CHAPTER 35: WHITE HALL

Aerith pushed the metal wheelchair around with little effort, Nasha sat in it staying very quiet as they made their way out of their infirmary and to a huge hall where everyone was supposed to meet. "No one told them where to go. Eventually, someone found the way and the rest followed.

On the way Aerith tried to talk to Nasha or console her but he felt it would not matter to her. Nothing he said could bring back her legs, if he was a stranger he would have had the courage to speak. But he was the cause of her predicament.

He could only curse himself for having nothing to say. Emil walked right next to them, she remained very silent. Still he felt he should have said something but his conscience betrayed him of that. So their journey to the hall was quiet but short lived.

Every push of the wheelchair felt heavier than the last. Not because of Nasha’s weight but because of his own.

The passageway they went through was filled with halls and hundreds of doors. Everything was painted white making it seem bland or lazy. When they reached the hall, it was concealed behind a huge white door. They each took a deep breath before walking into the room.

The inside was a huge and shaped in a circle, the floor tiled. Hundreds of beautiful stainless seats covered in soft comfortable foam cushions. The seats were all stacked one step a over the previous row like stairs, they formed an arc before a small space in front where a podium stood.

On the seats were over three hundred of the people who had been called into the tower, a number of them still stayed in the infirmary to recover from their injuries. Aerith and his gang did not have the courtesy of that luxury, he needed to see what the Testmaster had to teach them.

Avoiding the eyes of the number of people they passed by they took their seats on the verge first row which had a long line of chairs only half full. Most of the others had chosen to stay at the back seats which Aerith wanted to do also, but pushing a wheelchairs up stairs of stacked chairs was not going to be an easy task.

So he took his seat by the edge of the row, Emil on his right and Nasha on his left. Then they waited, there was murmurs coming from the other crossers. Most of them were making new friends, others trying to form connections.

Aerith grimaced at the thought of being friends with people who had tried to murder themselves barely days ago. "Not my cup of tea." He hissed under his breath.

Just like a gun going off the hall fell to silence so sudden one could hear a pin drop several meters away. They all froze as the felt the familiar chill in the air, the sway in the breeze. A second later the Testmaster walked into the room, his walk was majestic and glorious. Aerith grimaced again, "Bastard."

Since he was sitting up front he could clearly make out the features of the man in the sky very clearly. The first thing that caught his eyes was his outfit which was a fitted white suit with gold lines around it’s shoulders and arms. Whatever texture was used to make the suit became obviously clear that it was not normal material. It looked like it was passed, alongside trousers of similar quality the man in the sky did look like a man who was born for the sky.

His hair was the same colour as gold, and it radiated as such. His face was as one would expect, flawless and looking like it was bathed in baby oil. Looking at it made Aerith cringe. The air around him shimmered faintly, bending light as if it couldn’t decide whether to obey him or not.

The Testmaster stopped right before the podium before facing them, his lashes as well as eyes showed the gold radiance in them. And his face had to be the most empty and serious face Aerith had ever seen.

On the podium there seemed to be a mic stand and a small mic on it, but it’s design seemed slick and small. The Testmaster spoke, letting his voice carry to all corners of the room.

"L"You’ve survived, that alone is your reward. The prey has been culled." He paused and stared at them for a moment before pressing on. "The tower is believed to have eight floors, each more gruesome than the last. But only four have been explored so far."

Someone raised their hand in the huge hall drawing the attention of the testmaster and some. "I have a question", said the voice of a thin young girl with short brown hair, she looked a little bit shorter than Aerith but more bolder than he could ever be. The testmaster gave her a light nod prompting her to continue. "What do you mean by eight floors, why would you need so many people to work their way through to eight floors for a measly wish?"

Testmaster Varrick hesitated a bit before answering. "The history of the tower is long, just as most of you were called here some of us were born right here in the tower."

These words caused a few gaps and murmurs to erupt in the crowd. Aerith himself found that hard to believe, "Now what’s this load of bullcrap? How is anyone actually born in this shit hole."

Varrick waited for a short moment before speaking. "You all will live here for the next week preparing for your first voyage through the doorways to uncharted realms we call Crypts. If you can conquer the danger there and return your ranks might be raised to awakened. You are free to train and explore the resources such as the library, till then. I will personally hold lessons to teach you how to use your abilities."

Aerith cursed under his breath. "There’s so much information all at once, it’s hard to focus."

The testmaster continued after a brief pause. "However there is one rule that must not be broken, a crosser are not permitted to kill another crosser. The penalty will be death." Varrick looked at the crowd making sure his message got passed across well. "Class dismissed." He turned and walked away, leaving them all to grasp the gravity of yet another strange fate.

Aerith still had to grasp his head about everything, a week did not seem like enough time to learn anything before they would be sent off. And now they would need to know how to fight. Heaving a sigh of relief he was pleased about the no kill rule, knowing fully well that somewhere behind him was a fallen angel looking to end him.

"I have to get stronger, dammit!" He screamed within himself. "A whole lot stronger or I won’t be able to do anything if he comes back."

He had decided within himself, that in one week he would be a more capable leader to his cohort. No matter the cost, he would not be used by anyone ever again.

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