AELLARIA

Aellaria was surprised at Phia's competence. Phia had only just caught on to Aellaria following and tracked her from room to room as Aellaria made her way toward the other Cryomancer. However, the other Cryomancer wasn’t Callo. It was Badnel. Aellaria cursed her luck. ‘He couldn’t already be gone…” she thought.

Phia had found other prey somewhere behind her, and Aellaria could slow her search and focus on the remaining prey.

Aellaria sat down on the catwalk in the terminal room. Next to her, a stone slab closed and prevented continuing in a specific direction. That made sense. As fewer students remained, they would need to corral everyone toward the central fighting arenas. Below her, one of the other doors closed, which meant she was in a corner. Standing atop the walkway next to her was Zenithor.

“Go fucking kill him already. You know where he is. You know the route.” Zenithor said.

‘Yes, master Zenithor,’ Aellaria thought. She dropped off the walkway and took the other route back toward the center.

“Don’t give me attitude, and don’t externalize me, pup. Lily was your daughter, too.” Zenithor appeared beside her. He was an illusion, part of whatever coping mechanism her new mind had created to handle the stress of being Zenithor’s mental successor.

Aellaria thought back at the voice, ‘She was my daughter, but that wasn’t my fucking choice.’

Zenithor aggressively walked alongside Aellaria, his hat gesticulating anger for him as he moved exaggeratedly. “Yeah, your choice was to drink a forgetful poison to fuck my mind up. Because you were too weak and scared.”

Aellaria glared at Zenithor and thought, ‘I chose you and your mission with that poison, you ungrateful husk.’

“You chose yourself with that poison. How are you supposed to feel conviction without feeling the pain?’ Zenithor demanded.

Aellaria didn’t respond. She knew that Lilium’s memories were in that haze. Aellaria knew what he said was true. She was too weak to handle it.

“You’re running out of time. I know you can feel them all now. Only six others left. Do you want that conviction, or will you continue making excuses?” Zenithor shouted.

Aellaria thought back to the illusion of Zenithor her mind created, ‘I don’t have the journal. I can’t remember.’

“Hah! Do you think you can make ME forget with that low-grade sludge?” Zenithor asked. Aellaria could feel the portion of her mind with Zenithor’s memories. The doors in her mind palace locked behind Zenithor’s willpower rattled in their frames.

Aellaria picked up the pace, moving toward the far end of the Labyrinth. She could feel Callo’s cool mana. ‘I want to kill him,’ she thought.

“Then take your memories back and go for that fucking kill.”

With each step, Aellaria could feel Lilium’s memories coming back. The doors within her mind palace blew open, spilling memories to the forefront: the love, the growth, and the heartbreak. Tears began to fill her eyes. She had Lilium’s pain, Zenithor’s fury, and her conviction.

SYN

The next room had to be a trap. After walking down another snaking path, Syn found she was stepping into inch-deep water. When the room opened up, Syn and Behngi saw the culprit. The magelights in the room began to glow, showing at least two students, but there were three.

Alyviah stood in the center of the room. She had absolutely filled the room with water. A puddle spanned from the doorway she emerged from all the way to the door at the far end of the room. There were no other ways into this arena.

“You okay, Alyviah?” Syn asked, stepping through the shallow water toward the young mage.

”Don’t step any closer… This is my water, and I want to make it to the end,” Alyviah warned, holding her staff tightly.

Behngi whispered to Syn, “I can’t cast effectively in here. We should go back.”

Syn whispered, “Alyviah is the weakest in class. We should just knock her and move on.”

Alyviah pushed the water around her away and up. Since she wasn’t touching the water, it would be tricky for Behngi to make a shot.

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Syn realized that she held the advantage in this fight. Fire could boil water, and Syn was a hell of a lot stronger than Alyviah.

Syn strut forward toward Alyviah.

“Stay back, Syn,” Alyviah warned. “I just want to get far. I don’t want you to hurt.”

The water soaked Syn’s shoes as she stepped closer to the center of the room. Syn’s head still throbbed from mana exertion, but she knew she had enough in the tank for Alyviah, at least. “You can’t hurt me. Do your worst.”

“I won’t,” Alyviah said, “I am just his instrument to play.”

Syn felt a pain in her stomach, and she looked down. A foot-long shard of ice was protruding from her stomach. Syn’s eyes saw the source of the magic, obscured behind the water protecting Alyviah. Callo, the Cryomancer, was standing in the far doorway. He froze another sliver and pushed it at Syn.

Behngi ran toward the center of the room, and the next shard hit him once Syn dodged.

Syn shivered from the cold and rage. She ignored the shard. Callo was the threat. With this much water, he could defeat the entire class. Callo was using Alyviah. Syn sprinted around Alyviah, dodging the following few shards thrown at her by Callo. Alyviah didn’t even react when Syn ran past her.

Syn punched at Callo after closing the distance, but Callo pulled up a shield of ice. Syn broke the shield, but Callo was already backpedaling through the water.

“Are you okay, Syn? You aren’t casting.” Callo asked. There was a smile on his face. He knew how much of an upper hand he had.

Syn shivered again from the cold. “I’m f-fine,” she said as she attempted to swing again. This time, the punch wasn’t strong enough to break the barrier. The barrier began to grow horizontally, and Syn realized he was trying to trap her. She punched it again, this time using more of her dwindling mana reserves. The fire broke through the ice.

“You have nothing left, Syn.” Callo taunted in a sing-songy voice.

Syn smirked and looked toward the center of the room. Behngi had already broken through Alyviah’s defenses, unleashing a blast of electricity strong enough to pacify the water mage. The water rippled out from the center of the room. “You l-lost your support,” Syn shivered.

“So did he,” Callo said as he cast push on the ice in Syn’s stomach, and the pain was enough for her to collapse. Syn lay in the cold puddle of water.

“Y-yield!” Syn cried out. The pain was like nothing she ever felt. She went to try melting the ice sticking deep into her abdomen, but as she did, the cold took her, and she lost consciousness.

BEHNGI

Behngi wanted nothing more than to sprint toward Callo. He wanted to prove himself. However, Callo looked pristine, and after Phia’s ambush earlier, Behngi knew he was in bad shape.

Behngi decided that the best option was to wait a moment to think of a better option. He ensured Alyviah wasn’t drowning in her own water and stood over the young woman to guarantee Callo didn’t initiate an offensive. “I’ll wait until they are clear…” Behngi said.

“Fine by me.” Callo said, “But what about her?” pointing behind Behngi.

Behngi turned his gaze and saw Aellaria standing in the doorway from which he had emerged minutes earlier. She looked even better off than Callo, except for an intense look on her face.

Aellaria said, “Get out of here, Behngi. I would rather not go through you for this one.”

Behngi shook his head. They are friends, and this had to be close to the end of the Appraisal. “Aellaria, we can work together, I promise.”

From the room's edges, Healers from the upper class slowly removed the unconscious Syn and Alyviah. One was wearing the white of the Junior class, and another was Angel.

Aellaria shook her head. “Behngi, you don’t understand. This isn’t your fight. Go rest.”

Behngi knew that he needed more options. He needed to fight Callo on more even ground after recovering just a little bit. Behngi winced at the pain in his frostbitten fingers on his right hand. Behngi retreated toward Aellaria, as this room only has two entrances.

A part of him was surprised that Aellaria just walked past him. Maybe she knew he had his guard up, or perhaps she just trusted him. “Good luck…” He said in elvish.

Behngi wasn’t surprised when Aellaria responded in Elvish, “Many thanks.”

Behngi looked back at Callo and Aellaria in the water-filled arena. Syn and Alyviah were clear, and he vowed to the goddess Zobu to come back to defeat the winner.