Today, the sun remained dormant, sending most who awoke back into sleep, weighed down by an unfathomable lethargy, as though night had never ended.
However, even that reaction was rare, since to not know of the Lightless Seven Days was to have never experienced the tradition at all.
It would be like not knowing of the winter solstice, or one's own birthday.
Most of the world knew the seven days as Lightfall.
But there were more names Oren had heard from the surrounding candidates use.
Such as the Dark Week, and the Sunwane.
Despite the Sunwane, Oren woke earlier than usual. He had eaten breakfast in the academy canteen, meditated, and unlike the previous days, he had prayed.
Not to the religious figures he had heard off, nor those he had been taught, but to himself.
He was not an almighty being who could grant himself fortune and prosperity.
And yet, he prayed to himself.
If it could be called prayer, it was him alone in that pathetic academy room, hoping to succeed in the Trial of Longing.
It was nice to have hope after all, and hopefully this hope would guide Oren to enlightenment, or partial enlightenment.
Since Elder Idris had said that beating the Trial of Longing did not mean full enlightenment, he would most likely have to pass another test of sorts.
...
To Oren's surprise, they had not been placed in the original hall where the first assembly had been held, but in another located at the back of the first-year block.
Within the cold embrace of the second academy hall, two hundred candidates sat cross-legged in rows, each arranged strictly by number.
It was as though they worshipped the sacred altar, shrouded in shadow at the front of the hall, cast in dull black.
Swallowed by the darkness of the Lightless week.
The lamps that were rarely lit offered what little light they could, but the gloom felt absolute, leaving most candidates in awe and confusion.
At the front of the vast group of students, Oren squinted slightly, his eyes scattering around the room.
Why does it reek of iron and ash?
Shaking his head, Oren dismissed the thoughts.
He should concentrate.
His golden eyes rose to the large window in the centre of the wall above the ancient altar.
It was a mix of mismatched glass, amber beside cobalt, violet against jade, and on the largest shard of stained glass was a half circle.
No sunbeams were there to make the colours burst with life.
Yet that was not why Oren was uneasy.
What unsettled him was an unfathomable presence, a weight in the air no one else seemed to sense, as though he were being watched.
The presence was palpable, sinister even, as if a bad omen clung to the sacred altar.
Looking around the room, Oren thought.
Oh, so it is not just me...?
Sable, who was beside him, was trembling, and a few others were too.
As the batch of students mumbled and whispered, Oren remained silent, deep in thought.
He felt a bad premonition.
Is it the world energy. No, it was impossible to sense the supposed world currents as a mere mortal.
Orenhad tried so many times to feel the world energy through meditation, and failed. He would not magically sense it now.
Would he...?
Oren froze, turning back when he heard the large, imposing doors slam shut.
Shortly after the closing, each candidate's arrival was called out in steady rhythm.
Elder Cosette and Elder Tie-Ru's voices echoed through the hall.
"Candidate 1… Candidate 2… Candidate 10… Candidate 44… Candidate 71… Candidate 98… Candidate 123… Candidate 156… Candidate 187… Candidate 209… Candidate 225…"
To Oren's surprise, six candidates had been expelled from the school and five did not wake up on time.
Therefore 225 remained instead of the original amount of candidates.
"Oren."
Sable stared at the altar, then nudged Oren lightly.
"The Trial of Longing. It's starting soon."
Oren sighed with a smile, his gaze returning to the front.
"Yes, I know. Are you ready for it."
To Oren's surprise, Sable answered honestly, without hesitation.
"I don't know, truly... I tried. I tried so hard to become unattached, but I suppose feeling nothing just isn't who I am.
Still, I don't feel that I'll fail.
What I used to want doesn't matter as much as what i want now, and that is to live and become enlightened.
Oren nodded as sable glance at him and grinned.
"Have you come to terms with everything."
Oren paused, shifting slightly before speaking with feigned ease.
"Ah. Yes, I suppose I have... there was never much to set aside anyway."
Sable was pleased with the answer, then fell silent.
It was then that a somber voice rose from the back of the hall, growing louder with each step forward.
A man called Elder Tie-Ru's emerged from the shadows.
A solemn expression rested upon his beautiful face.
"Silence."
His calm voice carried warmth, settling the candidates.
Every head straightened, but Oren caught a glance.
It was the man who had seen him arriving late at the first assembly. Elder Tie-Ru, one of the head elders of the academy.
After a few still seconds, he continued.
"The trial will begin shortly. Further instructions will follow. Until then, you are to remain silent. Any who speak will be immediately disqualified."
Elder Tie-Ru shortly added with a smile.
"Do you understand."
A trick question, Oren thought.
"Ye—"
"You may leave."
From the back of the room, near the entrance doors, Elder Idris did not raise his voice.
Candidate Seventeen froze, stunned. With nothing to defend himself, he lowered his head and walked out.
Murmurs rippled through the room like the great waves of a vast ocean.
The candidates turned around, watching the doors shut behind Candidate Seventeen.
Suddenly, the whispers grew louder, and for some reason Oren knew the entire district would hear of this occurrence.
It is not hard to stay quiet and still.
But as Elder Tie-Ru's gaze swept across the lines, the hall returned to deathly silence.
"I will continue," he said.
"In the Trial of Longing, there are no second attempts. If you fail, you will remain ordinary mortals forever.
You will never be able to ascend further.
You will never obtain what you once read about in fairy tales as youths.
Some never return sane. And when they do return, they are changed, in one way or another."
Coldness spread through the hall instantly.
"This is your warning. Only you can determine your own success and failure."
Elder Tie-Ru continued with a dim smile.
"Youth, candidates of the academy, you have not yet seen nor felt the world's essence. After this trial, you will be given that ability. Whether you perceive it or not depends on the being."
Elder Tie-Ru's smile widened, but in it was no longer comfort, but a crazed sincerity twisted with dread.
"Hallucinations, memories, illusions. Once you enter meditation, none of you will be able to distinguish truth from nightmare, and nightmare from reality.
Do not trust your senses. Do not trust your thoughts. In the trial, your thoughts will sing you lullabies.
You must overcome what you envision and uncover false from fact. Allow yourself to let go."
After the cold speech, there was a silence louder than words. Even the windows seemed to hold their breath, as though the tempered glass dreaded his next words.
"As we have been informed, each step you take will send you further into a place designed for you, a place you will want to stay.
Do not savour those feelings. Savour the feeling of success, your potential, and bountiful futures as enlightened."
Elder Tie-Ru glanced at Sable temporarily, then the rest of the candidates, and sighed wistfully.
"Do not get cocky, though, for even our most promising students and rising stars have failed.
Despite that trial being one of combat, not mind, they are equally as fierce."
His mouth opened, then closed.
Ultimately, he sighed and yielded to the gazes around him, his jade eyes shining with age and wisdom.
"Your success in this trial means you ascend to someone between ordinary and extraordinary.
You will do things mortals cannot, unfathomable to them, familiar to you. But in the end, you remain mortal."
An elder in grey robes crossed from the entrance, whispering into Elder Idris' ear.
In an instant, the unknown elder returned.
Idris' eyes darkened as he whispered to himself.
"Already. So soon? Time has gone so fast."
Then he spoke aloud, making the surrounding students nervous and uncertain.
"You have seven days to succeed. This is your time frame. Candidates, I wish you luck."
After saying that, all whispers ceased.
Even the candidates knew when to stay silent, and this was one of those times.
Leaving Oren with his thoughts for a while.
Seven days....
The thought of a trial lasting seven days made him suspicious, he would be in a state of vunrebility for seven days.
In the end, Orem accepted that it was necessary for true benefit and enlightenment.
Oren reluctantly shut his eyes.
His thoughts slowly slipped from his mind as he sunk deeper into meditation.
Has the trial started yet, he thought.
Who knew.
I surely don't… but I wonder who will succeed and who will fail.
His consciousness slowly faded.
Oren could not help but feel as though he was praying to the divine altar.
With it, his meditation deepened, and so began the Trial of Longing.