There were a lot of people around, Kaos looked through all the unfamiliar faces, trying to keep track of Vazai and Kyris. Eventually Kyris spotted a group of seats and sat down, motioning for everyone else to follow.
Vazai quickly slid into the next seat over and Kaos followed, this time pulling Sepra along.
Kaos was nervous, but the thought of also being on a team in the upcoming test was comforting at least. All of a sudden, the room went silent, silent enough to hear the footsteps on the stage.
Kaos looked towards the front of the room and saw the reason for the silence. Dael'Jun had just walked onto the stage. He stood unflinching before the crowd, his massive figure further embellished by the noble's crimson pelt-cape he wore.
"Long ago," he began, "it is said that there was no such thing as magic. No such thing as the wishes we all hold dear."
"Humans lived in fear of the beasts and monsters that came from the depths of the badlands. They relied on the protection of fickle gods who regarded them as mere toys, praying for deliverance, only to be torn to shreds by the claws of some feral creature." He ended this sentence with a far-away look, as if he had seen them himself.
He continued, "Then, as the last of humanity gathered together against the monsters of the badlands, the Hallowed one, God above gods gave us the gift of wishes, a tool to defend against our oppressors and a symbol that we had not been forsaken!"
"The foolish gods crowded around the remnant of humanity, leering at how they would fall to the monsters, only to discover the newfound blessing the humans had been given.
Out of spite and wounded pride, the gods pushed harder, they lured more monsters, they set traps, and finally, they came themselves. Human blood has never been spilled like the day that the gods descended, but the Hallowed One's will was not that humanity died that day.
A man named Ki was given not one, not two, but three wishes. With these wishes he struck down a god. When the god lay motionless, he noticed a sweet smell, and a new feeling, it was a small amount of magic: the remnants of a dead god.
This small amount of magic was not enough though, he slew god after god, that sweet smell in the air and the tingling in his fingers growing every time, until every god had been slain!
Finally there was peace, and the evil of the gods had come to an end. The spoils of this war gave us not only our freedom, but the ability to reach out and touch the impossible.
Because of human souls, Wishes were given, and from the blood of gods, magic was taken." Dael'Jun took a moment to look around before continuing.
"So I ask you, are you one who seeks understanding of themselves, one who wishes to learn magic, or perhaps some legend-to-be we will all know as a god killer? If so, take your glory! Seek your magic! Show us your radiance!"
While it was obvious this speech had been given quite a few times, it gave Kaos some connection to those ancient fairy-tales people regarded as true history.
There was more to the entrance speech, but Kaos had zoned out and was entirely focused on how he was going to get through the team battles.
The only thing that woke him from his intense thought was a silence on stage.
Kaos looked up to see what had happened. Dael'Jun's expression was one of frustration with what he was about to say.
"Here," Dael'Jun continued, "we strive to make the most of your abilities, and grow you as individuals, as well as teams. In order to make stronger individual warriors of you all, the format for this year's opening arena game will be a battle royale."
Murmurs and whispers erupted from the audience immediately. While Wondant's arena game format sometimes changed throughout the semester, it never changed the first game, and had become an unspoken rule that the first game was always a team battle.
Dael'Jun looked over the crowd one last time and in a quieter tone said "show us your worth."
He then left the stage.
As soon as he had left the stage, the students and teachers alike burst into conversation. Some were complaining how unfair it was, others making plans to meet in the arena and form a team anyway, and others saying they were excited to see this new format.
Kaos was in shambles. He knew that he was screwed. He knew that if he came up against Sepra she wouldn't take it easy on him, let alone want to team up. She had always been the kind to play for the love of the game, and she definitely wasn't going to sacrifice the 'integrity of the game' so she could babysit him.
He glanced at Kyris who would also be participating, but decided against trying to team up, he had just met him after all, and he might have a better chance of running and hiding than risk getting backstabbed early on.
He was stressed, really stressed.
His brain seemed like it was screaming at him to run or fight, anything to get rid of this powerless feeling.
Kaos was by all accounts a very passive and gentle person, but in times like these, some small voice in the back of his head would act up, becoming so loud that he couldn't focus or pay attention.
"RUN! RUN! FIGHT! KILL! WIN! DIE!" the voice wasn't stopping or even giving a clear message.
"You good, man?" Vasai asked, slightly elbowing him.
The voice stopped enough for Kaos to collect some thoughts and reply "yeah… that's just not really what I expected, and I don't think the battle royale is gonna go so good for me"
"Well this arena heals people once they're eliminated from the game so at least you don't have to worry about getting injured" Vasai shrugged at the end of his sentence in a nonchalant way that was somehow both comforting and slightly annoying to Kaos.
"I figure," Vasai continued, "you just play to your strengths, try and get one elimination and then hide for a while and you still got a good shot."
"Yeah…" Kaos mumbled. Something about the way Vasai simplified the situation calmed him down enough and gave him some sort of hope for the situation.
Just maybe, if he got a lucky elimination on someone weaker like him, there was a good chance that he could still get into the Dek class.
He made up his mind, he was going to do this. He HAD to do this.
He wouldn't be left behind again.
Then the large double doors opened back up.
It was time to head to the Arena.