Chapter 4: FIRST DAY, WORST DAY

I placed the gem on the table beside my bed.

My dorm is not even the half size of my room but it is cozy. When you open the door, which opens to the left cause the door handle is located on the right part. You will see my living space, there's a sofa that can fit three people and a single sofa that's really comfortable. And on the right most corner of the room, the small kitchen is built in. There was a small stove set up and one of the cabinets is full of coals you can burn to cook your food. And there's a window behind the stove for ventilation. A small storage for dried goods is also built-in on the wall. One cabinet has magic on it, it stays ice cold until as long as it can be. You can store wet products on there.

On the left part of my room, behind the door is another door to my bathroom. My bed is openly placed beside the bathroom but there is enough space. You can't see it when you open the door since the bathroom comes first. I think that this dorm was thoroughly thought through, everything is in its best place making the room more spacious but still feels cozy and complete.

I lay down to my bed after locking the doors and my minds starts wandering. To be specific, it wandered to my younger years.

30 years ago, when my father was crowned the Magic King, he told me that he felt so much power within his hand. He stood so high that no one was ever on top of him, everyone was beneath him. After ten years, when his reign ended, he married my mom and had me. One time, the Magic King before the current King of Magic Kingdom, summoned my father. I was nine years old that time, it was that King's last year. Father brought me with him because he thinks that I would become the next Magic Queen, I mean after ten years, at least. I saw the magic of the Kingdom itself. It was a ball of combined magic and we can see earth from there. The place all magical creatures, the good ones, needs to protect for they are mere mortals.

The spirit that helps to balance the nature of earth was overwhelmed with the drastic changes, the mortals made. The nature's balance was dissembled. Everything was out of place. Father helped the spirits and the king with all his might, to restore the broken balance. He used all his magic and after the continuous producing of magic, he weakened, he and the King weakened. They did not have any problem with his reign since it was his last year, a few months after, he was replaced by the current Magic King.

But both the former King, my father and the other King, weakened so much. The restoring of earth's balance took all their magic. The other King died and my father's magic was lost. He was devastated at first but the entire Kingdom acknowledged his braveness and sacrifice, my father accepted things. He was soon relieved that he was able to help planet earth.

My father turned all his attention to me after that. I inherited my father's magic which is light. It is the rarest magic a mage could have. In my father's time, he was the only one who possessed them. Not only he had a strong and rare magic, he was strong and great on his own too.

My father was not exactly fond of other mages especially the poor ones but he takes his job as a mage seriously. When I saw my father sacrificing a great amount of magic just to save the humans, I felt really proud as a daughter. That's why... even if most of the time he only treats me as a successor and nothing more, I still love him. Because I saw how he was as a leader, I saw what he wants me to become. I saw the end of the path he was building for me. Sure, losing great amount of power is scary, I mean, magic is everything in our world. But helping other people would sure feel nice.

I don't really want to become a knight, what more to be a Magic Queen. But if its what our purpose means... I'll just work hard so I can survive every trial waiting ahead of me.

I fell asleep as my mind explore deeper down the memory lane.

The next day, I wore a simple gray legging partnered with a plain blue oversized sweater and a white rubber shoes.

I was about to grab a black cap when I heard a knock on my door. Its probably Aeolous, checking if I'm ready to go out. I grabbed the cap that I wanted and put it on my head. I did not bring anything since the door is magic locked. The door handles recognizes my magic so it automatically opens when it senses my magic. Magic is like out fingerprint and tongue print. Its unique, we have different patterns, no one has the same magic pattern.

"Hi! Good morning!" I greeted as soon as I opened the door. Aeolous smiled at me and greeted me back. Esco did the same thing, he smiled and greeted me so I returned it.

"Let's go down stairs. The training is about to start" right! In a few minutes everything starts. I better pull myself together and do my best. Father expects me to be the next Magic Queen, I better not disappoint him. Because if I disappointed him, I'll be disappointed to myself either.

We went to the lift and saw three mages that was waiting for the elevator. I remember the lady from the counter said that there are six members of the royal family that joined this year's exam. That must me them. I was surprised that they were older... I mean... a bit older than I thought. I guess that's understandable since the exam only happens every ten years. They must have not made it to the exam ten years ago, since examinees have age limit. Only those who were age 19 and above can take the exam. Just like Aeolous and Esco, they are 20 years old, they could take exam last year but the exam does not happen until this year. I must say I must lucky that the exam happens the year I turned 19. I'm lucky that I did not have to wait extra years for the exam to open.

We did not wait long for the lift to arrive since we're the only ones who can use it. The lift could fit eight people inside, there are only six of us, the lift did not have to take two turns since we all fit. We all went inside and a guy, who I don't know, pulled the lever to the bottom. The lift started to descend. All of us are part of the royal families, we attend the same gatherings together but my parents never pushed me to engage myself to other royal mages since my parents are not fond of them as well. Aside from Aeolous and his parents, I know no one else. And its not like my family and I attend royal gatherings a lot, out of my 19 years of existence, we've only been to four royal gatherings.

No one dared to speak inside the lift but I can feel a hint of pressure surrounding us. I don't know this people so... I don't know what to feel around them. And I don't know if Aeolous and Esco knows them. But someone from the three guys is surely emitting tremendous amount of pressure, it feels like no one should dare to make unnecessary noise because if someone did, the one creating this pressure would beat the magic out of that mage. To be honest, it’s a bit scary.

After a few moments of that scary lift ride, we arrived to the first floor. We got out and quickly went out of the building. I felt Aeolous and Esco pulling me between them then I realized that we were walking align... horizontally. Aeolous is on my left and Esco is on my right. The three guys were on Aeolous' left. We were walking together, the six of us, without even talking. We continued walking like that and it was so uncomfortable but I was too shy to break the line since I'm in between Esco and Aeolous. I looked down to lessen the awkwardness I was feeling only to feel more awkward. We were in sync. The way we walk is in sync. How did that happen? Is that a coincidence? I can't believe this is happening. This is so embarrassing.

"Look! The Royal mages" I heard someone shouted. This is my worst nightmare. Why does this arena have a really wide entrance, it could literally fit fifteen people walking side by side. Everyone was looking at us, some looked like they were idolizing us, some looked at us with hatred and some did not care. This is so embarrassing. I really can't believe this is happening.

"AH! What a grand entrance from our Royal Families. Yes, I heard there are six members of the Royal Family who will be joining us this year and I also heard that they are all primary magic bearer. We'll start in a moment, everyone please settle down" the other trainees started to sit down on the grass field. I wanted to sit down too but Aeolous and Esco, as well as the other three guys, was still firmly standing. The Exam Master noticed us so his gaze remained to us. The other trainees quickly followed, now everyone is looking at us. I sat down on the grass so they won't look at me anymore but one of the guys from Royal Families spoke. "Why are you sitting on the grass. A Royal never sits on a dirty grass" I felt angry for some reason. Why does a lot of Royal Family thinks like that? It’s just grass, it won't harm us. What is their problem. I stood up, annoyed. "Sit down. Its grass, it won't kill you!" inside the Royal Families, there is also a ranking. The family’s power in terms of wealth, magic and connection determines their rank. Among all the families of royal, my family is at the top, giving me power to those who rank below us, who is literally everyone. Even though I'm only nineteen, I held more power than Aeolous and his parents since they rank second. I hate using my power over anyone because it makes me feel unfair. But during these times, I am delighted that they will do as I say or my family will break our connection to their families. Even though I feel a little sorry towards them I was glad that they abided. Esco looks fine with it but Aeolous and the other three guys looked angry. I understand why they are acting like that, I put embarrassed then in front of everybody. But I just can't help it, they were too tough. They're just going to seat on the ground. There's literally no harm done.

"Young Lady Eleina is right. It’s just grass. Now that everyone's settled, let's start!" I breathed heavily, still annoyed about earlier.

"So, the first thing we'll do is body conditioning. To become a powerful and strong mage, you need not only powerful magic but also a strong body. So today, we will strengthen your physical abilities because your magic takes a toll on your body especially if you have a powerful magic. Your body needs to keep up with the strength of your magic or else you'll fail. You probably won't last an hour in the battle field. And also, we need to prepare your body because I guarantee that this will be the ten continuous worst days of your life" my body stiffened feeling a bit scared. I breathed heavily to let go of the faint anxiousness I was feeling.

"Stay seated with your feet crossed to the ground for the first exercise. The first exercise we'll conduct is a breathing exercise. Sounds easy? Of course, it’s easy. Who doesn't breathe? Raise your hand so I could quickly burn you. Breathing exercise is important, it accelerates your lung's breathing capability. We don' want you running out of breath in the middle of a fight, you'll just be a burden. Now inhale... then exhale. Repeat! But of course, make sure you brushed your teeth. You don't want to be a killer, right? And its surely embarrassing to die because of foul smelling breath. Again, inhale... exhale" we did that exercise for about half an hour before the Exam Master made us stand up. I just realized that the Exam Master did not told us his name. Are we supposed to know him already? Did he expect that we all know who he is before the exam started? Is that why he did not bother to mention his name?

"Get up. Next is stretching. Your better stretch those muscles or they'll be forever frozen. Now, stretch, stretch" the magic mirror suddenly appeared front above. The Exam Master is doing some stretches as we follow along him. His form changes from time to time and we followed him every time.

 After a few hours of stretching and in place exercises, we took a break. The Exam Master gave us one and a half hours of break time. I sat down om the grass and breathed heavily to let out all the heat of my body. Soon enough, my breathing became even. I should have brought a glass water. The Exam Master said that we're not allowed to go outside the arena once the training started unless the training is over. Almost none of us brought water bottle and towels, I can only see few people who have it.

I looked around and saw Aeolous talking to the three other members of the Royal Family, who I still don't know until now. Esco was also sitting on the grass a meter away from me. I laid my back to the ground, now I'm completely lying on the ground. With both arms and feet spread wide, I closed my eyes and took a nap since I couldn't do anything anyway. I can't go out and I did not bring anything, the best option is to sleep.

"Eleina. Wake up!" I heard a blurry voice talking to me. "Eleina, come on! Wake up!" now, it’s not just a voice I'm hearing. I can also feel someone tapping me lightly. Where was I again? My eyes quickly opened when I remembered that I was still in the training. Did I oversleep?

"Aeolous?"

"Yes, its me" I thought he was angry? Is he okay now?

I looked around, everybody is getting up. It seems like I did not oversleep.

"The break time is over. Get up. Here let me help you" I held his hand as he helps me get on my feet. I slept on the grass comfortably, I almost want to ditch training and just sleep on the grass.

"Thank you Aeolous"

"You are always welcome" I heaved relief after knowing that we're fine. I thought he was really angry with what I did a while ago.

"I hope you had enough time to replenish your energy because we are not yet done. Start stretching your body and run around the arena, in one line, one and only one line. Learn to give and take. Rember, not too fast nor too slow, just right. Now go!"

WE KEEP ON RUNNING FOR SIX HOURS STRAIGHT! My feet are burning so much I think it could burn me alive. My feet feel so hot I thought my shoes already turned into ashes and became one with the wind. That was plain torture. I could hardly breath. I kept fanning myself hoping it would help to even my breathing but it was not helping. Even my lungs are barely holding on. This is the worst day indeed, worst day!

I was still catching my breath and fanning myself when I heard a low voice.

"Miss Brownies and Muffins" I don't know why my ears ticked when I heard those words. I looked around and my annoyance rose ever so quickly when I saw the man. I breathed deeply before answering him. "Well, hello there Mister Ungrateful Thief! I did not know you have time for trainings and exams. I thought you were too busy plotting on how to steal another set of apples" I was annoyed even more when I earned a chuckle from him. What a nuisance.

"Feisty, aren't we? Here." He was holding a towel and a bottle of water, he was giving it to me.

"No, thank you!" I snorted.

"It’s clean"

"I don't care if ifs clean or not. I just don't want to accept anything from you. If this is your way of repaying me, you don't have to. I did that out of... good will" he chuckled and looked at his hand that was extended to me. When he looked back to me, his hand drop. I looked at him and notice that he wasn't really looking at me. He was looking behind me. I looked back to check what he was looking at and I saw Esco.

"Eleina, use this"

"I did not know you had towels"

"I just remembered a few seconds ago. Here" he has towels on his hand and he was giving it to me. I looked at his other hand and saw him holding another one.

"Thank you" I thanked him then got the towel he was giving me.

At the corner of my eyes, I can see the guy stepping away from us.

I saw Aeolous talking to the other three guys. Esco and I went to them.

"Let's head back to the dormitory. I'm exhausted!" One of the guys said. We all agreed, the training was exhausting, I'm not even thinking of eating. I just want to go to my bed and sleep. So, I did.