Inside stands two guards, and a hooded man.

“Is he ready?”

The hooded man asks Shawn

“I presented him with the first trial. Put him with the others.”

The hooded man is slightly stumped at this.

“I’ll vouch for him.”

The man nods.

“So be it, Sandstorm.”

He answers Shawn solemnly as he turns around.

“Follow me, boy.”

Silently, Nathan follows him.

They move through the halls of the building, turning corners, going down stairs, moving further down and into the belly of the fortress.

As the halls get darker, Nathan notice that crystals are used for lighting. They are placed on pillars along the walls, clearly exposed, bathing the dark halls in eerie blue light. Every now and again a crystal will be dim, or out of power completely. As they turn a corner, Nathan spots a roped man touching one of the crystal, powering it on, before moving on.

Quickly realizing a possibility to sell a previous invention, Nathan makes a mental note to remind Shawn of their deal.

As they arrive in front of a great crimson wooden door, his guide stops to face him.

“We’re here. I don’t know who you are, or why the Sandstorm vouches for you, but expect no quarters from us.”

He opens the door, and lets Nathan pass through.

Behind it is a large open room. In the ceiling is a large hole covered with a intricate pattern of metal grates, light shining in from above. On the ground is another grate, this one clearly to made to be walked on, but also to act as a drain.

Several pillars extend from floor to ceiling, holding up another floor several meters above him. On that floor, what appeared to be statues of hooded men were spaced apart evenly, looking down on the central space.

“An arena”

Nathan mutters to himself.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This place makes him nervous.He doesn’t mind fighting, but he prefers to do so without an audience.

In the center of the room, several figures stand in the light coming down from above. One is clearly in command, as he stands in front of the rest of the group, silently facing them. None of them realized that he arrived yet.

Deciding to wait and observe, he places himself in the shadows, first moving sideways so that the hooded figure in command sees him. After he sees the man's head slowly move to his direction, he walks backwards, further from the light. The man does not move.

The group isn’t that large. Five people or so, excluding the silent leader. A single woman, but otherwise men. One in particular seems to be quite confident in his own strength, being two heads taller than the rest and quite muscular.

After a few minutes, another group of five appear, also with a hooded leader. As he approaches, the first leader gives him a nod towards Nathan, prompting him to look towards the shadows, where nathan quickly puts power into a crystal to make it glow faintly. The two hooded men exchange looks before standing next to each other, addressing the combined group.

“Attention, recruits. You have all passed basic training and the test of resolve. Your next test will be here, where you will be placed into new teams of five each. These are the teams you will stay in from now on, including your first assignments. We are also going to select team leaders today.”

The big recruit pokes his buddy in the ribs with his elbow, smiling confidently.

The other instructor continues.

“We will be pairing you up to spar one on one. How you conduct yourself in this fight means as much as whether or not you win, as we know there is a large discrepancy in your combat performances.”

One of the two women from the new group raises her hand. The instructor that lead her in gives her an approving nod.

“Didn’t you say there would be two groups of ten sir?”

“Correct”

“But we are only nine, sir.”

“We’ve received another recruit who has been allowed to skip basic training.”

Low chatter can be heard from the group. Realizing that he will soon be called upon, Nathan leaves the shadows to approach the group.

“I see sir.”

The girl continues;

“When will he arrive?”

Nathan stops a few paces behind the group, as the instructor responds.

“He arrived before you did. Also, he is standing behind you.”

The nine recruits turn around in surprise as Nathan pulls back his hood with his right hand, revealing himself to the group.

They all stare at him confused.

“Is there a problem recruits?”

The first Instructor asks, trying to sound annoyed to mask his own surprise.

The girl that was asking questions is the first to speak.

“Bu-but sir, his hair-.. It’s black.”

“His paperwork says it’s a dark blue hue. As such, i believe it's safe to assume that he is a servant of air?”

Nathan nods in response. Air is indeed the only magical element he can use.

“I’ve never seen a kin like that. Must be a very rare race.”

Another recruit states, moreso to himself than to the others.

The second instructor brings them back to the matter at hand with a tone of annoyance.

“If you are quite done playing beauty pageants, do take note of the fact that none of you noticed him the entire time he was here, nor when he approached you. It would seem that our recruits are woefully lacking this year.”

Nathan locked eyes with the other instructor as this was stated, a look of approval in them. They only detected him because he let them. He knew it, and so did they.

Though the look also told him that they were not people he could have hidden from for long.

“The matches will begin shortly. First match will be between the newcomer Nightblue Nathan, and Rusthorn Fritz. The rest of you will come with us to the observation platform at the side of the arena.

The recruits and instructors move away from the light, and onto the dark platform.

“Distance yourselves from each other, remove your cloaks, and invoke your auras. When you are ready, fight like your life depends on it.”

One of the instructors calls from the platform.

Closing his eyes to invoke his will, Nathan moves away from the center.

He knows what is about to happen, but he wills himself to ignore it. “Focus on the fight”, he mutters to himself. As he reaches a place he finds suitable, he turns around to see his opponent making gestures to his friend from before, as he loudly invokes his aura, readying himself for the use of magic.

With disdain in his eyes, Nathan removes his cloak and invokes his aura wordlessly.

His opponent stares at him for a second, before exploding in roaring laughter.

“Bwahahaha! Is this your ‘challenge’?! Is this truly the level you’re willing to accept into your ranks? You want me to fight that?”

“What is the problem recruit?”

The first instructor replies, realizing full well what caused the outburst.

“You put me up against a kin that couldn’t reach my face with a punch, carries no weapon, has an aura so pathetically weak that I can hardly see it from here-”

He points his sword at Nathan while still facing the instructor.

“And to top it all off, he’s missing an arm!”