Ascension

Chapter 8: Test 6

  I watched as Kai entered the simulation room with confidence. Our Test Administrator had separated us according to age groups, and we were one of the youngest. Everyone passed the previous Test with a few casualties. Some groups passed with their full team of four while the majority arrived with three.

  Before we started our training, our weapons were confiscated and were said to return to us later on in the Tests.

  Nerie and Nina were with us. They were one of the first to finish the simulation and pass. Each had a band across their arm to measure their vital signs and each were sweaty from constantly running and jumping over obstacles unknown to the bystanders. After all, in the simulation, what they saw was completely different from what we saw from inside our little box.

  In our boxed room, there was a large window looking down on the simulation room and controls that controlled what happened inside the room. It was suffocating as several bodies were congregated into one area with some sweating and emitting heat after they finished their training.

  This training was part of the current Test which would overlap with our next Test. Here, we were mainly increasing our strength and stamina for the unknown. Our Test Administrator wanted to keep the next Test as a surprise, so he wouldn’t give us clues on what was to come.

  “We will start the simulation,” our Test Administrator informed Kai through the microphone.

  Below, I saw Kai give a thumbs up while looking up at us through his glasses which would screen the scenery he would be placed in.

  “Get ready.” He pressed several buttons and pulled a switch. His fingers were flying, but if it weren’t for the constant clicks, then it would seem like he never touched them at all. “This simulation will run for ten minutes just like everyone else, and remember this is a simulation so anything you see is not real, but whatever you feel will be, so be careful. The simulation will start in 3… 2… 1…”

  The lights flickered in Kai’s room and immediately he dashed to the right, avoiding the wall in front of him. Blocks and walls appeared as the simulation continued, blocking Kai’s way or causing him to jump over it. He constanly looked back as if he was being chased. After quite some time, he was slowing down, but he never stopped running. Once, he stumbled, but that was it. He managed to complete the full ten minutes just like Nerie and Nina. As for the rest before them, they couldn’t, but it didn’t matter since it was only training.

  When the simulation was over, our Test Administrator pressed a few buttons and spoke, “The simulation is over. You may come back up.” He turned to the group and checked his list. “Let me have Rin next.” He handed her a pair of glasses and returned to his machinery.

  Rin stepped out just as Kai was walking in. He smiled at her and patted her head. “Good luck, Sis!”

  The simulation started again, but the path was different. There were more obstacles in Rin’s simulation compared to everyone else’s, but it was nothing to her. She was like a cat: landing on her feet every time she jumped over a block and crawling under small tunnels with ease. This was a side I have never seen on Rin. I found myself cheering for her silently in my head.

  Beside me, Airen snorted, “I could do better than that!” It was unclear whether he was talking to himself or to me because when I didn’t reply, he remained silent with his arms across his chest and a pout on his lips.

  At the seven minute mark, the simulation abruptly ended.

  “I can’t continue,” I heard Rin through the speaker. She was kneeling on the ground, catching her breath as her chest rose and lowered distictively.