8 ADMISSION I

TRIADS

They looked around and everyone seems to be in triads as well, 'He called it' Harry said. The 2 agreed and they just explored the front of the school, some are wearing formal outfits that was issued to them by probably their mentors and others seems to be belonging in different ethnic groups; both familiar and not. So many different personalities are crashing or joining in with one another, others look too old to be there in the first place, while some are too young. They seem to be on top of a plateau, they look down and they see a city and smaller villages in the distance, much like the ones they see in the Overworld. They looked up and the skies look the same, clouds moving and the sun's rays piercing through. They looked over yonder but the fog covers everything else.

Their expressions were in awe in every direction they looked at

"This feels like 'Earth'" Ava said as she sits on the ledge away from the fall. She took in a deep breath to really enjoy the moment, the other 2 are uptight and does not follow her.

"It sort of is though, like what Mr. Finn said, but at the same time 'no'"

"Yeah, he seemed confused about it as well, 'what is this world'"

"Where should we sit?" Logan cut into the conversation of the 2, "Anywhere" Harry replied, because there are sits everywhere or at least places where they can wait around in.

They stand in front of an incredible building like castle of sorts, it goes high almost hitting the clouds. Upon seeing it Logan and Ava rushed back to where they were earlier, realizing that the shadow that loomed over the city was this castles. The 3 looked up to it amazed, just in awe of the incredible engineering that was put on to this. The designs are beautiful, it gives the interpretation German designed Castles with a few Roman designs to top it off. They looked around once more to properly take in the scenery as the fog starts to drift away, and more kids appear out of nowhere looking confused, excited, scared, and unreadable. Ava and Harry being the most or at the least the sociable of them, they wanted to start a conversation with anyone, but they cannot. Either they are speaking entirely different languages or they are intimidated.

"No English speakers?"

"That is odd"

"Yeah, definitely. But some does not speak English. Looks like some are from Asian and other European countries"

"Oh yeah, they are, look those are Chinese, French for sure their accents give it away" Harry starts to point out the nationality of each person he sees. He has enough knowledge to guess correctly, mainly because of the languages that each group speaks, but others he cannot understand.

"Look, triplets" Ava pointed out.

"Pretty both of them, Germans... they are definitely Germans"

"And handsome too, look at their brother"

"They seem nice"

Knowing the fact that some of the kids are "like them" they felt much more at ease. They look around in big smiles as they hear English; with accents of course. They also have distinctive outfits, their cultures are the themes of their outfit. As the 3 gush over the outfits another Triad approached and introduced themselves.

"Hello there" One of the trio said, he reached out to Ava first. Harry looked on to Harry with a "I guessed right" face, a smug one that is. But upon seeing the 3 entirely they are in shock, they are taller than them, the 3 felt anxious meeting this 3 but it did not stop Harry for starting a conversation.

"Hi nice to meet you" The boy said as he shakes Ava's hand. "Loga-" The boy replied before she can say anything.

"Well, who might you guys be?"

"I'm Logan, this 2 are Harry and Ava"

"I'm Hans, this 2 are my twin sisters, Sofia and Mila" He imitated Logan's tone, but with a bit more proficiency in the English.

"Nice to meet you guys"

Hans is tall for their age he has a long hair tied to a bun, and really unkempt. Sofia has her hair tied down to her waist, and Mila's short hair only reaches down to her ears.. They offered their hands for handshake and they all shook hands with a bit more informality; they have started to become friends. The 3 wore almost the same outfit, with a Vest, white shirt, and boots, the only thing that took them apart from each other are the girls are wearing skirt and Hans is wearing a slacks; and their hair. They wear and look almost the same, and they are the tried which Ava mistook as a triplet earlier.

"Where are you guys from?"

"Scotland, Paisley"

"We're from Hanover, Germany"

They start to talk about their first encounters with different minions. Hans and his sister encountered a lower-demon known as knecht Ruprecth, a goat that resembles a man with his face and the way he stands. He abducts children in the middle of the night and a sudden spike of missing children happened during December to the early month of January. They interacted with a Reaper that was bewildered as to how they can see and interact with him; but he took them in as it is part of his role. Using their help the Reaper managed to corner the demon and slays it, the soul that was used as a vessel were judged to be reincarnated with peace as they suffered enough.

They also encountered the German version of a Drude and an Alp. Both the Drude and Alp prey on people during their sleep giving their nightmares, and during sleep paralysis they would kill them. They managed to fight off both by fighting in a state of a lucid dream/ Both creatures were overpowered in their mind and destroyed; the victim's memory were wiped away by the Reaper and replaced it with a peaceful 1. The creatures escaped out of their minds and faded into nothingness and nightmares stopped coming in on that little town. They also experienced with the first test or trial, they easily got by it.

"So nothing happened that hurt you guys?" Logan asked. Hans replied with "nothing" as answer as they cannot remember it, "no one does" he added.

The trio were amazed by the siblings and they definitely do not want them to be their enemies, they have proven to be great fighters though they weren't experienced with 'real fighting'.

They were taken in by the legendary Hero Beowulf, they trained hard in the German woods and then the final months were spent in this Overworld. During their training they defeated a vampire, this immediately caught their attention especially Logan's.

"But it was not a vampire that you expect"

"How?"

"Nachzehrer, it is a vampire that comes alive by suicide, I'm guessing you people know how minions are created. One of the Altereds or Corruptors took those sorrowful emotions from his heart and used the soul as a base to create one, they only eat corpses as to the vampire like Dracula who drinks blood and is a corrupter himself"

Despite being small as it is a corpse the Nachzehrer was a pain to deal with. Its small body showed great strength, speed, and endurance; it can take even the strongest of attacks. It took them almost a week just to defeat even for a Reaper who has lived for over 70 years. The Nachzehrer has proven itself to be incredibly hard to defeat, it has existed for so long and has become powerful; it has consumed too many souls. They were aided by one of the Archangels using their ability known as the 'Divine Light'. It easily destroyed the creature.

'What did they look like?' Ava asked with a visible glee. The 3 described this Archangel that they meet were overflowing with beauty. Taking shape of a beautiful woman the Archangel's beauty was too much for them, the fauna that bathed in her light grew, flowers opened, grass grew, dead or dying trees grew back to life with just her presence alone. They were not replying to them as they remembered her beauty.

"Describe her!" Harry begged.

"I'm getting to it"

She has beautiful silver and long hair the flowed down to her waist, her eyes were as clear as the blue sky and her 2 pair of incredible giant wings, her armor made her much of a stronger character with her weapon. Her voice as she casted the lower-demon were incredible, it was powerful enough to bring the demon back to its original human form. As she got closer to them she stands at 8 feet tall, but they did not see her properly.

"Or she was floating?"

"Maybe we did not get a good look"

"So how about you three, what have you encountered"

"It better be interesting as ours"

"Well, it is but at the same time sad"

"Your parents died, didn't they?"

"Is that what happened to yours?"

"The Banshee's screams, as much as they are disgusting creatures their shrieks and wails will always mean death, they used to be allies of the Reapers in order to find lost souls but obviously they were corrupted"

"....."

"Oh"

"Well"

They got into an awkward pause but Harry saved the conversation by bringing up the creatures that they have faced and defeated. The banshee which started to attack them and a giantess that chased after Logan, the siblings are amazed as to how long Logan can run for. Harry then mentioned the Beither beast he explained what happened between Lachlan and the beast in a hyperbolic manner as he never saw if for himself, they are jealous of them as they were with 2 kinds of Reapers. The siblings are amazed and thankful after hearing that Ava almost died.

"And then we met our annoying Mentor"

"Who?"

"Finn"

"The human?" Hans finished, the 3 can only look in confusion as to why he said it. "No" Logan replied and told who he is.

"Yeah, the Mythical hunter... Warrior-Hunter, fighter guy"

"Aren't you guys Scottish? I though he was on Ireland?"

"So did we"

Ava and Logan noticed how close Harry and Hans are as they talked about their experiences. Logan starts to feel sad upon remembering her parents, realizing how he never got a proper 'goodbye'. Hans noticed it and asked him to look up to a new opportunity to save the world.

"Maybe they were reincarnated right?"

"Yeah, they must have been, hopefully"

After their story they all talked about things that they are interested in and they start to get closer as they tell more stories. After an hour or so no more students started to pop out of thin air, they just hang around some has even got closer to more than 2 triads. It was obvious that those who made more friends knew of the tests. After an hour the sun directly shines on top and the building starts to light up. The gold accent materials that were used for the structured shined bright, so powerful even the people at the bottom of the plateau noticed. They look up and cheered on the students but they cannot understand them.

"Are they waving at us?"

"Yeah, let's wave back"

The 6 kids waved back at them with the biggest smile, they hear the massive door opens behind them and a clap suddenly brings them to the front of the building all in line. They are arranged by height from the smallest in front to the tallest at the back, they looked at each other confused and amazed while others stood there idly. The 6 put down their hands as the people around them looked at them funny. The door stayed open and a person walks out to greet them.

"Hello Children, I am Merlin the headmaster of this school, for the next 7 years of your lives you will be under my guidance in order to learn the mystery of this world that you are destined to know about in order to defeat the darkness the starts to plague the overworld"

The student's faces turned all serious.

"Now, we shall start the remaining tests in order for you to be admitted into this school, now let me explain the first test... You arrive here on threes, some of you know one another or not but that's fine, for this test you must defeat one of these 3 creatures."

As he says the name of the creatures on the school emblem on the top reflected the creature. Chimera, it showed the creature composed of the parts of more than one animal. A lion, with the head of a goat protruding from its back, and a tail that ends with a snake's head. Manticore which has the head of a human, the body of a lion and a tail of venomous spines similar to porcupine quills, and a scorpions tale. Last the Wendigos, fragile to the point of emaciation, its dried and thin skin pulled tightly over its bones. The bones pushing out against its skin, its skin grey as a corpse, and its eyes has sunken deep into their sockets, and its teeth long and sharp, once humans and corrupted by greed.

"One created from pure Imperium that will be destroyed upon the destruction of its heart, and the other molded from souls if not destroyed or killed properly, it will keep regenerating"

The reaction and feeling of the 120 students were mixed, some are obviously scared down to their hearts, others excited while some are still unreadable. Merlin gave them the signal to go up to their triads and they all did, they are given small orbs but no instructions about it was given. The 2 groups examined and its just that, a hard and light ball that reflects everything. They continued to do so until Merlin continued to speak.

"Are you all ready?"

'YES!' They all replied.

"Then, go"

They all suddenly feel a powerful pull coming from the massive doors, and as soon as their feet separates from the ground they are pulled in. Hans and his sister lands in a ruined Greek temple of sorts while Logan, Ava, and Harry arrived in a cold desolated area with Indian (Indigenous American) tents. There is clear proof that it was attacked by something extremely dangerous and massive. All the triads are separated 1KM from each other and are left on their own devices.

"This will be fun won't it old friend, Death"

"Why do I have to witness this"

"Because our deal, we can bring balance upon our world and theirs"

"Hopefully"

Using his polished skill Logan searches for the creature using his much sharper and accurate clairvoyant. He closes his eyes and color starts to pop out and form into different shapes, it becomes clearer and the shapes can be easily identified. He continues to look through the forest and sees moving targets.

"Found it"

"How many"

"5, and its coming directly at us" The creatures move really fast by the trees, ground and even jumping on each other.

"Remember what we read, this guys are always hungry"

"yeah, and I get it why we have to do this in triads"

"All right guys, our backs on each other"

They went behind other in order to get a whole sight of the area and protect each other. The Wendigos would encircle their prey and would ambush them, by turning their backs on each other they can call out an attack from every direction. The Wendigos tend to look directly in their prey's eye in order to watch the sights of their prey. Keeping a strong eye contact is great, but there are 5 of them out there that Logan can sense, 2 or more can prey on the same body. "No sudden Moves" Ava said, as the Wendigo can clearly see the movements of their body.

"They're here"

"I hear them"

Their sounds imitate those of small critters such as rabbits, or deer. As soon as Logan sees one of the Wendigos he stuck his sight on it's and a stare down between life and death begins.