Chapter 3
David's phone buzzed as he sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the ceiling. The events of yesterday still looped in his head, trying to reconcile reality with whatever that was. He swiped the screen and called Malik.
"Yo, David. You alive? I was expecting you to call me from a hospital bed," Malik's voice carried that blend of concern and sarcasm only he could pull off.
David smirked faintly. "Alive and in one piece… mostly."
"Mostly?" Malik asked. "What happened? Did you rob a bank? Or did they make you do parkour over a construction site?"
David leaned back. How do you even explain magic without saying magic? "It was… intense. Think obstacle course meets endurance test meets—" he hesitated, "—fitness assessment. You know, physical conditioning stuff. They're looking for people who can handle high-pressure situations and still keep moving. No lazy desk guys."
Malik was silent for a moment, then laughed. "So basically you joined a glorified fitness club?"
"Not exactly," David said. "It's about helping people. Emergency response kind of thing. You have to be active, fit, and ready to jump into situations. They need quick thinkers and quick movers."
"Hmm," Malik muttered. "Still feels… off. These kinds of jobs, they usually have some training programs, internships, you know? Not secret, physically punishing interviews where you could've broken your spine."
David chuckled, even though his wrist still ached faintly. "Don't worry. They take care of their people. Medical support on the spot. Top-notch. I'll be fine."
"Alright, man, but seriously," Malik warned, "be careful. If something feels too good to be true, you know what that usually means."
David didn't answer right away. He had already crossed that bridge, and turning back wasn't an option. "I'll keep my eyes open," he finally said. "Trust me."
The next morning, David dressed simply — dark jeans, a crisp white shirt, and the same blazer from the interview. He wanted to look presentable without overdoing it. The bus ride to Helpers Assurance Inc. felt faster this time, like his mind was already ahead of his body, curious about what lay behind the company's polished façade.
When he walked through the glass doors, Selena Vivian the receptionist was already at the desk. This time, her smile wasn't the polite, reserved kind. It was warm, almost knowing.
"Mr. David," she greeted, her voice as smooth as the marble counter she leaned against. "Welcome back. You must be feeling quite accomplished."
David tilted his head. "I guess you could say that."
Her eyes seemed to glint for a moment, though it could've been the overhead lights. "One in a hundred," she said simply.
David blinked. "Sorry?"
"You're one of only a hundred people who passed the interview out of the thousands who tried this year," she explained. "That makes you very lucky… or very skilled. I hope to see what you'll accomplish here."
"Thanks," David said, a little caught off guard.
They spoke casually for a few minutes, their conversation dancing between light banter and strange hints about the company. At one point, David decided to probe a little.
"So, Selena… What exactly is Helpers Assurance? Beyond the… you know helping people thing?"
She smiled, that same enigmatic curve of her lips. "Let's just say we do more than most people think. Some even say we perform… the impossible. But that's a conversation for another day."
Not exactly satisfying. If anything, it made David more curious. Before he could push further, she handed him a sleek black card with his name engraved in silver.
"This is your access card," she said. "Take the elevator, insert it in the card input, and go to the lowest floor. There, you'll find the answers you're looking for… and meet your team."
David stared at the card, feeling its weight. "Alright," he said slowly, pocketing it.
The elevator was quiet when he stepped in. He found the small slot marked Card Input and slid the card in. Immediately, the display lit up with a single button labeled Underground.
The moment he pressed it, the elevator lurched — not uncomfortably, but with a smooth, accelerating drop. Then the walls of the elevator turned transparent, revealing a breathtaking view.
Outside, space itself seemed to twist and shimmer. Streams of luminous energy in blues, purples, and silvers swirled like rivers of light, dotted with stars that blinked in and out of existence. The elevator wasn't descending through a shaft; it was floating through a cosmic tunnel.
David pressed a hand to the glass. "What… the hell…"
The longer they traveled, the more the scene outside shifted, until he saw an enormous floating island suspended in an endless starry void. A grand building sat at its center, tall and shining, with spires that seemed carved from crystal and steel. The elevator glided smoothly toward it, passing through a shimmering barrier before docking inside.
When the doors opened, David stepped into a massive hall. Other elevators lined the walls, each one opening to release people like him — new recruits, by the look of their cautious expressions.
The hall buzzed with murmurs.
"Where are we?" someone whispered.
"This isn't even possible…" another muttered.
A few seemed to know each other, greeting one another with nervous smiles. Most, like David, looked around with equal parts awe and suspicion.
David kept to himself, scanning the crowd. Before he could approach anyone, a sudden shift in the air made him look up.
From high above, a figure floated down. His robe shimmered faintly with an inner light, layered over a sharply tailored suit that somehow looked both old-fashioned and futuristic. His presence commanded silence before he even spoke.
"Greetings," the man said, his voice carrying effortlessly through the hall. "My name is Archmage Lucien Draemont. Congratulations. You have made it further than most."
A few in the crowd shifted uncomfortably. Lucien's gaze swept over them all, piercing but not cruel.
"You have worked hard to get here," he continued. "Almost half of you passed through trials that would have broken lesser men and women. But…" He paused, his smile fading into a colder, more measured expression. "…your trials have only begun. From here on, it will get worse. Much worse."
David felt his chest tighten. He had no idea what "worse" meant here, but something told him it wasn't just about heavier weights or faster sprints.
Lucian's gaze swept across the new recruits like a hawk surveying prey. His glowing robe shimmered with constellations that moved as if alive, and the suit beneath it was stitched from threads of starlight itself. His voice carried in the air without needing to shout, each word resonating in the bones.
"You've worked hard to get here," he said, floating effortlessly a few feet above them. "Almost half of you survived the trials we set before you." His lips curved into a smile that wasn't entirely reassuring. "But don't misunderstand—this is only the first step.
A few nervous chuckles rose from the crowd. Someone in the back muttered, "Worse than the last test?"
Lucian's eyes flicked toward the voice. "Oh, much worse."
David swallowed hard. He still wasn't sure if this was a prank, a fever dream, or… something else entirely.
Lucian clasped his hands. "Today's agenda is simple. You'll take a quick assessment—call it a test of understanding—so we can determine your aptitudes. This will decide who your mentors will be, and which group you'll be assigned to. I suggest you prepare your minds… it's going to be a bumpy ride."
Before David could even raise his hand to ask what kind of test, Lucian snapped his fingers.
The floor vanished.
One moment David was standing among fifty or so other recruits; the next, gravity betrayed them all. The ground dissolved into nothingness, and the entire group plummeted through open air.
"Whaaa—!" David's scream blended with the chorus of shouts around him. The wind roared past his ears. His stomach tried to crawl into his throat.
A streak of crimson light shot past him—someone had ignited their body in flames, using bursts of fire as propulsion. Another recruit unfolded a pair of glowing wings from their back, each feather trailing motes of light. Several simply… floated, serene, like gravity had politely excused them.
"Wait! Wait, WAIT!" David flailed, trying to mimic the motions he saw. "Okay, uh—think about floating! Rise! Hover! Magic lift!" Nothing happened except that he spun awkwardly in midair.
The ground was rushing up fast.
"C'mon, brain, work with me—uh, abracadabra! Alakazam! Wingardium levo—"
He never got to finish the last word.
Thud.
Or… not really a thud. More like a fwump. David blinked, realizing he wasn't dead—or even hurt. The forest floor he'd landed on was carpeted with strange grass that bent and bounced like foam. He pressed his palm into it and felt an elastic, almost rubbery give.
"…This place is insane."
A shadow fell over him. David glanced up to see a man—tall, muscular, with a runner's build and sharp, angular features—watching him with an expression halfway between curiosity and annoyance.
"You alright?" the man asked. His tone was clipped, but not unfriendly.
David scrambled to his feet. "Yeah—yeah, I think so. Uh, thanks for checking. Where… where are we?"
The man shook his head. "No idea. But I think we should work together. My guess? This is part of the test. Either we need to escape this place, or survive in it for a set period."
"Right," David said, nodding quickly. "Makes sense. Okay, um—do you have any kind of… scanning magic? Like, to figure out what's around?"
The man gave him a strange look. "You can't use scanning magic?"
"…I can't use any magic," David admitted sheepishly. "Even though I tried, like, a lot on the way down."
The man's eyes narrowed. "Are you a hired sorcerer?"
David hesitated. "Yeah. Why?"
The man's lips twisted into something between a smirk and a sneer. "Figures. Third-class sorcerer. Can't associate with you."
And with that, he turned on his heel and strode away into the trees, leaving David standing alone.
"Wait—third class? What the hell does that mean?" David called after him, but the man didn't even slow down.
David's pulse quickened. The words third class kept echoing in his mind. It was said with the same tone people used for loser or waste of space.
"Great," David muttered, kicking at the rubbery grass. "I'm in a magical death forest and apparently I've already been ranked at the bottom of the food chain."
Somewhere deeper in the forest, a howl rose—low, drawn out, and filled with hunger. It was followed by a rustling that moved in quick bursts, coming closer.
David glanced around nervously. "Okay… maybe sticking with anybody would've been smarter."
He took a step toward where the muscular man had gone… then stopped. Something in the shadows was watching him.
And it wasn't friendly.