Suri rushed towards the edge of the cliff to look for Aeon. However, he could not see him because the path had a curve.
Suri moved away from the edge then rushed back. He gave the two teams a glance along the way and saw that the team he followed earlier was already annihilated. Its three members were lying on the path, motionless. His attack probably helped to wipe them out.
His gaze met someone familiar. A mage wearing a pair of glasses looked straight at him, smiling.
After a few moments, a muffled explosion echoed through the air.
Suri shivered from the sound of the explosion. It was very loud even for them who were very high up. If he was not mistaken, that would be the sound of the earth Aeon was trapped into, colliding with the ground.
He ignored the wind mage and rushed straight to Korona.
Suri carried Korona on his left shoulder again then jumped off the cliff. Executing the same maneuver he did earlier, he landed safely. Without stopping to catch his breath, he rushed towards the location where Aeon should've landed.
….
"That was…weird," Montis said while rubbing his chin.
Klaus looked over at Montis and saw that the latter was observing the magic stones charged by the applicants who were participating in the examination. The stones were arranged in a wall, each with names below them.
Klaus walked towards Montis and stopped right beside him. He surveyed the wall of magic stones but found nothing amiss.
"What's weird?" He asked.
"I thought I saw Aeon Morgan's stone dimming, then immediately lighting back up again," Montis said, confusion written all over his face.
Klaus also looked at Aeon Morgan's magic stone.
Before being permitted to take the tests, each applicant was asked to hold onto a magic stone to confirm that they had magic inside their bodies, confirming that they were bonafide mages.
The magic stones do not actually detect if the person had magic or not, but the administrators could tell based on how the stones behave. What it really does is, it pulls magic from the holder's body, trapping it.
The administrators could then observe the vitality of the person who lit the magic stone. This concept is derived from the theory of magic's lifespan.
Just like humans, magic also has a lifespan. It has two factors to stay alive.
First, it needs to have its own "body". A good example would be a fireball. The fireball is the manifestation of the user's magic extracted from himself. So the fireball is the magic's body. However, after a long period of time, it would grow smaller and smaller until it disappears. After it disappears, it wouldn't have its characteristics as a fireball anymore. Thus, it would die.
Second, it needs its user to be alive. Any magic manifested is connected to its caster by an invisible 'string.' When a user casts a spell, an invisible string is formed. This string is responsible for pulling magic from the user and transferring it to the magic's body. After the user finishes casting or charging the magic, the string stops the transfer. However, the string is still there. When the user dies, the string is cut and the magic disperses at a much faster rate. Then, it would eventually die.
In other words, the magic stones cause the mage to subconsciously enchant it, like how a Seran would enchant his weapon of choice. The stone becomes the magic's body and its glow represents the magic's presence, whether it is still alive or not.
When a magic stone dims, it means the user's vitality is slowly slipping away.
Montis was not bothered by that. That scenario is quite common. If it did happen, they would hold onto the magic stone, focus on it, then trace the source of magic through the invisible string back to its user. This is the method used since time immemorial by the magic academy to help those applicants whose lives were in grave danger. But that did not mean no one ever died while taking the exam. One can never know when an accident occurs.
What did bother Montis was the fact that the stone lit back up as soon as it dimmed. In theory, it was not possible. Dispersed magic can never be regained passively. The user could only recast the spell and feed the magic's body again. In the current case, how could Aeon Morgan put magic into the stone again?
"Maybe you're just tired," Klaus said after some time while patting Montis' back, "go take some rest, Montis."
"It seems so," Montis responded then quietly left the room.
Klaus assumed Montis' duty of monitoring the magic stones. He stared intently at Aeon Morgan's.
….
Near the site where the boulder crashed, chunks of earth were scattered all over the ground. It must have been part of the large block of earth that trapped Aeon. Suri swallowed hard and prepared for what he was about to see. He slowly moved forward.
After walking a few meters, he saw a leg poking out behind a bush. Suri clutched his hands into fists then closed his eyes. He wanted to turn back and move away. He was also worried that Korona might wake up at that moment. If she saw Aeon like that, how would she react? He subconsciously tightened his arm around Korona's waist.
Suri lamented. He felt tears seeping out of his closed eyelids. He and Aeon did not know each other for too long, but Suri had already felt attached to him.
In any case, Suri did not expect to see anything good from behind the bush. But he had to go over. He opened his eyes then approached the bush slowly. It would be his first time, seeing a dead person.
When he looked behind the bush and saw Aeon's body, several emotions surged through him.
Aeon was lying on the ground with his eyes closed, his back facing the sky.
…
However, that was all.
There were no bruises, no cuts, no fractured bones that protruded through his skin and flesh. He basically had no wounds on his body!
Aeon's clothes were all covered in dirt and torn apart but had absolutely no bloodstains. Four large pieces of the earth that trapped him lay by his side, completely devastated from the impact.
Suri was shocked. He crouched down, turned Aeon on his back, and held on to one of his wrists. He carefully felt for his pulse.
...
He still had it!
He was still alive!
Suri was about to celebrate, but his joy was immediately replaced by confusion. Looking at the wreckage and the height of the fall, Aeon should have, at the very least, suffered some major injuries. How come his body was completely intact? He could not even see a speck of blood as he surveyed each part of his body, from head to toe.
Boom! Boom!
Suri flinched due to the noises and woke up from his stupor. He heard a few muffled explosions from a distance.
Enemies!
His body moved without thinking. He grabbed Aeon by the collar and ran away.
Suri disappeared into the forest.
….
A few hours later, Aeon woke up.
The first thing he noticed was how dark it was. He immediately got up, thinking it was already nighttime and that the exam was already over. He frantically looked around to confirm. unfortunately, he could barely see anything.
When his eyes finally adjusted to the dark, he realized that he was not in the Academy's infirmary, resting. Instead, he was now in a cave, who knows where.
Looking behind him, Aeon saw that it was already a dead end so he decided to trace the path forward. He walked through the sharp S-shaped turn of the tunnel, finally seeing the mouth of the cave. Near the entrance, Suri was standing guard while Korona was asleep behind him.
He heaved a sigh of relief then started jogging slowly towards Suri and Korona.
Suri, hearing footsteps behind him, immediately turned around. He knew that the only person that could approach him from behind was Aeon, however, he was still shocked. "You're already awake?"
Aeon slowed down to a halt. He pinched his own cheek, to check if he was still dreaming. Feeling the sharp pain from the pinch, Aeon yelped. He grinned and replied, "It seems so."
Suri cocked an eyebrow at him.
For a moment, the two stared at each other in silence. Aeon's humor did not seem to have any effect on Suri at all, and the situation ended up being really awkward.
In the end, Suri could not help but voice out his confusion.
"Do you realize that you just survived a 100-meter fall while being stuck in a block of earth, without a single injury?" incredulity filled his voice.
Aeon's eyebrows furrowed. He examined his own body through the darkness of the cave and his gaze slowly fell towards the ground. Confusion was written all over his face. It appeared like he was trying hard to remember the series of events that led him here. But in reality, it did not take him a long time to remember.
What confused him was exactly the fact that he immediately remembered.
Falling that high, how was he able to remember clearly? Aside from his legs being tired, which should have been the result of continuous running, he was feeling quite alright. Completely not like someone who experienced a horrible accident.
Logically speaking, most of his bones should have been broken, wounds and bruises should have covered most of his body. Worse, he would have ended up in a coma. Possibly death!
He fell from a cliff. He punched on the block that kept him from escaping. His knuckles were bleeding.
My knuckles were bleeding?
Right! My knuckles were bleeding!
Aeon immediately flipped his palm over and looked at his knuckles.
…
His knuckles were also devoid of wounds.
His gaze shot upwards. He looked at Suri in shock.
The latter just stared straight at him.
Aeon smiled crookedly, "Bro… I think something's wrong with me."
….