CHAPTER 4 — The Rout

Screams echoed from every single direction. Dull, heavy explosions made the wet sand tremble violently beneath their boots. Somewhere to the left, a thick part of the forest had caught fire, and black smoke rose straight into a sky that, only a few hours earlier, had still worn the peaceful face of a calm woman.Lya ran.She held Soren’s small hand tightly in hers and ran in sharp zigzags, abruptly changing direction every single time a flash of lethal light erupted directly in front of them.What the hell is going on...? she thought, her breath catching painfully in her throat.They ran through what had once been nothing more than a peaceful gathering of hopeful candidates. It wasn't anymore. It was a slaughterhouse.A young girl, barely eleven years old, sat frozen on the ground in the middle of the main path, her hands pressed hard over her ears and her eyes squeezed tightly shut. She didn't move an inch as terrified crowds ran chaotically around her.Farther ahead, two boys in expensive, noble uniforms had positioned themselves back-to-back. They were spinning around wildly with their hands outstretched, screaming at anything that came near to stay away. A third boy watched them silently from the top of a rock, perfectly still. As Lya sprinted past, she understood his strategy: he was simply waiting for them to completely wear themselves out.We need to find somewhere safe. Fast.To their right, a massive spray of dark earth shot three meters into the air before crashing violently back down. Lya forced herself to turn her head away before she could see what—or who—had been crushed underneath it."Lya! Where the hell are you taking us?!" Soren exclaimed, gasping for air."I have absolutely no fucking idea!" Lya yelled back over the noise. She tightened her iron grip on his trembling hand. "I just know we need to get the hell out of here, and fast!"Suddenly, a boy threw himself desperately at their legs.He lunged forward, grabbing Lya’s sleeve with both hands. He didn't utter a single word, but the raw terror in his eyes made it obvious that he was begging her to save him.Lya stopped dead in her tracks. For half a second.But right behind him, three menacing figures came running out of the dark cover of the trees. At the same time, Soren’s hand pulled her urgently in the opposite direction.With a pang of guilt, she violently yanked her sleeve free from the boy's grasp and sprinted away.“The strong must always help the weak.” Her father's voice echoed in her memory.Shut up. Shut up! Not now!They crossed the boundary line of the first thick trees, plunging into the forest.Behind them, an adult crossed the clearing at a steady pace. Lya saw him for only a split second out of the corner of her eye, but that was more than enough. She understood that they were all being closely watched. The man moved around the island with terrifying ease, keeping just far enough away from the panicked candidates.They kept running blindly. The ground began to rise steeply, the vegetation grew much thicker, and the horrific noise of the beach finally began to fall behind them.They eventually emerged into a small, hidden hollow between two massive rocks.Soren leaned heavily against the cold stone and slid straight down to the ground, his chest burning with agony. Lya caught her breath while standing up, her back turned to him, her eyes completely fixed on the narrow opening between the rocks. She refused to sit down."So... what that lady said from the sky..." Soren swallowed mouthfuls of air between his words. "It's true? The selection test is really about killing each other until there are only one hundred left on each island?""Yeah." Lya didn't turn around to look at him. "And there are a hell of a lot of us."She began to do the math out loud, because she needed to hear the numbers in order to actually believe them."How many were there in the auditorium? Thousands. Five islands, one hundred kept per island. That's only five hundred admitted in total." She stopped cold as the horrific realization hit her. "That means... thousands of kids will die here. Which means that every four years, thousands of children come here to enroll in the academy and end up slaughtered."She fell completely silent for a second."But why the hell does nobody back home talk about it?"Soren exhaled slowly, all the way to the end, forcing his frantic breathing to steady."Don't play dumb, big sis.""Hey!""We know the Astres can act with complete impunity," Soren muttered, his voice flat. "They are above the law."Lya opened her mouth to argue, then closed it."Now that you mention it..." She finally crouched down, sliding her back against the rock to sit right beside him. "That Astre's faction must have pressured the families into letting it go. They probably threaten them."She stared straight ahead into the shadows of the ravine."Imagine it, Soren. You're your family's only hope. The one who can give them a better future by graduating from the academy and joining a prestigious faction. The academy finally opens its doors. You say goodbye to your parents. You promise them you'll come back successful in four years."A distant explosion made the solid ground beneath them tremble faintly."And in the end, you just die like a dog on this island." She ran a tired hand over her face. "And your parents wait. One year. Two years. They tell themselves you're just busy. That a legendary academy like this must be hard, that you probably don't even have time to write a letter. Then one day, someone from the government knocks on their door and politely explains that it would be better for their health if they stopped asking questions."Soren lowered his head, staring at the dirt. "It's tragic. Besides... with all these thousands of deaths..."A loud blast, much closer this time, cut him off mid-sentence. They both froze instantly. Without looking at him, Lya raised two fingers: wait. She listened intently. The sound didn't get any closer. After a few agonizing seconds, she lowered her hand."Let me finish," Soren whispered. "With all these thousands of deaths, shouldn't we be finding corpses in these woods?"Lya took a moment to think about it. "Yeeeah..." Then she shook her head vigorously. "No. I'm not doing that. I am not looking for answers. I don't want to run into any corpses.""That's not what I meant, Lya.""I know exactly what you meant. My answer still stands."Soren smiled faintly despite the horror. It lasted for a brief second, then faded back into worry. "So, what's the plan, sis?" He looked down at his own hands, resting uselessly on his knees. "I won't be able to fight. I don't have aura. So that means... your little Soren is as good as dead.""Don't you dare say things like that!" It came out much sharper and louder than she had intended. She turned her head sharply toward him, her star-marked eyes glowing slightly. "As long as I am standing with you, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. The important thing isn't killing people, Soren. It's trying to survive until the time runs out.""And if someone finds this hiding spot?""Then they'll leave." She said it coldly, without any emphasis. "I'm a Star, Soren. I don't need to kill anyone to make people understand that they'd be much better off going somewhere else."She turned her eyes back toward the narrow opening between the rocks."Now let's just hope nobody comes all the way up here."In the secure viewing room of the academy, the giant electronic screen was divided into five shifting perspectives.Ambert Chiron watched the slaughter unfold. He hadn't moved an inch from his comfortable chair since the beginning of the test. His elbows rested heavily on the armrests, his fingers joined in a neat triangle in front of his mouth."So, all it takes is creating a sudden rout?"Matushela stood silently behind him, her hands folded over her uniform. "Yes."He didn't take his cold eyes off the screen."A crowd doesn't make logical decisions. A crowd simply waits for someone to tell it how to behave. Put just three of my men in there who act as if the slaughter has already started, and within less than a minute, the crowd gives you exactly what you want: chaos."Matushela said nothing, her gaze fixed on the monitor."In this specific situation, there will only be two kinds of human beings," Ambert continued, a faint smile touching his lips. "The ones who run blindly just to stay alive. And the vicious ones who genuinely enjoy eliminating everyone else."He let a long moment of silence pass."Then again... there is always a third category."Matushela narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at the back of his head. "Which one?""You'll find out soon enough.""You say that every single time you don't feel like answering my questions, Master.""And every single time, you eventually find out I was right." He raised a single finger, pointing toward a specific section of the screen. "Change the islands. I want to see what's happening somewhere else."Matushela sighed heavily. "All right, all right, my beloved boss," she said with deep sarcasm, her fingers already dancing over the console.