“Y-You…” The sensation of being well and truly surprised is not something I’m used to anymore. Really, no matter how many times it happens, I never learn. My eyes hone in on Meera, and for her part, the smile on her face looks a bit forced. She strides over to the boy named Janus and from inside her pocket, my badge appears. Holding it up, my former “ally” admires it for a second before drawing a knife out of nowhere in the Rainstopper fashion and stabbing it into the token. When she speaks, I cannot tell if she is speaking to Janus, myself, or herself because Meera continuously looks between us. What I am sure of though is…there is no regret in her voice. The fog of sleep deprivation clears ever so slightly, as if it wants me to truly appreciate the surprise. I can’t believe she got me.

“Sorry 76.” Meera refers to me by the number which she used during our time together. I suppose I never did tell her my name. “You’re not…weak. The way you fight isn’t bad. I think. Maybe you would have been okay. Better than the Secthead one day. But I don’t know that. And our Sect’s future cant be decided by maybes. Janus will make us better. He will bring back our edge.”

“…” I don’t really say anything. To be honest, even if she got me in the end, I never really trusted her. It was the tiredness which forced me to turn off Foresight and go in blind. My face doesn’t change. I don’t know if she expects me to wail at her, or shout profanities. Instead, I just stand there. Almost admiring, though I suspect I will be angry once I’m rested. Well done. I can appreciate that. But now…you’re just like one of the rest. Trying to get my trust and taking me for all I’ve got once I close my eyes. The question is though…what does it mean…to not have a badge? How bad is this?

Surprisingly, it’s not I who says anything in return. Rather, it ends up being the one she did this for.

“Meera.” Janus speaks with a disapproving expression. He examines the fragments of my badge as they clatter to the ground from her blade. “You organized the others…to deal with him? The Secthead’s disciple?”

“It was necessary.” Meera closes her eyes, refusing to look at anyone. “At first, I was just helping clean up all this outside trash. But I wanted to keep an eye on the Secthead’s disciple. He didn’t seem like anything special. But then I saw him fight. Even if you’re better than him…he was a threat. So, I took his badge. Without a mentor, he won’t make it. This is the decision of the Elders.”

“I see.” His less than enthusiastic response gets Meera’s eyes to open. Her mouth opens slightly, as if hurt.

“I did it for you! For us!” She says, but is cut off as he holds up a hand. Even though I’m tired, I’m starting to become interested in this exchange. “Janus…please…understand…”

“No.” The simple and curt reply is all that it takes to make her face crestfallen. But what he does next is beyond my expectations. Janus turns to me, his short raven-black hair swaying as he bows his head ever so slightly. “I apologize on behalf of my fiancé. Her dishonorable methods were not known to me. If I could, I would give you a badge…but everyone of consequence avoided me in the last trial. And I need mine. The ones I did manage to collect are worthless.” At this, he reveals a handful of teardrop-shaped badges. All of them are indeed, extremely high numbered. He lets the badges spill out of his fingers. When they fall to the ground, several of the other candidates who lost their badges begin to breath heavily and Janus snorts. “Don’t bother, you Trash. They won’t help you. Only the top thirty badges matter.”

“…” Still unsure what to make of this, I move aside with the other ‘losers’. It seems we’re still in the Trials…but there’s going to be some sort of penalty? I don’t understand. As for this Janus guy…I should have known something was going on from the way Meera talked about him. This is what I get for trusting a woman…I mean come on, she came onto me. What happened to me? It’s not even a question anymore, I am getting soft.

“Well…that was amusing.” Jarshan’s dry laugh doesn’t sound right coming out of his serious and bored face. Yet at the same time, it fits completely. “Now then. It’s time to move on. For the next year, you all are going to prepare for the third Trial. To further your development, those of you with badges under the position of 30 will be allowed to choose an Elder to train you. This is not an opportunity to take lightly. Let me show you who you’ll be working with!”

He suddenly jumps down off the peak, his robes flapping. A second later, he lands without disturbing nary a bit of dust and rises from a knee.

*Toc*

Ten black-robed shadows appear at his side in that instant. So fast, that even if I could see the future it wouldn’t matter. Perideen’s speed is fast, but he’s not on their level. I can tell immediately from the ghostly way they just appear. When their hoods come down, and I see green, blue, and brown eyes, although most are blue. A second later, when Jarshan snaps his fingers, the animal masks they wear come off. All human faces beneath. Some seem kind, most dispassionate, a few fierce. So these are the Elders of the Sect.

“Janus…it seems you’ve come in first. I assume you already know your choice?” Jarshan speaks with the same emotionless voice, but if one listens closely, they can hear a slight tone of approval. At his words, Janus nods. Stepping up, he walks to one of the Elders in the middle.

“Naturally I pick my master, Elder Heilan.” He says as he takes his place by the man with a blank face like glass. I’m pretty sure even if you stabbed Elder Heilan, he might not react. It’s that kind of man. However, the little smile on the Elder’s face when his disciple joins him shows his pride.

“Very well…next…”

“It seems Dima did not make it…” Jarshan goes down the list, only frowning when he realizes that the boy I encountered, Number 3, didn’t make it. He throws a glance at Janus by his master who simply says,

“He insisted on challenging me. So, I broke his badge. He’s alive. Elina healed him.” When the opossum-masked healer nods besides some of the candidates she’s fixing, Jarshan can only sigh. After that, he doesn’t ask any questions. Meera herself, joins her master, Elder Sein. Her final number ended up being seven. When the last candidate that still has a badge under thirty is finished, Jarshan looks to the ten Elders. Most of them have two candidates under their wings. Some three. Since a few of the badges under thirty were destroyed, it’s not an even split.

“Alright. Now then, as for the rest of you…” The overseer glances at myself and the leftovers. “Well, unfortunately, it seems that you have lost your badges. This doesn’t mean you’re out of the Trials though. You can still participate in the 3rd Trial when the time comes in a year. Until then, you’ll have to train alone here though. None may assist you except a Rainstopper Elder during this time. I do have to warn you though…there is a very real risk of death in the last trial, although all attempts will be made to avoid accidents.”

“B-But…that’s suicide. We barely survived the 2nd Trial!” One of the other candidates who didn’t make the cut, can’t contain himself, “If they get to train with the Elders…and we don’t have anyone…then we’ll be slaughtered next year!”

“Losers do not have the right to choose an Elder.” Jarshan’s impassive face never changes. “However, if an Elder for some inscrutable reason decides to choose one of you, then I suppose that is their choice.”

“I…I…that’s not fair!”

“Ridiculous, look at everyone that made it under thirty, they’re all Rainstopper Candidates!”

“This is rigged!”

A chorus of cries ring out, and the tension begins to grow until suddenly Jarshan’s mask comes on. It’s a white wolf, and abruptly, a surge of killing intent almost as impressive as Romy’s washes over the children.

“Whine all you want, Pups. But you’re not impressing anyone.” He says dismissively and the hubbub dies out. Just like that, Jarshan stops the crowd. Once the last voice is gone, the mask disappears again and his bearded face comes back into view. But now, the impassivity in his face is different…after seeing his real face, the one with the mask on, it seems that they’ve all lost their appetites for disobedience. “Good. You’re learning to listen. Unfortunately, I’m afraid it’s a little late. Still, I see one pup who might be able to amount to something that’s not complete trash.” His eyes alight on me, and it really is like being stared at by a wolf even though his mask is gone. The other Elders, his ‘pack’, direct their hungry gazes at me. Jarshan looks at them, with a questioning eye. “Does anyone wish to take on another Acolyte under their wing?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Silence.

It rings through the plateau.

The façade that the Rainstopper Sect has been putting up about allowing others to join their Sect has now fallen away. Their true faces have been revealed. It came first with Meera, and now it seems their Elders will show their stances. I watch them, curious what they think of me, Romy’s disciple. The other leftovers at first have expressions as if they envy me. But when they see the Rainstopper Candidates standing besides their masters with such arrogant gazes, their faces change. They don’t understand who I am. They think I’m one of them. Not a Rainstopper Candidate. I become their chance to vent their frustrations with a dirty system.

“Take him!”

“I saw him fight, he’s a mage!”

“Yea, if you don’t take him, it’s discrimination!”

They rally behind me. Use me as their weapon. And point me straight at the Sect Elders. For a second, the ten Elders, and their disciples, many of which I’ve spent the last month evading or fighting, stare at me. Too tired to peek into the future, even I can’t tell what they’re thinking. And then…a decision is made.

“I don’t need anymore disciples.”

“I have enough.”

“No one catches my eye.”

…

…

…

“Janus is all I need. Everyone else is a little…lacking.” The last, Elder Heilan has a disdainful smirk on his face and looks straight into my eyes as he says it. A blatant insult. I’m not one to rise to provocations, but when I realize the truth, it pisses me off just as much as it does the crowd. They shout out-

“Not good enough?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“It really is rigged!”

But their fury quickly dies out as Jarshan shifts dangerously.

“Well, I suppose since all the Elders have expressed not any interest in other candidates, then that’s the end.” He starts to wrap things up. But not before one last jibe, “By the way, it has come to my attention that some of you…may have connections to the Rainstopper Sect in one way or another. I’d like to point out that in this year, even if you know someone who lives here, you are forbidden from training with anyone but a Rainstopper Elder. This is for your good. After all, being instructed by someone without the proper skill is worse than not being instructed at all.”

At this, I realize that the Overseer of the Trials is in on it as well. His message is very clear. Perideen can’t help me. I’m on my own for the next year. Heh…very good. They really did plan this well. I don’t say anything. Just stand there, taking in the faces of each and every one of the Elders which have decided to stand against me. I see it now. The little glances between their faces. The satisfied smirk on their eyes. The way they all nod in agreeance without actually saying anything. It’s humiliating to be conspired against by these…losers who need to scheme against a child. I memorize their faces, pissed that I have to put in the effort while I’m so tired, knowing that I can do nothing else at the moment.

It’s obvious.

They’re all in it together.

They don’t want me to be Secthead.

It seems that things are going to end just like that. I just want to go to bed. But the future is full of surprises when you can’t see it coming. A single voice rings out. No one expected it to be her. Not even me-

“I’ll take him.”