My hands would not stop bleeding from all the practice. My muscles felt as if they were tearing apart with every single movement.
Azrael did not understand how he was supposed to train in order to improve. He was not getting better. The weight of his parents' expectations, his little sister's hopes, and the nightmares that haunted him every night because of that day all crushed him.
"I need to improve. I need to be better. I need to enter that academy."
Azrael lived two lives: one where he helped his parents sell goods, and another where he trained with a tree branch and a stone.
"I need a sword if I want to practice properly." The branches began breaking constantly. Still, he noticed some improvement.
As the months passed, Azrael realized he was getting better—but not as fast as he had hoped. He was slower. He pushed himself even harder, until one day his body finally said "enough."
"Ahhhh, it hurts so much! I can't move my arms," he said, his arms trembling, unable to move them without sharp pain.
Azrael understood that his body had reached its human limit, but stubborn as he was, he wanted to keep going. He helped his parents with great difficulty and then went to train. That was where he truly reached his limit. At that moment, a small, shy boy approached him.
"Hi. I saw you practicing yesterday… with your hands bleeding. If you want, I can give you a recovery potion so you can heal and keep training. Nice to meet you, I'm James, the future greatest alchemist in the world," he said proudly and happily. "What's your name?"
"Hi, I'm Azrael," he said very shyly.
It was the first time Azrael had ever talked with someone his own age. James was very kind. Azrael, though a bit cautious, decided to trust him.
"Hiiii, Azrael! Are you also preparing for the kingdom's prestigious academy? Then that makes two of us! And from what I can see, you're going for swordsmanship. I hope we end up as classmates. If you want, I can lend you books for the theoretical exam."
Azrael did not know there was anything beyond magic and swordsmanship. Alchemy surprised him, but what shocked him even more was learning that there was a theory exam.
"Thank you very much, James. I didn't know there was a theoretical exam," he said in a very quiet voice.
"Yes, Azrael. The kingdom has been changing a few things lately. Don't worry—you can ask me for anything. My parents are leaders of the merchants' guild."
"Thank you very much, James."
"Don't worry about it, Azrael. Well, I should go now. Keep training. I hope to see you inside the academy so we can become the best in the world. I'll leave you some instant healing potions here. Shhh, don't tell anyone I was here, okay?"
Azrael, happy yet embarrassed, looked at the potions and took them. There were quite a few.
'I didn't know he saw me hitting a stone with a branch. Ahhh! He left me a sword! That's great! Now I can finally train properly.'
As the days passed, Azrael and James began meeting often to study the theoretical part together, while practicing separately. When the day of the exam arrived, they went together in one of James's carriages.
"Ooooooh, James, how many girls have you taken in this carriage? It's so luxurious."
"Don't say that, Azrael. These eyes only see one person."
Azrael began thinking about the girl he had been in love with in his past life. When they arrived, they saw many arrogant nobles. They arrived just as an announcement was made: in 15 minutes, the theoretical exam would begin.
"What luck, Azrael! We arrived just in time."
"Yes, James, luckily. But now I'm scared of the theoretical exam."
"Don't worry, Azrael. This won't be very hard—we studied really well," he said, his hands sweaty and his expression anxious.
"Well then, James, I wish you good luck. Let's go find our exam rooms."
"Bye, Azrael. Good luck," he said with a knot in his throat.
Both of them found their classrooms just in time, after getting lost while searching—there were countless rooms. They arrived right as the exam began.
'This is exactly what we studied together,' Azrael thought, feeling a bit happy.
'This is really easy,' James thought, relieved.
Both of them finished the exam in record time and were the first to leave the room, surprising everyone. James and Azrael compared their answers. Time passed quickly—two hours had already gone by, and the results were posted.
When they searched, they did not see their names among the top 50. They kept searching further down the list, but even at the very end, they found nothing.