"Life is made of so many moments that mean nothing. Then one day, a single moment comes along to define every second that comes after. Such moments are a test of courage, of strength."

—Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

Celeste~

...I didn't know how the Trials worked so this could have very well been the last time we all saw each other, making that familiar twinge of loss strike me again.

Well, at least the rooms were pretty.

I should definitely get some sleep though, I had a long day ahead of me.

6am- the next day

I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing on the dressing table next to my bed. I was hazy from sleep and I honestly didn't even remember how I got to bed. All I remember was not even turning off the lights before taking a shower and falling into bed. I didn't even seem to get dressed, clearly demonstrated by the fact that I was still in my pink towel from last night.

*buzz buzz

My phone continued to make noise as I continued to leave the message unopened.

ugh just shut the fuck up for gods sake.

'Students, I hope you are all well and rested, it is necessary that you all meet at the dining room once again for breakfast, before your first trial. Good luck, more information will be provided after 8am'

Beep**

-Chloe- "You awake? Did you get that as well, we gotta be there soon, come to my room before we go."

-Celeste- "Okay sure thing, tell Markan to meet us as well."

-Chloe- "I already messaged him, he's with a friend of his, one of them seemed to of made it here as well, just me and you."

I put the phone away, already feeling bombarded by the overload of information that was thrown at me so goddamn early in the morning.

I had no time to thaw in my iritance, I needed to get ready and decide what clothing I needed for the first Trials. Looking at my new surroundings I realise that I had barely had time to look at the room I was situated in last night, I wasn't surprised I had fallen asleep so quickly considering I hadn't really been getting any sleep approaching this day.

I didn't manage to fall asleep on the coach either which was also no surprise to me.

The closet was beautiful.

Gold linings painted across the polished wood, the light from the tall windows illuminating the shimmer even more. The closet was large and surprisingly not filled with any of the attire I came here with, and instead replaced with clothing meant for battle.

I mean it did make sense, I guess that meant that my clothes were somewhere being prepared to be sent to whatever academy I got into. Still, touching the black bodysuit I was eying, I wondered how they knew my sizing so perfectly.

It was around 7am when I was showered and dressed for the day.

I managed to tame my blonde ringlets into a nice sleek bun. I had to prepare for battle of course, and I didn't really want my hair getting in the way of that.

I absolutely opted for the black bodysuit, while basic, it had all the pockets it needed to carry weapons and it hugged my body in such a way as to not constrain me but still look sleek and tight against my skin.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

It wrapped around my delicate curves and gave me and my breasts the security I needed to move however I wanted, which was a must considering I was more on the curvy side.

Seriously, how did they get my sizing so right.

Needing to hurry up, I didn't bother to put on makeup, it would likely sweat out anyways so I didn't really care.

*Buzz

-Chloe- "Hurry up, we have to be done eating by 8 and I wanna have time to talk before then, I think Markan is already down there."

That was my queue to go.

I left my room and walked to Chloe's, which was only 2 doors down.

She was waiting outside, I hugged her as we proceeded to walk quickly downstairs to the dining hall. Hopefully we didn't get lost again.

"I'm getting more nervous by the minute, I can barely contain my nerves." I got that feeling.

"Honestly same, I just wanna get this thing over and done with so I can stop feeling like I wanna throw up." The anxiety was killing me slowly.

"Oh, I don't remember the Dining hall being this close."

"Maybe because we got lost about four times last night." I replied.

She chuckled "Oh yeah, good times"

Everyone was wearing their given attire when we walked into the hall. It was interesting seeing how everyone mopped up, some really embodied the badass look, their physical quirks matching with their clothing, like Chloe who had cargo's on which had orange and red details to match her fiery hair. They honestly hit the ballpark with this one.

We made our way over to the buffet and got our desired food. I wasn't really a big fan of breakfast, most definitely preferred dinner.

Nevertheless, I got myself some toasted bread and stacked it full of the honey chicken they had on display, paired it with my favourite salads and dressings and got myself some porridge and a milkshake to start the day.

Chloe's plate was looking a lot more put together as expected, with the caviar and eggs on her plate it was clear that we had a completely different taste pallet.

We were finished eating by around 7:45am.

Markan was sitting with his friend across from us on another table, after they were done eating Markan sat down and joined us on our table.

"Hey guys, how ya doing?"

"We're okay, just nervous as expected." Chloe said.

"Yeah, same." I replied.

"Me too, gosh, I was kinda confident before, I was almost certain we would all at least rank the same but I don't know man, there's a lot of people here."

There definitely was a lot of people.

**Attention students, please follow your appointed guides to take you to your first trial.

Well there's that extra information I guess. Talk about vague.

All stationed at different parts of the hall, we rushed to where our guides were. Me, Chloe and Markan followed closely in the middle of the line towards the room he was taking us too.

Half of all of us seemed to have split up, some of the other groups going in the direction to the other set of descending stairs.

The staircase was long, and dark. Kinda scary to be very honest.

Markan was behind me and Chloe, and we continued down the stairs until we were met with what looked like...outside?

No, Artificial outside.

There was short, fake grass planted within the ginormous box. the walls were white and seemingly never ending aside from the panels of glass at the near too which I suspected were for the magic apprentices to oversee us through.

Everyone was in awe of the sublimity of the environment. The lights were bright and resembled the sun though not too overpowering as too hurt our eyes.

I wandered what we were doing here-

*Students, please listen closely as the information I am about to relay is very important. Firstly, welcome. I know that some of you may be scared and very nervous, I would like you all to understand that everything will be okay, there is no room for serious injury or foul play, your safety is our biggest concern and as per the contract you all signed, no abuse or bullying will be tolerated.**

Please, they couldn't of cared less about 'bullying' it was well known that sometimes the ego of a powerful person destined for greatness was a terrible force, so there were many asshole kids at the academy, just waiting for some poor sucker to shit on.

They didn't do anything about it, the nobility and titles of these people meaning much more to them then the innocent. So it goes I guess.

**For the first part of the challenge you will all be split by yourselves. You will go to your specific spot within this field and the walls will close, leaving you by yourself. Once this happens shortly, a series of animatronics will begin to attack you."

Not too bad, at least they weren't people yet.

You must do your best to survive each round. As time goes on, the difficulty increases. The rounds end when the judges deem it appropriate, usually when you begin to seriously falter and sure failure is in prospect. You can also choose to tap out by simply expressing a desire to leave or through clapping your hands twice. Leaving intentionally does not affect the outcome of the rounds at it is purely based on the judges opinion and the round you reach to. The use of magic is permitted, weapons are not. Good luck, for any questions, remain at the front to ask me."

Well then, that was it. Our faces were highlighted in a hologram above the square we were each meant to be in, everyone quickly made their way to their designated spot and waited for the Trials to begin.