A faint clicking noise roused Z, and all of a sudden there was a boatload of light assaulting his eyes. He mumbled something incoherent, turning over in his bed to escape the abrupt brightness. A light chuckle interrupted his peace. “Are you awake?”

Z’s eyes shot open. He scrambled to sit up in the bed, groggily searching for the source of the voice.

A red-haired boy sat at the coffee table between the beds. He was fairly short— around five inches shorter than him, and seemed comfortable in the cramped space between the bed and the table. The sun’s light from the window next to the other boy’s bed illuminated whatever book he was reading.

He stared up at Z, a curious look on his face.

Z frowned, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his glove. “You’re my roommate?” The boy nodded with a grin. He jumped up, enthusiastically climbing over the table and onto Z’s bed to examine the taller boy. Positioned right in front of Z, his body blocked the sun’s light from Z’s eyes, who blankly noted that his own side of the room had no illumination.

“Man, you were out for quite a while!”

Z grimaced, pushing the boy away from his face. He was too friendly for his own good. Didn’t he know that everyone here was competition?

The boy didn’t seem to falter upon being rejected. He spoke with a chipper drawl in his voice, “I thought you wouldn’t ever wake up! When I got up this morning, I figured you dead!”

Z pinched his brow. “Morning? How long was I out?” The boy shrugged. “Dunno. I got here about noon yesterday, and you were passed out like a log. I assumed you were tired after a long journey so I let you sleep. You’ve been knocked out about a day.”

“A day and a half,” Z corrected. “I got here the day before yesterday around nine.”

The boy pursed his lips. “Damn, what got you so exhausted?” Z furrowed his brow. This boy was starting to grate on his nerves. “You don’t want to know.”

The other shrugged. “Fair enough. I’m Isacc by the way. What’s your name?”

“Z.”

“…Weird, but okay. Well Z, you might wanna get situated. Today’s the last day for arrivals, so we’ve about half a day to stock up on food and stuff before tests begin.”

Isacc nodded towards the closet in front of their beds. “There’s a pillow and some sheets for your bed in there. I’m pretty sure the larger uniforms are yours, so I’ll get out while you get changed. Meet me outside in 10?”

Z nodded. “Thanks.” He slowly crawled out of bed, yawning as a refreshed feeling pleasantly settled on his skin. Isacc gave him a grin as he left the room.

As the redhead had promised, half of the closet was stocked with necessities. The side in front of Isacc’s bed, however, was empty apart from a single spare uniform hanging on the rack. A large fridge stood smack down in the middle of the closet. It seemed to act as a divider between the two sides of the room.

Z grabbed the sheets and pillow from the shelf at the top of the closet and quickly made his bed. When he was done, he admired his handiwork, placing his hands on his hips. It was bound to be more comfortable than last night, although it didn’t matter either way, considering how well he slept.

Finally, he put on the uniform hanging on his side of the closet. Isacc was already wearing his when he left, so Z had a general idea of how he was supposed to wear it.

It fit perfectly— like it was tailored to him. He supposed it probably was. A loose purple T-shirt tucked into black cargo pants, adorned with gold strips that ran down the side of his waist and legs. Simple, yet elegant.

Z scoffed. All this was for mere Guard candidates, while the people in the slums were starving. Typical nobles. Z sighed, fiddling with his cuffs. All the more reason to uproot this damned country.

Isacc was patiently waiting for him outside the room. He looked him up and down, a low whistle sounding from his lips. “You may get a few girls while you’re here. That uniform seriously suits you.” Z ignored him, activating his wristband and clicking the food option this time.

Another arrow blinked to life, settling in its place hovering above the floor. Z followed it through the large dormitory. He hummed as he walked, taking in his surroundings while Isacc chattered about something or another next to him.

As soon as he left his dorm, he was met with a huge courtyard area that reached up and cut a circular hole in the middle of each of the floors. From here, Z could see almost every single dorm room beyond the railings surrounding the clearing.

The whole building was structured like a fancy hotel. A large vine staircase located to the right swirled up to connect each of the floors, much like a large tree. It was no doubt, designed by a Tipu.

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

Z glanced over to see such a Tipu using the staircase. With a flash of green light in his eyes, the stairs moved by themselves, carrying the boy to his floor elegantly. In front of him, a very bitter Flare dragged himself up the stairs, panting with sweat as he stumbled onto the tenth floor, the top one.

“Here!” A chipper voice brought him back to reality. Isacc gestured towards a grandiose door, adorned with golden leaves, bronze swirls, and everything in between. It was three times Z’s height, and it was a wonder that he hadn’t noticed it upon walking in.

Noticing his wide eyes, Isacc giggled. “Pretty nifty eh? I remember foaming at the mouth when I first arrived. This kind of money…” He trailed off, eyes drifting to the large door. Isacc shook his head. He smiled bitterly, “Well that’s why we’re here isn’t it?”

Z nodded as they left the dormitory. He knew exactly what he meant. Z pondered, gazing past all the candidates circling the place. There were hundreds of them… thousands. And they were all here for one reason: to get a better life. All of them except Z.

The boy smirked. He supposed that wasn’t entirely true. Even if he doesn’t manage to make the Guard, he can sure as hell drag some filthy nobles down to the underworld. That would make his life a whole lot better.

“What are you smiling about?” Z looked up in surprise, jolted out of his thoughts. Isacc pouted at him with his hands on his hips. Z’s eyes drifted past him to see a large building named ‘Food’ stationed behind the shorter boy. He raised his eyebrows. “Creative.”

Isacc stared blankly at him, striking Z with a strange feeling of malicious intent. Somewhat startled, Z stepped back abruptly, causing Isacc to raise an eyebrow at him. The feeling was gone as if it had never happened, and Isacc smiled at him innocently, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well let’s get to work then!” He bounded off cheerfully.

Z frowned. He had almost forgotten. Noble or not, they were all enemies here. Friends, even among roommates, simply did not exist. He silently reminded himself to take a look into Isacc’s background before following the redhead into the store.

***

Isacc smiled brightly next to him, the previous mirth in his eyes gone without a trace. Z pursed his lips, silently trailing behind Isacc as he grabbed the supplies they needed. The store was nothing conventional, much like the rest of the buildings on the test grounds. It was almost as if they had stepped into a different world altogether.

Everything was green. No matter where he looked, he was struck with green leaves and large vines outstretching to cover every nook and cranny of the store. The air was moist, yet everything was brightly lit— a stark contrast from the desert-like climate they’d treaded for 30 minutes to get here.

Z sighed. Everything about this place screamed rich, powerful nobles. He really didn’t belong here. Not anymore, at least. Yet as Z passed by a small shelf of spices, he was hit with the familiar aroma of home. He stood with his feet frozen to the ground. Of all the places… why here? Why in the pride and joy of all those who destroyed his family?

“Z? You ok?” Z turned to face Isacc and almost believed the worried look on his face as he looked up at him. Z shook his head. “You go on. I’ve got a couple of things I want to buy.” Isacc narrowed his eyes, emerald green darkening to a forest wood. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced a smile on his face. “Well alright then.”

With that, Isacc slowly trudged off, ever so often glancing at him from the side of his eye. Z let out a breath as he finally disappeared. There was something off about that kid. He pressed his lips together as he turned towards the shelf next to him. Sure enough, a familiar spice stared back at him.

Areslota. His mother’s favorite. She would always hum while sprinkling a bit of the spice onto a tray of food the cooks had prepared. Back then, she always had a smile on her face, even as the chef chewed her out for ruining her dinner. She would laugh, apologize, and then glance back at him and wink, scooping a spoonful of food into her mouth and marveling at the taste.

The chef always appreciated that. She would get flustered and scoff, her metal soles tap tapping as she left to prepare the next dish. A nostalgic smile made its way onto Z’s face. He… really missed her.

Z’s eyes drifted to the spice right next to it. At the dinner table, his mother would tell stories too. He still remembered some of them. His mother’s favorites, at least. One of which spoke of the tale of the two spices in front of him.

They used to be two seeds, born from the same flower. They lived together in peace until a greedy farmer uprooted them and sold them off for profit, planting them miles away from each other. The two seeds grew into luscious plants on their own, but due to their grief for each other, their flowers always had half of their petals missing.

When they grew old and bore seeds of their own, they vowed to each other, from miles away, that they would enact revenge on the humans who pried them apart. And so if one ever found themselves eating spice ground from the two seeds mixed together, they must be very careful, for a little bit of magic would ignite the fury of the sibling plants and create a deadly poison that killed instantly.

But of course, it was just a story. Seeds don’t have feelings. Seeds can’t get revenge. Z smiled as he picked up the spice bottle titled Acerole next to the Areslota. Seeds can’t, but humans can.

He hummed. Placing these two spices next to each other… it was almost as if the administrators of the test wanted them to kill each other. Z pocketed the two bottles. Having a little bit of extra poison on hand could never go wrong.

Z met up with Isacc at checkout. A very bored man sat on what seemed to be a beanbag made of tree roots. He glanced up at them, eyes flashing green as he briefly sorted through the items selected. “That will be 120 iselas,” he droned, going back to his book, uninterested. Isacc held his wristband out, but Z stopped him.

“We should both pay,” he murmured. “In case either of us gets into an emergency.” Isacc beamed at him. “Great idea! Sir, sorry to bother, but could you split the cost between us?” The man groaned as if they were asking him to cut off an arm for them. “Fine. Give me your bands.”

The two boys held up their hands, and the man raised his arm to click his wristband against both of theirs. A bright green holographic message popped up, stating that their transaction had been successful. Isacc and Z politely nodded at the man before grabbing their groceries and hurrying along their way.

They both shared a look as they left the warm mist of the forest and entered the scorching sun. Z sighed, closing his eyes as the wind flitted through his hair. This was going to be the beginning of a long month.