Death

Chapter 5

Only 12 out of 56 passed the second test. Dev was conversing with Rose when suddenly the examiner stepped up and announced, "Congratulations to all 12 of you, only the last test is left now between you and the dream academy of yours. The last test won't be held in the hall so follow me and I'll take you to your test location."

The last test will be conducted inside the academy, so Dev could finally see what the academy looks like from inside.

Dev and other participants started following their hall examiner, Dev's mouth stayed wide open as they proceeded. Dev's eyes looked drunk due to the mood the fragrance had made. All the classroom doors were decorated with Flowers. Every door had a different kind of flower. Dev finally saw an open classroom: classroom seats were like very thick branches of the tree, cushions to sit were made up of leaves of the same tree, Table was also made by folding of the branches of the tree.

Dev couldn't help but hushed Rose, "How is this possible, is this tree alive?"

Rose also didn't know the answer so she shook her head. Dev may have hushed, but Angela heard Dev and scoffed while smirking, " You don't even know this, Where do you live, in the jungle?"

The next moment, Angela's face became dumb when Both Rose and Dev nodded their head in reply. Angela hmphed and made 2 feet distance from them.

The examiner also heard them and scoffed, "Some of you may have questions about the tree, let me answer them for you. This tree is not alive, but it's a technological invention. All of you may have heard that there are many worlds including our Nehan. This tree was developed by Higher world Elves. They sent this tree to every academy Elf had."

Dev was dumbfounded after hearing the answer. While Dev was stunned, they reached the location where the third test will be conducted. It was a huge open area. In Earth's terms at least ten football fields can be made in this area.

In the center of the area, Dev saw the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. There was a three-stepped circular platform in the center of the area. The platform was covered with a dome that looked like a rainbow with more than seven colors, but the dome looked dreamy. The dome was made up of all the elements present in the atmosphere to provide an illusion.

2300 participants have participated in the exams, out of which only 280 were allowed to take the third test.

Jacob was one of the head examiners, he stepped in front of the 280 participants and announced, "The third test will be the test of willpower, the platform at the center will be used for this test. All of you will step up on the platform's last step at the same time. There will be a time limit for this test. You'll be given 30 minutes for this test. Those who reach the top of the platform in 30 minutes will pass the test and qualify for the invites from the academy."

"But, Beware it'll not be easy to reach the top as you'll see an illusion the moment you step up on the platform. I wish all of you, Best of Luck!" Jacob continued.

Dev knew the meaning of what an Illusion was, but he has never faced one. He was unsure of his results now. He was afraid that if he saw his family, he'd force himself to stay in the Illusion.

Suddenly, the dome started shining, the scene looked even more dreamy than before, Dev's eyes were shining while seeing the array.

Jacob announced the start of the test by using force to throw everyone on the platform while having a smirk, Dev was dumbfounded and thought, "It's true, Power makes people stupid"

The moment Dev stepped on the platform, Dev found himself in an unknown space. Dev had never seen a place like this in his life. The Place looked barren, it looked like, there hasn't been any kind of flora or fauna born in this land for unknown number of years. Dev could see corpses here and there, He could see the heads of the people he has known in his life, he could see the head of his wife which had the look of blame on her face, that look chilled Dev to his core. Every kind of horror he has ever imagined it was there for him to see. Dev couldn't see this anymore, he tried to look away but he found out that someone was forcing him to look at that chilling scene. He then noticed someone standing on him.

Dev was on the ground crying, while the person he hated the most was in front of him looking down on him.

Dev's eyes became red seeing his family murderer in front of him. His eyes went normal when he started feeling pain from the lower side of his body, a scream came out automatically when he noticed his crushed right leg below the knee and found Grey standing on that crushed part.

"How dare you even think of revenge, you barbarian. You could've spent your life in peace, but you wanted to be a hero, let's make you a dying hero," jeered Grey.

While jeering at Dev, Grey also crushed his upper right leg. Dev screamed. Dev didn't know why he felt screaming, this pain was nothing in comparison to the pain he faced when his body was transformed.

Grey smirked and this time instead of crushing Dev's left leg, he ripped Dev's left hand from his shoulder. Dev screamed and blood started flowing out of his mouth.

"See, this happens to the people who try to be heroes. You, a weakling, who gave you this much courage, your home planet? Didn't you see the result of your home planet? Yet you believed in her sugar-coated words?" ridiculed Grey.

Grey picked up Dev from the helm of his neck, Dev tried to fight back, He tried to punch Grey but Grey caught his punch and crushed his fist. Grey laughed after that.

"An Ant can only kill an Elephant when the Elephant is unmindful of the Ant and it enters the trunk, or the elephant doesn't want to stomp on it because it's small. Did you thought, I would be a stupid Elephant who will be oblivious of you, an ant? You thought too much of yourself, barbarian," mocked Grey.

Dev was being tortured by Grey in different kinds of ways. As time flew by, Dev started forgetting everything, he forgot why he was being tortured, his eyes became dead, without even a hint of any emotion in his eyes.

When Grey got bored of torturing Dev, Dev finally died by his heart getting eaten by the ants whom Grey compared him with.

The moment Dev died, he opened his eyes on the platform, everything was blurred in front of his eyes, as moments passed the memory of the Illusion poured out on his head. Dev's back became sweat cold, Dev had never felt so much scared, his heart was beating very loud, other participants who woke up just after Dev could hear Dev's heartbeat.

Dev took a minute to calm himself down and took notice of his surroundings, there were already few participants on the next step. Dev breathed loudly to calm down his nerves, and then took a step up.

As Dev stepped up, he found himself in a familiar environment, He found himself where he spent his whole childhood. Dev was born and brought up in a town named Nava Nagar in Bihar in India.

Dev found himself fielding in a cricket ground, when suddenly the cricket ball hit him on his face, he fell his butt down on the ground. Tears started pouring out of his eyes. Dev was just a child right now. He was only 7 years old. All the children playing on the ground surrounded him and started laughing at Dev. He covered his bleeding nose and hurried back to his house crying, while shouting, "I'll call my mummy, just you wait."

Children's who were laughing stopped laughing and dashed back to their house in fear of Dev's mother coming.

Will Dev pass the test?

We'll get these answers next time...