The Trial of Will

Screeches of pure magic were heard, the sound of magic clambering against other magic in friction. It sounded like a banshee screaming mixed with crackles of thunder. It reverberated throughout the cabin, those who were used to this kind of thing were deadpan, others, including me clasped their ears in their hands.

"We're here," Cayus announced, his head was peeking out of the window of the cabin to the outside, others flocked to join him there, gasps of pure splendour being heard, "get ready everyone."

The contraption of metal comes to a halt, we had arrived. After so many hours of listening to the banter, the duplicity of people boasting and pretending to care about other's stories. Being silent for that long it made me think, I had really died. I died, and came back. Maybe it was a lucky twist of fate, maybe it was even a curse. I feel it now, that thirst, Morgana warned me of it. I crave blood. I find it hard to come to terms with the fact I am a vampire, but now it felt really true.

Everyone stood up and got their luggage, I followed their lead. It had just dawned on me, I really knew nothing about how this world operated, I'm thrown into a place that was all a mystery to me, surrounded by people who would've never existed where I am from. They walk out the cabin, again, I follow. I feel a thud on my back accompanied by a thud of skin on the fabric of my clothes.

"Not much of a talker, eh, Gian? I can relate." I turn back to see Veron.

"Yeah, this is all very new to me." I was honest in saying that.

"Don't worry too much, trust your instincts. If you ever need help, let me know. Being a new-blood is rough, we can help you out. Vampires gotta stick together, y'know?" Veron was actually nice, you'd never know with his melancholic demeanour. 

"Yeah, thanks Veron." I nod my head at him, smiling slightly. It felt good, good to finally have someone to lean on. I thought I would have to do everything by myself, I really hated that.

We exit, as the light beats down upon us, we join the symphony of chatter, thousands of students walking out of the contraption that brought us here. As the light started dimming, my eyes probably getting used to the overbearing amount of light, I see a marvel of architecture. An enormous tower, cast in white gold, four off shoot towers surround it combined by large and wide buildings to set them all as one singular building. The main tower seems to almost touch the very sky; my neck begins to hurt from looking up at it for so long. Ahead of me was a jade-encrusted bridge, this bridge stretched far across in a straight line. Mountains surrounded the area, the bridge went across a large body of water, connected directly to the main tower. The bridge that was also originally white gold had been marred by the sheer amount of people on it, having turned into the academy uniform colour, black and purple.

Upon seeing this many people again, I knew it. There was no way this many people were being admitted. I need to steel myself mentally to be prepared to take on this challenge ahead of me, I know not what it is. I just have a feeling it exists.

The students have all grouped up in the courtyard, my cabin's crew finally arrives and the courtyard is filled. Upon a podium coming towards the main tower was a woman, her hair was scarlet, although the details of her face were lost to me due to the distance. She breathes in and I can see that a mirage has appeared on a large screen above us, the screen having appeared from nowhere.

"Welcome, welcome. You are all hopefuls, as you might've guessed, if you had a brain, not all of you will be admitted to the academy. No, quite the opposite. Out of all these students here, a few of you will be admitted. It is a prestigious right to be accepted into this school, and it is not handed out to anyone. 

You will be competing in tests, pass through and you move onto the next round. Do not worry about the latter rounds, focus on getting through your first. You have done well to make it here, now prove your worth to us all.

Let the entrance exams begin!

We will be watching."

She left as easily as she came. The crowd rumbles with queries, a lot of people were actually shocked this was happening. This academy may be big, but it was certainly obvious not all of us were being accepted.

Within the courtyard a large door materialised out of thin air, there were four of them, one of each side of the crowd. A voice also appeared.

"Please make your way through to the nearest door."

It was the voice of an elderly man, when he said that a stampede of bodies began, all clambering over to the nearest door. I was being pushed and shoved over to the door closest to me, following the wave of the crowd.

The elderly voice appeared again.

"342,842 students remaining."

My body crosses the threshold of the door, being transported to a large white empty room. It was like a cube of nothingness. I had no idea how many people were in here with me, but just based off a random estimate I'd wager it was around 100,000. 

Was I in the largest group? Damn. That makes my chances hellishly low. Some of my cabin's members were in here with me, I saw the elven girl, Cayus... and Veron! Ahead of all of us was a singular man. His frame was wide, he had defined muscles. His face was sharp, a scar traced the skin of his face stretching from his right eyebrow to his lip. He was wearing a yellow jacket with a pattern that matched that of a snake from where I was from, his undershirt was black and hugged his muscles tightly. His pants were loose and saggy, I assume to help him move around comfortably, if anything.

"Welcome hopefuls! You are now faced with the first test, and funnily enough, it's the largest culling of numbers,"

He stands up tall, and his arm moves forward towards the large group of us; within a few seconds a bone-chilling amount of power had made its way around the room. Within that first second, a couple hundred students dropped to the floor immediately, they were out cold. Someone bumped me as they fell down to the floor, I tried to help and cushion his fall.

What is going on?

"the very first test, survive against my Resan. I will put up a wall of pure Resan, make your way from that side of the room, to my side. You have three hours."

Resan? Is that what magic is called? I feel it tickling my skin, it makes me buckle slightly but I acclimated to it. Then it happened. I saw the wall, it was like water floating in the middle of the air. The air was rippling with pure energy in a straight wall across the room. A brave student ran up towards the wall and tried to pass, but he was instantly thrown to the floor and crushed by the sheer power he was met with.

Was I going to survive this?