Team Dylan hurried to get their scroll and pick a gate. Sophia pointed out that the best gate to pick would be one that was close to the river. The map that Major Laina had shown them depicted the river going right under the tower at the forest’s center. They would be able to follow the river to the tower and would always have a supply of water on hand. As soon as the instructor threw open the gate, the member of Team Dylan dashed through and took to the trees. Sophia was surprised how quick flying their first two days in the forest were. From what Major Laina had said, she expected to never have a moment of peace from the second they stepped through the gate. But aside from some giant ferocious wolves, a colony of blood sucking bats, a patch of deceptively innocent man eating plants, vines that tried to pull them into the ground and strangle them, a colony of venomous spiders taller than the three of them, and a pack of horses with six legs that tried to stampede th

Sophia spent the fourth day of the exam catching up on sleep. Leon and Zain had been seen to and the Healing Knight said they would both be fine, so Sophia finally allowed herself to relax. When she awoke, she found both boys seated at her bedside. Apparently Major Major Dylan had repeated her summary of what happened after the second day to them. Zain, even if it seemed somewhat grudging, thanked her for saving his life. Not that she thought he would have died from that snake bite, just suffered a lot of pain until it was properly treated. Leon had congratulated her on winning the fight against the team of Knights and even robbing them of their weapons. “How exactly did you manage to take on those three Knights all by yourself, Soph?” was Leon’s first question, which he added quickly, “and what the hell happened to your hair?” Sophia subconsciously raised her hand and ran her fingers across her short hair. “I had to cut it because it got tangled in some bram

Sophia knew she had a lot of work ahead of her as she prepared for the final part of the High Knights selection exam. She needed to learn more long range magic, increase her magic reserves, and keep up her training in illusionary magic and hand to hand combat. She was waiting on the platform for Major Dylan along with Leon and Zain. She still couldn’t believe all of Team Dylan had made it to the finals. Just thinking about the tournament made Sophia anxious. Leon and Zain would be fighting each other in the first round, and the intensity of their rival made her worry. One of them would have to lose, and the loser would probably be bitter. Or at least Zain would be if he was one to lose. It also made her wonder what Major Dylan would do about their training. There was no way he could train both Leon and Zain, and it would be completely unfair for him to pick one over the other. She briefly thought that he would train her, so as to not favor one boy over the other, but

Sophia had to restrain herself from biting her nails as cerulean blue eyes clashed with dark onyx eyes. Leon extended his right arm, hand clenched in a fist; Zain mimicked him. And then they bumped fists. That was when Sophia let out a sigh of relief. This was just going to be another spar between them. A match between rivals. The brunette relaxed her posture and got ready to enjoy the fourth match, wondering who would come out on top this time. The two of them had fought so many times, but the record of wins and losses was pretty even. Zain was faster than Leon. He had a better aim and could strategize, which Leon seemed incapable of. Leon, however, had numbers on his side, along with his creativity, ability to think on the fly, and his pure stubbornness. Sophia had no way of predicting who would win this fight. Her teammates put on an impressive display. Zain’s control of fire magic had gotten even better, and he had shown off some basic lightning based magics as w

Sophia was torn when she arrived home. She didn’t know whether to be angry, hunt her teammates down in a rage and tear them apart, or completely break down and cry. The apartment she had grown up in was destroyed. She wondered if this was why Major Dylan had bought a new black dress for her. Even if he had come here to collect her own, he would have been unable to do so. Sophia felt she could have handled that if her parents weren’t gone too. ‘How could they not have told me this?’ Sophia was mentally exhausted at this point. The High Knight selection exam, the invasion, the Head of Knight Association’s funeral, and now this. She had no clue what she was supposed to do, so she just stood, rooted to the spot, outside what had been her home for twenty-one years, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. All she could think about was that her teammates had not told her, not even her best friend Caiden, that her parents were dead the moment she went missing in the