Today, the sun remained dormant, sending most who awoke back into sleep, weighed down by an unfathomable lethargy, as though night had never ended.
However, even that reaction was rare, since to not know of the Lightless Seven Days was to have never experienced the tradition at all.
It would be like not knowing of the winter solstice, or one's own birthday.
Most in the world knew the lightless time period as Lightfall.
But there were more names Oren had heard from the surrounding candidates.
Such as the Dark Week, and the Sunwane.
During the Sunwane, there was no way to distinguish day from night. Thus, there was a chance a handful of candidates would miss the trial.
However, when Oren woke up, ate breakfast in the academy canteen, meditated, and unlike before, he had prayed.
Not to the Red King, nor to any of those religious figures he had upon entering the realm, but to himself.
He was not an almighty being who could grant himself fortune and prosperity.
Still, he prayed to himself.
Well, by himself in the pathetic academy room, hoping that he would succeed in the Trial of Longing.
He mostly prayed because Sable asked, but there was a part of him that did so of free will.
It was nice to have hope after all, and hopefully this hope would guide Oren to enlightenment, or partial enlightenment.
Since Elder Idris had said that beating the Trial of Longing did not mean full enlightenment.
...
Within the cold embrace of the academy hall, two hundred candidates sat cross legged in rows, each arranged strictly by number.
Swallowed by darkness.
Despite the rarely lit lamps offering what little light they could, the gloom felt absolute, leaving the candidates in awe and confusion.
The smell of burnt wax and incense lingered.
At the front of the vast group of students, Oren squinted in confusion, his eyes scattering around the room.
Why does it reek of iron and ash.
Shaking his head, Oren dismissed the thoughts.
He should concentrate.
Actually, to his surprise, they had not been placed in the original hall, but a different one that was positioned at the back of the first year block.
This place was not only a cathedral.
To Oren, it felt like a podium. It was most certainly a place of worship.
At the front of the hall, an altar like structure lay, cast in a dull black.
Oren's eyes rose to the large window in the centre of the wall above the ancient altar.
It was a mix of mismatched glass, amber beside cobalt, violet against jade, and on the largest shard of stained glass was a half circle.
Yet there were no sunbeams to make the colours pop through with passion, no sunrays shining down onto the window, for the world was drowned in darkness.
But what made Oren feel strange was not the darkness, but an unfathomable presence, a weight in the air that no one else seemed to sense, as though he was being watched.
Looking around the room, he changed his mind. It seemed as though Sable, who was beside him, was trembling, and a few others.
Do they feel it too.
The presence was palpable, sinister even, as if a bad omen clung to the sacred altar.
The batch of students mumbled and whispered, but Oren remained silent, deep in thought.
Is it the world energy. No, it was impossible to feel as a mere mortal.
He had tried so many times to feel the world energy through meditation, yet failed. He would not magically sense it now.
Would he.
Oren's eyes darkened as he paused, then gulped, forcing himself to admit what he had lost.
But not only had he lost his connection to divinity, he had lost something far more important, before that.
But only now did he realise. Did he understand.
...no, accept would be the correct word.
Accept that something indescribable had been taken from him.
And that he was now a mortal.
He had suspected it back then, when C04's loudness had awoken him. Back in the first assembly, when he had felt something off.
Perhaps even after that.
When he failed to use his anchor during meditation.
To Oren, he had ignored all signs out of cowardice and vulnerability.
But he no longer cared, under the uncertainty of the Trial of Longing.
And luckily for Oren, he had never grown attached to being divine. He could not help but chuckle.
Even with his divinity, he had been the lowest of the low, the lowest rank, no title, no real power.
He had never relied on that connection in the first place.
A hermit of sorts, he rarely left his home, and so it had never been a problem.
Oren did not fear longing for something so futile. Even if that absence rose to obstruct him, he was unconcerned.
He would overcome divinity if it meant achieving his goals.
Oren froze, turning back when he heard the large, imposing doors slam shut.
Shortly after the closing, each candidate's arrival was called out in steady rhythm.
Elder Cosette and Elder Tie-Ru's voices echoed through the hall.
"Candidate 1… Candidate 2… Candidate 10… Candidate 44… Candidate 71… Candidate 98… Candidate 123… Candidate 156… Candidate 187… Candidate 209… Candidate 230…"
To Oren's surprise, six candidates had been expelled from the school, therefore 230 instead of the original number.
Also, luckily, it seemed no one cared about him being late anymore. The trial invoked fear into most, so they most likely focused on it, not him.
"Oren."
Sable stared at the altar, then nudged Oren lightly.
"The Trial of Longing. It's starting soon."
Oren sighed with a smile, his gaze returning to the front.
"Yes, I know. Are you ready for it."
To Oren's surprise, Sable answered honestly, without hesitation.
"I do not know, truly. I tried, I tried so hard to become unattached. But I suppose not feeling anything is simply not who I am.
Still, I do not feel that I will fail.
The things I once longed for weigh lightly on my mind now, yet the future I seek continues to pull me forward, guiding me toward my goal of enlightenment."
He glanced at Oren and grinned.
"That is my answer. I will become enlightened like you and the rest of the candidates."
Sable's fragile smile weakened.
"Have you come to terms with everything."
Oren paused, shifting slightly before speaking with feigned ease.
"Ah. Yes, I suppose I have. Well, there was never much to set aside anyway."
Sable nodded, pleased, then fell silent.
It was then that a somber voice rose from the back of the hall, growing louder with each step forward.
Elder Tie-Ru emerged from the shadows.
A solemn expression rested upon his beautiful face.
"Silence."
His calm voice was filled with warmth, comforting the candidates in a way.
Every head straightened.
After a few still seconds, he continued.
"The trial will begin shortly. Further instructions will follow. Until then, you are to remain silent. Any who speak will be immediately disqualified."
Elder Tie-Ru shortly added with a smile.
"Do you understand."
A trick question, Oren thought.
"Ye—"
"You may leave."
From the back of the room, near the entrance doors, Elder Idris did not raise his voice.
Candidate Seventeen froze, stunned. With nothing to defend himself, he lowered his head and walked out.
Murmurs rippled through the room like the great waves of a vast ocean.
The candidates turned around, watching the doors shut behind Candidate Seventeen.
Suddenly, the whispers grew louder, and for some reason Oren knew the entire district would hear of this occurrence.
It is not hard to stay quiet and still.
But as Elder Tie-Ru's gaze swept across the lines, the hall returned to deathly silence.
"I will continue," he said.
"In the Trial of Longing, there are no second attempts. If you fail, you will remain ordinary mortals forever.
You will never be able to ascend further.
You will never obtain what you once read about in fairy tales as youths.
Some never return sane. And when they do return, they are changed, in one way or another."
Coldness spread through the hall instantly.
"This is your warning. Only you can determine your own success and failure."
Elder Tie-Ru continued with a dim smile.
"Youth, candidates of the academy, you have not yet seen nor felt the world's essence.
After this trial, you will be given that ability.
Whether you perceive it or not depends on the being."
Elder Tie-Ru's smile widened, but in it was no longer comfort, but a crazed sincerity twisted with dread.
"Hallucinations, memories, illusions. Once you enter meditation, none of you will be able to distinguish truth from nightmare, and nightmare from reality.
Do not trust your senses. Do not trust your thoughts. In the trial, your thoughts will sing you lullabies.
You must overcome what you envision and uncover false from fact. Allow yourself to let go."
After the cold speech, there was a silence louder than words. Even the windows seemed to hold their breath, as though the tempered glass dreaded his next words.
"As we have been informed, each step you take will send you further into a place designed for you, a place you will want to stay.
Do not savour those feelings. Savour the feeling of success, your potential, and bountiful futures as enlightened."
Elder Tie-Ru glanced at Sable temporarily, then the rest of the candidates, and sighed wistfully.
"Do not get cocky, though, for even our most promising students and rising stars have failed.
Despite that trial being one of combat, not mind, they are equally as fierce."
His mouth opened, then closed.
Ultimately, he sighed and yielded to the gazes around him, his jade eyes shining with age and wisdom.
"Your success in this trial means you ascend to someone between ordinary and extraordinary.
You will do things mortals cannot, unfathomable to them, familiar to you. But in the end, you remain mortal."
An elder in grey robes crossed from the entrance, whispering into Elder Idris' ear.
In an instant, the unknown elder returned.
Idris' eyes darkened as he whispered to himself.
"Already. So soon? Time has gone so fast."
Then he spoke aloud, making the surrounding students nervous and uncertain.
"You have seven days to succeed. This is your time frame. Candidates, I wish you luck."
After saying that, all whispers ceased.
Even the candidates knew when to stay silent, and this was one of those times.
Leaving Oren with his thoughts for a while.
Seven days....
The thought of a trial lasting seven days made him suspicious, but he accepted that it was necessary for true benefit and enlightenment.
Oren reluctantly shut his eyes.
His thoughts slowly slipped from his mind as he sunk deeper into meditation.
Has the trial started yet, he thought.
Who knew.
I surely don't… but I wonder who will succeed and who will fail.
His consciousness slowly faded.
Oren could not help but feel as though he was praying to the divine altar.
With it, his meditation deepened, and so began the Trial of Longing.