Battle of the Pure

Chapter 5:The Tests.

Arman follows Aravos down the third and final corridor, but is met with a normal door.

"Upon entering the test chamber, you may not eat, drink, or go do your...business. You may not leave the chamber until you finish the test. And above all, you can die in this test. Now, the first stage is a series of riddles to test your wit.There are fifty riddles. This is the first of ten tests you will take, each one more grueling than the last. If you decide that you no longer want to participate in these tests, you will be terminated. Understood?"

As Arman stares on, he notices that Aravos is slowly opening the door to the chamber. When Aravos is finished speaking, Arman sees a table, and sitting at that table, is another elf. As Arman goes and sits at the table, the man tells him a riddle. The riddle is this,

"How can four be half of five? You have one minute, starting now."

Arman thinks, and for some time, he says nothing, but then, he realizes the answer.

"When it is a roman numeral. The roman numeral, IV, is half the letters of five."

The man smiles, and then continues to ask Arman questions in this manner, giving him one minute to answer, and every time, Arman answers successfully. But then the final question is told.

"You see me once in June, twice in November, but never in May. What am I?"

Arman starts to sweat. He has no Idea, and is scared of the consequences for answering incorrectly. As his time runs down, he starts to look for an exit in case the questioner attacks him. But then he gets the answer.

"The letter E!"

"Correct!"

The timer sounds, and Arman looks relieved. The elf stands, and shakes Armans hand.

"Good job. Not many people get even ten right. Your intellect is very high. I expect great things from you, Arman Aguirre."

Arman looks stunned, not only because he passed, because the tester also knows his name. The tester snaps his fingers, and the room is replaced with a pool.

"Now, we will test your swimming skills. You are to do ten laps, and I will time you. This is all you have to do. This is the final test for today."

Arman merely nods, and strips down to his underwear. He then jumps in, and does the ten laps.Thinking that he is going to take some time, the tester pulls out an old, leather-bound book.

The tester is startled when Arman asks for his time, just seconds after he turns the page. The tester looks up at him with a shocked expression.
"Two minutes, thirty seconds! That's better than the water-element Pure! Who the hell are you!?"

The tester runs out of the room, which changes back into the first room, where the first test had been administered. Arman re-dresses, and seeks out Aravos. He finds him in the hall, talking to the tester.

"That man is a freak! He was faster than the freaking water-element Pure! Where the hell did you find this man!? I am done! You test him, you fu..."

He never finishes the sentence. Aravos yells "Iz zemlje u pepeo, ti ćeš se transformirati!" The man croaks trying to talk. A scared expression forms on his face, and he freezes. Slowly, the man's hair crumbles, followed by his head, torso, and the rest of his limbs, until there is nothing but a slowly beating heart, surrounded by piles of ash.

Aravos turns to Arman, with an expression that Arman decides is a mixture of sadness, and surprise.

"Arman! What are you doing outside the test chamber?"

Arman, scared for his life, whispers something, but is not heard, even by the exceptional hearing of an elf.

"Arman, you are safe."Aravos looks at him with what looks like a pitiful face. "Arman, I shall never do anything like that to you. That elfs sole purpose was to test the Pures. He was told at the beginning that he could not quit, and that leaving the room was punishable by death."

Arman looks at the heart. It still beats, pumping out a silverish substance, neither solid, liquid, or gas. Rather, something else. Something not from this world.

"Arman, you may go to one of the unmarked pods. The door will open when you put your hand on it, and say 'Ja Arman, sedmi Čisti, traži dopuštenje da uđe u sobu Pod.' If you need help, just ask for Lamarin, the keeper. She will help you."

With that, Aravos gathers up the heart of the tester, and disappears around the bend of the corridor.