Chapter 1: Awakening.

P7: The strength of mind.

After our first exam finished, we were told that our next challenge would involve testing the strength of our minds which I found interesting.

“Our mind?” Leyla mumbled to herself quietly, slightly confused.

I could understand why she was confused. Testing one's mind wasn't as simple as magic capabilities through a duel.

“Don't worry you’ll be fine,” I reassured her.

Leyla wasn't the only one who was confused; others also looked puzzled.

We were being led inside another room, which was strange. It had red eyes inside its walls staring at us without blinking tracking our every movement.

“This room is creepy,”

“Look at those eyes,”

“Don't look at them,” The others were freaked out seeing the room.

I looked toward Leyla who to my surprise remained calm and less shaken up than I thought she would be.

“Listen up!” The instructor shouted.

The attention was diverted back to the instructor, no one made a sound.

“The eyes you see are called mind eyes, they will see into your mind trying to overwhelm your mind, if you collapse or are being drawn to insanity you will be disqualified to partake further!” The instructor told us.

“How do you feel about it?” Leyla grabbed my jacket pulling it gently.

I could tell she had become nervous but I also saw the determination in her.

“I feel intrigued, to be honest,” I told her with a smile.

“Intrigued?” She asked in confusion.

“I find those eyes interesting and want to see the effects it will have,” I told her.

“Aren't you nervous?” She asked.

“No, and you shouldn't be either. Leyla, you have a strong will shown by you venturing to the ruins by you being here. Believe in yourself,” I said to her trying to ease her tension.

“You're right. I'm not nervous anymore thank you, Ilyias,” She said with a smile.

I was happy to see her being more motivated to overcome the upcoming challenge.

“On my command, you will be looking into one of those eyes. Your goal is to withstand the trial of the mind!” The instructor explained.

“3,2,1…Begin!”

On command, all the applicants either looked at the ceiling or toward one of the walls.

I looked at the red eye on the wall in front of me.

In an instant, I was on a battlefield devoid of plants and life. The sky was red like blood surrounded by corpses of Vampires, Humans and Werewolves all in battle armour.

“Interesting,” I said.

One of the vampire corpses began to stand and face me, he had no eyes and his skin began to tear.

“You are a failure of a King,” The corpse said with a deep voice.

Another Vampire corpse arose.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“You left us to die,” She said also in a deep voice.

Then one of the Human corpses stood up.

“You are a monster,” He said with tears running down his cheek despite lacking eyes.

A werewolf corpse stood behind me grabbing my shoulder.

“Why did you kill us?” He asked.

More and more corpses began to rise and surround me.

“Why did you leave us to die?”

They began to ask the same questions over and over…

“Why did you kill us?”

“Why?”

“Why?

As more and more corpses arose the voices became louder and louder…

“WHY?”

“WHY?

“WHYYYY?!!”

The corpses not only became more in number but drew closer to me.

Now I see what the instructor said by testing the strength of my mind.

This test shows you an event in the past filled with sorrow, hate, fear and regret you have done to others.

I remember this battlefield, this was a day where many Vampires, Humans and Werewolves lost their lives and I killed thousands of Humans and Werewolves.

I recognise them all…all those Humans and Werewolves who dyed by my hand despite their deformed faces I still recognise every one of them.

What I saw in them was sorrow. I didn't want to use offensive manners here.

I looked at all of them.

“I'm sorry…What I have done to you all was a tragedy and a sin that I must live with. I'm sorry for robbing your lives for causing pain to you and your families. I'm sorry that I let so many of my Vampire brothers and sisters die. But your death was not meaningless through all your sacrifices, your descendants live in peace away from war, away from endless conflict which plagued us for so many years. Isn't this what you all fought for? A better future? I hope you all have been reincarnated into this era of peace,” I told them with sincerity.

The corpses went quiet not making a sound and just stared at each other.

The corpses who were all deformed and looking like zombies began to turn the way they looked when they were alive.

“We forgive you, may our lord uphold peace in this era,” The vampires said bowing to me.

“We forgive you, Vampire King, please maintain the peace for which we spilt our blood for,” The humans said.

“Please ensure the peace of this world,” The werewolves said.

I faced them all.

“I promise that I will destroy anything that threatens the peace you all have sacrificed yourselves for,” I said with determination.

The corpses smiled and began to fade away.

“Goodbye,” I said, lowering my head out of respect.

Next, I was inside the room.

I looked around seeing applicants still in a trance undergoing the trial.

I saw applicants on the floor unconscious and applicants who screamed in fear, those were the applicants who failed this test.

I saw a small number of applicants who passed the trial and are waiting for the others to finish.

I looked toward Leyla who stood next to me.

She was still in the middle of her trial…

(Inside Leyla's trial)

Leyla was inside a mansion.

“You are nothing!” A man told her in anger.

“Sister please don't leave,” A boy begged her with streams of tears running down his face.

“Leyla, why were you born!?” A woman asked with hate.

Leyla was on the ground desperately covering her ears.

“Please make it stop,” She mumbled.

“Please,”

“Please,”

“Please,”

“You are a mistake of a child!” The man shouted.

“Sister!” The boy cried.

“I HATE YOU!” The woman yelled.

Leyla was on the brink of madness…Until she began to remember something a certain someone told her.

“Leyla, believe in yourself,” “You have a strong will,”

“That's right. I can't give up! I have come too far just to fail!” She got up with firm determination.

“Sister?” The boy walked up to her with open arms.

“I'm sorry brother, mother and father. I will be leaving,” She said with no more tears showing but rather a strong expression.

The mansion began to crumble and the people faded away.

At that point, Leyla was in shock and confused as she awoke from her trance.

“I-I’m back?” She asked, turning her head quickly in all directions.

“That's right,” I told her from behind.

“I- I made it,” She said with a smile and relief.

Leyla saw something she wanted to bury deep within her mind, she was shivering.

“Leyla, I saw something in my past that caused immense pain to others. Did you see something similar?” I wanted to ask her what she saw, perhaps talking about it would have been better than avoiding it.

“I saw something that caused me despair and pain,” She said with her head lowered.

It seemed that there was a key difference between me and her trial.

I saw an event which brought despair to others while she saw an event bringing despair to her.

“If you need an ear to speak to, I'm always here for you,” I told her.

Me and Leyla have strengthened our friendship by facing this exam together.

“I appreciate it and I will also always listen to you,” She replied.

As time passed many of the remaining applicants either fainted or were driven insane with only 50 applicants remaining from the 500 that started the exam.

“Congratulations to the remaining applicants!” Vallerie Tepes took the stage addressing us.

“You have proven not only that you are competent in magic but also have a strong will! Now for the final test, you will need to answer one simple question,” She said with a weird smile almost on the verge of being creepy.

The applicants were thrilled to hear that the final test only involved a single question.

“Did you hear? Only one question!”

“This is the easiest part of this exam!”

“I thought the final test would be difficult!”

I, however, remained sceptical. There must have been a catch to this question. Making the final hurdle of acceptance this easy was too good to be true.

“One question…I think there must be more to it,” Leyla said quietly stroking her chin in thought.

Leyla shared the same thought as me.

The question remained .... ”What is the final question?”