Rowan grimaced as his finger disappeared. There wasn't any sensation; it simply felt as though it was no longer connected to him. Realising he would have felt the pain by now, like Lenny, Rowan sighed softly and brought his finger back out, still in one piece.
A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he stepped backwards, and the crowd's mood lifted slightly. They had gone near silent following Lenny's failure, but the following three successes had reinvigorated them.
"Very well, I'll take your names down as having passed the aptitude test. You are free to go after that, but you are also welcome to stay and watch. Results will be out at 8 am tomorrow morning."
The examiner said this, but Rowan knew he wouldn't be sticking around. Thinking about what had happened to Lenny left a sick feeling in his stomach, knowing it could have been any one of them. He went up first and quickly got his name marked down, hoping to disappear and get away from here.
It seemed Aoife and Nadia had similar plans, though Avery wanted to stay behind and watch the rest of the participants. Rowan didn't press and simply headed out the door, towards the main entrance he had come in through. Nadia and Aoife trailed closely behind, and though there was much they could each say, none said a word.
Rowan felt his steps growing quicker as he neared the entrance, desperate for a breath of fresh air after the tests he had endured. The cold Irish air welcomed him, biting at his nose and fingers as he stood in the archway of the Awakened Management Bureau.
Countless adults mingled in the courtyard, no doubt waiting for their child to come and tell them the good news. A few people seemed to react at their emergence, and judging from their appearance, they were likely Nadia and Aoife's parents. One of them particularly stood out to Rowan; it was none other than Colm Lane, one of the strongest awakeners in Cork.
Not wanting to make the mistake of meeting his heroes, Rowan turned on his heel and followed the fence towards the courtyard gate, eager to get home and rest. The battle with the Earthwulf had worn him out substantially, and with the long walk ahead of him, he had no intention of wasting energy.
"My darling! How did it go? I'm sure you passed the aptitude and writing, but how did the combat test go? Was your group competent?"
Ignoring the glance thrown his way with that final comment was easy; he was much too preoccupied with the brief jealousy he felt towards them. Unlike him, they had plentiful support from those around them and would have been trained by some of the strongest awakened.
Biting his lip, Rowan passed through the gate and began the walk to the other side of town. His body ached deep into the bones, and more than once he felt the onset of a cramp, having to stand to the side and massage it out. The Bureau was on the edge of the city centre, so it wasn't long before the streets started to show more and more signs of disrepair.
Turning down the familiar streets, past the public academy, the sprawling apartment complex came into view. This was where the majority of the citizens within Cork lived. The concrete rooms were densely packed, each one with the bare minimum space needed to live and function. There were a total of over 100,000 rooms, spread across five floors.
The max height they could safely build in had long ago been reached, as more and more survivors fled the ruins of the old world and arrived in Cork. Rowan was lucky, living in the fourth floor saved him from most of the waste that drenched the first and second. He wondered if other outposts existed with similar conditions. Only the top brass of the city had any real information, and those without the need to know, didn't know.
climbing the stairs was relieving and agonising at the same time, so close to rest but still so many steps away. As he took the last step onto the third floor, familiar white hair greeted him, with a shocked look on his face.
"Lenny? I took you to be the kid of a famous awakener. How did someone from here end up with a physique like that?"
Lenny flinched at the statement, before slowly scratching the back of his head.
"Ah well... that's sort of the thing. My father's Rick Boyle, and when he found out that I had failed the aptitude he threw me out. I spent most of my childhood training, so I had no friends I could rely on. Ended up coming here, hoping to find a place to stay..."
He trailed off as his foot began tapping, likely growing anxious from what had happened. Rowan quickly realised this was a great chance to get some information out of him and learn how the hell Hells worked.
'I wish I could just rest, I'm so damn exhausted. But, this could get me closer to a quiet house in the centre. That's promise enough'
"Why don't you come to mine for now. There's not much room, but we're both exhausted, so some rest can only help."
Lenny nodded tiredly, and Rowan couldn't help but feel bad for him. He had the life Rowan had always dreamed of, yet in just one day, they were nearly equals. Taking the final flight of stairs, Rowan opened the squeaky door to his room, as Lenny followed a couple of steps behind. Fluorescent lights blinked overhead, illuminating the tidy room, with scarcely more than a bed and some books.
"Oh! 'A Brief Overview of Famous Awakened'! I remember reading this years ago when I was preparing for the written test. It doesn't have everyone, but the book was made during the early years after the fall, after all."
Rowan tucked the rest of the books away to hide that it was the only study related book he had. Getting comfortable, he sat on the floor with his back to the wall, feeling his stress slip away. Lenny followed his example and tried to do the same, but found it significantly harder to relax than he had anticipated.
"Are all of the rooms like this? This bland?"
Having his room called bland made Rowan frown slightly, but he couldn't really disagree. Finding a job was impossible in the complex, and even harder in the centre.
"Most of them, unless you're lucky enough to find employment of some kind."
Lenny likely wouldn't have as much of a problem finding a job; His physique put him miles ahead of the majority of the underfed complex dwellers.
"I'll help you get settled in the complex. It can be rough for the first few weeks, so I'll be around to lend a hand if you need any."
Truthfully, it wasn't a complicated process. You went to the service desk on the edge closest to the centre, got a room number, cleaned it up, and it was all yours. But Rowan needed Lenny's help; he had valuable information.
"In exchange, I want you to tell me some stuff about awakeners and Hells. Specifically, what happens inside and what kind of abilities we can expect."
Lenny quickly nodded, eager to have some assistance after being kicked to the curb so abruptly.
"There are all kinds of different Hells, but what they all have in common is how they work on the inside. They will replicate the scenery of where they first appeared, but twisted in some way, and crammed full of whatever monsters it normally spits out.
"You can only 'clear' the Hell once you've figured out its core, but once you do, it'll throw everything it has at you in a last-ditch attempt."
Rowan blinked slowly, his hope of making it as an awakened quickly being smothered.
"Like that Earthwulf we fought? Five of us struggled against one; how are we meant to survive against a horde of those things?"
Lenny waved his hand as if he were brushing the thought aside.
"Those monsters won't appear in the Hell we'll-"
He coughed quickly, trying to hide the pain that flashed across his face as he corrected himself.
"-The Hell you'll be clearing first will be a tier 1. Those are the solid black ones. They normally are manageable with preparation and practice. That Earthwulf was a tier 2 creature, it's supposed to be a challenge for a knight, not a human."