Aria Apodis

The Oblivious

The wind rushed through the flat, grassy area of the training grounds, stirring up the green turf of the place before leaving as quickly as it came. There were no clouds in the sky, allowing the tiny dots of light littered on slowly lightening black to shine through and wink at the single, solitary figure below. The place was as silent as the grave, seemingly waiting with bated breath for its sole occupant. Long blonde hair that fell to the mid-back, seemingly moving without any breeze, waved impatiently, errant strands not bothering the girl's look of concentration. Though her skin was dry, her clothes still were damp with sweat- a testament to the numerous runs she had done earlier; she had to practice for today more than ever before, yes, for she was never one for delaying things, especially this.

She stood like that for a long time, still as a statue, as the black above her started the hesitant transition to blue.

Suddenly, her muscles tensed.

The meadow waited with a bated breath, another wind coursing through to make the sound of grass rustling like her flute's gentle song.

And as the stars began to fade into the now rapidly lightening sky, the girl took a deep breath and started to run.

The sound of her bare feet made a steady beat across the dewy grass, running the first, open stretch of the training course with ease. She opened her brown eyes only to narrow them in concentration, not letting a single gasp of tiredness or weakness come out of her mouth- she had already run this course four times this morning, and this time she wanted to top herself; besides, the running was only the easy part. That did not mean that she had time to be complacent, though, she reminded herself as she busily avoided the large, conspicuous boulders- the worst things were often unexpected, and she had heard that they had released a new shipment of poisonous snakes from the East Hamlet to join the already existing dangers. Of course, they weren't cruel enough to let anything that could harm loose without giving the Initiates any protection- the large quartz bottle that slapped against her pant-covered thigh as she leapt over the boulder to avoid that nasty, beady-eyed mongoose that had come out of nowhere proved that- but coming back to the Cloister proper with claw marks your face or a painful, swelling bite mark on your ankle was an embarrassing experience, not one she was willing to-

She was late, she was late, she was late; what would they think, what would they say?

Her head felt heavy as she ran into the middle of the training session, the heavy doors of polished aspen swinging open with a groan so loud that every head turned to look at her. Trying to keep her head up, she attempted to meet their gazes with the best look of seriousness she could muster, standing at the foot of the great entrance like the half-melted wax soldiers careless children would leave in the sun. Her brown eyes narrowed in concentration, almost as if she was performing a spell, gazing at the openly ogling children until their faces became blurred and indistinct.

I'm better than them, I'm better than that, she thought to herself, limping through the throng of silent Initiates.

But that didn't stop the whispers.

Nothing ever did.

What the heck, she managed to think before losing balance, tripping on a half-buried rock and falling headfirst straight into a tree trunk, gritting her teeth at the pain that blossomed with contact. It hurts... Taking a second to feel the rapidly growing lump on the top of her head, she grimaced  and moved on quickly- it was an amateur mistake, through and through, not one that someone on their very Test Day should have made; and she wasn't even on the second part of the course! She pushed her body to run faster, sensing the flat ground of the plains turning progressively more uneven. It was almost the end of the plains, and on top of that rapidly approaching plateau...