An abrupt silence followed the dying echo of Edric's words. It was like the sound had been sucked out of the room; anything else that could have been a distraction was muted.

Everyone surged forward to the first obstacle. Sound once again found itself chasing Edric's words through Alex's ears. She focused herself, prepared for what was in front of them.

Before the group was a row of tires, wide enough for them to all go through side-by-side. On the other end, waiting for them, was a wall of well-trained soldiers.

Alex ran through the tires easily enough, but the tires weren't what worried her. She was more concerned about the two men that stood between her and the next obstacle.

Her thoughts betrayed her own feet as she thought more about what was to come instead of what she was already doing.

Falling face-first into the tire, Alex's chin took the brunt of the fall. Her hands managed to brace for the impact, catching her weight before she fell too hard. Still, her breath was knocked out of her, and a sharp pain seared across the point of her chin.

That's going to start bleeding, Alex thought as she pushed herself to her hands and knees.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone running past her. That someone being Ace, who vaulted over her as if she were a crumpled up piece of trash on the ground.

Ace threw himself over Alex, took the rest of the tires two by two, and pushed his way between the soldiers like they were swinging doors. The men seemed just as surprised, and stumbled for a second before realizing their intended target was escaping. 

But Ace hadn't gotten away yet.

He hadn't stepped two feet away from the wall of soldiers before he was yanked back by his wrist. Ace stumbled back a couple of steps before falling flat on his backside. By the sound that escaped him, Alex could tell his fall was even harder than hers.

Alex took the distraction to push herself off the tires, taking note that no one had passed the wall of soldiers yet. Rollo was close, as she already had one of them unconscious at her feet. Everyone else was engaged in combat with the soldiers, too.

She straightened herself and rubbed her chin, the pain numb from adrenaline but sore nonetheless. 

At least it didn't start bleeding.

There were only a few moments for her to think through her plan. Rollo had knocked out the second soldier, a woman, with a debilitating blow to the jugular, one that caused Alex to wince in pain. The Keeper started into the tunnel, ahead of everyone else. Edric was quick on her heels, and Gianna broke through seconds after.

Alex quickly thought over her choice of tactics. She could go for the jaw or temple, but she had never actually hit anyone outside of sparring and wasn't trained well enough. The potential of breaking her hand outweighed the possibility of success.

She could try and render them temporarily useless with a swift kick, but they had a height advantage on her. The most she could probably manage would be to repeatedly kick their shins.

Her mind flashed to Ace, who had used his tall height and brute force to push past them easily. She wasn't nearly as tall, but she was shorter and faster. There was a chance she could simply run by them and succeed where Ace had failed. She watched intently as everyone else fought their way one by one until she was the only one left.

It's not like the spotlight's on me, now.

Alex steadied her breathing and focused on the small path she had. A mere two feet separated the two soldiers, but it was ample room if she could trick them into thinking she was doing something else. 

With a final, deep breath, Alex started forward for the one on the left. She lunged with her left leg, bending her knee slightly, and lifted her right hand with a closed fist as if she were going in for a jab to his temple.

Expectedly, the man darted further left in avoidance, and Alex lurched forward with the momentum from her bent knee and ran past him. The other had stepped off to the right in preparation for his own fight, but he hadn't expected her to move so fast. Neither of them could get to her before she flung herself into the narrow tunnel.

The tunnels had all been raised from the ground, and were simple semi-circle metal corridors that barely gave Alex enough room to squeeze through. She could hardly imagine how the men managed to get by. Her breath echoed in the confines of the tunnel, growing faster and faster as adrenaline pushed her forward. She hadn't expected to actually enjoy something Edric conjured up.

Her mind changed quickly when she emerged from the tunnel. 

The rope wall on the other side of the beam had become a blood-bath. It appeared that the competitive streak not only ran in the Keepers, but also in the Designations.

She stared wide-eyed at Ace holding Jonathon in a headlock, Gianna and Rollo sparring, and Edric and Cicero gridlocked in a bizarre stare down. 

Brin had already climbed the rope and made it to the other side. The Keeper had clearly been unbothered by the spectacle around her. Unsurprisingly.

Alex took the opportunity of the chaos and ran her way across the beam. The ropes dangled as if inviting her to grab on, untouched by the people fighting around it like they were wild animals fighting for a kill.

Upper body strength was not a skill Alex felt she had honed well enough. The rope wall was a formidable opponent, but there was no rush for her to climb it. No pairings had climbed past the wall, and it appeared that no one was going to climb it for a while. The rope to the platform on the other side, however, would truly test her skills. 

Alex grabbed onto the first bit of rope with a brewing determination and slowly scaled the wall.

Luckily, the ladder-like action of the rope wall gave her an opportunity to warm-up. At least, that was what Alex repeatedly told herself as she lowered herself to the floor on the other side.

You can do this, you can do this. You just climbed a freaking rope wall and got past two soldiers, she thought as her steps carried her to the single, dangling rope.

The platform towered at least fifteen feet above her head, and the rope suddenly seemed like it was thousands of stories high. It was the pitfall of being forced to stay at home all the time by Cicero. The ultimate nemesis; a single rope. 

Her arms trembled at the mere idea of having to hoist herself up.

Alex's worries had distracted her once more, and the pounding footsteps of someone behind her startled her. She turned around, expecting someone to push her away to gain access to the rope. Instead, Rollo leapt clear off the ground and scaled the wall in three bounds. Her hand gripped the edge of the platform, and she pulled herself up with ease.

Rollo has one arm, but she didn't even have to use it to climb this wall. You can so do this. Alex shook off her doubts and grabbed the rope.

Her palms burned, but Alex pushed through it. Hand over hand, crossed ankles, and steady breathing carried her foot by foot until she was able to hoist herself onto the platform.

The ledge brought little rest for her. There was still a rock wall that needed to be scaled. Alex congratulated herself quietly for pushing herself so far already, but she wasn't about to take a break. Cicero was still behind her, undoubtedly still having a stare down with Edric, and it would be the ultimate pat on the back to say she beat her Keeper.

Alex climbed down the ladder on the other side of the platform and jogged over to the pool in front of the rock wall. The wall was impossible to reach unless she swam the short distance of the pool. She had never been so thankful for those few swimming lessons she was able to take while in school.

The noise of someone splashing into the water to her left brought Alex's attention to a very aggravated looking Gianna. The Keeper pounded the water with a fist and waded over to the wall before pulling herself back up onto it. Alex looked at the wall with a raised brow. It was simple enough to climb, but another falling body to her right signaled that it wasn't so easy.

"The damn rocks move," Rollo sputtered out as she threw back a few loose strands of hair from her eyes. Her make-up had surprisingly remained intact despite the water, but no amount of it could hide her exasperated expression.

The Keeper turned herself around and attempted another go at the wall.

Alex's eyes followed Rollo as she slowly made her way back out of the water. She had a very unique but effective way of scaling the wall with only one arm. Her impeccable balance aided her as she moved along at an angle, teetering on her toes when she would let go with her hand to reach for another hold.

Suddenly, Brin and Jonathon both fell from their places on the wall nearly one right after another. Alex realized with the multiple attempts everyone was requiring that she would have to start soon, or she wouldn't make it to the top within the day.

The water was warm and inviting as she lowered herself into it slowly. She couldn't reach the bottom thankfully, as it could be quite a fall from the highest point. Alex swam across the water until she was faced with the daunting task of climbing the wall. At least she had the knowledge that the rocks would move before starting her first climb.

By the time Alex scaled a few feet of the wall, the others had caught up to them. They were all in a race to climb as fast as possible, but Alex would not rush. She knew the others would let their competitiveness get to them, and they would all try to make it to the top first. They would all fall down one by one, as they did not long after starting their own climbs.

Alex managed to get nearly three quarters of the way to the top before the first rock moved out from under her grasp. She quickly reached over when the rock disappeared from under her left hand and grabbed onto another one, only to have the one under her right foot disappear. Her muscles ached as she pulled herself to the left even more in an attempt to salvage her spot so close to the top.

"How are you doing?" the unmistakable voice of her Keeper sounded from her right.

"Don't distract me," Alex said harshly. She had become so focused on not letting her mind distract her, that she was worried a single thought would wander her off task too much.

Cicero laughed in response to the remark, but remained silent in a reply.

The buzzer went off two times before Alex reached it at last. She had not fallen a single time, opting for the slow and steady route compared to the others' rushed attempts.

Even Cicero had fallen back down once before ringing the buzzer.

Alex trudged out of the pool as the last person reached the buzzer, and she looked over at Cicero with a smug expression. She had finally beaten him at something, and it was a game he had not expected her to win.

Cicero's face was void of emotion as Alex practically skipped over to him, water flinging off her ponytail in every direction, but the corners of his mouth twitched upward as she neared.

"I knew you could do it," he chuckled out.

"As if!" Alex crossed her arms once she reached him. "You didn't think I could do it, let alone finish before you."

"I didn't even think you could do it," Ace commented as he passed by the two. "But what can I say, Rollo and I finished last."

Alex sneered at the comment, mentally noting her need to delve further into the fact Ace lost, then returned her gaze to Cicero, eyes narrowed slightly.

"You really didn't think I could do it?" She declared her question more as a statement toward the Keeper, whose smile slowly faded at the accusation.

"You've always done whatever you've set your mind to. I know you can do anything you feel serious about, but you've never really been serious about things like this; stepping out of your comfort zone and doing things on your own. You proved me wrong." Cicero's smile returned to his face, a flashy grin of perfectly white and straight teeth. "I'm proud of you."

Alex's grin slowly returned to her face. She realized how distant she had made herself from him the past couple of weeks after her talk with Brin. He really cared about her, and lies or not, it was stupid of her to pretend that he didn't.

Playfully, she pushed Cicero's arm. "Stop it, you big softie. Don't get all emotional on me."