X | THE EXAM
A loud buzz signaled the start of the exam. The first gate creaked open, and Kael could see tentacles of desperate blighters spilling through the gaps. He sprung into action, trying to find his bearings through the chaos.
Twenty-two weapons and hundreds of students. This was a recipe for disaster.
A shrill scream alerted him, and all movement seemed to pause as a boy holding his leg was dragged to a smaller opening in between two of the metal gates. Kael realised that that must have been where the medical team was staying, ready to step in and take blighted students at a moment's notice.
As small blighters crawled out of the gate, more and more students fell with blisters forming on their limbs. Some were able to make it to safety, away from the blighters, while others needed assistance to even move.
Kael dove to the side as a cat-sized blighter shot its tentacles at him. He cursed, remembering the deer blighter that attacked him from the woods. He needed a weapon, or he'd never be able to pass.
He noticed something gleaming not far away, and he scrambled up to run towards it. Just before he reached it, a girl dove in and grabbed what Kael recognised to be a machete. She grinned at him and shot away with wisps of frost forming around the blade.
Cursing, Kael frantically looked for another weapon. He saw two kids fighting over a glaive until one was pulled from his feet by a tentacle wrapped around his ankle.
Twenty-two weapons. Kael looked around him, counting the weapons in the hands of other people.
Fourteen weapons were visible to him. He had to find one before he was blighted. A second buzzer went off, and another gate began to open. The blighters were slightly bigger than the ones before, but their numbers were just as large. It was getting difficult to dodge.
More students fell. Nineteen weapons wielded by others. Three more left, but where could they be?
He avoided a blighted student limping towards the medics. Already, the arena was cleared from the original mass of students. It wouldn't take long for the blighters to catch him.
Kael rolled away from a tentacle just as the third buzzer went off. The students with weapons had slaughtered most of the blighters when the third wave hit them, leaving them no time to rest.
Twenty-one weapons.
Kael cursed. He had to find the final weapon before anyone else did. He bumped into people, dodged blighters, and frantically searched for the last weapon.
He reached the edge of the arena, hugging the wall. Still twenty-one weapons. So, where was the last one?
Kael surveyed the arena one more time to see if he could find the last weapon. He caught sight of Wynt brandishing an axe and smiled. At least he was safe to pass.
The fourth buzzer rang wildly. Kael jumped back, realising he was standing right in front of the opening gate. Tentacles shot out from the first small gap, stretching far out and nearly grabbing Kael. He felt the tip graze the front of his hair, and drops of sweat flitted past his eyes.
"Dammit!" he grunted. The tremble of the rising gate caused dust to fall from the walls. Something between the bricks shined into his eyes. He squinted. The last weapon! It had to be.
Ducking under a tentacle and leaping over another, Kael hurdled towards the small weapon stuck in the wall. He tugged it out, finding that it was a small pocket knife. He noticed that it had a fire sigil embedded on it and swore. If he used his flames, the sigil would be used up too fast. He wouldn't be able to make it through the next two buzzers.
Still, at least it was something, and he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. With the last weapon in hand, Kael shot towards the last blighters straggling past the open gate.
He breathed in and concentrated on a blighter, sending uthra through the knife. Fire erupted and shaped around the knife to make a longer fiery blade. Kael swung the knife down. The tip of the fire blade hit the ground and caused a burst of golden flames to rush through the body of a blighter.
It burst into strips. For a moment, Kael wondered how he was going to trap its aura. Then he saw the dark strands flowing upward. His eyes followed its movement until it reached the shimmering green stone above, dissolving into purified energy. Of course! It was a giant jade rhinestone.
"Kael, watch out!" Wynt flew in next to Kael and cut down a tentacle with his axe. As the tentacle dissipated, Kael saw a streak of purple run through the arm and to the center body mass.
All the blighter's tentacles immediately coiled and writhed in pain as poison seeped into its aura and killed it in seconds. Its smokey aura shot above, sucked into the arena rhinestone.
"Thanks, Wynt! I owe you one!" Kael shot away as another blighter attacked him, parting ways with his friend.
He knew he had to reserve the energy or the sigil would burn out faster than he could survive. He let another bout of flames to douse the blighter. It let out a screech and its scorched body dissipated. Somehow, these blighters seemed much weaker than the ones Kael thought. Maybe they had been weakened. It would explain how the academy could get away with releasing blighters onto students, and those who fell would only be left with minor injuries.
The fifth buzzer rang, snapping him out of his thoughts. Kael cursed as he saw the glow of the sigil dimming. He had forty minutes left to survive, but the sigil would only last for another ten. And that was stretching it. There had to be another solution. He couldn't just hold off in using the weapon. If he did, he was as defenseless as he'd been before he'd found it.
Think, think! There has to be another way.
Only a sliver of the initial student number remained in the arena. Kael noticed that they all had weapons. Twenty-two students left to take out the remaining blighters. How would they all survive the next wave. Already, they were getting tired, and their sigils barely glimmered.
A boy threw down his gun. The sigil had burned out, rendering the weapon useless. He ran from the blighter he was attacking, but it caught him by his elbow, blighting him. He fell in agony until a medic killed the blighter and escorted the boy to the medical center.
Twenty-one students left. Kael hadn't thought the students with weapons would be disqualified. If their sigils burned out, they would all be left weaponless. Was it possible that none of them would pass?
Kael cut down another blighter, ignoring the sweat burning into his eyes. His sigil was running out twice as fast as the others'. He could barely use it for another five minutes — even if he used it sparingly.
Swearing under his breath, Kael shattered another blighter. It was a big one, likely released from the fifth gate considering its size was nearly as large as the deer blighter he'd fought at home. Luckily, it seemed that as their sizes grew, the number of the blighters behind the gates decreased. He briefly wondered how the academy got a hold of so many blighters, but the thought dissipated while he focused on the last of the blighters left.
Kael sent his last surge of energy towards a large blighter, ripping it apart. His sigil blinked like a flashlight out of battery.
And the final buzzer blared.
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A/N
Whoo! Kinda left you on a cliffhanger there. :)
This is probably one of the shortest chapter of this novel. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Honestly, there really isn't much to say about this chapter. I tried to put in quite a bit of action in it, but I guess it's still kind of in its construction stage (this chapter and the next) since I was still developing the rules for the magic system when I wrote this.
I tried to make sure the rules were consistent, but I might have missed stuff. Whatever. I'll fix it later.
See you on the next one!
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