The First War Mage: Skyline Trials

"Mmmf…" I groaned out as light crawled its way into my closed eyes, bringing a layer of consciousness back to the surface. It was only a dim blue tone, the reflections of light bouncing into the room from the distant moon.

"You actually awake this time?" I heard Tulip's voice from my side. Her well-regulated voice was accented with the snapping of paper being pulled taut.

"I think… Wait—What do you mean this time?" I asked as I sat up, turning to look at Tulip.

"You've been up and down for the past few hours," She answered nonchalantly. "Makes it hard to sleep when you snap awake, gasp for breath, and then pass out again." Tulip added after a heartbeat.

"...Sorry," I muttered out. "How long have I kept you up?" I inquired slowly.

"About four hours. But it's been giving me time to catch up on some reading." Tulip shrugged softly as she spoke, gesturing to the dim light and the paper in her grip.

"What are you catching up on?" I asked.

"Lotus has been getting me news, things that have been going on—Most of these letters just came in, it's been hectic for her to try and get these in to me," She held the papers up, glancing over to me. "I can read some of them out loud if you want."

"Sure, if it's nothing personal," I was definitely intrigued as I shifted where I lay. I now found myself resting my back against the headrest of my bed, listening intently as Tulip spoke.

"Dear Princess," Tulip started as she read from the letter. "News has recently come from the neighbouring nations of Alcor and Elligorse, as tensions continue to rise between the nations they have begun moving military forces."

"Some rumors have even been stating the presence of the 'Golden General' of Alcor and the 'Great Speaker' of Elligorse being present now. Other rumors breaking free from Elligorse state that the rebellion led by Geldin and Tyrosa has been growing in power once again." Tulip put the letter down as she finished, sighing gently.

"Looks like tensions are starting to boil over…" She groaned out.

"Are things really that bad?" I asked curiously.

"It's about as bad as it can get, Elligorse and Alcor have hated each other for years after a skirmish left both sides with casualties. If they're sending some of their own Archmages to the border regions, then something is bound to happen." As Tulip finished to calmly popped the seal of another letter, opening it and reading off its contents.

"Dear Princess. The latest information I have been able to obtain of note revolves around the Dwarves, while recently many of their cities have ceased communications, rumors of rising tensions between individual cities have become rather common."

"Also of note are movements from his Highness. He has seemed overtly lax in regard to the recent issues cropping up in the nation, widespread unrest is becoming a standard of living. The Church has also begun making strides, with their Templars beginning large recruitment campaigns."

Tulip once again fell silent when she finished reading the rather short letter—I could tell there was more on them, but that was all Tulip read aloud before putting it down. She was left laying in bed, staring at her notes with an expression of deep thought on her face.

"Is… everything alright?" I eventually inquired once the silence grew too intense.

"Nothing is ever alright, Kirin," Tulip answered with dread in her voice. "But, we can always make things better. Besides, there is nothing we can do right now." She added with a shrug.

"I guess…" I trailed off, feeling unsatisfied with the answer Tulip gave. Soon enough however I was beginning to feel the pull of exhaustion.

"See you in the morning, Kirin." Tulip said as she moved the pile of notes to the side and rolled over into her covers.

"Good night, Tulip." I replied in kind, letting sleep take over my body.

The next two weeks soon passed, with so little happening to break up the status-quo that the days blended together. At least they did until the end of the second week, when at the end of the day students all moved to gather in the front gate of the school instead of scattering into their dorms.

I shouldered my way through the crowd—At least as best as I could, being one of the smallest people in the entire school didn't exactly make it easier for me to shuffle through the masses. At the forefront of the gathered students, across the entire courtyard sat the teachers, the Archmages.

Daedrik, Levi, Lushia and Nenema. There was the notable, albeit expected, absence of Carmine.

Even from the distance I was at I could see annoyance beginning to mount on the faces of some of the faculty—Especially the aforementioned group of Archmages. I found it to be of little surprise when Levi stepped forwards, shouting out at the students.

"Those of you who succeeded in the previous trial, Gather at the foremost section of the courtyard!" Levi's booming voice roared across the crowds, snapping people into hurried action.

People scattered and ran, rushing around hurried yet managed lines that soon turned into neat rows. I was no different to the masses, jogging alongside them until I found myself standing in the smaller of the two crowds.

Wind buffeted at my face, cast inwards from the open front-gate of the school. Clouds lay just across the barrier, following in the trail of the flying construct like waves scattering in the wake of a ship. I had to squint my eyes, barely keeping them open as I looked across to the others gathered around me.

Among the group of roughly two dozen were a number of faces I could recognize. Among them were Tulip, Lucia, Hico, Silva, Erick and Kendrick. The rest were students that I didn't recognize, at least not by name.

In total there were twenty five of us, all standing before the Archmages of the school.

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"Gods, you are slow today," Daedrik scoffed out as he began walking. His tone was rather quiet, only just loud enough for the victors of the previous trial to hear. "You all better fix that for this next trial." He added with a sly grin.

In his almost expected level of pazazz, he made a quick turn while clapping his hands. Twin spires of fire launched into the air around him, igniting into makeshift fireworks over his head.

"Welcome everyone!" His overwhelming voice shouted out, a broad grin crossing his face as he spoke. "I hope you're all ready to say goodbye to these great twenty-five victors. Because you won't be seeing any of them for two weeks!" Daedrik's gaze turned slowly over towards us, moving across each individual. He eyed each of us with intent, as if measuring the worth of each person before moving to the next in line. It left a frankly uncomfortable amount of silence to hang in the air, one which grew oppressive when his gaze moved along my frame.

"Because your next trial is a race—An all out sprint to the end, where you have to find your way using nothing but instincts. You will either survive in the wilds, or you will die," His words were serious, dreadfully so. His tone did little to hide the fact that he expected some of us to fail. "Your goal is simple. You must make your way to the city of Ferilis."

"Now, does anyone have questions?" Deadrik grinned from ear-to-ear as he asked, as if begging for someone to raise their hands.

I could feel the pit in my stomach grow wider when someone—One of the students I didn't recognize—Raised his hand slowly.

"Excellent!" Deadrik laughed out, clapping his hands together giddily. "I'll be seeing you all at Ferilis! Or, I'll be seeing whoever survives." As soon as he finished a pulse of hot air blasted behind us. It was mixed with the force of rattling earth that physically threw the entire group of us over the edge of the island. "Oh! And one more thing, if any of you are caught helping each other, you're both disqualified."

"Wait—How are we supposed to land?!" I screamed out in terror as I was thrown to the edge. But the wind however stole away my words. There was nothing left for me to hear, not but the howling wind and screams leaving my mouth as I flailed around wildly.

Clouds rushed past me as I fell—I could see and hear the others around me, they were all falling similarly. Only three of them managed to keep themselves calm, Tulip, Silva and one whom I didn't recognize.

Tulip was effortlessly controlling her own fall, the shimmering haze around her embracing her body like a bubble that slowed her descent. Beside her Topaz was descending calmly, looking only mildly annoyed by the situation at hand.

Silva was embraced by a cloud of heat, one which colluded around her body and blasted out to bring her stability as she slowed down rapidly.

Lastly, the person whom I didn't recognize blasted wind from the palms of her hands, blasting herself even faster in a downwards angle that launched her towards the forest miles below.

My eyes moved around in a panic once again—If I couldn't find a way to control my speed I would be dead on impact. Akemi too would be splattered against the ground with me, yet she somehow kept an icy calm while watching the ground approaching rapidly.

All of the other students were starting to slow down. Erick was beginning to copy SIlva's methods, albeit in a far sloppier method with his powerful bursts of flames bringing him to a halt before he began accelerating again. Lucia brought forth massive, thin layers of ice from her back that acted like great wings which slowed her descent greatly.

Kendrick however accelerated. Stone grew across his skin, creating a dense armored shell that brought him down faster and faster like a descending meteorite towards the ground.

Everyone was beginning to slow down or find control—Everyone other than me. I was hopelessly flailing around as I tried to find a solution, I tried to think up any way I could survive the impact with the ground. I grimaced when the only thought I had came to my head.

"Akemi! Hold on tight, alright!" I cried out as I began to twist mana down to my outstretched arms. Layers upon layers began forming, stretching and inflating into thinly veiled objects that were nearly physical.

It wasn't that different to making a shield with my raw mana, I just had to keep breathing, keep pushing until the object wouldn't stretch any further. Once I hit that point I pressed the object slightly further away, quickly creating another one just behind it. They built upon themselves, layer after layer while the air pounded mercilessly against my face.

The ground was approaching rapidly, and I still wasn't slowing down. My heart pounded, desperate for more air that I wouldn't let into my lungs. I forced my breathing to stay even as one layer of shielding stacked upon another.

I could see the trees approaching, I could see the leaves—The birds quickly scattering as they saw the numerous objects falling and screaming towards them. Finally I was forced to close my eyes and just brace for the impact.

The first of the near dozen thin shields bashed into the top of a pine tree, slowing my descent marginally while throwing me to the side. I was forced to jerk my body to the side, turning and bringing the remaining layers of shields to bear at the next tree.

Two shields were instantly shattered from the second impact, but it had slowed me even further.

I didn't however bounce this time, instead I was left scraping along the edge of the tree, pushing shield after shield forwards to give just a little more friction to slow my descent when the previous shattered.

I quickly learnt however, no matter how much I slowed my descent, the ground still hurt.

But even as I impacted with the raw soil, landing hard on my legs before collapsing to the ground, I couldn't help but laugh out loud as I rolled over to my back.

"I'm alive!" I laughed out loud. I couldn't even believe my own words, not when I could see the spec that the school was in the sky, casting a shadow that I wouldn't have even questioned at a quick glance over the forest.

I didn't have long to lay around and enjoy the embrace of the soft forest floor, but I did my best to enjoy it while I could. My arms and shoulders ached from the landing, not to mention the absolute agony that my lungs were screaming in.

Impacts echoed around me as other students landed. Most of them were distant, but they were close enough that I was forced to stand up and look around.

"Are you alright Akemi?" I asked as I looked over, relieved to see that the white-furred fox was still perfectly fine from a glance. Anger panged in my chest as I looked up, hearing Deadrik's final words to us echo in my head again.

"All on my own then…" I sighed internally. I had no reference for where Ferilis was—Nothing other than the direction the school was moving in, which I hoped would be the right way. Either way, I couldn't help but smile.

For the first time since I was jailed, I was back where I loved to be; the forests and the wilds. And for once, I felt confident in my chances.