Page 74 of Academy of the Wicked, Year One

Only a handful of students remain — those who either summoned barriers or were lucky enough to leap to the lower pillars before the slate consumed everything in its wake.

The rest…gone.

It’s one thing when it comes to speaking about death and the implications that can lead one down the various paths that embrace it, but witnessing it with your own eyes and how close you were to being one of the struck victims leaves an emptiness of fright coursing through your body.

“What in the Abyss is this?” I murmur, my voice hoarse with disbelief.

The air is thick with the stench of sulfur and charred magic, the very essence of the trial corrupted by whatever unholy force now holds dominion here.

A sharp whistle cuts through the chaos and my instincts scream.Something is coming.I spin just in time to see a cluster of dark, barbed vines streaking toward me, their tips dripping with a sickly green ichor.

Poison.

My body reacts before my mind can catch up.

The wind answers my call, swirling around me in a furious spiral. The gusts form a protective vortex, shredding the vines and scattering their remnants into the abyss below. Arrows of similar dark energy follow, but they, too, are deflected by the storm raging around me, a protective onslaught that saves me from whatever plague of agony that would have ignited.

Lowering myself carefully to the unsteady pillar, I extend my senses, trying to feel out the source of this onslaught.

My pulse races as the realization sets in — the pillar beneath me is dissolving, its edges crumbling into dust that vanishes into the void.

“We need to get off this thing!” a panicked voice cries from one of the adjacent pillars. I glance over to see a group of students clutching their injuries, their eyes wide with terror.

I understand their urgency but at the same time, I’m hesitant for multiple reasons.

If we jump off we’ll be targets for those vines and arrows.

I’m confident in protecting myself, but there’s no level of confidence I have for these students.

Then again, I’m not meant to be a hero here. At least, that’s not the original objective.I feel the need to reunite with the others. Though this is about survival, yes, there has to be some sort of group play that will come into fruition at some point.

Well…I can only hope because I’m a damn noob in this field of wicked madness compared to these royals who’ve either experienced this before or have some sort of insight on what’s expected from us.

“It’s going to collapse!” someone else shouts, their voice trembling.

My jaw tightens. I should be panicking too, but the part of me that is Gwenivere —the strategist, the survivor— clings to the realization that the slate of darkness has a purpose.

It’s not just destroying pillars; it’s herding us.

I look down at the dissolving platform beneath me and shake my head.

“Not yet,” I whisper, forcing myself to stay rooted. If I jump now, I’ll end up like the others, aimlessly leaping from pillar to pillar until exhaustion or the slate claims me.

No…I need to figure out what it wants.

What it’s testing.

My gaze sweeps the battlefield. Students who had initially survived the first onslaught are now fighting for their lives. Those with elemental magic wield it with a desperation that borders on brilliance.

Fire scorches the incoming vines; water shields deflect the poison-tipped arrows. The air is alive with the hum of magic, but it’s not enough. For every student who manages to deflect an attack, another falls, their screams echoing as they plummet into the abyss or are absorbed by the slate.

And then there are the “tainted bees,” as someone had called them — small, insect-like creatures made of writhing shadows.

Their stingers glow with a faint green light, and the moment they pierce a student’s skin, the reaction is immediate. Veins turn black, the afflicted collapsing as their life force is siphoned away.

It’s not just poison; it’s corruption, spreading like wildfire through their bodies.

I watch in horror as one student — a fae, judging by the shimmer of their summoned wings of glittering gold and woven nature —tries to flee, only for a swarm of tainted bees to overtake them.

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