Chapter 2 : The Trials

The bus drove for about an hour before stopping at a large clearing near a cliff, the man that made the announcement alighted holding something that looked like an oversized briefcase,

"A portable portal device, i guess they are more paranoid about the dark race and the missing students than Bruce" Brandon said to himself,

The portal device was dropped at the centre of the clearing and upon activation it began to spread and increase in size to form a door-like structure which golwed with a blue hue, a group of men also dressed in military attire stepped through the portal and began picking up the students one by one and taking them through the portal,as Brandon was carried past the earlier official, he heard him whisper,

"I know you weren't asleep kiddo"

Which caused a shiver to run down Brandon's spine,

As he was taken through the portal he found himself being dropped in a large metallic room which he estimated was as big as their entire school but, one thing that piqued Brandon's interest the most was the lack of windows or doors. Though it was cold inside, he couldn't see any air conditioners, It took a few minutes for the remaining students to be carried through the portal then, a soldier dropped a gas canister which released a thick green gas that immediately woke the students up but the moment it got to Brandon, his veins began to bulge, he felt a banging pain in his head, it felt like he had drunk too much caffeine, the pain then began to spread to the rest of his body causing him to roll on the ground in pain,

"Brandon, are you okay? talk to me bro?" Bruce panicked as he noticed Brandon's condition, he looked up to see the military official who came to their school casually walked towards them,

"What did you do to him?" Bruce asked with teary eyes,

"The epinephrine other wise known as adrenaline was supposed to negate the effects of the sleeping gas used to put you guys to sleep but since it didn't pit your friend to sleep, it just gave him an epinephrine overdose which may lead to tachycardia but, we should have something to help him with the pain but he will fidget and might not be able to go through the trials" the man explained,

"just do it, you can clearly see he's in pain" Bruce replied annoyed,

"Do not forget who you are speaking to young man" the official warned slightly irritated by Bruce's tone,

"I will give him something to counter the effects of the adrenaline but it will take some time to take effect" he said as he injected a yellow liquid into Brandon's body, the bulging veins began fading and his ragged breath calmed but he was unconscious, Bruce looked up to find that all the other students had already formed a circle around the commotion and were already whispering among themselves,

"Alright, people nothing to see here, the trials will begin shortly" the official yelled to silence the crowd,

"you, keep watch over your friend, you two will go last" he added pointing to Bruce,

He walked out of the crowd of students to a side of the room with a glass screen and tapped something on the wall then the ground in front of the students began to change and soon the large empty white room turned into mini training ground which was divided into three parts with each part having large alpha-numeric 1a, 1b, and 1c showing boldly at the edge, middle and end of the room, the military official climbed a podium to address the students.

"Now pay attention everyone, my name is Colonel James Norris, I will be the overall supervisor of your trial today, firstly let me begin by explaining the ranking system to you" The official said and a large floating white screen appeared in front of him with a table on it the heading labeled rank at the left and points at the right, underneath the rank were the letters a,S ,A ,B ,C ,D ,E ,F with corresponding points placed in front of each of them like so;

Rank - Points

S : 1601 - 3200

A : 801 - 1600

B : 401 - 800

C : 201 - 400

D : 101 - 200

E : 51 - 100

F : 1 - 50

"Now, if you look to the screen in front of me, you will see the points required for each rank and a score board will be provided to record your performance in each trial, since you are first year students, the highest anyone of you can get is rank C, but with hardwork and dedication you can improve in your later days, now turn your attention to the arena in front of you, it has been set up in order of the format given by your school, floor 1a is the affinity trial , floor 1b is the physical trial and floor 1c is the IQ trial and they will be taken in that order, a list of your names has already been given to us and I shall be calling you in alphabetical order except for Brandon Flare who is currently unconscious and Bruce Devin who I have assigned to look after him, now please move on to floor 1a" Col. James explained,

The students moved to the instructed floor and waited for instructions concerning the first trial,

"For the first trial, based on your previous school grading, you will each receive a low grade ability orb that will temporarily grant you an ability, you will be then shoot one of the targets in front of you with as much power as you can, you will be awarded ponts on both power and accuracy, do you understand?" Col. James yelled,

"Yes sir" the students shouted in unison,

"First, Alexander Benjamin Moore, you will be given a water ability with an ice affinity orb, step forward to begin your assessment" Col. James said as he began the first trial,

A young asian boy about 13 years old with curly blue hair stepped forward, he was given a blue energy orb that contained the ability, he absorbed the energy and then concentrated it into a ball of water before projecting it with all his might towards the target, a loud bang was heard as the jet stream of water hit the target square in the middle, the score board projected 35 beside his name,

"Very good, now the next person, Alexandra Isabella Moore, you will be given a Fire ability with a plasma affinity orb" the colonel announced,

a girl with scarlet red hair stepped forward and received a red energy orb before doing same as the boy but her blast was weaker, the score board projected 20 next to her name,

Brandon who was already awake and had been briefed on the rules of the trial was paying keen attention to the the other students assessment untill it was finally his turn,

"Brandon Flare, you will be given a fire ability with a lava affinity orb" the colonel announced,

He stood up weakly to receive the orb, after absorbing the energy, he took a deep breath and concentrated all his energy into a dense ball of fire and just before he threw it at the target his eyes glowed orange which only Colonel James seemed to notice, a loud bang rang through the arena as the score board projected 40 next to his name,

"Yes, that's my brother" Bruce yelled excitedly,

"Bruce Devin, you are next"

Bruce stepped forward and was given a plain lightening ability orb,

"Due to the uniqueness of your talent this is the best we could do for you" col. James explained to which Bruce nodded,

He got a 30 his assessment which cause him to frown,

"Don't beat yourself up Bro there's always room for anything" Brandon said to cheer his friend up,

"Now please move towards floor 1b for your physical fitness assessment" col. James announced,

the student stepped towards the next trial which comprised a circular punching bag and an elastic rope,

"For this assessment, you will not require the use of your ability, you are to hit the punching bag with your physical strength alone after which you are to pull the elastic rope, the farther you pull it before it retracts the higher your score, the use of ability will not be tolerated" Col. James said sternly,

the students were called alphabetically, some students like Alex did well, while others performed miserably, then came Brandon's turn again,

"I am not going to do well in this part" he said to Bruce,

""Not with that attitude" Bruce snorted jokingly,

"Am serious, the gas from earlier sapped my energy" Brandon complained,

Bruce rubbed his chinned thinking of a way to help Brandon,

"Remember what you told me when I complained about getting 2nd every during that IT contest back home?" Bruce asked with a smile,

"How is that supposed to hel- oh you are a genius, thanks bro" Brandon said as he moved forward,

"Work smarter not harder" he mumbled,

he stood a few distance from the punching bag and sprinted right at it, rather than punching it like the rest of the students, he ran into it, this of course shocked everyone,

"is that even legal? whoa he's nuts" were some of the whispers going about,

"Silence, all if you, the goal was to hit the bag with physical strength alone and so Brand Flare did not go against the rules" Col. James said and the whispers died down,

"Wow, that kid is something else, he recovered fast from the gas effect and now this, it seems we have a new prodigy on our hands" he mumbled inwardly,

"Does the direction we pull the rope in necessarily important?" Brandon asked,

"No as long as it is pulled away from the original point" col James replied,

"What are you up to young prodigy?" he thought to himself,

Brandon held the rope and sprinted towards the wall,

"What is he doing?" was what was on all the students minds at the moment, but as he got to the wall he ran a few meters up it and pushed himself off with the gathered momentum and was able to pull the rope fair enough but still got a low score,

"Don't beat yourself up, you did your best" Bruce said,

a total of 29 points was given to Brandon bring his total points earned to 69 points,

Bruce did his assessment and got a 60,

"Nice one" Brandon complimented,

"Couldn't have done it without your training" Bruce replied with a smile.

As they made their way towards the last trial, the blue haired kid from earlier approached them,

"Hi, am Alexander but you can call me Alec, the red haired girl is my twin sister Isabella, you did great back there" He said with his hands stretched out for handshake which Both boys shook,

"Am Bruce and this is my bro Brandon, nice to meet you" Bruce replied as they shook hands,

"alright I will see you guys after the trial" Alec said before returning to meet his sister,

floor 1c was had was filled with tables with two chairs at opposite sides with a chess board with the pieces by the side and a timer on the table,

"Now this is the last and final trial, this trial will test your mental fitness/capacity, those you who didn't do well in the previous trials can boost your points here since you only need your intellect for this trial" col. James explained with a smile,

"Am guessing this is his favorite trial" Brandon whispered to Bruce,

"indeed it is soldier" Col. James said looking towards them, which caused Bruce to shiver,

The last trail was a game of chess, and they would be playing against the other soldiers, of course a lot of students failed this trail, the few who did well were Alex, Isabella, Brandon, Bruce and five other students, they were all given 60 points each, Brandon and Bruce were both D rank mages,

"Congratulations on completing your trials, you will be all be given digital watches that show your rank and points, as you improve, it will be recorded in your watch and will automatically update on the school file and although many of you may be F rank Mages at the moment, I want you to remember that the only thing that differentiate great mages from others is the effort they out into their training, you can still grow and though some of you may have low grades but never let that limit your potential, after you are given your watches you will all be injected with sedatives before being transported back to your school, good luck Soldiers, may fate smile upon you" Col. James announced before walking past them, when he got to Brandon he handed him a box and walked off.

The students were given their watches and sedated just as Col. James has said and this time Brandon didn't fight the effects of the drug, well more like he was took weak to fight it, the last thing he saw before closing his eyes was Col. James smiling at him.

As the students were being taken away, Col. James sighed,

"So much talent , yet so little time will be available to nourish them, I hope they will be ready when the time comes"