Finished

The surroundings changed before Ernon could take a minute to breathe. He was worn out and exhausted. "Test 2, Reaction" said the simulated voice. "If the arrow comes into contact with your torso, the test is over..." Ernon thought that reaction and agility would be similar, but when he saw a row of simulation archers holding bows, he instantly knew that this would be different.

He saw the archers load an arrow into its bow. He shot it at Ernon's direction. He simply moved aside. 'This is way too easy' Ernon thought. But then, all the archers loaded their arrows in unison. "Oh no" Ernon whispered. The arrows shot through the air, coming towards him faster than the boulders from Test one.

He felt as if this test was impossible. The arrows kept flying towards him. The difficulty increased and the simulated archers were reloading and shooting it faster than the human eye could register. But then Ernon remembered something the robotic voice mentioned. 'If the arrow comes in contact with the torso' Ernon repeated the words in his head.

He stopped. Five or six arrows flew towards him, but he posed into a strange stance. The arrows came towards his torso, but Ernon caught the arrow with his hand. He didn't know how he was doing this. But he found it unusually calming...

Leon stared at the simulation, speechless.

Leon Zachari increased the difficulty to eight. Ernon managed to catch all the arrows so far. He thought he was doing decently, but suddenly, ten arrows flew towards him. Ernon paniced and tried to jump. He missed the ten arrows, but another one hit him, ending the test. "Simulation over"

He returned to the glass chamber. He thought he performed well, but little did he know that Leon intentionally turned the dial up to the tenth difficulty, which he managed to get halfway through. Only one other person managed to get this far in the history of ISA.

"Test 3, the test ends when the participant can't handle the following simulation" said the voice. Ernon assumed the test would be about Strength or some kind of speed test. But when he heard the voice saying:

"Pain resilience" he gasped. He had a pretty good idea what this was about. He remembered Ivan, the previous candidate walking out, pale and breathing heavily. "This is not going to be fun" he whispered.

Pain exploded in his right arm. It felt as if he was shot. He clutched his arm but didn't say anything. He knew that this was part of the test. It was all just a simulation. He kept repeating this in his head. His breathing increased and he gasped when his leg felt as if it was being bent. He clenched his teeth as a pool of blood formed on the ground. 'Just a simulation'

Ernon soon felt himself being cut all around his body. It was excruciating pain. But Ernon held his breathe. He thought of the good times with his best friend, Jayden and all the good times he had. But they only deepened the sadness he felt. He saw blood leaking from his shirt. 'This is inhumane' Ernon thought to himself.

Leon Zachari was too reckless. He knew that nobody has ever survived what he was about to do next. Nobody...

Ernon felt a thousand arrows being shot at his body. It tore through his skin, ripping it open. That was how he felt. The pain caused Ernon to scream, but he didn't. He fell to his knees, which were covered in blood. He didn't saw anything.

Leon couldn't believe it, a candidate aged seventeen managed to survive the 'THOUSAND ARROWS' test. He refused to believe this kid was special. What he did next was impossible. It was monstrous...

A thousand poisonous darts made contact with Ernon's skin. He could feel the poison running through his bloodstream, up his veins. They burned. He was half dead before he realised what was happening. He fell into the sea of blood, face down...

"Simulation over" said the voice. "Test complete" The simulation faded and the glass chamber opened with a hiss. Medical officers were waiting there, getting ready to get Ernon into a hospital. Everyone in the Training centre were in a trance. They witnessed something out of this world. Leon Zachari sat on a chair, replaying the things he saw in the simulation. A woman walked up to him. "What you just did at the end wasn't smart, Mr Zachari" she said, looking conerned.

"We've got to get this kid into the ISA" Leon said, staring at the woman...

(Meanwhile, at the back of the room, there were two men. One had a black hat whilst the other was wearing a grey coat. They watched as the boy named Ernon was carried away in a stretcher. "The kid is one of a kind" said one of them. "Yes" replied the other, showing no sign of emotion. "He's gifted. I have no doubt he'll get on the team. He's quick witted, strong, intelligent, creative and not to mensin resilient" said the man with the hat. The other man shrugged and was about to leave "We'll have to see how he does in the next tier..." he said, leaving the room...