Dawn: "Why are you showing me this, Dorine?" He spoke as he stared at the gravestones.
Dorine's figure reappeared to the left of Dawn, as easily as it had vanished moments earlier.
Dorine: "Your heart longs to see them again, doesn't it?" She said before stepping closer to Rhys' grave.
Dawn did not know how to respond to her question, but he knew that she was right. He wanted nothing more than to see his friends again.
Dorine: "I know that it is hard for you to be in their presence, but you deserve to be here." She spoke, turning back to face Dawn.
Dawn: "I guess so, but none of them would be here if it weren't for me. I should have called everything off before it even started." He started shaking his head. "When Dusan came to me I should have shut the whole thing down."
Dorine: "Why? Just because your friends are dead?" She tilted her head a little bit
Dawn stared at her for a moment before responding: "Just because my friends died? Why are you saying that as if life is just something that to be thrown away.."
Dorine: "Then what is it?" Her gaze was fixated on the now confused Dawn.
Dawn: "What do you mean?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
Dorine: "What is life supposed to be if not to be thrown away? We all seem to be casting our lives away like a herd of sheep-"
Dawn: "You don't know what you're saying!" He abruptly cut her off, his expression plainly shocked by her words. "Do you not value your own life?"
Dorine: "It is not a question of me valuing my own life, but a question of how to value it." She spoke in a serious tone. "Of course we value life, but do we really understand how to?"
Dawn: "What are you saying…"
Dorine: "Your friends valued their lives, or at least that is the impression they gave you, but if they valued their life then why did they put themselves in a situation where death was possible?"
Dawn simply looked at her, not knowing how to respond to such a question. He never thought of things that way. Dorine's words were messing with a certain part of his mind that had never been touched.
Dorine: "It is the same for you, Dawn, but you just so happened to survive." She then stepped closer to Dawn. "How do you continue to blame yourself for something that is beyond your control?" Dorine looked Dawn in the eyes.
Dawn: "I influenced everyone to fight, if I had just said no.. then maybe-"
Dorine: "No." She cut him off. "All of them knew what they were getting into, and all of them were given the choice to stay away. You know that, don't you?"
Dawn: "I guess so, but that still does not change the fact that I could have stopped them."
Dorine: "You could have helped, yes, but you cannot control the actions of someone who has free will. They all seemed to value their lives, yet they threw it all away to come fight, not because you wanted them to, but because they wanted to themselves." She placed her right hand on Dawn's shoulder. "You are not the one to blame."
Once Dorine's hand made contact with his shoulder, Dawn snapped out of the daze that he had found himself in. All of her words were starting to connect in his mind, forming a different meaning than Dawn had originally had. She is right.. I can't control anyone. They acted on their own.
Dawn: "I see your point.." He said with a small frown.
Dorine: "I can see that. I am connected to your mind after all." She said with a small chuckle, a very abrupt change from her consistently serious attitude.
Dawn: "So, is that what you wanted? For me to understand that I couldn't control them?"
Dorine: "More or less. My goal was to make you see that you were not the reason for them dying. They died because they wished to help you, not because you made them, but because it was what they wanted."
After her sentence finished, the world around them flashed to an endless black void.
Dorine: "You have passed the test, Dawn."
Dawn: "Wait, what?" He sounded shocked while also having a surprised facial expression. "How?"
Dorine: "Do you not feel better?" She took her hand off of his shoulder, taking a small step back.
Dawn took a moment to understand what she was asking, and while doing so he realized that the feeling of guilt, that grueling burden had been lifted without him realizing it.
Dorine smiled as she felt him figure it out: "You do. My intention was to accomplish just that, and realizing that it wasn't your fault earned you the passing grade. If nothing changed after this, I would have failed you. One of the most important aspects of valuing life is understanding that not everything is within your control, and that occasionally things happen that you may blame yourself for, but because you cannot control them, you must not blame yourself. It's like shutting your heart and mind in a jail cell." She then pivoted on her foot, facing away from Dawn. "You were so misguided by your own false judgment of that whole situation that you couldn't let yourself move on. The rest of your life will require you to move on, to take leaps of faith in order to keep going, and sometimes those leaps might be forgiving yourself for something that was out of your control."
But Dorine, what if I fall?
But Dawn, what if you fly…
Dawn regained consciousness in the testing room after her words finished, and he looked around anxiously due to his immediate reawakening. He noted that the door to chamber two was closed, but a door on the other side of the room was open, which had not been there before. The chair had removed Dawn's restraints, allowing him to stand up and move freely. Once Dawn got up, he moved to the open door, glancing at his hand as he went. The second marking, which confirmed he passed test two, was next to the one Ubtaal had given him after the first exam. After exiting the smaller test chamber, Dawn was now in a hallway that seemed to lead to the last testing chamber, and to the side of him was Diogenis who seemed to have been waiting for Dawn.
Diogenis: "Well look who it is!" He said while walking over to Dawn. "I was starting to think you'd never come out of that damn room."
Dawn: "I wasn't in there too long, Genis." He retorted.
Diogenis: "Uh, yeah you were. I've been waiting for at least an hour." He chuckled.
Dawn: An hour, seriously? It only felt like I was in there for maybe about ten minutes..
Diogenis: "Anyways, let's get moving. I'm ready to get this shit over with, and test three is just boring." He groaned as he started to walk down the hall.
Dawn: "Oh, great." He sighed, following after Diogenis.
Once they made it to the other end of the hall they were met with another door, and another sign. This sign read "Chamber 3: Quick Thinking Test". After reading the words on the sign Dawn failed to understand how this could be a necessary test after the two he had just completed. Upon entering the room, the two were met with yet another empty room. However, in this empty room there were five podiums in the middle of the room, and a man standing in front of them.
The human's medium-length blonde hair cascaded smoothly about his chiseled facial features, emanating an air of effortless charm and confidence. His piercing cyan eyes appeared to contain a wealth of wisdom and experience beyond his years, implying a soul as mysterious as the ocean depths. His athletic shape conveyed a commitment to physical health, as seen by the way his fitted gray collared shirt highlighted his broad shoulders and toned torso. His outfit, which included navy dress pants fastened with a stylish belt, exuded classic refinement. A tan trench coat with gently flowing fabric added a nice layer to his look. The man also had three gleaming gold rings adorning his right hand.
Bodhi: "Hello there, welcome to the third and final test!" The man spoke loudly, and with high energy. "My name is Bodhi and I am your proctor. Step up to any of the podiums and we will get this show on the road!"