Moonlight And Betrayal

Chapter 4 Ranked

Mia's Pov

I walked into the classroom and immediately realized it wasn't Mistress Beatrix standing at the front. This time, it was a completely different teacher. The moment he noticed me, he stopped talking. Every head in the room turned in my direction and whispers spread across the class.

I couldn't even spot Ava or Elena at first. They were probably worried sick about me. I wondered what I was supposed to tell them if they asked where I had been.

Too nervous to keep looking around, I quickly sat in the nearest empty seat. Unfortunately for me, it was right beside Lian and her friends.

My eyes finally found Ava and Elena across the room, but before either of us could say anything, the man at the front cleared his throat.

The entire hall fell silent.

“For those of you who just arrived, I am Master Alex.”

His eyes settled on me for a second. I immediately knew he was talking to me.

"For today's training, you'll be divided into groups. Ten students per group.” He looked around the hall.

“You all have 3 minutes to pick your partners and a group leader.”

I immediately walked towards Ava and Elena. They both hugged me.

“Mia where have you been, you had us worried.” Ava said looking at me with so much worry in her eyes

“We thought something happened to you.”

“I went for a walk and got lost.”

“I thought we were warned not to wander around?”

“I know but after what happened last night, I felt really overwhelmed and I decided to take a break from everything.”

“It's okay we understand, but next time tell us before you leave.”

“We were about to start screaming for help.”

I laughed with them, but the guilt settled in my stomach. They trusted me, and I hated how easily the lie had come out. After a while some set of people came to join us and we formed our own group. We all exchanged names and they seemed very nice, unlike the kind of people I've been meeting since I got here.

After talking for a few minutes, everyone started throwing around suggestions for who should lead the group. Surprisingly they chose me as the group leader.

“All group leaders should come out to the front,” Master Alex said.

I walked to the front, Lian was the leader for group 2 , and the group had not chosen their leader yet. Master Alex asked all group 3 members to take their seats while they were waiting for their last member.

“Each of you should decide with your group which name you want to be called, till the end of this session.”

“And note, you can't change your group again, so if you want to leave or join another group do it now.”

Some people walked and switched places in other groups, but all my group members stayed still. And from that moment I know we would make a great team. But I still wondered why they made me the group leader. Didn't I fail my first test in front of every one of them?

Master Alex looked at the empty spot in Group 3 before shaking his head.

"Group 3 will remain seated until your final member arrives."

A few students exchanged looks, but nobody questioned him.

"The rest of you, follow me."

Me and Lian followed Master Alex out of the hall while the other students remained behind. I turned back to look at Ava and Elena.

“Love you.” Elena whispered from afar.

Master Alex led us to a training arena. In the center there were obstacles, moving targets, magical barriers, a flag and a crystal.

Master Alex says "Power determines your rank. Leadership determines whether others survive following you."

“Now you must guide their groups through challenges.”

"Let's see if the academy made the right choice.” Lian said, walking away from me with her hands crossed.

I stared at the arena again. The obstacles looked difficult enough on their own, but the moment Master Alex mentioned leading a group through them, my confidence disappeared. Lead a team? I had only been at the academy for two days.

"You both have twenty minutes to study the course," Master Alex said. "After that, your groups will join you."

Lian immediately began walking around the arena, carefully examining every obstacle. Meanwhile, I was still trying to figure out why anyone thought making me a leader was a good idea.

"A leader who hesitates creates hesitation," Master Alex said.

"The course isn't testing strength. It's testing judgment."

I walked closer to the arena. The crystal stood at the far end behind several barriers. Floating targets moved above the course while sections of the ground shifted every few seconds.

There wasn't just one path. There were multiple routes. Some looked faster while some looked safer. Which meant there was probably a wrong choice and we were expected to make the right one.

After this, I'd focus on Mia figuring out the course rather than immediately moving to the competition. I continued studying the arena. The more I looked at it, the more I realized the floating targets weren't random. They followed the same routes over and over again.

The barriers flickered at regular intervals. Even the shifting platforms seemed to rotate through fixed positions. At first glance, the course looked chaotic. But the longer I watched, the more organized it became.

"Interesting."

I turned and saw Master Alex watching me.

"Most students make the mistake of looking for the fastest path," he said.

"Is there a fastest path?" I asked.

"There is. But there is a difference between the fastest path and the smartest one."

That sounded exactly like the kind of answer teachers gave when they didn't want to answer the question. A few minutes later, a bell echoed across the arena. Students began entering through the training gates wearing their assigned team uniforms. My group, which was the Moon Ravens, wore silver and dark blue and the Scarlet Hawks wore black and crimson.

Ava spotted me first and immediately waved. Elena followed behind her carrying enough confidence for all three of us.

"Please tell me you've figured this thing out," Ava said.

I looked back at the arena.

"Maybe."

The truth was, I wasn't completely sure. But as the rest of the Moon Ravens gathered around me, I realized something. They were all waiting for me to tell them what to do. Afterwards we all took our positions. A loud horn echoed across the arena.

"Positions!" Master Alex ordered.

The teams immediately gathered behind the starting line. My stomach twisted into knots as the Moon Ravens assembled around me.

"The rules are simple," Master Alex announced. "Reach the crystal at the end of the course and return it to the starting point. Every team member must cross the finish line. Leave someone behind and your team is disqualified."

Murmurs spread through the arena. Suddenly, winning didn't sound so easy.

"Three..."

"Two..."

Across the field, Lian looked completely calm. I hated that. Not like I was jealous or anything though.

"One..."

The horn sounded. Obstacle one was shifting platforms. Lian’s group rushed ahead but we hesitated. I noticed the platforms repeat the same pattern every few seconds.

"Wait." I shouted.

Everyone stopped.