Aziel walked up to the front entrance, marked by large silver gates. Next to the gates on both sides were guards, monitoring everyone who wished to enter.
One of the guards threw him a quick, disdainful look and asked: "Are you here for the entrance exam?"
Aziel rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yes."
"Okay, but first, fill in this form."
The guard gave Aziel a sheet of paper as well as a pen.
Weird that he didn't say anything with the look he gave me.
Aziel took the form and scanned it briefly — name, surname, place of residence, and… parents. He hesitated for a second before scribbling in everything he could.
Afterwards, one of the guards led him through the gates and showed him around the garden.
The garden alone was bigger than Grimm's workshop. There were flowers of many colors, bushes of different shapes and sizes. Everything was perfect to the finest details.
In the middle stood a majestic, ancient-looking stone fountain. On the edges were stone dolphins — animals Aziel had only heard about in books since Dravenor Kingdom had no access to the ocean.
Wow! It's so beautiful. Aziel thought as he took in this mesmerizing sight, the sweet scent of flowers filling his lungs.
"I'll have to leave you here." The guard spoke, waking Aziel out of his momentary stupor.
"Go through those doors and then to the right. The examination hall is at the end of the corridor." The guard gestured towards a pair of heavy-looking doors.
"Thank you for showing me around." Aziel nodded in gratitude and headed in the proposed direction.
Soon, he made his way to the main building. It was like a colossal, giant, stone monster lying before him. The main building looked like numerous structures of all shapes and sizes came together, joining into a completely new, enchanting edifice. Tall spires bristling with windows were the most captivating. It seemed as though they reached the heavens, looking down on all else.
Aziel hesitated at the entrance briefly. He looked back once more, taking in the beautiful surroundings once more.
Then he opened the doors, stepping into a tall, dimly lit corridor.
He followed the directions, turning right-
Aziel walked, his footsteps echoing off the marble floor, filling the empty corridors. There wasn't a single soul around except for him. Eventually, he made it to the end of the corridor, stopping before grand wooden doors with exquisite carvings portraying the splendor of nature. Countless flowers bloomed, and birds played in the air.
Aziel let out a long, shaky breath, grabbing the handle.
He pushed hard, slowly opening them.
A bright light fell on him. When Aziel walked deeper, escaping the light, he could finally see again. But what he saw scared him. Hundreds of human faces were turned towards him. Their faces clearly filled with contempt. It was clear they were sizing him up.
Whispers could be heard across the room soon after.
"Who is he?"
"He looks like a commoner."
"Hah, to think that a commoner would dare try to compete with us."
"Does he really think he stands a chance against us?"
So that's why they were staring so intently.
Aziel shrugged; he didn't bother much about what others thought about him. He was only following his goals. Pushing that initial surprise aside, he looked around the room.
It was vast with neat rows of wooden tables and chairs stretching over its entire expanse. Sunlight poured through tall windows, glinting off crystal chandeliers. Academy banners were plastered across its walls, portraying the unity between the four elements — earth, fire, wind, and water.
Aziel quickly made his way to an empty seat and waited for the exam to start.
Soon after, a man of commanding presence walked up to the wooden podium, immediately attracting the looks of everyone in the room with his short black hair, extremely muscular body, and chiseled face.
His bright-yellow eyes swept across the room, locking on every contestant.
Whispers died instantly.
Not one person dared to move, let alone speak.
When their eyes met, a cold ran down Aziel's spine, and he couldn't help but shudder in fear. It was like a python had coiled around him, squeezing all air out of his lungs.
"My name is Alaric Quill, and I teach magic at this academy," the man said, his voice resonating through the room.
"As you should already be aware, the entrance exam for this academy is divided into three separate exams: the written, the magic, and the physical exam."
"After each part of the exam, your rank will be displayed based on the number of points you have. The better you perform in the exams, the more points you can gain."
"In the end, only the top thirty will make it into the academy," Alaric continued, his gaze sweeping through the room.
As soon as the words left his mouth, a wave of disapproving murmurs spread through the room.
"What, only top thirty!?"
"Are they crazy? There are hundreds of us here."
"That's insane."
Aziel clenched his fists under the table. Only ten? He hadn't expected it to be easy — but this was brutal.
Then again, he didn't intend to give up. He hadn't spent his whole life for nothing.
I will make it, no matter what it takes.
"Quiet!" Alaric barked, his voice cutting through the noise like a sharpened sword.
Silence befell the room instantly. Aziel's heart stiffened; he briefly glanced around the room.
It was as if everyone had turned into stone.
Seeing that, a scornful smile spread across Alaric's face as he continued, "There are wimps like you every year. But let me tell you something - even among the top ten, most don't make it to graduation. In fact, more than fifty percent of our students either fail their classes or drop out before the first year ends."
Is he even here for the exam, or is he just here to intimidate us?
Well, it's certainly working.
Alaric glanced at the exquisite mantel clock, made out of ebony wood, perched on the lectern before him.
Seeing that it was already time for the exam to start, he announced, "I will now distribute the papers. We will start in precisely a minute."
Wh— Aziel furrowed his brows. How will we start in a minute, when there are that many papers to distribute and only one person to do it? Not even five minutes would suffice.
That's when a whisper filled Aziel's ears, barely audible but chilling. It was in a language he couldn't understand, which made it even more frightening.
What's happening?!
His first instinct told him that he was in danger, that he needed to get away as quickly as possible.
He looked around just to see others in a similar state — a state of pure shock. Nobody knew what was going on.
In an instant, chaos arose. Everyone around him was frantically getting out of their chairs in order to leave the room.
Aziel, instead, calmed his mind and remained in his chair observing. He noticed that while most people were scurrying around, some remained in their chairs, unconcerned. Then, a strange phenomenon occurred. Test papers from the lectern rose in the air and started flying in all directions, making their way to every desk in the room. In ten seconds, every student had a test paper in front of them.
It took Aziel a moment to realize what had occurred.
Magic! It's definitely magic, and that eerie voice from before must be an incantation of some sort!
As if he could read his thoughts, Alaric's voice resounded through the hall again: "Oh, just calm down already. Haven't you seen magic before?"
Aziel's mood suddenly got a lot better. At first, he thought magic knowledge to be his toughest obstacle, but now he has come to understand that even most nobles weren't acquainted with magic.
Alaric waited for everyone to settle down again, now already visibly disturbed since time was ticking, before continuing, "Okay, since everything and everyone is in their place, we will now officially start the first part of the entrance exam. You have one hour, good luck."
Alaric had already turned towards the exit and was just about to make his first step when he turned around once more and said, "Oh, and I almost forgot, cheating won't be tolerated and will result in immediate disqualification."
Alaric took one last look across the room, turned around briskly, and left the room.
Huh?! He left just like that? Then who's going to monitor us? They surely can't expect that nobody is going to cheat, especially without anybody being present in the room.
Deep in thought, Aziel glanced at the paper, his eyes widening and muscles tensing.
He quickly turned it around, but he froze.
He now knew why there was no need for the examiner to be present - the paper before him was completely blank!
Crap! I thought we would just have to answer a couple of questions.
At first, he thought it might just be him, an error of some sort, but a quick glance around the hall proved otherwise. Those around him all wore the same baffled expression.
Soon after, panic began to settle in. Other examinees started frantically looking around in hopes of finding something that could be of help, but Aziel didn't even try.
Yeah, I doubt it will be that simple.
Meanwhile, time was ruthlessly running out, without a care in the world and not waiting for anybody.
Aziel knew that panicking wouldn't help him resolve the situation; hell, it would just make it worse. He took a couple of deep breaths and tried to analyze the situation as calmly as possible.
As far as I can recall, the instructor said that everyone will earn points based on their performance in the exam.
But what even is this performance here? What are we supposed to do to earn points?
At this rate, everyone will fail!
Since we were given a blank piece of paper, it must definitely be of use.
But how? For what?
Aziel had already spent half an hour thinking, but no matter how hard he thought, he just couldn't wrap his head around it. The longer he thought, the more questions arose.
And soon panic began to creep in. Aziel's heart began to beat at an uncontrollable speed. His palms began to sweat.
Quick!
There's not much time left!
I need to think of something now!
What do I do?!
As panic began to take over, time was slowly ticking away, and Aziel still didn't have any solutions.