Hollow Eldoria

2 Days Later

Ilija Castiel stands amidst the crowd, "All teams come sign in, those with no teams off to the left." Captain Omori Naoki says as the contestants come to sign in. "We have at least 300 contestants this year." He says as he turns to Erik, "You picking someone this year?" Erik nods, "He said it's required. I already have a good idea of who I'm gonna choose though." He looks into the crowd of people with no partners. Immediately he senses Ilija's presence. Ilija stretches as a boy with blue freeform dreadlocks walks up to him sizing him up, "That's your presence? Impressive." Ilija looks at him, "Who are you supposed to be?" Ilija asks and Mercer takes a step back, Not in fear but in confidence "My name is Mercer, The ice kings son and Heir to the throne." Ilija stares at him, "Am I supposed to care?" He asks, Mercer's confidence immediately turns to anger, "Watch your mouth when talking to royalty." he says as he pokes Ilija in the chest walks away and Ilija cracks his neck. "5 minutes! Find your partners and sign in!" Omori Naoki yells out to the contestants. The people scurry to find partners, Ilija on the other hand stands by himself leaning against the wall. Suddenly the double doors swing open drawing everyone's attention to it. The silence is so loud a pen drops that draws everyone's attention back to the middle of the as he turns back 3 people are standing in the middle of the room. Grim'Lok, Nay, and Risaki Payne. Erik walks to them, "That's quite an entrance. Risaki." Erik and Payne show respect to each other by bowing. "Sorry, these two were training with me." He says as he pushes them towards Erik. "They only have 2 in the group so, Pair them up with him." He points at Ilija who's still standing by himself. Ilija walks towards them, "Are you two strong?" Grim'Lok nods "Strong enough." The three sign in and head with the other 59 teams. They are all brought to a giant armory filled with supplies. "Before we start the Exam, The most important part to being an scholar is preparation." Captain Akuu Narizo says as he walks down to the middle of the room, turning and pointing to a giant clock. He claps 3 times and the clock starts counting down. "You have 10 minutes to prepare." Immediately as he says this the teams go off to gather supplies. "Only take the essentials. We don't need any excess weight." Ilija says as Nay begins grabbing things and stuffing them in a sack that seems to never end. "What is that?" Ilija says as she looks back at him. "Oh this?" She points at the sack, "She got it from the guy we came with." Grim'Lok says as he analyzes the room, All the different people of all shapes and sizes. "I think we'll only have trouble with a few teams." Grim'Lok says but Ilija points at the sword on his hip. "You a swordsman?" Grim'Lok looks at the Oathbreaker on his hip and then back at Ilija, "I'd call myself a hybrid swordsman yeah." Grim'Lok smirks as he points to himself but Ilija doesn't muster any emotion, instead his eyes shift to Nay, "What about her?" Nay turned around after finally finished packing, "What's with the questions? You don't believe in us?" Ilija sighs, crossing his arms. "I can't take any chances."

Mercer picks up a Sizuna Capsule, An item that heals the user upon use. "Interesting find." Mercer utters to himself as Kinn-Kinn and Synn-Synn walk behind him. Synn-Synn grabs the bean out of his hand, "Amazing, Thanks!" She exclaimed, inspecting the capsule, Kinn-Kinn handed Synn-Synn the bag of supplies "Put it in the bag." Synn-Synn obliges by putting the capsule in the bag, Kinn-Kinn looks at the other teams. "The Exam starts soon." As he says this Mercer smirks, "I'm gonna crush these other teams!" His voice booms through the Armory, He then holds his hand towards the wall and to display his strength he shoots Ice Spikes towards the wall. Grim'Lok, Nay and Ilija watch Mercer from a distance, watching as someone steps up, "You think I'm gonna fall to some Ice?" Fumaki Hakusari steps up to Mercer with his teammates Max Cross and Kage Hook at his side. "You're arrogant," Fumaki says inspecting his attire, "And Royalty." He declares when he looks at the gold accessories on Mercer's dreadlocks. "But you're not the only strong person here." Fumaki says as another team steps up and then another and before anyone could stop it the armory abrupts into a showing of power, Everyone displaying their abilities. Air Palms, Fire Balls, Wood Releases, All these various abilities are showcased until a voice booms through the corridor. "Enough!" Captain Akuu Narizo's Voice booms through the room. Everyone stops turning to him, "Follow me to the warp room." Akuu commands as he starts walking through the halls, They all follow Narizo "Warp room? I didn't know they had that kind of technology." Grim'Lok says, Suddenly someone chimes in. "Yeah, I failed the last exam on the third day but it was very interesting to see the warp device in action." Helynthi says, as she walks next to Grim'Loks team with hers. As they come up to a gigantic door a green censor scans everyone before opening revealing the OMEN Warp room. A grand hall with over 100 platforms for teams to step up on and get warped to the Gardens of Teewhanch. "Attention! I will be explaining how the exam will work." Captain Saint Avila says as everyone turns to her. "You all will be given Chikara enchanted arm bands. These arm bands allow you to teleport in with your team at the beginning of the exam. During the exam the objective is to remove survive the harsh environment of the Gardens of Teewhanchi," As she says that the weight of her words start to sink in on most of the participants. "Each band removed from an individual of the opposing teams is one point for your team. Surviving till the end of the 5 days is an automatic pass but the team with the most bands removed will be rewarded. If you get out you will get out individually, This is to not punish teams with members who got eliminated but they did not." Grim'Lok asks a question, "What happens when your armband is removed?" Avila smiles as she answers, "You will immediately be teleported to back to the warp room once the band is removed, You are critically injured or both. Thus meaning elimination." A group of Prodigies come into the room handing the participants color coded armbands with the numbers of the team on it from 1 to 60. "Team 60." Grim'Lok says as he inspects his red armband with Nay and Ilija who have the same arm band as his. Mercer looks at his icy blue armband "Team 1." He says with a sinister tone. Nigmar Haku, who is on the other side of the room, talks with his siblings. "Team 20." he says as his brother and sister smile "There's no way we're failing this year."

The chatter of the other teams fill the room. Ryllae, a darksin elven woman with blue eyes, a golden yellow afro, and a armband that reads team 22, walks up to Captain Avila "Excuse me Avila, how safe are these armbands exactly?" Avila looks at her, "State of the art. They're enchanted by a higher power so there shouldn't be any malfunction, and they even stay on if your clothes are ripped." She says in a calming tone, Ryllae walks back to her team, Ena Magrel and Osinar Majikan. "She said it's completely safe." Ena smiles as hears this but Osinar is too busy analyzing the other teams. "I think I'll be able to eliminate all these guys, You two just carry the supplies will ya?" Ryllae immediately protests, "Hold on, that's not fair!" She points her finger at Osinar, "You keep trying to dictate like you're the leader! Do I gotta eliminate you myself!" She exclaims as Osinar puts his hands up in surrender. Grim'Lok steps up on the platform and immediately his body feels like its floating but his feet never leave the ground, Nay and Ilija step up with him, Suddenly 4 of the captains walk through the room "All teams are on the teleporters." Captain Avila declares, "We wanna thank you all for participating in the 11th ever Omen Exam." Captain Omori Naoki says as he stands next to Avila, his voice commanding everyone's attention, Captain Akuu Narizo stands next to them as the platforms start glowing an intense blue. "And remember, The main objective is to survive the 5 days." Akuu says as the 60 teams begin to warp away. "Good Luck" Erik Stormbringer who appeared next to them in the blink of an eye. "Goodluck to our next class of Scholars!" Erik says as they are warped ro the Gardens of Teewhanchi.

Team 60 appear in the Gardens, Immediately Grim'Lok looks around, The trees multiply endlessly in each direction and the sounds of weapons clashing can already be heard. "They aren't wasting any time." Ilija says, "First we need to figure out where we are." Nay says as she begins to climb a tree, Ilija and Grim'Lok watch Nay climb this tree that looks as if it stretches on forever, "These aren't normal trees." Grim'Lok says as he looks at the other trees noticing the same thing. Nay hops down, "Well if that's not gonna work we need to find a place to set up camp." They nod as they start walking through the forest. In a different part of the forest Meria, a member of team 2 scorches a member of team 55 causing them to be teleported back. As she does another member of the team comes in with a punch which she sidesteps, she parried two jabs and catches the last one scorching the man and his armband sending him back to the warp room with his teammate, The last member of Team 55 throws a dagger at Meria while her back is turned, Meria's teammate who has been watching on the sidelines jumps in front of the Dagger blocking it and landing in front of Meria. The woman who threw it ran off into the forest as Meria looked at her teammate. "Good Work." She says as she walks past the scorched forest. "They shall know my hellfire." Meria says as she begins searching for other teams to eliminate.

Team 60 continues to walk through the forest, "Its weird, We haven't encountered anyone," Grim'Lok says and as if on cue a kunai comes flying inches from Grim'Loks face getting stuck in a tree. As Grim'Lok turns his head he sees 3 people standing on a Giant rock, "Looks like Team 10 got some easy prey." The boy in the middle says as the two boys on the side of him dash towards Grim'Lok and Ilija. "Hey, earlier you asked if we were strong. How about we show you." Nay says as Grim'Lok unsheathes his Oathbreaker, The boy closest to Grim'Lok comes in with a dagger trying to stab Grim'Lok but Grim'Lok pushes the blade away and stabs the boy causing him to be teleported back. "Remeber fatal wounds get them sent back aswell." Nay says as the boy closest to Ilija tries to punch him but he dodges the punch, summoning his black lightning bolt and stabbing the boy with it causing him to be teleported. The boy on the rock jumps down and pulls out his twin daggers, "I got this." Nay says as she summons Kyoris Gauntlets. The two run at each other the boy summoning his Chi focusing on trying to take Nay out but before he can even get his blade up Nay punches him into the ground creating a loud explosion that causes nearby birds to fly away. Nay looks down at the crater created by her blow, The boy in the middle of it curled into a ball, Nay walks down to him and rips his armband off causing him to be teleported. "Strong enough?" Nay questions Ilija as she jumps out of the crater walking back to them. Grim'Lok and Ilija stare at her dumbfounded. Suddenly another loud explosion is heard and team 60 looks at the direction of the sound. "Should we head to it?" Grim'Lok asks, "I don't see why not." Ilija says as they start running towards the sound.