Ezra and Vera walked through the twisting corridors of the Maze in silence. Their footsteps echoed faintly against the stone walls as they navigated the turns and passages. The air inside the Maze felt heavy, almost stale, as if it had been holding the breath of countless candidates who had passed through it.
Finally...
They reached the exit.
Standing in front of the large exit door was a small group that had arrived slightly earlier than them.
"Huh?"
Bale turned when he heard footsteps behind him.
"Big sis."
His eyes landed on Vera. His expression beca awkward almost imdiately. Then his gaze shifted toward Ezra.
"Oh... and Ezra."
His face changed again, this ti becoming amused, but when he noticed the blanket wrapped around the body Ezra carried in his arms, the amusent faded.
"Oh..."
His voice beca quiet.
The three people beside him greeted Vera respectfully.
"You just got here, little brother?" Vera walked closer and pinched Bale’s chin playfully.
"Yeah," Bale replied, his voice sounding strained from Vera squeezing his cheeks.
Her eyes moved toward the group mbers beside him.
"At least none of you got injured."
Her gaze scanned Bale’s face carefully, checking for wounds.
"No!" Bale answered quickly, looking uncomfortable with how close she was standing.
Vera finally let go of him.
"That’s good."
She tilted her head toward Ezra’s direction, but he had already reached the exit door and was scanning his key-card.
Funny.
She chuckled softly and walked toward the exit as well.
Bale frowned in confusion.
"Why was my sister with Ezra when they aren’t even in the sa group?"
He sighed and signaled his teammates to follow him out of the Maze.
***
Ezra stepped out first.
Fresh air greeted him imdiately.
Sunlight stread through the large windows of the building outside the Maze entrance, reflecting softly across the stone floor.
A breeze passed through the corridor, brushing against his face.
He was finally out.
Vera stepped out right behind him.
"Why did you leave behind?" she asked while pointing a finger at him accusingly.
Ezra looked at her finger calmly.
"You seed busy with your brother."
Vera tilted her head slightly and glanced around.
A few other groups had also exited the Maze already, though the number of survivors was far smaller than what had entered.
"Hmmm..."
She tapped Ezra lightly on the shoulder before walking away.
"I’m going to take a good shower and rest."
Ezra watched her for a mont.
Then he turned his gaze toward the large board displaying the remaining ti for the Fourth Trial.
"Three days remaining... huh."
He sighed quietly.
"Ezra!"
Veda’s voice echoed loudly.
Ezra turned slightly.
Veda was running toward him. Behind him ca Bobby and the three people he had selected earlier—Linda, Nickolas, and the rest of their group mbers.
Veda stopped in front of Ezra, breathing heavily. His face looked pale. Even with injuries covering parts of his body, he had rushed over faster than the others.
"Is... that..."
His eyes moved to the blanket wrapped around the body in Ezra’s arms.
Ezra nodded.
Veda fell to his knees.
His fists clenched tightly.
"Damn it!!!!!"
His shout echoed loudly, startling the people behind him who had just arrived.
"You bastard!"
Linda moved before anyone else could react.
Her hand shot forward and grabbed Ezra’s collar violently, pulling him a step back even while he still held Aliya’s wrapped body in his arms. The sudden motion made the blanket shift slightly.
Nickolas stood frozen beside her.
His eyes were locked on the blanket.
On the shape beneath it.
His face slowly twisted as disbelief crept across it.
"It’s a lie... right? Hey."
His voice trembled.
He looked up at Ezra, his eyes wet, desperately holding back tears.
Ezra didn’t answer him.
His gaze lowered calmly to Linda’s hand gripping his collar.
"If you move too much," Ezra said quietly, "her body will fall."
Linda stared at him.
For a mont she didn’t understand what he had just said.
Then the aning sank in.
Her anger exploded.
"Is that what you should be saying right now?!" she shouted.
Tears stread down her face.
"It’s all your fault, and you’re acting like this?!"
Her grip tightened even more, pulling his collar harshly.
Around them, the rest of the group reacted differently.
So of the lowlines had already started crying openly.
Others glared at Ezra with burning resentnt.
Behind them, Bobby stood slightly apart from the group. His hand clutched the front of his shirt while he cried quietly, his shoulders shaking.
"I knew you slled like trouble."
Nickolas stepped forward, glaring at Ezra.
"I should kill you right now."
Ezra finally raised his eyes to him.
His expression didn’t change.
"And you think that would be a good idea?" he replied, tilting his head slightly.
Nickolas’s teeth clenched so tightly his jaw trembled.
His fist rose into the air.
For a mont it looked like he was really going to punch Ezra.
"That’s enough!"
The shout ca like thunder.
Veda slamd his fist into the ground. The stone floor cracked deeply beneath his hand, fragnts of dust and small pieces of stone scattered outward.
Silence fell imdiately.
Everyone froze.
The air around them felt tighter, heavier.
Linda slowly loosened her grip on Ezra’s collar, though her hands still trembled with rage.
Nickolas held his raised fist in the air for another mont before finally turning away.
Around them, other candidates who had gathered to watch the scene quickly began looking elsewhere. So quietly left the area, heading toward the dormitories or the bath halls to recover from the trial.
"We can’t do this here."
Veda stood up slowly and wiped his face with his sleeve.
His eyes moved toward the Maze exit as another group of candidates appeared in the distance.
"When everyone gets back," he said firmly, "we will continue this."
His voice carried authority.
Linda imdiately reached toward Ezra again.
"Hand her body over."
Her voice was sharp.
Ezra looked down at her outstretched hands.
Then he slowly passed Aliya’s body to her.
The mont the weight left his arms...Sothing strange settled over him.
It felt as if another chain had wrapped around his chest.
Heavy, Cold.
Another chain added to the many that already bound his soul. The chains that had grown from his shadow, chains made from resentnt, from guilt and from the mory of people who had cared about him dying one after another.
Linda turned away imdiately after receiving the body.
The others followed her.
Bobby hesitated for a mont, he looked back at Ezra.
Even now...
Ezra’s expression hadn’t changed, not even a little.
Bobby’s stomach twisted again, then he turned and followed the others.
Only Veda remained.
He looked at Ezra quietly for a mont.
Then he gave a faint, tired smile.
"Thank you for bringing her back."
"And for protecting Li."
Ezra looked at him. "What will happen to her body?"
"Well..." Veda sighed.
"Since Aliya is a highline from a family with strong authority within our family. Her body will be transferred to her parents for proper burial."
Ezra nodded slightly. "That’s fine."
He turned to leave.
"Ezra."
Veda called out again.
Ezra stopped but didn’t turn around.
"I’ll hold a small farewell ceremony for her. You should co."
Ezra paused for a mont.
"...Okay."
He answered without turning around and continued walking away.
"Okay."
Veda watched him leave for a mont before turning to follow the direction his group had gone.
***
Ezra returned to his room.
He slid his silver card across the door’s card lock.
Click.
The door opened.
He stepped inside quietly and without hesitation he began removing his clothes until only his underwear remained.
The torn and blood-stained clothes were thrown into the dust bin without another glance.
"Ah... I don’t have any heat-stimulating pills again."
Ezra rembered that they had finished during the Fourth Trial. He had been too busy training the others, and in the middle of all that he forgot to tell Bobby to make more.
"Well, I do know the ingredients, so I can probably make them myself manually."
His eyes drifted toward the bathroom door.
He already knew what awaited him inside.
Only cold water.
"Argh..."
He swallowed hard.
Then, with clear reluctance, he walked into the bathroom and began bathing.
The mont the water poured over him, his body stiffened.
He groaned.
Part of it ca from the injuries that had not yet fully healed, but most of it ca from the freezing water splashing against his skin. The cold spread across his body quickly, biting deeper into the bruises and cuts left from the Maze.
Ezra endured it quietly.
Finally, after finishing, he stepped out of the bathroom. His body shivered violently as he dried himself.
He put on a fresh set of clothes, followed by his coat and gloves.
Then he collapsed onto the bed.
Warmth slowly returned to his body.
He stretched his limbs, letting the tension from the past few days sink into the mattress.
For a mont he stared at the ceiling.
Then sleep took him.
Ti passed.
As it always did.
Three days slipped by quietly and during that ti, the remaining groups that had survived the Maze eventually found their way out. Those who could not make it died sowhere inside the endless corridors, or remained trapped there forever.
anwhile, Ezra returned to his usual routine.
Every morning began with exercise.
After that ca ditation.
He would sit quietly, focusing on his Cognis, letting the energy circulate through his body like a slow current, but sothing had changed.
The dreams had returned.
mories from the past began appearing again, scenes of war, training with his comrades, the harsh days when survival depended on the person standing beside you and the woman.
Sotis the dreams beca nightmares.
He would watch them die again one by one and the whole scene would replay again, over and over again. Seeing them fall one after another while protecting him and especially the mory of the woman’s death would replay in his mind more than the rest.
Again.
And again.
***
The day after the fourth trial ended was the arranged burial ceremony for Aliya, when Ezra entered the classroom, the atmosphere inside shifted imdiately.
This classroom was the usual place where Veda and his group gathered whenever they needed to discuss sothing important or hold a eting, but today the room felt different.
The mont Ezra stepped inside; the stares began.
They were sharp.
So carried open killing intent, while others looked at him with anger and so simply looked sad.
The news of Aliya’s death had spread.
Linda, Nickolas, and several other highlines looked ready to explode the mont they saw him, but Veda had already made it clear.
If anyone caused trouble during the ceremony, he would beat them half to death.
Today was not a day for fighting.
Today was a day to mourn.
"Now that everyone is here," Veda said calmly, "we shall begin the Scholar’s Bow."
Everyone gathered around him slowly.
In the center of the room lay Aliya’s staff and her space bag.
Since her body had already been taken away by the guards, her belongings were placed here instead.
***
The Scholar’s Bow was the traditional thod used to send fallen Alchemists into the afterlife.
Each person held a beautiful flower of their choice and would speak their farewell words into the flower quietly and then place it beside the belongings of the fallen Alchemist.
It is believed that when the flower is released and carried away by the wind, it bears the farewell words along with it, guiding them gently toward the soul of the fallen. In that quiet journey, the words remain beside them in the afterlife, a soft reminder that during their ti in the world of the living, they were cherished, rembered, and never truly alone.
***
One by one, people stepped forward.
So cried openly as they spoke, others clenched their teeth, forcing themselves not to break down.
For many of the lowlines in the group, Aliya had been a bright presence.
She had always been social, never cared about the difference in nobility between highlines and lowlines, she would tease them in a funny way constantly, played with the girls in the group and often gave them advice about hair care and costics.
She would talk about which hair products they should use after the trials ended so their hair would not sll or beco too dirty to recover.
To many of them, Aliya had been one of the gems of the group.
She also scolded other highlines whenever they treated the weaker lowlines too harshly.
Even though she sotis acted arrogant, everyone knew it was just her way of joking around.
And now she is gone.
That was what hurt the most.
After the ceremony ended, many people quietly left the room.
Ezra also turned and left imdiately without waiting, but Veda followed him.
"Hey, Ezra."
"Before you go, let’s talk."
Ezra stopped walking.
He turned slightly and looked back.
"Okay."
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