Hero of the World's End

I woke up when I heard the rooster crowing, and I got ready for the day. It was the day when the applicants would be tested to become knights. I had been looking forward to this day for a long time to finally achieve my dream. I put on my clothes and quickly headed to the square early before the Royal Guard Captain, Sir Michael Lionheart, arrived. All the ambitious young men strive to be like him, and I am no different from them.

After running for half an hour, I finally arrived, and I was very early; only two people had arrived before me, and I think they were Sir Michael's assistants. I stood there for ten minutes until all the applicants arrived. This year, there were 150 applicants. After waiting a little, Sir Michael arrived on his horse and went to the platform. He stood there at the top and began to speak, saying: "Hello, this year I will be overseeing this test. Michael Lionheart, the son of Marquis Lionheart. The test is divided into two parts: first, the magical affinity test, then the physical fitness test. Failure in either does not mean failure, but you will not be able to achieve a high rank in the Royal Guard without hard work. If you lack in one of the two, as long as you benefit from your strengths, you will broaden your horizons. As for those who succeed in both tests, they will be admitted to the elite knights."

After delivering his speech, he signaled one of the guards to come forward with nine others, all carrying a ball to measure the elemental affinity of one of the elements. The test was simple: the tester places their hand over the ball, and a color representing the element they possess will appear, and within the color, a number will represent the affinity from one to one hundred. Sir Michael is talented; he has high affinities for three elements: lightning, fire, and water. He is the strongest magical knight the entire empire has ever seen. This information is well known to everyone.

While waiting for my turn, I saw many students fail; if the color appeared, the number was very low, and some did not even show a color. After standing for five minutes, it was my turn. When I approached, the knight who was testing me said: "Place your hand over the ball and try to feel the element inside your body and move it towards the ball." I did what he told me, and after one minute, the colors blue and white appeared, and next to it was the number 80. The tester said: "Congratulations, you have succeeded. Your elements are lightning and light. This is a strange combination, but better than fire and water; there will be no conflict inside your body when you use them. Go and stand there." I went and stood where he indicated, and after waiting for thirty minutes, the first test ended.

Then, Sir Michael spoke again and said: "Do you see the large field around you? Start running and do not stop until I tell you." We began running quickly, and Sir Michael watched us and wrote on paper. After we had run thirty laps around the large field, he told us to stop and rest a little. He then ordered us to do push-ups. After doing them for ten minutes, he told us to stop and said: "The test for today is over. Tomorrow, the results will be announced. For those who thought there would be a duel this year, there will not be one. The reason will be explained tomorrow. Two boards will be posted: one for the elite knights who will be personally trained by His Highness, and the other for the rest. Goodbye."

After saying this, he left. When I left, I immediately went home because I had house maintenance work to do, or it would collapse on my head in the winter season. When I got home, I was surprised by the person standing in front of me. It was a very beautiful woman wearing ordinary clothes. What surprised me was that I had never seen her before, and she was standing in front of my house. When she saw me, she said: "Hello, I will be your neighbor. I came to introduce myself. I hope I did not disturb you. My name is Ariana." I snapped out of my daze and quickly replied: "Hello, I am Edward. Nice to meet you." She nodded and smiled, then we talked a little before she went back to her home. I hurried inside and started with the maintenance.

While repairing the house, I felt something strange in my body. A strange sensation as if someone had passed through me. Then I felt sleepy. I finished my work quickly and went to sleep. When I woke up, it was to the rooster's crowing. I woke up surprised because I had slept a whole day. Then I got out of bed and washed up. I put on my clothes and went to the test site.

When I arrived, I did not find the results posted. I stood there confused, as knights would not delay something like this. Then the students arrived, and Sir Michael came on his horse, dismounting in the same way as the day before. He then gave the same speech. I was lost in my thoughts and felt like I was dreaming, but everything was very real. After that, when I returned home, I did not see Ariana, so I thought it was all a dream. Then the sky turned red. Before I could think of anything, I saw the world turn upside down and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was in bed on the same day, and the same incident happened again. I then stopped going out and began thinking about how I could escape this illusion.

While I was thinking, an idea occurred to me. The next day I went to the square again, but this time before Sir Michael arrived on his horse, I went to the road he came from every day. I saw him riding his horse coming quickly towards me. I signaled him to stop, and he saw me and stopped, saying: "Who are you and what do you want?" I was a little scared but could not bear it and told him everything. He then said something that surprised me: "You passed the test." I looked at him not understanding, and he saw the look on my face and said: "All the students like you were put into an illusion. You are the tenth person to succeed. Each illusion has its own way of success and exit. There are several ways to exit the illusion, one of which is using magic, but since you do not master magic, that is not an option. You need to find the key to exit, and the key has two parts: the first is me, and the other is the person who put you in the illusion. And I think it is Ariana. To put you in her illusion, she had to meet certain conditions, one of which is that you look into her eyes. To get out of this illusion, go back to your home before you die and break the thing you see that is unfamiliar and you are sure it is not one of your belongings, as this thing is what keeps you inside the dream."

After hearing what he said, I rushed home, and because I was afraid of dying, I smashed everything in the house. While I was breaking things, I suddenly felt I was on the bed. Then I woke up and sat up. I felt a little headache, but it eased afterward. I got up, washed up, prepared my breakfast, and went back to the square. There I saw nine people standing and waiting. Sir Michael then arrived and said from his horse without dismounting: "All of you passed the test. The fastest among you took one hour, and others spent a few days in the dream. But it makes no difference; you are all elite knights who will be trained. Each of you should stand up and introduce yourself. You first." The first person stood and introduced himself, saying: "My name is Zack, no last name." Many young men then introduced themselves, most of them from common people. When it was my turn, I spoke confidently and said: "I am Edward, no last name."

After my speech, everyone was silent. Then Sir Michael spoke and said: "All of you, tomorrow you will wear the uniforms you receive now and come to the palace early. Do you understand?" Everyone answered in perfect unison.