Dean stared at his seventeen-year-old hands like a man moaning his dead wife.
He looked at the lean and fairly warm skin of his arms, which was nothing like his battle hardened arms in his former life.
This appearance was proof that he had barely seen enough to truly know what life was all about in this body and this world.
'Old me would've walked up to her already and asked for her name,' he thought as he raised his eyes again.
She was already mounting the dragon, who gave him a short stare before its oppressive jade eyes looked elsewhere.
'Yeah... No,' Dean swallowed. 'At least not with that monster around.
Around him, the whispers were growing in strength. Rising from inaudible croaks to full blown gasps and praises as the crowd finally found their voices after a long minute.
"That's a Sai-mm..?" A voice nearly screamed before being muffled.
"Don't shout, you idiot," another man spoke while firmly covering the mouth of his friend, muffling his speech just in time.
"Yeah, the red one…huh..," the man, who was so confident earlier, stuttered, trying to recall something.
"The Red Saint," a deeper and more experienced voice completed, as if he'd finally regained his confidence.
"She owns this zone," a younger girl said proudly while waving her hair with the type of energy that screamed Go…. Girl power.
Dean was hearing all of it, but he wasn't really keeping up with any of it.
He watched as the woman settled onto the dragon's back with ease like this was the most comfortable place in the world for her.
Dean didn't care for her titles or even her status. He was interested in those stern and yet carefree red eyes.
Then she lifted one sword slightly, just enough for the insignia to catch the light one more time.
That single moment was all it took, as it finally clicked in Dean's mind.
'That's the Gray family crest.'
He looked at both swords. The mark was the same on each guard. He'd seen this crest on the walls of Ying's forge, pressed into every blade the family had ever made.
The shape of a burning crescent moon.
'What is she doing with not just one but two,' Dean thought.
"Lady Leona, I'll handle things here," Dex spoke. He drew everyone's eyes, with some staring with a touch of jealousy and by some. Yeah, it was definitely Dean.
Leona simply nodded while the dragon spread its wings completely, making the air crackle, and then it launched into the sky without needing a runway or boost, as if its body were made of cardboard.
Dean watched her until the dragon became just a shape in the midst of the mountains, circling slow and wide over the entire zone.
He exhaled.
'Okay,' he thought. 'So that happened.'
Whatever anger he'd been carrying had completely dissolved. He honestly couldn't remember what he'd been angry about.
<><><>
The registration finished quickly after that.
Nobody seemed interested in any more fights. Rogue had managed to retrieve whatever was left of his dignity, straightened up his collar and moved to the side without sparing Dean another look.
Before the registration concluded, Dean, who was now getting carefully avoided by the crowd, had stepped closer to the shack with the longer line.
This allowed him inspect the Gauger he was given and that of the rest. The difference was that his looked heavier. It was a box and not a compass and though both had a small red crystal but his own also had the Seal insignia on it.
He'd noticed the difference and didn't ask further about it. Just making it a careful note to be cautious.
A few minutes after the registration came to an end, the proctor, a chubby woman in her mid-thirties with sharp green eyes and a no-nonsense posture addressed the assembled participants from a podium that was quickly put together by Dex.
She coughed softly to get a feel for the crowd before speaking.
She didn't raise her voice and simply sounded like someone who had done this way too many times already.
"Most of you know why you're here," she began.
Dean narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked around at the crowd who were making a bunch of unfamiliar faces.
'Yeah, we don't,' he thought.
"For those of you that don't," she gestured towards the back where the different carriages were parked saying. "You should be heading back home already."
Dean grunted at her nonchalance as he rolled his eyes.
"The draft today and your performance in it would determine your opportunities tomorrow."
Raising her right hand, she gestured towards a few people at the side.
"As you can see, the academies, guilds, military divisions are all here to watch this scoreboard." She pointed to a large blank board mounted near the registration shacks that Dean's eyes followed immediately.
"Your gaugers would record the Flux Cores retrieved from defeated creatures automatically. The stronger the creature, the more cores it yields," she paused as her eyes combed across the crowd.
Dean's fingers slid across the smooth surface of the black box while he listened.
"You should already be aware how this works: the more cores you have when time is called, the higher your position on the scoreboard"
She paused before bringing out an hour glass with the number 6 on its tempered surface.
'An hour glass? How old are you really?' Dean thought.
"You have six hours to explore. Teams are recommended but not necessary," She finished and was about to turn the hour glass upside down when she stopped like something had came to her mind.
"i must make you all aware that the zone is marked and it is considered unwise to cross into the inner threshold of the Flux zone."
She paused again before finally asking. "Any questions?"
Nobody asked any. They just looked at one another and instinctively began dividing themselves into teams. But no one approached Dean.
"Good." She turned toward the tree line while turning the hour glass upside down.
"Your time begins. Move towards the gate and retrieve your weapon. Happy Hunting."
Dean followed her gaze and the structure she was talking about wasn't really a gate per se. It was like a threshold marked by two posts at the edge of the clearing and what seemed like an armoury at the other side of it.
The first group of about four stepped through. One of them, a boy Dean recognized from the carriage, the one who'd been clenching his jaw the entire ride barely took two steps past the threshold before his knees gave up on him.
A straight line of blood ran down from his nose. He didn't make a single sound. He just knelt there with his hands in the dirt while Dex and the woman who was announcing earlier pulled him back through.
The crowd behind the boy stopped in place, their eyes shaking like it were about to leap out the socket.
"Disqualified." The cold and calm voice of the proctor announced.
'Just like that…' Dean thought in shock.
The pressure on the other side of that threshold was the flux zone's full verge weight without the camp's stabilizing effect.
For someone whose verge wasn't strong enough or efficient enough to compensate. It was immediate judgement to your worth.
Dean watched three more people stumble in. One made it through by sheer willpower, swaying but staying upright.
Most of the vampires crossed without visible difficulty.
'Show offs,' Dean cursed as he prepared himself. He was only Aspirant tier 5, could he make it?
He watched closely as a werewolf paused at the threshold, breathed once, and walked through like it were nothing.
It wasn't supposed to be turn by turn, but after some people collapsed, they had instinctively formed a line, and now it was Dean's turn.
Taking a deep breath, he ignored the eyes on him and stepped through.
The weight hit him again, like the first time, with a growing pressure in his chest like a lump.
[Sage Circuit: Active]
His body redirected the invading verge essence of the Flux zone out of his system as he kept walking forward.
Behind him, he heard the boy who'd been standing next to him in line drop to his knees with a thud.
Dean didn't look back. His eyes only faced forward, gripping the black box tightly with his sight set on the depleting armoury.
He was making his way forward when he heard it.
Ding!
[You have completed a self imposed objective]
Attached to this is an illustration of Leona Saint.
A/N: if you're enjoying the story, add to Library and support with Powerstones. I need the P.Stones to gain more traction. Help a new Author. Thank you...