.

Evina placed a hand on Kean's shoulder as he unfurled his wings behind him. "Kean, please be careful."

"I always am, love," Kean said as he lightly kissed her cheek. She half expected Pimret to say something to tease her, or Thulok to shoot her a look, but neither man said a word.

Kean leapt off the balcony, pushing off with his strong legs and flew high into the air. She supposed Aderri was already running on the ground, searching for Laeshirra on foot.

"Should we cancel the task?" Evina murmured, looking at her two companions.

Pimret began to nod when Thulok stopped him. "No," Thulok responded firmly. "Whatever dark magic is going on out there, whatever is happening to Laeshirra and Ra'gir, we cannot risk throwing the people into a panic. We've had situations such as these before and most of the time, they go without the citizens ever knowing a thing. If Tythan is thrown into a panic, it makes it that much more vulnerable to attack. Any enemy would use that opportunity to strike."

Evina nodded, knowing he was correct. Too many times in history, the instant the commonfolk erupted in madness and panic, was the opportune moment the enemy had been waiting for. Enemy? Listen to you, Evina, she thought to herself. Whatever is going on, it isn't quite that serious yet... Is it? She had no answer.

"Should we tell the Magi?" Pimret asked.

Evina pressed her lips together. "When Kean returns or when we find out what has happened to Laeshirra and Ra'gir, then we will inform them of the situation. Unless nothing is discovered of them by tomorrow."

Pimret and Thulok nodded in agreement as they emerged from the small building that housed their Gamemaker command on Serpent's Island. Outside, the Magi Guilds had all gathered, with a single representative from each one already standing in their place at the arena.

Evina planted a massive, fake smile on her face, forcing light into her eyes. It caused her wings and skin to glow, making her appear elated, despite her fearful and worried emotions. The audience and even the Magi were none-the-wiser. "Hello, everyone and welcome to the fifth challenge in the Magi Games this year... Today, we will be challenging your craftmanship...!"

*****

Hello everyone and welcome to Task 5!

The arena has been set up before you on Serpents' Island in between the continents of Appor and Kypha. In the water surrounding the island, serpents swim and jump out of the water, but don't bother the audience and guilds surrounding the beaches to watch the competition.

Ahead of you is a large open field with several tables set up in rows where your participating character and the other guild characters are lined - one table per participating character. Each table contains an array of items and behind the table is a magical projection showing a particular magical object that your character has to make and enchant with only the items on the table and their magic. Each participating character has one item unique to them that they must craft. No two items are the same.

Below is a list of items that you can choose for your character to make:

A bow

A harp

A sword

A pocket watch

A deck of cards

A belt

A ring

A necklace

A compass

A horn

Eyeglasses

A Spyglass

A breastplate

A chess board

A working lantern

Each of these items must have a magical enchantment on it that you can get from items on your table and you can use the enchanting table, along with either magical crystals or prisms to power the enchantment. The enchantment must work. Another twist is that you must include one item stolen from another guild. How your character gets it and if they successfully steal one, is entirely up to you. Remember that you can choose and only choose one item for your character to make from this list and yes, you have to actually make the item itself first, then place the items on it to create the enchantment, and then use a power source to power the enchantment (the magical crystals and prisms).

I'll be looking for creativity and uniqueness with what your character uses to make this item. Remember your score is based on your writing, so your character might not successfully make the item and they might struggle with this; every task will not be easy for your characters and they also shouldn't "cheat" around them either.

As usual, you are allowed to mention whether your guild won or lost, but be realistic. Would they have been intelligent enough to craft something out of the items they had? Would they have been able to enchant the item?

Word count:

2,000 for the task itself

Anyone who wants to do an introduction or an ending for interactions with your guild, storyline stuff, etc., has an extra 1,000 before and 1,000 after. A piece. Each section cannot go over the individual word count. Remember those of you who have extra word counts from the awards in Task 4.

Remember if you want to include a scene where the Gamemakers talk, you cannot go to their POV, but you can have members of your guild listen in or overhear them speaking! Everyone has one freebie but after that, it isn't allowed. If you have already used your freebie, then I'm sorry. I love it, but that's one of the rules (honestly I didn't ever think it would need to be enforced, haha. I love that you guys are including them so much, though).

Due date:

August 9th, Sunday 6pm central. That's just shy of two weeks.

Deaths:

0

Today, we are going to be nice and not let anything go wrong with the Games. No one deserves to die - people dropped too far in the rankings last time. Instead, I'm changing things up. Everyone can have an extra 2 points. They can give this to any other writer in ranking below them. If you're in the last place, then you can give it to anyone you want. Still, list this at the end of your entry as a "Death." Remember what you do comes back to you - you reap what you sow. There could be benefits for anyone who does this.

Ballots:

16

Let's see how high we can get the ballots today! You must give everyone at least 1 ballot and after that, you can spread them out as much as you want. You can also give yourself ballots, so remember that. The higher anyone is balloted, the greater the challenge will be for them (that's the way it's been).

Character injuries:

Conan - REPLACED BY: Sayid

People who have come out of the infirmary:

Kyren is out of the infirmary, but he's only allowed to watch unless it's an easy, relaxing task.

COMMENT HERE IF ANYONE IS COMING INTO THE INFIRMARY OR COMING OUT OF IT.

Permanent replacement changes:

Bekka has been permanently replaced by Benjo

COMMENT HERE IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER PERMANENT CHANGES AND REPLACEMENTS.

Update on what day it is:

Remember that yesterday (Task 4 and Battle Task 4) was DAY 5. Today, Task 5 takes place in the early morning and Battle Task 5 begins in the afternoon and finishes up the early evening. This is all happening on DAY 6.

Awards:

Enchanter - Whoever wins this award will show your character struggling with the enchantment and in the end, SHOW them overcoming it.

Crafter - Whoever wins this award will show their character being intelligent on how to craft their item, but have them get stuck on another aspect of creating it (as in the enchanting, etc.)

Creative One - Whoever wins this award will be extremely creative in the process of making their item, putting the items for the enchantment on it, and then the power source for it.

Details - Whoever wins this award will be vividly descriptive and detailed, making the crafting of their item smooth and easy to read and understand and imagine.

Ballot punishments:

Those of you in first place, Several7s, ariel_paiment1, JesterheadJohnSnow, jesusfreak202, you must somehow incorporate the larger threat and what happened in the Results snippet without your guild actually knowing any vital information. You can do this by overhearing conversations with the Gamemakers about the missing leader of Seven Acolytes or any other way you wish to incorporate it, but it must include the Gamemakers or Mentors and your guild cannot know what is actually taking place. This has to be the highlight of your entry and it will not count if it isn't incorporated well enough. Those of you who know where the overall plot is leading, may also slowly (emphasis on SLOWLY) begin to lead into that.

Those of you in second place, Katie387750 and wordsmith-, you must have your character get super angry and frustrated with the crafting and actually walk out of the contest. In return, another character replaces them and what happens there is up to you. The first character should blame themselves and be frustrated with themselves for not doing good enough.

Those of you in third place, D-Willy45 and MusicgirlXD, you must include one of your characters flirting with a member from another guild.

Those of you in last place, Sara_R_Stark, you must have one of your characters oversleep and show up late to the competition. This doesn't have to be the one participating.

Sponsorships:

Silent Phoenix and Knight's Watch, Thulok has given you both a magical pouch that when you look directly at an item, even if it's in someone else's hands, it automatically steals it and puts it inside the pouch. Use this to steal the item you need from the other guilds.

Pimret - Miria and Crimson Shadow, Pimret has given you both two magical prisms that will dramatically increase the power of your enchantments; all you have to do is fill the prisms with Mathanos. Guild Valkyrie, Pimret will not help you this round, until you can prove that your members will stop cheating (since Alastair avoided Task 4's obstacles altogether and then did a move that forced them both to bypass the course in Battle Task 4).

Mentorships:

Black Shadow, Iscariot Sin, and Dragon Claw. Today, the mentors are nowhere to be found. You were told they were supposed to show up with a way to help you, but they never did. Instead, Evina shows up and although she appears more worried than usual, she agrees to help your guild and apologies about the mentor's... "absence." She gives you a list of items you can use to make an item of your choice (example, say you chose to make a pocket watch, well she would tell you that it needs metal, gears, a clock face, etc. to make it). You can ask me what kind of items you may need and on top of this, all of you have the chance to have me ignore one aspect of the grading rubric. You must mention it when you send in your entry and I highly advise all of you to do this! Some of you desperately need the help :)

Tiebreakers:

This time, tiebreakers aren't to try to break ties, since we have all been established. This time, they're harder to achieve and they're for the purpose of helping you rise in rank. I have done the math specifically to help you catch up to the person above you, even if they choose to do this.

Anyone that is in first place, (95.8), can receive an extra 3 points if you begin and end your entry with the same line but have it mean two completely different things by the end.

Anyone that is in second place, 90.3), can receive an extra 9 points if you include a rhyming poem in your entry somewhere.

(Since I'm an invisible place right here, I can receive an extra 11 points if I have each scene cut in my entry theme around a different song (ugh, I hate this so bad).

Whoever is in third, (72.8), can receive an extra 23 points if you never go to the same POV twice in your entry.

Whoever is in fourth, fifth, and sixth place, (65.4, 64, 62.2), can receive an extra 32 points if you hand in before August 3rd. That gives you exactly one week.

Whoever is in seventh, (57.5), can receive an extra 33 points if you score a 9 or higher (which means you can't have more than 3 points worth of errors.

Whoever is in eighth, (35.3), can receive an extra 50 points if you score an 8 or higher (which means you can't have more than 4 points worth of errors.

I would highly suggest that everyone try for the tiebreaker they can do because if you don't and someone else does, you could easily find yourself falling into last place. This is highly important. I know I made these difficult, but that's the point; this is a challenge to test you, to see if you deserve to rise higher and try to catch up with everyone else. I wanted to have everyone close, at least within the same digits. As it is now, some are in the 90s, 70s, 60s, 50s, and 30s. This is to get everyone close to being on the same page here (figuratively anyway).

I know you guys are probably just glaring at me right now like:

But you've got this. I have faith in you. Be confident:

Additional comments:

wordsmith-, Several7s, JesterheadJohnSnow, MusicgirlXD, and jesusfreak202, we all still have an extra 1,000 words a piece to use between now and the semi-finals for doing all of Task 4 Ballot Punishments

Let me know if I forgot anything or anyone or if there's something that won't work with the tiebreakers! :)