Morning sunshine streamed through the windows of the academy as Finn and Leon walked through the still stone hallway. The day was significant. swap because it was their last training before the tournament selection. Their footsteps echoed within the silence until Finn began to hear distant voices — raised in/anxious, tense voices — coming from the training facilities below. in the training grounds.
"Do you hear that?" Finn asked, squinting his eyes.
"Yup. Let's check it out," Leon replied.
Both boys broke out in a run brisk trot.
When they got to the training grounds, they encountered a mass of students sticking together, talking into each other's ears in anxiety. They heard whispers, flow like a wave of panic, correspondingly.
"What's going on?" Leon asked, trying to see the rappers, but everyone was taller than he was.
Without trouble Mugsy and Leon both walked backwards and dropped down and began crawling through the legs of the students.
"What the hell are you doing?" Leon blinked wearing confusion on the most handsome face.
"This isDurante the only way through!" Finn Jogged back.
They chuckled slightly at their predicament, but Leon did feel bad, slightly, so he followed Finn's lead.
They made it to the center of the panic circle — and froze contacts.
Two students lay motionless on the ground, pallid and completely still.
Finn stepped forward. "What happened to them?"
"I don't know," said a student nearby. "They were like this when we got here this morning."
Leon frowned, "Why hasn't someone taken them to the nurse?"
"Magnus told us not to touch them, and that he would call Darius."
At that moment, a commanding voice yelled from behind them, "Everyone get back! Darius is here!"
The crowd parted quickly as Darius walked through, his face unreadable. He knelt next to the two students on the ground, and searched for pulses with two fingers, and then carefully opened some uniform to check for injuries.
"I don't see any injuries," he said, rubbing his chin. "No wounds visible... vitals are good. That being said, I think they have witnessed something - something so horrifying it caused them to shock their minds into a complete shutdown state."
"But what could possibly scare them that much?" Finn whispered.
Leon's brows came together as more teachers arrived, Edric, Magnus, and Selena. During their introductions, they exchanged some awkward, tense gazes.
"Are they okay?" Edric asked, his voice riddled with concern.
"They're alive," Darius said, "but obviously traumatized. Whatever they saw had to be beyond belief."
Murmurs rose from behind Leon.
"There's only one guy with suitable power to mess people's minds like that…"
"It has to be a demonic power. You know perfectly well who that has to be."
Leon's expression darkened and his shoulders grew rigid.
Finn clenched his fists. "They're blaming you again. This is bull—"
Leon put a gentle hand on his arm. "Don't. We're in the academy. Let it go."
"But—"
"I'm used to it," Leon said quietly. The flicker of hurt in his eyes belied his calm statement, "We don't get down on their level."
In that instant, Selena crouched down and appeared to be looking something off the soles of the students' shoes. She squinted her eyes.
"There's some green algae on the soles'… I have seen this before."
She sprung upright, her face going pale. "We need to move them. Now."
Darius eyed her, then something dawned on him. "Right, let's get them to the nurse's office right away."
He turned toward the students, his voice steely and rough. "Everyone go back to class or training. Now."
The crowd slowly began to filter from the main square, looking extremely uncomfortable.
As Leon stepped back, he glanced at Darius and Selena. There was something in their expressions - a tension, a truth that was unsaid.
"Something's not right," Leon murmured to Finn.
Later that day, the final trial began.
Finn, Leon and the six other students - the twin brothers included - entered the combat grounds. The tension in the air was palpable as only four of them would be selected in the tournament following the trials.
Selena stood at the middle of the arena, calm and commanding. She addressed the group:
"Congratulations on completing the first two trials." She stated. "This will be the final trial. If you pass I will be selecting you to represent our academy in the upcoming tournament."
You could feel the excitement building within the group.
"What's the final trial?" one student asked eagerly.
"You will each have a battle against a selected opponent," Selena replied nonchalantly.
"She passed the second test?" Leon stammered in astonishment.
The girl nodded confidently.
A huge iron gate on far end of the arena began to slowly raise. A deep rumbling echoed through the ground.
Then it stepped into view -- a massive beast resembling an elephant lumbered forward, a brown marble in the center of its forehead glimmering.
Leon turned pale. "A divine beast..."
Finn looked puzzled, "What's the problem?"
Leon stared at him. "Do you live in a cave or something?"
"Um...no?"
Leon sighed, "Any beast that takes up residence near the Celestara Fruit Tree evolves into a divine beast. Their strength is multiplied tenfold. That marble indicates its an earth-type."
Finn's eyes widened, "So this thing is just crazy strong..."
"Yes."
Selena directed her words to the girl. "Defeat the divine beast and you pass. Please note, if you are in trouble, we will end the fight. These beasts are trained."
The girl nodded, "I'm ready."
Selena raised her hand, "Three, two, one...go!"
The girl bit her hand, and a thin trickle of pink blood began to flow out. Her body erupted into a sparkling energy around it.
Leon leaned in. "Pink blood… she has electric powers."
Crackling with energy, she sprinted ahead, so fast she almost vanished, and slammed her fist into the side of the beast. Sparks erupted on the beasts thick hide. It staggered back, momentarily surprised.
"I gotcha," she smirked.
But the elephant snorted, quickly raising its foot. With a thunderous slam of its foot on the ground, we saw the stones and dust break apart, creating a jagged prickly barrier — preventing her from moving forward.
She leaped straight up, fast and agile - she threw a bolt of lightning at the beast while still in the air, and the elephant raised a stone wall. The bolt exploded against the rock, harmlessly.
Tumbling through the air and landing so hard it rattled her bones, she narrowed her eyes. "So you can block…"
She took aim again, sparing no distance -- punches, kicks, bursts of lightning thrown and dust clouds formed yet they all were deflected by rock. Her breath started to become more heavy.
"He's reading all her moves," Leon muttered.
Then the beast struck. With another earth shattering stomp, a cage of stone erupted from the ground the moment she took off again. As she watched in horror, she became captive.
She gasped. She struggled against the cage. "NO...!"
As she stood horrified, the elephant roared and charged, trunk raised high for the final strike.