1 An Old Heirloom
An ancient TV buzzed in the corner of a small apartment. Both its image and audio were distorted and there were a few diagonal cracks on its screen.
"The Demons attacks are quickly rising and more portals have opened up inside the humans walls…"
Thomas rolled over in bed and reached for the controller by the nightstand to his left to shut the thing up. The TV refused to be turned off. Thus making Thomas jump out of bed and ran to tap it by its side.
"The magic funneling the walls is rapidly declining and we fear that there will be another Shado…"
The TV was finally turned off.
"Stupid TV! Why do I even bother using one requiring electricity? Of course since I am an orphan and cannot afford one that runs on magical renewable energy!" Thomas cursed at his current predicament.
Thomas promptly hopped into the shower and got dressed. Today was one of those unfortunate yet important days. The examination of entering the academy, and there was only one that determined your future.
After humanity's population was scarcely diminished to about a few thousand, dating a few centuries back, reality was harsh and those with power chose to govern. Other races refused to aid them, to only govern their own cities and walls. The ongoing demon attacks forced humanity near its brink of extinction and now only a single area remained with four cities standing. Three surrounded the capital, Renfel.
There were also three sets of walls, the outer one covering the entire human population and the middle one surrounding the capital. Then the inner and final one, residing inside the capital, sheltering the nobles and royalties. The cities were stationed West, North-East and South-East.
"I must pass the entrance exam at any cost, I cannot be sent and live out my days as a simple farmer," Thomas bit his underlip.
Orphans were sent to do lesser jobs if they failed the entrance exam. Power and money was everything in this world and Thomas lacked both. Thomas had no magic ability and he could not even afford lunch starting from tomorrow unless he found employment.
Thomas retrieved the remainder of his belongings that were all put and could fit into a single briefcase. He took his wooden sword by hand and an old family heirloom around his neck, a tightly sealed gray locket.
"This is all that remains of you, huh?" Thomas glanced at the locket, being what was left of his family's legacy then faced the empty run-down apartment.
"Here is to hoping to never see this place again, nor the countryside for that matter," Thomas shut the door and left.
Thomas had to walk for about an hour before he reached the academy's grounds and outer gates. The quarter he lived in was the poorest one of the four in the capital, and furthest away from the academy that lied North-East.
At its gates, Thomas proceeded right on through and heard a magical identification scan.
[Thomas Rosemary. Identification complete.]
An inner AI voice resonated inside his head. Thomas approached the front desk and a lady handed him an enchanted clip and empty badge. He attached it to his rugged and torn black jacket. As soon as the badge was attached, a number appeared.
"Applicant #128? I think they set the acceptance limit at 40 this year…" Thomas uttered pessimistically and began calculating his chances.
However he immediately clapped his cheeks together twice to snap out of it. This was no time to feel sorry for yourself. He had to pass by any means necessary. Thomas followed the lady's instructions and headed to the examination area.
The exam was simpler this year. There was a knowledge test then an unknown "obstacle" test, or that is what they called it. They would then combine both the theoretical and practical scores together, to then compare and decide on the most promising candidates for the academy to take in.
Thomas sat down and quietly waited for the first examination to begin. He became all fidgety and his nerves did not let down even for a second, even long after the start of the exam.
Because of this unnerving feeling, Thomas decided to spend the full hour given to double-check all of his answers. The questions were harder than he thought, covering battle tactics, different elements and magic usage, even parts of ancient history.
When the clock ran out, Thomas was found still typing with his pen and was forced to put it away. He wiped away the sweat from his forehead with a pink handkerchief, a memento from his late mother. Despite being a complete nervous wreck, Thomas had to remain calm and try to do better on the next exam.
The group that remained back and used the full hour were guided together towards the final area. They were told to wait their turn outside a large building. A loud grunt was heard from the inside and fighting noises reached all the way to the door.
"This for sure is a fighting exam, the question is who, or what thing are we fighting?" One of the guys up front spoke out loud.
"I bet it is a goblin or something small!" Another one responded.
"Cannot be, that would be far too easy!" A third one joined and they began discussing.
Thomas remained quiet in the back with another applicant who appeared just as nervous as he was. Upon his name being called, Thomas went through the door and gulped.
The building had upper rows resembling an old colosseum. However they had an open fighting rectangular area and a rooftop. Some applicants cheered at the sidelines, those were the ones that had already fought and bested what lied ahead.
A full grown demon ogre towering over three meters tall, grunted and held up a large club weapon of some sort. It was chained down, and the supervisor asked if Thomas was ready. He nodded and unsheathed his wooden sword and she let go of the chains.
"A wooden sword?! Let's bet whether he makes it or not!" A guy yelled.
"Who even uses a wooden weapon or does not even have a magic ability nowadays?" A girl spoke.
"I bet he will piss his pants before the ogre even gets to him!" Another applicant shouted out by the stage.
People began betting rapidly and it got on Thomas' nerves, but it was of no immediate concern compared to the demon ogre charging towards him up front. Once the ogre had reached him, he swung his club and Thomas ducked quickly, just in the nick of time. Thomas kept on dodging and had a hard time finding an opening.
"Come on, do not dodge all day, strike it you wuss!" The first guy who noticed Thomas' wooden sword spoke.
Everyone started laughing on stage and it derailed Thomas' focus.
"As if I do not have enough trouble as it is," Thomas kept dodging.
Quite some time passed before Thomas decided to charge right on in, however he miscalculated. The club hit its mark, right on the back of his head, flinging Thomas hard sideways into a wall. A teacher rushed in to chain the ogre back down before any further injury could occur.
"Who had money on another failure?" The applicants laughed together and exchanged spare change for sport, right above Thomas.
Thomas fell onto the ground and crawled towards his wooden sword. However the club had shattered and split his sword in two.
"I am not finished!" He refused to give up.
The applicants bursted into laughter and the supervisor shook her head, Thomas was done for. He coughed up some blood and his vision began to blur. Thomas immediately dried it with his hand and kept crawling to pick up his old locket which was just lying just in front of him.
"Should have aimed for the legs, good luck next year, sucker!" Another applicant decided to take a cheap shot at Thomas while he had the chance.
"Wait is he seriously crawling to grab his locket?" A girl scoffed.
It was all Thomas had left, now that he had undoubtedly failed the exam. He grabbed the locket and his consciousness began to fade. Thomas felt cold and confused, everything appeared like a blur now, he could barely even hear any sound.
"Holy crap! Do not tell me someone is actually dying versus a simple demon ogre!" The first guy remarked and everyone turned their heads.
"You do not get to see this every day!" Another girl got excited.
A teacher tried to rush in on time and to ask if Thomas was alright and see if he needed any kind of medical attention. The reason being that he might have suffered a heavy concussive blow to the back of his head.
Albeit too late, Thomas could not feel or see anything at this point onwards. His vision blurred slowly into utter darkness.
The last thing Thomas could remember was grabbing his locket, smearing it with blood from his hand when he had wiped it off his mouth. It was then something happened, right before complete darkness overtook him. Thomas saw a line of text appearing before him.
"Congratulations, you have awakened the Arc…"
Thomas passed away into absolute darkness, once his consciousness failed him.
