Darius and Lara stood in the wide, empty s.p.a.ce. They were unsure of what to do next. The arena took up the entire ground floor of the academy. It had to be that large to be able to handle the much larger formations that were used for the n.o.ble exams or other complex exercises. The cave, forest and orange sphere were gone and all that remained was the vast empty white room.At that moment Lady Katya appeared in front of both of them. "Congratulations on pa.s.sing the first test. As I have already mentioned for many of you this was the only test required but for some of you, this was simply the first of four dynamic events."
Darius cringed at the thought of doing this three more times, dreading the prospect that this was only going to get harder.
"If you were unable to kill a spirit, you will now be taken back to your respective rooms." the woman paused for a moment, then continued, "And because to the victor go the spoils, you will now be taken to the knighting room, your prize awaits."
As soon as she finished speaking Darius felt a fleeting sensation. It happened so quickly he wasn"t sure he had felt anything at all. It was like every molecule in his body had felt fuzzy, like static. While Darius thought over what he had just felt he realized something. He was now in another room all together. They had done had teleported him to another room!
The look of child like wonder appeared again on his face as he looked around at the room he was now standing in. The roof was at least twenty meters high and a dim light streamed in through large, stained gla.s.s windows with several images Darius couldn"t quite comprehend. He was at the back of the room, his hammer gripped firmly in his right hand.
The knighting room was long and narrow. With large and intricately detailed statues on either side. Each statue was exactly the same as the one opposing it on the other side of the room.
Lara appeared immediately beside Darius, promptly followed by six other n.o.bles, all appearing one after the other. Although teleportation was the fastest way to travel, it required ma.s.sive amounts of energy thus was not used in most cities and even then could only be used as short range without causing any major side effects. This was also the reason why people could only be teleported one at a time. The effects of ninety-nine percent of all attempted ma.s.s teleportations were, in a word, disturbing.
An elderly man walked in front of them, an odd grin on his face.
"Come forward and receive the right of cultivation." His voice was loud and crisp. Darius was hesitant, but proceeded toward the altar where the man stood. As he walked the statues began moving. Each was a smith, with a hammer in their hands. The first smith status raised his hammer high as Darius pa.s.sed it. In sync with the identical statue stationed across from it. It had an anvil stationed just in front of it, with a large blade place on top of it. While it counterpart on the other side of the room had a s.h.i.+eld resting on its anvil.
Both smiths struck down, the sound they made was unmistakable to Darius" ears. As he walked forward he knew these statues were smithing. The anvils moved forward a place, the smiths in front of it did the same. Darius noticed something, the statues had appeared ancient looking, chipped and cracked all over. But now as they struck the anvil it was as if they were being restored. He continued on as each pair of statues did the same thing one after the other.
The other n.o.bles followed closely behind. Finally as he reached the altar, the anvils reached the last two statues. These were not smiths but, as Darius a.s.sumed, were actually Spirit Knights. The knight statues then took up the sword and s.h.i.+eld, faced the Spiritsmiths and took a knee, bowing their heads to the Smiths.
The white carpet that was laid on the path between the statues leading up to the altar went was in the form of a capital "t". So the man gestured with his hand for Darius to kneel at the far end of the room to the left. Lara kneeling and the other n.o.bles kneeling beside him.
"Stretch out your hands." the man"s clear voice rang out. And two spheres appeared in each one Darius" hands. They resembled giant, magical marbles. One was slightly reddish, while the other was a pale grey. As Darius held them he could feel there was something about them. It was as if there was something inside them.
"Now cultivate." he simply said as he walked off.
Darius looked at Lara and the other n.o.bles. Who seemed to be in deep concentration.
"What does he mean by "cultivate"?" he looked down at the two spheres in his hands, and immediately recognized one of them. It was the one he had made earlier in the arena. It felt alive in his hands as the orbs vibrated.
Darius put the other one down and focused on the one he"d made. The energy he could feel sent ripples throughout his entire body. He closed his eyes and focused on it. He could feel the energy fluctuating inside. He could see it in his mind as the energy began to travel up his arms and down his body, stopping just below his navel. Just as he began to feel a warm sensation there, something else happened. The energy exploded inside of him. Spreading like wild fire throughout his body. Darius suddenly stood up. He could feel a rush of energy coursing through his veins.
"Whoah!"
He had never felt anything like this in his life. He could feel it as it entered every fiber of his being. The energy was becoming his own. The first orb was depleted, so Darius grabbed the next one, cupping it in both hands he absorbed all the energy contained inside him. The other n.o.bles began to feel the exact same thing. An energy rus.h.i.+ng through them.
His heart raced and Darus felt something he had never felt before. He felt the urge to fight. He picked his hammer up, eager for something to kill with it.
The man reappeared behind them. "For those of you that will be going on to the next trials, you Spirit Knight training will begin now."