The simulation started with a rumbling sound.
The grey creatures came out from behind the trees like a flood. They looked like wolves. They were as big as grown cattle. Their eyes were red and glowing. There were flashes of light on their bodies like the ones I saw in the test, but these were thicker and more real. I could hear them breathing and smell the earth and something rotten coming from their bodies.
Damar, the student who could move fast, ran forward. His body was a blur as he moved and his fist hit one of the creatures. It stumbled. It did not fall.
"This is not like a simulation," Damar shouted. "Their sensors are too strong."
The other two students joined the fight. One of them threw fireballs, and the other one made a shield of light around his arm.
There were too many creatures. Every time one of them fell, two more came out from behind the trees.
I did not move. Neither did Maya.
"You need to use your power," I told her.
Maya did not answer. She was staring at the creatures, and her hands were clenched tight at her sides.
"Maya", I said again.
"I know," she said quietly. If I use null too much, it will be bad.
Before she could finish talking one of the creatures jumped at us.
I dodged out of the way. My body moved before I could even think about it like when I fought Bara. It was like something inside me was moving on its own.
Maya did not dodge. She stood still. Her right hand came up, palm open.
The creature touched her hand. It just stopped moving. It was like something inside it had been turned off. Its red eyes went dark. Its grey body turned pale and crumbled into dust.
Maya lowered her hand. Her face was pale.
"Maya", I said.
"I am fine," she said, taking a breath. ". I cannot keep doing this."
More creatures came out from behind the trees. I counted them. Five, ten more.
Damar had fallen down in the distance. The other two students were still fighting. One of them was on his knees, and his arm was covered in blood.
"This is not normal," I said.
Maya nodded. Her eyes were narrow. "Someone tampered with the simulation sensors. They made it harder."
"Who did it?" I asked.
"I do not know," Maya said. "We need to get out of here first."
Another creature jumped at us. This time I did not dodge.
I let it come close, and when its body was almost touching me, my hand reached out and touched its head. My fingers felt cold grey skin.
I saw something. It was not a memory, not like what I saw when I touched Bara.
It was dark and cold, like being in a room without windows. In the middle of that darkness there was a big room with grey stone walls and a shiny black tile floor. In the centre of the room there were twelve chairs.
The chairs were made of wood with high backs, just like the chair in Room 13 at the Academy. Here eleven chairs were occupied by statues. They were not moving, not breathing. I could not see their faces because shadows covered them.
One chair was empty.
In front of that chair there were carvings on the wall just like the symbols in my grandfather's basement. I could not read them because the darkness was too thick.
The vision. The creature in my hand crumbled into dust.
I stumbled backward. My head hurt. The scar on my hand was burning.
Maya stared at me, her eyes wide. "You can kill them," she said.
"I do not know how," I said honestly. I did not know. All I knew was that something inside my body had flowed to my fingertips when I touched the creature. It was like when I fought Bara. This time it was not the power I copied. It was something that had been inside me since the black fire entered my body.
"We need to get out," Maya said.
She grabbed my arm, and her hand was cold. Very cold.
---
We ran through the moving trees. The simulation walls kept changing, making paths and closing old ones. It was like the arena itself was trying to trap us.
Damar was nowhere to be seen. The other two students were gone.
Maya and I ran together.
Behind us the rumbling sound continued. The creatures were not stopping.
"To the exit!" Maya shouted. "North."
I did not know which way north was. The trees blocked every direction. Maya ran like she knew exactly where to go.
A creature appeared in front of us. Maya raised her hand. Before she could use Null, I pushed her aside.
"I will handle it," I said.
"You cannot control it," Maya said.
"I know," I said.
I ran toward the creature. This time I did not wait for the reflex. I tried to call on the power on purpose. I tried to feel the fire that had entered my chest that night.
Nothing happened.
The creature jumped at me. I dodged. Its claw caught my arm. It. Blood dripped down.
Maya screamed.
I fell to my knees. I did not stop. I grabbed the creature's leg. Held it.
"Maya now," I said.
She raised her hand. Touched the creature. It crumbled into dust.
Maya fell to her knees beside me. Her face was pale. Her wrist was shaking. The silver bracelet was on her wrist. It would not stop.
"Maya, you…" I started to say.
"I told you I cannot keep doing this," she said, her breathing uneven. "Now we are running out of time. They will come again."
I helped Maya stand up. My arm was still bleeding. I did not care.
We ran again.
---
The exit appeared between the trees. It was a circle of light in the dark simulation forest.
In front of that door one creature stood.
It was bigger than the others, and its eyes glowed red. Its body was pitch black, not grey. On its body there were symbols. The same as the symbols on the walls of my grandfather's basement, the same as the symbols on the chair in Room 13.
Maya grabbed my arm, and her hand was cold and shaking.
"That is not part of the simulation," she whispered.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"The simulation sensors cannot create that," Maya said. "That is something."
The creature did not move. It did not attack. It just stood in front of the door staring at us. Staring at me.
In its red eyes I saw something. Not ferocity, not hunger.
Recognition.
Like it knew who I was.
"Kael?" Maya pulled my arm. "We need to get through now."
"How?" I asked.
"You have to kill it," Maya said.
"I do not know if I can," I said.
"You can," Maya said. "In the arena earlier you did it. You just need to do it on purpose."
I looked at my hand. The Ouroboros scar was pulsing, warm.
I stepped forward.
The creature did not move. Its eyes followed me.
I reached for its face. Its skin was pitch black and cold like ice. When my hand touched it –
I saw again.
The same room, twelve chairs, eleven statues, and one empty chair.
This time I could see more clearly. On the wall behind the chairs there were carvings, not symbols. Names.
I tried to read. The light was too dim.
One letter, two letters, three letters.
Ka –
Kael.
My name, carved on the wall.
The vision. The creature in front of me crumbled into black dust.
I stood at the exit, and Maya was beside me. My arm was still. My head hurt.
"Kael," Maya whispered. "What did you see?"
I looked at her, and in her eyes there was fear. Not fear of the creature. Fear of something else.
"A room, with twelve chairs," I said. "Eleven occupied, one."
Maya bit her lip, and her hand reached for her silver bracelet.
"I see the thing," she whispered. "Every time I use Null Long, I see that room."
She took a breath, and her voice trembled.
In one of the chairs –" She stopped and swallowed. "My name is there."