Maxwell stood, surrounded by the candidates.
He looked up, bringing his index and middle fingers to his left ear.
"Suz. It's Maxwell. Yeah, I'm done here. Can you see me?... Yeah, bring me back."
Immediately he said to that, green mist condensed behind him and converged, circulating into a portal.
"See you all later!" Maxwell said, waving off at them before stepping through the portal.
The candidates stood, gazing into his direction as the portal closed.
They all remained still, waiting for what was coming next.
"What now?" A candidate whispered, looking over at the guy on his left who just shrugged, not knowing what to do either.
Suddenly, from their left came green mist, sweeping throughout the field, swallowing everyone there in one smooth motion.
"I guess I'll see you guys later, then!" Desmond said, waving off at the Emmanuel and Rexford as the mist reached them.
"Make sure to survive until you meet me. Both of you. So I can get a taste of what you can do." Desmond said, more of an order, before the mist blurred his vision from the others.
Away from the field, far away and a bit from the island to the military ship, in a dark room, someone sat behind a computer, typing keys randomly and faster than the eye could follow.
There was a huge screen up ahead of him, showing footages of what was happening on the first island.
Six other people sat, doing the same with huge screens up ahead of them showing footages from the other islands.
At the far end of the room, a portal formed from green mist and Maxwell exited.
He looked ahead, seeing Jean, Pharouque, Richelle and Kopoo standing in the middle of the room.
"Took you long enough." Susanna said in her usual, cheerful manner.
"Sorry about that!" Maxwell said with a smile, scratching the back of his head as he approached them. "How are things going?"
"Nothing worth watching yet. They just began." Pharouque said in a bored manner, biting a cookie he took out of a pouch he held.
Maxwell chuckled as he got to them
"Where's Father."
"He just stepped out." Richelle answered with a frown. "It seems his hunches are kicking in again. He wanted to patrol the ship in case something's wrong."
"I see." Maxwell said as they all turned to the screens—seven in total. Each one monitoring each island.
Desmond found himself walking in a midst of trees and so did Augustus.
Rexford stood by a river, watching its waters flow calmly in a straigh line, tall trees lining up both banks.
Emmanuel looked up, standing on a scorched ground,rivers of lava flowing like veins across the field. He clicked his tongue, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Lawrence who was walking through the forest looked up ahead to see an open space, same as with Royal.
Augustine and Kocho at different parts of a mountain.
The final part of the practical test had already began.
Inside a mansion, a man in blue robes sat on a couch, head leaning back, eyes closed.
He looked quite old but the muscles his arms and slightly bare chest were still carved with strength.
He opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts when someone entered. The old man turned his head to the right to see who was coming in.
A man in his late thirties walked in. He had white hair with purple eyes and wore a gloomy expression on his face.
"Good evening father! How are you faring?" He greeted the old man—his father— as he walked up to him.
"I've been well." The old man answered with a soft smile. "Living in retirement isn't bad at all."
"That's good." The young man said, taking a seat on a couch perpendicular to the old man.
"How about you Ferlan? How's your work going?"
The old man asked, taking a glass of wine on the table in front of him.
Ferlan took a bottle of wine and filled a glass on the table.
"Everything's going perfectly fine. The position I hold is a bit tiring, but it gives me just the time I need for other things."
"That's good to hear!" The old man said, drinking from his glass.
"By the way..." Ferlan turned to his father. "Have you heard from mom?"
The old man's smile suddenly dropped at the mention of the boy's mother.
"Your mother..." He paused, followed by a sigh and leaned his head back against the couch, looking up at the ceiling. "I haven't heard from her ever since she left. Looks like she hasn't changed her mind yet."
Ferlan took a sip from his glass.
"I doubt she'll ever come back." He stated bluntly. "I somehow saw this coming..." He turned his head to his father.
"That she'd change and never be the same person we knew anymore."
Ferlan sighed and leaned back against the couch. "And it actually happened."
The old man tightened his grip on his glass as silence hung heavy in the atmosphere, neither men knowing how to break it. Not because there was nothing left to say but because there were too many.
Desmond walked through the thick forest, turning heads every few seconds with caution.
At one point he suddenly stopped and turned sharply to his left, alert flashing in his expression.
He gazed deeply into the distance as if he had noticed something there.
His frown deepened and he took a running stance as lightning started flashing wildly around him.
He then dashed forward with an incredible speed...
Far into the woods, Augustus stopped walking, turning to his right and narrowing his eyes slightly. He suddenly bent down, wind current swirling.
He then made a powerful leap, making the wind carry him like a feather up ahead. He flew through the woods with a speed almost matching Desmond's...
Lawrence got the open space, the same time as Royal and immediately, both boys gasped...
Augustine and Kocho had found each other at the rocky part of the mountain they ended up at.
But they weren't fighting. They just stood side by side, looking ahead of them with shocked expressions...
"Why the heck did they drop me here?" Emmanuel cursed under his breath, walking with a grumpy expression.
"I can't even find my way out of here." He said looking around. "And I came back to where I started again. Damnit!"
He stamped his his right foot against the ground, taking deep breaths as sweat glistened on his face.
"Just because my ability is flames doesn't mean I'm completely resistant to such high degrees of heat." He wiped sweat from his forehead again.
His eyes suddenly widened in alert, turning sharply to his left and groaning.
"This is..."
Rexford was walking along the river bank when he heard the water behind him splash. He stopped, his body tensing as he slowly turned around, gritting his teeth...
Back to the mansion, Ferlan and the old man sat in silence, both taking sips from their glasses when the old man broke the silence.
"By the way, Ferlan. Have you found him?"
Ferlan turned to his father instantly, his mood rising up again. "Yes, father!" He said taking a sip from his glass.
"It's been two weeks since I did so."
"I see... Then I suppose he's been taken care of?"
Ferlan took another sip before answering.
"No. Not yet!"
The old man frowned. "And your reason is?"
Ferlan placed the glass on the table. "I've made other preparations for him to be taken care of... in a delightful way."
"Preparations?"
"You know how teenagers bearing onyx gather to take the entrance exam which paves the way for them to enter warrior high schools right?"
At that same time, Desmond was still running while Augustus was still flying.
"What about it?" The old man asked.
Desmond and Augustus saw each other approach within a range of hundred meters.
"Well, the thing is..." A smirk formed on Ferlan's lips.
When Desmond and Augustus closed in on each other, both boys tensed and Desmond halted mid-step while Augustus broke his flight and landed. They now looked in each other's directions with serious expressions.
"A few of my boys managed to blend in with them without their notice."
There were some boys with black skins and with black wolf tails, wearing black kimonos with the emblem on their backs. The emblem was a red sword and red axe crossed in a red circle.
There were six of them.
Two hid among the the trees. One hid behind a tree close to the open field where Lawrence and Royal met. Another behind a huge rock where Kocho and Augustine met. The fifth one, behind a tree at the river bank where Rexford was. The last one behind a rock where Emmanuel was.
The six of them grinned and so did the old man as he sat on the couch.
"I see." The old man whispered, finishing his glass and setting it on the table.
Ferlan, smirked softly, seeing the amused grin on his father's face. Both men's eyes turned from white to black.
Desmond and the others were shocked because they had ran into bands of dark-skinned, wolf-headed, humanoid creatures—dar-tandemons.
"In short, he gets to invite a few friends along to the afterlife, right?"
The old man said as his facial features started changing, getting younger with each second and his hair turned black. His face was finally revealed. It was Kimado wearing the old man's mask.
How he got such a luxurious life after coming to earth was far too strange and his connection to Ferlan and his mother only added to the mystery.