The boy Simone recommended to Elia was called Lorenzo.
This was another “unborn” having the same age as Simone, so it was quite easy for them to talk to him about the proposal that the director of the orphanage made to Elia and Samuel.
Lorenzo was not a great friend of those two. He hardly knew them at all, although sometimes he saw Simone walking around the courtyard of the orphanage. He spent most of his time with a small circle of friends, and since he came of age he has spent more time outside the orphanage than inside.
Despite this Simone knew him. He knew everyone there.
Lorenzo was the living stereotype of the “unborn”: sculpted physique, excellent grades, unbeatable in sports, extremely competitive and determined …
They found him in the orphanage gym, a place where he spends his free time.
From when he was born to that moment Lorenzo has worked in various sports: calisthenics, parkour, athletics, free running, karate, tricking, jiu jitsu, grabbling and mixed martial arts. Before he came of age his passion for sport made him an extremely competitive boy, but once he came out of the orphanage he understood that he could not take part in any kind of official competition and therefore he moved his interests elsewhere: his future plans were to become a physiotherapist.
He listened to Elia and Simone in silence, and even though he didn’t initially seem interested when he was told that a certain “Samuel” would participate he immediately accepted. Those two had become friends apparently.
Simone did thus his part for now. He introduced Elia to both Lorenzo and Samuel, and took his leave.
Now let’s turn our attention to Elia and his two “new friends”. After they met they immediately went to speak with the director of the orphanage, a man in his sixties.
He looked cultured and wise, probably due to his beard and eyeglasses.
The “unborn” did not know him very well. The director always stayed on the top floor of the building, where his office was located. No one entered there, neither to be scolded nor to be rewarded. His office door was always closed, and apparently there weren’t even any windows up there … and not even a handle. It was completely sealed, accessible only to him.
That day the director met Elia and the other two boys in the atrium of the orphanage and answered all their questions.
<<In a month there will be the entrance exams.>> he said in the end <<I’ll take care of sending your documents, I’ll do everything myself. You just have to be ready because they will come to pick you up by car.>>
<<We do not even know what the exams are about though.>> commented Lorenzo.
<<Nobody knows. What is said is very little, and those who have already taken the previous exams are forced to keep the secret from a contract.>>
<<Wow… so we can’t even prepare or study anything in advance.>>
<<No. I think it was done on purpose to prevent cheating or stuff like that.>>
<<I understand.>>
<<Anyway>> the director turned to Elia at the end of the conversation <<we have prepared a room for you, little one. So you can stay here until they come for you. Obviously you can go out and stay out all night … if you want.>>
<<Wouldn’t it be better to put me in the dorms with the others?>> the boy answered <<I’m still a minor in the end.>>
The director was silent for a moment, then he turned back <<Do as you want.>> he says at the end <<If you have any other questions, tell the secretary to call me.>>
Nothing special happened in that month of waiting.
Samuel and Lorenzo were totally exempted from the didactic obligations that all the other guests of the orphanage had to respect, plus they even gave up their jobs. They took advantage of all this free time by spending it in the gym or out the building.
Sometimes Elia joined them,and sometimes not. He did not mind walking a bit in the center during the day, but he refused any proposal to go out at night. Discos, aperitifs, dinners, evening cinemas … all these things did not appeal to him at all.
In that month the boys also did some research on the study center they were supposed to go to.
They found that it was built on an island, and that it could accommodate up to 25,000 people. There were no images or videos showing the center though, not even from the distance. But there were the testimonies of all those who frequented it and who are still attending it.
Each year the center admitted only 5,000 students who would then remain there for only five years, and to enroll it was necessary to be no less than 15 years old or over 25.
At that time the center had 15,000 students.
The days before the entrance exam were very nervous and anxious for the boys. The problem was that they didn’t know what to do. They had no real goal.
What did they have to study for the written and oral tests? History? Economy? Literature?
And what did they have to train to pass the physical tests? The strength? The resistance? The musculature?
They had no idea how to prepare for that exam, and in the end they decided not to.
The morning of the exam, when the car promised by the director came to pick them up, they felt both ready and unprepared.
There were many guys to take part in it, but fortunately each of them had been previously numbered by the exam managers, so they all knew the time in which they would have to show up.
Samuel Lorenzo and Elia had different and distant numbers from each other, which led to one having to show up in the morning and the others in the afternoon. This information raised the spirits of the three initially, they thought they could ask those who had already done the exam for some advice and tips, but they soon realized their mistake.
Nobodyever talked about the DTC exam after doing it.
And when it was their turn, they understood why.