Chapter 165: The Hawkilies
Alessio’s final instruction carried across the open ground.
"Those who are not participating should now vacate the area."
The King turned and began to leave.
The household heads followed in a measured line.
Vespera’s gaze rested on Alex for one last quiet moment before she moved with the rest of the procession.
Valeriana’s small smile never changed as she walked away.
The weight that had pressed on the gathering since their arrival lifted only after the last of the high ranked figures disappeared through the doors of the main structure.
Parents, guardians, siblings, and the rest of the non participants began to move at once.
The dense crowd thinned in steady waves and conversations continued in lower voices as people moved toward the exits.
The space around the participants opened up slowly until only those who would actually enter the Proving remained.
Velen was among the last of the Abyss side to leave.
He stopped long enough to clap Alex once more on the shoulder with a brief and solid contact.
"Go out there and show the empire what it means to carry Abyss blood!" he said proudly with his grin was still in place, but the words underneath it were serious.
Then he turned and left with Ella, the two of them disappearing into the departing flow.
Soon the open ground held only the youths who had registered.
Alex stood in the Abyss section and let his attention move across the remaining faces.
One of them was already staring at him.
A girl with bright red hair and matching red eyes held his gaze without blinking or looking away.
The look she was giving him was sharp enough to cut steel.
Alex recognized her at once.
She was the same girl he had forced out of the registration line the day before with a controlled release of Will and cold Shadow intent.
He met her eyes directly.
Her jaw tightened.
The muscles along the side of her face stood out as she gritted her teeth hard enough that the sound might have been audible at closer range.
Now her expression had become open hostility.
She drew a breath as if she intended to speak and her first words already forming...
...she never got the chance.
A new presence appeared in the exact center of the open ground without any visible approach.
The man was well built with blond haired and blue eyed and the pressure that rolled off him settled across every participant at once.
Everyone stopped talking at once and straightened their postures.
His gaze swept the ranks in a single slow pass and lingered on Alex a fraction longer than on anyone else before continuing.
When the sweep finished, he spoke in a commanding voice.
"All attention here completely."
Zara’s voice came through the bond at once.
’He must be from the CBI ,it is starting soon.’
Alex gave a small internal acknowledgment and kept his eyes on the man.
The blond man raised two fingers to his mouth and let out a short and sharp whistle.
The sound had barely faded when a shape appeared high against the sky and began to descend.
It was the first time Alex had seen anything like it.
The Hawkilies was enormous.
Its wings stretched wider than the entire front of the gathering structure, each primary feather longer than a grown man was tall.
The feathers themselves were a deep, layered brown shot through with streaks of darker near black along the edges, dense enough that the light only caught the outer surface.
The body beneath those wings was heavy and compact, built for both lift and the kind of sustained speed that could cross a kingdom without rest.
The beak was a curved blade of dark keratin, thick at the base and tapering to a point that looked capable of punching through reinforced plate.
The eyes were the detail that held attention longest: large, pale gold, and focused with an intelligence that you will not see in an ordinary animal.
When the creature banked, the full span of its wings briefly blotted out a section of the sky.
Alex watched it come down with a lot of curiosity.
’So this is a Hawkilies?!’
Zara answered through the bond without taking her eyes off the descending form.
’Yes, they are mana creatures and they can use mana if they choose to.’
’Most of the time they are used for transporting goods across the different parts of the kingdom.’
’People who can afford it also use them for long distance travel.’
Around them the reactions were less controlled.
"It is so big!"
"Are we actually going to ride that thing?!"
A youth near the middle of the crowd let out a loud, self satisfied sigh.
"What are you all fussing about? My father owns a food distribution chain and I have already ridden these things many times."
The boast earned him a collection of sharp looks from every direction.
And even though no one answered him out loud, but the collective opinion was clear enough.
Despite the number of noble born participants present, most of the youths still stood with their mouths open.
It was not every day that a Hawkilies descended in full view.
A beast with wings that size that could still cut across the sky at blinding speed was not something ordinary training or household resources usually provided access to.
The Hawkilies completed its descent.
The final stretch of its approach sent a heavy gush of wind across the open ground and it was strong enough to ruffle every head of hair and tug at the edges of clothing.
Dust lifted in a low cloud and then settled again as the massive claws found purchase on the stone.
The creature folded its wings with deliberate care and went still, now it was waiting.
The blond CBI man pointed at the Hawkilies with an open hand.
"Everyone, get on it quickly, we will be leaving soon."
A voice rose from the ranks of participants, it was confused and already edged with protest.
"Huh? What do you mean get on? You did not even provide any way for us to climb—"
The man cut the complaint off without raising his voice.
"Figure it out yourselves."
He bent his knees and jumped, and landed cleanly on the broad back of the Hawkilies as if the height required no effort at all.
The protesting youth stared up at him.
"What? Argh! This is so stupid!"
Someone from the side of the crowd answered him with dry impatience.
"If you cannot even climb this, maybe you should just remain behind and not participate."
That speaker was already moving.
He reached the lower rear section of the Hawkilies where the body sat closer to the ground and began to climb.
Others followed in a ragged wave.
Some used short bursts of mana to jump as high as they could and then finished the rest of the distance by hand.
Others took the same lower rear approach.
A smaller number, those with tighter mana control, copied the CBI man’s method and simply launched themselves straight onto the upper back in a single clean jump.
Alex turned to Zara.
"Zara, let’s get going."
She nodded once.
Both of them fed a controlled amount of mana into their legs at the same moment.
The mana enhancement settled cleanly.
They jumped together and cleared the height without strain and landed on the broad back of the Hawkilies among the first group of participants who had chosen the direct route.
The surface under their feet was firm and slightly warm.
The dense feathers providing more stable footing than the size of the creature had suggested from below.
Around them the rest of the youths continued to climb by whatever method they could manage.
The CBI man stood near the front of the broad back and watched the process without offering further instruction or assistance to any of the participants.
The Hawkilies waited patiently as they climbed.
Once the last of the participants cleared the ground, the departure would begin.
Alex settled his weight and looked out across the open sky that waited beyond the gathering grounds.
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End of Chapter 165: The Hawkilies
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