The End Trials

On Friday morning, all the first years woke up to the sound of the usual church like bells. A really loud announcement echoed throughout the dorms after that.

“All first year students should put on their battle gears and report to the training compound immediately.”

So, the first year students got ready; they put on their battle training outfits, grabbed their weapons and headed in the direction of the training compound.

Waiting for them in front of the training compound, were some recognizable faces. The head teacher, Sylvester, the training instructor, Captain Oliver, their home room teachers, and the male and female dorm masters.

The only new face was that of a woman. The woman was around her late 30s; she had a long blonde hair, which was neatly arranged in a pony tail.

“Welcome students to your first end trials.” The head teacher said.

“Before we continue, I would like to introduce Ms. Everdale. She would brief you all to the rules of the trials.” The head teacher continued, gesturing towards the blonde haired woman.

Ms. Everdale walked up to the front of the students.

“The end trial is a physical and survival test, done to evaluate your progress for the week.” She said.

“Just like the entrance exams, you all will be graded by your performance, team work, and quick decision making.”

“The total score you earn from the trails will be used to further grade you at the end of your school year. That’s it for the introduction; please follow me.” Ms. Everdale concluded, and walked into the training compound.

The first year students were lead into a wide open field in the training compound.

Ms. Everdale stepped out, placed her hands on the ground, and whispered a silent chant.

As she whispered the chant, a trail of white light coming from her hands, started to spread across the entire field. The trail of white light also created intricate patterns and details on the ground.

After that, the ground began to shake violently, as 20 strange looking doors erupted from the ground.

A couple of minutes later, the white light dispersed and the ground eventually stopped shaking.

Standing on the field, were 20 different doors, each of the doors had a number and a specific pattern on it.

“These are my end gates.” Ms. Everdale said, as she gestured to the doors.

“They are special gate ways leading to what I call a fragmented reality.”

Ms. Everdale saw the confused look on the first year students, and decided to explain.

“A fragmented reality is a non-existent reality created from the fragments of one’s imagination. To put it in simple terms, this fragmented realities aren’t real.”

“Although these realities aren’t real, the challenges you will face are quite close to normal reality, and can very much lead to death.”

“Now, I would like to explain the rules.” Ms. Everdale said.

“The rules of the trials are simple; you all will be going in teams of 3. Usually there would be a second year senior to help assist each team; but all the second years are currently on a field mission, so you will have to go alone.”

“There is a white flag in each of these fragmented realities. Each team is expected to retrieve the flag and get back to the end gates.”

‘If that’s the trial, then it shouldn’t be that hard.’ Kelvin thought as he looked at the doors.

“Captain Oliver will be randomly pairing you guys in teams.” Ms. Everdale concluded and gestured to Captain Oliver to begin the team pairing.

Captain Oliver stepped out with a tablet in hand.

“This is the team pairing of your first trials.” He said.

Captain Oliver called out the student names and paired them up randomly. There were three students in each team and a team head was selected from one of the three students.

Kelvin got paired with Jason Ferris, who was the class representative of his class, and a girl named Muna from Class1B; and of course, Jason was selected as the team head.

“Okay since that has been taken care of, let’s proceed.” Ms. Everdale said, after the pairing was done.

“Since these fragmented realities were created by me, I will be able to provide assistance and guild you all.”

“Okay, that’s all that I have to say. I wish you all success.” Ms. Everdale concluded.

“Thank you Ms. Everdale.” The head teacher said.

“Now, I would like the first 20 teams to step up.”

Just as instructed, 20 teams came up, including Carl’s team; his team comprised of students from other classes.

Each team stood in front of a door, waiting for the approval from the head teacher.

“Good luck on your trials.” The head teacher said.

The doors opened, and the 20 teams entered the fragmented realities.

The doors closed once more, and the pattern on each door changed. After that, the next 20 teams came up and just like before, the doors opened and they too began their end trials.

The same process continued and the number of students gradually reduced, until Kelvin’s team eventually entered the seventeenth (17th) fragmented reality.

Crossing from the normal world to the fragmented reality is not really grand or flashy. It was as simple as walking through a door.

The content of a fragmented reality can be filled with infinite possibilities. The fragmented reality user just has to imagine it and it would come to life.

Kelvin and his team mates found themselves on a hot scorching desert.

Ms. Everdale’s voice echoed throughout the desert saying:

“Welcome to my fragmented reality called the dry lands. Just like I stated before, your mission is simple.”

“Retrieve a white flag and return to the end gate. A well detailed map of the entire desert can be found in the mini container in front of you. The mini container also comprises of your basic survival needs.”

“Please note that time moves a lot faster in the fragmented reality than in the normal world, so I advice you make haste.”

“Your trial has begun.”