Chapter 8 – The Last Test

”Puny little humans,” Milada said with a snicker.

Aurora glanced up from her shoes to look at the redhead, noticing the Immortalia staring out of the large glass wall. Once again, they were in the practice area—they’d spent so many hours in here by now. Aurora feared she might begin to enjoy this room. The thought alone made her shiver.

She finished tying the shoelaces on her sneakers before walking, across the wooden floor, to join Milada. The soft rubber didn’t make any sound, causing Milada to jump when Aurora spoke, “What do you mean?”

“Geez, Aurora. Are you trying to kill me?” Milada asked and pressed a hand to her heart.

“Of course not.” Aurora scowled before staring out onto the streets. They were on a higher floor, causing the humans walking on the sidewalk below to resemble ants.

Milada pointed outside. “They fear anything that’s not like them.” She turned around to face Aurora. “Just look at how they treat us. We are far superior, yet they still try to undermine us, making us their slaves.”

Aurora didn’t know how to respond. It had never occurred to her that some Immortalias were unhappy with their destiny. They were helpers—they’d been helpers for as long as she could remember. It didn’t surprise her that Milada was the one to act out, though. The red-haired beauty was the youngest of them all, and she’d worked for Haw Tech all of her life. She’d been born here.

Valeria hadn’t said too much, but apparently, Haw Tech had started to breed Immortalias thirty years ago, Milada was the only survivor from the experiment. The organization had taught Milada how to fight even in her sacred youth, and the Immortalia had never seen life on the outside.

She’d never experienced the joy of sunlight on her face as she strolled down the streets with no worry in the world. Aurora’s heart bled for her. Sure, she didn’t have the most glorious life in any of her past lives, but she’d had some free years before her memory surfaced.

Immortalias’ lives worked that way. Twenty years in solitude, with non-existent powers and memories, then, when they reached adulthood, their true nature would surface, and they’d have to sign the contract to avoid dying.

Milada never experienced the joy of freedom. Instead, she’d been experimented on for the twenty-two years of her entire existence. Aurora discovered that the Milada's knowledge of the outside world was lacking in various places.

“They just want to survive,” Aurora finally said. “Just like we do.”

“Well, I just think they shouldn’t undermine other species and force them to be slaves because of it,” Milada said, averting her eyes.

Aurora found that Milada was tough on the outside, but she respected their Elders. Apart from the first day they met, she hadn’t laid a hand on Aurora without permission. There were times when Aurora thought she saw specks of fear crossing over Milada’s face now. This was ridiculous since Milada could kick Aurora’s ass, even with her powers.

“We owe the humans our service because they provide us with the contracts to save our souls. You know that we’d be wandering the earth without form if we ever died before it’s our turn.” Aurora pointed outside the window. “The humans are owners because it’s their names that rescue us from a fate worse than death.”

“I never signed a contract,” Milada muttered.

“I know. But you’re young; you will understand the importance in the next life.” Aurora turned away. She didn’t want to fight, and even though being around her kin helped her relax; she still didn’t like talking about contracts. She shuddered and averted her attention towards the task laid out before her.

The two of them were waiting for Valeria and Aaron. Both had been called away a few minutes ago, and Aurora had taken the time to stretch out and prepare for the upcoming challenge.

She looked around the room. Her mission was simple: complete the course as fast as possible. Aaron had placed three unlit torches on the course—it was her job to light them whenever she finished one part of the course. Scanning the area, Aurora tried to come up with a strategy.

When Aaron gave the signal, she’d have to jump up on a ledge before running over a soft padded floor. Aurora recognized the material as soft mattresses. She knew they covered numerous holes that she had to avoid. If she fell into one of them, there was no getting up. Aaron would have to yank down a ladder, and she’d have failed the test.

Aurora wasn’t concerned about the holes, though. She’d trained hard for the last couple of weeks, and her running was swift and almost weightless. As long as she didn’t hesitate, it would be no problem.

The first torch was right after the mattresses, but even that didn’t bring her worry. Milada and Valeria had helped her train, and now, she could summon her powers without standing still. She stared down at her arms, and for good measure, she called on them. The frost and fire reached her elbows. Admiring the beauty of it for a second, she forced her attention back on track.

Her biggest concern was the pool. On her second day, she’d found that there were a breed of piranhas down there. Haw Tech had tried to transfer Immortalia abilities to them at first, which had resulted in dangerous fish that could endanger even an Immortalia’s life.

She was supposed to swing over it, by grabbing the wooden rings that hung from the ceiling. The iron chains that held them up were heavy, and she’d have to use her full weight to be able to catch the next. She’d spent so much time trying to control her powers that she forgot about upper-body strength. If anything distracted her, it would be near impossible to hold onto the rings, and she’d spiral straight into the pool.

After the last ring, was the second checkpoint, and she’d have to crawl under the electric net and then run to the second. She’d run this course numerous times already, and nothing had changed except for two large plants. The leaves seemed long, but it didn’t move.

Odd time to change the décor, she thought. However, she had to admit: it did give some color to the room.

“Hello, ladies.” Aaron’s voice shook her out of her thoughts, and she turned to greet him. He was walking beside Valeria, and he smiled as he came nearer. “Are you excited?” he asked.

Aurora nodded. She still had trouble speaking around him. She would have thought that the attraction would leave after a while, but every time she had the urge to sneer at him, he made it better by doing something caring.

When she’d fallen down to the piranhas, he ran to help her up, and afterwards took care of her wounds until they healed by themselves. When he’d pushed her to exhaustion, he’d mix a shot for her and then helped her drink it by holding the glass to her lips. It was back and forth with him, and the confusion ate her from the inside.

“Here, take this,” he said and handed her a small plastic cup.

Aurora took it, and instantly her body filled with adrenaline. The fragrance coming from the golden liquid was heavenly, and she stared at it, savoring the pleasure for a moment. God, she loved this divine drink.

“How come you always postpone drinking it?” Valeria asked.

The question tore Aurora from her daze, and she looked over to her trainer. “What do you mean?”

“Whenever you get a shot in your hands,” Valeria explained. “You stare at it for at least a few moments, instead of just taking it like everybody else. You know it’ll feel fabulous, why do you wait?”

Aurora winked. “I like the feeling of controlling my desires. If I just take it right away, I’ll never learn self-discipline.”

“Wait, you like that stuff?” Milada asked with her nose scrunched up.

Aurora nodded. “I love it—I crave it. But I’m trying to teach myself how to be patient.”

“I don’t like it at all,” Milada said. “It’s gross to me.”

“That’s ‘cause you’re weird,” Valeria muttered.

“What?” Milada gasped.

“You heard me.” Valeria’s upper lip coiled back, and she revealed her perfect set of teeth. Aurora tuned them out; she was concentrating on something else now—her wonderful, fulfilling, delicious, shot.

She placed the cup to her lips and slowly raised her hand to pour it into her mouth. She forced herself to take it slow, but once the liquid touched her tongue, her taste buds exploded, and she knocked the rest of it down. Her entire being was vibrating with adrenaline, and a moan escaped her lips.

An awkward silence fell, and Aurora became aware that they were all staring at her. Moistening her lips with her tongue, she looked at them.

It wasn’t until Aaron interrupted the silence that they stopped staring. “Alright,” he said. “Valeria, Milada. You’re keeping scores, as well. You know the drill.” He paused and turned to Aurora. “Ready when you are.”

Aurora inhaled deeply. “Okay. Let’s do this.” She cracked her knuckles and then walked over to the starting line. Smiling to the others, she prepared herself, waiting for Aaron’s signal before she jumped up on the ledge.

Once he whistled, she took only one millisecond to hesitate and jumped up on the ledge. She ran across the mattresses, feeling several give way beneath her weight, but using her speed, she stepped away before she could fall into the holes. She gritted her teeth and concentrated on her right hand, making flames grow up her arm before she lit the torch, which marked the first checkpoint.

That’s one down, she thought. A pleasant feeling spread inside her stomach, but she had to keep on moving.

While she set off into another spurt, she tried to relax. She practiced this with Milada and Valeria. If she could just empty her mind, she could turn off the flames without forcing her powers to cancel each other out. It took a while, but slowly the flames started to decrease.

Thrilled with joy, she dared to smile, when she noticed something green out of her peripheral vision. Ignoring it, she started to ascend the small uphill ramp to the rings.

Once her feet left the ground, she extended her hand, trying to catch onto the ring when something jerked at her. Looking down, she saw a leaf aiming right for her. With just a few milliseconds to act, she lost her momentum and started screaming—she would plunge headfirst into the pool.

Crap. The Piranhas would tear her apart limb from limb while she was still alive; her only option was to freeze them before they got too close. Extending her left hand, she forced the frost to spread before it touched the surface. Closing her eyes, she waited for the pain, but instead a dull thump on her knee followed.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that her hand had caused the water to freeze a safe square around her. Aurora gave a relieved laugh before setting into action. With her left hand in front of her, she moved swiftly over to the other side of the pool, the ice spreading at a rapid pace. Leaving the frozen pool behind her, she reached out her right hand and lit the second torch.

Phew. That was close—too close. She glanced back at her trainers who were watching with their mouths open before she lay down and started to crawl under the net.

Snaking on her stomach was exhausting, but she managed to keep her head low until she was out on the other side. Aurora sat up and panted slightly. Something wrapped around her waist, and she was lifted up into the air. She wanted to scream, but her voice didn’t work. The pressure around her waist was unbearable, and she writhed until she could turn around and see what had gotten to her.

It was the massive plant, which now had elongated leaves. Realizing it was at fault for her fall towards the pool, Aurora’s inside filled with vengeance. It wasn’t a feeling she was used to, but she directed it at the overgrown houseplant. Both her arms were in full blast, and she screamed while gesturing wildly. She wanted to harm it—she wanted to kill it. Her powers moved towards eachother, faster as the panic spread inside her. The frost reached the fire, causing little snowballs in her hands, which she threw at the plant. The fire evaporated the ice, and once the ball hit, the plant started to burn.

“I can’t believe I’m actually fighting a plant,” she muttered when the blow caused the leaf around her to loosen its hold. She gritted her teeth, and made more flaming frost balls, firing them until the plant dropped her.

She landed on her feet, and turned to face the plant. Filled with anger she wasted another second to make a bigger ball, and threw it straight at the center before running away. Aurora could hear a sizzling sound and a horrid smell filled the room. She didn’t care, though. The last torch was right in front of her, and she lit it before turning on her heel to run over to Aaron before falling to her knees in exhaustion.

“Are you okay?” Valeria asked. Aurora opened her eyes and looked up. The black haired Immortalia was extending her hand, and she grabbed it.

“That was impressive,” Aaron said. “Do you need to have any wounds treated?”

Aurora shook her head. “No. I’m going to need another shot, though. I’m exhausted.” She looked back at the plant, which was now still again. She frowned and pointed to it. “Also, what was that?”

Milada giggled. “We call it ALF.”

“ALF?” Aurora frowned.

“It stands for Abnormally Large Fern,” Milada explained. “It’s not an actual plant, but an experiment where they tried to place our abilities into a living organism.” She pointed to the plant. “What you see over there, is the result. Billions of nanobots work around over there, making it a perfect practice tool for us.”

“That’s pretty impressive,” Aurora said.

“Thank you.” Aaron smiled. “It was my idea.”

For a moment, Aurora was stunned by his smile, but she forced herself to focus. She couldn’t keep swooning over her boss. It wasn’t appropriate in any way, besides she had Ron.

Ron. She hadn’t seen him in over two weeks. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to—she’d tried many times, but she couldn’t access that state of mind any longer. It was making her insane. Normally, she hated not being able to see him during her waking hours—she would look forward to seeing him. But she couldn’t do that any longer. Instead, she was tossing and turning all night in her small cell—she couldn’t even do it when something hurt.

Aurora looked up to see Aaron talk to Valeria. They were laughing about something, which she hadn’t heard. Was Ron’s absence because of Aaron? It seemed to be the only explanation. The only thing that had changed was his presence in her life. Well, that and her arms battled as respectively an icicle and a torch.

“So, Aurora…” Aaron’s voice cut in. “How are you feeling with your time?”

Aurora looked up and caught him smiling as he took out a small device, sliding his finger across its screen. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but it beeped loudly as he looked up to meet her eyes with a large grin.

“Well?” he asked.

Aurora shrugged. “I don’t know … I was kinda caught up with ALF, which must have dragged on.” She gnawed on her bottom lip nervously before asking, “Did I pass?”

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he took an extra look at the screen while scratching his head. Aurora could feel the worry rise within her. If she didn’t pass this test, the Immortalias’ next task would be postponed until she passed—something she didn’t wish for, that would mean she was stuck here until she passed. He hadn’t said much about the project she would be assigned to, but it would involve a change of scenery.

“Aaron?” she asked. “Did I pass?”

“Hmm?” He looked up. “Oh, right … You passed with flying colors. Actually—“he frowned—“I’ve never seen such excellent numbers before. You defeated ALF faster than anyone else.”

Aurora let out sigh of relief. “That’s great, right?”

“It’s excellent.” Aaron looked up and smiled. “Now I can tell you about your next assignment.” He gestured for her to follow him and started walking.

Valeria and Milada congratulated her shortly before they all started to walk after Aaron. He led them out of the gym, and down a wide hallway. Doors were closed on each side, and Aurora was reminded of her first day here. It was crazy how fast she’d gotten used to being here. There were undoubtedly some benefits at this place. For example, the food was better than whatever Aurora managed to cook up for Zachary.

“This way, ladies.” Aaron held the door for them, and they walked past him.

Aurora was surprised to find a fourth Immortalia waiting for them in there. She rose when they came, and extended a leather-clad hand to greet them. Her clothes were a screaming yellow neon, and she smiled at them.

“My name is Allegra,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Aaron walked over to a table and sat down. “Gather around, and please, take a seat,” he said.

Confused, Aurora obliged and took a seat between Allegra and Valeria. “What’s this about?” Aurora asked.

Aaron explained that they would follow in the footsteps of an earlier expedition. They were going to find the Sacred Land.

“Take a good look at each other, because we’re going to spend a lot of time together in the upcoming future,” Aaron said. He smiled to them, and neatly folded the sheets of paper spread out in front of him. “You’re all on my team now. And in just a few days’ time, we’re leaving to the land of the Sacred.”

Aurora was speechless; she felt both joy and confusion. There were four Immortalia who were about to step off the Haw Tech boundaries to accompany Aaron Reed on his expedition.

“Can’t wait!” she said before rising from her chair with a big smile. This was going to be great!

A/N: Please vote.