The Edifice

If you can’t take it, you don’t have what it takes.

As the runners lined up, Ersha got a good look at the Edifier’s face; stern, resolute, his chin lifted above them all. The forest loomed head, dark, unwelcoming, and on either side of Ersha, her classmates shifted in place, bracing their muscles, minds and magic. Carla caught Ersha’s eye and winked. Carla had taken to picking on her all year and Ersha had spent just as long ignoring her. It was a high stakes race and Ersha couldn’t afford distractions.

The Edifier himself never once returned Ersha’s gaze and she was forced to refocus, pushing down her doubt as he lifted the pistol into the air. The Edifice was in her bones; her connection to it anyway. But just to make sure, she’d had to–

A bang cracked over their heads and the runners hurtled full sprint into the tangle of the forest. A fork ahead; their first test of divination. Runners scrambled up the hilly path on her left, others disappeared into the gloom on the right. Ersha felt the magnetic compulsion to her right and tore off at full speed, leaving several runners behind in her dust as they stopped to cast divination, voices rising, their hands tracing magic in the air.

This race wasn’t just about speed, but a test of skill. There was no advantage to assisting others, and teams were discouraged; you got through on your own merit, or you wouldn’t get through it at all. Sabotage held no advantage either, for the same reason, which meant it didn’t matter whether the others lived or died; Ersha had to reach the finish line by sunrise. Preferably with all four limbs intact.

But after years of schooling, being honed by gruelling regimes, Ersha knew she still wasn’t strong enough. Not to survive this six-hour perilous track across the mountain, the forest filled with fearsome beats and enchantments woven with a fate worse than death. Not to graduate as a mage and restore what was lost. But Ersha didn’t need to be strong enough, only smart enough. Which meant doing her own private study on the side, studying her teachers, the test, the school itself. What was important was what she knew, and how she could wield that to secure her success. So now, with a little help from the inside, Ersha would take what was hers.

The bright moon blinked in and out of existence in a rush above the trees as Ersha pelted down a narrow path among the leaves. First to her ears came the sound of running water, then a small group stopped at the mouth of a river came into view. Ersha skidded to a halt amongst the trees. Those ahead were some of the fastest and the smartest and they knew something she didn’t. Behind Ersha came the driving footsteps of more runners, who, in competitive spirit, pushed ahead of everyone, their boots hitting the water as they made a beeline for the bank across the two-metre expanse.

“Wait–” The tall one by the river’s edge, Eldridge, actually went as if to stop them, and Ersha watched as the runners trudged through, ignoring him. A wall of water exploded into the air with a sudden roar. Eldridge and the others fell back and the runners cried out, disappearing under the wave as it splashed down hard, the river churning with malice as it sucked the runners down into its depths. Within moments all that lay before them once more were cool, calm waters. No bodies. They were just…gone.

There was a moment of shocked silence, before Eldridge stepped into the river, his commanding presence at odds with his lanky appearance.

“It’s safe. We go on.” He called back.

There were murmurings amongst the others who were less sure. Ersha could hear more feet coming up behind them and with no time to lose, she cut through the huddle and into the water, the others calling after her.

“Ersha–” That was Calavance, who Ersha placed as the second best of their class. How sweet to think of others when your own survival was all but guaranteed.

“The toll has been paid.” Ersha said, pushing forward.

She spared a glance at Eldridge, who gave her a deep, serious look, before she raced ahead, their brief comradery broken. Does he know? That the forest consumes. That the forest demands payment.

It was a priceless piece of intel Ersha had brokered with the Edifier, a season before the race had started. Her three brothers had all perished in this place, their bones littered amongst the forest floor or in the belly of some beast. Their deaths had paid for the success of previous graduates. Once she discovered that was the way it worked - their school, their magic, their world – Ersha was determined to ensure that this time, a member of their once-powerful family would not be the sacrifice, but the victor.

Ersha and her classmates crossed the river without further calamity and took off into the other side of the forest. Ersha’s gaze burned a hole into the back of Eldridge’s head as he and the faster runners pulled ahead. Eldridge was top of the class, unmatched in speed, skill, and smarts, which meant that he was Ersha’s number one rival.

It was time to get down to business. Ersha took off East, running a good half hour to be clear of them all. In the light of the moon Ersha bit at her fingertip, spilling forth blood, and on a nearby tree she traced the sigil the Edifier had taught her. Blood magic. Forbidden, even for the Elders. She stepped back, watched the blood drip down the bark, watched it fade into the tree.

Ersha hadn’t noticed the sounds of the forest until they stopped, and she suddenly felt how alone she was, everything cast in shadows around her, hearing only the sound of her own breath.

Until the screams. The piercing cries echoed out through the night air, and the trees rustled, trembled with anticipation. Ersha swallowed her fear, and ran. She ran north, parallel to what she had been told was the main track, where her trap had been sprung. The forest would take care of anyone who failed to make it onto the main track or those who deviated from it. Which is why Ersha raced ahead, divining where the track intersected far ahead of her, as it cut through to the base of the mountain where she knew the next challenge awaited them all.

She was almost there when her senses warned her too late; something flew out of the gloom and collided with Ersha, sending them both spinning to the floor. The thing next to her moaned, and she scrambled away hastily, one palm filling with the bright warm light of fire as she stood, ready to defend herself. But it was in this light that she saw she was not being attacked; it was no forest creature but the face of one she knew.

“Carla.” Ersha whispered, as Carla stared unseeing from where she lay, nothing but bloodied, ragged cloth where the right side of her body should have been. Ersha’s neck prickled as a chill crept up her spine. She spun and hurled a flame through the trees. It missed, sailing past something big, the light glinting off fearsome eyes and sharp tusks of teeth.

The tree behind it burst into flames and the creature roared, Ersha’s fire fizzling out in her fear, unable to conjure up a defence, unable to move, to run. The beast charged.

As time stood still, Ersha calculated it all – she had not used the Edifier to her advantage, she had been used. She was not as smart as she thought, but naïve. And if she made it out of here alive, the Edifier would pay.