Silver

Not too long after the first boy stepped forawrd, five more boys came out. They too bowed to the evaluators and lay down putting their heads in the boxes.

The entire square was quiet for a moment.

Zero watched how the boys, one by one, starting with the first boy, began to shake. Their fingers twitched first, then their arms. Their legs kicked back as though they were trying to escape.

The villagers murmured amongst themselves. A worried mother had even come forward only to be pushed back by invisible wind from the fan lady.

"Stop this! Stop!" She cried as she landed in the dust. Her son was the second boy that came out. He shook the most out of all of them. A dark, foul smelling vapour was seeping out his box. The male evaluators moved back. The woman in white instead, smiled.

The boy's box started to creak. They could vaguely hear his panicked screams. It sounded like he was somewhere far away.

The woman's smile grew a tad wider, revealing cream coloured teeth.

With a bang, his box cracked open, revealing his head that had blackened from the Dark Qi. The whites of his eyes contrasted heavily to the tar color. There were tears coming down his astonished face.

He looked around in slight stupor then jumped up, backing away from the shattered box in fear.

"And we have the first qualifier! Congratulations." The white cloaked woman said. Her pleasant smile remained on her face. It looked unnatural. She nodded satisfactorily and cast a slight glance to her male counterparts. Zero caught this movement. Strange.

The first boy with the short sword began to shake violently as well and greater fumes of dark Qi emanated from his box. He had kicked off his wooden sandals, exposing the reddening feet under. Purple veins thumped against his skin.

Bang! His box shattered and pieces of wood went flying. The crowd was in a commotion but they all stayed back, wary of these strange test boxes.

Zero edged closer. This B grade wood could not possibly be worse than the void, could it? He could take a chance. He needed to try. If he didn't, the next quest would come for him and he would fight it as usual without knowing how to beat it. These people looked like they had access to the knowledge he needed. He clenched his jaw watching another boy's box shatter.

The intensity of the explosion was measured by the half-hair soldier. Zero could see him taking notes on a grey coloured parchment paper. The grey colour matched the one of the boxes.

After a while of shaking and twitching, the remaining three boys couldn't make the cut. One made the box crack but it didn't shatter. He did not qualify.

The next round, three extra boxes were placed and six brave youngsters came forward. The remaining that had been in the semi circle, after seeing the traumatized nature of the boys that had gone in, cowered away. They did not dare continue.

The next six youngsters; four girls and two boys bowed to the evaluators like the former group had done and lay down on the ground. At the last second, one of the girls rose shakily and ran back into the crowd.

Just like before, theywent in and began to shake violently. Only one boy and two girls passed this time.

"We have six eligible youths. Not bad. Is there anyone who would like to try?" The head guard's voice boomed over the voices of the murmuring villagers. Everyone fell quiet.

Above, clouds gathered, signalling a storm of snow.

"Surely someone would—"

"I will like to try, mister." Zero said in a low, unsure voice, coming forward. He passed the bonfire to the other side where the six selected youths stood. His silver eyes stood out amongst the reddish hues and dark shadows.

White fan woman, who had returned her eyes to her shoes after the first round, suddenly perked up. For the first time that night, she looked interested.

"A ghoul?" Half-hair asked.

Zero shook his head, " I mutated sir. I had been delivered from turning to one, though."

From his stolen memories, he understood more of the practices of the new world. People on the verge of mutation or possesion, normally were subject to various methods of cleansing. Torturous methods.

"We are looking for affinity to yin and not outright mutated povels. Go back now. Out from here!"

White fan woman blinked slowly then raised a hand. "Have the boy tested, Pu'er"

The half-hair man, Pu'er, grunted distastefully but did as he was told. He brought another grey box forward and dropped it on the ground with a thump. The square was quiet. Chilly winds had started howling low, causing the bonfire to dance wildly. The shadows it casted wavered.

"Go on, boy. Have a try. Mutated spirits cannot be measured by purity checkers. Your energy is already too dirty. We are looking for a certain percentage which—"

"Quiet, Pu'er. Let the boy try. "

Pu'er glanced at the white cloaked lady in subtle malice but kept shut after that.

Zero had not even paid him mind. His problems were far more intense than a grumpy soldier with a mouth full of foul words to spit at him. He had been spat on all his life, was there much difference?

He, as all the rest, bowed low to the evaluators and proceeded to lie on the ground. With no hesitation whatsoever, he plunged his head into the hole in the box.

Zero found himself in a dark sea. An unknown liquid wrapped around him, flowing into his orifices. He heaved, struggling to breathe. Something in him prompted him to swim.

But which way was up? He thrashed in the sticky fluid but each violent stroke seemed to aggravate the fluid even more. It tightened its grip on him, making it even harder to maneuver.

Zero felt like he was choking. If he opened his mouth to breathe, he knew the liquid would gush mercilessly into him. Thrashing violently was not working. He slowed down, holding his breath and ignoring the pain of the tight grip over his body.

He realized something. It was like the void. It was a million times further from it, but it was similar in a way. It was familiar. He knew this sickening feeling of floating in nothingness, of struggling to breathe, of a thousand bolts striking him down.

Obviously there was no tearing of his soul, but it was basically a miniature void. This only made him more cautious. He wondered again, for the umpteenth time. Who were these soldiers? And the lady...

Slowly, the liquid began to loosen and his movements became coordinated. It was like he had adapted to the fluids energy. He swam through, propelled by the dark waters. It aided his strokes, increasing his speed.

For a long time, all he did was swim until he saw the first rays of light penetrating from above. He was close to the surface.

Zero felt like he was in his natural environment. Even holding his breath did not seem necessary anymore. He took in a huge breath of the dark fluid, inhaling it into his system. It moved into his blood vessels and without Zero's understanding, it seemed to activate something inside of him.

/Yin source consumed. Your spirit grows stronger./

The otherwise quiet Voice had spoken up for the first time since Feifei. Zero understood now. He was consuming Dark Qi. Yin source was dark Qi. All this while, he had been consuming the dangerous dark mana that the entire empire was wary of. He was satisfied with this information. He had begun to understand slowly.

Finally, he emerged from the waters, breaching the surface. Immediately he did so, the water grew hot.

' What? '

Zero could feel his skin redden. Was he going to be cooked alive? He gritted his teeth and struggled to move but the liquid had grown sticky in consistency. It bubbled, blasting hot vapour into the air. Before Zero had a chance to groan in pain, he was wrenched back into the sea with force.

Like a whip had been used over his brain, he was drawn back forcefully and immediately found himself clamoring for breath. The dark Qi was against him now, squeezing the air out of his lungs and filling it with hot, burning liquid.

He gurgled it back out and screamed. The sticky waters absorbed it without care.

He felt himself falling back into the void somehow. He could feel its presence. It was near. It had sensed him from wherever it laid and had come hunting for its favourite plaything. Zero struggled to stay awake.

Clang!

The sound of sharp metal resounded through the square.

When Zero opened his eyes, he was in knee deep snow. It was day time but the sky was dark and the square was empty save for the white cloaked woman who held a long sword in a her hands.

She watched the boy who lay in the snow with immense wary.

A week had passed since the evaluation night. A week had passed since the six were selected and a brave Mutated boy came forward.

It had been a week since he went in. And he had only come out now.

What was strange was not just the time frame. It was the fact that the boy lay there in the freezing snow, diamond eyes sparkling with innocence while the box that had once been grey had turned to a glistening silver. Unbroken.

She had waited for him to wake. Her interest in him had changed to caution.

"Who are you?"