I shoot awake, peering down at my hands. My chest tightens at the dreams that had plagued me.
Gods, the pain.
The door swings open for me across the room, nobody is there, but the door is open. It must mean that the Trial of Strength is officially over. Just like clockwork, a sound is heard booming over the entire room.
"The Trial of Strength has concluded."
This was the signal, this whole thing isn't over yet. The blood I ingested had given me a second wind, this entire time I had been circulating the Resan within my stomach constantly. With me drinking that blood it felt more fluent, easier, to manipulate the Resan to my desires; it wasn't always like this. There was always a force that was making me strain, exert myself.
My hands clasp on the chair, pushing myself up and walking over to the door that had opened.
Whatever awaited me, I would pass, just like all the other tests before this.
I continue my stride out the door and down the hallway, I see no other prospect on my walk down the hallway, even though it was a hallway full of doors just like mine. Just how many had the Trial of Strength claimed? It was far more brutal too, they had lost prospective students in a fight to the death. I don't even think that the Trial had any other conclusion apart from one of them dying. If that existed, then it probably would've happened. Is it a way for them to ensure that they would be ambitious enough to ensure that they would do anything for their goals?
Regardless, it had happened. And in return I have been cursed with the visages of what I had to do to get this far. It plagues me every night, and I don't think that will end any time soon.
Continuing my walk, I pass over into a room that was in contrast to the tight hallway I was just in. This grandiose room was more like a ballroom than a room to conduct a test in. Sure enough, more and more people funnelled in as the time continued to elapse. Cayus, Elisandre, Grokon they all had made their way in.
Then... Veron. His gaze was cast in a gloomy darkness, he stares at the floor, what happened to him? He lifts his head and catches sight of me, his gaze widens, I could feel it. The bloodlust. Veron wants to bloody kill me.
What reason could he pos--
Indri... he was an Everi. One of Veron's own.
Veron strides up to me, Cayus and Elisandre catch wind of it and then begin their walk over to me too.
"You killed him, you bloody murdered him!" Veron is reaching out to me, his fist raised.
"I didn't mean to! I didn't want it to be that way..." I couldn't reach him with my words, he was feral.
"I'll kill you! I swear it, I will devour you whole! He wasn't just a clan member, he was my brother!" Veron was screeching, screaming in the hall. Before Veron could actually grab me Cayus comes and grabs him by the waist, lifting him up and away from me.
"Veron! Calm yourself, calm!" Cayus tries to defuse the situation.
Elisandre comes over to me and ushers me away from them. "You must move, lest you fall victim to a man's grief."
I walk away in the direction that Elisandre's hands are pushing me, walking backwards whilst looking at Cayus and Veron.
"I really didn't mean to..."
"I know, but he does not. And he will not listen." Elisandre's voice was soothing, I continued to walk away with her until we were a safe distance away.
Cayus is still holding Veron down, he's attempting to break free, his eyes are fixated on me, they're wide, near enough crying. He is in a state of pure rage, and I was the reason for that.
"Any normal person could see that you had lost yourself in that fight, whatever it was, it saved your life. But someone had to die, that is the nature of the Trial." Elisandre is consoling me, her voice still silky and penetrating my mind with a feeling of serenity.
"Thank you... the vestiges of what I had done still linger in my mind, they plague me whenever I close my eyes. Is that normal?"
"As normal as can be, you murdered someone, regardless if it was warranted or not, any person's death with plague your mind. If it didn't, you'd be the strange one." Elisandre smirked at me whilst she said that, it definitely bolstered my resolve.
Seeing me smile might've antagonised me more in the eyes of Veron. As when he saw me smile at Elisandre, he let out another yell across the room. The rest of the prospects were just looking at this entire debacle unfold. "I will kill you! Gian, you will live to regret this day for the rest of your life. I promise this to you."
Those words cut deep, I look down at the floor, squatting down and placing my hands on my head. How could he not see that I have regret for my actions? That I did not want to kill his brother. In fact, hadn't he killed someone to reach the same position I was in? What about him killing someone else's son or daughter, brother or sister.
Why was it me that had to pay recompense for my actions?
It was unfair.
Elisandre extends her hand down to my back, and begins to rub it. "I know what you are thinking, but reasoning with him now is futile. Your reasons are valid, because you are right. His brother knew what the price for failure would be, and he knows it deep down inside too. He just needs time."
I look up again at Elisandre, smiling woefully at her. "Thank you."
A proctor erupts through the doors and begins to shout.
"Well done! You have all passed the Trial of Strength, now it is time to see if you were seen as useful enough to any of the houses in this wondrous Academy. Now, it is The Selection."
The students all gulped, The Selection? I look over at Elisandre and she smiles down at me.
"This is the final test, and then we will have made it. Stay strong, young vampire."
She grabs ahold of my hand and lifts me up to my feet, still holding my hand she begins to walk, I naturally had to follow her. She goes to where all the students are going, towards the final test.
Towards The Selection.