Dunkel looked as confused as Favian did and shrugged. He had no clue what was going on either. Instead, he took out an oatmeal bar and started munching away at it.

"I know you first-year"s must all be very confused right now, don"t worry I"ll explain. Every year that you study here at the academy, you will be put through a rigorous testing process, so that we can weed out the weak of you, and spend our resources to those deserving of them." The academy"s headmaster, Reckless, looked around the room as he said this, his eyes meeting Favian"s for a split second. Or at least Favian thought they did.

"You will be placed in groups of four, and sent into a beast range far away from the academy. You will spend 1 month there fighting for your life, and only those that survive will continue with their studies at the Dusk Academy!" he exclaimed.

The headmaster continued to explain that groups could be formed by the students themselves and that they had a 1-day limit where they could choose their members, after which they would be allocated randomly amongst other groups. He led them to believe that they were completely on their own once they reached the beast ranges, however, a teacher would always be shadowing the various groups. They couldn"t just let students die off pointlessly if they wanted to continue having a good standing with the various kingdoms.

The a.s.sembly ended, and with it, the first-year students could be seen scrambling around trying to get all of their friends together in the party of 4 allowed for this test. Favian and Dunkel decided to pair up with each other. It was a no-brainer for the two best friends.

"I don"t really care who else joins the group, I mean we can just wait until the deadline and sign up together, and get two random people through the ballot," Dunkel said as he and Favian were walking away from the a.s.sembly hall, towards the dining area.

They walked at a slow and steady pace, taking in the views of the academy. Whilst they were calm and collected, lots of students were pacing around past them, hurrying off to different places as if their life depended on it. These people were probably trying to go to vendors to buy items that would help them out for the 1-month trial they were about to take part in.

Favian and Dunkel reached the dining hall, which was relatively empty. Usually, it would be full of students, but right now it was understandably vacant. The two grabbed some food, before sitting down at a table in front of a window which looked down on an orchard. Berries and fruits were being grown in this orchard and were used to create alcohol. Of course, the drinking age on the continent was 16, so Favian still had to wait a couple more months before he could drown away his sorrows with alcohol if need be.

Dunkel went over some important things with Favian about beast ranges. He first explained that beast ranges were large swathes of land that were inhabited almost mainly by magical beasts and rare fauna. These areas housed stronger beasts further in, as the concentration of arcana was thicker there. Some beasts would also gain sentience, and be able to speak languages or shape-shift themselves from a magical beast form into a more human-like form.

"There are even treasure troves and ancient relics that can be found if you look hard enough." A voice called out from behind the two. Licht carefully trotted to an empty seat by the two boys. "So, uh, Favian, have you already partied yourself up in a group?" A sweet fragrance of perfume entered Favian"s nose as she asked this.

"Licht!" Favian had been slightly startled, remembering how she stormed out of the infirmary months ago after he"d been injured. He hadn"t seen her in those two months, so he half expected her to have forgotten about him.

"No, I"ve just partied up with Dunkel so far. We were going to just have two more random people join us since we don"t know any other people we can trust." He said as he looked firmly into Licht"s eyes.

She became slightly flushed at his intense gaze, before she continued, "Well, how about I party up with you two? I don"t see anything wrong with that."

At this point, Dunkel lost his cool and remarked, "Well, of course, you wouldn"t see anything wrong with that. How about you just try to kill Favian yourself this time, your majesty."

Favian was warmed by the protectiveness Dunkel was displaying over himself and knew that this outburst came out of a good place. "Dunkel, don"t worry, she already apologized to me after the colosseum, let"s hear her out at least."

"Thanks, Favian. Anyway, I"m sure we can all agree that the three of us are probably some of the strongest students in our cohort, so why don"t we team up? You two can even decide who our final member will be." Licht said.

Favian wasn"t sure about how he currently felt being called "one of the strongest students" when he didn"t know how strong he was right now. He had finally felt a breakthrough earlier this morning, however, he hadn"t yet been able to test it.

"Hate to break your bubble Licht but I might well be useless right now." Favian thought.

Dunkel was still a bit sceptical about letting Licht party together with them, yet, hearing that she had already made her way to Favian to apologise calmed his temper. He was simple in this way. With that, the three officially signed up together and put themselves on the waiting list for their last party member.

"I wonder what type of person we"ll get for our last member," Dunkel said. The trio was eating puff pastries at the Elegantia Café.

Licht was ravenously chowing down on her choice of doughnuts and puff pastries, before she stopped and said, "Hopefully they"ll be a girl. I don"t want to be stuck with 3 smelly boys for an entire month." She giggled after she said this, and wiped away the crumbs that were littered on her face.

"Another glutton." Dunkel thought as he facepalmed. He was now seriously contemplating whether to just change group because he had two party members who ate like monsters. How much food would they have to hunt if they ran out of supplies, just to satisfy these two greedy people?

Favian enjoyed the playful nature that Dunkel and Licht were quickly creating between each other. A lot of the animosity Dunkel had felt against Licht had dissipated once they were able to talk properly to each other, and they seemed like brother and sister with the way they bantered with one another. It was a complete shock to both Favian and Dunkel that the personality of an elven royalty would be so laid-back and boisterous, especially when she had been so quiet and apprehensive when they first met her.

"Well, I guess we"ll find out tomorrow. Anyways, I think I"m going to go and head off to sleep, I"ll see you two tomorrow at the a.s.sembly hall." Favian said, after which he got up and started to walk back to his room.

Favian drifted off to sleep quickly once he got back to his room.

…

In Favian"s dream

"h.e.l.lo? Anybody there?" I called out, but nothing came in response. I was shrouded in darkness, and couldn"t see my hands when I put them in front of my face.

Slowly I walked forwards, making sure I didn"t trip over, hoping that I don"t fall into a pit or chasm to an untimely death. After walking for what seemed like an eternity, I could finally see some light. The brightness hurt my eyes, but I soldiered through the pain. What I approached was a mountain, and a staircase was built into it. The stairs went all the way up into the heavens, the clouds masking where their end was.

Again, I walked for an endless amount of time, the harsh wind threatening to blow me off the mountain and to a gruesome death. By now the cold started to affect me, and I shivered continuously as I made my ascent. Finally, I was able to reach the top of the mountain, and here the stairs ended.

A cave. A dark cave awaited me, it called to me, my own voice, from within the cave. I was scared, I didn"t know whether to enter. Something compelled me, I didn"t want to make the trek back down the endless stairs. Once again, darkness took over my sight. But only for a moment. I could see again, but wait, why can I see myself walking towards me?

Confusion. I was so confused. My vision kept switching between myself who was walking in the cave, and my other self who was… standing idly in the cave. I felt a connection between the two me"s, and now I could freely control both.

I fall.

…