A carriage landed softly on the ground next to the massive line of young adults waiting to get their vouchers stamped. Lia stepped out from the carriage. The scene before her was impressive.
There were four gates, and each one had a long line of prospective students behind it. They were waiting to enter the massive arena. The arena itself was rectangular and had massive towering walls that seemed to stretch upward for as long as Lia could see. She surmised that each towering wall was lined with spectator seats. Lia knew the event would be massive, but there was no way she could have anticipated this amount of people. 'There must be...what? 500 people here right now. I expected a lot, but this is..'
Sarovitch interrupted her musing. 'It is indeed a lot of people, but I've seen more. We must enter a line and wait.
Lia approached a line and patiently began waiting. Her visage elicited a lot of stares. Silver hair wasn't the most uncommon hair color, but with the crimson-red eyes, all-black sclera, and elongated red fingernails, she was bound to catch a lot of attention. Vampires rarely chose to deal with the sun, and yet here one stood. Lia was entirely unphased by the sun. To her, it just felt like a minor nuisance.
No one approached Lia while she waited. Lia thought that it might have been due to fear, but the truth was that she looked like Royalty, and no one in the crowd found themselves important enough to consider approaching her.
"Next." A woman's voice that held little to no emotion rang out, prompting Lia to step forward. "Voucher," was all she said when Lia stepped up.
Placing her voucher down, the secretary stamped it and nodded. "Head inside. There will be others to direct you to the location you must go to. Good luck."
Lia thanked her and went inside. The inside of the arena was even more impressive. The open space seemed to extend for an unlimited amount. No matter how much she walked, she couldn't get closer to the audience stands. Sarovitch mentioned that the whole place was imbued with the element of space, which Lia mulled over.
'Space and Time is a little bit of an irregularity when it comes to elements. Anyone can learn them, but understanding how it works is difficult. Space and time wizards must have been employed to enchant the arena, granting it this effect of seemingly infinite distance and space. Very peculiar use.'
A deep, manly voice interrupted her thoughts. "Please, Follow me to the waiting room. The tournament will begin in two hours."
The man who spoke was dressed in elegant robes, flowing with crystalline blue colors. His robe was adorned with small eyes that looked in all different directions at once. The eyes weren't real, they were fabric, but it seemed they functioned similarly to real eyes.
Lia was led down a winding corridor. She and the strange man weaved their way through various winding hallways, through sets of doors, and finally into a large open room. Various prospective students were waiting as they talked amongst one another. A sign near the back of the room designated it as "Block L".
Lia sat down in a corner near the back of the room. She wasn't super interested in mingling with others. Not yet anyway. This was going to be a tournament, and it would put all of them in direct competition.
.....
Lia sat unmoving in a corner. She was speaking to Sarovitch.
'Do you have any ideas on what this tournament could entail?'
Sarovitch thought about it for a moment. 'They must have some kind of way to thin out this many people and filter it down. I'm guessing with the number of people here, it'll be some kind of large-scale battle first. Then, the remaining people will be put into brackets. At least, that's what I would do in this situation.'
Lia nodded in her mind. 'I thought the same thing, although, I suspect there's an intermediary event. Perhaps something to test the prospective student's resolve instead of battle prowess?'
Sarovitch thought for a moment. 'That makes sense. Wonder what kind of-'
"U-uhm, excuse me." A young girl stood in front of Lia's sitting figure. She was dressed in what looked like simple commoner's clothing. Her hair was a soft brown and her eyes were green. She appeared to be a human.
Lia looked at her. "Yes, what is it you need?"
The girl shuffled around anxiously for a few moments before she swallowed hard, mustering up as much courage as she could.
Lia inwardly chuckled in response. Such a timid human.
The girl spoke. "M-my name is Lacey and I was wondering if you knew anything about the tournament...the person that gave me the voucher only came to our village once.."
Lia nodded. "Well, I don't entirely know what to expect, I can assure you that it's going to entail fighting your prospective classmates. Probably in some large-scale fight. Maybe a game to see who survives the longest."
Lacey's face sank. "I-I've never fought another person before." She instantly began to pale. "I-I'm not sure I can.."
Lia raised an eyebrow. Inwardly, she began to ponder. 'Do they just give these vouchers out to anyone? That's incredibly irresponsible.'
Sarovitch performed a mind-nod signifying her agreement.
Lia asked with genuine curiosity. "How did you get your voucher?"
Lacey was pulled from her spiraling thoughts at Lia's words. "I...Someone came to our village and gave one to the person with the highest magical aptitude."
Lia's eyes widened. The kingdom was indeed very lax about who received one. After a moment, Lia responded. "Well, I'm not sure what exactly the tournament will entail, but you should try and prepare yourself. It's going to be messy."
Lacey nodded and sat down next to Lia. Lia watched her for a moment, her mind wandered to her barely visible neck. 'Fuck, I'm thirsty.' She decided to ignore it for now.
Lia watched as Lacey passed through various facial expressions. At first, she was scared, then her face slowly hardened into resolve, and finally, it landed on defeat before moving to fear once again. Sarovitch interrupted Lia's quiet watching.
'She's spiraling. This girl doesn't seem to be cut out for this kind of tournament, and definitely not for this school.'
Lia agreed wholeheartedly. Some things just weren't for everyone, and a school like this was one of those things.
'Perhaps I should help her,' Lia thought. She half-expected Sarovitch to rebuke her, but there was no response to that thought.
Lia looked towards Lacey. "Do you mind if I touch you?"
Lacey looked at her, suddenly snapped out of her destructive spiral by Lia. "I-I-I. what? t..touch..me..?"
Lia facepalmed. "Not like that. I think I may be able to help your mind ease itself."
Lacey's face turned a bright shade of red as a blush crept up her face. "I..yes..that's fine.."
Lia placed her hand on top of Lacey's head. Closing her eyes, she began to bring her magic up. 'Let's see...do you have any ideas, Sarovitch? I think I should be able to ease her mind using magic.'
Sarovitch pondered. Various ideas ran through her mind before she settled on one. 'I wonder...here, try to have your mana circle her brain. It should prove to be effective. Implement a minor amount of nightmare magic to ease the process. If you do it correctly, it should ease her mind in a very major way.
Lia's mana began to swirl within Lacey's head. The sensation was oddly pleasurable as she allowed the strange woman to insert her mana into her body. Lacey was warned against such actions all her life. It was commonly accepted as a great sign of trust, but Lacey had thrown it all away for a slight chance at relief.
Lia's hand pulled back after a moment, as Lacey sat there frozen. 'Did I insert too much nightmare? No, I don't make mistakes like that, though I wonder...'
Lia spoke softly "Lacey, are you alright?"
Lacey's head was swimming with pleasure. Not the bodily kind that made one climax. She was experiencing emotional relief. For her entire life, Lacey's thoughts ran rampant throughout her mind. She could never reel them in, and they had nearly dictated her entire life.
Lacey began to tear up, and Lia prepared for the worst, ready to knock her unconscious if needed. Instead, Lacey turned to Lia with tears in her eyes and began to profusely thank her over and over again. She was full-on crying, and Lia was stunned and beginning to get embarrassed.
Lia instinctively reached her hand out and placed it on her head. Lacey stopped talking altogether as her brain short-circuited, which prompted Lia to pull her hand back.
"Apologies, Lacey, I don't know why I did that."
Lacey responded with a face full of red. She was a blushing mess. "Ah, it.it's okay. Thank you so much for your help."
*ATTENTION ALL CONTESTANTS, THE EVENT WILL START IN 10 MINUTES. IF YOU ARE STILL IN LINE, YOU MAY RETURN TOMORROW FOR A MAKE-UP TEST TO ENTER THE NEXT PORTION, PROVIDED YOU PASS.*