I woke up feeling surprisingly comfortable, having expected to wake up in an awkward pile of unconscious bodies from the rest of the people I had arrived with. Looking around I realized that someone had moved me to some sort of sleeping area. There were bunks lined up along the wall as far as I could see in one direction, however, right next to me in the other direction was a door. I sat up and saw that everyone else was still in a deep sleep, however this didn't surprise me as I was accustomed to only sleeping for about three hours per night, or if I was extremely exhausted that could be extended to around seven hours maybe eight if it was bordering on unhealthy amounts of sleeplessness beforehand.
Sitting up I felt slightly light headed so I just sat there for almost a full minute before daring to try to stand. My first attempt led to me falling back into my bunk extremely light headed with a headache returning. Although the returning headache was frustrating, I was too stubborn to give up after just one failed attempt. This time I gripped the corner of the bunk tightly as I stood up and swayed, only staying on my feet through sheer will and the strength of my arms. Finally able to stand on my own after about another minute of holding on for dear life, I sighed in annoyance.
'If this is what it is going to be like after every "trial" of these people, this is going to suck' I thought to myself as I approached the door. When I looked at the door, I was worried that I might be locked in here, but upon trying to open the door I was relieved to see it swing open silently on well oiled hinges. Looking out I didn't see anyone, but I was certain that I had heard a voice before passing out, and now I was in a building so I knew there had to be people here somewhere.
With that in mind, I headed out into the hall and I felt another membrane and was worried I was about to pass out but something, in my opinion, much worse happened. I was abruptly assaulted by many noises and could hear people talking and laughing and even saw a servant-looking person hurry between two rooms down the hall. The sudden noise caused my headache to flare up again and I leaned against the wall because it hurt so bad. Right when I felt like I would collapse from pain a young man, seemingly in his mid 20s, appeared out of nowhere and gently helped me back into the room I had come from.
"Ah, one of you woke up earlier than we expected. I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you as soon as you awoke, but as you can see, most people don't awaken this quickly. The magic used for the trial is physically and magically exhausting for those who partake in it, so I would recommend that you rest as much as you can today, but since you are already awake, I guess I can answer some questions for you as a reward for being… an exceptional trial taker." This man's voice was smooth but for some reason the words didn't seem to match the movement of his lips, however that isn't what I was focusing on at the moment.
"Did you say magic? What are you talking about? Where are we? How come we woke up in an endless field of blood and grass? What was that membrane thing that we walked through? How is it that that wooden door can keep out all that noise that everyone out there is making? Does it have anything to do with the thinner membrane in that doorway?" I spewed questions like a firehose as my curiosity got the better of me.
The young man before me seemed amused and there was a flicker of what seemed to be surprise before it vanished behind more amusement. "So you could feel the barriers? Quite good, although it should be expected from someone who was capable of awakening this quickly. Okay, let's start from the beginning. Yes, I said magic, the organization has made nearly one thousand bases that will summon six thousand people from your low magic world and put them through some trials. Those who work together and pass the trials will be trained and given the option of joining our military as an officer or becoming regular citizens of our kingdom. To be completely honest, I am surprised only two people from your group drank the blood-acid from the trial. We are currently in the kingdom, Summa Scientiae, in a mage and knight training camp. You woke up in one of both the easiest and hardest trials, the bloodacid field trial. The trial is fairly simple, you must walk a certain distance from where you awoke, and if you were to ingest any of the blood it would become an acid inside your stomach and force you to vomit until you vomit enough blood that you die of blood loss… as you saw with the two from your group of six thousand. The "membrane" as you call it, otherwise known as barriers, are the ends of a magical effect, these membranes can also have an effect for those who pass through them like the one from the trial absorbs all of the energy from anyone below the rank of three star class-holder, which will be explained to all of you once everyone wakes up. The wooden door has nothing to do with keeping the sound out, as I am assuming you have pieced together by now. There is another two star spell, "Locus Silentii," also meaning, "room of silence," which keeps all of the sound out there from entering this room as to not disturb the rest of you all, even when they awaken, most will not want to move for the rest of the day."
I absorbed as much of that as I could before giving a wry smile and asking, "Can I get something to take notes with?" causing the young man to seem confused for a second before bursting into laughter causing someone from the neighboring bunk to groan loudly before rolling over and going back to sleep. "Also, I understand why they wouldn't want to move around after waking up, when I first woke up I could barely sit up, then standing was only possible by supporting myself with the frame of the bunk."
The young man nodded as if expecting that, then he said, "By the way, my name is Cyrus, I am ranked a three star mage but that is all I am currently allowed to tell you about myself, due to some cases where the trial takers were overcome with hatred and turned into rogue mages who devote their life to trying to end the existence of our kingdom. Anyway, I must be returning now, you should rest while you can, the next trial will be harder, obviously."
"My name is Ja-... hm I guess now is as good of a time to change my name as any, My name is Arratus from now on. Thank you for the knowledge you have imparted upon me. It was an honor meeting you." I said with a small smile playing on my lips.
Cyrus smiled, he was happy to be present at the new beginning of this younger man, he had a feeling that Arratus wouldn't be weak for long. However, seemingly remembering something Cyrus' smile faltered and as he was leaving he said one more thing that would have made anyone else but Arratus shiver, "I'm sorry for what you will go through."
Although I didn't shiver, or show any fear on the outside at all, I felt as if in that moment my heart had frozen solid. 'What could be so bad that Cyrus would apologize about it beforehand?' I thought to myself. Even though I was concerned, the others were still asleep and I was tired even though I had been awake for enough time for me to usually brush off my sleepiness. Seeing as I was still tired, I went back to sleep.
"Hey, you, wake up!" A voice sounded near me, and I instantly sat up and almost slammed my head into the bunk above me but stopped myself just in time. The voice was coming from one of the people who had been in my original group of 10 that traveled with me, and he seemed fairly surprised by how quickly I had responded to someone calling out to me.
"Can I help you?" I asked calmly, wondering why I had been bothered since there wasn't anybody not from their six thousand in the room as far as I could see. The guy frowned and hesitated, seeming unsure of how to continue. I had already pegged this guy as a bully, so he was probably hoping to bully me for not responding quickly, but now that I had responded almost immediately even from the depths of sleep he wasn't sure how to continue.
"I- How? How did you wake up so fast? Why aren't you as groggy and slow as everyone else?" The man demanded frustratedly. I was slightly amused but decided it would be in my best interest not to get into any fights since I knew the next test would be even harder than the last one, which had just been exhausting.
"That's simple, it's because I woke up a few hours ago. I already went through the slow, and painful process of waking up after what we went through, then I went back to sleep because I was still tired, and everyone else was still asleep." I responded, careful not to mention that I knew what they had been through was just the first of at least two trials. "It only makes sense that if I had already been through the pain I shouldn't have to go through it again. I don't think anyone would willingly live here if they woke up like that every day, and considering that someone moved us here while we were asleep that means there are definitely people here somewhere."
The other guy frowned and seemed annoyed but couldn't fault my logic so he just growled in annoyance and turned and went to torment someone else who was still waking up. The person in the bunk across the fairly narrow hall said, "Did you really wake up a few hours ago? As far as I know, besides you, the earliest anyone woke up was about 30 minutes ago, but some people might not be coming forward about it."
I smiled slightly, "Yeah, I woke up really early, I also made the mistake of trying to stand up immediately because I didn't know how bad it was. Nobody else was awake at the time, and I was awake for about half an hour before falling back asleep so I would say the earliest someone could have woken up, at least the ones close enough for me to see or hear, would be three hours ago? Maybe three and a half hours? It's hard to tell time here." The guy on his bunk winced hearing that I tried to stand immediately then chuckled.
I laid around and chatted with the people on the bunks nearby and helped them stand when they were first getting up, although it wasn't as bad as my attempt due to them laying in bed for a while after waking up, they still were light headed and had headaches so they appreciated the help. At first the people around me thought that he was weird and kind of scary because I was showing just the barest amount of emotion at any situation, including the blood in the fields the day before, but as they kept talking to me they realized that I felt emotions I just didn't show them very well.
After it appeared that everyone was awake, I started watching the door while talking to people, unknowingly making the people around me nervous. Some of the thoughts they were having were, 'Did he notice something that we didn't?' and 'Does he know something we don't?' although some of the smarter people in the room realized that it would make sense for someone to come in now that everyone was awake, and they assumed that's what I was waiting for, and indeed they were correct. In fact shortly, they and I, were proven correct in their assumptions as the door flung open and the room abruptly went silent.
"Good, you're all awake. As this is the highest ever recorded number of survivors of the first trial, the second trial's difficulty will be increased. You have ten minutes to get ready to move around before you will be led to a community eating area. If you can't walk by then, you will be left behind by the mages working here." The man in the doorway spoke, and somehow his words easily carried all the way down the extremely long hall to the very last trial taker. After speaking, the man turned around and left without any hesitation or waiting for people to ask questions and closed the door behind him.