An hour slipped by in an instant.
After wandering through corridor after corridor, Oren concluded the uncanny cathedral house was anything but ordinary.
From the outside, it appeared a modest religious residence, plain in structure.
Though the people of Unison and the outskirts knew it was the academy, none questioned it. But Oren did, for it expanded beyond what its exterior suggested.
Hallways branched at sharp corners and dim intersections, leading to endless staircases. The building held hundreds of rooms, and its scale felt disproportionate.
He had not been walking long, yet the building stretched on as though space had been altered within its walls.
For a structure in the outskirts, it felt modern. The lines were clean, the layout meticulous. It seemed like one of the few buildings in the area that did not belong to the third district.
In all honesty, though, on the way to the assembly hall he had gotten lost due to the unfamiliarity, but it also meant that he would draw more attention.
More than he wanted, at least, and the elders of the academy would not take it well.
With the so called trial nearly among the people, they must be worried, concerned, maybe even hopeful of success.
Through the clear academy windows, Oren saw mortals moving through the outskirts streets.
He had thought that it was a pleasant place, yet despite the brilliant light, the world felt heavy and dark.
At the centre of the market street lay a wide circular clearing, abandoned buildings bordered it, their walls were cracked and worn.
Vendors set up banners and tables along the edges and at the heart of the clearing, metal poles marked out a grand tent.
Men and women drove stakes into the ground with practised precision. Though the manual labour, they wore their best attire.
Nearby, performers practised acrobatics at the tent's entrance, entertaining onlookers.
Oren dismissed the calm scene, assuming it was the Light Festival preparations.
He'd heard whispers of it in the panicked crowd, and knew he was only adding to the academy's burdens.
It was not a good start.
C04 had said the academy would take care of him once he became enlightened, as it did with other students.
Hopefully, his new mortality wouldn't stand in the way of his success.
Becoming a mortal was unexpected, especially having a mundane body, he felt slow and weak, unbearably small.
But it was not too bad.
He would only get used to it with time.
Eventually, Oren made it to the academy hall. With an indifferent smile, he stared at what lay before him.
Two giant doors sat quietly, unmoved, as though guarding the room.
They were painted dark brown, their frames embedded with runes he could not decipher.
Oren looked at the dark oak windowsill beside him. It stretched high along the hallway wall, sun rays pouring through the pristine glass.
Oren stepped forward indifferently.
I am quite late i hope they do not mind.
Without a second thought, Oren extended his arm and gripped the doorknob.
He twisted it, then pulled.
The sturdy oak frame trembled as he opened the ancient wood.
As Oren took a step, he recalled more of C04's words. In the short moments before he left, C04 had asked him a favour, but to Oren it seemed to be another request.
"Do not fail, I hope to see you in the future."
Those were C04's words.
What a bizarre man, Oren thought.
He glanced behind him as he entered the embrace of the academy hall.
...
Upon entering the room, the crimson sun rays were gone and a faint rustle of robes swept through the hall.
The marked, unevenly planned floor trembled under the open window breeze.
The darkness of the room did not help either. Only a few chandeliers hung lit.
The rest had seemingly been blown out, whether by miscreant students or the teachers themselves.
The room was filled with two hundred or so students. Everyone was seated in rigid lines of chairs, perfectly still beneath the towering wall of paintings.
Oren dismissed them briefly.
His careful gaze swept across the vast room at once.
At the room's centre stood a man who preached proudly, undeterred by the murmurs of the candidates.
The man's features were aged, yet strangely youthful.
His face was unwrinkled, and his grey beard was freshly trimmed. His jet-black hair was streaked with grey, and his rugged blue eyes held the weight of a long past.
Oren traced every scar across the person they called Elder Idris's pale face.
Each mark told a story.
Oren had thought that he would first be met with questions. Instead, Oren was met with the oppressive stares of young men and women.
Me being late is not that bad, is it?
Being stared at like this, felt as though entering the assembly late was not only looked down on, but taboo.
Walking down the central aisle, Oren cut through the narrow rows of students, ignoring the whispers.
"Who is that? Wait a minute, how dare he be late!"
"What? He is late? How could someone dishonour the entrance assembly? The humble elders have granted us a chance and you dare ruin it."
From across the room, he heard another shout. It was a man, seemingly older than the other people.
"Is this candidate even from one of our families or clans? What is his name? I have never seen him before."
"Maybe he is from your lowly Xen clan, old man Renu Xen, who cares if he is not apart of a clan."
The young woman's shout was the final one heard by all, making every candidate glance at Oren's shifting silhouette.
"A cathedral in a school?" Oren chuckled, then instantly went quiet beneath the gazes.
Somehow, his cold expression did not waver.
After a while, the whispers gradually grew.
Oren remained standing, searching for a seat amongst the several rose of seated candidates.
How hard is it to find a seat? Oren winced, accidentally treading on the seat of a young girl.
He moved through the rows of students, accidentally stepping on candidates' feet and sometimes kicking their chairs.
Oren eventually found a seat at the back of a row, closer to the entrance than the elder at the front of the room.
His seat was numbered. Candidate Fourteen. It seemed the people here were identified by number, not name, in an assembly like this.
Despite the small ruckus he had created, despite the attention he drew, Oren remained composed.
It could be much worse, could it not?
As Oren sat down, Elder Idris straightened his posture, his gaze fixing on Oren.
His stern voice dominated the whispers of the candidates.
"Silence."
His voice cut cleanly through the hall, and the murmurs died at once.
He offered Oren a brief, knowing smile before continuing.
"I will resume the lecture. We are short on time, so find someone who can update you on what we covered earlier."
Around Oren, the candidates straightened in their seats, eyes frozen forward as if carved from stone.
Oren heard another voice. Not the elder's, but a strangely shy one, yet proud enough not to be weak.
"Hello, are you the candidate who is late? I am Sable, Candidate Fifteen. It is a pleasure to meet you."
The young man beside him said politely.
Sable had dirty blonde hair. Though slightly overgrown, it looked neat and carefully kept.
Oren looked into his bright blue eyes.
They were blurry, yet filled with an honesty that felt fake.
Oren let out a deep breath.
"My name is Oren. It is a pleasure to meet you too."
The whispers and gazes Oren attracted did not seem to bother Sable.
Instead, Sable repeated Oren's name tentatively.
"Oren, what a pleasant name. So unique. Your mother and father must have been thoughtful people."
"Yes, they were quite creative people."
The lie slipped from Oren's mouth, leaving a faint trace of confusion behind.
He did not have parents. Antherions were not born between two entities.
Still, he brushed off the compliment.
Looking around, Sable paused, then let out an exhausted sigh.
"Are you sure that you are a new candidate?"
Whilst Oren remained quiet, Sable stared at him with an unsure expression, making him feel as though he had been caught out. It felt as if the young man knew something Oren did not.
In the end, Oren asked, rubbing his eye.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't worry," Sable said with a quiet laugh.
Oren sighed, then whispered, "I am quite sure I am the late candidate. In truth, I do not even know what these 'candidates' are, nor what this assembly is about."
Truthfully, I was brought here without knowing. And the gentleman who awoke me was just as clueless as I am."
Sable chuckled despite Oren's serious expression, then froze abruptly beneath the professor's sharp tongue click.
Acknowledging Sir Idris's wariness of speaking aloud, Sable lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Ah, it is alright. I am a little clueless myself, but I did catch a bit of what the professor explained."
He leaned closer, lowering his voice.
"Right now, we are in the assembly to be assessed. I dont know how or why though, but the actual examination is scheduled for a week from now."
With a silent breath sable added.
"They call it the entrance trial."
Oren pondered then asked in an easygoing tone.
"Do you have any knowledge of what the trial itself is, or how to prepare for it?"
Sable hesitated, searching for the right words.
"I do not understand all of it, but the ritual is meant to determine whether we are accepted into the academy, and whether we are worthy of enlightenment, or so they say."
"Enlightenment?" Oren mumbled.
C04 had said that. He had also mentioned the Trial and a Sanctuary.
Sable continued.
"Yes, that is what the professor said, at least. But something about it seems strange. He made it sound almost simple."
Sable's brows knit slightly as Oren frowned.
Was it a religious term? A belief? No…
C04's words echoed in his mind.
Oren dismissed the thought.
The only thing that truly mattered at the moment was his success.
His success, and he knew no other way forward but to become enlightened.
Staring at Sable with a blank expression, Oren asked sincerely.
"Do you know what being enlightened does...what it is?"
Sable spoke again.
"I believe that is what the revered professor is explaining to us now."
Yet what the elder spoke of was not the ritual itself. It was something far more significant, and far more intriguing to Oren.
"Enlightenment. Does anyone know what enlightenment truly is? What it means to become enlightened?"