Path of Ruin: The Dawn of a New Era

10. Via 1317 of the solar calendar, the capital of Rout Nitis-Rout-en

Luke POV

In all that time I collapsed twice, but managed to hide it with the help of others.

It's dinner time, but instead of being served as usual, the instructor came. His goal was to inform us about tomorrow's progress.

Breakfast will be brought to us earlier than usual and we will only have time for it until sunrise. With the first rays, he comes for us and takes us to the courtyard together with the other examinees. There, everyone will be informed about the exact course of the exam.

He leaves and they start serving us food. He places it identically in the center of both tables. I take a plate and eat whatever I want from the buffet. Like everyone else, I sit down and start eating.

Moments after emptying my plate I leave the room and go to the bathroom. I meet Eon on the way. Although we live in different rooms, the toilets are shared by all.

He greets me. He seems kind of nervous to me. Well, it's not that I'm surprised. Let's talk. We talk about what was new since the last meeting and how we and the others are doing. I mainly ask him about Sara, while he is mainly interested in Mia's condition. After we talk, I decide to ask him a small favor.

"If I fail tomorrow and something happens to me, can you do something for me??" I ask him, his eyes flickering with a slight sadness before he replies, "Anything."

I sigh. "If something happens to me tomorrow, can you tell Sara that I love her?" I scratch my head and add, "I actually didn't want to tell her about it, so as not to burden her, but I just want her to know."

Eon hugs me and promises. I'll hug him too and thank him. We step aside and wish each other luck for tomorrow before we part ways.

As I walk away I feel a sting in my back where Eon hugged me, but it went away very quickly so I decided to ignore it. That was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life.

After returning to my room, I immediately lay down and go to sleep so that I can be in the best shape tomorrow.

They wake us up before dawn before they serve us breakfast. We have an hour for her. Then the instructor will come for us. He led us to a courtyard with a podium, in front of which all the examinees are slowly gathering. I look around trying to find Sarah with Eon.

At the same time, I notice that the contestants in the most luxurious clothes are the closest to the stage.

I look at the platform from which all the instructors who brought us here look down on us. After the last group arrives, he is approached by an old man dressed more lavishly than the other instructors, although the style of dress is still the same.

“My name is Alastair Saurus Storch. I was appointed the director of this academy. Congratulations on making it this far. More than twenty thousand applicants applied for this academy, but only eleven hundred managed to pass all the exams. Now you face the final test that will determine whether you are worthy to become students of this academy. Thirty-one students were admitted on priority, so only one hundred and twenty-nine of you can still enter.

In order to join this academy, you must be able to sense and manipulate mana, which none of you are able to do yet, so you will be summoned to a platform in groups of twenty, where each of you will be given a crystal and a bottle of mana-saturated water. Drinking it fills your body with a massive amount of mana, causing excruciating pain to flood your body. The greater a person's affinity for mana, the lesser the pain will be. Since this mana is not under your control, it will gradually leak out of your body and the pain will decrease along with it. Your goal is to sense the mana and use your will to control it, then move as much as possible into the crystal. In this test, it will be evaluated how long it will take you to gain control over mana and how much mana you will be able to move into the crystal. The test ends when all excess mana leaves your body. May the most talented succeed."

The director steps down and leaves the floor to his assistant, who tells us everything we need to know about the final rehearsal. It's finally starting, the moment that will determine if I live or die.

The assistant will speak the first twenty names. All the callers are located near the stage and are dressed in magnificent clothes. I watch them writhe in pain and after a few minutes their condition slowly improves and they finally start trying to pass the test. In the end, only four of them succeed, which gradually turns out to be a great success, because usually only two or three of the whole group succeed.

Noon is coming. Some people couldn't stand standing for so many hours, so they all sat down. A few of the instructors frowned at this, but said nothing.

Apart from the successful ones, only half of the applicants remain in the courtyard. Those who failed were forced to leave the school premises.

A new group of instructors will arrive on stage, those who were here until now are leaving, but nothing changes for us. I reach into my pocket, where I kept part of my breakfast out of bad habit, and I surreptitiously eat lunch. The trial continues without any changes.

Finally, the first familiar name is heard. Two hours have already passed since the change of instructors. There are only three hundred of us waiting for the exam. Most of us, by appearance, come from low backgrounds. The rich always have priority.

I watch as Eon enters the stage, follows the instructions and is the first of his group to light his crystal three minutes later. Five minutes later, the instructor takes his crystal, writes down his rating, and sends it along with two others to the other successful examinees.

Soon after the Eons, Mia is called. She was a bit slower than him, but she too was successful. Arthur follows next, who was just a bit slower than Eon. After them, it is finally Sára's turn.

I'm terribly nervous. After she drinks the potion her body starts shaking with pain, but after two minutes it calms down and it doesn't take long before I can breathe. Her crystal also lit up, perhaps even faster than Eon's.

After her comes Ezra's turn. He is a bit more successful than Mia. So now there is only me and a hundred other young men and women left.

Another twenty is called and finally my name is called. I nervously walk up to the instructors along with nineteen teenagers. We will place ourselves on the stage in the same way as the previous batch. Subsequently, the teachers go around us and give us the promised subjects.

Like everyone else, I sit down as comfortably as possible. I open the potion and drink its contents down to the bottom. Pain quickly starts to spread through my body, so I quickly put the bottle down and grip the walnut-sized crystal with both hands.

It hurts. I can't even scream. I can't concentrate at all. My body is shaking. The pain is crippling me. The only thing that helps me concentrate and not pass out is the unique energy that permeates my body.

I'm slowly starting to resist the pain and get closer to the energy when the pain in my head suddenly multiplies. I'm trying to hold on. I resist it and try to control the mana despite the excruciating pain.

When I finally start to think that I might actually be able to do this, I feel something wrong in my body. A new pain spreads through my body and ends all my efforts so far.

This pain gives me a completely different feeling than the one caused by mana.

It's... like something is eating me up from the inside.

I feel my heart beating.

With each blow, a new pain goes through my body.

I drop the crystal.

I press my trembling hands to my chest.

I taste blood in my mouth.

I can't keep her in them.

The blood from my mouth stains the ground in front of me red.

Suddenly, the horrible pain is overcome by a single thought. Poison.

I look at Sarah for the last time.

I extend my hand to her.

I'm losing control of my body.

My head hits the stage with a thump.

My eyes are still on Sarah.

I see her trying to rush towards me but she is held back by Eon.

My vision starts to blur.

I see nothing. My thoughts begin to fade and I feel life slowly leaving me.