"You don't have to do that." Saway ko kay Miss Tessa na kanina pa nagpapanic sa paglalagay ng panyo sa mga sugat ko. The moment she came back, she was startled when she saw the knights dragging the Lameyris family away but she almost lost her consciousness when she saw me bleeding. When she came back to her senses, she came to me running and immediately looked for a first aid kit but she can't find any so she took handkerchiefs of other examiners.
"I-it is needed.. to ... to stop the bleeding and-" I raised my hands to stop her. She isn't even sure if that is clean. If it isn't, it'll just infect me.
"Aren't there healers here?" I asked making her eyes widen in realization. She immediately removed the handkerchief and shouted looking for a healer in the crowd. A woman stepped up and introduced herself as a healer. Nawala ang mga sugat ko but the dried blood remained on my hand and on my clothes. The knights were already gone but the portal is still on, I looked around and I saw a higher ranking knight talking to the other examiners. He just talked to them for a bit before turning around and walked towards me. I saw how his silver earring shone in her left ear.
In the place where I came from, ear piercings on knights determines their ranks and merits. The more the piercings are, the higher their rank is the more acknowledgement they've receive. I don't know if it is the same in here.
"The witnesses said the same thing. The duke tried to harm you-" I motioned him to stop. He looked at me with this apologetic look in his eyes.
Why are you giving me that face?
"D-do what you have to do." I said in an unminding tone. I don't wanna associate myself with them any longer.
He bowed to me slightly before walking away. "Don't worry, what happens here, will stay here." He said before entering the portal and vanished.
Phew.
The moment he left, I let out a sigh of relief. His presence really makes me unable to breathe, he's scary. Miss Tessa saw it and held my hand.
"It's okay now." She rubbed my back to calm me down and I think it works as my nerves started to feel relaxed. She then ordered the students to go home and take a rest as they all failed the examination as they didn't listen closely to the instructions. Well, I think they didn't think much of it because they looked like they were all traumatized. They're all weak-hearted as they were all born with silver spoons in their mouths.
Wait.. so does it mean that.. no one passed?
Miss Tessa looked and smiled. "Since everything has been settled, proceed to the stadium now as the next exam will start in an hour."
So what does that mean?
"You are the only one that passed the examination because you gave me a blank paper." She smiled widely.
So what if I did? Is that something to be proud of?
"Well.. you didn't say to start, you just said goodluck. Uh.. so I think maybe, the exam is still not starting." Ah. I just remembered how dumb I am. I'm lucky though.
"That's how it is. They really let panicked dawn over them that they didn't listen to the instruction and they can't comprehend properly. By the way, congratulations Ali."
Ah yes. Mission failed successfully.
I changed my clothes first. Miss Tessa let me borrow her office so I can take a bath and change clothes. Of course, I need to dress up so even though I won't pass the examination, captains will still choose me beacuse I'm beautiful. Just kidding.
I wore a maroon, long sleeved overalls, with a black belt, black stillhetos and my ear accessories were danglings but on my ear piercings, I just put a black barbel earrings in both my ears. I let my wavy blonde hair fall that it reaches my waist. I looked at myself in the mirror to see if I needed to put something on my face. Golden, big doe eyes, perfectly shaped thick eyebrows, natural rosy cheeks, thick red lips, I don't think I need anything. I don't even need to put any product yet I'm beautiful. No bragging. Looking at the mirror, I think I'm inlove and I wanna marry myself. I am the epitome of beauty.
I smirked at my thoughts and mentally scolded myself. How shameless of me.
I immediately headed straight to the stadium alone. I don't know where Miss Tessa went because after she accompanied me to her office, she just left me there and ako na daw bahala magsara ng office niya.
I don't know where the stadium is, so I followed the direction that is the most noisy and it led me there. It is so wide and there are too many people inside. Here I am wondering why there are no students outside, turns out they are all here. They are here to watch eh?
"Hello!" Napalingon ako sa nagsalita. It was a woman. Is it another Lameyris? (Like another one like Freya?)
"Are you from the last batch?" She asked while looking around. I nodded. "Really? Where are the others? Are the exams somewhat delayed kaya ngayon lang kayo?" Too many questions..
"I'm the only one that passed." I answered simply and her eyes widen.
"What?!" She exclaimed loudly. She's so loud that other people looked at our direction. "That's understandable. Kami nga, 10 lang kami ang nakapasa.. Well, we never know.. bawat batch kasi iba ang twist na binibigay. Alam mo ba-" she stopped midway. Maybe she realized something. "Oo nga pala. Ako si Sam. What's your name?" She added and then extended her arms.
"I'm Ali." I answered simply and just stared at her hands confusely. What is she doing? I was taken aback when she pulled my left hand and shook it. "What are you doing?"
"Doing a handshake." I know this is a handshake and I'm not dumb but for what? I wanna asked but it sounds so.... me. "This is required in introductions." She said as she let go of my hand. Is that so? I didn't know that. For us, handshakes were-
"By the way, did you have your mana core tested?" Test what?
I didn't have a chance to answer when she pulled me to a direction. She opened a green door and pushed me inside. "I can't go in. I'll wait for you here outside!" Uhh.. wait..
*door closes
She said we need this before entering the competition. What competition? No one had briefed me about this.. my annoying brother didn't tell me anything.. Miss Tessa left me and I have no one to talk to.
"Hello, you're from the last batch?" Someone asked from behind me. Hayss, finally. I turned around to look who is it. A woman with green eyes, pinkish lips, white skin with green highlights in her shoulder level, jet black hair. An elemental.
An elemental is a person that holds one of the four elements; earth, water, wind and fire along with lightning and ice. To distiguish an elemental, the color of their eyes represents their element and the highlights on their hair. Since she has green highlights and eyes, she is a plant manipulator; a sub-element of earth element.
She is reading something at the folder she is holding. Patango tango pa ito habang nagbabasa. Her hair is a mess as if she had been doing this all day. She looked so haggard yet she is still beautiful.
"So you're the only one that passed. Come," she motioned me to follow her. She isn't even looking at me. Wow. Sayang lang pala ang pag-aayos ko when she isn't even gonna look at me. I mean, I dressed for people's first impression 'cause first impression lasts. Just kidding. It just hurts my delicate heart.
She told me to enter a capsule that has these buttons outside. Uhh... Are they gonna incinerate me? It doesn't matter, I'm not gonna die anyway.
"This capsule is a mana core meter. Pumasok ka lang sa loob then after a few seconds ay ide determine nito ang color ng iyong mana core. You know what every color means right?" Actually no. "So, after that the result will be shown here in the tablet I am holding."
After that, I climbed inside and she put these straps on my waist part and locked it. Bndage. I feel like I'm getting experimented.
She then push some buttons and the door started closing slowly. Wow. The space in here is so small that you'll be hyperventilating if you are claustrophobic but fortunately, there are lights inside. I stayed there for 10 seconds before the door opens again slowly. That's when I saw the woman looking so confused at the tablet she is holding.
"This doesn't make sense. I'm sure the machine is working." She uttered. I slowly walked and stopped in front of her.
"What's wrong?" I asked, slightly taking a peek at the tablet she's holding.
"It says here your mana core is.." She raised her head and looked at me so I smiled at her. "...undetermined."
Her eyes widened and her face is so pale and the things she is holding fell on the floor. She looked like she just saw a ghost base from her reaction.
"Y-you.."