"You must have lost your mind somewhere along when you were coming here." He clicked his tongue at me, before lining up right behind me to take his queue.
So that confirmed my suspicions. He too was a participant who was forced into this like me. Regardless, I was trying to look around for Nada.
If I read and remember correctly, she will get the Ice element. I know because she is the protagonist to the book I had somehow come across at the age of eight. In that book, she was incredibly formidable, powerful and relentless. She doesn't forgive anyone.
And the Nada right now, is a very sweet-hearted, innocent child who was five months older than me. She was the only child of my aunt from my father's side, and unlike her mother, she was someone who could stand me—let alone, be friends with me. Which is why I am closest to her then to any other ones of my cousins. I actually hate my other cousins.
And trust me, if you were in my place, you would too.
Now then...
In the novel, Nada somehow finds out about it before me and my hypocratic opinion against my family and that caused the relationship between me and her, to fray. I was gone for more than half the story, then pulled back to the ending where I was killed by her own hands.
The author described that distance as a way for Aefia to strengthen the protagonist in a bad thought. I was in a kind of mixed-feeling about this at first, until I realized what went wrong.
Nada never hated Aefia. She in return distanced herself from Nada to keep her safe, but Nada still ended up running a blade through Aefia's heart at the end to just die in a failed battle between her and the final boss of the Realm.
Hah! This story was so twisted when I came across it. Because Aefia sacrificed the remainder of her life to keep Nada standing and from danger, but the same person clicked her tongue and didn't give a thought about it.
That is where the book gets it's name from. 'Dying in a Battlefield'.
And trust me, this isn't a web novel or anything. It's a paperback with around two hundred and fifty to three hundred pages. There is no extra context or no backstory of what they went through. And back then, I didn't even know what a web novel was. I was a dumb kid like anyone else.
"By the way, I have a small, itching, question," Helio asked from behind me. His voice low to keep others from eavesdropping, but loud enough for me to catch it clearly. "How did you know we were going to get our assigned magic?"
I could clearly see what he saw. Someone in front, who had just gotten their powers, suddenly unleased a tiny hurricane on their hands. The Wind element.
I looked at the other participants who had already gotten theirs. They were joyful and happily playing with them.
Although, all that magic was going to drive them towards multiple deaths in the future.
While some of you may have already guessed—yes, I know about the magic from that same novel. I already know what I am about to get regardless of being one who was still standing in a line.
"I just knew when I saw the stones." I answered hastily, trying to stay out of the conversation zone.
I didn't glance back, but he must have raised an eyebrow or something. However... I was wrong again.
"Well, you are one mysterious anomaly." He let out a huff of breath that gave off the smirk I couldn't see, while leaning down near my ear to whisper.
"I would like to stay mysterious then." I answered back while stepping forward just enough to not crash against the person in front of me. Then stood on my tip-toes.
There, I found her.
Black hair and hazel eyes. Shoulders in a rigid line as if excited. Definitely... Nada.
"Yes..." I whispered in triumph. Maybe a little too loud.
The person in front of me turned around, raising her eyebrows as if I was a random psycho who appeared out of nowhere. Alright, I understand I made a mistake. However, no one will know how happy I was to see at least one person who I can seek comfort from.
But I will see to her later—
"Pfft... Hahaha." Helio laughed from behind me.
...Will he ever leave me alone?
"What?" I turned around to look at him, who was holding his stomach while trying to be as quiet as he could.
"Nothing..." He smiled while craning his neck to the end of the crowd. It had shortened already. We were the last ones, so it is understandable.
In the distance, I saw how happy Nada was. She created a pile of soft snow that were drizzling down her fingertips and dissappearing. It made a smile pop onto my face—without intention.
The one in front of me got the Mind reading element.
The thing about this element, was that, she was not only telepathic. She was a few steps ahead of most people.
The disadvantage though, is she would die early on. Since she is one of the minor villains along with me in the novel.
Nada despises her for her relentless bullying on other people. Which eventually led to a dangerous battle in a secluded place, and obviously, only Nada made it out alive.
Then, I walked up to the table. There were still many stones left. Because one element could be placed into multiple stones at once. For example, right now, there were still twenty Ice elements, eight Healing, and five mind reading.
Which, out of them all, I really wanted to go for the healing.
However, in the novel, Aefia doesn't even look at the healing.
And here is why...
There was one stone in that table, which stood out the most. A red one. An incredibly rare one too, though considered the most weakest. This stone, doesn't have another copy or anything. And before the person chooses, the stone chooses its owner.
So if you are the chosen one, only you will see its true colour.
Like for me, the entire room was suddenly grey and only the stone was emitting a deep, fiery, red hue that caused crystal patterns to form on the table it was resting on.
I looked across the entire furniture, no others caught my eyes.
Right then, I was lucky I was second-last.
"Hurry up kid! There is one more person behind you—"
I took that one. My fingers vibrated in fear and all.
"Hahaha!" The instructor laughed. "Candidate fifteen chose the Instincts one! How funny... Not all things are as rare and beautiful as they seem. You are practically useless in this experiment." He arrogantly called out to the others in the room.
Helio too was silently mocking me. But I didn't give a damn about it.
"I chose what I chose. And I would like to keep it. If you truly know the story behind it, then you won't laugh about it." I replied while turning away from the table, stuffing the rock carefully inside my pocket.
"Hey kid! You are the last candidate and you chose the weakest stone... Looks like the moral of the story is using you as a sacrifice." He called out again, pointing a finger at my back.
I turned my head over my shoulder, and smirked. "Yeah, yeah... You are right..."
To deal with people who are a narcissist, means to just make them drown in their own delusion.
As I stood in one corner, I examined the rock. The lore behind why magic is provided this way, is because the Guardians—carrier of the main elements—chose not to show themselves among their users. Mostly due to some possibilities of the users killing them for their greed for power. So they store a portion of their elements into these concrete and send it on their way to find their owners.
And once these are bitten till chipped, the power flows into your blood stream and multiplies itself as you grow stronger.
The story behind the stone I chose, is it once belonged to a Guardian, and only the person fit to handle their powers can have this power.
They say I had a drop of blood that belonged to that Guardian, which I took before hand—that also led to the stone finding me.
At the end of the entire novel, it was later revealed...
...I was merely capable of handling the powers inside it. So that is why I was chosen.
Which is okay... but what about the previous part?! That was unhinged!
Anyways... Back to why I picked this in specific, besides how it chose me.
This 'Instincts' element, stands short for; "the chosen person has the intelligence needed to handle all that this element comes with".
Which means... That unlike others who can only use only one element... This one, allows me to meddle with mental, light, and fire at some point. And if I wanted, I could interact with other elements too. Like if I wanted a portion of the healing element, I could just take it.
Which would be a blessing in the future.
Hah!
I slowly brought the stone toward my lips—using my teeth to shave away the soft outer shell that covered the even softer stone inside. One reason why using magic in this world is dangerous... Is because the user needs to injest a portion of it. It is so the magic can actually get sucked into your blood stream.
And well...
You can also choke on it and die.
Even if you had the healing element, it won't save you.
But if you injest it the wrong way too, your body undergoes a slow mutilation that turns you into a beast in the matter of days. And nobody would know until it is too late to attend to.
Just as I was about to bite onto the inner shell—the final step—Helio appeared out of nowhere. Completely happy and arrogant.
I quickly hide the stone back inside my pocket, siding away by a bit as he came to lean against the wall beside me.
"I took the Healing element," he spoke. "Aren't you going to congratulate me?"
"Congratulations." I replied flatly.
He looked at me in disbelief, letting out a sigh and folding his arms. "Well I was expecting something better since I might as well be someone you run to when you break your bones."
"Trust me... I won't."
"You seem pretty confident for a person who just took one of the most weakest element."
"I am sure you are wrong."
"Yeah right. So... let's see how good your instincts are."
"Bad." I answered for him as he reached up a hand near my face. Most likely to flick the back of my head. I stopped him with the skills I already had from Earth.
My fingers wrapped around his wrist, holding it mid-air.
The sudden movement made the hood fall back from my head. My luscious black hair flowed down my back—just until half my arm-length.
(Not to brag, but it was a layer cut the way I liked it... Because I had plans to dye it at the edges the day after tomorrow. And now I am in another world where the only person I can flex it to... Was Nada.
At least... It was Nada.)
In the thoughts of that, I immediately dropped his hand and reached back to pull the hood back on. It was a habit of mine when I hated someone and they were hovering around me.
He stayed frozen beside me for a long time, and just stared. Repeating what he did back along the corridors. It was a bit creepy, I will be honest.
Whatever, he could stay however he wanted. If that also meant he won't follow me around.
Slowly, we were assigned out squads and rooms. I was put in Squad Three along with Nada, and 'sunny guy' was in Squad Five. Phew!
Following that, we were sent away to our dormitory... Where I trailed behind her until we were in a secluded place. I did this for one thing... And one thing only.
"Nada..." I whispered once we were away from earshot and cameras.
She turned around, surprised.
I took off my hood, smiling. "It's me... Aefia."
*************
First draft: 25.10.2025
Rewritten: 10.08.2026