Pale stared at the bearded man in surprise, one hand placed protectively in front of Kayla to keep her from moving forwards. Behind her, the other students began to mutter among themselves, several of them already starting to panic as the full weight of the man's words sank in.

So, they were failing already. The thought caused Pale's brow to furrow. However, rather than let it get to her, she instead focused on the group of mages in front of them.

"Perhaps an explanation is in order," she began. "You mean to tell me that all of this – the kidnapping, the holding us captive… that was part of the entrance exam?"

The bearded man nodded, and Pale blinked once more. She'd started to suspect as much, of course, but it was good to have confirmation nonetheless.

"But… how are we failing?" Kayla asked, taking a step forwards. "We managed to escape-"

"You shouldn't have had to escape in the first place," said another of the mages, this one a man who appeared to be in his mid-fifties with his face adorned with scars. He stood there with his arms crossed, scowling at all of them. "If you had managed to defeat your kidnappers, or at least save yourself from being kidnapped, you would have been granted entry to the Luminarium on the spot. As it is now, however, every single one of you is currently lagging behind. You will all have to earn your way in at this point."

Pale bristled. "And how many prospective students actually managed to earn their way in by doing that?"

"Precious few," came the reply. "I will give credit where credit is due – you lot have managed to escape faster than the ones in the other rooms."

"Other rooms…?" Kayla muttered.

"Of course. The Luminarium receives hundreds of prospective students every year, but we cannot reasonably be expected to admit them all. There must be some kind of vetting process. Consider this your chance to impress us."

"And how do you intend to have us do that?" Pale demanded. "We've already managed to free ourselves, but something tells me that won't be nearly enough."

The bearded man gave her a nod. "You catch on quick. Follow us, all of you. It is time to begin the next phase of your testing."

With that, he turned and began to walk down the hall. Pale and Kayla exchanged a brief look with each other before following after him, the other students not far behind them.

XXX

The old man led them to a large room, one that, to Pale's surprise, was filled with several tables, upon which various weapons were laid out. She spied all her gear over on one of them and immediately made a beeline towards it, while several other students did the same. In a sea of young people reaching for bladed weapons, Pale stood out; they all turned to stare at her as she picked up her assault rifle and inspected it to make sure there was no damage, then removed the magazine and racked the round out of the chamber. After confirming it was unloaded, she did a quick function check, then slid the magazine back into it and re-chambered the round. Once she was done with that, she slung the rifle across her chest and repeated those same steps with her handgun before holstering it and turning towards the group of mages.

"You are arming us," she noted. "What do you have planned?"

"It's simple, really," the scarred human said. "Your first test was whether or not you could successfully defend yourself against us. You all failed that, obviously, and now you are all here. And now begins the second test."

He clapped his hands together, and the torches in the room suddenly went out, plunging the area into pitch darkness. A panicked shout went up among the students, but it only lasted for a moment before he clapped his hands together again, and a single light shone on a nearby wall. To Pale's surprise, as she watched, a crude map of sorts began to etch itself into the stone wall; she watched as the basic topography took shape, memorizing all the nooks and crannies in the blink of an eye. And as she watched, a circle formed at one end of the map, and an X formed on the other.

"The circle is where you will all begin," she heard the old man say, his voice echoing through the darkened room. "The X is where you will end. If you make it to the X in time, you will be granted entry into the Luminarium. That is not to imply that this will be easy, however."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

He clapped his hands, and the lights came back on. Pale turned and found the mages standing on the opposite side of the room, each of them holding a different-colored tome – one red, one blue, and one white.

"Each of you will need to collect three of these tomes," the scarred man reported. "You will begin with one of a random color, and will need to collect one of each of whatever colors you are missing. If you do not have all three tomes by the end of the allotted time, you are out. If your time is stolen, it is not an immediate elimination, however you must still collect three of a different color within the allotted time frame as well as make it to the destination marked by an X on the map."

Pale's eyes narrowed as she listened to what the mages were saying. From what she could tell, this was going to be a basic elimination-style test – obviously, not everyone was going to make it in; from what she could tell, only a third of them out of everyone who started were going to be allowed entry, and that was at best. It was entirely possible that someone could collect all three tomes, but fail to make it to the destination in time.

"You will all have one week to collect all the different-colored tomes and make it to the destination marked with an X," the old man said. "Needless to say, but there are no rules here, aside from don't purposely kill each other. You will all have to scavenge for your own supplies down there. We will not be there to help you at all. Oh, and it goes without saying, but do be careful down there – your fellow initiates are not the only dangers lurking in the shadows, and unlike all of you, the rules don't apply to whatever lives down there."

A nervous murmur went up through the crowd of prospective students. Pale, meanwhile, simply focused on reading between the lines of what was just said.

From what the mages were saying, it sounded like they were all underground, and were only going to be heading even deeper into the earth. This made sense, given the way the rooms and halls down here were constructed. In addition, it was likely that they were going to be faced with some kind of dangerous wildlife they would have to fend off, not to mention having to find their own food and water.

Pale looked over to Kayla, curious to see how she was handling it. To her surprise, she found Kayla standing there, a look of determination on her face as her tail gently swished back and forth. Pale blinked, somewhat taken aback, but said nothing at first, instead turning to see how the other prospective students were taking it in. This time, what she saw didn't surprise her – some of them also looked very determined, while quite a few looked nervous, and a few looked downright terrified.

The proctors seemed to catch this, as the scarred man suddenly cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Anyone who wants to reconsider trying out at this point, come to me," he said. "Just know that if you drop out now, you are done, and will not be allowed to try out again."

The students quieted down at that, but only for a moment before a few more of them began to talk among themselves again. A few seconds later, six of them stepped forward, their heads bowed in shame. The scarred man nodded.

"Very well," he said. "The rest of you… prepare yourselves. The moment the other prospective students have freed themselves, we will begin. If you haven't already, I suggest you arm yourselves. Once you have, follow Professor Tomas."

With that, he motioned for the dropouts to follow after him. As Pale watched, he left the room, flanked by the six students who had opted to quit. Once he was gone, Pale turned to Kayla, then motioned for her to follow.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get you geared up."

Kayla nodded in response, and the two of them set off for the tables full of weapons.

XXX

"You're sure these are good ones?"

Pale nodded as she looked over the weapons she'd chosen for Kayla once more. "Positive."

"What makes you say that?" Kayla asked.

Pale motioned to the curved machete-like blade now sheathed at Kayla's hip. "That's a good all-around weapon. It'll mainly be used for utility purposes – cutting down trees for shelter, and the like." She pointed at the sheathed knife Kayla was now holding in her hands. "That's a perfect fighting knife. It's double-sided, thin, but razor sharp."

Kayla tilted her head. "Why would I need a fighting knife? I have my magic already. Plus, the proctors said we aren't supposed to kill each other."

"I'm not dumb enough to believe all the other students will follow that rule," Pale muttered to her. "I won't be killing anyone who doesn't try to kill me first, but I'm also not leaving anything to chance. Not to mention the other threats lurking in the underground."

"Underground…? You think we're underground?"

Pale nodded. "I'm positive. Look, just take those two blades, alright? Because if you don't, someone else will, and those look to be two of the higher-quality ones available to us now. Besides, I suspect that whatever this course is going to consist of, it's going to be designed to drain you of your magic as fast as it can. And in that case, it'll pay to have a backup or two."

Kayla's eyes widened, and she nodded, swallowing nervously as she slid the fighting knife onto the left side of her belt. As she did that, Pale looked around the room, frowning as she did so.

The number of students had swelled dramatically in the last few minutes as the people in the other rooms had freed themselves. By her estimate, there were now over a hundred prospective students, even after those who had chosen to drop out had already done so.

Something told her that the competition was going to be fierce.

Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she watched as the old man from earlier – Professor Tomas – stepped into the room once more.

"Settle down, all of you!" he called. Once they had all stopped talking, he motioned for them to follow after him. "Come with me. It's time to begin."

Pale exchanged another glance with Kayla, who merely gave her another determined nod as they all began to follow after Tomas. Together, the two of them walked side-by-side, uncertainty in their minds.

Whatever awaited them, Pale had no idea.