A low horn echoed across Ashwood Forest as thousands of candidates gathered at the mist-slicked edge of a clearing three hours after the mana affinity test.
Redwood trees arched above like cathedral spires, weeping dew into the thick fog crawling beneath their roots.
The air carried the scent of moss, rain.
Davi stood silently, with windcaller on his palm he listened intently to his surroundings.
Russell was cracking his knuckles out of tension.
Around them, murmured nervously, each sensing the weight of something far beyond a mere examination.
A platform shimmered to life in mid-air.
Upon it stood Lady Stacy, Magic Archon Alzareth and Grandmaster Cael Von Meritus who was dressed in cobalt blue robes from the Aetherveil Spire (Central Continent).
His voice rang out, warm yet thunderous…
"Welcome, aspirants… Today, you face not each other but yourselves!"
"This test is the Illusion maze, designed to test candidates mental fortitude and resilience… A future mage should be able to act under intense conditions… Of course you can only prove that after you pass this test" said Grandmaster Cael Von Meritus
A second figure stepped forward.
Master Rhogar Flintmane, from Obsidian Thorn Academy (Western Continent), his beard stained with soot, leaned on a thick blacksmith's hammer taller than most candidates.
"Don't die… Or do; Makes no difference to me… Hehe just make it interesting" he grunted.
A ripple of laughter rolled through the crowd, but it didn't last long.
Hovering behind them was the third figure… Old Man Frank.
"He could levitate?!!!" Russell said in shock.
"Hehe seems like things are finally getting interesting… Didn't you say that he had stayed in blue wind town for years?" Davi asked in response.
"I did… But now i don't seem to sure about it anymore… This man is just… (~Sigh)" Russell responded.
"Its a pity I cannot see this man sigh" Davi said in regret.
Old man Frank didn't speak; he didn't need to.
A single glance, grey eyes lingering on Davi and Russell, felt like a sword pressed to the back of the neck.
"Davi… He is looking at us" Russell said in whisperers.
"..." No comment.
Soon, the forest trembled.
With a screech like metal tearing through glass, the mist surged forward, consuming the clearing.
Trees distorted and twisted.
Branches turned into corridors.
Roots curled into stairs.
Candidates screamed as they were swallowed one by one into the Illusion Maze.
The magic formation had been activated with a soundless pulse.
"Seven hours!!! Thats the deadline to complete this test" Said Master Rhogar Flintmane.
The illusionary clock began ticking.
***
Inside the mist, Davi he was alone and of course he couldn't see… but felt like he could.
The test was aimed to test a candidates mental fortitude and resilience; It spoke directly to each soul regardless of physical limitation and in a vivid sense also.
The trees around him bled shadow.
The air pressed like a vice.
Different shapes of different colours danced at the edge of perception like a smoke screen.
And then he heard it…
"Li Kai… Who knew you'd enjoy watching us die? You incompetent, treacherous bastard of a commander!"
"How quickly you abandoned us for him… for power… you ungrateful ingrate… After all i your majesty did for you? Lifting you out of that dump you call a home?" A course spoke.
His blood froze.
A broken battlefield unfolded before him.
Ash rained from a scarlet sky.
Burned banners of his army back in the World of Forsaken Saints fluttered weakly in the wind.
Corpses littered the cracked earth some familiar.
The King's smile, half-gone like a maniac psychopath.
His most trusted right hand man's blade, broken in his chest.
"You!!!" He cursed.
Li Kai stood in the carnage, trembling, bleeding, clutching a wooden staff… the one given to him by the Old Monkey of the Azure Mist Pavilion while he was still a disciple.
And then the staff began to splinter…
***
High above, the supervisors as well as other mages watched through scrying spheres.
Hundreds of mentors, nobles, and scholars murmured in excitement and dread… The king of Blue sky kingdom was no exception.
"My precious daughter… Please be safe" He murmured nervously.
"Cael, the formation's reading is unstable… We should look into this." muttered a worried mage.
Grandmaster Cael grinned.
"Of course it is… It was designed to be, each mind is chaos we simply gave it a mirror made of mist."
Rhogar snorted.
"A mirror? More like a hammer. We're forging mages, not pampering brats. See that one…" he gestured toward a short, fat boy spinning in a circle while laughing, he's either a genius or already broken" Master Rhogar said.
That boy was Toffle Ruggard, leader of the Iron Hounds Mercenary Group… the only surviving member.
He had wandered into an illusion where his dead comrades offered him tea and riddles…
"This isn't as hard as I thought… Weren't you all angry over your deaths?" Toffle asked.
"Boss you did a lot for us how can we?" Replied a mist like silhouette of a person.
Instead of breaking down, he played along, made peace with them, and walked out singing an old mercenary hymn.
The audience was stunned.
Rhogar smirked. "Told you… Genius!"
***
Forty-seven minutes in, a golden pulse shot skyward someone had escaped.
A young man emerged from the mist without a scratch.
Reonhart Arkwell, heir of the Solborne Dominion, wiped imaginary dust off his gloves.
He bowed slightly to the supervisors.
"A pleasure," he said, then walked past the corpses of five who hadn't made it.
"Why do young lads of this age have to be over dramatic? Eeh?" Asked Grandmaster Cael.
"His illusion? A political trial set years in his future… He dismantled it in minutes with cold logic and absolute self-confidence… We would be fitting of the Craynwood Institute (South Continent) as the specialize in war strategy" he added.
Cael blinked.
"The boy passed a trial of ego collapse in under an hour. Either he has no self-doubt or he's hiding something… I don't buy your crap of self confidence" Rhogar said.
***
Next to break free was Nimue Arlen, a nobody by all standards.
She'd failed the mana affinity test although she tamed a cat, she was one of such anomalies like Davi with No patron and magic as she failed the affinity test.
But within the mist, she stood before a forgotten door of ancient make.
Her illusion was not one of pain but of insignificance.
She opened the door but pure pitch blackness was seen with deafening silence!
Inside, her magic erupted… Darkness!
A lost affinity long thought extinct.
Outside, her exit sent tremors through the viewing platforms.
"She had that in her all along?" Cael whispered.
"Hidden magic sometimes waits for a reason to wake" Old man Frank murmured as he thought of Davi inwardly… The first time he had spoken.
Both Rhogar and Cael exchanged glances.
Frank speaking even once was like hearing a statue sigh.
"What power does he even belong to?" Thought Master Rhogar
***
Russell ran through thick fog, heart pounding.
Then he saw it: Davi, bound and bloodied hand reaching out.
"Why… Russell?!"
Russell's own hands were red.
A sword in his hands dripped.
"No! No!! No!!! I wouldn't… this isn't…"
He fell to his knees as voices spiraled in his head:
"You envied his growth… didn't you?"
"You killed your brother!!!"
Russell's screams pierced the illusion.
Another shadowed version of Davi appeared, eyes glowing red.
Blindly rushing forward with madness he said…
"This is all an illusion… I would never kill him… My last blood? No! Never!!!" He screamed.
Russell ran aimlessly around the maze trying to escape the voices until a voice whispered behind him calmly.
"He's not your enemy, you are."
Russell turned… but there was no one there.
He stood.
The illusion burned away…
***
Back in his illusion, Li Kai crawled over corpse.
His past self clutched the monkey's staff as it turned to ash.
Above him, a tower of flames rose, faces screaming in its walls.
The kings eyes bloodshot.
His failure, betrayal… The Pain.
Li kai's body gave in, kneeling down on the spot he screamed until his throat gave out.
The Asura System watched silently.
Then a voice, not the System rather from a monkey spoke…
"Get up! You inherited my legacy? Are you so weak? Is this the feared saint sage talked about by everyone? Pathetic!!!"
A figure stepped forward a mirror of Li Kai, but older, calmer.
"You are not their death or betrayal… the caused that upon themselves… carrying such burdens would take you nowhere!"
"You are their memory, their will, their life, Use it!"
The broken staff pulsed in his hand.
He rose ready to face this cruel reality!