Snippet #2292141

Caspian heard Rallen’s question and looked at his hands, thinking for a few minutes. Kyles spoke up though, “Of course I’m not going to take it seriously! I mean come one, this Rite is for the seniors right? I mean, us freshmen don’t have a really chance, we’re all the best from our high schools but these guys are the best in the nation, we’re out of our league. Right?” he was all smiles despite his depressing comments, throwing his arm over Caspian’s shoulder and leaning heavily on the young man.

“I’m not so sure if that’s wise… either of you…” Caspian looked up to the others and was clearly embarrassed that he’d spoken so bluntly, “Well, uh, I mean… you know… that’s j-just not how the Rite works right? I mean, the whole point of it is to fight.” He sat down and continued, again looking down, this whole lecture and discussion bothering him for some reason, “The rite is meant to find the best for the job, it’s why our nations is so strong. The Rite is meant for the best to battle one another, and in the process those with the will to lead are made to shine, at least that’s what they taught us in school… it’s not about the actual challenges so much as it is about the will to keep going, the charisma to subjugate others to aid you, when they introduced the ability to form alliances that was meant to show who could lead best right?” He looked up again, “But, if we don’t all try our hardest, and we don’t aspire to win then the Rite is pointless… if we don’t take it seriously, it means we’re just wasting our time, and other’s sacrifices.”

Caspian was silent again, and after a few seconds was beginning to stammer out an apology when another voice cut in, “You’ve got a point there.” Caspian turned and stood, like a shot, standing there before the group of freshmen was the Battalion commander, General Ruler, with a friendly smile and looking like he didn’t have a care in the world.