To ensure that no God's or Strays could create any drama, the whole island was surrounded by the barrier erected by artifacts which dampens the vision of Gods and shuts the flow of faith energy.
Since every God gets their powers from the faith, they all have similar origin of energy. That's why the artifacts or formations which stops or resists the flow of faith energy, makes it harder for gods to take notice and act.
This is why, the city of non-believers and atheists called Nontheos, was the worst place for any God. As that place was simply filled with people who had no faith and chosen the path of Apostasy -abandonment of religion. That's why gods couldn't interfere in any way and it became the blind region from the God's eyes.
Obviously chosen Gods tied to their avatar, could still act freely within the confines of the academy and any other formations too.
To stop the trickster gods who're always simply looking for a laugh, the other gods were given a tribute to interfere and stop them. In simple terms, the academy hired Gods to stop gods from interfering.
This was the story known to everyone, but what the normal public of Arcadia didn't know was that there were no formations or artifacts which stopped the gods, it was all due to the stone pillars surrounding the entire island. The normally weird looking stone monuments created a null zone which seprated the realm of gods and created a disturbance in their abilities.
No one could stop a God from doing what they wanted, but that God must be willing to pay the equal price. As the Cairns covered the entire island, if some God intervened, they'd have to spend dozens of times more energy than what is needed anywhere else. In simple terms, gods kept silent, simply cause it was costly for them to say something.
Watching the mortals, talking to them, giving them blessings or making them an avatar - it all costs them their energy, their own powers, so it's simple why they wouldn't waste that on trying to get past the barrier forcefully, when they can just wait for the person they chose to come out. After all, 4 years might seem longer in the eyes of normal mortals, but in the eyes of gods, it's a time that'll fly in a blink of an eye.
In the novel, after phase 2 of Emergence when the world was suddenly thrown into the chaos once more, these islands became the sanctuary for everyone.
At that time these islands became the place that were safe from the raging flames of carnage that covered all of Arcadia.
Even Rio's future self, infamously known as the Devil, had made use of these so called barriers in his fight against the Gods.
There was a scene in the novel, where Devil trapped a 108 avatars from all over the world on these islands, and forced their chosen gods to watch as he slaughtered them.
The gods who couldn't control their anger or those who were too attached with their avatar and came to their rescue -only ended up playing in his hands and getting trapped in the barriers themselves too.
The barriers made them considerably weak, as the more they used their abilities the more they struggled to fight against him, thus that became another continuation of the battle between Gods vs Devil.
The author of that novel, named that chapter "Dance of Devil"
Though Rio had no plans to go that crazy and blood thirsty yet, these stone monuments were indeed the reason why he wanted to join Zenith Academy the most. He wanted to learn everything about these barriers and their workings and origins. He wanted to see, if they can be used in the way he hoped to utilize them to stop his ending once and for all.
-
(Fk I'm getting sidetracked again, aren't I? Let's focus back on the entrance ceremony.)
Currently in a separate hall many children ranging from the age of 15-18 were sitting around.
These were the group of students who were chosen to enter the academy this year after they passed the entrance examinations. More than 150 kids were sitting in the hall, as this was only one of the many such halls.
The tense atmosphere in the hall was a stark contrast with the excitement present outside. Currently everyone inside was checking their bracelets, looking at the message of the ranking list and their points distribution from the tests.
Some were happy with the results they got showing off everywhere, while others complained and compared with others.
Many students chose to stay silent and just observe their surroundings, while some had already started to form their groups. Some socials were trying to be friendly with everyone, while some shy ones just stayed away in a corner..
The list had announced the ranking of everyone except the top 25 rankers, who would only be announced once the ceremony starts and they get rewarded and praised for their outstanding achievements in front of everyone.
Those who didn't take part in entrance examinations and were invited to join by the academy itself, were present in a separate hall. While in one other hall, were the top rankers, the top 25 students of this year. They were all waiting for the announcements to start so they could go out and join everyone too.
In that hall, Leonard Heartwell, the protagonist was standing by the window, talking to his family on the phone.
<Ohh phones were invented in between the time skip, so don't say where did these things popped up>
His father and aunt were present outside in the visitor's section. He looked at their excited faces and how proud they were for him, as they constantly chatted about the crowd and everything happening outside.
"Where's sister? Did you meet her?" Leon's father asked.
"No, she's in the student council. So she's probably busy with all the arrangements and other responsibilities. I'll meet her once the function starts." Leon said, and engaged his parents in another conversation.
Once he cut the call, he opened the contact details of his sister and dialed it, but the answer was the same as before.
'Guess I'll just have to see her outside' Leon thought, and turned around to glance at the people around him.
They were the top rankers of this session, people who were as strong and talented as him. Many of those present were children of noble families or young masters of their clans and races. Those who didn't belong to them, were related to the various associations and guilds of the world.
Though half of them had also gotten the invitations to join the academy, and didn't even need to take part in these exams, many still did that just to test their limits and see their rankings. Some also wanted to show off their powers in front of other students and simply did it as a competition of sports between them.
After all, many of them were future pillars and would be leaders of various places, so the competition between them and need to establish their dominance or superiority was even more obvious between them.
"Who do you think is taking the first place?" One of the kids asked his friend.
"It's probably one of those three?" He said while pointing towards certain students.
"Nah, I bet it's that guy or maybe the one from that guild."
"Isn't his father the leader of that _"
Conversations and speculations between everyone were happening, when an announcement of the top students was made and the doors of the halls opened and they started moving out.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, the best of the golden generation. The cream of the crop and the finest of the finals. I, present you, the rankers of the Zenith Academy's this new year."
The students passed through a dimly lit hallway moving outward where the loud cheers of the crowd could be heard calling for them. Screaming and welcoming them in loud tones as claps and noise echoed everywhere.
When every student came out, they were to stand upon the stone platform, which floated in the air. Various light crystals and fireworks lit up the sky, as they all made their entrance between the whole stage.
The stone platform floated, giving everyone a close look at the next best of this year's students. The platform roamed around, making a full circle of the open ground, before stopping in one place.
The platform of rankers was now situated just below the main stage , where the principal and other staff of the academy made their announcements.
"The results of your exams have been sent to your id bracelets. So check them and take your respective stand based on your rankings."
A man with glasses came forward and said. Though he didn't use any loudspeakers or microphone, his voice still reached every student, who eagerly checked their results.
While they were busy looking through that, the platform lit up in different colors as it created panels with numbers written on it. The ground of certain places raised upwards, and there the banners of rank one to three floated above.
All this signified their ranking and positions in the class, rank 1-3 were given a higher platform to showcase them to the whole world.
The reason behind announcing results in front of the whole world and this display of different treatment, was to show 2 things to every new student – one, to build up the hype and show the surprise to everyone together. Second, to increase the competition between the students and show them that no matter who they were outside, or who they own and belong to, the only thing that matters in these walls is your ranking.
After getting accustomed to the surprise ranking reveal, the students all started taking steps towards their positions. Even those who were dissatisfied with their results, had to put on a smiling front to not look petty in front of the whole world.
Leon looked at the message on his bracelet, as he skimmed through everything.
[Leon Heartwell - rank 1]
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A/N - let's welcome our mc now, shall we.
Also Aby thoughts on Devil's slaughter of God's & their avatar. Any theories or suggestions. Also join my discord, Link's in d synopsis and my profile.
This chapter is updat𝓮d by fre(e)webnov(l).com