Waking up before dawn, Teival quickly washed his face in the crystal basin before getting dressed. As he did that, I made sure to properly lick my fur and smooth it down after a night of tossing and turning. Of course, I efficiently performed such a meticulous task with expert skill and grace developed over my entire life! The result: a pretty and pristine portrait of perfection.

 

After admiring myself for a few minutes, Teival stroked my head and motioned for us to leave the room. Traversing down the black stone corridors, I caught sight of a few bleary-eyed children heading in the same direction as us. I assumed they were fellow inductees doing the trial and so ignored them as my master and I took what we had discovered was a shortcut to the Main Stadium.

 

As we reached our destination, it then dawned on me how we hadn’t even had breakfast, thus mourned the loss of my meal. Entering the grounds of the Main Stadium, my eyes opened wide in surprise at the sheer size of it. Roving my eyes around the area, I made note of how it was easily three times larger than our usual training grounds – with hundreds of children and several tens of adults gathered in this one point.

 

I have to admit, I may have become slightly disoriented by the vast quantity of bustling bodies all searching for where their classes were located. After a few minutes of standing in the same spot, attempting to find the rest of our class, my ears twitched at the sound of my master’s name being called out by Armin. It seemed that Teival had also managed to hear the boy over the clamour and cacophony of children’s voices.

 

Reaching the area our class had been designated, I noticed Liesel bounce over in an excited mood with a crystal device in her hand. Checking who we were, she tapped the screen of the device with a tiny crystal stick while muttering Teival as having successfully arrived. Smiling at us, she walked off to the side and peered out for any signs of other children under her tutelage.

 

Armin then jostled his way through the crowd and smiled wryly, “Looks like my assumption about the other classes joining was correct.”

 

“…Yeah…Any ideas on where we’re going yet?”

 

“Well—”

 

“Ah, ah, ah!” Liesel wormed her way between my master and Armin before hooking her arms through theirs, “It wouldn’t be fun if the surprise was revealed before the climax! It’s far more exciting to experience the anticipation!” I watched her wink at them both before parting company to check someone else off her list.

 

I snuggled between Teival’s legs, not enjoying the risk to my fluffy tail being stepped on being everywhere I turned my gaze. Lightly stroking my head to calm my nerves, my master then asked: “Any idea how long it’ll be before we leave?”

 

The instructor came back over and answered the question with a teasing smile, “I would say another half hour before the Schwarzerberg Air Corps arrives.”

 

“…What even is the Air Corps…?”

 

“Yeah, what is it? You mentioned it a few days ago but I forgot to ask.”

 

Our queries were met with laughs from both the woman and Armin. The boy responded first through restrained laughter: “You really are a country bumpkin. Hahaha, asking what the SAC is, hahaha!”

 

Fortunately, Liesel granted us mercy and divulged some information on them, “It’s an elite division of the Schwarzerberg Army that specialises in air assaults, reconnaissance and delivering messages between border patrol units.”

 

“Then…why are they the ones transporting us?”

 

“Hahaha! That’s because they’re the fastest and safest forms of transport for our inductees during times of peace, sweetie. Especially useful for when doing external trials.”

 

“Sounds more like a delivery service than an elite unit, to me. It must be so demeaning being placed in such a group…How pitiful.” Bored with the conversation, with Liesel having started gushing over how brilliant the SAC was, I decided to reposition myself onto Teival’s feet and have a nap to pass the time.

 

Eventually, I was abruptly aroused by an alarming sense of danger just before being buffeted by a strong gust of wind. My ears were assaulted by a series of screeches, resulting in me pressing them firmly against my head in an effort to defend my sensitive hearing. “I’m a delicate girl, you know?! Now who dares disturb my beauty sleep?!” I soon received my answer when giant dark clouds descended from the dawn-washed sky and landed with an almighty thud in the Main Stadium.

 

You know, I initially thought that Adah’s crystal eagle was particularly massive, but he didn’t hold a crystal candle to the size of these monstrosities! Crystal Condors, Crystal Pelicans, Crystal Eagles all as tall as the stadium stands and filling up what little room had been left for them by the humans.  Liesel literally squealed in elation over their arrival before quickly ordering us to form a line and head towards them.

 

Observing the situation, several high-ranking Clan members jumped off the backs of these beasts and began calling out class names. As the children in the classes before us climbed the steps leading up to giant boxes, I watched as they all entered before the Crystal Eagle gripped the object in its talons and flew off. Not looking forward to having to experience that, I rubbed against Teival for reassurance that everything would be safe.

 

Once two classes had left, our class was then called. At first, I was confused over where we were supposed to go, since I failed to locate any box for us to climb in. However, my expectations were dashed as I soon discovered our mode of transport was inside the bill of a Crystal Pelican! “Nope! I am not going inside another crystal beast! I can walk to the trial location! Teival! We’re walking! I refuse to go in that thing’s mouth!” Alas, although I protested over doing so, I hesitantly followed my master into the maw of the crystal beast.

 

Walking into the opening, it soon became apparent that there was a decorated compartment for us to reside in for our journey. With us all herded inside, Teival sat on a cushioned seat where I then jumped onto his lap and snuggled into his arms. “You’ll keep me safe, right Teival? I won’t end up feeling nauseous like with Adah’s eagle, right? Right?”

 

I felt the soothing strokes of my master’s hand run down my back, with him humming his harmony in my ear. After a few minutes of listening to it, I curled my tail around my body and went to sleep – in the hopes I wouldn’t end up tumbling to the ground like before.

 

+++

 

I awoke to find myself in Teival’s arms and my head on his shoulder. Yawning, I took in my surroundings to discover we were no longer inside the Crystal Pelican. No, instead we were in a clearing with towering trees on all sides. From the looks of things, we hadn’t been there for very long as I noticed other SAC crystal beasts arriving with another class of children.

 

While we waited, Liesel handed out a tiny crystal bell, along with a bag holding a clear crystal. When Teival asked what the items were for, the instructor simply smiled before saying she didn’t want to spoil the fun by revealing it too soon. Left with such cryptic words, I jumped out of my master’s arms and relished in the sensation of being on the ground again. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s nice feeling the wind in my fur but…how the heck are you supposed to feel the wind when inside the mouth of a crystal beast?!

 

After roughly an hour of watching class after class being unloaded from crystal beasts, the Head Instructor made her intimidating appearance and called for silence. Her presence alone had already caused most to turn quiet before she even opened her mouth, so when she gave her order there was not a single sound to be heard. At first, I thought it was due to fear but I soon realised that some people were opening their mouths with nothing coming out. “What sorcery is this?” Before I could ponder over this revelation, the Head Instructor gave her speech.

 

She was short and concise with her succinct speech as she explained why the trial was named, ‘Survival of the Fittest.’ At first, she mentioned how the weak would be disqualified, which would be determined by a number of factors: one, by ringing the crystal bell you would forfeit your chance to proceed through the trials; two, by losing your crystal; three, by dying. Another use for the crystal bell was to call for help if in danger, though by doing this you were admitting to being weak and so would also be disqualified.

 

The Head Instructor then explained the rules for those who passed: you passed as long as you had at least one clear crystal in your possession; you would be ranked based on how many crystals you managed to procure from other inductees – with the higher rank being given to those with the most crystals; you had to last for two weeks within the forest.

 

As for other things, she mentioned how classes would enter the forest every hour based on their rank. I was pleasantly surprised to realise that Teival’s class: 0-B was the third ranking one, meaning we would be one of the earlier classes to enter. I noticed how this offered more advantages to the higher-ranking classes during this trial but thought it made sense for the kind of motto the Schwarzerberg Clan followed.

 

With that, the Head Instructor concluded her speech and initiated the trial. After waiting two hours, our class was called up. Reaching the starting point, Liesel muttered under her breath something about how there was more benefit to working as a team than working alone. With such a cryptic message – though perhaps not that cryptic – the Head Instructor blew her crystal whistle, marking the beginning of mine and Teival’s trial.