Mr. Lee reached out to them while silence ruled between Leon and Lily. They clung to each other with no words.
"Leon!" Leon's name boomed as the door opened. He saw five students he remembered from the trial ground, including Zoe.
"Why are you acting strange? You told me I shouldn't get close to you or even call you," Leon uttered. His voice was low but filled with expectation as Zoe held his hands.
"Leon, is she your girlfriend?" Lily asked, her voice humming with joy.
Chuckles broke out, causing Zoe to pull her hands back. She smiled, but the expression was so off that the other students whispered to themselves.
"We hope you will join us soon," Zoe said on their behalf. Their faces looked as if she had forcefully said something she wasn't sent to ask.
For about an hour, they stayed there exchanging laughter. When the 5:00 PM alarm rang, the students exited the room one after another, leaving Leon alone.
…
"I really need to master the Tai Chi. I have to master the power growing in me," Leon muttered as he lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The night wind brushed against him, causing his eyes to blink several times before sleep swallowed him.
Darkness clouded his vision for thirty minutes until a chiming echoed around him and a spark of white light appeared. One second at a time, the light grew and replaced the darkness. He saw the huge sentinel once again, looming in the far distance.
"Not again!" Leon cried out but began to move, knowing there was no other way. He scanned his surroundings with a careful stare as he neared the stone giant. Stopping beside its large feet, Leon peered upward and focused on the stretched stone fingers.
'Hope it won't strike me as it did,' he said low in his head while shaking his head slowly.
As soon as he looked away from the sentinel, Leon's eyes widened. He spotted an endless staircase that remained in a loop of shimmering light and dim darkness.
"I'm not stepping on that," Leon said while stumbling back. On his turn back after taking four steps, he froze. A crackling sound erupted from the stone sentinel's arm.
"Why me?" he asked as frustration washed over him while debris fell like rain. Before he could even turn, a speeding wind swirled around him and pushed him forward.
Leon tried to fight back and slowed his pace. But the harder he fought, the farther the wind pushed him.
"I'm not stepping on it," he cried, but his voice only echoed in his own ears.
Strangely, the wind loosened its grip on him and calmed.
"Fine!" Leon shouted in an angry tone. He swiped his right arm around as if wanting to slap the wind itself. A smile tore on Leon's lip after he turned and saw no debris falling where he had stood at first.
A crazy idea popped into his head, causing him to turn back at high speed. When he reached the sentinel, he shouted in joy. He clenched his hands and pumped them in a triumphant victory. Then a feeling struck him so deep it forced him to turn.
All the joy vanished. He saw himself at the center of the stairs and not even at the base where the wind had taken him.
"Oh no!" Dissatisfaction dressed him. He wiped a palm across his face, clearing the sudden sweat that trickled down his temple.
He stared at the space in front of him and spotted two sentinels with a more immense structure. He turned back and opened his mouth wide. The first sentinel looked like an ant from here.
Leon's heart heaved, but he managed to calm himself. He moved forward even though his legs trembled. It felt as if his own body wasn't ready to reach the top.
…
Reaching the top, Leon crouched down and sighed while sneaking one eye open and the other closed. He drummed his fist twice on the ground. He straightened himself after hearing the land beneath him shaking.
He moved not with force, but with a precision that made him slower than a tortoise. As he neared the two sentinels, he paused two meters away.
Leon locked his eyes on the figures, watching both of them at the same time.
"Well, these seem a bit more static than the first one," he said, then nodded silently. His shoulders raised as he trod between them.
A crackling sound erupted when Leon reached the center, jolting his instincts awake. Even in the dream, his instincts flared more than the ones his real body possessed.
He checked the stone figures twice and turned sharply. He focused his attention forward after finding no unusual movements, though his brow remained furrowed.
A whistling sound erupted from his lips as he moved past the sentinels. He inhaled the fresh, calming airflow and moved forward.
He exhaled sharply, letting the air gush out when he spotted a blinding light hovering in the air.
"What's that?" His face tensed, yet he moved closer. He stretched his left arm toward the light and closed his eyes. The tip of his middle finger streaked across a hard, metallic surface that felt rigid.
Cracking his eyes open, he leaned his upper body backward. In front of him stood a giant, god-like gate that surpassed all natural logic.
"This looks like something out of a colossal movie," he said with a calculating stare. "No, this looks like something taken straight out of a history book."
Leon squeezed his eyes and peered at the jagged stones that looked as if they wanted to eject themselves from the door.
…
"Let's see if it can open," a smile tore on his lips after scanning the jagged stones for hours. He leaned on his left arm and pushed forward.
A groaning sound erupted, jolting a smile into his eyes. But after hearing another groaning sound from behind him, the joy died into sorrow while chills ran down his spine.
"Why can't I open this?" he shouted, slamming his right arm against the door.
By mistake, his fist slammed onto a carving that looked like two 'Y's merged. Upon contact, the door's surface swelled as thin blue light erupted from its base and edges. All the light merged at the Y-like symbol and shot upward like a star.
A glow of yellowish-gold light blasted from the top of the door and slammed into him at great speed.
…
Outside the dream, the heavy wind whirled around his body and caused it to tremble on the bed. He slammed his fist on the hinges of the frame, which bent inward, and his head on the white pillow.
The curtain swayed upward as the intensity of the wind increased, sending leaves flying into the room and circling around Leon's bed.