“Today will not be a regular training day. Instead, you will go through a test that will help you assess your physical capacity and compare it to the other students. This test will help you prepare for the duel opening five weeks from now.”

Slander watched the students run in circles like every other morning. This time, however, he was accompanied by a dozen other professors that were all dressed in training clothes.

“We choose this day for the test because tomorrow is the break day, so you will have plenty of rest. That means you can give your very best without fear of the consequences as there is no training tomorrow.”

Slander gestured for the students to stop their running and come to him. They promptly obeyed and moved closer to the instructor.

“Listen carefully now. There will be two parts to this test. The first is an obstacle course. Your goal is to finish it in the shortest time possible. After that, we will hold sword fights between the thirty-two first people that finished the course.”

He paused and turned his head left and right to make sure everyone understood his instructions.

“Regarding the first trial, if someone is not able to complete it, then I don’t know why you’re still here following my training. In fact, not finishing that course is such an insult to our institute that it would be better if you quit. Your place is not among us.”

Slander threw a meaningful glance at Mahon before continuing.

“At each obstacle, there will be a professor making sure you’re not cheating. They’re also here to point you to the next obstacle. It’s a race so go as fast as you can, but know that the obstacles are spread among the whole district. Also, I remind you that attacking your comrade is strictly forbidden.”

Another look at the crowd of students. The instructor nodded to himself, as if he had said all he needed to say. He took a deep breath and yelled his next instruction.

“The first obstacle is on the south-west of the canteen. The race starts at three. Three!”

There was a tiny period of hesitation before all the students rotated as one in the canteen’s direction and rushed crazily. The canteen was close to a thousand meters away. Regardless, most of the students went off sprinting.

Mahon could not follow their pace, and a minute after the begining he was at the last position. He tried to jog a bit faster than usual, but the instructor didn’t give the total number of obstacles. And knowing the man, there were surely plenty of them. So if Mahon wanted to at least finish the race, he could not afford to run too fast.

The part about having to drop school upon not completing the trial was undoubtedly targeted at him. Mahon was not surprised in the slightest as he had expected something like that to happen since his conversation with professor Rym almost two weeks ago.

Want me to quit? I’m sorry I’ll have to disappoint you again.

His teeth clenched, Mahon shook his head to chase away the parasite thoughts. He took a deep inspiration and relaxed both mind and body in order to focus on the trial.

Let’s do this.

In the maze of buildings and little streets, he had lost sight of the other students, but when he reached the first obstacle, he could see an entangled mass of students muddling through murky water. From where he was, Mahon had a good overview of the obstacle. It was close to a hundred meters long and was divided into five similar parts. Each part consisted of a stretch of water and they were separated by mounds of raw earth.The further you went, the higher the water and the mounds were. Climbing the mounds and going in the water multiple times also caused them to mix into a muddy liquid that apparently stuck to the students, as most of them were now covered in it from head to toes.

Without wasting any more time, Mahon joined the last of them and went into the first knee-deep water zone. It was hard to run through it, but by lifting his legs high enough, he managed to reach the first mound without too much problem. The meter high mound was barely an obstacle and Mahon continued into the second stretch of water. From the previous passages the water was already brownish and sticky, but Mahon tried to ignore it as he went through the thigh-deep zone.

The two meters high mound that followed was a bit harder to climb than the first one, but at this point, it was clear that their task on this obstacle had less to do with their height and more with the earth and dirt they provided.

Mahon ran in the third water zone and then the fourth and each time he was slower and filthier. The last water zone was so deep that only his head appeared above the surface and Mahon struggled for a long minute to traverse it.

He climbed the last mound, and on its top, a professor observed him in silence. Without saying a word, the man pointed in the direction of the next obstacle.

Mahon was coated in a heavy mantle of dripping mud and he tried to get rid of it without much success. Resigned, he started to run again, slowed down by the weight and stickiness of all the muck he carried with him. At least he was on solid ground this time, and he had no trouble following the footprints of his predecessors on the way to the second trial.

Just as Mahon reached the second obstacle, he saw the last student already running to the next one, leaving the area empty. It meant he was a full obstacle behind the second to last student.

Uh, let’s not fool anyone. I was meant to end last anyway.

Mahon moved in the narrow tunnel in front of him and after a few meters inside, he could not see anything. Using his hands to feel the rock walls, he fumbled along what seemed to be the only way forward. The further he went in, the closer the sides were until he could not walk abreast anymore and he had to twist and continue sideways. At some points, there was so little space that the stone scratched his back and his face scraped the opposite wall.

He thought he was stuck more than once, but he finally managed to reach a larger area, still in complete darkness. He palpated blindly to find an exit to the room, and eventually, he found a small hole at the bottom of a wall. Mahon laid down and crawled inside the thin tube for a dozen meters before he saw the light from the outside. Once out, his muscles were sore and his body bruised in multiple places. But Mahon did not give up and, gathering his strength, he started to run in the direction the professor pointed to.

Like this, he went through obstacle after obstacle. Climbing oiled ropes, running through precarious grounds, jumping above holes, avoiding blunted arrows.

And then more climbing. Fences, walls, hills…

And more crawling, more jumping, more dodging.

After ten such obstacles, he was already panting heavily. Breathing was hard and both his lungs and legs felt on fire. He ran slower than at the beginning, but he was still running.

The fifteenth obstacle consisted of some kinds of weird stairs. He had to climb a wall using small grips and then rush down a spiral staircase that led him back to the bottom of the wall. Multiple laps of this exercise and his fingers had not stopped shaking since then.

When he passed the twentieth obstacle, a sprint with weighted shackles restricting his strides, he was completely out of energy, ready to give up. But he clenched his fists and pushed through. One step after the other towards the next obstacle.

His first fall happened on the twenty-fourth obstacle as he was carrying buckets of water on his back while walking on a fallen trunk. He was too tired to stay lucid, and his left foot slipped on the edge of the trunk. The crash took his breath away, and he stayed lying on the ground almost a full minute before finding the energy to stand up. The professor responsible for the trial just handed him another bucket of water and Mahon managed to cross on his second try.

For the thirtieth obstacle, he had to jump across platforms to go through a small lake. But as soon as he was on a platform, it started to sink so he had no time to rest between his jumps.

He fell multiple times in the water, and each time he swam back to the start. His knees and elbows were scraped and bloodied, but he did not feel pain anymore. He was just too tired. Once he was done with this endless obstacle, he arrived at an empty area. There was nothing in sight but a plain field with a professor standing in the middle of it.

Mahon thought he was done. For some pleasing seconds, he believed he had completed the trial and that his torture had ended. Alas, when the professor spoke, it was not to congratulate him.

“One hundred push-ups, right now!”

Mahon collapsed on the ground and spent what felt like hours doing push-ups. And after that, pull-ups. And squats. And sit-ups. And more and more of the usual exercises.

When his torment finally ended, the professor pointed in silence to the next obstacle. Mahon was lying on the floor, dying.

He thought about giving up here and there. Quitting the race. Ending his torment. But he wanted to prove he could finish it. He may end last. He would end last. But at least he would finish this damned race.

He didn’t want to be weak anymore. He didn’t want to be left behind. He could do it. And he would show them.

He stood up and started running again. He clenched his jaws at the pain. He nearly fell two times on his way to the next obstacle, but he pushed through. He persevered. He was not sure he could even do something other than run in his condition, but he wanted to prove himself. Be there one, two, five or ten obstacles he would surmount them!

When he arrived at the next obstacle, he saw other students spread around the area. He looked left and right, and there were no obvious obstacles in sight.

Is this the end? No, it can’t be…

Mahon’s brain was too sluggish to allow for coherent thinking. He was raving, at the frontier of consciousness. He tried harder to process what happened in front of him. He heard some cheering and saw two students fighting each other in a small arena. He had a hard time processing what was going on, as his brain lacked the energy to function properly.

A professor came to him and said something, but he didn’t hear quite well. At the face he made, the professor understood he didn’t get it. He repeated, louder this time.

“...ace...er...yo… ?”

Mahon looked at the man again.

Why does he not speak properly? Does he have a problem?

The professor then said something behind him and gestured for people to join him.

What’s happening?

He turned back to Mahon and took his arm.

“The race is ...ver. It’s the end... you fine?”

Mahon smiled at the professor. He had not understood what the exercise was. The professor was not speaking to him in an audible way.

Is it on purpose? Or maybe it’s me? Let’s do push-ups just in case...

Mahon laid down on the floor and tried to lift his body, but his arms were not responding anymore to his will.

The professor approached, grabbed him under the arms, and lifted him all the way up. Mahon used his last remains of energy to stay standing as understanding finally made his way through his clouded mind.

He had done it. He successfully finished the race! But why was the professor falling to the ground?

Wait. It’s not him that is falling.

Mahon’s body collapsed on the hard soil and his vision went dark.