"And with that, we shall end the registrations for this year's examination. For anyone who is still roaming the halls, you shall be kicked out with no memories of what transpired. Thank you for participating and good luck next time." The masked man at the podium announced, once everyone in the room had put their tablets in the boxes and immediately after, the door suddenly disappeared and then transformed into seven differently-colored doors.
"For everyone who has successfully registered, you may check under your seats for the required item you will be needing to start the examination. Also, do not forget to take your registration tablets from the boxes. And with that, I bid you adieu." The masked man explained with a serious expression, before he suddenly vanished into a cloud of black smoke.
'Well, this is going to be a lot more troublesome than expected.' Soren commented inwardly as he slowly shook his head with an annoyed expression. As he was shaking his head, he heard some mumbling from some people who were having a conversation between the two of them, but it was barely audible for him, so he completely ignored the mumbling around him and rose up from his seat to get his tablet from the box he put in.
'Sprite Sky. Kind of an ironic name, funnily enough. Can't say that I had any other nicknames, aside from my OC* name that I like to put on my games. ' Soren commented inwardly with a weak smile, before shaking his head helplessly.
{*A/N: OC stands for Original Character}
After taking his tablet, he decided to slowly make his way towards the doors and while going so, he also got to notice something interesting. It was the lack of people who chose Ira's faction and that made his feel a bit confused and worried.
"Don't tell me I'm the only one who picked this faction?" Soren muttered to himself with a helpless expression, as he was holding his head. Luckily enough, he was not alone, since another dozen people also stopped and took their tablets from the box that Soren had taken from before, so that made his sigh with relief.
After seeing that, he decided to go to his seat and grab the item that was needed for the registration. The moment he looked under the seat he was sitting previously, he found a white mask that was connected to a black hood, similar to the attires from the guy at the podium, the guard at the crossroads and the man who gave him the direction to come here.
'This is definitely suspicious.' Soren thought to himself, before trying to scan the mask. Unfortunately for him, his attempt was met with a horrible headache that made him want to bash his head on the wall.
'Wha- What the heck is this? Is this another red book situation where this thing will start homing on me now?' Soren questioned as he was massaging his temples from the headache.
"Let's not put this on, if possible." Soren commented quietly to himself and made his way in front of one the doors.
[Garrison of Pride.] After stopping in front of this door, he decided to put his tablet right in front of the indent, right next to the door.
[Access denied.]
"Huh? Why is that? The announcer said to enter in one of those doors, after taking the stuff under the chair and the tablets out of the boxes. Wouldn't this mean that it wouldn't matter which door I should enter?" Soren muttered to himself with a confused expression.
"It depends on which faction you have registered yourself in. For example, I'm in Gula's faction, so I have to go through the Kitchen of Gluttony. Another, for example, might be in Invidia's faction, so they would have to go through the Depths of Envy." Another merman explained right behind him with a serious expression.
"I see... Then where would I have to go for Ira's faction?" Soren asked with a serious expression as well.
"I-Ira's faction?" The man asked with a surprised expression. Once the merman had asked as well, a lot of other mermen turned their heads towards their direction as well.
"Ehhh... Is there a problem with that?" Soren asked slightly nervously.
"No... No problems... It's just that... You know..."
"Just be quick and blunt about it. The suspense is not helping." Soren ordered with a serious expression as he glared at the nervous merman in front of him.
"Well... It's full of Battle Junkies and crazy nutjobs. No offense on you guys." The merman answered quickly with a slightly nervous expression, as he was looking around. After a couple of moments of silence, Soren broke it and said:
"I see. That still doesn't answer my question though."
"Huh?" At that point, the man was left completely stupefied and it took his a full minute to ask nervously:
"W-Which question?"
"Where do I go for Ira's faction? It's not that difficult to answer." Soren answered with a slightly annoyed expression.
"The Fields of Wrath, but why would you want-" Before he could even finish his sentence though, Soren interrupted with a calmer expression:
"Much better now. You don't need to worry about me." At that point, he quickly went and stopped right in front of the Fields of Wrath door and quickly put his tablet in front of the indent.
*click* *grooooaaan*
"Wait, are you serious? Are you not worried or something? You should know that-" The man asked nervously, but then he was suddenly interrupted by Soren's remark:
"Why should I be worried or nervous? After all, it's pointless to worry about the inevitable. The only thing I can do, is to embrace it and accept it. That is, in a way, my way of life. But then again, life is unpredictable, so you never know what might come your way. Good luck."
At that moment, gave a quick salute to the man he was conversing with and quickly entered through the door. Although he had said that, deep down, he still wanted to break through the inevitable and do something that destroyed the inevitable and gave him an opportunity to shape his own future.
*slap* "There's no point thinking about it any longer. What has happened, has happened, so just take those useless thoughts out of your head and let's find a way out through this examination of sorts." Soren quickly reminded himself as he slapped his own face with his own hands.
After he entered through the door, he was met with a pure white hallway that had no doors, windows or any other decorations, aside from the door at the end of the hallway and the door he entered from.
"Well, there is no way back." Soren quickly remarked before he quickly swam and charged through the door at the end of the hallway.
As Soren charged through the door, another man with black hair in an unknown room, suddenly turned towards a certain direction and asked himself with a quiet, but nervous voice:
"Could it be...?"