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18 - The Exam

"Wake up!"

A voice aroused us from our deep sleep. From the way I was feeling, it felt as if I had slept five hours. Everybody else probably slept for about six or seven. Pulling the ear plugs out of my ears, we all sat up. Glasses of coconut tasting water appeared in front of us and I gulped mine down.

"You sleep okay?" Winter asked from beside me. He looked refreshed but thankfully not athletic or on steroids, which meant he wasn't in danger of losing REM sleep.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Didn't have a dream though."

"Me neither," he chuckled.

The bus appeared to pull into a gated area where there was a single building that was one story high. It looked like a cube. That was it, a white cube in the middle of an area of concrete that was shaped like a circle.

The bus parked and slid out of our beds/chairs and made our way to the front. Stepping off the bus, we walked past two lines of Astynomia who held guns. At the end, Vincent was there too with his white gun.

He made a face as if to ask, "you okay?"

I nodded my approval as I walked past him.

"Best of luck," he whispered, and the 22 of us walked past the entrance of the cube.

"Welcome Awakened Ones, to the final exam. Congratulations on making it to the last stage." The metallic voice we heard from the beach and our first day at the academy filled the air. Engulfed in darkness, nervous bodies around me fidgeted.

"You will now hear a message from the doctor."

A few moments passed in silence until a lulling voice started talking.

"Hello my dear students." It was the doctor.

"As many of you have noticed, five of you are missing."

There was a sea of murmurs and I think I heard somebody faint.

"Those five Awakened Ones have been disqualified due to tragic reasons. Now, it is up to you to decide who becomes the leader. Follow the rules and nobody else will get disqualified."

I heard guns cocking and I gulped down a mouthful of air. I hadn't realized I wasn't breathing. The incident with the Cassie-like monster was terrifying but now wasn't the time to lose my shiz.

"And now, for the final stage of the course for the Awakened Ones!"

As soon as Dr. Oneiro's voice disappeared, the lights abruptly turned on, which caused me to close my eyes for a moment. Gravity seemed to shift and I was lying down. Lying down in something... soft and gritty. The smell of smoke filled my nostrils and I opened my eyes slowly.

I saw the blue ocean. As if the sky and sea had traded places, waves crashed from above as I lied there alone. My hand felt hot and when I looked to my side, Winter was holding my hand.

"Winter?"

"Hey Anon," he smiled. Even though he smiled his careless smile, something about him wasn't right. His eyes. His eyes weren't the normal hazel ones that I saw almost everyday. This time, one was brown and the other one was grey.

What's going on?

"Something wrong?" Winter frowned as he squeezed my hand. Hard.

"N-no," I said uncomfortably looking up at the sky or should I say sea? The pressure of him squeezing grew more and more. "Ouch, Winter. You're hurting me."

I looked at my hand again but this time, it wasn't Winter. A figure made out of stars was looming next to me. My hand hotter than ever, I tried to pull away.

"How does that feel Miss Anonymous?" A deformed voice came from the humanoid figure.

"It hurts! Get the eff off!" I struggled more and more to free my hand but nothing worked.

"Let's play by my rules Miss Anonymous." The star man pulled my arm and I was standing right in front of him. The scene changed and we were outside where it was nighttime. The air blew softly and the ocean could be heard several meters away.

Wait... I've seen this place before.

I heard a demonic chuckle and before I knew it, I was flying through the air. My arm felt like it was being stretched out and the star man was flinging me around in the night sky.

"Rule number one! I am your master!"

He threw me down onto the ground and I yelped as pain coursed through my ribs.

"Rule number two." He flung me up into the air again. "You will face me alone."

I slammed into the hard ground again and this time I heard a crunch. Blood pulsed through my veins and I did my best to think about what to do on top of the excruciating pain that came from my side.

Do I run? But how? Give in? NO.

"Rule number three," the voice went on as I flew back into the air. "You will never wake up."

In the millisecond before I was thrown back onto the ground, I thought of something.

I wasn't awake.

I was asleep.

And the things I was currently experiencing were from the dreams I had dreamt in the academy and the things I had put into my dream log. I am re-dreaming everything.

Before I hit the ground, I reached out with my other arm and felt my fingers grab onto a palm tree.

There you are. I grinned.

I pulled myself away from the star man and heard a pop in my left shoulder. Landing in the bushes, I willed my arm I had used to grab the tree to shrink back to its normal size and it did obediently. My other arm, however, was missing.

That little shiznit! He has my arm!

"Where did you go and why did you leave your limb?!" An angry voice yelled out into the night. His glimmering body of stars made him easy to see in the night. It was as if it was raining purple glitter wherever he went. "I AM YOUR MASTER, YOU WILL FACE ME ALONE, AND YOU WILL NEVER EVER WAKE UP!!"

"How about this?!" I yelled back. "Let's play by my rules and GIVE ME BACK MY ARM!"

I charged him with my battlecry.