Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol 2- Descent of Darkness

Episode 27: Trial

*Lei*

I awoke in a dark, damp, cold room. My wrists were shackled to the brick wall. Thankfully the shackles were long, allowing me to move my arms with relative ease.

Footsteps could be heard coming from down the hall. I pulled my upper body up. The room was a jail cell.

"Hello," said Eien as he turn his icy eyes toward me.

"Eien, where are we? Why am I being kept here?" I said. "What happened?" My turquoise eyes hit the floor. "Actually, how is it that I'm even alive?"

"You turned into a monster of the Abyss. They need to make sure you're not a threat to us. Don't worry you'll be facing trial soon."

"Trial?"

"Yeah, the Seven Grand Judges will be deciding your fate." He held an apple toward me and threw it. I managed to catch it in time.

The Seven Grand Judges? As in the Supreme Magic Council? Why are they involved?

"Enjoy that apple. That's all you'll be getting until the trial is over," Eien said, putting his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He snickered and took out a green notebook from his pants pocket and threw it. "There's that too. I wrote a little in there, hope you don't mind. Honestly, you're more analytic than I expected."

I glanced down at the notebook and then looked up to see Eien walk away. "Wait! Tell me, how are the others?" I asked.

The prince stopped and tilted his head toward me. "They're preparing for your trial. If they must defend you they will be ready to do so." He paused. "There were a lot of deaths in that battle."

I punched the mattress under me. "I couldn't... I couldn't save them."

He whispered something that almost sounded like "Neither could I." Eien started to walk away. "Get some rest, you only have eight hours until your trial."

"What time is it?"

"It's already night, as for the day, it's already been a week since the battle," he said. "The dead are still currently being identified and brought back home for burial rites. We are fortunate that we managed to hold down the enemy in Kyuu Seishin."

Eien left me alone in that dark underground... there were no animals but the place was still as daunting as if there were rats all around me.

I couldn't sleep, all night I thought of my classmates, those dead in the attack. Were my friend alive? Had we managed to close that portal?

Sighing, I opened my notebook. No idea how that guy got it, but having it with me was nice. A gasp escapes my lips as I stare at what was written in red ink on the back of the front cover.

What?

The silence was finally broken by more footsteps. This time my visitor was a raven haired, dark skinned woman.

"Lei Lan, your trial will be beginning," she said, staring right into my yes. She had extremely beautiful onyx eyes that seemed to absorb all light into them.

I smiled. "Finally, I've been waiting all night anxiously."

She laughed as she opened the cell. "Funny, you're the first person whom seems to be anxious for a trial in which he may be executed."

I jumped back. "Executed..." I let out a nervous chuckle and stared at my notebook as the chains unlocked on their own. "Why am I not surprised?"

So that's what that guy meant with 'high stakes'.

"You mean you weren't told? That boy, Eien, was allowed to speak to you in exchange for telling you." She walked over to me and removed the handcuffs that held me chained to the wall. However, she quickly put on me a new pair. "You seem like a good boy, nothing like what I imagined a 'monster' to look like."