Four people were running at an incredibly high speed through the shallow marshes and the light spreading of trees. They were zooming past the trees and heading straight for the hill in the distance. Common sense would dictate that the four people should have happy expressions, being extremely close to the hill. Yet, only horror and anxiety were visible on their faces.

“What is his problem? Why wouldn’t he talk calmly?” One of them spoke up while running. All of them were thinking the same thing but none decided to voice their thoughts out loud. They just focused on running.

Originally, they were a group of six people. However, two of them had died a tragic death at the hands of the monster that was chasing them down at this very moment.

One of them looked back at the monster, who was smiling and enjoying the situation as he was chasing the people he thought of as prey. The monster had odd eyes, one black and one blue, and he had a giant spear strapped on his back. He would often ask for the materialization of weapons to throw at the prey, but wouldn’t attack them. That’s what made the circumstances so infuriating to the four people. They had fought him as a group of six and had learned the hard way that fighting was the worst option they could choose.

The monster was, of course, Mehr. His smile kept getting bigger and bigger as the chase went on. He never intended to attack these people. He was just creating some enjoyment out of the dull moments of travelling. If those four people stopped and fought against him, he would just kill them and find some other poor souls. He had been doing that for a while now anyway. Some fortunate souls that were able to get away from him, or just watched his shenanigans from a distance had been creating a buzz with their familiar participants. And a rumour had started in the forest, about the four monsters of the trial.

A lunatic with a giant spear.

The calamity.

The bookworm of House Forde.

The Heir of Frye.

Almost everyone had heard about these four people by now and everyone was actively trying to avoid them. While Nora and Sirius became famous due to their families and extraordinary parents, Adhara and Mehr became famous for completely different reasons. Adhara had single-handedly destroyed Hope Woodrow’s entire group. A commoner defeating a High Nobility was a rare event in the academy, and it helped put everyone’s eyes on her. Mehr, on the other hand, didn't need any information anymore and was just going around playing with people, which was why only his moniker was an insult.

A lunatic.

The trial that was supposed to be a survival test had turned into a fight between two factions. On one side there were four individuals and on the other, there were around fifty survivors. Unbeknownst to the four ‘monsters’, the fifty-something survivors had created a loose structure among them. After all, they couldn’t trust each other as well. It was a bond out of necessity. Many of them had even tried to invite the ‘four monsters’ in their group but were rejected readily.

The group of originally six people had also thought of inviting ‘the lunatic’ in their group. They were quite confident that he wouldn’t be able to fight against six people by himself. After all, there couldn’t be another monster as dangerous as ‘the calamity’. Their delusions were proven wrong almost immediately.

As soon as the six people had taken a fighting stance, Mehr had already cut off the head of the person closest to him and chucked it towards the other five while smiling.

“Short spear,” Mehr spoke under his breath while increasing the influence of his mana around him. All of this had happened in an extremely short moment, and the five survivors were still in shock. When the corpse of their friend turned into specks of light, they came to attention and jumped at Mehr at once. Well, they thought they had jumped but Mehr had already taken control of the mana in the short area around. He willed, and like a tidal wave, mana struck the survivors heavily. Blood escaped their mouths and they crumbled down on their knees due to the shock. Mehr walked nonchalantly towards one of them and stabbed him with the short spear he had materialized.

“Quite brave of you to group up on a single person.” Mehr commented while smiling, “Well, I have quite a big heart, unlike you. So I will allow you to escape. Go ahead and run as fast as you can.”

That's how the group of four people came to be in the situation they were currently in.

“Should we withdraw?” One of them suggested.

“No! We need to go even closer to the badge. We have only fought a single battle and look how that turned out. Do you think we would have enough points to get into the academy?”

The other survivors became silent. They all knew that they had to clear this trial by any means necessary.

“Fuck! My House would disown me if I failed.” One of them roared in sadness.

“You’ll at least have your life, won't you?” The other one said gloomily.

“Shit, let’s just fight him. We were caught off guard. We wouldn’t be able to clear the trial anyway. If we killed him, we would get a hefty amount of points for sure.”

However, before they could come to a decision, their sight landed on a girl in a red frock standing ahead with a book in her hands. She was looking right at them with a curious look in her eyes. Her eyes turned slightly and she caught the sight of the monster chasing the poor souls.

“Hey, Mehr,” Nora called out.

Mehr had also noticed Nora and greeted her back cheerfully, “Nora, It looks like you’re alright.”

“Did you think I would be thrown out of this trial? You do realize that I am very powerful, right?” Nora said.

“Hmm… sure.” Mehr chuckled.

The four survivors were watching the scene play out with dread in their hearts. A chill had settled within them that they couldn’t let go of.

“Why the fuck do those two know each other?”

“We’re dead, aren’t we?”

However, their sad thoughts didn’t become reality as Mehr had already lost interest in them. He was walking away with Nora and his curiosity was piqued by the book in her hand.

“That’s not a real book, is it?” Mehr asked curiously.

“Of course not. It's Heavens’ gift.” Nora replied.

“Heavens’ gift? What’s that?”

“Huh? You didn’t receive a gift when you appeased mana?”

“Appease mana? Why would you need to appease mana when you can just control it after comprehending?” Mehr asked in confusion.

“Control mana? Why don’t you just go and call yourself an Old God at this point?” Nora said while looking around to check if anyone was near them. Mehr was quite confused. He had been controlling mana for nearly a decade now. Appeasement of mana? That sounded like a joke.

Nora saw Mehr’s expression of confusion and was genuinely baffled.

“Do you not know that it is extremely sacrilegious and an insult to the Heavens, to say that you control mana?” She asked.

“No… Why is that so?” Mehr was genuinely confused at this point. He had heard people interchangeably using Mana and Heavens, but never really put much thought to it. If it really was something as important as Nora mentioned, then why didn’t old man Blake ever mention it? In Mehr’s opinion, it was obvious that he was controlling mana. After all, he never had to appease it, and neither did Sirius.

“No one can control mana. Mana is, after all, Heaven’s gift to us. That is why comprehending mana is also called its appeasement. If Heavens is content, it gives us the ability to utilize mana; and if Heavens is happy and thinks of us as worthy, then we receive gifts. My book, Hope’s explosives, and Fynn’s armour are all gifts of the Heavens. Didn’t you and Sirius get any?”

“No… is there any particular reason for it?”

“Well, there can be many reasons. You might be weak, incapable, or talentless. Or the Heavens just doesn’t trust you enough. Well, these are all conjectures based on the Stars’ words throughout thousands of years and it is basically considered the truth. So, don’t go around saying that you control mana or you might really get into a lot of trouble.”

Weak, incapable, or talentless…. These reasons were out of the options for Mehr. He knew that Sirius and he would be considered absolute prodigies in the world. So, only the last reason remained.

‘Heavens doesn’t trust me? A Star?’ He thought, ‘How interesting.’

“Isn’t it a problem then, not having a gift?” Mehr asked.

“Not really. Lady Maria never received her gift and she is one of the most powerful people in the world, isn’t she? There is a reason that we are also taught the elements. Not getting a gift is pretty common.” She explained.

Mehr took a moment to think. Many things had become clear in his mind but one still stuck out.

“Nora, do you think the Stars would have been able to control mana without appeasing it?”

Nora closed her book and looked at Mehr, “Are you insinuating that you’re a Star? Please.” She sighed and continued, “And to answer your question - I don’t know. The Stars were Gods. Their logic and common sense is something that exists outside of our thinking capacity.”

“Haha.” Mehr chuckled in embarrassment, “I wasn’t insinuating anything. I was just genuinely curious.”

They kept walking ahead silently. Their conversation had ceased but they kept walking towards their destination. Mehr, however, was thinking a lot of things at this point.

‘I guess being a Star is the reason for my control of mana. Even though not receiving a gift is a concern, there really isn’t anything I can do regarding it.’ He thought. His mind had cleared a lot and his steps felt light. The answers had helped calm his curiosity and he understood how a lot of things worked. He still had a few questions as to why Blake and the Fryes never taught them these things, but he just pushed those thoughts aside. They were a future concern and not something to mull over currently. He focused on this journey towards the hill when he suddenly stopped. A question had popped up suddenly which had started to eat away his mind. He stood still while looking down at his feet and yet again, the same question screamed inside his head.

‘Why can Sirius control mana without appeasing it?’