Cracks started forming in a dark place as golden light emerged, and a golden hand appeared causing the place to illuminate.
Suddenly the shining golden light figure that was shaped like a human materialized and looked around.
"The Time has come yet again," It spoke.
"I guess I will fulfill my role,"
Clap!
A single clap resonated in that space, changing everything around it and shifting the space.
The purple chains appeared as they got loose and many purple runes appeared as the strange golden figure raised his hands as the darkness started surrounding it.
Before the darkness completely surrounded, a crack in the shape of a smile appeared on the figure's face.
***
"It's quite cold, are you sure you guys are fine?" Amelia asked.
"Yup!" Livia replied nodding her head as puffs of her breath, visible in the cold air like fleeting clouds.
Both Livia and Lucas were sitting in an open cafe as most of the cafeterias, shops, and buildings in the Outer Sector were closed.
Only a few open cafes were operating and even they were going to close in an hour from now.
Because of this reason, instead of being inside, the four of them were sitting outside in the cold weather so early in the morning.
Seeing this Amelia smiled, and used a Tier 2 Fire Spell around them to create a warmer sensation. Livia was surprised, and Lucas was intrigued by the spell as he was curious how Amelia did something like this.
"It's a basic spell, you will learn it as well," Amelia told Lucas.
"Yeah, it's something that they taught all mages as it's a must to have temperature controlling spell inside a Dungeon," Damian replied.
They were standing in the Outer Sector at 4 A.M in the morning, and it was still winter, and in the Flying Island, the temperature was much colder as well.
"But he barely made it to the Trials Ground," Damian said as he sipped on the Hot Chocolate.
Amelia and Damian saw the List of students that had confirmed their entrance for Trials Ground and Asher's name was on it.
But knowing he hadn't contacted them, they just assumed he was resting.
And that was why Amelia, Damian, and the twins were sitting in the Outer Sector as Lucas and Damian suggested they should cheer Asher when he entered.
As Livia and Lucas didn't have any classes for today, it was a perfect day for them to spend time with Amelia and Damian and see off Asher as well.
They gathered in the Outer Sector waiting for the Ceremony of Trials Ground to start which was around 6 AM, two hours from now.
And because of that thing the Outer Sector was closed for today and the staff were told to turn off all the mana-powered appliances and make sure the basic barrier function around their facility was active.
The opening of Trials Ground was a big event and when the entrance was opened a big wave of mana would go over the entire flying island and that wave was enough to damage mana-operated circuits if they were left open.
To avoid any such issues, most of the buildings in the Outer Sector were closed today.
"But what's inside there?" Livia asked as she sipped on the Hot Chocolate.
"Inside? Nobody really knows," Amelia replied.
"I don't know much but I have studied from journal entries of other students that have gone through the Trials Ground, and all of them had different experiences," Amelia added.
Livia and Lucas were both surprised and fascinated by the talk of Trails Ground.
"Is it dangerous?" Livia asked,
"Not really, most of the students are told to not harm each other inside and mana oaths are done to make sure no one does such a thing," Damian said.
"But the trial itself has never harmed anyone," Damian said.
"My father told me about it, and apparently it's a sort of illusion and it's different for everyone,"
"But whatever you see inside, it's something that helps you nourish your talent and skill," Amelia said.
"So we can be stronger?!" Livia asked.
"Yeah, but you guys are too young to enter that place," Amelia said.
This made Livia a bit sad as she was eager to get stronger to support Lucas and make sure both of them lived up to the name of the Greville Family.
Till now Livia and Lucas had learned the history of the Greville Family and their standing in the current World, and they thought that if they were not strong enough it would bring shame on their family.
Livia and Lucas both remembered the words of their mother that said how they would be treated unfairly because of their birth.
Although Nathan, Arthur, and Sylvie assured them, but they didn't hide the fact that they would face problems in the future.
Sylvie wanted to keep that information but Nathan and Arthur decided to let the twins know about such things.
Lucas especially was eager to become stronger, because he had seen how the strong controlled over weak.
"It's because you guys still have so much to learn like both of us," Amelia said noticing Livia's expressions.
"Even I am not going inside because it's better to go in there after you have a clear image of your strengths and weaknesses," Amelia said.
"It's a place that you can only enter once, so everyone makes sure that they make the most out of it," Damian added.
While the four of them carried on with the conversations, another group of students was gathered at a single place.
Judging from their uniforms it was obvious they didn't belong to the World Academy, but they were the students that were allowed to enter the Trials Ground as well.
But all of them were quiet as they listened to the words of a single person and that was none other than Leonard Tarvian.
"I guess everyone here knows what to do," Leonard said,
Some of them had a look of unsurety on their faces, but none of them dared say no to Leonard Tarvian, the Son of the Chairman of World Association.
"And after this, I will let all of you join the World Association under the best teams,"
"I am sure all of you are aware of the value of the position I am giving you," Leonard said as an authoritative environment was created.
"We will do as Young Master Leonard wants," One of the students there stepped out.
"Jack, make all of them do a mana oath," Leonard said as turned his gaze from Jack to the students standing before him.
"Surely nobody here would object right?" Leonard asked with a smile on his face.
But despite his friendly smile the sensation of fear and unrest was still present.
"Here, drop your blood on this plate and circle the mana through your mana heart," Jack said as he presented them transparent glass slip that was inscribed with multiple runes.
Leonard looked at each of them doing their mana oath and smiled internally thinking about what was going to happen.
'I hope you like my little gift, Heir Greville,' Leonard thought in his head while taking out a ball of glass.
***
In the Rankers Dorm,
Alyssa stood still against the mirror looking at her face that resembled her mother quite a bit. She could see the shadow of her mother in herself.
"This will be my chance to get stronger," Alyssa mumbled.
She looked at her eyes as she wore the mask again, and it turned her back into the appearance she originally had.
Coming out of that room, Alyssa entered another she had spent the last month in.
It was quite a spacious room that could have many things but Alyssa never bothered to add anything on her floor.
All the Rankers had the right to customize their own floors and add things that they wanted. Even other students were allowed to do the same, but the Rankers could customize their whole floor to their liking.
Alyssa sat on the chair and looked at the table where many books and multiple notes were present. These were the same books that were written by Elizabeth Garcia, and they contained the spells and theory, she founded on Ice Magic.
Touching the cover of the book, where the initial 'E.G' was written, her dull eyes changed for a moment.
"AAHHHHH"
"KILL THEM!!!"
"ALL OF THEM DESERVE TO DIE!!"
"GARCIA'S BLOOD!!!"
All the noises her head started shouting, as the flashbacks of the past started popping up.
But instead of the boundless hate that her heart contained, right now the only feeling that Alyssa felt was the longing for her mother.
A single tear trailed off the edge of her eyes, as the feeling of aching melancholy was too strong.
But before that tear could drop the entire trail of her tear froze and shattered, and her eyes became completely dull and cold as she took the books and stored them into the section beneath the table before locking it.
Now the only thing left on the desk were the multiple notes Alyssa made, but all of them had messy writing, and they didn't look arranged at all.
Observing those messy notes one could see the chaotic thoughts that lingered in Alyssa's mind. But she endured all of them for the whole month while learning as much as she could before entering the Trials Ground.
Alyssa raised her finger as all those notes floated in the air, and she crumbled them till they became a small ball using gravity magic.
"Burn," She muttered as the ball caught fire and got burnt.
Turning her head, there was only one thing left in this room and it was a canvas that had a particular drawing on it, what started as a black rose was now a black flower that had a red glow around it.
Something, that Alyssa felt strangely comforting doing and keeping herself away from being crushed under the voices in her head.
Alyssa turned to leave the room, as it was soon going to be the time for the students to gather outside the Trials Ground.
While everyone was going to gather outside, Asher opened his eyes as the sound of the alarm in his ID Bracelet kept increasing gradually.
And the first thing he saw was blue notifications in front of him.
His head was still hurting, and the headache was still there but Asher stood up and looked at the notifications.
[ Synchronization has been completed ]
[ Quest has been generated ]
[ Fate Detection is set to activate on Host's command ]
"Quest...," Asher muttered.
[ Quest : Find the remnants of the 'Diary of Lizare' ]
[ Reward : Unknown ]
