"Every word I'm about to say," Christian Riverane begun, his voice dipped in rich warning. "is important. So if you think you can drift off and you'll be fine when Final Training really begins - you're mistaken. Once you're in there a mistake can mean the end of the game. And there are penalties for those who don't finish."
Penalties. No one liked the sound of that. A wave of whispers travelled through the assembled crowd, everyone wondering the same. What kind of penalty was this?
"This year, your first taste of Training will be the Intelligence Maze," he announced. At the last two words and a flick of his hand, coloured holograms of the maze burst into existence around him. And just as the holograms began their parade, so did the noise of every student.
The Intelligence Maze. Two girls beside me started whispering frantically, already strategising. I reclined back, watching the head Riverane. He was watching the crowd with a half-smile, his hands idly flicking through hologram after hologram of the Maze for the viewer's benefits. Alexei hadn't been wrong when he said Christian enjoyed a good show.
"Intelligence," he said when the talk began to die down. "is a quality valued by all: from soldiers to leaders and finally the healers. It is built upon knowledge and that is how all that serve the Light's cause make their decisions. A soldier's knowledge concerns how to kill, a healer's on how to save. And leaders - "
"Don't seem to need any!" a voice shouted out from the middle of the crowd. A ripple of laughter cascaded from the heckler. Surprisingly enough, Riverane smiled, indulgent of the joke. There was something else however - in his eyes - that told me he hadn't appreciated it.
"Leaders need knowledge on how to run all of society," he continued, otherwise ignoring the interruption. "And how to make the right decisions when the time comes. Knowledge is prized to every slice of our society and this is what we will be testing you on."
He gestured to one of the holograms and enlarged it showing us all a changing image: the inside of the Intelligence Maze. Hundreds of different rooms flashed before our eyes: all shadowed slightly so that we couldn't quite see what was in them. Then, one room stayed our attention for a few seconds longer than usual, giving us a slightly murky view of a room with water so high it went half-way up the wall.
There was barely any light in the room and the camera was only doing so much so that everything was shrouded. The waters were almost black. But then it began. A gradual slow keening of a creature diffused the room and soon enough, the entire hall.
I leaned forward, bracing my hands on the wooden row before me, my eyes enraptured by the silent, watery room. Others shrank back, the sound of a monster causing them to retreat. I only waited, knowing we would see more than the shadowed water.
After an age of hushed breath and growing fears, a creature slid from the jagged rocks to the top of the water. We could only see a slick black body and hear a hiss as it dived in. Its head was buried in the water and then it started to dive down further, its scaled body following it, trailing after from its place in the rocks.
"Shit," a guy a row down from me whispered. Similar words were exchanged through the crowd as we continued to watch the creature's passage deep into the water. Except we were only seeing the surface. And the creature's body was still diving down.
It had to be ten metres long - maybe longer if we didn't see the end of it soon. Finally, the tail-end of the creature broke into the water, leaving only ripples and shadows. And the suddenly strained breathing of a thousand members in the audience realising what the penalties of not finishing the Intelligence Maze might be.
YOU ARE READING
Legacy
Romance"There's a war going on, Katarina," he hissed into my ear. "Remember which side you're on. And know that neither is the right one." This world was built on power, lies and corruption. Our hands were always stained with blood. Our eyes were windows t...
