Chapter 11: Chapter 11: INK KEEPER

When he comes to, he is lying on a soft surface and his body feels heavy. It fell like he was stuck under a rock and his body lacked mobility. He tried to move but it was futile. “Don’t try to move, the sleeping liquid you took is used to keep patients unconscious during surgery. You have been unconscious for two hours it will pass soon”

“It was not poison?” He asked, feeling stupid. Of course they were not going to kill students. The man standing over him laughed. He was wearing a white garment that covered his toes with a single drawing of a quill on his chest. He could only be an ink keeper.

“Of course not,” he laughed. Before continuing to move around the foreign room filled with scrolls.

“Is she alright?” he asked.

“Of course, she is from the Aruke clan and an examiner of course she is alright. Sagiri felt stupid again. Living in a small village must have made him dumb.

“What is she?” he asked, finally starting to gain his mobility.

The ink keeper asked “Who? Kiana?”

Sagiri replied “Yes”

“She is an examiner” he feigned ignorance.

“Why couldn’t I feel her presence?” he asked and the man paused in his movements. He clearly wondered how a mere boy could perceive people’s presence. The drugs must have made him slow because he had revealed something about himself he wanted to keep secret. “I mean she appears and disappears.” He added and the ink keeper let out a breath he was holding.

“It is her clan’s secret art, you will learn more about those in school soon.” he said sitting in the chair in the middle of the room in front of a desk.

“I passed?” Sagiri asked, not at all understanding the nature of the exam.

“But of course, you aced the practical exam and you were average on the theory exam. You are among the seven to ever pass this sort of exam since it ever started. It is usually not used to test students who are to join a high school but it seems someone had confidence you’d pass and recommended we use it. It didn’t sound like that to him however and he knew his benefactor wanted something else. He must also have so much power to manipulate the exam council for a mere student. He was in much more trouble than he had imagined. He was dealing with a powerful adversary.

“Do I get to choose the school I go to?” he asked, standing to his feet, his eyes focusing on the ancient scrolls little. If it was his choice to make then he could choose Yalami forest school in the west. He had grown to love the calmness of rain and since it was situated deep in a rain forest where it rains all year round. It focused mainly on teaching camouflage to hunters and stealth the two things he had learned to do as a child hunting squirrels. In war stealth and cornering the enemy or prey only the west came close to the north in tactics. He wont stand out too much and he would learn about himself in an environment he loved.

“Yes but you will not get to choose because your school has already been chosen out for you by your benefactor. It seems he knows you well enough to know that you would pass the suffocation chamber.

“It is a true suffocation chamber?!” Sagiri gasped.

“Yes of course, if you had failed to choose you could have both died. The chamber was used in ancient times to give conflicts ten minutes to confess to their crimes or die. The chamber only opens when the two glasses leave the table. They were created together with the room. So technically the room is not opened from the outside but from the inside.” A visible chill went down Sagiri’s back. His adversary truly planned to kill. He was dealing with a far lethal opponent and for the first time he felt a little fearful. “Even longer before that when kings ruled these lands, they were used when a young king was choosing a life and death confidant, the man he could entrust his life with. Young man, I have to say that if you lived in the ancient times you could have made a good life and death confidant for a king. The others before you might have passed by just choosing one but you chose to die for a stranger. Such nobility is enviable.” The ink keeper continued clearly not noticing his discomfort.

“Kiana could have died too, this is not a game.” He seethed the ink keeper, totally shocked at the new set of information.

“It was her choice, it seems she took a liking to you. Most of the time we put criminals convicted of terrible crimes punishable by death, if the student passed the conflicts could be granted a second chance at life. It is a gamble between death and death. Those candidates who pass however, get to have their names written in the book of honor. Technically your name will now be known in all the high schools. You are the second highschooler to try. The two of you are legends” The ink keeper continued with pride as if the piece of information was good but to sagiri who wanted to keep a low profile his plan had been ruined. It seemed the person hunting him wanted to counter his plan to stay incognito. He was as wicked as he was conniving.

“What about the students who don’t make a choice before time runs out?”

“Well entering the chamber is a personal choice and students going to high school are not allowed to partake. Only students taking college entry exams are allowed to try and even so few have ever been daring enough to enter it. Like I said, your benefactor had faith in you and did you well. Sagiri couldn’t believe he had had a brush with death without his knowledge. He was even more mad that someone had gambled his life without his knowledge. The ancient power inside of him stirred with a promise of revenge. When he uncovered the perpetrator he was going to make him feel how it felt to have your life hang on a thread.

“You just said I am the second high schooler and high school candidates were not allowed!” Sagiri snapped.

“Oh he is one of a kind too and he is from the ruling clan of the north. You’ll get to meet him soon.” the ink keeper said in the same proud tone he had been using before. “Since he will take after his father as the Grand Zorath of the north, he wanted to prove his worth by entering the suffocation chamber. The northern tribes are pretty vicious. They only respect the strongest and allow the truly strong to become tribal chiefs. And even the much stronger to hold the title of Grand Zorath.”

“What?!” Sagiri gasped. He couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“I forgot to tell you but I was getting there. You will be joining The Galka War Academy in the north.” the ink keeper continued and truly Sagiri was at the end of his rope with shock.

“I don’t even speak the Korun tongue?” he shook his head feeling a rage he did not know he had built up in him. He could speak it but they didn’t know that and that is what mattered. It seems his adversary’s mission was to frustrate him and if that was his goal he was succeeding. Up to now all decisions had been made for him and although he had promised himself to go with the flow, he had had enough of it and he was going to push back sooner or later.

“You benefactor…”

“Enough!” he snapped heading for the door. “When do I leave?” he was tired of hearing his benefactor this his benefactor that. And if he heard it one more time someone could pay. The person had played with his life as if it did not matter and that did not sit right with him.

“The Galka War Academy envoy will be arriving in an hour, they will be talking you north, The Great Chief of the Eastern tribes (The Grand Zorath) has already approved your entry. You just have to sit tight and wait for them.”

“No. I’d rather walk around.” He answered coolly before plugging the door open and shutting it behind him with a slam without waiting for the ink keeper to say another word. He was sick and tired of being confined to small spaces and he had had enough of it. The wide corridor awaited him, their ceilings 30 feet high. The building was ancient and it must have been built ages ago. Each corridor and carving told of a history. Sagiri felt the urge to touch and everyone to know their history but he was still feeling weak from the sleeping liquid he took and he had already pushed his body enough for the day.

His feet echoed as he walked slowly down the long corridors. He only brushed paths occasionally with ink keepers and he knew he was on the ink keeper wing.

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