Elwin and Lucian’s eyes locked onto each other.

Each saw the expression of dismay on their faces – and recognition quickly turned to adversity. Elwin clutched his eyewrap and winced in pain, at the memory of all Lucian and his gang had done to torment him at school.

Lucian grimaced, and strode towards Elwin.

“Well, if it isn’t Elwin Eramir,” Lucian glared at him, appraising him up and down and wrinkling his face in utter dispassion.

“Lucian.” Elwin spoke no further word.

“I heard you forfeited your examination at the capital city. So,” Lucian widened his eyes with the passion of a demon, towering over him, “why are you here?”

Elwin didn’t entertain Lucian’s question in a fruitless exercise.

“Hoo, I see,” sighed Lucian, pushing his palm into Elwin’s view, marred with calluses and burns. “While the rest of us worked our bones off to get here, you must have gotten in through your father’s clout, huh? Otherwise, how would you explain your last-place bum at Aeternitas of all places? How do you have the courage to show up here? You, who scratch people instead of using his Maht like a man?”

Elwin clenched his fist.

“I didn’t enter because of my father’s clout. He passed away years ago.”

“Oh, so you admit that you cheated instead?”

“I. didn’t. cheat.” Elwin replied, emphasizing each word.

“Oh yeah?” said Lucian, raising his voice just enough so that people could hear them. “Go on then, prove to everyone here that you didn’t cheat. I – dare – you.”

Elwin saw curious heads and eyes turn his way. He tried not to go red.

“I’m sorry, who are you, may I ask?” said Isaac, strolling next to Elwin.

“I’m Lucian. It’s nice to meet you. What’s yours?”

“It’s Isaac. Isaac Artavalt. Do you guys know each other?” he asked Lucian, rather innocently.

“Regrettably, yeah. We had to share our schools back at Ascension.”

“So you’re friends, then?” inquired Isaac.

‘Not even close’ was what Elwin wanted to say, but Lucian snapped at the answer faster than he could.

“No. Of course not. There’s a reason why I’m angry that he’s here. It’s because I know just who he is. While the rest of us worked with integrity and honor to get our foot through this gate right here,” retorted Lucian, pointing to the gate behind them, “not to mention thousands of hours of practice we had to commit to improving our Maht, this freeloading boy is awarded a place just because his father was someone important.”

“Freeloading?” Isaac asked, puzzled. The memory of Elwin at the entrance to the exam hall came to his mind. Isaac had signed an oath of truth for Elwin so he could enter the venue.

“Exactly. And do you know what he eventually does to the people that try to help him? He takes their help, and then bites them. Not even a dog bites a hand that feeds it. Do you get my point?”

“How exactly so?” questioned Isaac, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“I tried to help him at school. Showed him how to better control water. Carried him through the difficult equations in numeracy class. Even assigned my best friends to look after him, so he wouldn’t be singled out and targeted at gym during tagball. I didn’t know at the time, but Elwin was envious. He was envious of us, and everyone who was slightly better than him, so he sabotaged everything we tried to do together. I only found out it was him after nearly all of my teachers pointed the same thing out about Elwin. In his mind, he must be the top of everything, just like his father was.”

That was a lie. That was a bare-faced lie. That was such a bare-faced lie that if anyone took a single glance at Elwin’s memories, they would know it was false. But people could not read his mind nor see his memories, and Lucian mixed slivers of truth with falsehood which made his words a perfect concoction for everyone to drink.

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“I applied to Aeternitas thinking that it was a great institution,” continued Lucian, in a voice loud enough so everyone could hear. “I believed I would be surrounded by people of integrity, people of great skill who worked hard, as hard as I did,” he explained, putting out his callused palm for everyone to see. “That I would learn great things from them, and work with each other to push each other up, not down, to finally be free of the hole I endeavored to climb. But what do I see the moment I enter these gates? Elwin. Elwin Eramir. Elwin Eramir, the antithesis of that integrity. If this is who Aeternitas has accepted, then I am not so convinced anymore. I hope my fellow friends and the people I meet prove that my faith is not mistaken.”

Lucian concluded his speech with bold flourish. The meaning of his words impressed into the heads of everyone that heard it.

Elwin felt a hundred pair of eyes fall on him, and Isaac by proxy.

Isaac didn’t know what to say. He knew for certain that Elwin was good. But was that ‘good’ side only a fraction of who he truly was? He had not spent enough time to fully understand what truly drove Elwin, other than the loss of his father. Such was the venom of Lucian’s words. And yet –

“For all we know, you could be making up the details,” remarked Isaac.

“Making up the details? How exactly?” asked Lucian, crossing his arms.

“About Elwin not making an effort to get into Aeternitas. He tried just as hard as everyone here. That’s how he passed the first portion and even the Trial of Instinct that the professors administered to us. That’s how he came to the capital.”

“More than eight hundred people passed the test. What distinguishes us – and by that, I mean US – is that we took the trials for our Maht, and succeeded. A trial which, if we hadn’t practiced or worked our bones off, we would’ve failed. And guess what?” asked Lucian, turning slightly to the people before him so their attention fell totally upon his stature.

“Elwin Eramir here did not even take the test for his Maht!”

Hushed whispers and murmurs began to fill the concourse.

“So how did he arrive here? I’m sorry, I forget your name,” said Lucian.

“It’s Isaac.”

“Isaac, forgive me. But I have to ask – how did Elwin get here, if he did not take the second test?”

“That I can explain,” answered Isaac, rather confidently. “He was going to take the test just like every one of us. But when the examiners called both of our names to proceed to the chambers, a thief from among the crowd snatched our bags and ran.”

“Your bags?”

“Yes. My bag especially held medicine for my ailing father, which is very important to him. He must take it daily else he succumbs to his disease. Instead of leaving me to chase after the thief, Elwin ran out instead to save me. He missed his exam so that I didn’t have to.”

Whispers of revelation swept across the crowd.

“So he ran out,” remarked Lucian, “and what happened after?”

“He successfully caught up to the thief and got our bags back. He handed them to all of us when our exams finished, medicine for my father included.”

“And?”

“He was disqualified from Aeternitas admissions for missing his exam.”

“Okay, so he was disqualified. How does that explain how he’s here now?” asked Lucian calmly, the sneer that dominated his face back at Ascension now completely absent.

“Someone must’ve recognized Elwin’s efforts and reversed the decision. They must’ve thought what he did outweighed the exam.”

“Alright, so, allow me to summarize, since I don’t think I’m understanding this correctly,” replied Lucian. “First, the examiners call both of your names at the same time. I get that, since there are two chambers that run concurrently. Second, at that exact moment, a thief appears in our – your – midst, and snatches your rucksacks away. Alright, I get that. Not entirely out of the possibility. Third, Elwin runs out with bravado and manages to catch the thief, while no guards run out after him. I get that too, since those were post-guards instead of patrol. Fourth, he comes back with all the bags, but is disqualified. Is what I repeated true to your description?”

“It’s true,” replied Isaac.

“Then all of a sudden, as if someone recognized Elwin’s efforts that day, Elwin magically receives an acceptance letter from Aeternitas. Someone whose identity we have no clue of. Doesn’t all of this appear a little too perfect to you? Forced? I really hope I’m misreading this entire thing, but doesn’t it sound like Elwin Eramir had someone he knew high-up in admissions, who set this up for him?” questioned Lucian, turning his head to the crowd once more.

Murmurs of agreement rose into the air.

“How would Elwin know someone high-up in admissions? Their identities are opaque to everyone else,” retorted Mirai, stepping up.

“My bad. By that, I meant Elwin’s father. You know who his father is, right?” asked Lucian, silently sizing up the new girl on the arena. She didn’t appear as a credible threat.

“Carl Eramir?” confirmed Mirai, remembering Elwin’s story on the skycraft.

“You’re right. It’s Carl Eramir. The explorer who wielded so much power in the governments of the republics that he managed to procure seven ships and thirteen thousand people in search of something, and sent them to a watery grave. Every one of you here remember that expedition in the newspapers, right? Or at least your parents were talking about it at some point?”

“Yeah,” said a boy with a hair of blond. “My elder brother went on that expedition. He never came back.”

“My father was an engineer on the Mare Ultra,” said a girl with a hair of sky-blue. “He didn’t come back either.”

“Both my parents for me, actually. If I didn’t have my grandmother to take care of me, I would’ve been tossed into an orphanage,” said a boy with a hair of lilac, emerging from the crowd.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” consoled Lucian. “It must’ve been hard on you guys.” Lucian turned to face Isaac and Elwin.

“And I suppose Carl Eramir, even after his death, set up a comfortable spot for his son. And that’s how Elwin Eramir walks on the same carpet we do now, without having done anything to show for it. If there’s a better explanation, I urge anyone to come forward!” declared Lucian.