Mataram watched Adriani standing still in the courtyard with his eyes closed. Adriani was waiting for the next opponent to come out, his whole body unmoving, and he was facing the ground, not towards the priestess or the crowds above him.

Soon the next challenger came into the arena. She was a highborn from the Raja family, well-built and brandished a mace. A fellow augmenter. Adriani did not look up at his opponent as she entered, and neither as she takes a fighting stance. Only when Professor Bakar signalled the duel to start did he glance up. The Raja woman rushed in and lifted her mace above her head, ready to slam it down on the Anishi, but that was when she came to a sudden halt. Adriani's blade had already pierced through her torso.

He held her and placed her down gently on the ground as the healers rushed toward them. The woman reached for Adriani's collar, wanting to pull him close, but Adriani stopped her hand. Instead, he leaned in close, placing his ear near her mouth.

"You got lucky," the Raja highborn whispered spitefully.

"No," Adriani replied, shaking his head. "Luck had nothing to do with this."

The tournament continued, and the stunned highborns watched the Anishi fight with awe. Loran continued to watch her brother, but even after seeing him beat every highborn that had come out, she failed to fathom just how powerful Adriani was. Her brother was good, and she knew that. But Loran had bested him in every spar they had in probably the last decade. Had he been going easy on her?

Loran glanced upwards towards where her parents sat. She thought they would be cheering or at least shocked by Adriani's performance. Instead, they just sat in silence, staring at the ongoing tournament as if they had expected this. Had her parents known that Adriani was this strong?

Dean Anders called for an adjournment of the tournament as the sky turned dark. "I'm announcing an adjournment for today's match as it is already late. The tournament shall resume tomorrow morning at half past nine. For the recruits that had been eliminated, I hope you will also come and watch the rest of the tournament as I am sure you will learn many new lessons. And for those still participating, please have a good rest."

The priestess watched the crowd leaving the arena as Dean Anders said his speech.

"An unexpected turn of events, don't you think?" Dean Anders asked her.

"Unexpected indeed, but a welcomed one. Especially during this difficult time that will soon be more difficult." The priestess sneered the last word.

"Is the situation in the front lines that dire that the monarch had sent you here with barely any notice?" Dean Ander asked, pinching his chin in thought.

"It's the Western Alliance," the priestess answered. "They're almost finished building their walls, and once it finishes, it becomes virtually impossible to break through without sacrificing millions of lives."

"And you want them to be enlisted into the army as soon as you can," Dean Anders said, lifting his notebook with a list of students that the priestess had pointed towards.

"Our situation is dire," the priestess admitted. "But it isn't without hope." She stretched an empty hand toward Dean Anders. He tore the page with the list of recruits and was about to hand it to the priestess, but she gestured for a blank one instead. The priestess wrote on it and handed it back to Dean Anders before standing up and turning to leave, followed by

her Bhayangkara escorts.

Dean Anders stared at that paper once, twice, thrice, and after making sure that he was reading it correctly, stood up and faced the back of the leaving priestess.

"Send those recruits to me tonight," the priestess said.

"Yes, priestess," Dean Anders replied nervously as the wind tore the paper in his hand into shreds.

Lycan waited impatiently in the common room of his accommodation, his foot tapping irritably on the wooden floor as he sat on one of the couches, facing their flat's door. On the other hand, Mataram had been pacing around the room for a few hours. Loran was initially waiting for Adriani with them but was later summoned over an hour ago by the Dean and had not returned. Three of them had searched for Adriani as soon as today's tournament was adjourned, but the younger Anishi was nowhere to be found.

The two sorcerers jolted as they heard a loud thud coming from Adriani's room, followed by a painful groan that clearly came from Adriani. They looked at each other in surprise.

"Since when was he back?" Mataram asked, shocked.

"I didn't see him enter," Lycan replied, equally baffled. He had been staring at their flat's door. "He must have snuck in through the window."

They both made their way to Adriani's door and knocked. "Adriani. You in there?" Mataram called.

A muffled scream, filled with pain, was their only reply. "Hey, Adriani, you alright in there?" Lycan asked this time, knocking on the door harder this time.

They received no words, but the silent scream never ceased.

"Break the door," Lycan said to Mataram, slamming the door with his shoulder. "Come on, Mataram!"

The muffled scream did not stop, and the two continued to slam the door. And finally, the door was swung open. Adriani was lying on the floor against his bed, with his pillow bitten between his teeth. The bandages that usually covered Adriani's entire body were sprawled out on the floor as if they had been taken off hastily, revealing his upper body and several contraptions and devices attached to him in various body parts. Adriani's face was full of blood; his nose and ears were bleeding heavily, but his eyes bled slightly less.

Adriani's eyes grew wide as he saw the two men break into his room and immediately grunted. "Shut the door!" he said through the pillow between his teeth.

Mataram transmuted the wind and blew the door close. "What happened?" he asked. "Were you attacked?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"I'll explain later. Right now, I need your help!" Adriani said urgently. He held onto a round crystal stone that laid on his torso, above where his core would lay. "Mataram, I need you to focus on transmuting air into my lungs to keep me breathing. And Lycan, as soon as I tore this thing of me, I need you to hand me that stone," Adriani jerked his head at a similar but smaller crystal stone that lay on the bed. "And then you must sear the veins from my body onto the stone."

Lycan did not like this and would have preferred calling a healer instead. But the situation seemed urgent, and he also had experienced searing wounds shut. Lycan did not recognise the contraptions attached to Adriani, but he had seen similar ones and could guess their purposes. "Okay," he said, grabbing the smaller stone in one hand.

"Ready," Mataram said, spreading his arm to the sides.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Adriani immediately signalled. "Let's go," he said.

Mataram controlled the surrounding air to rush through Adriani's nose and mouth and into his lungs. Manipulating air in such precise detail was difficult and took Mataram's entire focus. It was not long before Mataram could feel himself reaching his limit.

As the first rush of air entered Adriani's lungs, he felt himself able to focus again. With what little strength he had left, he tore the crystal attached to his stomach. As the veins were separated, they immediately began to spat blood.

"Lycan," Adriani grunted, tossing the broken crystal away and stretching his empty palm towards Lycan.

Lycan handed the smaller crystal to Adriani, who immediately brought it close to the bleeding veins that protruded from his stomach. Transparent veins grew out of the crystal and attached themselves to Adriani's bleeding ones as the stone came close. Adriani felt the rush of air in his lungs subside as Mataram fell onto all fours.

"What just happened?" Mataram panted, a streak of blood flowing out of his left nostril.

Lycan ignored Mataram's question and stared at Adriani instead. "What have you done?"

Adriani spoke in harsh breaths. "What I had to."

"Do what? Cheat?" Lycan whispered, but the two other men in the room could feel the vitriol from his voice.

Adriani did not back down and met Lycan's eyes. "Not cheat," he said. "The power stone only allows me to be evenly matched." Adriani smiled tragicomically.

"What do you mean?" Mataram asked, having grasped the situation.

Lycan stayed silent, waiting for Adriani to explain himself. Did Loran know? No, she couldn't have. She was the most surprised out of everyone by Adriani's prowess earlier that day.

"You see, guys," Adriani began. "Without this," he held the stone over his core, drawing the attention there. "I would be weaker than even a non-sorcerer toddler."

"Your core is debilitated," Lycan said.

Adriani nodded bitterly.

Lycan softened his expression. "You can't push yourself too far, can you?"

Adriani shook his head in agreement. "If I kept pushing my body like I did today, I might die."

"Pull out of the tournament then," Mataram said as if the solution was obvious. "Everyone has seen how great of a fighter you are, and you don't need to keep going."

"I'm not pulling out," Adriani replied, his mind clearly made up and his will grounded.

"Even if it meant you'd die?" Lycan asked.

"I rather die than prove that bitch correct!" Adriani yelled, his face suddenly filled with anger. Lycan and Mataram shifted in the sudden animosity. "That priestess! That fucking old hag!"

"Adriani," Mataram said softly, trying to diffuse the situation. "What are you talking about?"

"No!" Adriani said. "I'm done with you two for tonight. I wish to be on my own."

Mataram and Lycan stayed quiet, but they did not make a move for the door either.

"Leave," Adriani said, and his words were final.

Lycan turned and left the room, and Mataram followed after.

"If you two are my friends," Adriani said before they closed the door. "You would let me choose my own path."

Only once the door was shut did Mataram see Lycan's shaking fists. "Damn it, Adriani," Lycan whispered. "What have you done?"

The door to their flat opened, and Loran entered, visibly uncertain. As if something was bothering her mind. The expression disappeared as soon as she saw the two men in the hall. "Oh, hey guys," she said, her usual smile returning. "Is Adriani back yet?"

Mataram answered first. "He's in his room. He said he wanted to sleep early."

Lycan did not correct Mataram.

"That's too bad. Wanted to make him tell me why he has been hiding his skills all this time." She waved that thought away. "Anyways, Lycan. Dean Anders said he wants to see you in his office."

"This late?" Lycan said.

"Yup," Loran nodded, pulled Lycan close, and whispered into his ear. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but the priestess has been seeing different recruits tonight."

"And how do you know this?" Lycan whispered back.

Mataram shook his head in annoyance and headed down the hallway to the common room, seeing that he was excluded from the conversation. Truth be told, he was far too disturbed from what had happened in Adriani's room to care about what the two highborns were conversing about.

"Cause I just met her," Loran smiled and stood straighter.

"And what happened?" Lycan asked, intrigued.

"I can't tell you that," she smiled, shaking her head. "It's private."

"Fair enough," Lycan said. He turned back to Mataram, sitting on a chair, deep in his thoughts. Then he glanced at Adriani's door before finally leaving to see the priestess.

----------------------------------------

She saw flames lit up the battlefield underneath the dark sky. The fire was so hot that she thought her skin would melt from where she stood miles away. From the fiery fire, the champion of Garuda would rise.

The priestess meditated on the vision Garuda had shown her two days ago as she waited for the next recruit to come. Earlier today, she silently prayed to her god as she watched the recruits fight, choosing those she felt connected to Garuda. The time was coming, and Garuda will soon grant them its final gift. The last gift that would save their entire world.

The door to the chapel opened, and a recruit escorted by Dean Anders entered. He left the recruit alone with her before leaving and shutting the stone door behind him. The priestess had silently prayed to Garuda as soon as the door had opened, seeking a connection to the god. She felt it, the warmness of the god of war. The connection was powerful, although not as powerful as one of the recruits she had met earlier.

"Mataram Rakur," the priestess said with a croaky voice, opening her eyes.

Mataram straightened and held his hands behind his back. "Priestess."

"I called you here because I felt you are strongly connected to the Garuda."

The recruit brightened.

"Do not be too hasty on your conclusions," the priestess said. "Even I can't decipher it with absolute certainty."

The recruit nodded. "Of course, priestess." Then winced after he realised what he had just said.

The priestess ignored the remark. "I don't know what awaits you in the future," she said. "But you should expect your life to be more difficult." She emphasised the word 'difficult.'

"Don't worry," Mataram said confidently. "I will obliterate those demons and their undead army."

The priestess liked the lowborn's confidence, but she felt sorry for him. The lives of those connected to the gods were never peaceful.

"Maybe you will," she said. "Either way, you will play a part." She closed her eyes, having completed what she wanted to do. "You may leave."

Mataram left the chapel, more excited than he was when Dean Anders had told him the priestess had wished to see him.

Not long after Mataram left, Dean Anders entered the chapel. The priestess prayed to Garuda, but as she exptected, there was nothing.

"That's the last one," Dean Anders said.

"I see," she said. "I'll be taking my leave then."

"You're not going to explain to me further?"

"That's all I know," she replied. "Our last gift is arriving, and I wish them to be ready when the time comes. Who will it be? I have no idea." She moved towards the door, walking slowly due to her old limbs.

Dean Anders placed a hand on her shoulder as she passed him. "You can trust me, you know? You don't always have to do it alone."

"I know," she replied. Old feelings of their closeness threatened to erupt beneath her veil. "But I do have to shoulder this alone."