The Greatest Sinner

<Zak says that if all the newbie magicians go together it will be safer, but what do we have to be afraid of?> Evan thought to himself.

"Commander, you mean, we could be attacked along the way?" Evan said calmly.

Zak nodded: "Yes, but it is unlikely. Even if the beasts or bandits decide to attack you, you will fight back, so you have nothing to worry about."

"I get it."

...

The next day, early in the morning, Evan and Zak were standing at the gates of Mossy Vulture. Plenty of other newbie magicians were also there with their mentors or relatives.

"Evan, I don't know when we will meet again, but I believe you will reach incredible heights! When I first saw you, I had no idea what an amazing guy you really are. Good luck."

With a smile on his face, Zak said and hugged Evan. Even though they hadn't spent much time together, it was enough to create a strong bond between them.

Evan didn't begin to thank Zak or talk about all the emotions he had experienced in Mossy Vulture, in his opinion it was unnecessary. The young man said briefly: "I'll climb to the very top."

They nodded to each other, and at that moment Marcel and Fien approached them.

"Evan, I see you're ready to go?" Marcel said calmly.

"Yes, I hope "The Last Moon" turns out to be a terrific place."

"Rest assured, you won't be disappointed."

Over the next couple of minutes, they`d exchanged a few short phrases before the gates of Mossy Vulture opened and the newbie magicians set off.

Since their journey was through narrow trails and little-explored terrain, all of the young people rode horses. There were neither carriages nor wagons.

Zak and Marcel stood beside each other and watched behind the departing Evan and Fien.

"Eh, Zak, today is a joyous and a sad day at the same time. I didn't think this day would come so soon, but they need to learn more about magic and this world to become stronger and more experienced."

Zak nodded: "I agree. I`ve never thought some boy could impress me so much."

Besides Zak and Marcel, there were many other people seeing off their children or successors, including Koen, Fane, and other influential people.

"The Last Moon" was one of the best Academies of Magic, but it was quite difficult to pass the entrance exam. Of course, like Zak said, getting into the academy was an easy task, anyone who had got into "Nirvana", could do it.

Each Academy of Magic had two different types of students, namely the "Outer Students" and the "Inner Students", the latter had much more rights and opportunities. They got more freedom of action, more resources, and better mentors.

Only in "The Last Moon', students were distributed differently. In all other Academies of Magic, students were distributed according to the color of their "Warp". It was logical, because the magicians with purple "Warp" were much more talented and progressed faster than the magicians with the white "Warp".

However, in "The Last Moon", the color of the "Warps" wasn't that important. The head of the Academy considered that such a way is inappropriate, because in addition to talent, strength and skills are also determinative.

For the same reason, many novice magicians with purple "Warp' were wary of going to "The Last Moon", but that didn't mean the Academy had a problem with the number of students. "The Last Moon" was one of the most popular Academies of Magic in the entire "Kingdom of Fallen Hopes."

...

<Zak said I'd get there in a week's travel. I hope he was right.> Evan rode his black horse and thought to himself

The road to the Academy was not an easy one. In the three days, he had been on the road he had already been in the woods, rocky terrain, passed through narrow trails with a sharp difference in height, and so on.

The scenery changed frequently, making the path quite difficult at times, but Evan was used to it by now. He was bored, nothing happened the whole time, and he was tired of waiting until he got to "The Last Moon".

He didn't want to talk to anyone, the only person Evan was interested in, was Roland, but to his surprise, he wasn't here.

Evan didn't know if Roland had gone to another Academy of Magic, or if he had stayed in Mossy Vulture. He didn't know anyone besides Fien, but he didn't particularly want to talk to her or the others.

He was interested in information about the Academy where he was going, but the others knew as much as he did, so all he had to do was go ahead quietly.

<Well, I've got the map, food and weapons. I think I can speed up a bit.>

Whoosh.

Evan pulled the harness and his horse moved forward, overtaking the rest of the group. He decided that if the rest of the ride was going to be as boring, he'd better get to "The Last Moon" as fast as possible.

The others were surprised by Evan's actions, but no one was going to stop him. In their opinion, it was foolish to rush when the intake of students was still not be soon.

...

A day later, Evan was already far ahead of the rest of the group. He was moving twice as fast as they were, and at times even more. By his calculations, he should arrive at the Academy by tomorrow.

It was worth noting that firstly he would stay not directly at "The Last Moon", but in a village near the city. He was going to the Academy itself on the day of the intake students.

Whoosh.

Evan pulled the harness and stopped the horse. The young man checked the map and then moved very slowly. At this moment, he was in a place called - "Half- Dead Forest". Besides its strange name, this forest was also known as a very dangerous area.

Evan wanted to get to the Academy of Magic as fast as possible, but he understood that he should not hurry when he was in such a place. Once Evan had walked a few meters, he could already feel the tension in the air.

Fortunately, the road didn't go straight through the "Half-Dead Forest". The path Evan was taking was on a cliff ledge to the right of the forest. Evan had nothing to worry about, he just had to watch the road carefully to make sure he didn't fall down, since it was so narrow that only one horse could walk along it.

"Hmm, this forest is marked on the map as a very dangerous place. These trees are very strange, it feels as if the whole forest is sick."

Mumbled to himself Evan looking at the "Half- Dead Forest". It would not be any different from other forests if it were not for one, but very important detail - about half of the trees were dead, while the rest were alive. Moreover, their crowns were very thick and their foliage a rich green color, as if each of the thousands of trees was in its best form.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Suddenly Evan felt the ground shake. Evan didn't understand what was happening, but he wasn't going to just stand still and wait.

Whoosh.

The young man quickly jumped off his horse and lent against the rock. He didn't know if it was a normal earthquake or something else, in any case he had to keep himself safe somehow.

The shaking grew stronger with each second and at one point Evan heard a loud crack above his head.

He looked up quickly and was horrified. The shaking caused dozens of huge boulders to break away from the rock and, like an avalanche, crash down on the thin path, completely demolishing it.