Preparations for the Prodigy Exam were progressing slowly but surely. Areyos, Yoko, Kaiser, and their cousins spent their days training to exhaustion under Dezeil's watchful eye. Barrios and Zendal, now retired from competition, often watched them in silence, amused—and a little nostalgic—to see their own beginnings reflected in the younger generation.
Dezeil, meanwhile, hadn't changed at all. Every complaint earned the complainer another exercise, more grueling than the last. The past two days had been particularly brutal. Neither Areyos nor Kaiser could stand without swaying anymore, much to Yoko and the others' astonishment. Since Barrios's retirement, a new sense of urgency had burned in everyone's hearts. Dezeil, Zaymon, Lord Ceister, Drakayn… They all felt that time was running out, and Dezeil had sworn to forge legends before it was too late.
