Ascension

Chapter 6: Test 4

  The hallway was short. Only walls surrounded us making it impossible to escape because the only way out was ahead. A lonely door appeared to be on a spotlight, screaming, “Right here! This is the exit! Come, so you can move on.”

  I was the first to reach it and paused. I turned to my group members and blocked the exit. There’s something I had to say before we could proceed to the next level. As I met each individual, they all shared the same quizzical expression but differed in their reactions.

  “Is there something wrong, Amelia?” Rin asked as her eyes went over my shoulder.

  Airen snorted. “What are you waiting for?”

  Kai remained silent.

  We had to fix the current problem immediately before it went out-of-hand. “I know we all don’t get along well, but I believe there’s a reason why we became a group. Each of us has our own reason for coming here, but I hate the fact that we’re letting that take over us. If we all want to get through this, we have to accept each other’s ways and work together.”

  Kai took a step toward me. “It’s not as bad as you think, Amelia,” he commented. “It does sometimes look like we can’t stand the sight of each other, but in reality, it’s not exactly like that. Sure, our group isn’t the most stable one out there, but at least we haven’t killed each other, right?”

  Airen heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. “He’s wrong. I hate his guts.”

  Kai fidgeted and crinkled his nose. “He’s pretty funny, you know?” He said through gritted teeth and took him in a headlock while roughly ruffling his hair. “You seriously know how to piss me off.”

  “Get away from me!” Airen struggled in Kai’s grasps.

  Was I wrong? I didn’t understand the human mind. From my view, they never got along since their first meeting, and as time passed, their relationship worsened, but seeing this opened my eyes a bit. Is this what it was like to be with other people? With Ray, we always got along, but deep inside of me I knew it was too perfect. When I saw movies and read books, the main character’s relationship with others weren’t always happy-go-lucky. In fact, even with their closest friends, they got in fights. Was that really how people acted?

  I was really caught off guard, so when I felt a slight breeze behind me, I spun quickly on my heels. Rin went ahead and opened the door for us and stepped inside a dark room just like the one from Test 2. A spotlight shone in what appeared to be the middle of the room, but as we came closer, we noticed a door camouflaged in the darkness. In front of the door sat our Test Administrator arranging a holographic board to face us, and on that board there was an equation.

  His eyes glistened when he saw us. “I’m glad to see you have made it. After all, my door is fun compared to the rest. Would you like to know the reasons why my room was set out that way?” He paused to see if we would reply, but none of us said anything since we all wanted to move on to the next Test. The Test Administrator sighed. “You guys probably don’t want to know, but I’ll still say it. After all, I am quite excited to personally see how you would react once you know the truth. There are times where you need to be reckless. You can’t always go by the book. There are times when you need to take chances when things don’t go your way, and the previous Test was one of them. I’m not sure how the other Test Administrators did their Test, but that’s how I do mine. Now, let’s get started on the next Test so all four of you can relax. I’m sure even with a simple Test like that, you’re all worn out mentally.” He pushed the board towards us and gestured us to sit down.

  We formed a line in front of him, waiting for his instructions.

  “As you can see, there is an equation that you must answer and a number pad with four boxes. You must figure out the code with what you have and open the door. Your code will be between the numbers one to twenty and you will have three tries to answer. Failure to do so will lead to your dismissal. However, on the bright side, there is no time limit since you have made it this far. You may start whenever you want.”