Six people who jumped at the chance of humiliating four unofficial students—to make sure we would fail before we ever began.
Three of them were at the top of their classes—students carefully picked by Ergos’ staff, so we could all be properly evaluated.
And I knew this because Belenus Kairon made sure to point this out as he announced the name of each sophomore in front of us. As the man went over, once again, the rules of the exam and what was being expected of us, all I could hear was the sounds echoing in my own head.
The muted screams I would never dare to set loose, the ones raging against Fate and Life as once again I found myself in a powerless and vulnerable position in front of the single person I didn’t want to see. Not in moments like those.
Not when her very existence was enough proof of how much lower I was from where she stood. Her position, her talent, her authority, her possessions.
I didn’t know what any of the nine sophomores looked like, not even when Belenus forced us to shake hands before going to our places—my gaze was fixated on the ground. On my own calloused hands. And when we were finally done with the forced pleasantries, all fourteen students went to their assigned starting line. Only once.
My eyes moved only once.
When I got hold of that sweet scent, and touched those cold hands.
Ceres and Elowen contacted me the second the doors in front of us started opening.
The moment I sent the reply, I let out a shaken breath. Below me, Styx was already stretching his muscles and flexing his wings. He was excited—no, he was expectant. To compete once again in a real race, to fly against other dragons. It was something that, though I had noticed before, became crystal clear as time passed.
How Styx belonged in the sky.
How he was a racer—through and through.
I could understand better, his previous owner decision. Why they didn’t consider retiring Styx and put him up for sale instead. For dragons like Styx, retirement was as good as death. It was not uncommon for some dragons, after they were forced to retire either due to their age or sustained injuries, to start deteriorating after some time, until they passed away.
Although I couldn’t be sure for how long I would be Styx’s owner, the one thing I was certain of was that as long as he was with me—
Life would not be stale.
“Are you ready to show them? The pain in the ass you can be.”
There was a low growl in response, the dragon’s body getting into position.
“If we get at least fourth place, I’m ordering your winter flowers again.”
Not half a second had passed after the signal was given before Styx had taken flight. And not two seconds had passed since we were in the air before I saw dragons rushing to charge at me.
Styx dodged them with ease, yet it didn’t take long for me to realize what my competitors were trying to do. At the entrance exam’s race, things had been chaotic. Hundreds of people and their mounts trying to be the best—to be even a few more meters ahead than the others.
This time was different.
It was ten against four. And these ten had nothing to lose.
Styx was fast. Yet when there were three wingless dragons charging at full speed at him, with the sole purpose of taking us out…it made things more complicated. Especially when these students were far more experienced riders than I. Styx could maneuver on his own, yet doing that repeatedly would consume too much time, time we could not afford to lose.
Not only that, Belenus would definitely deduct points from me.
I let the wingless trio get closer as I lowered my goggles. Then—
I just waited.
A burst of light blinded the jolly trio on the spot, the dragons crashing into one another as Elowen and his mount flew right above us.
Right on cue…
Without delay, Styx boosted us and made his way downwards, toward the woods. Before, I would’ve avoided navigating through the woods. Not only did it involve too much maneuvering, it would also take too much of Styx’s stamina. However, this race had only two lanes and one stop.
And I just so happened to come across some nice potions.
My hand opened one of the pouches in my belt, my fingers closing around the glass vial. I threw the thing back, the sound of Styx’s tail grabbing the thing and throwing it as sharp as a whip. In the next second, Styx sent an air shot in front of us, and as the glass vial broke, a bright blue light exploded in the area, spreading across the trees ahead at a steady pace.
Freezing their leaves and branches.
Since my riding skills were lacking when compared to the sophomores’, the plan was to fly as far away from them as possible. The path of those woods was too narrow for a four-legged, and with the trees frozen, the wingless dragons could easily hurt themselves since their skin was nowhere as thick as their other kin.
As Styx boosted our way through, it didn’t matter if there were others two-legged behind us. Our goal was to reach the stop as soon as possible, while avoiding direct clashes with the sophomores. I was half disappointed and half grateful to see how the upperclassmen were behaving exactly as I predicted.
“If what Professor Bel told us is true, they will have some handicaps—to make things a little more balanced. Their dragons probably won’t be able to use their attributes.”
Those were the words I said to Ceres and Elowen when we first started planning our strategy.
“They will only race seriously in the second half. Before that, our goal is to avoid their tactics.”
And although I couldn’t be a hundred percent certain at the time, I almost want to laugh at how predictable and pitiful the prideful “Ergos elite” was.
Let us see how haughty you will act, once we crush this pride of yours.
As I maneuvered Styx across the frozen woods, soon enough I spotted the last frozen trees as the black dragon dodged the others’ attacks—though they couldn’t use dragons’ attributes, the students themselves could use weapons and tools.
And dragons could use trees and rocks.
More than five times, I felt projectiles brushing against my cheeks and shoulders, and at least two times, Styx almost got hit by his kin's throwing rocks. However, there was something particular about this lane. I couldn’t be sure if all the others knew. Perhaps they didn't. But over the past months, I had learned many things with Professor Taliesin’s elective.
One of them was how to study a lane’s design. And the man used many examples, from famous lanes built in the past, as well as some from Ergos itself.
Such as this one.
And if one took the path in the woods, there was a shortcut to the first stop—hidden between bushes and tall rocks—in the form of a hole.
I grabbed another vial from my pockets, not being at all careful as I crushed it in my hands. The explosion—although not actually harmful—had enough force to give a nasty recoil, dislocating my shoulder. I gritted my teeth, ignoring the sharp pain as a thick cloud of mist expanded between me and the three competitors who chased us.
It took two seconds to spot the shortcut, and half to give Styx the signal. The black dragon dove in one go, his wings practically glued to his body as the cave swallowed us in its darkness and cool, rough walls. I took one glower, avoiding using my right hand, and held it with my mouth.
There should be another exit…there!
Pulling the reins 45° to the right, Styx entered the tunnel. Its path was narrow, but it had enough space for him to use his wings without many risks. We ventured into the cave’s system with precision—speed. And when we finally ascended, I found myself in a space almost identical to the stops from the entrance exam’s lane.
And somehow, the first thing my eyes landed on was her.
Of course she is here…
She was likely the first.
From the moment the doors opened, I never even saw her. As if she had just now entered the race. There were a few more sophomores present as well, yet none of them had the same presence. A force that weakly resembled Alantra Harris' and her mount’s. I couldn’t see her face clearly from where I was, yet I wondered what she looked like at that moment.
Was she wearing that same passive, unbothered expression of hers? Or was she barely hiding the disdain and sense of superiority she felt about the rest of us? As we were about to start the last half of the race, would she spare some of her time to laugh at us, or we weren’t worth even this much?
I glanced down at the black crystal on my wrist.
0:23
0:22
0:21
It took no time at all for Elowen and Ceres to arrive, and the second they spotted me I saw their hands furiously typing.
Instead of losing precious time with encouraging words or useless statements, I spared a couple of seconds to look around. To check the state of the sophomores.
Now…
This will be our final standing. The last distance we need to cross.
I took a deep breath. We would have three seconds.
Three seconds where we could charge ahead, three seconds where the sophomores would be forced to watch us without being able to move.
0:12
0:11
0:10
Seconds that could be our very last chance to pass this arduous race. To officially enroll Ergos.
I glanced at my crystal—at my current position.
8th.
At the entrance exam, I ended up on 6113th from 10000. Somehow, things didn’t feel much different. Back then, 6113th hadn’t been enough. Just like how 8th place was not enough, in this race.
Not for Ergos Academy.
Not for someone who aimed to reach the very top.
0:06
0:05
0:04
My eyes shifted to that woman one more time.
0:03
0:02
Then I tightened my grip on the reins and looked straight ahead.
0:01
0:00
Because this time, things would be different.
I would make sure of it.