Aria
The gym buzzed with tension, thick with the scent of sweat, polished stone, and damp mats. Wolves from Silverwood were already lined up, some stretching, others pacing like we were preparing for war instead of an assessment.
“This one’s for Endurance and Strength,” Maya said beside me, tapping her clipboard.
“You drag the sled across the red-marked distance, then lift those three stone blocks onto the pedestal.”
She pointed at the sled, a monstrous thing weighed down with sandbags and steel and the pedestal a few meters ahead.
“You have to finish both in under two minutes,” she added, scanning the rest of us. “For a fair rank placement.”
“Easy for you to say,” Tobias muttered ahead of us. “You’re not the one getting thrown around like a training dummy.”
Maya ignored him, but I
