Chương 53: Familiar faces

Lloyd took one last look at the guards. They kept watching him without looking away, as if seeing off his every step. But the moment he crossed the threshold, their gazes instantly went unfocused, losing all interest, and the guards went back to staring at the street, quietly talking among themselves about something, while the frigid wind slammed shut behind Lloyd like an invisible door of cold, sealing him off from the winter square behind thick glass.

"That was easier than I thought. And why did their expressions change so fast the moment I stepped over the threshold?" Lloyd let out a heavy sigh, feeling the tension of the last few minutes slowly ease from his shoulders as the building's warmth began wrapping around his chilled body.

Inside, an entirely different atmosphere reigned — warm, almost stifling after the freezing street, filled with a muted hum of voices, the soft rustle of papers, and a faint hint of coffee drifting in from somewhere deep in the lobby. The high ceilings faded into dimness overhead, and the walls, clad in pale marble with faint gray veining, reflected the soft, diffused light of lamps set directly into the ceiling in neat geometric rows, like a constellation frozen in place above his head.

The floor beneath his feet was flawlessly polished, and Lloyd couldn't help noticing his own faint reflection sliding across it with every step, blurred and slightly distorted, as if he were looking at himself through a layer of water.

Somewhere near the far wall of the lobby, a quiet, nearly indistinguishable melody played from hidden speakers, while staff in the same dark blue uniforms as the guards outside — minus the coats — passed by every so often, moving briskly, carrying folders of documents under their arms or murmuring quietly to one another as they walked. None of them so much as glanced in his direction, as if he were just another perfectly ordinary, unremarkable visitor.

And then, right in front of him, as if out of nowhere, a girl appeared — blonde curls, dressed in sharp office attire that flattered her figure nicely. She moved so silently that Lloyd nearly jumped in surprise, her heels making almost no sound against the polished marble. She glanced quickly at her tablet, its screen glowing dimly with a cold white light, then looked Lloyd over carefully, from head to toe, her gaze lingering for a moment on his worn hoodie and familiar red sneakers. — Soul Boy. Correct?

Lloyd winced slightly, as if he'd heard something unpleasant, but then simply nodded without a word. The site where he'd registered had required him to enter his True Name, so unfortunately he'd had no choice in the matter — he'd just have to accept that from now on, to everyone around him, he'd be known by this strange, almost ridiculous name.

The girl smiled softly, and something flickered in her eyes that resembled a professional, years-honed friendliness — the kind people develop after greeting dozens of new faces every single day, having long since stopped seeing them as anything more than another checkmark on a list. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. — Please head straight ahead. The waiting room is right there. The Exam will begin in twenty minutes.

Lloyd nodded again, feeling his voice betray him with a nervous rasp. — T-thanks. The girl gave a brief nod in return and immediately turned away, heading off somewhere else, as if she'd already forgotten he existed, leaving Lloyd standing alone in the middle of the spacious lobby, feeling remarkably small against the towering ceilings and endless marble walls.

Lloyd made his way down the hallway toward the waiting room, his footsteps echoing dully against the marble floor, the building's warm air gradually driving the last of the street's cold from his body, settling into his chilled fingers as a pleasant tingling.

Rows of closed doors lined both sides of the corridor, each bearing frosted glass plaques with numbers and labels too small to make out while walking, and from behind one of the doors came the muffled sound of a phone conversation, cutting off the instant Lloyd passed by.

"Everything here feels almost too simple. Nothing stands out. I pictured this differently." He scratched the back of his head with his free hand, taking in the featureless, identical walls of the corridor, lit by the flat, emotionless glow spilling from long lamps stretched along the entire ceiling, like glowing veins running through the building.

"As far as I know, it's the five world powers that organize the Exam every year. Though WPA is considered the main authority when it comes to Exam matters. I wonder if there'll be representatives from any of the other world powers here." He reached the massive doors at the end of the corridor and pressed his palm against them, feeling the cool metal surface under his fingers, vibrating faintly, as if a crowd of people were moving on the other side.

"Well, I can't wait to see what's inside." The doors swung open with a quiet, almost inaudible creak, letting a wave of voices spill into the corridor, merging into an indistinct but very much alive hum of sound that crashed over Lloyd all at once after the near-sterile silence of the hallway. The waiting room was filled with all sorts of people — or beings that only distantly resembled people.

The spacious, high-ceilinged room was crowded with rows of soft armchairs, dozens of figures weaving between them, while a long refreshment table stretched along one wall, faint steam rising from it.

There were ordinary-looking guys and girls, indistinguishable from anyone you'd pass on the street, and right beside them, far stranger beings: someone with scaly skin glinting under the lamps like fish scales, someone with horns jutting out from a mess of hair, and in the far corner of the room, a horse paced unhurriedly back and forth, standing on two legs and dressed in a neat, well-tailored suit, as if it had walked straight out of a business meeting, adjusting its shirt cuffs as it went.

The hum of voices, laughter, and fragments of conversation in different languages filled the spacious room, blending into a single, almost tangible wall of sound, while tall windows along one wall let in cold winter light that mixed with the warm glow of the ceiling lamps, making the air in the room feel filled with two competing shades of light — golden and bluish — fighting each other for every square foot of space.

Lloyd silently scanned each Player, trying not to let his gaze linger too long on any one of them, though curiosity was practically bursting inside him, his heart pounding in his chest with a mix of nerves and poorly hidden excitement.

"Well, at least this looks a lot more like a Players' Exam." And then a rather familiar face caught his eye. There, in the very corner of the room, stood a man, set slightly apart from everyone else, as if an empty space had deliberately formed around him, free of chairs and passing figures. A man who was completely engulfed in flame...