Chapter 26

The examinees got a few minutes to cool off as Silver and Scaldris got the next test area ready. The break room looked like any other locker room, just without the locker part of the room.

"So, I heard you climbed to the top of the mountain." A girl with lightly tan skin and short wavy brown hair leaned over him. She had pale yellow eyes that brimmed with curiosity. "What was the view like from up there? Was it hard to breathe? Were you above the clouds? What did the stars look like to you?" She didn't stop to take a breath and leaned closer as she talked.

"Um... well..." he hesitated. Averting his eyes. He looked down at his hands which were laid on his lap. "My foot slipped before I could actually reach the top, so I didn't actually get to take a look, sorry." he apologized.

"But you have wings."

"I was surprised and the shock made my reaction time lag so I tumbled a bit before a friend caught me. I was too dizzy at that point to continue so my friend took me back to my house." he explained.

"That's too bad. Though, I was also wondering, where did you get those scars and what happened to your eye?" she asked, pointing to her own eye.

"That's personal. Now for my question. Why are you asking so many questions?"

"I saw how you were fighting those robots. It just made me more and more curious about you. It's not every day you see someone tear a robot five times their size apart by the wires." she smiled.

"Ok?"

"I was also wondering about that." A boy with light skin, silver hair and amber eyes approached. He looked to be only a year or two younger than Shadow was but he carried himself like a tough guy even though his build looked more adept at agility and maneuverability. He strutted over and shouldered the girl aside. His expression was hard and his eyes failed to hide his suspicion. "Those were some savage moves you pulled. How can we be sure you won't lose your stuff and attack us next?" Something about the boy ticked Shadow off as strange. This person he didn't even know just rubbed him the wrong way. It was like something was missing or something was there when it shouldn't have been. He didn't remember seeing this boy from anywhere, but at the same time, he seemed familiar.

"I'll be mindful to keep my emotions in check, as long as you watch what you do and say. If you're strong enough to make it into a good DAF squad, you have even less reason to worry." Shadow tried, choosing his words carefully. He hid his confusion behind a plain expression. The boy stared at him, trying to read him. Shadow returned the stare. "At least tell me your name before you start judging me." Shadow huffed, pouting half-heartedly. The boy's expression took a kick of surprise but he quickly masked it.

"Just call me Eclipse." Shadow nodded.

"I'm codenamed Shadow."

"And I'm-!" Eclipse turned and shoved past the girl again as she tried to introduce herself, heading for the door and cutting her off mid-introduction. Just then, the buzzer to start the next test rang throughout the room.

"Here are the rules; many different volunteer humans are positioned throughout the map. It's your job to find one of the humans and rescue them from danger. Bring a human to the designated rescue area as soon as possible and tend to them. After all humans are rescued and tended to, we will end the test. Begin as soon as you are ready." As the instructions finished, the door opened to reveal a devastating scene. Buildings were tilted and on fire, forests were spread out miles around, hills and rocky slopes crumble beneath the feet, and a lake as deep as the ocean.

"Most rescue missions will be conducted in a prison building setting covered in guards but this test is to figure out your level scouting skills and whether or not you can tend to any injured." the speaker explained. The examinees slowly spread out into the first field and took a good look around. Shadow didn't hesitate to rush ahead of the rest of the group. He unfolded his first pair of wings and flew off to the highest spot he could see. He perched there and closed his eyes, listening intently. Sounds came to him from all around the map. He could hear the examinees wandering around the starting area, not seeming to know what to do. He drowned out their sounds and listened elsewhere. He could hear the crumbling earth near the rocky zone, he could hear the rustling of the leaves in the forest zone, which confused him for a second but he put it aside. He could hear the splashing of water from the lake zone and the flickering of flames from the wrecked zone. A large boom sounded and Shadow looked over at the wrecked zone to see a huge cloud of dust rising from one of the big buildings. He focused on that area and heard pained groans amidst the collapsing building. 

Shadow took off and flew towards the collapsing building. There were no animals, other than the people, who could've moaned like that or caused the building to stir like that. He dove, feet first, into the cloud of dust and landed. It was hard to see anything within the dust and his eyes began to sting. So instead of relying on his sight, he closed his eyes, ignored the pain, and listened. He focused on feeling the small vibrations that flowed into the bottom of his feet and followed them towards where the most destruction seemed to be happening. He listened for the moans he had heard before. He paused for a moment. He peeked his eyes open to see that the dust had settled. A pile of rubble stood tall before him. The building he had seen collapse earlier was perched precariously on top of the rubble and was pancaking a person with long ginger hair in between it and the rubble. The person reached out towards him in desperation, a terrified expression on her face. Blood was streaming down her head and she was covered in scratches. Shadow flew up towards her, making sure to keep his wing from disturbing the rubble beneath him. He examined the situation. She was trapped by her torso. The full weight of the building was being held by a nearby collapsed wall, which helped keep the girl from being crushed. Even so, she was still stuck.

"Do you know where you are hurt? Can you move at all?" Shadow checked.

"My head is bleeding pretty badly but other than that and my waist being half-crushed it's all scratches." She answered quickly. "I can move my arms freely but my legs are stuck under the building." Shadow nodded and pulled out a roll of bandages from a pouch on his belt.

"Let's get your head injury wrapped up first real quick. It might be me being hasty but I don't know how long it will take to free you so I want to make sure this injury doesn't get much worse in the meantime." He explained, then smiled. "Rest assured, I will set you free." After he finished wrapping the girl's head, he put the extra bandages away and continued to inspect the area. He created a flashlight and peeked under the collapsing building. Afterwards, he put the flashlight in an extra spot on his belt and poked at the rubble pile. The whole pile shifted. Shadow moved onto the broken wall that was supporting the collapsed building. The weight of the building was barely being held by the broken wall. It looked like it was about to be crushed from the top to bottom like a soda can but it could hold for now. He flew to the other side of the building to see the other support was another rubble pile. He then flew back to the girl. He started slowly chipping away at the rubble pieces near her torso, tossing them away from the pile. The support pile suddenly made a suspicious sound and Shadow froze on the spot, waiting for it to pass. Once the noise stopped, Shadow grabbed onto the girl's arms and started gently pulling.

"Does this hurt at all?" Shadow checked. The girl shook her head. Shadow continued until he eventually freed the girl. Right after, the building fell down again, crushing the broken wall and sending the rubble flying. He pulled the girl towards his chest and turned her away from the building, shielding her from the dust and debris that came flying. Once it settled, he set her down on the ground and held her steady. He checked her for any more serious injuries. Thankfully, her head injury seemed to be the only serious injury and the rest were scratches.

"How are you feeling?" he inquired.

"I feel a little dizzy and my scratches sting." she explained. Shadow nodded and scooped her off her feet before flying off towards the rescue area. It was a flat open area covered by a soft looking carpet. It was at the very end of the room and roped off by caution tape to show that it was a safe area. He gently set the girl down in an open space and pulled out a pack of bandaids. He tended to her scratches and changed the bandages around her head. As he did so, he kept tabs on the sounds from the other areas. The rocky area was completely silent, no fumbling footsteps or beating wings. The only thing he heard from the forest area was a few quiet voices. In the lake area, he heard frantic flailing and a splash that would signal it to stop. Then another splash before the flailing continued. What is going on over there? Once he finished patching up the girl, he turned his attention back to her.

"Can I ask your name or codename?"

"Aurora." Shadow nodded.

"Stay here, I'm going to see if anyone else needs help." Shadow stood up and turned towards the water area.

"But why? You already saved your one required person." Aurora asked, confused.

"If this was real, you wouldn't be saying that." he stated quickly. Without another word, he flew off towards the lake section. Aurora smiled as she watched him leave.

In the lake area, Shadow spotted the person flailing in the water and flew down in an instant. It was a man, black hair, business clothes, nothing really stood out to him. Shadow reached down and grabbed the man under the shoulders and tugged, trying to pull him out of the water.

"It's no use! Something's snagged my foot and is pulling me down!" the man cried out. Eclipse suddenly popped up in the water next to him and saw Shadow holding the man.

"Eclipse! Perfect! Could you help me-?"

"What are you doing?" Eclipse growled, interrupting Shadow's sentence. He pulled himself out of the water with his wings and hovered next to Shadow, who looked confused. "Only one person can get the point for taking him back to the rescue area and I saw him first. Let go."

"This is not the time!" Shadow shot back, glaring at Eclipse. It was Eclipse's turn to look surprised. "This man's life is in danger and you seriously have the nerve to tell me to let go?" 

"It's a test! There are probably safety measures in place to make sure that this man doesn't actually drown." Eclipse shouted. "And as I said before, only one of us can get a point for saving him!" Shadow gritted his teeth and glared at Eclipse, his anger starting to flare.

"HOW STUPID ARE YOU?!" He finally burst. Eclipse flinched in surprise, caught off guard from the sudden outburst. "Nowhere in the rules did it say that only one person can get a point per human. And nowhere in the rules did it say that we weren't allowed to save more than one human. In a real-life situation, there aren't quotas for saving people. It's just help as many as you can before everyone ends up dead. No one said that these people were safe because it was a test. Heck, we could've all been dead in the last one! Every second we spend arguing is a second wasted." Shadow was breathing heavily, out of breath after he got all his anger out. He then slipped his hands up to the man's arms and held them out to Eclipse.

"Tests won't guarantee his safety, we will. Are you going to help me or not?" Eclipse looked at him, then at the man, before taking the man by the shoulders and holding him above the water. Shadow gave a gentle smile before he took a deep breath and dove under the water. He looked around. A thick, black rope was tied tightly around the man's leg. Shadow picked at the knot but couldn't make it looser. He pulled a knife from his belt and started working it at the rope. It didn't give. Not even a bit. About to run out of air, he gave up on cutting it and resurfaced. He took a big breath and put his knife back before diving back under. He followed the line down deeper. His ears began to hurt from the water pressure the further under he went. Once he finally reached the bottom, the pressure was hurting his ears so bad it was hard to focus. The rope continued under the ground. Shadow dug at it, swiping the dirt aside, but it kept on going and going. He stayed until he thought he was about to pass out before he resurfaced.

"It's a tough line." he reported to Eclipse. "The knot's really tight, the rope's hard to cut and it leads really far into the ground."

"If we can get the rope out of the water, I might be able to burn it off with a controlled fire." Eclipse suggested. Shadow nodded and reached into the water. He grabbed the rope and pulled as hard as he could. The rope hardly budged. Shadow unfolded his second pair of wings and used enhancement magic on his arms and continued pulling. Slowly, a small portion of the rope slid out of the water. Eclipse and Shadow carefully switched places and Eclipse started working on the rope. Because the rope was soaked, it took a few minutes for it to catch on fire, then another few minutes for the rope to burn before it finally snapped. The sudden release of pressure made Shadow jerk a bit with the man in his arms, but he quickly steadied himself. Eclipse then took the man from Shadow's grasp and together they flew to the rescue area. When they got there, many other people were already seated. Aurora, who was the first saved, was helping the other examinees tend to the injured volunteers. She was the first to notice Eclipse and Shadow carrying the man. Eclipse set him down gently and began trying to untie the rope.

"Hold on a sec." Shadow put a hand on Eclipse's shoulder. He paused and glared at Shadow. Shadow ignored the cold look and turned to the man. "How are you feeling? Are you hurt anywhere? Can you breathe ok?"

"My leg is the only thing that hurts and I can breathe just fine." he answered. Shadow nodded and looked back at Eclipse. Eclipse continued with the rope, still a little grumpy. Shadow placed his hand on the man's forehead, checking for a fever. He seemed fine, so Shadow started to dry off his clothes. Eclipse glanced over at Shadow.

"Are you sure you should be drying off his clothes right now?" he questioned.

"I don't want him to catch a cold."

"What about you? You're drenched in more water than he is. What if you catch a cold?"

"That doesn't matter right now. The safety of the volunteers come first." He sneezed just as he finished his sentence. 

"I think that does matter right now. You can't help people if you can't help yourself." Shadow paused and shook himself before returning to his work.

"I'm fine." he insisted. Once the man was all dry and the remaining rope was removed, the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the test.