Several minutes later, Melvin found himself standing before the enormous, deep, midnight blue gates of the Axiom Academy, staring up at them in silence.
The place felt less like a school and more like a heavily guarded stronghold. Like a small city, in a City.
A colossal, fortress-like complex with towering gray walls and a circular domed structure sitting at its heart, standing apart from the surrounding skyscrapers, which appeared as a deadly defense net in the sky.
If only life had remained the same, Melvin would say that the Academy was famous. Popular webtoons, novels, and youth dramas could be set behind those gates. Melvin had seen and heard it all; at least, he was actually once part of that world.
And it seemed history would soon repeat itself, only this time differently.
The air was unusually cold and quiet. It all made it seem as though Melvin had set foot in a different world apart from the bustling streets of the outskirts he came from.
But what should he care? He was going to live a different life now. That was all that matters.
Alone outside the gate, Melvin waited patiently for the legendary metal slab to, at least, show a sign of opening. He, however, didn't just stand idly before the gate.
His memory spun to recollect Principal Edrin's parting words.
***
After the young, old man had encouraged Melvin that he was being taken to awaken his affinity, he shrugged and relaxed in the comfort of the cushioned seat of the car and began to explain things to him.
"Listen carefully; more often than not, people of your caliber didn't have to go through the same process as you will to awaken their affinities. Somehow, I did wish to call you an anomaly, but considering you inherited the flow of flux, there is still hope for you."
'Hope, you say?' Melvin mused.
Then, turning his head to face his front, he said what came to his mind.
"Is this a motivational speech or what? Well, good news… I stopped believing in those kinds a long time ago."
The principal shook his head.
"You are following formalities."
Melvin blinked as his brow furrowed, and he turned to the principal as if to hear him right.
"According to the research that was conducted before the reports I mentioned to you earlier, getting infected by the flux was just an opening. Awakening your affinity should be next, and…"
Melvin gazed at him.
"And, although most of your caliber strangely awakened theirs automatically, the formality remained that one needed to pass through the trial zone," the principal said and paused for a while, then added. "I must say you're a bit unlucky, but don't get me wrong, unlucky doesn't mean failure."
"If anything, you will soon prove that the researchers were correct."
'If… at all I survive in the end.'
Melvin shrugged at those words and settled to relax on the seat. Either the principal had forgotten to add that very big "if" or he was trying his possible best not to deter him from playing according to the plan.
What the young, old man before him didn't know, however, was that the poor lad sitting beside him was just wisdom hidden behind the mask of foolishness.
The principal, perhaps considering his age, didn't want the poor lad to learn firsthand what going through a trial zone entailed, and Melvin felt that was a very wrong approach. He believed in getting prepared for the worst rather than being taken by surprise.
Trial zones, as much as he knew, might not be as dangerous as subsequent zones of dungeons but were very challenging for people without experience.
Then, suddenly flexing his hand to bring his muscles to a compacted form beneath the long sleeve of his light jacket, he couldn't help but wonder if his experience of the former timeline had survived with him.
'I hope so.'
"It shouldn't take time," the principal, who had seen Melvin's hand gesture, said.
"Two weeks from now, a full crimson moon is going to appear in the sky during the day, replacing the sun. On that very day, the last set of the flux awakeners will venture as climbers onto the second floor of the testament."
Melvin waited for more words from the principal, but it seemed that was the last information the man sitting beside him was prepared to give him.
For one, he understood the message the principal was trying to relay to him. The young, old man was simply letting him know the limit of time he had before the next adventure or whatever begins.
And as a member of the last set of flux awakeners, he needed to survive within that time limit, be present thereafter, having awakened his own magical affinity, of course.
But that left him with questions he couldn't conclude answers for.
If he didn't make it out of the trial zone within the limit of two weeks, what would happen to him?
The principal had as well mentioned that they were going to venture as climbers onto the second floor. Does that make the trial zone the first floor?
Melvin shook his head. That wasn't the correct way of placing the question.
If they were climbing floors, does that mean the testament was a tower? That "something" that had brought with it the mysterious phenomenon of flux.
So, their mission was climbing towers after all.
Although this was just his speculation and the closest answer to his questions, Melvin didn't want to settle with it. Mostly because another thought had just crept into his mind.
'… But then, if it were a tower, the other awakeners won't be able to venture into the second floor without clearing the first.'
"Principal, sir?" Melvin called out to the man with a furious expression on his face. "You better stop telling me things if you aren't going to give clear explanations. What am I supposed to understand by being a climber?"
Misjudging Melvin's serious worry for just a mere curiosity, the principal simply winced and said, "You will find out soon enough."
'Curse you.'
That was when the limousine pulled up in front of the academy gates, and the doors soon opened for him to alight.
Bidding him good luck, the principal finally told him that a man would be waiting once the gates opened to lead him through the next steps… and the car moved on.
***
Melvin huffed, then deeply exhaled.
He had been standing in front of this damn academy for over ten minutes, and the gates were still tightly locked. And he had not the slightest idea what he needed to do next.
To worsen it, the cold air was currently biting harshly on his skin, even though he was putting on a light, long-sleeved jacket. He never expected such weather, considering the heat of the outskirt area. Slightly shivering, Melvin rubbed his arms simultaneously to create warmth and struggled to remain calm.
Just then, he heard a loud creak.
Finally, the gates began to open. The giant, ridiculously thick sheet of reinforced metal slowly ascended, simultaneously revealing a stretched, winding path and a young, adolescent-looking boy standing at its center.
Melvin looked ahead with grim determination.