Chapter 23 - Registration(II)

"Aha! Time's up. Jemna, go round up the batch of students. It's time." Codix munched on an apple as he looked at the display.

If before, the children were sweating like melted butter, now, their entire bodies were steaming. Codix could almost see visible smoke winding in the air as the aura of despair scattered around, connecting uncontrollably. 

He rolled his eyes. "Now they are just showing off. Good. Good. Good!"

"Sir, the standard time of a 100-question examination at the preliminary level is one hour."  Jemna straightened her glasses and stated, wondering if the current examiner was truly a devil in disguise.

"And so?" 

A twitch appeared on Jemna's face but she quickly concealed it. "This preliminary examination has 500 questions, Sir."

"Hmmm… I see. Good job." Codix awkwardly dropped the matter and focused on his apple. He quickly realized that with this strict assistant beside him, he wouldn't get to torture the children. 

'I have to find some other way. Hehe.'  Codix's eyes glinted and numerous nefarious thoughts danced in his mind.

….

After the fifth hour mark, the examination staff announced the end of the preliminary examination and forcefully collected all the papers, leaving some unfortunate individuals in tears.

Raven was about to leave his seat when he noticed a black card on his table.

"Fifth Floor, Hall C. Hmmm… it has my picture. A ticket kinda?" After checking the card, Raven lifted himself off his seat and approached the exit.

"Raven!" a crisp voice called out. However, Raven wasn't surprised by the voice.

As soon as he heard that, Raven turned around and welcomed the approaching Trix. Judging from her unfazed facial expression, Raven had to guess that the examination was a breeze for her.  After all, it was merely the preliminary.

"You got one too!" Trix played the black card in her hand. "I never noticed it until the end. Seems like this is gonna be interesting, don't you think?"

Without waiting for a reply, she asked, "Floor 5, Hall C?"

"Yeah…" Raven's voice trailed as the two walked toward their destination.

"Cool." Trix punched Raven lightly on the shoulder. Caught off guard, Raven sent her a glare.

Trix asked in a low voice, her tone hinting at her annoyance, "Why didn't you tell me you were a mystic? Don't lie. You ain't surprised about my black card which means you knew all along so why?" 

"I became a mystic shortly before our last meeting. Since you never told me about your awakening, I figured you must have some good reasons hence my internal battle."

"I–I– whatever, man. I didn't want to pull you down back then. But now… now it's all interesting. You and I are going to have so much fun." Trix smiled, hanging her arm around Raven's shoulder.

The two quickly reached their destination. Immediately they stepped into the hall, a shudder coursed through their spine and a cold sensation wrapped all over them. Raven's senses blared like a fire alarm. [Seventh Sense] went into disarray as it processed information from the surroundings, all to no avail. 

The inside of the hall appeared to be a plain golden field with an elevated platform at the end. Astonished gasps spread far and wide amongst the crowd of children. Their eyes locked onto the elevated platform. It was floating in the air, without any support and signs of a technological device. How was this possible?

Raven furrowed his brows as he analyzed his surroundings. There was something wrong here. "Trix, do you feel it?"

"Yeah. Hard to miss. It's like we are in another world. Weird."

"Another world?"

"Yeah, the only way to explain the alarming sensation. Everything looks okay, nothing mindblowing here, yet there is a lingering sensation evading the grasp of our senses. It gnaws at our blindspot. So depraved. I read somewhere that this sensation is common when crossing into other worlds or mini-worlds… don't ask me, it's a guess."

Raven's eyes reflected his pondering mind as he replied, delving into his seventh sense more, "The Western Arena was a shelter during the advent. It was designed to protect humans. Perhaps this hall is one of the remnants of the past. A separate room with peculiar technology?"

"Hmmm…" Trix hummed, nodding as she looked around. Just like Raven, she was attracted to the unnatural and this place reeked of abnormality.

Raven was willing to believe that the room was merely confusing his senses. There was no way it could be another world. Raven had been to two "other worlds", and the sensation they gave, while similar, was far more profound than what his seventh sense revealed to him right now. 

'This hall gives a feeling of being out of place, but the other worlds, especially the Astral Realm, were extremely suffocating. I could barely move without my mind wrapping on itself.' Raven shuddered as he remembered his experience in the other worlds.

At that moment, all that was in his mind was to survive and return back to his world, but now that he thought about it… The laws of otherworlds rejected foreigners… or maybe just humans. Perhaps humans don't belong anywhere outside the mundane.

'No use thinking about it. I am merely a mystic.' Raven reminded himself not to jump the gun. Answers would come to him when he was ready.

As the children gathered in the hall, they quickly formed cliques. It was one of the laws of society, something very fundamental to living. Although Raven found it astonishing, he understood the logic. People felt safer when they were amongst others. However, Raven and Trix had no intention of mingling with the rest. For starters, Raven was anti-social. Meanwhile, he had never seen Trix with any other friend than him. When he questioned her about it, she mumbled something about not everyone being worthy of sharing her brilliance… that was definitely a coping mechanism.

"Wow. Lots of big names here. If it were anywhere else, I would be worried by the presence of the aristocrats," Trix commeented as she looked around