“Hey…!”

“Hey, you!”

 

“Get up!”

 

When Ikora opened her eyes, she saw a man wearing a Conductor’s hat with a bright light shining into her eyes.

 

Her vision blurred as he continued. “Good, good, you’re awake. We’re here. You need to get off now.”

 

“Oh, right. I’m up, sorry...” She rubbed her eyes, looking around at the empty train. “Who are you…?”

He grabbed her bags and handed them to Ikora. “Why, I'm the Conductor of this train, of course!” He said. “By the way, there’s a man outside asking for you.”

 

Taking the bags, Ikora moved towards the door, but the Conductor stopped her. “He hates late people, so be sure to apologize to him. He’ll understand.” The Conductor said with a reassuring smile.

 

“Thank you,” she said with a warm smile and nodded in acknowledgment before stepping outside. The cool breeze blew against her skin, the scent of the air reminded her of salt.

 

As she walked, her footsteps echoed on the pavement, tied with the distant chatter of students. Soon, two men in neat navy blue uniforms, paired with fancy gold trim and a patch with the school’s emblem on their shoulder approached her.

 

“Hello there. We are the WAMA guides. Welcome to the academy!” One guide said before taking out a clipboard and continuing. “So, you must be Ikora Blackhart, yes?” He questioned.

 

“Yes sir, how’d you know?” Ikora asked.

His eyes scanned the words on the clipboard before taking out a pen and checking a box. “Well, that’s because you’re the only missing student, and the last one to come out of the train.”

 

“Now then, you are to follow me. My friend will take your belongings. Don’t worry, he’ll put them somewhere safe.”

 

“Uhhh, sure, no problem, here you go!” She handed her heavy bags to the second guide, the weight lifting from Ikora’s back as she sighed in relief.

 

“Alright, Ms. Blackhart, I’ll lead you to your instructor. Stay close by, can’t have you getting lost. That will make you even more late than you already, and Enadius hates it when people aren’t on time.” The guide turned and started walking down the path away from the station.

 

“Enadius, huh?” Ikora’s mind wandered while she made her way down the path, across bridges, and through building halls. Ikora couldn’t help but gaze at the various floating islands connected by bridges and enveloped by an endless expanse of bright blue waves in the sky. It was as if they were surrounded by an ocean. She could have sworn she saw the outline of some aquatic creature in the distance!

 

Stopping, the guide turned to face her. “This is where I will be leaving you. Your instructor is beyond this door. Good luck, Ikora Blackhart.” He patted her shoulder and left her in front of a large door.

 

Putting her hand on the handle, Ikora paused before opening the door slowly. The room fell silent. All eyes turned to her, and she felt her cheeks flush.

 

A tall man sat on a desk at the end of the room and spoke, “Ah, you must be the one who was asleep on the train.”

 

Ikora nodded. “Sorry about that, just tired.” She said as she walked down to the man.

 

“Name’s Enadius, take this paper. Also, Don’t let it happen again.” He handed Ikora a paper. “That’s your seat for the next 3 days. Now, run along so I can start the introduction.” Enadius said as he rushed Ikora away.

 

Ikora nodded and said, "I understand it won't." As she walked away to find her seat, she pondered to herself, "I thought there would have been some consequences for being late, given how the Conductor and guide were speaking."

 

Ikora quickly found her assigned seat and sat down as Enadius began. "Ahem, welcome to Wallowden's Academy of the Magical Arts, or WAMA for short. I am Enadius, a teacher here and your instructor for the next three days of testing. These tests are mandatory for your entrance, and failing more than one will result in immediate expulsion. Cheating is strictly prohibited and will result in a permanent ban."

 

A student piped up from the back, "Hey, I'm just wondering–what exactly would be considered cheating?"

I’m glad you asked. Cheating includes sneaking in items that can be used to gain an advantage over others or overcome obstacles. Collaboration with other students is allowed and encouraged, but seeking external help is also considered cheating.

 

Regarding the introduction, I have already explained everything about cheating, which is the only topic I must address based on my instructions. The first assessment is called "Reflections of Self." You must navigate the maze without using tools and exit within an hour to pass the test.

Enadius led them out of the room, saying "Follow me, now."

 

The students trailed him, whispering amongst themselves. Ikora imagined the challenges she might face, would she duel against formidable opponents like Esmeralda? Nevertheless, she couldn't help but smile at the thought. “I’m SOO going to be like her!” She thought.

 

Ikora walked through the bustling crowd until she accidentally bumped into a boy. He turned around,  a frown on his face. He was shorter than her and wore a dark red and orange shirt. Ikora quickly apologized to the boy and made her way to the front of the crowd where Enadius was waiting. 

 

In the distance, a tall stone building stood ominously. Enadius turned towards the students and flipped through his notes as the walls creaked and scraped. "Listen up! This is the Reflections of Self," he explained. "Your objective is to navigate through the entire Maze without the aid of any tools. The maze will do everything in its power to deceive and confuse you, but you must remain calm and focused to make it through, I promise it’ll be a lot easier then.”

"Without further delay, you are to enter in three…”

 

“Two…”

 

“One!” Enadius pressed a button nearby, which opened the gates to the maze. All the students shuffled inside one after the other.

 

As soon as Ikora entered, she took a quick look around. The walls around her started to shift, turn, and bend, creating new paths to explore while closing off others. Her mind raced as she tried to make sense of the rapid changes happening around her.

 

She stepped towards one of the open paths.

 

SSSSSSSCRAPE

 

Ikora stepped back and watched as the stone wall in front of her started to bend and shift as if it were made of liquid. All the paths that were previously around her had vanished, except for one that remained open. She cautiously walked towards it. 

 

She heard a scraping noise behind her and spun around, only to see that the opening she had come through was now closed off. The once vast maze now felt confined, the damp walls closing in on her as she made her way through.

 

Soon coming to another clearing, she stopped and attempted to listen for anyone else. She put her ear to one wall, but only the sound of walls moving and contorting echoed, not a sign of life. But her ears picked up on a faint noise that sounded as if it were a distance away, not too far but neither close.

 

Hiss…

 

Swoosh…

 

The soft sound of something slithering echoed as if a creature were gliding across the floor of the maze. Ikora called out, "Hello?"

 

Slither…

 

Slither…

 

Swoosh…

 

Swoosh…

 

That didn’t sound right. Ikora paused and raised an eyebrow. It sounded as if something big was coming her way. She stepped back from the wall and continued down a path that had opened up, watching her surroundings closely.

 

Traveling down the shifting pathways of the Maze, the walls played tricks on her mind, bending and twisting in unpredictable patterns. Spotting a clearing up ahead, she dashed towards it, but the stone wall swiftly closed and she crashed into it, tumbling to the ground. 

 

As she turned over, the world spun, and her vision blurred. She struggled to regain her senses and slowly pushed forward, each step echoing through her head. The torches on the wall, which once gently lit her surroundings, now cast shadows that seemed to watch and follow her every move.

 

As she walked, she kept hearing a hissing sound and the faint noise of something slithering. She started walking faster while looking back, half-expecting to see something chasing her. She looked up hoping to see the blue sky from earlier, but there was nothing. Nothing but just another mossy stone wall to close her in.

 

Slither…

 

Hiss…

 

The sound continued, now closer. Ikora’s gaze darted around, searching for any signs of movement or an exit. The walls continued shifting, now sounding like a constant hum in her head that she could not escape. She hesitated at each intersection, trying to decide which path to take. Would it close on her? Would it bend itself into something new? The stone walls seemed like they were trying to lure her deeper in. 

 

Hiss…

 

Hiss...

 

Ikora’s heart raced, and a chill ran down her spine. It was as if the entire place was becoming colder. The once wide smile she first had was now gone as sweat began beading down her forehead.

 

Slither…

 

Slither…

 

Her surroundings closed in further, and the feeling of being watched intensified. The shadows on the wall now appeared as if they were faces. She tried to shake off her feelings, but the maze played with her nerves. Every creak and every scrape were amplified.

 

Hiss…

 

The slithering echoed through the narrow passages, and Ikora’s pulse quickened. She glanced over her shoulder more frequently. The Maze was trapping her here.

 

Slither…

 

Hiss…

 

Her mind was flooded with the cacophony of sounds, preventing her from thinking clearly. Ikora spun a corner and ran down another pathway. It stretched on and on like an endless hall, only to reveal—a dead end.

 

She slowly turned.

 

Slither…

 

Slither…

 

Swoosh…

 

Hiss…

 

There was only one pathway now, the one where the sounds of slithering were coming from. She backed against the wall and kept her eyes on the turn, trying to prepare herself for what was to come.

 

Swoosh…

 

The sound of her heartbeat echoed in her ears, drowning out all other noises until… she saw it.

 

As Ikora stood against the wall, she noticed four yellow eyes staring at her through the darkness. Her blood ran cold and she couldn't breathe. The creature didn't move and continued to stare at her. The sound of slithering grew louder, echoing through the narrow passages of the Maze. 

Slowly, the creature emerged from the shadows. The walls around it became covered in ice as it pushed forward. The dim light from the torches cast twisted shadows on the moss-covered walls, distorting the features of the approaching being. But the cold and ice were snuffing out the torches one by one as it drew closer.

 

Its form seemed to be that of a giant serpent. The monster felt familiar, it had four icicles on each side of its face, four piercing yellow eyes, and an aura of frost that followed it. She could have sworn she had heard of a beast like this somewhere.


But there was no time to think, the air became frigid, and Ikora could see her breath, and the path becoming increasingly covered with ice.

 

Slither...

 

Slither...

 

Ikora attempted to move, but she slipped and fell to her knees as the serpent approached her. Her body felt stiff from the cold, and her breathing became heavy. To create some distance between herself and the serpent, she pushed herself back but fell on her side. Her body was beginning to feel numb.

“What kind of school runs the risk of dying in the entrance exams?!” Ikora thought. 

 

The faint light from the torches revealed the entire creature as it sat upright, looming over her, almost touching the ceiling. She closed her eyes as she waited, a wave of acceptance coming over her as she held her breath—but nothing happened.

 

CRACK!

 

The sharp, piercing sound echoed through the room, instantly grabbing Ikora’s attention. It sounded like shattering glass. Her heart skipped a beat as she slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the thing in front of her.

 

It stopped, and the beast came to a pause, frozen in time. The echoes of crackling flames from the few remaining torches lingered in the air. A deafening screech pierced the silence as it clutched onto the nearby walls, while a new pathway revealed itself before it. Without hesitation, it crawled its way into the fresh path as the wall closed behind it, the frost the serpent brought vanishing with it.

 

She sat there, her eyes wide open, trying to process everything that had just happened. 

 

Another student ran over to Ikora, looking down at her as they tapped her head. “Ay, is everything alright!?”

 

She remained silent, not saying a thing. 

 

The boy grabbed Ikora by the shoulders and sat her up. “Ah c’mon, stop with those crazy eyes! it’s gone now!”

 

Ikora’s hands trembled as she sat there, her eyes still locked on the cold stone floor. The fear from the encounter stuck with her, and her chest tightened with every breath. The boy continued to shake her aggressively.

 

“Is everything alright? Do you need me to call a teacher?” He asked again.

 

“I... I don’t know,” Ikora admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. “It was so... strange. That creature, the maze, everything. I thought I was done for.”

 

He nodded, offering a reassuring smile full of pointy teeth. “I figured out how this maze works. I can help you out of here if you’d like.” He looked around, examining his surroundings. “Name’s Slyvern, by the way.”

 

"I'm Ikora. It's nice to see someone else here. Thank you, wait... You look familiar. Didn't I bump into you at the start?" 

 

The boy gave a nonchalant shrug before saying, "Maybe, but let's not dwell on it won't do us any good. Let's focus on getting out of here, we only have a few minutes left." 

 

“Yeah…” Ikora still shivered at the thought of the serpent.

Slyvern gently took hold of her shoulder. "Oh boy, that monster really got you, huh?”


“Let me tell ya," he spoke, leading Ikora through the maze. "Your response to fear is part of this test, did you hear what the teach said at the start?”

 

As the boy hugged the wall, a pathway opened in front of them. "Well, did ya?” he asked, turning to face Ikora.

 

She remained quiet, her gaze fixed on the object nestled in the boy's back pocket: a wooden stick with metal rings attached to it. There was no doubt about it. It was a wand.

 

“A wand?” Ikora asked. “Didn’t Enadius say that we aren’t allowed to bring any belongings during the tests?”

 

Slyvern remained silent for a bit. “Guess we’ll talk about that later but, thought I hid that thing.”

 

“Well, you didn’t do a good job at hiding it.”

 

The two turned another corner.

 

“You’re already breaking the rules!”

 

“Well, I think rules are meant to be broken. Besides, I haven’t even used it, so I haven’t cheated… yet!” He shouted over his shoulder. “How about this: Don’t be a snitch, and I’ll help you breeze through the tests, sound fair?”

 

Ikora stopped as she tried to think, but was interrupted by Slyvern’s shouting. “Don’t take too long to think, I wouldn’t mind leaving you in the dust now!”

 

“R–Right!” She picked up the pace once again, following Slyvern as they made twists and turns around the changing cave until finally the end of the tunnel came into view. 

 

The two sprinted faster as they got closer to the opening until finally, their shoes touched the soft green grass. Both fell to the ground on their backs. Slyvern glanced over to Ikora and gave her a thumbs up, and she did the same.

 

A blazing pink flame flared to life, lighting up the entire area as Enadius reappeared from it, his gaze sweeping across the group. “Seems like most of you made it out nicely, very good.”


“Ahem, let me find these darn lines the headmaster makes me say…” The teacher took out a stack of notes and flipped through it. “Aha, here we go.”


He began reading. “You’ve all faced the Reflections of Self. If you were curious, it was made to test not only your navigation skills but also the resilience of your spirit and mind—how you handle stressful situations.” 

 

“Moving on.” A pink flame engulfed the note, turning it to ash. “That was the only test for today, You’ll all be sorted into a group of two and will then be given a room to stay in if you pass all the tests that will be your roommate for the rest of the time you are at the Academy.” Enadius said as he went one by one, sorting the students into pairs.

 

Once finished, Enadius signaled for the students to follow behind him in a straight line. All the students did so and began following the instructor to a large building not too far away. Enadius brought them into the main area, and the staff began handing out their room keys.

 

Once everyone received their keys, they all left for the rooms. Slyvern and Ikora entered and looked around.

“So we have room nine, just remember that.” Ikora said.

“Yeah yeah, I call this one!” Slyvern exclaimed as he ran over to the largest bed and jumped onto it.

“Guess I’ll be taking this one.” Ikora approached a smaller bed on the other side of the room. 

“Man, look at this view!” Slyvern ran over to a sliding door and opened it before stepping out onto the balcony. “If only we had a higher floor rather than just the second one, am I right?” He said as he leaned on the railing.


Ikora followed behind “Well, since we have the same room, you can tell me how that maze works now.”

Slyvern shot up before walking back into the room. “Ah, right! So first off from observing other people around the Maze, I noticed it bends and twists itself depending on the state of mind the person is in.” He stated as he walked around.


“From what I saw, the more calm and focused one is, the more the maze will bend itself to make an easier path for the student. Like Enadius said.”

 

“If that’s the case, why was it working against me?” Ikora asked. “I was calm until that thing attacked me!”

 

Slyvern paused, staring over at Ikora. “I seriously can’t believe you asked that question, but I got your answer.”

“If somebody is trying to rush through the test and panics, the maze will rearrange itself to keep you trapped and isolate you from everyone else. A bit mean of the Mr. Maze to do if you ask me. Anyway, the more you panic, the more the maze will do this. Eventually, after a certain point, a monster based on one’s memories will reveal itself to chase down the panicking person. The more you freak out, the closer it gets, until finally…”

 

“BANG!” Slyvern jumped forward, causing Ikora to tense up. “It catches you, just like that.”


“T-Then what?” Ikora asked.


“The most awful, horrible, gut-wrenching, thing you could imagine… you fail the test and the staff come to get you.”

“That’s it? That’s horrible?”

“It’s awful, I know!” He laid back on a nearby chair, a smirk on his face as he continued. “Eh, I guess what I’m sayin’ is that you were not calm, despite you saying you were.”

Ikora remained silent as she tried to process the information she had received, but a knock on the door interrupted the two. Walking up to the door, Slyvern approached and opened it. 

 

“Hey, hey, check it out. Our bags are here!” He shouted back to his friend.

 

He grabbed both bags from the staff member. “Thank you, you’re a lovely assistant.” He said before shutting the door on the employee’s face.

 

“Head’s up!” He tossed Ikora’s bags over to her.

 

She caught them and began unpacking. “Thanks!”

 

“Don’t mention it.” Slyvern finished unpacking, and a tall black bag on Ikora’s side of the room caught his attention. He walked over to it and asked, “What do you have in this thing?”

 

“Oh, that? It’s just my mom’s old staff, Zulist. She wanted me to have it, she’s cool I know. I can tell you about it tomorrow if you’d like.”

 

“A staff? Was your mom a mage before?”

 

“Yeah, for a short time, she was. She’s why I want to learn magic, and somebody else, of course…” Ikora’s eyes drifted up toward the wall where she had hung up posters. 

 

Slyvern’s eyes followed, and he raised his eyebrow once he saw what Ikora was looking at. “A lil’ weird to have that many posters of one person, dontcha think?”

 

Ikora scoffed. “That’s not just some person, that’s Esmeralda!”

 

“Fangirl…” Slyvern muttered.

 

“Hey, it’s not my fault you can’t see how great—” The lights in the room shut off and a voice went through the building.

 

“LIGHTS OUT!” The voice said.

 

“Guess that’s the cue to head to bed, huh?”

 

”Seems like it, but I swear, the first thing I’m going to do tomorrow morning is tell you everything about Esmeralda.”

 

“Not looking forward to it.”

 

Ikora and Slyvern got into their beds and settled into their rooms at WAMA.

 

She looked up at her posters, thinking:

“I wonder if I can be like her…”