On the third morning, a wind arose, cold as iron, and cleaved through the stone columns of the Academy. Aleric stood with five hundred survivors, a stiff line of resolve. He had emerged from the forest just moments before this final gathering. His skin still felt a ghostly warmth from the fire-logic he had coaxed from the darkness. He had not slept, but his eyes remained clear and keen, a ledger of thought prepared to be opened at the next gate.
At the edge of the Verdant Abyss, the Principal stood upon a dais of marble. His eyes were cold and calculating, as if he were a craftsman weighing his materials. Beside him, Professor Elara clutched a newly unearthed grimoire to her chest. She held it as a symbol of the secrets and knowledge that Aleric had coaxed from the darkness.
"The time of rest is ended," the Principal said. "Before thee lies the Abyss. Thou shalt enter it for five hours. Thy purpose is plain: retrieve a relic from the depths of the deep woods, or retrieve proof of thy peers' failures."
Aleric observed the Prefects moving through the ranks, each student wearing a small piece of cloth, blue. "Each of thee shall wear this blue band," the Principal went on. "It marks thy standing. If thou art set upon by beasts loosed by the faculty, thou shalt see a black band on their collars. These are the trophies of the hunt."
The material fitted tightly around his wrist, and though it was not magical, it was practical.
"One relic is enough to pass," the Principal said, savoring the weight of his words with a sly edge. "More relics, or the bands of your peers, will be weighed to determine where you stand. Those who fail, or vanish, may call upon their mana to weave a plea for rescue on their Signal Stone. However, listen well: if you seek rescue, you will automatically be disqualified from the mage world."
The gates creaked open, and a flood of students poured out. Their auras flared with fear. Aleric stood frozen, hands clasped behind his back. He saw Caspian lead the procession of noble heirs out of the gates, a circle of equals around him. Seraphina glided through the trees like a ghost. Malakor, the spirit master, whispered to the wind and disappeared into the shadows. Then there was Jax, the commoner, stepping out of the trees with a movement so unremarkable that you might miss him entirely.
Five hours. Nine out of ten would wear themselves out within the first two. I will wait and see them tire themselves out, make them useful.
Aleric entered the woods three minutes after the last student. The Verdant Abyss opened before him, a cathedral of old trees with vines knotted through their branches. He activated his special sight, and all became colors and heat signatures that appeared before him. He left the trail and moved quietly, so that not a single leaf rustled behind him.
An hour of quiet travel brought him to a ravine, narrow and winding, with a shallow stream running through it. A natural bottleneck. He climbed a massive cedar tree and settled on a sturdy branch high above the ravine. He concentrated his mana, bringing it close so that his presence in this spectral realm shrank to the size of a stone.
The attrition started in earnest by the second hour.
A student, one Aleric did not know, stumbled through the ravine, panting, his aura blazing with a violent red, the sign of a core stretched to its limits. He held a small obsidian owl, a relic. He tried to flee, his eyes nervously flicking towards the shadows from which he had come.
"Help… please," came a whimper from the darkness.
The Shadow Stalker emerged into the light, its fur as shiny and black as an oil spill. Its neck was encircled by a thick band of black. The student frantically searched for his Signal Stone, his hands shaking and his heart racing. He would give his future for safety at the moment.
Aleric observed the scene, detached and amused, curious. The student held his relic. The beast wore its pointed band. As long as the stone glowed, the treasures would stay in the clearing.
The beast attacked, and Aleric did nothing. He made no move, simply raised a finger and pointed to the ground. A minuscule needle of mana, almost imperceptible, shot down to the ground. It did not strike the beast. It struck the student's Signal Stone, breaking the flow of mana before it could be released.
The beast struck the student, sending the obsidian relic and the blue handband rolling into the dirt. The student gasped, and then the weight of the beast crushed him.
Aleric stood there, watching as the beast sniffed the relic. Then he eased off a portion of his intent. He dropped from the branch like a stone, landing softly on the back of the beast. His hand found the base of its skull.
Crack.
He released a micro-burst of the heat he had mastered the night before. The beast's brain-stem was seared away in 0.2 seconds. It toppled with a quiet fall.
Aleric stood, breathing evenly, collecting the obsidian relic, the student's blue handband, and the beast's black collar-band. He gazed at the unconscious student, whose Signal Stone was now just a useless rock.
"Thy calculations were flawed," Aleric whispered to the silent woods. "Thou soughtest the exit before the equation was balanced."
He stuffed his prizes into his coat and melted back into the shadows. He had his relic. He had his points. But his trial was not complete. He could sense a far larger, far steadier aura approaching from the north—the crystalline hum of Caspian.
Next Step: Aleric has secured his passing grade but remains in the forest to optimize his rank. Do you want me to Phase 1: Chapter 30 Blueprint, where Aleric watches a confrontation between Caspian and Jax from the shadows, deciding which variable to eliminate?