But only if you fight it. Okay? Trust me, guys."

Daniel looked at the girls and then nodded.

Grace smiled and turned to the King. "Your Majesty. With your permission, Bill will show us all what occurred to Daniel, Amy, Jasmine, and Amber."

The King spoke to Sylvan for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, I will allow this. Proceed."

Bill asked them all to sit down, and Daniel did. The girls huddled close to him. Daniel was about to ask when it would start when suddenly Bill was in their heads and rummaging around. He seemed focused on his sexual activity.

“Only look at the tests," grumbled Daniel.

He heard a smack and Bill yelped. "Just the test, Bill," growled Grace.

Over the next few hours, what Daniel and the girls had experienced was on full display for all to see. Gasps, groans, and shrieks accompanied the viewing. Bill could project the images in three dimensions in the air in the centre of the room.

When it was over, Amy and Jasmine were sobbing and clinging to Daniel.

"As I said," intoned Quinten. "They have failed the test."

Grace whirled on Quinten. "Explain their failure."

"The first test showed them the evil they are capable of. This was a future that remains entirely possible. The One God has said it was so. If they are allowed to live, this future will come to pass."

"Bullshit. They saw a future you created, and their instinct was to allow themselves to be punished for it. For a time, they believed they had committed those acts. And still they chose the punishment.

They passed. Next."

Quinten openly gaped at Grace before composing himself. “In the second, he sacrificed himself for someone already lost. The child was gone. His suicide shows his lack of common sense. A lack that will lead to great evil."

Grace laughed out loud. She turned to the audience. "Anyone believe that crap? I saw a man, without fear for his own life, attempt to save an innocent. Next."

Quinten was red in the face now. "In the third, they chose to go directly against the wishes of their King. They have no Loyalty to authority."

Grace laughed harder and wiped her eyes. "No, they proved that they won't be naive lapdogs for every whim of a monarch. The King gave an unlawful command. Good on them for resisting oppression and authoritarianism."

Grace spun about, addressing the audience.

“This is unprecedented. Never before has a simple testing been on such a grand stage and never has it forced those being tested to undergo such trials. I sense something malevolent here. Explain yourself, Quinten."

"I need explain nothing to you, Grace de Moroingi. I follow my God.

The One God! I answer only to him." Quinten turned to the King.

"Sire, I have deemed the students as failures. Do you not agree?"

King Archibald looked over at Quinten. He had been deep in thought.