A crowd of young women wearing form fitting uniforms made of stretchy materials stand in a line before a large open field, most of their faces looking towards the field yet not at anything particular filled with a determination that no one could doubt. Inside their eyes are the lifelong hopes and dreams that have been building towards this point, the young women none of them over their mid-20s standing there in a line before the grassy field filled with noise. Each one wearing the same uniform of gold and purple yet each one a different size, some of them large and brawny, some of them small and nimble.

The largest of the group being the tanned woman with pointy ears while the shortest might actually be me for a change, no one has told me what’s going on only that I need to follow the tall woman who is standing at the front of the crowd. No one has been forth coming with information yet I cannot blame them upon seeing their nervous yet excited expressions, even I feel excited upon hearing the rumblings of the crowd in the distance. I have faced battles with more souls involved than this yet the pressure from that was nothing compared to the pressure now.

“Alright girls, we need to stick to the script. We’ll do a pass around the crowd then line up for the first race,” the tanned woman with pointed ears speaks out to the crowd, they give a muffled cheer in response.

“You have to be more lively, they might be looking for that at the selection,” she continues to speak at the group before moving to the one at the head of the pack, “you know where to go?”

Her brown head nod in response, “across the field then back to the starting line.”

“Good, just look for the yellow flag if you get lost,” the tanned woman turns to the group again, “If you get lost, just stand by the starting line but try to follow the one before you,” the raises her voice to slightly louder.

“OK,” sounds in response from the crowd.

A cheer comes from the crowd again, the tanned woman raises her arm.

“Alright go, wait 30 seconds then next person head out at walking speed,” she pats the woman standing at the front of the crowd and watches her walk around the field for a moment before coming to stand next to me.

“I thought you were already part of the academy, the vice principal trusts you pretty well, what do I call you?”

“Call me Hazel,” she says softly, “the vice principal is an old family friend, so I’ve known her all my life,” she talks as we watch the group walk out onto the field to the roars of the crowd.

“Ah well sucks that you have to go through try outs.”

“I don’t mind plus,” Hazel speaks but trails off as if she stops herself from speaking, “there’s no problem,” she speaks up after a moment.

“Ah,” I say while following her eyes which are staring at someone near the front of the pack, a young woman with beautiful long white hair and a beautiful face, she’s not associating with anyone but her presence is noticeable among the crowd.

“Good luck Halzdadt,” Hazel says as the white haired woman gets to the front of the crowd.

Halzdadt scrunches up her nose looking at Hazel, “I don’t need it,” she says before walking out into the stadium to an incredibly roar.

“Who’s she?”

“Someone that you shouldn’t try to get to know, she probably won’t stay long either.”

I frown and watch the field for a moment, thousands upon thousands of people are sitting in the stands on the other side of the field cheering loudly for the white haired woman that is walking slowly through the grass calmly flicking her hair as though this is nothing. The crowd loves her as they cheer and scream her name from the distance but she still does not react, calmly walking around the field.

The crowd of people standing before us dwindles to a few meaning that it’s nearly our turn, Hazel speaks to me.

“You’ll be in the end lane next to me so just follow me.”

“It’s just a race?”

“Yep, just a race,” she says as the two of us arrive near the end with only two other people before us.

The roaring of the crowd is coming in clearly, each of the competitors has their name being shouted by someone as they line up by the starting line nearby.

I feel a hand on my back pushing me forward, Hazel is pushing me out just after the final woman has left the sheltered space, my eyes take a moment to adjust to the brightly lit space around me filled with a deafening roar of a crowd, I can feel my muscles involuntarily clench as an invisible pressure wave comes over me standing before the crowd disappearing into the sky. None of them will know who I am yet that doesn’t stop the effects to come over me. It’s a feeling that I would never experience unless I allowed myself to stay and undertake this period of powerlessness, a feeling that is strange…

We walk towards the track instead of doing a loop like the others where most people are waiting, the well dress people sitting on the seats by the starting line only have eyes for a single person yet the others are still shouting and encouraging others in several layers around this stadium that seems designed to handle over 40,000 people and is halfway filled. We arrive beside the track as the final person arrives and walks to their spot, my eyes scan the group of women now stretching beside the starting line.

The woman that greeted me waves while the white haired woman pretends to not notice our eye contact, my eyes then wander onto the stands looking for Veluly but they cannot spot her nor the vice principal.

“Stretch up and get ready, we’ll be starting soon,” Hazel says to me while pointing to a line on the ground which I stand beside.

A few moments pass when, “1182nd Royal Alfheim Academy tryouts, fourth group. Please take your positions,” an old booming voice sounds through the entire stadium to the roar of the crowd.

Everyone standing beside the line crouches down into a ready position, their breathing becomes steady as they look forward at the track before them even Hazel has changed her demeanour from relaxed to serious.

A women wearing a dark uniform stands on the opposite side of the track, “Ready…” she shouts while staring at me standing like normal as though I haven’t noticed what’s going on.

“Go!” she shouts.

Everyone else begins to run down the track, I follow after them as the roars of the crowd begin.

I am left behind quickly as they run incredibly quickly down the track, all of them have reached the first corner while I’m several steps behind and falling further behind.

My legs work as best as they can to catch up but it’s no good as the others have reached halfway through the other side while I have only just come up to the corner, I push myself as hard as I can yet as I arrive to an empty finish line I cannot help but feel defeated.

The tanned woman comes up to me and pats me on the back, “Well you do have short little legs so don’t worry about it, I bet you’ll do better in the other tests.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” I say while walking away from her, my heart feeling strangely heavy as I walk towards the edge where most other runners have gathered after recovering.

Hazel catches up, “it’ll bother anyone, next up is the obstacle course. You think you’ll be alright for that?”

“I have no option if I want to go through the tryouts,” I say, Hazel opens her mouth but I cut her off, “you do know that I know the vice principal right?”

“Oh right, well if you do well in the agility test then I’ll give you a nature charm that’ll enhance your magic.”

“Fine, if I do better in the agility test then you can give me a nature charm,” I say fighting the urge to roll my eyes.

Hazel softly giggles and walks towards the front of the crowd, “Ok girls, obstacle course now. Double the length of the track and filled with jumps. Let’s go.”

No one is enthused as they stand up and walk towards the starting line, the roars of the crowd return as we begin to line up in the same spots, I look down at the track which has changed drastically from its previous dark red colour into a dark grey with countless obstacles such as small walls, large walls, pits and even water traps. It’s almost unrecognisable from its previous state with many of the obstacles posing a special challenge to someone my height.

I crouch down like the others, the attendant stands by the side of the track, “Ready…”

I ready my muscles this time, “Go!” she shouts.

The roars of the crowd are blocked out of my ears as I push myself along the track and reach the first obstacle, a small hurdle.

I’m keeping up with the crowd but the people leading are pulling ahead, they jump over the obstacle with ease.

I reach it and leap over it successfully, I look ahead and spot a pit which I leap over easily, I look ahead and spot the leaders well ahead as they go over the next hurdle.

I turn my head and spot several others keeping pace with me, I return my head forward and ready myself for the hurdle and leap over it.

My foot catches over this slightly raised hurdle causing me to tumble in the air, I place my arms out before me and push myself back off the ground tryiing not to lose any momentum, I’m back and up running instantly while someone else is caught up on the hurdle and falls over.

I reach the waterpit alongside three others, one of them leaps in while the other two hold back for a moment, I also leap forward with all my might.

The one that leapt before me hasn’t put enough power into the jump as they hit the wall and fall into the water, I land on the other side and continue to run….

I navigate all of the obstacles including the walls that are too high for me, I do all of that as quick as possible. My body providinig many disadvantages but also many advantages when it comes to jump.

I arrive at the final stretch where a large wall remains, I spot Hazel already at the top while the white haired Halzdadt isn’t far behind, Hazel looks back for a moment and makes eye contact with me giving me a smile.

Halzdadt turns and looks at me too, she doesn’t react and hurries up as the people behind catch up.

I look at the obstacle before me, a large tower like wall made like a stone ladder going upwards, it looks ancient and sturdy not like something like made for the obstacle course today.

I take a deep breath and begin to run towards the wall and then leap at it, I hit the wall yet it doesn’t hurt as my body is so like and well padded, my hands grab onto the footholds and my feet into the handholds.

I work my way up quickly, my hands able to precisely positions themselves into the holds as my body continues upwards.

I pass someone who has slowed down struggling to pull their body up, my going by them spurs them into action but it’s too late as I zoom by them and upward.

The leaders are off the wall by now but I feel like I am gaining quickly as I pass another woman on the wall working her way up.

I reach 3/4 of the way up with no one else on the wall ahead of me, I reach the top but don’t waste any time to bask in the feeling of the cheering crowd, I look ahead and spot a large slide into a sandy area. I step onto the smooth sloped curved surface where I immediately feel myself slowly designed downwards, I slide on my feet down the slope maintaining the balance with relative easy as it’s a straight slope yet angled at times to increase the difficult or change the angle of momentum.

I gain speed approaching someone else on the slide, they’re on their back sliding towards the finish line with relative ease. I pass by them as I don’t have as much friction or drag despite having a tiny amount of their body weight, I look ahead and spot a familiar figure of the young woman who answered the door with short blonde hair, she is struggling to keep her balance as she slows down not yet reaching the sand.

I curve begins to flatten where I am as the amount of sand increases under my feet causing pain, the tiny fragments are travelling at high speed into my feet through the footwear. I grit my teeth and bear it catching up onto the woman.

She looks behind for a moment then does a double take as she spots me, she focuses her gaze and clenches her teeth fixing up her balance and picking up speed.

She reaches the sand pit kicking up a large amount and begins to run slowly as her heavy body sinks into the sand.

I reach the sand not too long after, my body skipped along the top instead of sinking in.

The short blonde haired woman is nearing the finish line as I correct my balance breaking into a run, I use the momentum from the slide as I near the finish line.

The short blonde haired woman’s eyes go wide as she looks at me just about to cross the line just as she does but I’m just half a step too short as she crosses first and stops.

My speed doesn’t allow me to stop as I continue running after crossing the finish line, I stomp on the ground to slow myself down but it’s no good I can either continue running or tumble over, I look ahead and notice a white head of hair before me.

I shift my direction so I don’t run into her and hit a large object falling to the ground with them, I reach out attempting to fix myself up and notice that I can feel flesh, I’m squeezing something soft.

I squeeze it a few times before the body shifts, “Can you get off me?”

“Oh sorry, I thought I couldn’t feel part of my body.”

“Oh I can feel it,” she says as I untangle myself and step up. The tall tanned woman stands up, her face lightly blushed along with her ears as she looks at me without making eye contact.

“Sorry about that, I couldn’t stop… good news is that I did better.”

Hazel coughs lightly as her face returns to normal, “That you did, maybe you’ll end up getting that nature’s charm…,” she mutters under her breath that I cannot hear.

“What?”

“Oh umm, good job getting 5th, if you make top 6 in the next round then you’ll be permitted into the magic round.”

“Oh, great,” I say with a sigh.

“The next round is quick,” Hazel says with a noticable shift in her expression towards me.

“That’s good, I really don’t know what I’m doing wasting time like this.”

“Do you have somewhere else to be?”

“Err, not really,” I say without paying too much mind to her curious words.

“Ok,” Hazel says before leaning down placing her face next to mine, “well I want you here so stay for me.”

I’m stunned, I don’t know what to say in response to this, there’s many things that I want to say which mostly lead to rejecting to the young woman yet II also don’t.

A giggle comes from my ears, “I’m just joking… or am I…” she says while walking away from me towards the rest of the group, “Ok girls, lets get ready for the final beginner try out.”

The final runner has come to a stop by the finish line, she’s bruised up and battered looking like she should bow out of the competition but she doesn’t look any less determined as the course before us shifts about as though it’s made with magic. The track disappears returninig the whole field into a grassy fiield before it too is shifted into something else, a large stone area appears with thousands of boxes sitting on the ground.

A buzzing is emitted as the boxes split apart into thousands of tiny little boxes, “Ok Zallalian, please go first.”

A short black haired woman walks towards the edge of the field, she takes a deep breath as the crowd goes silent. Only the buzzing from the field can be heard.

She steps into the field and begins to walk forward, nothing out of the ordinary happens until she reaches five steps in.

A shadow of a sword appears in the air and swipes through the air towards her, she spots the shadowed sword heading towards her and steps back avoiding the swipe.

Another shadow of a sword appears in the direction she’s going, she tries to adjust her position by working her feet but finds herself tripping as the sword flies towards her body.

She closes her eyes as she sword is about to slice her in half, it disappears into red-light dust as she’s unharmed, she repeats this process a few more times and reaches the end where her time is tallied up.

“Alright, you saw it. Go in when you’re ready.”

Three of the women instantly enter the field and work their way through as the others stand around gathering their courage, Hazel walks up to me.

“I better see you get a good score,” she says while walking away, I yell out.

“How do you get a good score?!”

“Dodging, precise dodging.”

She enters the field and runs across it, she doesn’t even pay attention to the sword two sword that strike at her arriving in the middle and leaping over the several that appear before I’m unable to see her clearly.

I walk up to the field and prepare myself before I’m pushed aside by the white haired Halzdadt who runs through just like Hazel.

I settle my nerves and don’t let her get to me and step into the field.