Jon’s smile faded slowly from his lips. “I already said, ye remind me of my sister,” he explained slowly in a voice little more than a whisper. “Family doesn’t sacrifice in the hope of later recompense.”
“I am not your family!” she snapped.
Jon nodded, and his expression turned dark as he did so. “Aye, but I’ll never get the chance to do for her like I done for you.”
Gilai’el stood slowly from the desk. She had no idea what he meant, but she knew that she was tired of his interference.
“If I succeed, it will be of my own accord,” she growled. “I owe you nothing,” she repeated before returning to her desk a moment before the bed chime rang.
11
One Long Class
After six months of intense study, Gilai’el felt that she was beginning to understand the lesson which was taught day after day. It was clearly more difficult for her than for others, but that merely served to strengthen her resolve to dedicate herself to the task.
Twenty-two people exchanged places in the classroom, allowing Heldryn to ascend into the student body two months prior. Jon had even killed one of the latest entries inexplicably. After he had not incurred the wrath of the other Students, Gilai’el knew it had been part of some sort of classroom politics, but she did not care to know the details. She needed to get through this class — soon.
The daily life in this classroom was like nothing she had ever expected. The demeaning chamber pot which could only be used when the lights were off, the meager rations of food and water, and the absolute lack of privacy was more than she could handle.
Gilai’el had also learned what package the Student had received when she vomited all over her desk during the first lesson, as well as why he had received it. Seven other new Students had reacted in the same fashion as herself during their first lesson, and after the third, she noticed a small slip of paper on her evening meal tray. There were checkboxes next to options, such as ‘vomit during first lesson,’ ‘challenge course within one week,’ or ‘cry self to sleep one night in first week.’
The entire thing disgusted her, so she had torn her paper to shreds and not eaten that meal. That a person’s misery could be traded on by their fellow classmates was appalling. Of the new Students, five had generated ‘winners’ as the Professor had tossed similar packages to the one he had given the boy who had apparently guessed that Gilai’el would lose control of her stomach. The contents of those boxes were apparently toiletries, such as moist washcloths, small vials of liquid soaps and other extremely expensive personal hygiene products.
Gilai’el resolved to challenge the course as soon as possible, which meant the next time a Student came through the golden hallway. It turned out to be Aribel, the young blond girl who had been with the Tyrdren boy Jon had thrown out the window.
“Who then, wishes to challenge this course?” asked the Professor, and Gilai’el stood immediately.
“I do,” Gilai’el said in a clear, determined voice.
Professor Danyel nodded as he had dozens of times before. “I hear you, Gilai’el ‘Scarlet’ Three,” he acknowledged. “Who wishes to contest her claim to ascension?”
Gilai’el looked back and glowered at Jon, who had not made any overt attempts to help her in recent months. His arms folded across his chest and he flashed a thin smile which was clearly less jovial than it had once been.
“I do,” said a young man in the second row.
“I have heard you, Norberto ‘Tangerine’ Three,” acknowledged the Professor.
Gilai’el walked toward the Professor, who produced a scarlet-red ring from the box which he handed to her.
She felt her hands trembling as she placed the ring on her finger, but she saw that Norberto looked calm and confident.
They took their positions opposite each other, and Gilai’el forced herself not to look at Jon, whose eyes she could almost feel through her skin. She barely even heard the Professor as he repeated his pre-contest instructions for the beating of her heart.
Gilai’el was confident she had learned how to focus her mind and shut out external disruptions, so she closed her eyes just before hearing Danyel’s raised voice.
“Begin!” instructed the curly-haired teacher.
Gilai’el tried to focus, and instantly she saw a firm, scarlet-red pattern in her mind’s eye. She knew it was being created by the ring, and she also knew that she needed to concentrate in order to breathe energy into the spell.
She controlled her breathing for several seconds before finally feeling a warm sensation spread across her body. She willed the magical energies toward the spell itself, which she imagined being anchored to the ring on her finger, and a second later she felt the ring compress her finger, causing mild discomfort but nothing more.
Gilai’el opened her eyes just in time to see the Professor pull back his hand, and the mild orange color of her opponent’s energy beam struck her own. The sensation of pressure soon became incredible, and it seemed to crush her entire hand in a vice as she struggled to maintain control over her ring’s energy beam.
The warring beams of energy swirled into a sphere where they met, and Gilai’el knew she was already losing ground. The look on her opponent’s face was one of savage fury, and his lips were peeled back in a wolf-like snarl.
She closed her eyes and tried to increase her energy’s flow into the ring, and it responded almost immediately as it surged forward, driving the point of contesting energies back past the Professor in the blink of an eye.
Gilai’el felt a thrill of anticipation as she knew she was about to win the contest, and that knowledge drove her beam further toward the wide-eyed Norberto.
“Gilly, behind you!” she heard a voice from her left, and without thinking, she turned to see the threat behind herself.
Her red beam lost cohesion almost immediately, and before she realized the warning had been a hoax, she felt her hand squeezed by the ring’s power just before the wind was knocked from her lungs by a massive impact that filled her vision with an orange aura.
The last words she heard before losing consciousness were, “Well done, Norberto ‘Tangerine’ Three.”
* * *
Her head snapped up from the desk, and she saw the Professor looking over at her with the same look he had given all the other Students that had failed to ascend beyond his classroom.
“Good of you to join us, Gilai’el ‘Scarlet’ Three,” he remarked dryly.
The sensation of waking up immediately after losing consciousness was extremely disorienting, and more than a little frightening. She wondered what might have happened to her, and how long she had been unconscious before being returned to the classroom by the now-vanished Custodians.
Gilai’el looked back up at Jon, as she knew he had been the one to call out her name, and she could see a pained look on his face.
But it did not matter. He had cost her the right to get out of their hellish classroom, and she would never forgive him.
* * *
Six more months passed, and during that time seven Students who had failed the contest for ascension never returned to the classroom, including a pair of House Listoh girls. Gilai’el did not care what happened to them; she needed to get out of there, but was required to wait at least six months before once again attempting to challenge the course.
When the golden corridor opened its door for the sixtieth time since her inclusion in the class, it was Jon who challenged for the right to ascend past the classroom.
Like only Pryzius before him, no one dared challenge his passage through the golden corridor. Gilai’el knew he had been incredibly persuasive during his time in the classroom, and she was glad to be rid of him for what would hopefully be the last time.
He cast another of his infuriating winks in her direction as he strode past the latest entrant to the classroom. It was a woman Gilai’el did not recognize, and she was strikingly beautiful in every possible way to the raven-haired girl’s mind.
The blond-haired Verilisa flashed a smile at Gilai’el as she passed, and the younger girl was immediately jealous of her beauty. Her hips swung rhythmically as she walked, and even her simple, brown Student’s clothing failed to conceal the outrageous curves of her body. Gilai’el was petite, and while she had feminine attributes of her own, they were nothing compared to this woman’s.
The moment of jealousy soon passed as Gilai’el refocused on the task at hand: surviving the next six months of monotony and degradation, before finally ascending out of the damned classroom.
* * *
With little more than a month remaining, and another dozen entrants to the classroom having nearly completely erased every member of the class which had been there longer than herself, Gilai’el had re-doubled her efforts to the point where she could stare at the shifting, nauseating diagram on the wall for the entire time it was presented without losing control over her faculties.
In fact, there were times that her concentration and focus were so superbly tuned that it seemed as though the entire day passed in a matter of seconds, which told her that she would not fail in her next attempt.
So it was with more than a little surprise that Gilai’el found Verilisa standing in front of her desk one evening after the Custodians had brought their food. The blond-haired girl had modified her clothing to be more suggestive, including taking in the waist of her tunic to accentuate her impossibly thin abdomen, which flared exaggeratedly in both vertical directions.
“Gilai’el,” Verilisa greeted the raven-haired sixteen-year-old.
The raven-haired girl looked up at the older woman coldly. “Yes,” she replied simply.
Verilisa leaned forward, and Gilai’el couldn’t help but notice her ample cleavage present itself through the now low-cut centerline of the tunic. “I believe your next attempt for ascension is close at hand,” the blond girl purred.
“It is,” agreed Gilai’el shortly. She wanted nothing to do with this woman, and thus far the black-haired girl had managed to successfully keep from participating in classroom politics.
“Then we have something in common,” exclaimed Verilisa, “for I am also ready to challenge this course.”
Gilai’el knew where this was going, so she decided to cut to the chase. “Then we shall see who is better prepared for the contest,” she replied evenly.
Verilisa’s thin, perfectly manicured eyebrows rose in surprise. “Oh no,” she laughed lightly, “you misunderstand me. I would prefer not to go against you,” she explained, “as you are one of the senior class members, and such a contest might prove…hazardous to my own ascension.”
Gilai’el smirked and nodded. “It would,” she affirmed dryly.
“Which is precisely why,” the beautiful blond girl continued as she slid around the desk to kneel beside Gilai’el, “we must work together to avoid such an outcome.”
The black-haired girl shook her head defiantly. “I will not play the games of this classroom,” she retorted.
“Once again,” purred Verilisa, “you misunderstand my intentions. I merely wish to extend the hand of friendship, by suggesting I might have a way to determine the one who will challenge you. A favorable matchup might see you leave this horrible place,” she suggested with a lengthy pause before adding, “while an unfavorable one would bring about yet another year of atrocious muck to eat — not to mention the lack of privacy.”
Gilai’el sneered. “Who is to say that the next classroom will be any better?”
Verilisa’s rich, blue eyes flashed as she whispered, “I know that the next step is the final stop on our way through this ‘College,’ and that it comes with private accommodations, as well as full-time servants and every other imaginable luxury.”
Gilai’el cocked an eyebrow incredulously. “And how did you come by this information?” she whispered conspiratorially, in spite of herself.
Verilisa shrugged as she stood. “I have my own methods,” she winked. “All I ask is that sometime in the future, you will return my gesture of friendship — if I have need of your assistance.”
Gilai’el glared at her, but the prospect of private rooms and an end to the lack of privacy was enough to cause her heart to pound in her ears.
“I will take your silence as acceptance of my proposal,” said the blond girl smoothly, just as the second chime of the evening rang.
Verilisa quickly returned to her own desk, and Gilai’el was left to imagine an end to Professor Danyel’s awful classroom, which made her stomach churn with anticipation.
* * *
A few days after Verilisa had made her proposal, Gilai’el had settled into her uncomfortable mattress as the lights dimmed. She was nearly asleep when she heard a woman’s low, moaning voice from the middle of the room.
The moaning became louder and louder until it was a near shriek of ecstasy, which caused a stir of whispers and snickers throughout the room. Gilai’el did not recognize the voice those moans belonged to, but she snorted derisively as she came to understand Verilisa’s method of assuring a favorable matchup.
It was the first time two Students had so blatantly engaged in a sexual act in the middle of the classroom — even at night — and after less than a minute, the sounds subsided, and the room was so quiet she could have heard a pin drop on the floor.
The scene repeated itself nearly every night, and after a week a few other Students began to join in the nightly ritual of debasement. A few fights broke out during the evening meal, which were unusual in that they were between pairs of men, pairs of women and even a few mixed groups, which made Gilai’el understand just how efficient Verilisa’s manipulative plan had been.
Verilisa had turned the entire class’s attention from their daily studies, and likely spun a web of intrigue which she could use to manipulate the other members of the class into doing exactly as she wanted. Gilai’el saw the extent of her manipulation, and after the month had passed, the entire classroom was wrapped tightly around the blond woman’s little finger.
Gilai’el needed to get out of there.
12
Challenges
The day came that Gilai’el could challenge to leave the classroom, and she knew that another year among these self-interested, often savage Students would be more than her sanity could take. So, when a young girl from House Listoh entered through the golden corridor just two days after Gilai’el was allowed to challenge the course, she had intended to answer the Professor’s summons first.
But she was too late as she heard a girl’s voice from the second row call out, “I do.”
The Professor nodded. “And does anyone wish to contest her right to ascension?” he asked expectantly.
Gilai’el stood from her desk promptly. “I do,” she bit out through clenched teeth.
“Very well,” the instructor affirmed, “this contest is between Aribel ‘Platinum’ Four and Gilai’el ‘Scarlet’ Three. The victor will ascend beyond this classroom, while the loser must remain in this hall for at least one calendar year before re-attempting to ascend.”
The rings were handed to them, and Gilai’el took hers silently as she slid it over her finger.
She noticed Aribel look up at Verilisa with fury in her eyes, and Gilai’el momentarily wondered how Verilisa had managed to convince the younger girl to challenge for ascension.
Then she banished the thought from her mind, as she knew there would be no stopping her from succeeding this time. Nobody would stand in her way — not even Aribel, a fellow House Listoh member.
“Begin!” ordered the Professor, and without even closing her eyes Gilai’el summoned the image of the spell within the ring to her mind’s eye and fueled it with her own energy, causing the bright red beam to strike the Professor’s hand nearly as quickly as Jon had done six months earlier.
Aribel’s face was a twiste
d expression of anger, but after a few seconds, she managed to evoke a nearly solid-looking, silvery beam to spring from her ring and also strike the Professor’s hand.
The Professor removed his interposing hand, and the battle began. Gilai’el had no need for pageantry, and she had no desire to harm her opponent in the process, so she decided to give the contest everything she had.
She closed her eyes and cut herself off from outside stimuli. Gilai’el thought she heard a woman’s voice from just beyond the edge of her consciousness, but she neither cared — nor was able — to make out the words. Her concentration and focus were at maximum.
The black-haired girl’s focus was so complete that she nearly fell forward when the contest came to an abrupt end. She had not realized just how much physical backpressure was being created by the contest, and its sudden disappearance was enough to make her stagger forward before regaining her balance.
“Well done, Gilai’el ‘Scarlet’ Three,” congratulated the Professor. “You have earned your ascension beyond this hall and into the general student body.” He gestured toward the golden corridor, and Gilai’el stole a glance toward Verilisa as she turned.
The beautiful, conniving girl smiled almost seductively as Gilai’el turned to leave the classroom through the same hall she had entered a year and a half earlier.
“It would appear we have an opening in our class,” were the last words she heard the Professor say before the door to the moving chamber at the end of the golden hallway closed automatically, and she once again felt the sensation of downward motion.
That motion continued for nearly a minute, during which time Gilai’el braced herself for what was ahead. The door slid open almost silently, and she stepped forward into a very similar room to the one which she had come to after passing the Entrance Examination.
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