The carriage could only take him up to the main wall that separated the Academy grounds from the Citadel, the massive redwood main gate was wide open allowing the hundreds of teenagers to flow within, every year over 1000 kids tried to pass the entrance exam and from these less then 300 would actually pass, and across four years this number would slowly be thinned out to only less then 30 who would become Warlocks actually recognized by the Academy, the main road leading to the Academy's main building stretched for over 5 kilometers, a straight road made out of sanded down rock, sometimes surrounded by forests and others by plains, at times even passing above small hills, despite it being a short walk, less then an hour for most, and just a bit more then 30 minutes for Leif who was already used to walking long distances, it proved to be a worthy challenge for lots of candidates for the exam who lived most of their lives without actually leaving their carriages.
The massive tower of the Academy could be seen from the gate, but the closer he got the more he was bewildered by the mains construction, the seven other buildings around it wherent much to notice, despite each being a big as Allera's palace the main tower left them in the shadow, quite literally, four massive towers wich bent and curled around eachother, thinning out on the tip, where they unified into a single tower, the entire thing was over 400 meters off the ground, each 100 meters there where plataforms wich where built oit of the main building, the lowest one being turned north, 100 meters from the ground, then the ones turned east and west, both 200 meters off the ground, and by last the one turned south, 300 meters off the ground, the entire thing was trully a monument of architectural and arcane mastery, the more Leif stared at it from a distance the less he believed in what he was seeing.
By the end of this 30 minute walk Leif arrived at the main entrance, a stairway of very long steps, made from a pure white polished rock, that led to a solid plataform before the entrance to a building that stood before the main one, Leif wasn't the first to arrive, infact he was the third, behind a very tall, muscular young man with tanned skin and short cropped black hair and a girl with chocolate skin, curved nose, blue eyes and a thick mane of curly blonde hair, the two seemed to be there for a couple of minutes before he arrived and after him another young man arrived before the candidates started to finally come in a groups, a tall young man with long almost platinum blonde hair and green eyes.
???: [Slow as a bug like always, Elsun.]
???: [You talk too much for someone who keeps on loosing, Ville.]
The two first candidates bickered at eachother, as the groups begun to arrive and step up to the plataform the main entrance gate was opened, all of the present candidates turned their eyes on the figures in masks and white cloaks stepping out towards them, the figures, 7 of them, wearing smooth and plain white masks and cloaks, one of the figures stepped.
???: [Welcome, aspirants.]
Said the cloaked figure, arms behind their back and chest puffed out.
???: [We are the overseers for the annual entrance exam of the Pallaccian Academy of Runic Studies.]
Looking around Leif could clearly see he wasn't the only one feeling the terrible pressure exuding from the 7 figures, most of the candidates seemed to be warry of their presence and some where outright afraid, it was almost suffocating, the figures made lines on each sides of the main entrance, the 7th main figure standing a few meters away, right in the center.
???: [Please, walk right in so that the first test may begin.]
All of Leif's instincts where telling him to not go there, to not walk between the two rows of powerful cloaked figures looking directly at them, but he did so, just after the candidate with the long blonde hair and green eyes, stepping closer to the masked figures, he walked right past the main figure, then among the two lines, it was almost as if they where focusing entirely on overpowering him with their energy, almost as if assaulting his with their presence, when he passed through he sighed, a few steps felt longer and more harsh then the whole walk over there, he continued to walk in, he found himself in a long and wide hall, looking back he saw that most of the other candidates where having lots of trouble walking through, some even had passed out right before the figures, after almost an hour over 50 candidates hadn't managed to walk in when the main figure turned to the entrance.
???: [Seems like your time is over.]
The door closed, leaving over a 1000 candidates on the waiting hall, thankfully it was a very large one where all of them fit easily, a single second after the door closed it opened, but when it did the outside was completely different, in fact, it wasn't outside any longer, what the candidates saw on the other side was a classroom, long and wide, the room was organized like an auditorium, each row of seats and tables was one step down from the other and in front of them was the black board where all of the figures stood in a line, a murmur seemed to grow among the candidates, some wanting to know how that was made and others questioning if it was even possible, all of them fascinated, the candidates begun to pour into the massice room, each taking their own seat, once all of them had sat down the figures had begun moving, pulling stacks of papers from their cloaks they passed around by each row of seats, once all of them head the papers in hand the main figured stepped up to the podium.
???: [Now please, take your pencils and begin.]
Leif skimmed through the first paper of the three presented to him, he could see that in every 2 or 3 questions there was one he could answer completely.
"To use magic means to let its energy freely flow through the body. If the stream of energy within a body part is blocked for any reason, what will happen?"
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A simple question he could easily answer from simple logic and the basics taught to him by his master Laymen.
"Magic and emotion work within the same laws. What happens if destructive emotions are harnessed into positive runes?"
Little by little the questions got more difficult and specific, by the second page most of them were almost entirely hypothetical that had no straight answer, those where the ones Leif hated the most.
"How effective are runes and magic when the user has been overwhelmed by emotion?"
Slowly, very slowly, Leif's mind seemed to wonder away from that room.
"You who has endured times of extreme stress, what drives you to push forward, what provides you with the strength and what is it that you fear losing the most?"
He felt a cold wind hit his face, the snow breaking beneath his fingers, the hunger making his stomach growl, he crouched over the roots and dirt that hit him from the mercenaries eyes, as night slowly started to fall his presence was shrouded in shadows, he slowly crawled through the dirt and snow, keeping his gaze low so that he wouldn't get even a glimpse of the heads, the boy slowly crawled towards the hut, he knew if he managed to get inside in time he'd have atleast 30 minutes to fill his mouth with as much food as he could before anyone would come to check on it, all the bread, grains and raw potatoes he could find and swallow.
"You that has seen death and pain in person, what weights on your core, what scars do you carry?"
The boy crawled through the mud, covered himself in leaves and dirt, hiding among the dead leaves, branches and roots, he waited for the enemy to start talking so that he could crawl closer without too much attention, holding the knife in his hand so tightly he could feel the rough leather grind against his palm, it had been almost a week since the last time he had ate and he knew if managed to cut alteast three pairs of ears he would be able to buy something to eat.
"Some say the true power of a Warlock comes from the mastery over oneself, what is it that you fear that lives within your being?"
He felt the mans rough and strong hands clasping against his windpipe, the man sat on the boys legs, preventing him from moving.
???: [You should've just given me what I wanted you little shit!! You didn't have to die today!!]
He felt his chest tighten and his eyes water as he did his best to fight against the man, he couldnt reach his sword and even if he could the mans legs where tightly holding it down, he felt his mind flutter and his consciousness begun to fade, saliva oozing out of his lips.
Leif: [[HÁRT]]
"There are things you cannot change, lives you cannot give back. Can you live with the things you've done?"
Night had feel, a bead of cold sweat feel down his cheek, holding tightly to the rope with held the two tree trunks that made one of the towers pillars together, he tried his best to control his breathing, if they heard his huffing a single spear would be his downfall, gritting his teeth tightly around the knife in his mouth he felt the rough rope scraping away the skin from his fingers.
???: [You said she was the town's leader daughter?]
???: [Yeah, when i left she was already pregnant, I'm pretty sure it's mine.]
???: [And how are you feeling?]
???: [Great man! As soon as we kick these Pallaccian bastards off the land they stole im going right back to see my k-]
The mans words where interrupted by a flood of blood pouring out of his mouth and nose, Leif's knife digging deep into his throat opening wide, Leif quickly jumped over the window and pounced the the other guard, the man didn't even have time to unsheathe his sword before Leif had opened his throat aswell, with a single swipe the hot blood squirted out of the mans veins, losing his balance the boy fell over, face first on the blood puddle on the floor.
"Have you ever felt truly connected to someone?"
He woke up from his nap, the sky outside was a fiery orange as the sun begun to set, he looked around but he couldn't see his mother anywhere, he stepped around and took a stool, lifting it and waddling with it pver to the window, he got up on it and look out, he could see her on the field, sitting softly by a tree watching the sunset.
Leif: [Mama...]
He stepped down carefully and walked out into the small, stopping and turning around, he went back in and put on his boots, then walked out again, he walked over to the field and stepped closer to the tree his mother was leaned on.
Leif: [Mama...]
His mother turned around, a small teardrop on the corner of her left eye, Leif put his finger on his mouth, standing around, uneasy.
Leif: [Mama... Crying...? Why..?]
His mother smiled, wiping away the tear from her eye.
Lya: [Come her sweetie...]
He stepped closer and she pulled him on to her lap, soflty holding her arms under his, crossed around his chest, they both sat quietly fora few minutes.
Leif: [Mama... why you always look there?]
He pointed towards the sun, she held his hand soflty and directed it more towards the south.
Lya: [I'm looking over there... because that's where we came from, sweetie...]
Leif: [Where is that?]
Lya: [Its a far away country... very far...]
Leif put his finger on his mouth again, thinking.
Leif: [Where you a princess Mama?]
His mother chuckled and tightened her embrace.
Lya: [Uh-hu... Mommy was a princess, and youre my little prince.]
"What would you do if you came to find that man once more?"
His mother looked pretty even with her head poked on a spear, her rotten right eye had already fallen put if it's socket and her teeth where punched oit before she was dead, but she still had the face of a dool, even her remaining eye shined with the same murky blue coloration, behind her head was his fathers, along with almost half of the village, even some of the kids and elders.
???: [Yeah thats the kid right there, Captain Griffin.]
Griffin: [What a bother, didn't i tell you fucks to kill everyone?]
???: [We think he must've hid or something, no one saw him anywhere.]
Griffin: [Aaaahh... Whatever, let the shit live hell probably die of hunger in a week or less.]
Leif slowly turned, his eyes where swolen and his throat irritated and sore, he couldnt feel his fingers in both his hands and feet, he turned his gaze to the main dressed in rough leather and iron pieces of armor, with icy blue eyes, dirty blonde hair and a stubble of brown beard, looking down at him on him with a gelid gaze, a gaze that didn't care about him on the slightest, that didn't see him as human even.
Still standing on the podium the main cloaked figure seemed to have its eyes attracted to the boy, a glint coming from the shadows, analyzing the boys lifeless expression, his eyes with no soul a deep dark grey that exuded a cold, almost sharp determination, when the boy noticed he was staring directly at a empty desk, he didnt know how long he had been for there, his throat was a little dry, he looked around, most of the people around him seemed to be in the same kind of trance-like state, others seemed to be passed out, completely unconscious and slumped over in their desks and a even stranger there where a few others crying, some even acted manic, scratching themselves and mumbling to themselves, but when he looked better there where a few others who seemed to be conscious like him, he could spot 6 of them, 3 of wich where the ones who arrived around the same time as him, the two who arrived first, that called themselves Elsun and Ville, along with the tall one with the long blonde hair, but among them there where also a others, a pale girl with a mane of disheveled black hair sotting just bellow him, a tall boy with brown skin and a head of dreads tinted pink sitting on the other side of the room but on the same row and a pale silver haired girl sitting in the front row of the room, Leif simply sat there, a bit confused, where did the test go? he thinked to himself, maybe he had slept and they took it from him, if so, had he finished the test? he couldn't even remember, all he could think about was the dreams he had a couple of seconds ago, like a jumbled mess in his mind.
After about 30 or so minutes the main figure steped up to the podium once more.
???: [The time has ended, those who have finished the first test can direct themselves to the waiting room.]
Leif got up, stepping back into the waiting room, once all the candidates who had finished had stepped out, wich seemed to be hundreds less then what first went in, the doors closed and a few seconds later they opened once more, now the outside was the same as before, the plataform leading into the path of stones that they had first walked through to get there.