How did it all start? Yes. That’s right. It all began a few hours ago.
"To achieve your full potential faster, I will make each of you a personal curriculum." That’s what our professor had said. It sounds like the best, right? Well, it wasn’t.
We were currently standing behind one another, going through all sorts of different tests. But those tests...ah, just thinking about them sends shivers down my spine. The tests he gave us were to assess all our abilities. But...it was torture...torture, I’m telling you.
That smile of his might have seemed nice, but it wasn’t. It was the furthest thing from it.
"Next." His warm voice spread through the entire room. The worst thing about all this was that...I was the next one.
Each step I took forward was shaky. The previous tests had already traumatized me.
"What’s your name again?"
"Isolde Silverleaf."
"Ah. Right, I remember. You’re the Elven Princess, is that it?"
I nodded with very small head movements.
"You already saw the others do this test. Do you want me to explain it again?"
I looked ahead of me and saw literal platforms with spikes under them. I had seen others fall on them, and I’m telling you...they weren’t fake; everything was real. This professor was crazy!
"Anything to delay this," I whispered.
"Pfff...you can do it, Isolde." I put myself in a running position.
"Don’t die!"
"Good luck!"
"You got this!"
I heard some of my friends trying to encourage me, and I was gone. I finally crossed the starting line. The start of the parkour was easy. It was just a straight line with nothing on it. I quickly managed to reach the end of it. However, the worst had yet to come.
Arriving at the end of the first platform, I jumped onto the one filled with spikes appearing randomly.
My strategy was simple. Praying. There was no way to tell where the spikes would appear, so I prayed that my reflexes would be fast enough to dodge the spikes.
One of them appeared right beside my right leg, and I barely reacted fast enough by moving my leg away. However, it still grazed my right leg. I could feel a bit of blood coming out of it. But it didn’t hurt; it was probably because of the adrenaline coursing through my body.
Still, I continued to run as I was getting better and better, dodging most of the spikes popping up right under me. I was still grazed by a couple of them, but I could still run. That was all that mattered.
I wasn’t sure if my performance was good, but I managed to reach the end of the first platform, which was something that only half of the students who had done this test managed to achieve. I was at least better than average.
Arriving at the end of the first platform, I jumped toward the second one, which had falling tiles. Once again, I had no strategy, letting my reflexes do the work for me.
However, when the first tile fell under my right foot, I understood that it wouldn’t work this time around. The falling tiles were only one part of the problem on this platform. There was something else that we couldn’t see when we were spectating from far away—a strong wind, making it practically impossible to run forward.
I clenched my teeth. There wasn’t the slightest surprise on my face.
That was just how our professor was.