Dawn of Warriors

Chapter 3 B

After the months of training the they had been through together, came the day of the discard pile test. It was the reason the academy offered scholarships since the test was both physical and theoretical, the students having to pass both parts in order to move on. When Alexander and Lydia got to the main training pit, they were both borderline shocked. Coach Moris was not beating around the bush during the normal training hours when he said that the test would be nothing shorter than climbing Everest. They both placed their backpacks in one of the remote benches, always keeping their belongings, away from the rest of the students, and then approached the smirking coach.

The sun had given its place to the deem lighting of the moon, which offered the students a less warm course, but a significantly darker one. The coach had placed zero extra lights for the advanced class, typical. "So. As you can all see, the pit is covered with little toys that I helped the academy make especially for you. The first bit you have seen before, the metallic bars which respond to movement. They have been updated in moving sideways apart from their usual up-down movement. Now, if you manage to reach passed those obstacles there is a thin layer of ice which will stop you from running too fast, the time will not pause for you of course so you need to find the quickest way of running over it. Before the ice you will grab the weapon of your choice" he paused there scanning the eyes of his crowd. Scared. Perfect.

"If I see you fire against each other the first one to do so will be instantly kicked off the premises. Moving on! You will walk through the classic mud pit but with a twist. The least amount of mud on your weapon gets you a minus thirty seconds from your total time. Through there, you are allowed to make physical contact" he paused again, just lost in the thought that they would basically fight for the tiny amount of time. "For the last bit all you have to do is survive through the DIY jungle I have prepared for you. If anything, other than decoration touches you, there will be added two minutes to your total time. Is everyone ready?" he concluded with a scream lifting up the small gun shooting blanks.

The sound of the empty bullet cut through the air sending every single one of the fourteen chosen students into a lightening fast run. Alexander got to inspect the metallic obstacles and found that, if he stepped on their sensors, they could not really move away from their given position, a strategy. His shoes pushed down against the thin metal of the first obstacle and, while most of the class was struggling with the added movements, there were some victors. Among them, Alexander, who stepped gently on them until the end. Reaching the stand of weapons, he grabbed a steady bow with a quiver holding four arrows. He paused just for a tiny second before stepping on the slippery ice. He noticed a few others had thought of the same idea as him, instead of stepping they should glide across.

The male placed his bottom against the cold surface and, with some amount of pushing and a lot of clenching, he managed to glide along the ice. It seemed so long ago since Chris and he went skating on the frozen waterfall. Pushing onto his feet again, he jumped in the pull of mud, focusing on the surroundings. Everyone could attack at any moment. The first moves came from the back, the late joiners. They splashed inside the mud in an effort to cover those around them with the semi liquid. Alexander, at that point, starting running across the straight pool, keeping his bow over his head. By the end of that run, most drops of mud had landed on the arrows and not on the skeleton of the bow, which was good.

Entering the jungle meant the hard part just started. He placed the bow in front of him, arming it with one of the mudded arrows. His senses were as alert as ever, he could even feel the feathers of his wings tightening closer to his body. "Great" he whispered. The light around them was completely gone and he was surrounded by misshaped objects covered with plastic leaves as an ill-intended joke from Moris. Alexander duck to the side, suddenly forcing his gravity center to the left to avoid a spear that crushed in the soil. His feet moved faster across the makeshift jungle, shooting out of necessity. He was down to his last arrow, a metallic rod that was spotless from the mud.

Three older soldiers in front of him holding swords. His best option would be to aim at one of the sides. His aim was true and the right soldier fell on the ground so he instantly moved closer, but not from the side that the soldier had fell. He moved opposite that using the body of his bow to push the man in front of him without truly touching. He almost lost his balance leaving the jungle, having to stop on his left leg so he would not fall. The positive fact was that he was behind the finish line before ten minutes were concluded. He was there with another girl. Aria. She was a top swordswoman, the top of the class. Her eyes had zero expression as she turned her back to the course and approached the side of the coach. Alexander did the same. "I expected less time from both of you" Moris said once they were both close enough. "Next course you owe me fifty burpies". The two students without turning to face their coach replied a dry "yes".

The trials were completed before the clock could face ten o'clock. All of the students were covered with glistening sweat and filled up with anxiety, given that any one of them could be saying goodbye to their life in the academy. The lights of the pits were finally flared open to point out the slouching bodies of the class. That was the moment the students noticed they were not alone. The trials had taken place in front of a small audience of new students, those who were certain they deserve a place in the academy. The scholarships were never publicly announced, which meant that those who wished to enter had to be on time for the trials to end and be picked in the place of those who would be kicked out. It was brutal to think of, but still, it was their reality. Due to the sudden change of lighting Alexander could not really see the crowd waiting by the edge of the pit, so he would have to wait until the procedure is done to see if his awaited brother had made it.

Moris cleaned his neck with a deep broken cough before raising his voice so everyone could hear him. "I am not going to sugarcoat it, some of you disappointed me and others surprised me. I do not like disappointment, so, there will be four open positions after tonight" he paused for dramatic effect. The man knew how to raise the heartbeat of his students even more. "If I say your name, leave quickly and do not cause any trouble. No one likes sore losers. So, Freya, Jackson, Hera and Korpa you failed. We will be receiving four this time" that was it really. The academy had interviewed all of twenty candidates already, before the positions were announced so a decision would be reached the following morning. The four ex students cleared the area as quickly as air while the safe students headed for the bathrooms to clean off. Alexander stayed behind though. He was curious to see if Chris had found a way to claim the scholarship, to sneak out of the church without any cover from their father's sleepless eyes.

From the edge of the seating Alexander heard a slow clapping, ironic too. He faced that direction not really needing to approach closer to know that laced with sarcasm clap. "I was hoping you would get here" he admitted out loud to his brother. And he got his reply "Honestly, cleaning graves was never my calling"