The sky was dark, the sun had already set.
Trees acted as walls around the clearing we were in.
Ahead of me was the mage that had brought us here. His face was unmoving like a statue as he looked not at us, but into us. Smiles and grins didn't seem possible on his face.
Penelope and Denis were beside me, but we didn't exchange any glances.
The mage in front gestured silently for Denis to come closer.
Denis nodded with a grim expression on his face. He stopped an arm's length away from the mage.
A pen and a notebook adorned with jewels suddenly came out from the mage's front pocket by themselves and hovered next to him.
A hand silently settled on Denis's forehead.
After a few seconds, his legs buckled, falling to the ground. A trail of blood was dripping from his mouth as his eyes gazed ahead.
I looked at the scene in shock. Penelope beside me took a step back.
This wasn't training.
The mage didn't give a reaction, the pen beside him writing on the notebook without anyone holding it.
The pen stopped. The mage looked at me.
It was my turn to go.
I let go of any and all thoughts, complying with the mage.
Heaviness filled my body.
I hesitated but my body moved, I tried to step back but my body continued.
As my body stepped in front of him, a hand took root in my forehead.
I felt a pervasive force pass through my body. In its path, the force didn't seem to care about anything, only searching for a single part.
My mana core.
Reaching its goal, it started merging with my mana, commanding it to move against my will.
My mana started twitching violently, rampaging inside my body.
Sound seemed to cut off from the outside. My brain fogged as the mage moved my mana.
Pain followed it wherever it went inside me, my muscles aching in response.
It moved slowly. From my abdomen to my chest and then to my skull.
My head throbbed, almost bursting from the pressure.
Blood trickled out the corner of my mouth as the mana started going faster.
The pain soon grew unbearable. I fell to the ground as well.
I wasn't unconscious, but I couldn't raise a finger. My eyes met Penelope's. She didn't seem to care about me causing this entire thing now, only fear filled her eyes.
She walked towards the mage. It was her turn.
The same sight repeated itself, nothing different from what happened to me or Denis. She lasted a couple more seconds than us.
This time knowing what was truly happening, I shivered.
The only peculiarity was the pen not ceasing it's movement after Penelope's turn.
I looked up towards the sky. It was filled with black clouds as far as the eye could see.
Before I could recover, the mage gave an order.
"50 laps."
Denis was the first to get up, closely followed by Penelope.
I struggled to stand up and run as well, falling a few times in the process.
Blood continued flowing from the corner of my mouth, staining my clothes.
As we ran around the clearing, the treeline didn't seem to move.
No matter how much I ran, no matter if I sprinted or walked, no matter if I even crawled, the treeline remained unmoving.
The same trees as from the start stared back.
The first lap ended with all of us panting, the clearing was way too large.
I didn't even know if we had actually gone a lap around the clearing. I only trusted that the clicking of the pen signalled a lap ending.
We still continued, fearing the mage in the middle.
The second lap.
The third lap.
The fourth lap.
At the fifth lap, I noticed Penelope on the brink of falling down. I increased my pace to get near her and help her so she could continue the laps.
The pen beside the mage continued writing, never stopping no matter what happened.
I put Penelope's arm around my shoulder, stopping her from collapsing. Our speed fell drastically.
The mage didn't seem to like that.
"Finish in an hour."
It was obviously impossible to run around the clearing 50 times in an hour. He did that to punish me for trying to help.
I continued running while holding the almost unconscious Penelope.
Her breathing was unsynchronized, her eyes were half open. I was almost dragging her around instead of helping her run.
She wouldn't be able to continue for long.
The sixth lap.
The seventh lap.
The eighth lap.
The clicking of the pen grew annoying after the eighth time.
Penelope fainted at the eighth lap. I had to let go of her.
The mage saw Penelope fall down, but the pen didn't stop writing. Neither did he move from his spot.
Only after a few seconds did something happen. A timer started above Penelope.
Running by myself now, I saw Denis far ahead.
The trees around me had changed as well.
Denis's breathing was low and steady, his pace stable and unchanging.
I tried copying him, but my form was too flimsy.
I stumbled at times, fell down at times, even cried out at times. The mage looked on with that same stare, his pen never stopping.
After that, laps started blurring. The 10th, 11th, 12th laps were like a dream.
I couldn't keep running. My legs stopped listening, my heart pounded loudly as if telling me to stop.
I met with the ground not long after. The smell of the grass and my sweat mixed together, it was an unpleasant smell.
Coughing a few times, I choked on my own saliva and blood.
A soft sound echoed in my ears.
The mage had started walking towards me.
My hands shook as I tried to get up.
I pushed harder and harder with my hands, but they refused to respond.
The mage reached me before I could muster enough strength to stand up.
He didn't say anything, only staring at me quietly.
The pen continued writing beside the mage.
I felt something gathering above me. It was weighing on my back, making me unable to move.
A few seconds after, a timer started above me and the pressure lifted.
The mage went back to his previous position.
Denis collapsed shortly after.
Seeing no one running, the mage turned towards Penelope, who had woken up.
"Get up."
She stood up, not wanting to experience what would happen if we didn't listen to him.
The moment she started running, the timer above her stopped.
10 minutes and 23 seconds.
The timer didn't disappear, it followed her as she ran around the clearing.
I started counting her laps to pass the time.
9th lap.
10th lap.
11th lap.
Every 'lap' she passed, she moved to the next tree. It seemed like the closer to fifty laps we got, the closer to a 'single' lap we were.
The amount of trees in the clearing was much higher than 50, however.
Penelope's ragged breaths filled the air as she fell down once more.
Her voice was hoarse, as if she couldn't even breathe properly.
A few seconds passed, and the timer above her restarted.
The mage's gaze fell upon me next. I got up.
My timer stopped as well.
I ran like my life depended on it. Maybe it did.
After the 15th lap, numbers stopped having meaning.
I panted loudly, not being able to breathe properly anymore.
I continued running, pushing my body further and further. The sooner I finish the laps, the sooner I can rest.
My joints screamed from overexertion.
My legs started pulsing like a heart, reminding me of what caused all of this.
My stupidity in wanting to figure out what a professor was doing.
My body gave up. I fell down.
The timer above me restarted.
Denis was still at the front, having reached the 27th tree not long after I stopped.
Instead of wasting time while resting, I looked at him, trying to learn his running technique.
Penelope, who had collapsed before me, got up as her timer hit four minutes.
Seeing my timer hit 5 minutes, I got up as well.
....
It had been a few hours already.
Denis was the first to finish the 50 laps, it didn't take him too long when compared to me or Penelope.
The mage, however didn't seem to care. He immediately gave Denis a new punishment to execute, not even letting him rest for longer than a minute.
Noticing that completion and compliance didn't mean rest, dread spread throughout my body.
The number of laps blurred, I couldn't even hear the clicking of the pen after the 32nd lap.
*Click*
A click came from within my mind, unlike the previous times the pen clicked, indicating the end of my running.
The same click that felt suffocating earlier now caused my comfort.
Penelope was still running when I had finished my laps.
I saw her fading in and out of consciousness. But she didn't give up, wanting to finish the laps as quickly as possible.
She stopped suddenly. The pen must've clicked in her mind.
The mage didn't make us do the same thing as Denis, instead forcing us to the ground with his mana.
My mana reacted to his mana, the pull much weaker than before. I managed to stop it from destroying my body like last time.
My mana felt heavier somehow. It didn't feel like the usual water-like substance, but more like molten lead.
The mage's mana still pulled at my own, causing me to panic.
Attempts to shape it into simple forms to stop it's slow crawl towards the outside of my core failed continuously.
I tried to form a circle, a square, a triangle or a spear, but my mana moved sluggishly, the rest of it following whenever a part moved.
After a while, I noticed that my mana was drawing away from the mage's slowly by itself. This effort only slowed down the pull, not stopping it.
Thankfully, the mage's mana didn't pull strong enough to move mine far, giving me a chance to restore its position it each time.
Penelope kept grunting. She couldn't stop her mana from merging with the mage's.
After what seemed like an eternity, Penelope stopped her grunting, finally gaining control of her mana.
As she stabilized, the mage cancelled his spell.
I concentrated on my heavy mana. The response it gave to my orders was weak, but my desire to shape it pushed me to experiment.
My tests soon came to an end. My body was too broken to listen, and my mind was too heavy to focus.
The mage took out a pocket watch from his jacket then left.
The pen still rang with that same rhythm even as he walked into the forest.
He didn't say anything. Not an instruction, not a warning, nothing.
I shut my eyes, thoughts felt like a luxury then.
My rest didn't last long before a hand extended towards me.
I opened my eyes. It was Denis's hand.
My hand shot up and he caught it, lifting me to my feet.
Too tired to speak, he went to Penelope and carried her on his back towards the academy.
I followed behind him. He seemed to know the way back.
Each step I took felt like a monumental achievement.
I fell a couple times while walking, but quickly got up.
An entire hour later, the academy appeared in my view.
The forest we were in wasn't too far from the academy, about half an hour on foot.
Far enough to avoid drawing suspicion, close enough to keep tabs on.
What should've taken half an hour took twice that.
I went into my dorm, having lost Denis and Penelope because of my repetitive collapses.
The alarm clock next to my bed seemed to scream at me: 12 AM.
Falling onto my bed, sleep took me.
I suddenly jolted awake, my broken body not allowing me a hint of rest.
My mana still heavy even now, a realization dawned upon me.
This was only the first day.