The mud was thick on the young children's boots. As the early morning rain was showering their tired bodies, they were marching as one, like a little army, following the steps of their leader Lady Samma.
"Do you have an idea where we could be going today?" Slowly whispered one of the kids to his neighbour comrade. They were now used to the breeze of the morning, the scorching heat of dinner time, and the cold nights in the campsites. However, today was a special day. It was the beginning of the year and the end of their training. Despite their young faces, their souls were old. Worked and tired by the pain of life, the memories of sights no child should ever see. And yet, on this cold rainy morning, those eyes were bright, fierce, and ready. These were no mere kids, they were young soldiers.
" My brother did his exams last year, he told me they went to a mountain hill. But each time the location of the exam site is different, it never happens at the same place twice" Replied Toby, a tall boy with red hair and dark eyes. He's immediately hit on the head by the firm hand of Lady Samma, commanding them back to order.
"We have arrived " announced Samma, with a commanding voice. Her eyes once fixated on the chatting duo, looked at the faces of all the Contestants of her group. She had trained them two years for this. In them, she could see her younger self and felt extremely proud of how much they had improved. They were now ready for the tests, and she had observed some bright talents that could even make it to the New Year's celebration.
" This will be the site of your tests. All you were allowed to know from your classes, was that the test would be passed alone, to asses your individual strength. However, I will now explain the full context of the exam and what you will need to do to have a passing grade." All ears were locked on her every word. The ten children had spent the last years preparing for this moment, as it was just the beginning of their journey and a necessary step toward their goals. They were in a damp forest, surrounded by immense trees that were covering the faint light of the rising sun. As far as they could see, animals were the only inhabitants of these lands. They had been walking for days, sometimes with blindfolders on, and other times with Disperse, a smell removal incantation conjured by their teacher. They had no idea where they were.
"There are two outcomes to this test, no grade. You either pass, or you fail. To complete the exam and become a Contester, you will battle with an instructor for one hour straight. If you are rendered incapable of continuing the battle, you fail the exam. If you can challenge the instructor for one hour, you get a fifteen-minute break as a reward" A reward? Eky's eyes widened in surprise. Lady Samma was notorious for her strict and vicious tactics on the battlefield. Eky had never heard his teacher speak of rewards in the two years he had been learning from her. They were apprehensive about the idea of going into battle against their teachers, but Eky knew this was just the beginning. There was no present given in the Contester Exam. Everyone who had been through it, whether they had passed or failed had not spoken positively of the experience. As he had predicted, Samma's next word made him shiver "For those who will still be standing, after the fifteen-minute break, the battle will resume again, with a different instructor this time. You will face a total of ten instructors every hour, after a break of fifteen minutes" Her smiling lips were almost trembling, as if the palpable anticipation of the little crowd was exhilarating for this monstrous lady. This was Iky's view of Lady Samma, a woman he both respected and feared.
" The ones who would be left standing, even after challenging ten of the finest instructors of Verum will be eligible to partake in the final part of the exam. That part will be explained only to the ones who make it there. For now, get ready young braves." Said Samma, while raising her voice. Altho they were ready for the unknown that was the Contestant Exam, the faint mist of fear could be felt after the instructions were revealed. You could not retake the Contestant Exam once failed. The lives of the examinees who had failed would be the same as their parents. One where dreaming was futile, where hope only was a memory of their young days, and the hard brutal conditions of working in the mines had rendered vague the passion they once had, their individuality and uniqueness. Without them, they could only be a fraction of themselves, whom some could view as worse than death.
"For two years you have been ruthlessly trained, moulded into a fine blade. But your training started from the moment you were born. Unfortunate enough to be born in a Mine City, but brave enough to battle your way through its adversity. This exam is your chance to show your burning resolve. The test is not against you but for you. I want to see my students embrace the difficulty of this challenge as it only is a glimpse of what a Contester is expected to face."
As the commanding voice of Samma was leaving her last words to her now-prepared Contestants, her body slowly vanished into thin air. The woman who had been walking for days with the group was nowhere to be seen, as if she had never been with them to begin with. As soon as she completely disappeared from their vision, everyone was on alert.
Having lived together throughout their training, the ten children knew one another very well. However, even as they were steps apart from each other, they were already getting ready to fight only for themselves.
Toby who was the oldest of them all enhanced his body sensation to stay alert to attacks his eyes wouldn't be fast enough to perceive. Suddenly, the rain abruptly stopped. As if it had been scheduled to cease at that every second. Toby who was in front of everyone trying to lurk into the forest with his senses turned to see what his comrades were thinking, and to his surprise, even as his enhanced body should have alerted him of any change in his surroundings, the nine Contestants standing next to him were nowhere to be seen. Caught by surprise, he understood one thing from this confusing moment. The exam had just started. As if the trees themselves were talking, a daunting voice echoed throughout the vastness of the forest.
"First challenge begins!"