32 The Hardest Trial

The group nodded a little at her words. They all thought the first part of the trail was just about speed and stamina. Well as the thought about it, Pavitra never even said it was a race. Right from the start she just said let's go for a run. There were challenges, just that you followed her.

Looking over the thinking group she smiled for a bit. In her mind, she was now thinking about the next challenge. The tests for the trial in truth were all about willpower, the whole idea of them all was to see if you could just keep going and never give up, no matter the odds.

"Next up, I want to see you all give me one hundred press-ups, then sit-ups, and then all of you stand up."

Pavitra went down with them as was the first one among them all to finish. Then as she stood up, she wandered among the people. Trying to see if anyone was cheating. So far she couldn't see anyone. Her eyes couldn't help but drift over to the small boy as well as Aarna. The boy was trying his hardest and yelling out the numbers as well as he could just so that he could keep count of what he had done. Though when he reaches thirty, he began to slow down. Unsure of the next numbers, Pavitra looked at him for a second. Keen to see just how he would carry on.

Then she noticed the other people, beginning to finish, and all stand-up. Some of them looked back to see what was going on where she was standing but were soon told to face straight by Shourya. The poor boy was starting to struggle even more. He had long since lost count Pavitra noticed but was still carrying on all the same. He wanted to finish so bad as he passed a hundred press-ups, Pavitra bent down and whispered to him, "You can start the sit-ups now. You have done one hundred."

The boy just looked up and smiled, he was tired to do anything else. Quickly, he changed positions and began to do his sit-ups. Pavitra stood there right next to him the whole time until he finished. Once he had, she told him again, allowing the boy to stand back up.

As she walked back over to Shourya, she couldn't help but think to herself how much of a good seed the boy was. So far he had shown the most willpower out of everyone here. Looking at the boy she felt a little bad. The coming night and the morning tomorrow would be the worst for him. She just hoped that he succeeded in his task.

Then she turned around with the exhausted group and walked back into the city and soon reached the courtyard, in front of the keep. There she had them all lineup, she had a quick look over them all. She could see some of them smiling thinking that they had succeeded, it was a shame. The hardest part of the task would come soon.

"You are all allowed a drink of water now as well as a toilet break. You have five minutes for this, then return here. Those who do not will be assumed to have given up." Everyone in front of her ran off to do their tasks. Once they were all gone she looked over to Shourya.

"So what do you think of them so far?" She asked with a small smile.

Shourya looked over and replied. "Honestly, I do not understand the trial much. I thought it was about removing those who couldn't join?"

She just smiled even more. "That is the greatest secret of the royal guard, the training and trials are just about removing those who don't have the willpower and the mindset to adapt and learn quickly. Those who come out at the end are moldable and usable for whatever we need and most importantly are loyal."

Though as she thought about the last part, she then thought back to the royal guard she had thought. Was he loyal? He was a rebel, so how could that be loyal? Whatever happened with her mother to give up on his vow was definitely massive. She couldn't help but sigh.

Then as the five minutes was nearing its end, some people began to return back. Not everyone did though, not that this bothered her.

"Now you all stand here until the morning. You move from your spot currently, you are disqualified. I am clear?"

The group all nodded.

Then she looked over to Shourya, "You get the first watch of them all. I will take over in a bit." Then she walked off into the keep itself.

By the time she returned nearly five hours later, she walked into the courtyard holding a drink that was sipping. As she walked through and past every person, drinking the drink. She did a small check to see how they were all holding up. So far she noticed only three people had been disqualified.

This didn't really bother her though as the main part of this test was the part that would soon come.

Then she walked over to Shourya. "Could you send out my food please as you go in?"

He was a little confused but nodded nevertheless.

Minutes later a few servants came out with a massive portion of food. Pavitra sat down and started to dig into the food. She was always watching the group though, all of their eyes had long since fixated on her food. It looked mouth-watering.

Then she held up a piece of chicken, "If you come here you can have some of the food?"

No one moved at first, which caused her to frown a little. Though this was all fake.

"Are you sure? It is so good!" Just as she said this and took a bite of the food, a few people broke the ranks and walked over.

She did as she said and let them all try the food much to their delight, then though she spoke.

"You all broke rank. You are disqualified."

The people at that moment saw the trick. Those that didn't move all sighed in relief.