Nyxander watched the crowd disperse with a singular emotion wheeling within him.
Fear.
He kept getting reminded of how outclassed he was at every turn that it began to dishearten him.
You don't have to pass. You just have to find out if you have abilities for yourself and how to control them, he thought to himself.
And he was right. But he couldn't place why he wanted to pass too.
"Well that was interesting," Vhrenine said.
"That girl was... amazingly strong," Nyx replied.
"Yeah, she was. And without using her powers too, but it's not too much for you is it?"
"Huh? What're you—"
"If fate is your drive, it shouldn't be hard for you to beat her if she's your opponent."
Vhrenine's words reminded Nyx about their conversation last night and how she didn't trust his words.
"I don't think I'm that amazing," Nyx smiled awkwardly.
"Yeah, neither do I," Vhrenine frowned.
Not long after, the Faction ceremony began with Atlas at the stage speaking to the candidates.
"Good morning everyone. My name is Atlas Hindor and I am glad you all were able to take the bold step to applying for this exam. As you all know, these chain of events take about three weeks to complete. Now I will explain the program planned for this year.
"Today you would be assigned to groups called Factions which would be led by Faction Masters. Each faction would consist of roughly around fifty candidates. They would be five factions displayed on the five screens in this field. You are to walk over to each in search of your name.
"After that, you would remain there and gather in front of every screen that displays your correct faction. The next person who stands beside you is your faction ally. You would train under your Faction Master for three weeks and then come back to take the exam."
Atlas took a good look at the 258 candidates. "Let the Faction War begin!"
The huge screens came on and the crowd began the move in different directions. Nyx looked at the screens but the text was too small to see from where he stood.
"Hey," Vhrenine said to him, "let's go find out factions together."
"Uh... Yeah, sure," Nyx replied.
He was initially in search for his friends, but he hadn't seen a single one of them throughout the entire morning.
The two roommates began with the screen up-north of where they stood. As soon as they got to the screen; close enough to see the names displayed on the screen, Nyx's eye picked up the name of the Faction Master first.
"Menka... Cornerstone?" Nyx's eyes narrowed. "What the fuck?"
"That's the name of the name of the Faction Master heading the uh..." Vhrenine looked at the screen to read the name of the Faction, "...Star Faction. You say his name like you know who he is. Do you?"
Nyx paused. He was currently in his head and wasn't ready to answer her question.
Kerith's relative is a legionnaire? Wait. This can't be his father, is it? Nyx thought.
Kerith never had any depth to Nyx. He only saw him as a very self-centred person who was battle-ready no matter the scenario.
But perhaps if your father was a legionnaire, you had no choice but to be that way. He began to see that him and Kerith were probably parallels of each other.
Nyx also had a father who was a legionnaire, but he wasn't alive like Kerith's. Perhaps if his father was to be alive, he would be like Kerith.
It's just a guess. It might not even be his father, Nyx thought.
"Nyx, you're fucking zoning out," Vhrenine waved her hands in front of his face to get his attention again. "I asked if you knew him."
"Uhm, no," Nyx lied. "I have no idea who he could be."
To a degree, he thought he was protecting Kerith. If people got to know that one of the Faction Masters relative was in the exam, it would bring unnecessary attention to him.
"Let's just check the names," Nyx said.
The two stood in search for their own names but couldn't find them on the screen.
"Kaleb's here," Vhrenine noticed. "But he's the only one I can pick out here."
"Let's go check the other screens," Nyx replied.
They began to walk to the screen located North-East of the stage in the middle of the field. Before the could see the names displayed, Vhrenine quickly took note of the Faction Master who headed the group.
"It's Ragnar!" She mentioned.
"Like...the Ragnar Grendel?" Nyx asked, surprised.
"Yes!" Vhrenine responded in excitement.
Ragnar had a reputation of being 'the earth's favourite'. Everyone liked Ragnar—she was strong, willful, efficient and most of all, she loved the people.
But as soon as she got promoted to UR rank, she became scarce because of the number of weeks, or sometimes even months that her quests would take to complete.
It was truly a thing of amazement to have her amongst the Faction Masters for this year's exams.
"There's no fucking way she put me in her Faction. Give me a break. What is she obsessed with me?" A girl who stood beside Nyx said.
Nyx was forced to look at her because of how her hair forced reflections of light into his eyes. Vhrenine, who had noticed her a little moment back, looked at the screen and hers was the first name in the Earth Faction headed by Faction Master Ragnar Grendel.
Akasha.
Yes! It's her! Akasha. To think she's number one in Ragnar's faction. That's no coincidence. There's a high chance Ragnar has given this girl some sort of priority to place her there, Vhrenine thought to herself.
Nyx didn't say a word to her. He just stared and contemplated if he had nothing to ask her or he was just feeling intimidated after seeing the fight she put up earlier.
Akasha sighed and walked away from the screen.
"Oh... It looks like I belong here too," Vhrenine said as she caught sight of her name.
"That's incredible, Vhrenine! You get to be taught by Ragnar herself," Nyx smiled expressing his happiness for her.
"Yeah, but I'm just happy I get to watch Akasha."
"You mean that girl just now?"
"Yeah."
"Why do you want to watch her?"
"She's...intriguing in an odd way. I'm not sure how to put it but there's something to her."
Nyx nodded, even though he had no idea what Vhrenine was talking about.
"It looks like this is my stop, Nyx," Vhrenine said. "Go on and look for your Faction."
Nyx nodded in agreement and walked away from Vhrenine.
***
Two weeks had passed since the candidates were given their factions. Though just fourteen days had passed, most of the candidates were very different from when they came.
The entire atmosphere of the Legion was very much different from the day of inception.
Each Faction Master, had drilled strength into their candidates with their teachings; physical and theoretical. Most Faction Masters were certain their faction would yield more candidates to pass the exams.
And that was same for Dremont Dragonspear, leader of the Inferno Faction. But she had one student who wasn't improving in ways she desired.
She realised the method of approach had to change.
As the flames flickered from the exhalation of breath from her fiery lungs, she stood before her student for his last lesson.
"You are not to hold back at all," she said. "I'll let you hit first. Now come...
"Nyxander."