Death Frost | Deathsworn #2

Chapter 11 ❆ Prodigy

Thanks for your participation in the previous instant update goals! I'm stopping here for now to rest. The next chapter, which will now involve the elimination round for the final five will take a lot of effort on my part to write.

I couldn't help but continue thinking about the discussion I had with Amber and Elion. I got, in one go, two sides of the same coin. Now, I was offered a perspective of the whole struggle—both mortal and cosmic. Each had their own reasons, though I, as a lowly human being, would find the gods' as the most unreasonable. With the information I had gotten, I spent the next few days deliberating on the matter at hand while training for the final elimination round that was to come very soon.

It wouldn't take long for the Temple to go over all the hopefuls and eliminate the examinees to the final five that they were going to take in and nurture. Due to the very limited slots, the struggle would, no doubt, be very intense.

Eren and Maun were due to go through the fourth phase of the selection process as well. I dearly hoped things would turn out well for the two—especially Eren. If there was anyone in the group who dearly needed to be included in the final five, it was her.

I stared at the ceiling of the tent, shifting in my cot. Eren rolled over to invade my side of the place, all while letting out a slight snore.

A thought went through my head. If there were gods above Amber, then was Amber really Kaliya? Or is he really just a 'temporary hire'? If he was a temporary hire and there really was no Kaliya, then how screwed were we?

The domains were still functioning though, weren't they? Were they on some sort of autopilot, then?

For all I knew, Kaliya could be several guys holding the title over the years...or millenia. And since these people had a concept of vacation, it wasn't very far for them to have a concept of retirement as well.

The week slowly meandered on. It was a silent river filled with tension over anticipating the results.

Maun was the next one to be scheduled in the fourth phase of the exam. I didn't see the specifics because we weren't allowed to spectate on other examinees' performance. Even though Maun was a close friend to me, we were still competitors in the end. If only I could come and watch, I would.

I had seen how he performed quite a few times before though, so I wasn't very curious. I taught Maun what I learned from deliberating over the technique and he'd easily grasped anything thrown his way. The great thing was he never held back on explaining what he learned either. The sign language made it a struggle for Erenol, nevertheless, so I often had to act as a medium for the two to understand one another.

Though the mistresses, Eren, and I were already expecting Maun to not have any problems, he came home with praises of those who had witnessed his performance.

These praises bordered on worship. And it was to be expected.

I even overheard the monks talking over it, in fact. I was on my way to do some chores for the mistresses with Eren. It hadn't been long since Maun's evaluation. We were supposed to wash our clothes this time around. After all, we didn't have a lot of spare. And there would there be no one else to do it for us.

"We have a genius among the competitors this year," one told the other.

"Oh yes, I heard about it too. It's just the third day of the week and things have already turned very exciting! Did you catch the name of the kid, at least?"

"No, I wasn't able to hear it properly. An M-something. Silver-haired too," he supplied. "If you saw the way he executed the technique! I could hear the masters gasping in shock at the performance, actually. He was as good as the other kids who have been training years ahead of him."