As the second day of the trial arrived, the students were once again teleported deep into the forest where the evaluation was set to continue. Unlike the previous day, the sky above was still cloaked in darkness, with dawn only just beginning to fracture the horizon. Pale streaks of early light slipped between the towering trees, casting long, uneven shadows across the forest floor and giving the entire area an eerie stillness that hadn't been present before.
Within one of the many clearings scattered throughout the vast forest, Liam found himself standing alongside four other figures. Almost across the clearing, standing several paces away from him, were two familiar faces—faces he had hoped, if nothing else, not to see today.
