by Elle Grace
“Welcome everyone to this year’s trial ceremony. We are excited to see some new faces and some old ones undertake this tradition and sacred trial and prove themselves worthy or our organisation. Without further to do, let us begin.” He said loudly. “As I read your name please step forward and commerce your trial.” He spoke to the candidates. “Aurora Hart of Munduus.” He read from the paper and I stepped forward. I did not want to go first. I did not want to go at all.
“What do I do?” I whispered to James who stood next to me.
“Do you not know?” He whispered back and I shook my head. It had not been covered in my version of training. He frowned at me. “You go and cut open your hand and then you place it against the wall of the arch. Then the portal appears.” He said it as if it was normal like he was telling how to use a self-checkout machine in a supermarket.
I stepped forward nervously. The people on the platform watched me. I did as I had been instructed and used the small blade that sat in a bowl by the arch. I placed my bloody hand to the stone, and it sparked to life. A blue wall of what looked like viscous water danced across the archway. If I had not believed in magic before that moment, I certainly did after I saw it. Next to the podium a screen burst to life showing the shimmering liquid. I wondered if they would be able to see what happened beyond the arch on the screen. As the drums sounded in the distance, I entered the shimmering blue wall of water not knowing what was to come next.
* * *
As soon as I entered it was pitch back. The shimmering blue wall had disappeared behind me and I was left on my own not know what was going to happen next.
A clacking sound was distant, and I frowned trying to get my eyes to adjust to the lack of light faster. There were clear shuffling footsteps getting closer to me and I realised the clacking sound was a walking stick on the stone floor beneath me. Shadows ran around me whispering, I could feel the air move as they passed close to me. They all suddenly stopped.
“Welcome Miss Hart. We were wondering when you would be here.” An old voice croaked as a hooded figure stepped forward.
“Who are you?” I asked suspiciously.
“I am the Founder.” He stated.
“The Founder of the Inperium? That Founder?” I questioned.
“A version of him, yes.” He said.
“I suppose that makes sense.” I muttered to myself. Nothing made sense at this insane place, I thought to myself.
“I have to ask you a couple of questions.” He forged forward.
“Okay.” I said. Trying to get a better look at his face which the hood completely covered.
“Do you undertake this trial on behalf of the Inperium, to serve them as the organisation sees fit?” He began.
“Yes, I suppose…” A gong sounded in the distance.
“The trial will tell us all your true breeding. Do you understand?” He only wanted a yes.
“So, I will know what part human I am.” I had my own questions.
“Yes, you will, but it comes at a cost.” He said, talking in riddles.
“Which is?”
“Not for me to say.” He was being cryptic.
“Okay.” I rolled my eyes.
“It is time for you to begin then, Aurora.” He announced.
Instantly my surroundings were transformed. The Founder was gone. A room materialized around me, it was old and dusty, the wallpaper hung off the wall in places and the sofa was unlovingly placed threadbare. A fireplace stood, but not proudly. The floorboards were stained and the rug they covered them was bunched up against the wall.
Three doors sat along that wall. They all looked the same apart from symbols that they had on them. One looked like a dagger, one looked like a snake and the last one I recognised as the Imperium symbol. All three of the symbols looked familiar to me. I wondered if I had just seen them in Tristan’s books or before that. I chose the door with the Inperium symbol and walked in. I was not surrounded by a room like I had expected but a vast green plain.
The ground rumbled beneath me and I knew something was coming. I dived out of the way as trees rose from the ground around me and shot up into the sky until I was surrounded by a dense forest. It seemed like thousands of them. Everything was green and mossy, and the air smelt damp. I could barely see the sky for the trees. A loud noise surrounded me. I was not alone. Faces appeared around some of the trees, I could barely make them out. I had been spotted. People begun to step out of the trees all around me, but they were not people. Their hands looked long from a distance and I knew they were claws. Their faces grew grotesque as they stepped into what little light there was between the trees. I was unarmed, and I knew this wasn’t going to end well. I took a deep breath, the air filling my lungs was wet and stale. The creature things were charging towards me and I turned to run. I ran as fast as I could, and it seemed like the forest would never end. I looked behind me after a short while to see that nothing was chasing me. I slowed to a stop and looked around, more concerned than ever. I tried to catch my breath. I had never been a runner. Something hit the ground and as I turned to see it, a creature tried to slash me across my abdomen. I fell backwards. Crawling and clambering to get away. I got up and started running again, managing to find a small clearing with a little lighter. Creatures circled the clearing and stood in the dark, not daring to enter the light. That is when I realised some crucial information about the forest and the creatures. They only existed were the darkness was. I ran over to the closest tree and began to climb it. Leaving the clawed creatures on the forest bed. As I reached the top, I looked out at what seemed like miles and miles of trees. The ground rumbled again, and I thought, what next? The forest began to fade, and I hoped that meant the creatures too. The tree I clung to begin to fall sideways but slowly. As I reached the bottom, I stepped off from it gently and as I turned back it was gone. I was in the darkness again. Suddenly an open glass box rose up from the ground and swept me into it. It suddenly sealed and fell to the ground taking me with it. I landed hard and it hurt, that was going to leave one nasty looking bruise. I was kicking trying to get out. Almost immediately sand began to rise from the bottom of the box. It was not sand though, but salt. I could not see where it was coming from. It seemed to grow like magic. I was in a sand coffin. This whole trial felt unfair. I could not see what this had to do with working for the Inperium organisation. Surely recruits did not have to escape salt filled coffins often, I thought. I snapped back to reality. The salt was rising fast. I had to stop the salt. I looked at the glass it was not going to smash easy and there were no joins. Suddenly I had an idea. I started rocking the coffin. Using the weight of the salt against it. It was pushing hard but it was struggling to move. I rocked it again harder this time. Throwing as much as I could into it. The coffin rocked upward, and gravity pulled it back down hard. The glass hit the concrete floor just a bit too hard and shattered underneath me. A rather large shard of glass ripped into my arm. I yelped in pain. Blood was soaking the salt. I pushed with much difficulty to get the rest of the broken glass off me as it began to shatter further and stood up. I gently but quickly pulled the glass shard from my arm, cursing as I did so. I was grabbed by both arms and forced into a chair by an invisible power. My wrists were taped to the chair arms tightly and one of them threw a bucket of freezing water over my head. A new scene faded into existence with it. A badly lit room with bare brick walls and no windows. A huge vault door seemed to be the only exit.
“Hello, Miss Hart.” A voice said from the dark corner. “I bet you are wondering why you are here.” He stepped into the dim light and continued. I said nothing. I knew to say absolutely nothing no matter what.
“Not very chatty, are we?” He said and slapped me, hard. He wore a strange mask made of metal shaped like a skull. “You will talk.” I just looked at him. “I will make you talk.” He yelled as he plunged a small knife into my thigh. Searing pain ran through my leg, but I remained stone faced. I was cursing something rotten inside my head. I had to get
out, that was all I could think. He left the knife there as he turned around. I looked at it. I started shuffling getting my leg as close as I could to my hand to pull out the knife. I gently pulled it out, wincing and trying to be silent. The knife was in my hand and I made light work of cutting through the tape at my wrist. I was thankful they had not taped my legs. I tested my stabbed leg, moving it and then baring a tiny bit of weight on it. It seemed unaffected just painful. The man in the mask turned back to me now with a bigger knife.
“Any more vocal now Miss Hart?” He showed me the knife. I move quickly pushing his hand and making him stab himself under his chin. He crumpled. I ran for the vault door and opened it the best I could it was extremely heavy. The room behind had dissolved along with the gurgling dying breaths of the man in the mask.
I saw the water wall materialize in front of me and realised it was all over. I stepped through it. The world I had left behind had changed. The special visitor podium was now empty and there was one chair ominously tipped over. Colt stood looking at me, his gun firmly pointed at the other hybrids from my dormitory. They were all on their knees. Their hands tied behind their back.
“One of you is a traitor.” William was preaching. He saw me and stopped. I expected to have to join the line. “Miss Hart you have finished your trial and are now part of the Inperium.”
Lance and Caitlyn clapped, and I was surprised to see them happy about it.
“Your first task is to kill the traitor.” William told me.
“Well who is it?” I asked.
“You decide.” He said. “Who is the one that is most suspicious?” I could not believe what was happening. I certainly was not going to kill anyone they were all my friends. I knew no one was a traitor.
“I’m waiting.” William tapped his foot.
“Kill them all, then we know for sure.” Lance chimed in his two cents. Colt stepped forward and handed me a knife. Even in this situation they clearly couldn’t trust a Mult with a gun, I thought.
“Who is it?” I asked him as he stepped forward.
“I don’t care mongrel, just kill one of them.” It was at that point it clicked. Colt had genuinely apologised to me about being so vile, so why would he do it again? I thought.
“Well how do you know one of them is a traitor?” I asked. “Specifically?” I looked around and I realised everything was a little too bright. The faces in the crowd all bore the same creepy smile. I suddenly knew that I was still inside the trial and that I had to obey to pass.
“Kill one of them now or I will kill you all!” William barked. I stepped forward to Cameron, knowing he would forgive me in the real world for picking him. I stabbed him straight in the neck and after seconds he fell forward, dead. As his body hit the ground everything disappeared. I exhaled the breath I had been holding, thanking the heavens that I was right.
It was pitch black. I controlled my breathing and closed my eyes.
I was suddenly flung through the appearing liquid wall and landed outside on the stone ground hard. Some people prematurely cheered as they saw me.
“Did they have to throw you out Hart?” Colt chuckled as he gave me a hand up and steadied me as I nearly fell back over again. Everyone was intently looking at the blue wall waiting for something to happen. Orange smoke began to rise from the top of it. Pink quickly joined it, then purple and blue. The water wall itself slowly turned a dark shade of deep red, just like the Partenth stone had done. Some people gasped, some people turned and stared at me. I felt very uneasy. It looked like a thick wall of blood for a long moment before it went back to being blue.
“What does that mean?” An older woman sat near William voiced the question we were all thinking.
“I’m not sure.” William was deep in thought. “We will find out though. For now, please place Aurora in confinement until we can sort this out.” William beckoned two guards to come forward. They roughly put my hands behind my back and cable tied them together. People were whispering and watching interested.
“Is there really a need for that?” Colt exclaimed, angry at the rough treatment.
“Until we consult the ancient texts, we cannot possibly know what there is need for.” William answered coolly and I was dragged away down the gravel path. I could hear William announce they would move on to the next candidate as I left. I turned to see everyone watching me intently.
20
Colt
10am 9th September 2020
“You’ve changed your tune.” Tristan said his eyebrow raised. We had walked away from the circus next to the arch. I had an idea on how we could get Aurora freed.
“I just had to help her.” I replied.
“Guilt?” He asked.
“Something like that.”
He smirked at me and punched in a code to open the vault door. I forgot how much access he had. Air hissed from behind it as it slid open and I felt the temperature was several degrees cooler. Tristan stepped forward and down into the levels below the main building. As we reached the bottom, I could see rows and rows of books secured behind locked glass cabinets. The light was dim, and the concrete floor was poorly covered with a heavily patterned threadbare rug.
“What are you hoping to find?” Tristan asked.
“A reason for all the colours and why the archway portal and the Partenth stone changed colour.” I answered.
“The colours one is simple. Even William should know that. Aurora is a descendent of all four beings. That is why she had all four colours. It is very rare, but it has been seen before.” He answered and I nodded remembering that I had heard of it before. “The red coloured portal, I cannot explain.”
“That part was bizarre.” He sighed.
“She is special, isn’t she?” I asked him. Tristan was a man who knew a lot of things and I suspected he knew more about Aurora than he was letting on.
“You certainly think so.” He smirked knowingly at me.
“I mean a special hybrid.” I shut him down.
“I have considered that might be the case.” He said diplomatically. “I think we would be best to check the journals of Thomas Walsh as he was the man who created the arch trials. He should know the answer.”
I nodded in agreement and he opened a cabinet and pulled out several leather-bound journals and handed some to me along with some white cotton gloves that barely fit my hands. We sat down and began to skim read hoping to find the answer.
It seemed like hours passed in that underground room with the two of us reading by dim lamp light. Eventually Tristan shouted out that he had found something.
He read from the page.
May 12th, 1859, it was observed today that during a routine trial, a hybrid was illuminated as peculiar. Instead of the standard two or three smoke colours, four were seen. This itself has been seen before and therefore was not very alarming. However, the portal itself changed colour, dark purple. The Mult had no idea why.
“It seems like even Thomas Walsh didn’t know.” I sighed.
“Wait a minute, there is something scribbled in the margin.” Tristan squinted to read it.
A note on this. The hybrid in question seems to have some sort of connection to the portal, he is able to enter at will. The half breed has since been put down. This power is dangerous.
“What does that mean?” I asked unsure.
“I think it means that the arch isn’t closed to Aurora. It goes back to the basic principles, once a candidate has completed their trial and the smoke rises, that’s it. Their blood will never work to open the arch again. It seems that Rory, has a sort of loophole. Where she can enter the arch again for whatever reason.” He said and I was worried. William was not going to like that. He was a man of tradition and if traditionally they killed Mults with the power then I knew he would kill Aurora.
“We can’t tell William.” I stated.
“No, we can’t.” Tristan added.
“Can you wipe out the scribbled note. So, it just says the first bit?”
“Really?” He looked concerned; I knew damaging a book would hurt him.
“Yes, that way we can show it to William and say it is clearly just a glitch, because of all the different coloured smoke.” I spoke my plan out loud.
“Do you think he will buy it?” Tristan asked.
“I hope so.” I sighed.
“Wait, you really have changed your tune. A few days ago, you would have been saying that we should let her rot because she is a Mult and called her some offensive name. Now you are trying to help her. What is going on?” He stopped and looked at me.
“I hate all the stuff that has happened to her since she arrived here.” I mumbled.
“Hang on a moment.” Tristan eyed me suspiciously. “You have feelings for her, don’t you?”
“No.” I answered too quickly. “No more than any other new recruit.”
“I can tell you are lying.” Tristan laughed.
“I’m not.” I was defensive.
“If you are, you have to be careful.” He warned me and I knew what he meant. She was a hybrid and I was not allowed to have those kinds of feelings for her at the Inperium. It simply was not allowed.
