Morningstar

Xeon is among the students inside the main hall with the stage, where they were hours before. Hakea and Agrion are standing at his right. The students are continuing to arrive. Dusk has come and the trial is done. They are all winners, but it does not feel like that.

“He is gone,” Agrion whispers. “He is gone.”

“I know,” Hakea says and proceeds to hug him. “Don’t cry. If they find out that you are crying, they will think that you are weak.” He stops hugging him. “Man up. Don’t let his death be in vain.”

Xeon prefers not to think about Drew. He had left him behind like Hakea and Agrion but blaming themselves will not solve anything. Drew is already dead just like the hundreds of students that he has seen die throughout the years.

His eye catches Zanna entering the room behind Rin. Phoenix enters after them. He feels his chest deflate. She is all right. She survived the assassin’s trial. He finds himself smiling. Of course, she survived. She is one of the strongest people that Xeon has seen. She is the best sharpshooter that he knows.

“At least they are all right,” Hakea says as he watches Phoenix walk by.

“You are drooling,” Agrion tells Hakea.

“I am not,” Hakea says, “but I have a good reason to.”

***

Shin is exhausted. He has spent most of the day searching for the assassin. In the end, he made a fool out of them. He even made a fool of Tilray, and she does not like that. He also killed Urho, Shin’s best friend. Everyone must want him dead now, but they won’t be able to kill him now. If they try to kill him, the Times will kill them. Shin will wait. He will wait until he graduates to kill him in the name of Urho.

“Congratulations,” Morning says, without happiness in his voice. “You are all the survivors of the first trial.” The assassin is standing beside him, looking at the crowd at no one in particular. “There is no curfew tonight. You might feast and celebrate for your win.” Morning looks at the assassin. “Would you like to say anything?” The assassin shakes his head.

Shin wants to say something. He wants to yell at the assassin. He wants to throw his frustration at him, but he knows that he cannot. He knows that anything that he speaks out of place will be punished.

“Tomorrow you will begin training for the next trial that will take place in a week,” Morning says. His yellow robe is the brightest thing in the room. It feels out of place, but the Times always try to stand out. “You are dismissed.”

Shin turns to follow Tilray out of the room. When they are outside, he sees people with red cloaks working, collecting the bodies, collecting Urho.

***

Wither makes his way to the dorms. He goes to his floor, which is the third. He does not feel anything. His body is numb. He has seen his best friend and only friend die. Yenta had pushed him aside and took the stab of the flying knife to the chest.

Wither places a hand against the hallway’s wall. He won’t cry. He cannot cry in here. He can only cry in the bathroom where his roommates won’t hear him. He sits down on the floor and places his head between his knees. He won’t cry. He won’t.

“Hey, are you all right?” someone asks. Wither does not rise his head.

“No,” he speaks, even if his throat is sore.

“What’s wrong?” the person asks. Wither does not answer. “You lost a friend, didn’t you?” Wither does not answer again. He hears the figure sit beside him. They remain a few minutes quiet. “Tell me about him or her.”

Wither does not want to. He wants to be left alone. “H-He was my only friend,” he says eventually.

“That’s harsh,” the man says. “But I know how you feel. I have seen friends die. They did not die today, but they did. I know what it is like to feel alone.” Wither does not know why, but the stranger’s sentence holds him from crying. “I am Lexan, by the way.”

“Wither,” he answers.

“Well, come on, Wither,” Lexan says as he stands up. “I stole food from the lunchroom. You must be hungry after this hard day. Come on. I’ll share it with you.”

Wither does not want to admit it, but he is hungry. He has not eaten anything since breakfast. He lifts his head. Lexan is smiling without showing his teeth. He seems an inch smaller than Wither. His brown eyes are lighter than his brown hair.

Lexan places a brown bag on the floor and opens it. There are different fruits in there. It makes Wither’s mouth wet. He looks up at Lexan.

“Why… Why are you being friendly?” Wither asks.

“Because we all need a friend,” Lexan says. He extends a hand towards Wither. “Come on.”

Wither takes his hand, wishing for Yenta to see him making a new friend.

***

Beta is glad that the trial is over. She did not hunt for the assassin. When she met him, she felt in his presence how strong he was. He had been polite with her. He asked about her relationship with Moneo, who was standing next to her at the moment. How he knew about their relationship was a mystery to her, but she answered sincerely and told him that she was happy.

Moneo did not like her answer. Once the assassin had left, he told her that now they both are targets. Assassins are known to be ruthless and not merciful. The assassin will kill Moneo or Beta to make the other suffer.

Now, they are kissing against a tree not far away from the lunchroom. They can hear the commotion inside. Everyone is partying. Well, at least the people who did not lose anyone to this trial.

“See? I told you,” Beta says, pushing Moneo back. He smiles. Beta notices that he is not the hottest guy in Morningstar. He has freckles all around his body and face. He has dark ginger hair and brown eyes. He is cute, and he knows how to make her fall in love with him every day.

“Told me what?” Moneo asks and kisses her again. She laughs but pushes him back.

“That if we remained hidden, the assassin was not going to find us,” Beta says.

“I think that we just got lucky,” Moneo says.

“We did,” Fey answers. She is standing against a nearby tree, looking at her nails. Her long blond hair is loose, even though she had it in a bun during the trial.

“Why?” Beta asks.

“Since when have you been standing there?” Moneo asks.

“Since your hands started going to foreign places,” Kobo answers. He is crouching on a branch on top of Fey.

“Because I saw him running past our hiding place,” Fey answers Beta’s question. “I did not say anything because you would have freaked out and he would have found us.”

“So, we just got lucky on the first trial?” Beta asks. “What would happen on the second one? We cannot depend on luck.”

“Then we must train more,” Fey says. “We cannot depend on hiding on every trial. We might have to take risks.” She turns and begins walking away. Kobo jumps off the branch to follow her. “Come on. You can have sex later. Right now, let’s eat something.”

Beta gives one worried look at Moneo. He smiles, trying to calm her. He extends his hand. “Come on. Let’s not worry tonight.”

***

East wakes up in the morning with a headache. He should not have drunk so much last night. Still, he forces himself to stand up and do his morning routine. Once he is dressed fully with his brown uniform and the grey armor plates, he walks out of the room. Just outside of the dorm, he spots Slier waiting for him.

“Remind me not to drink so much next time,” she says. East tries to grin, but he is not feeling it. He looks into her green eyes. Did he kiss her last night? He has a faint feeling that he did, but he does not remember.

“Last night is nothing but a blur to me,” he answers.

“Me too,” she says. They begin walking towards the lunchroom. They are early for the meeting. They could drink coffee, if students were allowed, until their headaches disappear.

They walk in silent one beside the other, even though Slier is two steps in front. She always likes to take the lead. East’s eyes move to watch her back. She does not have an hourglass figure. Her black hair is shorter than most women at Morningstar. He can see at the back of her neck the beginning of her long scar.

He remembers the first time that he saw it. It was a few years ago. It was around two in the morning on a day where there was no curfew. She had gone to take a shower at the empty communal showers while East waited outside with a bottle of rum in his hand. He thought that she was taking so long. He went to check up on her and he saw her taking a shower. Her back was towards him and he saw the scar. It started on the back of her neck and traced her white skin of her back until it stopped at her hip.

“How did you get that scar?” he had asked. She turned and covered herself with her arms as she yelled at him to get out. It is normal in Morningstar to see anyone naked. Men have to share showers with men and women with women. Some even skinny dip at the lake among men and women. But she somehow was ashamed.

“What would happen today?” East asks, trying to eliminate the awkward silence.

“Morning said that training begins today,” Slier answers. She shakes her head. “I do not know what will happen. They are not predictable. We have to be ready for anything.”

“Yeah,” East says, and they proceed to enter the lunchroom.

***

Vil did not like the trial. She wonders who did. She spent her time going the opposite way from the assassin. She did not want to confront him. She was fine not skipping the trials. She knew that she could not kill him anyway.

After the trial, she did not feel like celebrating. Some people did feel like it, and she did not understand why. No one closed to her died at the trial. Hell, she does not have anyone closed to her, but still she did not feel like celebrating.

“There were precisely one hundred deaths at the first trial,” Morning continues announcing. “That leaves four hundred students.”

Vil feels disgusted. He speaks of death as if it were pieces of bread wasted. She sometimes wonders if the Times have a heart.

“Those four hundred students will be divided in groups of twenty students,” he says. “Each one of you will be given an instructor. He or she will train you and advocate for your group on the upcoming trials.” He is alone at the stage. Where are the instructors? “Form a line. I will be giving each one of you the place where you will meet your instructor.”

Vil is in front of the stage. She moves to form a line. She is one of the first students to step on the stage. Morning hands her a folded piece of paper. She bows at him before leaving the stage. She opens it once she is outside.

Draconic 23.

***

Phoenix holds her paper open. “Draconic 23,” she says out loud.

“Same as mine,” Rin says.

“Mine too,” Zanna answers.

“At least we are not separated,” Phoenix says as she begins to head to the Draconic building.

“Don’t you think that it is odd?” Rin asks. “We weren’t separated. Who made the groups? I mean, there are four hundred students and twenty groups of twenty people. Our chances of being together in the same group are…” She looks at Zanna.

“One in eight thousand,” Zanna answers.

“Maybe Morning did not want to separate us,” Phoenix says.

“Come on, wouldn’t he?” Rin asks. Phoenix shrugs even though Rin is right. He would have separated them if he had the chance. He is heartless, after all.

The Draconic building is red outside. It does not have glass windows like most of the buildings. Instead, it has black windows that open right through the middle. Inside, it is empty. The floor is made of red and black square tiles and the walls are scarlet. Phoenix does not like it. It seems as if some evil cult makes ritual in here.

They walk through the steps into the second floor. They find the room 23 quickly. They open the door and step in. The first thing that Phoenix sees is the assassin sitting on top of the desk.

“Oh, no,” Phoenix says. “Don’t tell me that you are our instructor.”

“I am sorry to disappoint you,” he simply says. He is still wearing the same gray cloak and black clothes. He even has the gray mask that covers his mouth and nose. He stares at her, who is still standing by the door. “You may take a seat. Or you can leave. I should warn you that if you leave, Morning will take that as if you are surrendering to the trials. That means that you won’t graduate which takes you–”

“You do not have to explain this to me,” Phoenix says. “I am not a noob.”

Phoenix enters the room, followed by Zanna and Rin. She spots some familiar faces. Lexan is there, seated beside a guy with black hair that she has never seen. There is also Xeon, the guy that has a crush on Zanna, and two of his friends. Phoenix thought that they were a group of four. Guess that she was wrong.

She recognizes Fey, sitting in front of the room. She is also with her group, which consists of the guy that appears more animal than human, and the couple of Moneo and the hunter girl. There is also Slier and East, which are one of the strongest duos at Morningstar. There is a shy girl with black hair that reaches her neck at the end of the room. Phoenix and her crew sit at the back with her.

No one talks, not even the assassin. He only remains with his eyes closed as if he were meditating. Phoenix feels the fire inside her rising. She wants the assassin dead, and now she has to work with him. She has to depend on him. She won’t. She won’t depend on him.

The door opens and Phoenix’s fire rises. Tilray enters the room with her crew.

***

“Oh, no,” Tilray says once she sees the assassin. “You have guts to show your face right after you killed Urho.”

“It is not guts,” the assassin says. “You are the one who showed up, not me.” He extends his hand. “Take a seat.”

Tilray enters the room, stomping. She stops when she sees Phoenix. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“If you do not want to see me, you can leave,” Phoenix says. She shakes her head fast as if she just realized that she said something unusual. “I am not in the mood for you today. I have someone already in here which I do not want to see.”

“For once, we might agree on something,” Tilray says. She sits down and her crew sits down around her.

The assassin stands up from the desk. “Welcome,” he says. “Look at everyone around you. Memorize the names and faces because starting today, these are going to be the most important people in your lives.”

“No can do,” Tilray says. “I do not know half this people and I hate the other half. I would never consider them important.”

“If that is what you want, then all right,” the assassin says. “But I should warn you. The trials from this point forward are on teams. You will be evaluated as teams. If your team does not pass, you will not pass neither.”

And with that, Tilray wants to kill the makers of the trials.