Ashwood Forest had never known silence like this.
Beyond the dying screams of those trapped within the illusion, beyond the dense mist swallowing hope, the trees themselves stood mute
The sky had darkened with unnatural clouds
Circles of ethereal glyphs spiraled above the forest canopy, each etched with the unique signature of the Grandmaster in charge.
Time ticked away: 6 hours 17 minutes remaining.
Grandmaster Cael Von Meritus leaned over the intricately carved rail of the supervisor's high platform, eyes glinting.
"And there goes the 877th collapse," he said lightly, lips curled in a half-smirk.
"Mental fissure, caused by internal guilt… Pity! I wonder what you would have done when you finally arrive at the academy and see the real world"
Master Rhogar Flintmane snorted, arms crossed as he chewed on a twig.
"Fate's no game, and this sure ain't a picnic… It's war disguised in fog; Heck! Even our world is on the brink of war" he a said.
"A little compassion wouldn't kill you, old hammer," Cael replied, waving a hand.
"But I suppose you're right… this is no test for fragile minds!"
A hush fell as Frank stepped forward, hands behind his back, soon vanishing from the public.
"Where could he have gone to at a time like this?" thought Master Rhogar.
***
Russell staggered down the shifting corridors of mist.
Every tree moved when he blinked, he clutched his head as the illusion twisted again and again until Russell had stopped running.
He sat beneath a crooked tree, heartbeat slowing.
His hand was still red as the voices still taunted him.
~Silence
Davi knelt before him, chest pierced, blood soaking his robes.
"No!"
He dropped to his knees, hands trembling.
"I would never…"
But the blade was in his hand.
He'd just struck, he'd done it.
Davi stared up at him, not with hatred… but with disappointment.
"You were supposed to protect me Russell, You were supposed to heal me …"
The words weren't from Davi; they were from the Russell in his dreams, the version that always failed, always fell short always had to be reliant on Davi.
His breath grew ragged as the world shattered into shards of self-hatred.
A voice calm, not his spoke inside his illusion.
"You fear the unknown because you've yet to forgive yourself."
He turned.
A figure silhouette cloaked in silver mist stood at the edge of his vision.
"Don't let a shadow of what might be poison what already is; The real Davi stands with you, Prove yourself to him not to the illusion." The figure said.
The fog crackled, fighting the clarity.
Russell gritted his teeth. "You're not real… Who are you?"
"..." No response came his way just then…
The illusion fought back, manifesting Davi again this time monstrous, with black eyes and claws, attacking.
Russell stood tall.
"No illusion will dictate who I am."
He punched forward, not with force, but with belief.
The creature shattered.
And for a fleeting second, somewhere in another part of the maze, Davi gasped… as if something inside him shifted too.
***
With precisely timed footsteps, Reonhart Arkwell emerged from the forest edge, calm as morning rain as a golden pillar erupted.
Not a scratch.
Not a sweat.
The crowd erupted.
"Impossible!"
"Less than an hour?!"
Cael leaned forward, amused. "Ah… now this is a prodigy."
Rhogar grunted. "Prissy little noble… probably grew up eating mana crystals for breakfast eeh… Still… that composure…"
Reonhart bowed to the audience, face unreadable.
He stood still for a moment, then turned toward the forest.
Reonhart happened to bump into Alyssia Vel Bluera the Third Princess of Blue Sky Kingdom.
"Please be safe" He prayed silently.
***
Nimue crawled through the roots, her hands blistered, tears stinging her dirt-streaked face.
"You're nothing," the illusion hissed.
"Forgotten! Abandoned! A mistake!"
"I know" she whispered.
It grew louder. "No magic. No name. No place."
"I KNOW!!!"
"Of course your not!!! Don't let what it says get to you… this place is really strange" Said Alyssia as she walked towards Nimue.
"Aren't you the one who tamed two beast?" Nimue asked as she got a moment of respite from the illusion as it seemed to have gone mute.
"What does that have to do with now?" She asked
"Well I admire your magic potential… Not like mine a total nobody… No parents, no magic… Just nothing… Its a miracle the allowed me to participate in this test" Nimue said dejectedly.
"Thats not true, you have a tamed beast and you are…" Before Alyssia could complete her sentence, she was cut short.
A surge of heat burst from Nimue's chest, as dark light spilled from her fingertips.
A gigantic door appeared seemingly out of nowhere, the fog recoiled.
"Come!" The door beckoned… just like that it seemed Nimue was lost in some sort of epiphany as Alyssia watched on in shock!
The dark fog thickened around Nimue, curling like a living thing.
She stood unmoving, eyes half-closed, as the shadows tried to whisper her away again.
But she'd found something inside the dark a calling…something different.
Black strands of magic flickered along her arms like liquid ink.
Somewhere in the silence, a door opened again.
This time, she stepped through willingly.
"What in the world was that?!" Alyssia said in shock as she felt her instinct screaming at her, coincidentally the eclipse howler her pet looked up towards the forest and released a long howl.
Just then…
A circle of dark sigils flared around Nimue.
The air cracked and the mist froze.
"What… what is that?!" Cael stood, stunned.
"That's… Darkness Affinity?! That's extinct!"
Rhogar squinted. "Forgotten magic from the Age of Fracture… The girl just rewrote her fate."
"Hoho… Another ability user has awakened… this year's recruit really is interesting!" lady stacy commented on the side.
Nimue stood tall, eyes glowing frost-blue.
She walked through the maze as it shattered before her… Alyssia following slowly behind her wondering if all was just a dream.
***
Toffle rolled over in the grass, humming.
The illusion whispered to him.
"They all died because of you, mercenary boy."
He stared at the sky.
"Yeah, I know. I miss them."
A fox of smoke leapt past him.
He smiled. "Hello, Riyu."
A hawk of mist perched nearby.
"And you, Kora."
The maze failed to tighten.
Toffle sat up and whistled.
The creatures of the illusion, normally terrifying, gathered around him.
"Wanna play a game?" he asked them. "Last one to the big tree is a rotten apple."
And they ran while singing an old mercenary hymn.
Just like that, he emerged from the maze skipping.
"Did I win?" Toffle asked shocked by the discovery that he was already out of the illusion.
"Damn! And I wanted to play more" Toffle lamented.
Cael burst into laughter. "This boy… he befriended the hallucinations… that's a first!"
Rhogar stared.
Just then, Magic Archon Alzareth spoke.
"You all may not have noticed because of your rank… however he is an ability user also… a very rear one at that. I myself cannot seem to figure out what his ability is" He said.
This shocked Lady stacy and other spectators present… heck! Even Toffle Ruggard was shocked.
Who was Alzareth? A freaking Magic Archon!! Yet even he could not make out what ability Toffle had?
Lady Stacy looked deeply at Toffle however didn't seem to find anything interesting.
"Just what is his ability?" she thought.
***
4 hours 29 minutes in.
A boy named Fenton Kray was breaking down.
He clutched a wooden toy, his illusion showing a firestorm consuming his home, his little brother's screams trapped behind a wall of flame.
He screamed until his voice cracked, and the toy crumbled in his hands.
He curled up and vanished into the fog.
The observers were quiet.
"Another failed," someone murmured.
Rhogar crossed his arms. "Not failure. He just didn't want to win badly enough."
Cael frowned. "Or he didn't deserve to be here."
"Same difference." Bothe said simultaneously.
***
5 hours 43 minutes in.
Davi\ Li kai stood knee-deep in blood.
The ground was made of corpses.
The staff… his staff… lay shattered.
"Why?!" he roared.
The Asura System was silent.
A demonic version of himself circled, whispering.
"You're weak."
"You failed them."
"You only survive because I exist."
He stood at the edge of a scorched battlefield the illusion still flickering.
The voices, the ones of pain, guilt, regret, they didn't vanish… they quieted.
Li Kai stood silently as he observed them all!
'I DIDN'T BETRAY THIS KINGDOM… INSTEAD I SAVED IT FROM WHAT IS TO COME!"
Then, through the chaos, a soft thud.
A monkey sat before him. Old, gray, holding a wooden staff.
"Still screaming, boy?" it asked.
Davi blinked. "You…"
"I'm memory," the monkey said. "You forgot me."
The old staff reformed in Davi's hands.
"Get up."
He rose, trembling.
"What if I break again?"
"Then break better."
Just then, Li Kai said "I am not your vengeance, I am your legacy!"
The illusion wavered.
Then, shattered.
A jagged circle of light engulfed Davi as the mist retreated before a golden piller shot out. He walked out, but just immediately Davi collapsed at the edge of the forest.
Watching from above, Old Man Frank's eyes narrowed.
"When did he get back here?" Rhogar asked
"One of the most interesting candidates is that guy… Not only is he blind… his ability is abnormal and we could not even see his illusion… Definitely an interesting candidates" Commented Magic Archon Alzareth
Lady Stacy looked down at Davi then back at Gravilis, Davi's duskwisp drake… "That guy is definitely abnormal!"
"I like him… He would excel in our academy" Grandmaster Cael Said.
"Don't start pouching in candidates now… The next test would decide everything, that is dependant of course if they survive" Old Man Frank said.
***
Back at the edge of the forest, time was slipping fast.
Three more golden pulses shot upward.
One girl emerged vomiting blood. Another ran out weeping, eyes staring blankly into something that was no longer there. The third… simply smiled.
No name. No faction. No record.
"Who is that?" Cael asked, turning toward a nearby scribe.
The assistant flipped frantically through his scrolls.
"I… I don't know… Her name isn't on the registry."
"She passed the barrier… without even existing?" Rhogar's jaw twitched.
Old Man Frank said nothing.
He simply looked skyward as if reading something in the air.