The silhouette just stays there. Silent and immobile. I grip my dagger using both of my hands, and indeed, I can't use the little finger and the ring finger of my left hand. How did she break them without me noticing? Anyway, it doesn't matter right now. I look around us to see if there anything I can use. In the center of the field, there is a piece of wood.
I start running while checking if the woman is following me, but she doesn't move. Great. I take the wood log and go towards her now at full speed. Then I launch the log at her and grab some sand on the ground; she doesn't even try to avoid the log; it just disappears when reaching her face.
What the hell was that? When the wood's piece disappears, I throw sand to her face and jump to her leg, slashing with my dagger. Almost there, just a few centimeters, and I will cut her leg open. You will feel it now!! The next moment, I am on the ground, an invisible something is crushing me. The sand I threw at her lands on my face. Fortunately, my eyes are closed. I can't move; I can't even breathe properly. What is happening? Is she doing that? How?
"I will give 0 points for furtivity, 1 point for creativity, and 1 point for the initiative. That makes two over ten. You fail for today. At this rate, I suppose I will break your neck in five days at best and kill you."
The pressure which was crushing me disappears. She simply takes my left hand and breaks the other three fingers. One at a time. Slowly.
"Another 5 points for not screaming. That makes 17 points today." She releases my hands. "See you soon." And disappears without any sound.
Who was that? What kind of techniques were those? Is it Angas? I didn't have enough time to think about those questions. Apprentices start coming to the field: one, two, then fifteen. We are 17 apprentices in total. Five minutes later, the instructor comes. I am the shortest in the group, obviously, so I am in front.
***
"Okay, today starts your training to become knights. If you are here, it means you wish to be among the elites, to protect and serve! To honor and be honored! But right now, you all are just shit. And even among you, there are different levels of shit!" The instructor looks at me, coldly.
"You! You are worse than shit, you are garbage. Shit can even be used to fertilize if nothing else, but you… You don't have any use, your life itself is a disgrace to MEETIA."
Everyone has their eyes on me when the instructor starts speaking. I can feel their piercing gaze as they are all laughing hard. After humiliating me as much as he wanted, he looks at the group again.
"My name is instructor MARK GRANDCROSS. I am a captain in the order of knights of Flolerl. You all will call me Instructor. I will be your god for the next seven years. If I say to breathe, you breathe. If not, you don't. And trust me, disobedience will be rewarded as it should." He then takes three steps back. "Now, all of you will run until I tell you to stop. Go! Go! Go!"
Everybody starts running. We run around the castle, passing by the front gate, through the forest behind, and then in the field. As expected, I am the youngest one in the group; everybody else must be at least 15 years old or more. We keep running and running. Surprisingly, I am not at the rear of the group even though I am not even as physically capable as the rest. Surely because I can't feel the pain in my legs, I just hope they won't just stop moving suddenly.
***
The sun is now up in the sky; I am sure we have been running for at least four hours now, out of the 17 apprentices of the group, only five are still running normally, including me. The rest try their best just to drag themselves. I try to keep up the pace as best as I can, but suddenly, when we pass through the field, I fall. Immediately I try to stand up but nothing.
My legs are not moving. Not the slightest. Looking at my whole body, I finally notice that my clothes are drenched in sweat. I am sweating so much the ground is rapidly wet. The instructor is near me, but he doesn't say anything. He is not even looking at me. I try as hard as I can to stand up but nothing. I can't stop here! I will prove to them who is the garbage!
"AGHHH!" Once again, I push with my arms, and my right leg is moving again, I place my foot on the ground, using it as an anchorage. Then I drag the other foot. Slowly, I try to advance, but it didn't last, I fall again, this time, my arms were also weak, and I couldn't cushion the fall. My head hits the ground hard, and blood starts dripping from my forehead.
"STOP NOW! I have seen the limits and desires of every single damn one of you maggots! Starting tomorrow, each apprentice will receive a mentor and focus on areas that need to be improved. You will work on them for the next three years. That's all."
The instructor is giving information like there is nothing wrong, even though there are not even five apprentices in front of him. He then goes inside the castle.
"This is hell."
"Where did we come?"
"This can't be serious."
All the other apprentices are complaining about what happened today. I am too busy trying to get up to think about that. After ten minutes or so, I finally manage to get up, but everybody is gone. This seems to be the end of the first day. I have pushed my body to the limit without realizing it, and my left hand is gone for now.
"This is going to be freaking hard." I drag myself inside slowly.