30 The First Tes

Sora looked at the manager in the middle of all the wind and the three people that sat below him, he didn't seem to be phased by the power of these three and kept up his field of extreme wind. Many people had found the first few metres easy, some didn't even feel any different, but the closer they got, the higher the winds picked up. Michael wasn't lying about the wind one would have to push through when they got close to the manager, some people couldn't get even halfway no matter how hard they tried. Within the giant winds where the manager stood, a figure appeared behind him and looked at all of the candidates, whilst this figure was unknown to most people, Sora, Del and Rez knew who it was straight away, it was Michael!

M: "To all who cannot make it to the middle within an hour, you have failed the initial test and will be sent home!!!"

After shouting this Michael left as fast as he had appeared. Del and Rez, who had also been split up from eachother had begun pushing through the winds, many of the attendees also began to push through, the field was so big that, although there were over 15000 people here, it wasn't cramped at all, there was actually a bit of space between each person.

All of the people here had their own plans for getting to the middle, some people were trying to brute force their way through, some people began to dig through the ground using earth magic but realised that the earth here had been harder to manipulate. Most likely an effect applied on purpose by the managers, whilst there was no wind stopping them, the process was extremely slow, plus, other people could also use your tunnel - you would be allowing other people to leech off you and run the risk of running out of time. Some people had been using magic to block the effect of the wind but found that trying to push through this way was also difficult, as they would have to move their wall further, which was basically the same as trying to just walk forward. There were extremely specific strategies that others took, some flew high into the air and tried to dive through the winds, others ran extremely far away from the sphere of high winds to try and gain enough speed through whatever means and break through that way. There were many strategies being used and most of them had been progressing at roughly the same speed.

"Hey, look!"

"What?!"

"When did that guy get in?!"

Del looked towards the middle.

D: "What?! What did he do?!"

Standing in the middle next to the manager and the three who initially made it here was Indy.

I: "Phew, this test was too perfect for me..."

Indy sat down and looked up at the sky. He lay down on the grass and fell asleep after a while. Everyone watching was extremely confused, no one knew how he got there, as soon as they looked up he was just there, many people began looking around or trying to remember if they saw him before he got there to try and copy what he did. They began talking to eachother while they tried to push through the winds and some even began to team up to try and break through using another's power. With 20 minutes having passed already, people began to panic, the progress they made in these 20 minutes was nowhere near close enough to the middle.

Sora was surprised by the wind at first but had already come up with a plan to break through, he had been standing still this entire time, watching what everyone else was trying and coming up with an idea of his own.

S: "Light Property Application : Lightspeed"

Sora's shoes began to grow with a faint light. Whilst he definitely couldn't utilise the property of lightspeed to it's fullest, he would definitely increase his speed like this.

S: "I can probably temporarily nullify the effects of the wind if I set up a good enough dark defense..."

Wind could not be corrupted, so Sora would just try and nullify it's effects for as long as possible.

S: "Peace and Calamity allows me full control over light and darkness, but it's up to my own strength to fully utilise all of their properties and power. Dark Property Application : Maximum Defense"

Sora's body began to be covered with a translucent layer of darkness, whilst it only looked like one layer to the naked eye, it was actually multiple small layers stacked on top of eachother. Sora prepared to run.

S: "This darkness will probably only get me 2 seconds worth of time... I hope I can clear it"

Sora inhaled and exhaled very slowly, trying to calm himself down as much as possible, with a sharp inhale, he immediately burst into a sprint, leaving a crater in the ground he stood on and speeding through the first halfway point with ease, this was already further than most people, and his speed didn't stop there, as he got closer and closer to the middle he began to feel the effects of the wind.

(T)S: "Damnit! It didn't even last 2 seconds!"

Sora's speed instantly slowed to a slow walk as the dark layer around his body shattered and was blown away with the wind.

(T)S: "I can't set up another one faster than the wind will destroy it!"

Sora stuck his sword in the ground in front of him and held onto it.

(T)S: "Damnit! I'm so close!"

Sora had instantly blown through the entire thing and was now extremely close to the manager, in the 1.5 seconds that he ran he was only a couple of metres from Indy. He began to take slow steps forward, each one harder than the other.

(T)S: "Almost!"

He took another step forward, being hit by an even harder wind.

(T)S: "There!"

As Sora walked forward he kept stabbing his sword into the ground, further and further in. Indy looked up and saw him.

(T)I: "Isn't he the one who was fighting the other guy?"

Sora kept going further and further with each step until he realised he was at a point where the wind was so strong that he was scared that he would lose his balance if he tried standing on one leg for even a split second, losing his balance here would blow him back extremely far, making him lose all of his progress.

(T)S: "What do I do here..."

[Del and Rez's Side]

Del and Rez had been split up from eachother but found that they weren't that far as they pushed through, they saw each other and got closer to each other as they pushed forward, when they met with eachother, Rez set up a barrier of string to allow them a moment of rest. As they rested a flash of light blasted past them and stopped after getting close to the barrier, looking through the barrier of string they saw that it was Sora.

R: "This guy..."

D: "He ran through it all in one go..."

R: "Wait, no, he's stuck there"

D: "Is he?"

Del looked beyond the barrier and saw that Sora was indeed struggling.

R: "Damn, how strong must the winds be there..."

Del and Rez were pretty far from Sora, in simple terms, Sora was about 90% through the test, whilst they were about 75% through. Del turned away from the Sora and looked at Rez.

D: "Hey, Rez, let's go"

Rez turned around and put his hand on the barrier of string.

R: "Alright, help me with this.

Del and Rez began to push up against the barrier of string, slowly moving forward, they eventually reached Sora, who had been standing still, at this point, 40 minutes had passed, and they were all extremely close to the end. Del and Rez started pushing through 30 minutes in, it had taken them 10 minutes to get to where Sora was, and as they got closer, they got slower, until the barrier basically made no difference, and they began doing the same thing as Sora, slowly walking forward, until arriving next to him on both sides.

S: "Sup- guys"

R: "Yo- Sora"

D: "The wind- is too- strong"

Sora had his sword in the ground and now Del and Rez were also holding onto the handle. They made a mental connection with eachother.

S: "How're we gonna do this guys?"

D: "I don't know, the wind is too strong here"

R: "Any idea I have requires me to lose my balance for a bit, and that would blow me back"

S: "Damn, you guys are in the same situation I've been in then"

D: "You haven't thought of anything?"

S: "No, it's like Rez said, I need to temporarily lose my balance"

After realising they had no options, all three went silent and just looked at the finish in front of them, they knew they were close but had no idea how close. None of them wanted to lose here. Del made a mental link with Rez.

D: "Rez"

R: "Huh? Why're you making a mental link with just me?"

D: "Cause, I wanna help Sora go forward"

R: "What? Then I'll come with"

D: "What? No! I'm helping you aswell?"

R: "How?"

D: "I'm planning on using all of my aura to maintain my balance for a second and then pushing you two forward, I'll get blown back instantly, but you two will go forward"

R: "All of it?! That isn't a smart thing to do! You won't be able to catch yourself when you get blown back, you'll get hurt!"

D: "I don't care! As long as I can get you two forward!"

R: "No, I ain't lettin you go home alone - If you're pushing him forward I am too"

D: "What?! Don't waste this oppurtunity cause of me!!!"

R: "What do you think you're doing right now!!! I don't care, I'm coming with you"

Del sighed mentally, but in her heart, she was happy that Rez would go this far.

D: "Fine, but don't blame me later"

R: "Like I would, let's go then"

Del and Rez looked at eachother, with Sora completely unaware, they both used the hand they weren't using and placed it on Sora's back. Sora looked at both of them confused.

S: "What're you doing?"

Del and Rez smiled. Putting all their aura's into their feet to stay on balance for a second and applying the rest to their hands, they pushed Sora and he immediately cleared the remaining distance, he stopped feeling the strong wind he had been feeling all this time.

S: "Hey!!!"

Sora looked behind him at Del and Rez, who had already been flying backwards, Rez landed on the ground at the back and caught Del in midair, letting her down and then staring at Sora.

S: "What're you two doing?!"

Sora reached out to them, almost running back into the wind zone but was held back by Seth.

Se: "Oi, they sacrificed themselves for you, don't waste their efforts"

Sora felt the strong winds on his hand, but not anywhere else. He backed up from the wind zone and sat down.

So: "Yeah but... we promised we'd go where each other would go... why would they help me if they knew that..."

Sora looked down at the grass as Seth walked back to Iona and Natu. 45 minutes had passed. All this time one other person had been extremely close to the middle area, it was Furwin, many people had been getting close to the middle now but he was the closest. After 55 minutes he, along with about 500 other people entered the middle area.

F: "Haha! Finally!"

Furwin began shouting wildly, boasting about how strong he was. He was directing this towards Joe, who was still on the very edge of the zone. Del and Rez had already given up their chance to go in and were just talking on the outer layers. Joe looked at the boasting Furwin and smiled.

J: "Finally... Space : Switch"

Joe seemingly switched places with Furwin, making it to the middle area in one go. Leaving Furwin on the outer edges, Furwin's face went pale as he looked back to Joe, enraged he tried to charge through in a mad dash but didn't make much progress before slowing down. Joe didn't pay him any mind as he walked towards Sora, who was still feeling guilty about basically 'stealing' two peoples chances.

J: "Hey, pass me two blades of grass real quick"

Joe remembered Sora from their talk at the fountain, and had been watching what Del and Rez did to help him through, he believed they also deserved to make it in. Sora didn't know why Joe was asking him this but he pulled two blades of grass from the ground and gave it to him, Joe took it from him and threw them into the air.

J: "Space : Switch"

The two blades of grass immediately disappeared and in their place was Del and Rez.

D: "Huh?"

R: "What?"

Del and Rez had been immediately teleported to this position, Sora took a little time to process what he just saw but then jumped up and smiled as he ran to the two of them, they were also extremely happy, this all came out of nowhere after all, they had given up their chance but it came to them. Joe watched the three as they had their happy reunion.

S: "Why would you guys do that?!"

D: "Well..."

Del looked down at the ground.

R: "Hey, we all made it through. But... how did we get here?"

Sora looked at Joe.

S: "Joe did it"

Del and Rez looked towards Joe.

D: "Thank you"

R: "Thanks man"

J: "Eh no problem, I just thought you two should get in after what you did"

Joe was smiling at them.

S: "Don't think I ever told you my name... it's Sora, let's be friends"

D: "Us too"

R: "Yeah man, you're cool in my book"

All of them started talking to eachother.

?: "Yo... I was right..."

The group stopped talking and looked at where this voice came from, it was Indy.

I: "So you do use space magic... just like me..."

Joe turned to him.

J: "Oh, it's you"

Joe and Indy looked at each other, as if they had found a family member in an unfamiliar space. Mages who used time and space magic were few and far between, meeting with another one was unlikely.

I: "I'd know that magic anywhere"

J: "Yeah same, you teleported didn't you?"

I: "Yeah, this test was really perfect for me"

Joe had known Indy used teleportation magic as he was waiting for Furwin to make it to the middle. Indy wanted to be friends with him, and so did Joe, it was quite logical for a time and space user to befirend another time and space user. As the two became friends with eachother, they both had a link to Sora, Del and Rez, so they all began to talk as the last 5 minutes counted down.

"3, 2, 1, The test is over! Any who have not made it to the middle have failed!"

The manager shouted this to all who had not been able to pass through to the middle area, in the last 5 minutes, 120 people had made it through a hole that someone had made since the beginning of the test, leaving 628 people who had passed, through conventional or unconventional means. The manager scanned the numbers.

"Alright, onto the next test"