Desmond slammed into a wall and three spiraling wind drills crashed into his torso.
"Agh—"
Desmond groaned as his body slid down the wall for a split second before his instincts kicked in. He planted his feet firmly against the wall and with his knees bent, locked himself into a squatting stance.
Augustus narrowed his eyes.
He's jumping again?
Both of Augustus arms pointed at Desmond, wind already coiling around them—
—but Desmond suddenly jumped down, vanishing into the crowd.
"Tch." Augustus clicked his tongue, scanning the mass of candidates. Too many bodies, too many distractions.
And before he could react, a crack of lightning split the air.
Desmond burst upward, landing at the underside of the ceiling with a sharp thud. Electricity crawled across the surface beneath his palms.
Augustus noticed Desmond and pointed his arms at him but he was too quick, jumping back down and landing in front of the crowd just a few meters from Augustus.
He straightened up and stared at Augustus who glared defiantly back at him. They locked gazes and at that moment, the hall tensed up.
"Why are you trying to get in my way?" Augustus asked in a sharp and low voice.
"Ever heard of the phrase mind your own business?" But Desmond shrugged unimpressed.
"The others were too scared to try and stop you from doing something idiotic." His words seemed to have sparked irritation in Emmanuel from where he stood.
"There are exceptions you know?" Emmanuel raged but was only taken as a side character as Desmond continued.
"I just took it as a chance to get my mind off something. But it's not working as I expected." Desmond's eyes started glowing blue and lightning started sparkling around him.
"And what could that be?" Augustus' eyes started glowing silver and wind started blowing a little harder around him.
"You know what? I don't really care about your reason."
"I wasn't going to tell you anyway." The lightning around Desmond started flashing intensely.
"Annoying insect." The wind around Augustus started blowing fiercely.
Desmond and Augustus lunged at each other at the same time—
—Augustus pulling one hand back into a fist with violent wind spiraling around it and Desmond also drawing one hand back into a fist with lightning dazzling around it.
"This is getting ugly." One person said among the crowd with his eyes widened in excitement.
But when Augustus and Desmond closed in on each other, a dark-skinned man descended between them with some sort of dark energy circulating around him right arm.
Both boys clenched their jaws at the sight of the man. The dark energy on his right arm disappeared to reveal a silver arm guard.
"Shit!" Both boys thought, their eyes narrowing into a frown.
The onlookers got a better view at the man's face and their jaws dropped instantly. It was Maxwell Appiah.
"Forsaken Zone—" The man—Maxwell— began as a huge purple transparent cube enveloped him and the two boys who were still in mid-air and with attacks ready.
"First Quadrant."
Maxwell added as the world to Augustus and Desmond blacked out.
Their visions returned in an instant but not back to the hall.
They were now in a vast, space-like dimension with stars and constellations spreading endlessly around them.
"Gravity field: Zero minus ten!"
At Maxwell's command, the two boys found themselves falling upward and crashing into what seemed like an invisible underside of a ceiling with loud thuds.
Maxwell stood watching up at them as they got back on their feet rubbing their heads.
They now stood upside down but to them it felt like they they were standing on a normal ground.
"What the—"
"I decreased the force of gravity pulling you downwards to a negative number." Maxwell cut Desmond's words off in a brief explanation of his ability—
—Forsaken Zone: First Quadrant: Gravity field: Zero minus ten.
"If there was to be force acting, you'd be floating, but a negative number signifies an opposite force. Instead of pulling you down it's going to push you up."
"Amazing." Desmond muttered, eyes sparkling despite his situation.
"Don't amazing me!" Maxwell snapped sharply, making Desmond flinch.
"You two are in big trouble for what you did. I'm going to have ten marks deducted from your final scores."
Maxwell sighed, scratching the back of his head.
"Damn brats. Always looking for trouble." He looked back up. "Zero plus ten."
Desmond and Augustus suddenly fell back down. Their visions blacked out and came back in an instant as they found themselves back inside the hall, lying at either sides of Maxwell.
"By the way, your results are ready." Maxwell pressed a remote he took out of his pocket and a large screen blinked to life, displaying the rankings on the written exam of all the candidates.
"Take your time and look through." Maxwell added casually before walking out through the exit.
The moment he closed the door behind him, all eyes snapped back to the screen. Fingers hovering in the air while eyes started wildly.
Gasps erupted from every direction as they caught the face of the third person on screen.
[1: Royal Koree]
[2: Lawrence Armer]
[3: Augustus Kumah]
[4: Kocho Ayatei]
[5: Isa Mohamed]
...
"No way." Desmond's eyes widened as he turned to look at Augustus.
"This guy is from Ghana just like Sir Maxwell. And he's third?"
Desmond groaned, turning back to the screen with a frown.
His eyes kept scrolling through until they landed on his name, which followed up by them widening.
"Hey, look." Someone signalled, pointing at the name on the last position. The hall fell dead silent before...
"WHAAAAA?!" Everyone staggered, jaws dropped as they took in the information.
[560: Desmond Addel]
They turned back to him but he was nowhere to be found.
"This is worse than I thought." Emmanuel groaned and held Rexford by the collar, dragging him toward the exit.
"H-hey! What are you doing?! Let me go."
"We need to cheer him up." Emmanuel said, firmly and Rexford went quiet.
The military ship rolled over the calm sea. Fishes— large, small, flat— had their good time swimming and birds flew magnificently over the sea. One diving occasionally to steal a fish from its home.
A lonely figure sat on top of the ship, knees
Two other figures came up and stood behind him.
"Hey Des. You okay?" Emmanuel asked but got no response.
Silence filled the air, heavy and uncomfortable.
Emmanuel shifted, not knowing what to say next. Rexford noticed it and stepped in.
"Umm... Des listen." Rexford began. "it's okay. Don't let this failed exam—"
"How is that okay?" Desmond mumbled, slowly lifting his head to glance at Rexford with full eyes. "I failed. And that's the reality."
Desmond buried his face between his knees again.
"I've already got a negative number and this only makes things worse."
Once again, the place fell silent for a while.
Rexford sighed and sat beside Desmond.
"But the exam hasn't been concluded yet, has it?. That was just the written part. Don't go jumping to conclusions."
"He's right Desmond." Emmanuel said, also taking a seat at the other side of Desmond.
"I'm in no position to comfort you because I didn't do well myself. But I still believe I can make it."
Emmanuel looked ahead, his eyes glowing crimson for a split second.
"No. I will make it." He smirked and looked at Desmond. "And if I'm going to climb up the rank, I'll need my rival by my side."
Then in a teasing tone, he added.
"Or don't tell me you're chickening out already?"
That did it
"Damnit!" Desmond snapped, lifting his head.
"Don't think I'm going to lose to you." Emmanuel's grin only widened.
"Oh really? 'Cause you look like someone who has lost all hope."
"I do not." Desmond shot back. "Just look at me. I'm totally fine."
Rexford looked utterly surprised at how Emmanuel was easily able to raise Desmond's spirit.
"I thought cheering people up was my thing." He thought to himself and shook his head before looking ahead with a smile. "I guess everyone have their own ways of doing things, huh?"
"That's enough you two." Rexford said before standing up. "We're here." He pointed up ahead and the two boys followed his gaze into the distance.
A small shape emerged— an island slowly coming into view.
Desmond sighed, lowering his head.
"I'm sorry Emmanuel. I almost made it seem like our rivalry had no meaning." Emmanuel grinned again.
"But this time..." Desmond continued looking back at the island in the far distance as his eyes glowed blue. "I'm frickin fired up."
Rexford watched them both in awe before smiling and looking ahead.
"Don't think you're the only ones trying to climb higher. I'm here too?" He stated as his eyes glowed aqua blue.
Both Desmond and Emmanuel shot glances at him.
"Bring it on then." They said in unison and looked back at the island in the far distance.
All the candidates rushed out to get a view at the island which came closer into view with each passing moment.
The three boys descended to join their mates as they watched the island close in while their hair fluttered excitedly along with the breeze from the sea.