Flame felt like his chest was on fire. The exhaustion felt fulfilling. He watched the large goat creature rest on one knee in a moment of weakness, still taken with the fit of coughing that they had inflicted on him.

There were no serious burns (Flame assumed they really couldn’t get those,) but they had done a number on him.

Blood and slight craters were marked on his thick skin. Blood slowly dripped down. Flame only got more excited when he realized that the majority of the damage that was done, was in fact his!

Fire sputtered out the old mans mouth as the cough’s slowly ramped up. Jeez. Flame’s mouth curled slightly at the display. Even though his pride was reaching new heights, he wondered why the old man was coughing so bad.

It was just a little smoke.

“Were ya’ll– Cough, Cough, trying to kill me?”

“Yep!” Flame yelled. The minotaur gave him that side eye. Not really appreciating the boy’s antics. Flame tried his best to keep his chest level, but found himself slightly woozy from all of the grenades he launched. It wasn’t too bad. But the swaying was definitely noticeable.

He shrugged.

He could handle it. He was Flame.

The giant creature used flame magic in a similar way that the pink imp did. He watched the man take a deep breath outward, then with his hands, grab onto the smoke like it was solid. He pulled on it like a lazy cotton serpent. The giant pulled through rough coughs, until he had gotten all the smoke out of his lungs.

“Nice trick, boy,” He said, looking over to the pink imp standing next to the black one, “Got anything that you go by?”

“Smokey.”

“Smokey! A fiery name for a fiery talent,” Flame caught the adults little white lie from a mile away. That name sucked. “Great work with that smoke. Do you have trouble making fire?”

The little imp solemnly nodded, and surprisingly, the colossus gave back a knowing nod. He sat down next to the little imp. “It’s alright, I was born a dud you know.”

“Really?”

“Yuh, not a drop of magic in me. They wanted me to work in the pots.” He chuckled in remembrance, then flexed his left bicep. “Showed them.”

He gained magic? That was possible? Flame assumed what you had was what you got forever. That only seemed logical. It had only been a few weeks, but the thought of people just suddenly gaining the ability to create water seemed illogical.

And for some reason, in the back of his head, it felt like cheating.

He didn’t like that.

The goat man continued, talking to the pink imp about how monsters work. They continued for a while, going over many things:Their races physiology, fire breath, affinities and something that made Flame’s ears perk up.

Evolution. “...Course, you don’t just get big muscles when you evolve. You can get a whole bunch of quirks. You just have to be lucky and work hard, and you’ll get there.”

…He noted that for later.

The brute was a lot smarter than Flame had assumed. He was under the impression he was just a loud monster with a club, but it seemed he was pretty knowledgeable.

“And your friend!” He pointed over to Rhodney, crisscrossed and sitting in a focused stance. “He always… Glow, like that?”

Flame hoped the goat man hadn’t seen Rhodney pick him back up. His ears were red as he remembered. He was ready to beat that imp for laying his hands on him. He could’ve gotten up. He could’ve. He just… needed time to rest.

Flame didn’t need help. Rhodney was lucky the battle was still going on.

Smokey shook his head. “He mostly just stumbles around, giving us stories and surprises that we’ve never heard of or seen before.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Aye, the blessed ones do have that immediate knowledge…”

“Lucky.” Smokey says.

“Lucky.” The instructor agrees.

“OY!” The giant yells over to Rhodney, who jumps in surprise, opening his eyes and looking over to the pair. “What’s your magic called?” Rhodney sits and thinks for a minute. His eyes rolled back and Flame watched him flick through his mind like pages, in real time.

Freaky.

“...Nature. That’s what Miss.Todo called it.” The hecks a Miss?

“Hmm,” The old giant stroked its chin and “Regardless, no matter where you end up, you will be an important person in the tribe. We have never had a healer before, so find a way to use ‘em without wearing yourself out. Good job healing our allies.” He said.

Flame sneered as he heard the old man's words.

How was healing magic special? He hadn’t swung a single attack. He hadn’t done a single spell. He hadn’t even blown out that useless smoke that other imp had done, and at least the black imp had pretended to wave his hands around.

They hadn’t won.

They’d failed the test… well, they had.

Flame knew he’d passed with flying colors.

Flame got slightly impatient as he watched the giant move through the room. He walked around the room, giving congratulations and feedback to these worthless people who barely even did anything.

Why… Why was he not getting him?

“And you, tail man! Great job with the earth magic lad! And an especially good job on your control. Just be careful. The minute you leave the mana won’t be nearly as thick. Most imp’s have small reserves and by your lack of horns, you definitely have very little in the tank, so move cautiously.” He says.

Even Tail got a compliment! Tail! He’d gotten to the seventh person when Flame's pit in his stomach couldn’t have gotten bigger if he grabbed a shovel.

And involuntarily, and against his better judgment, he yelled before he got to imp number 8. “What about me!”

“Flame put on the biggest smile he could, layering himself with his thinning confidence.

The giant demon stopped. A slight frown forming on his face as he turned to look at him. “What… about you?”

Ouch.

Ok, that hurt.

But Flame shook it off and looked him straight in the eyes. “What did you like about what I did? Didn’t you like my fire?”

He was the one who fought without breaks. He was the one who charged in first. He was the one who had pushed him back. He threw ball after ball of fire without once backing down. He dodged the man’s giant club, maneuvered in the air…

Why was he being ignored?

The silence that came was one of the worst Flame had experienced. Just this giant man who he wanted to please staring down at him. His rectangular goat eyes and face which were at one point full of life, looking at him with just… nothing. Pure nothing.

Flame couldn’t hit this.

He couldn’t scare this.

He couldn’t bend its will to his submission.

He couldn’t test the creature and hold himself in the power position.

He was on the opposite side, on the broken side of the bridge.

“How… did you plan to beat me?”

…What?

“At the time, it was cute. There’s nothin’ I love more than someone charging headfirst into a battle they can’t win. It makes me happy and feel proud, but… Why would you? Was there a plan to win?”

Flame felt his heart slowly drop as the man’s loud voice had become calm and still. Each word lacked the emphasis and the jolly that he’d shown before.

Flame spatted out, “We-We weren’t supposed to!” He was panicking, “The test was to impress you!”

The man’s eyes darkened more. “And how did you figure that?”

Sweat. Pure sweat. Flame’s arm reached on its own. Reflexively pointing to Navy who was standing near Smokey. “He told me!” Navy sucked his teeth as the boy snitched. Flame could almost hear the respect being drained out of Navy’s body.

Sorry.

That was weak.

I’m sorry.

I shouldn't've… I…

Flame shook his head. He needed to. Anyone would’ve. He wasn’t going to get punished for something that he didn’t do! He didn’t even do anything wrong!

Flame’s reputation was low with the giant for no reason! He wasn’t taking risks.

The goat man looked to Navy for an answer. “I… Heard it.”

“...Heard it?”

“You can use the mana in the air to see and hear things better if you funnel it into your ears, and eyes. Just like any other muscle,” Navy spoke as if his words were fact, “I heard a couple feeders talk outside The Cradle, laughing about it.”

The proctor’s eye’s opened slightly more and he looked genuinely interested.

“Really?”

“Yeah, you can even make a map inside your head if you get good enough,” Navy shrugs, teaching the teacher. “Though I've been told that’s hard.”

“Of course it is!” The instructor was flabbergasted, “If you get good enough, he says… I’ve been told that’s not normal, he says…”

He mumbles himself for a bit, grabbing the bridge of his goat face.

He sighs, “What else did you hear?”

“...Only the next test as well.”