Lance slowly made his way back to the waiting room, coughing lightly and wiping his bleeding nose. He opened the door and gestured to the training area.

  “Naomi, your turn.”

  Hastily standing up, Naomi fixed up her clothes and steadily made her way towards Officer Trant.

  “Alright, wish me luck, guys!”

  With a bright smile on her face, she entered the training area. Meanwhile, in the waiting room, a certain someone was quite excited.

  “Dude, you’re so fucking cool, you know that? What were those moves…And your Reflection is so scary.”

  Elys was barraging Lance with compliments and observations of his fight. Rain was a bit worried that his enthusiasm would somehow annoy Lance, someone who seemed like the opposite of Elys, but to his surprise, he noticed that Lance was acting quite shy.

  “Well…Uh, that much was nothing…I just need to learn how to use my Reflection to its fullest…”

  The room let out a quiet chuckle; it seems that Lance’s icy first impression wouldn’t hold on for long around Elys.

  With a curious look, Yuol moved towards Lance and asked him:

  “Are you the stronger sibling? Or is Naomi even stronger than you?”

  Thinking carefully about his answer, Lance took a second before responding:

  “While training, we were encouraged to learn many different weapons. I especially took that seriously and am confident with a couple. Naomi focused on fewer weapons but still achieved a high level with them. We have practised many times before; in the end, I have won more, but it's close.”

  “Now with our Reflections…I honestly don’t know.”

  As if someone called his name, Elys’s ears pricked up upon hearing the talk about their Reflections.

  “Is hers just as cool as yours? Or maybe the same since you are twins?”

  “It’s not the same, no…Well, see for yourself.”

  Pointing towards the window, the group saw Naomi readying herself for her exam, picking out what seemed like a normal steel sword.

  “Oh, she just uses a sword.”

  On the corner of his eye, Rain saw Lance’s lips curl up ever so slightly.

  ‘There must be something different about that sword.’

  The floor rattled once more, as a new caged Infected appeared onto the exam floor, this one, however, was not a three-meter-tall monster, but rather in the shape of a large wolf-like beast, the black veins spreading like a cancer throughout its body, its six long legs prowling around its target. Inspecting the abomination, it had fewer bulbous masses around its body, as if it knew its speed was the main attribute. The force cage flickered before falling off completely. The Shard roamed around the floor for just a second, like a wolf hunting its prey, before splitting its jaw sideways, revealing rows of deadly fangs, and sprinting towards Naomi with shocking speed.

  ‘Fast!’

  It closed the gap with its outrageous speed in just mere moments; if it had been anyone untrained like Rain, they’d already have been mauled down. Naomi, however, didn’t even flinch. With beautiful footwork, she cleanly dodged to the side without breaking a sweat, her dark hair flowing, cascading like the night sky. With little time to spare, the grotesque monster was already upon her again, and so, she finally used her sword. Clicking a small button on its handle, the blade separated itself, revealing dozens of small triangular blades attached, now forming a deadly whip. Dodging the beast’s attack once more, she spun the whip across its back, wrapping around its black tail. Spinning the blade, she pushed the button once more, causing the blades to pull themselves together, ripping off the Shards' tail in the process. Unleashing a loud growl, the monster slowed down, staring down the opponent who afflicted him. The pressure around the room tightened as Naomi’s dark skin began to pale and become translucent, her hair slowly graying. Time came to a halt for a moment as she unleashed a bloodcurdling wail, striking fear into everyone’s hearts, deafening the empty training hall.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The ones in the waiting room narrowed their eyebrows and winced at the intensity of the shriek.

  ‘Argh, imagine being on the receiving end of that. Luckily, the walls here are holding up.’

  The Infested, however, disoriented not only by the horrifying wail directed at it, but also by its fearful attributes, stumbled on the ground, hitting its head on the floor. Using that moment, Naomi charged forward and, with surgical precision, wrapped her blade around the beast’s neck, spinning in the air, before retracting the triangular blades of the whip, tearing its head off.

  Now in silence, she stood over the body of her opponent, colour returning to her hair and skin, turning towards Officer Trant, who stayed quiet for a moment before announcing:

  “Impressive, you siblings have worked hard. In the coming month, we will push you and your Reflection to its limit, so be prepared for that. All in all, impressive skills combined with a unique Reflection built for combat or other scenarios. You pass. I expect you to survive as well.”

  Giving him a short bow, she returned towards the waiting room, which, upon entry, was dead silent.

  “Uhm, are you guys okay?”

  Elys snapped out of his trance:

  “I think we are all still processing what we just witnessed…”

  He turned his head to Lance in disbelief:

  “You could have warned us, dude.”

  Lance simply shrugged at Elys’s nagging.

  “Oh yeah, Rain…you’re up!”

  Still shocked by Naomi’s performance, he quietly stood up and looked around the room, catching Elys giving him a knowing smile.

  “I’ll be going then.”

  Opening the door, Rain entered the colossal training hall, where he would show his Reflection for the first time.

  Rain was honestly quite scared to go after such dominant performances by the sibling duo, as one of the three slum born, he had the least to show off. What gave him confidence was the fact that elemental Reflections were quite rare to see, so while lacking martial skills, he could take them by surprise with his Reflection.

  ‘What am I thinking? This is not a competition. Just focus on producing a good flame so Officer Trant takes an interest…Perhaps I could receive extra lessons.’

  As cruel as it may sound, the reality was that many Reflections simply weren’t of much use, and so, especially when slum born children received them, there was little the training camp could do to help them avoid their death. On the other hand, a slum born with a powerful and useful Reflection received much support to increase their survival by any amount feasible, as they could become a great asset to mankind.

  Walking towards the center, he met face to face with Officer Trant, who looked at him and instantly discovered his thoughts:

  “Go at your own pace, I know you saw those two just take the exam, but for someone who I imagine doesn’t have any training, you won’t make it. Is your Reflection one that is visible?”

  He was right, of course. Rain felt a small pull towards taking the exam as well, maybe out of peer pressure or pure pride. He quickly realized his thoughts were meaningless and focused on simply showing off.

  “Yes.”

  “Alright, the floor is yours.”

  Rain took a deep breath as he channelled his mana through his body, his thoughts circling around his vision from the Selection, the feeling of despair and anger, and lastly, the heat encompassing his very core. Within himself, he found his power and sent a current towards his hand to produce a flame. The world went quiet, and upon opening his eyes, Rain found himself in an unfamiliar dark expanse, lightless, yet bright, gigantic, yet he felt claustrophobic, foreign, yet somehow familiar. Hundreds, if not thousands, of dark spiral staircases surrounding him, reaching endlessly into the dark abyssal ceiling. Standing alone, he began to panic.

  ‘What the hell is this? Where am I? Where is everyone?’

  He tried shouting, yet no sound came out, his silenced screams going unheard as sweat dripped down his face and his breathing became irregular, pain rising from his chest.

  ‘Calm down, calm down!’

  The silence broke as a voice reached his ears; he couldn’t tell who or even what it was. It sounded like a choir whispering in an unknown language in his ear. Clutching his ears, he begged for it to stop, and as if answering his prayers, the choir stopped, and the first words he understood echoed inside his head

  “Come back.”

  Unbeknownst to him, he stopped trembling, and his eyes flickered red before the abyssal world dissipated before his eyes.

  “Rain? Are you alright?”

  Bringing himself back to reality, Officer Trant stood in front of him with a worried look.

  “Y-Yeah…Sorry…A bit nervous, I guess.”

  He shot his eyes around him and saw a large flame hovering above his hand, strands of fire flowing from his fingertips.

  “There’s no need for that…Control of fire, what an exceptional ability you have. We will do all we can to provide you with the utmost assistance in your growth.”

  “T-Thanks…Am I done?”

  “Yes, that’s enough for now. We will speak more on this later. Bring in Yuol, please.”

  Rain still rattled from what just happened, slowly walked back towards the group.