“For those of you who are new, and as a reminder to all, today is the Sabbath. All are required to attend church, which begins at the fourth bell. Please dress appropriately. We will assemble out front and leave when the bells ring. You will walk reverently, side by side to Saint Ebon’s Cathedral. That will be all.”
Our roommates had already prepared us for this last night, so we weren’t surprised when the headmistress made the announcement during breakfast. However, I groaned when I looked at Fin.
“Fin, not to be rude, but don’t you think you could look a little nicer?”
“Me?” He looked down at himself. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, since you asked— your shirt is wrinkled and dirty. And your hair needs some combing. Would you like some help, or do you think you can take care of it?”
He rolled his eyes, but said, “Ugh! You sound like Mom. I can take care of it.” He gobbled down the last of his breakfast then got up in a huff.
I sound like Mom?
Thinking of her gave me a lump in my throat and made my eyes start to water. Unconsciously, I reached out and gave Lil a half hug. She looked at me then returned my hug, which only made the tears start flowing freely, much to my embarrassment. Our roommates at our table tried to ignore us, even though they kept gazing our way to make sure we were okay.
We were all waiting in the lobby when Fin came back down— looking much nicer, I might add. So we went outside to wait with the others. The grounds looked so much better, like before the storm. The fallen tree was still there, however. It looked like they had it about half cut up. The broken windows had boards over them.
The church bells started ringing which was our signal to start walking. They had us walk in two lines, probably to maintain some order. It was kind of nice seeing everyone in their best clothes walking together. I turned to look when I heard some noises behind me. There were several boys laughing and poking fun at each other, while others, boys and girls, were whispering in private conversations.
The interior of the cathedral was nicer than any building I had been to before. It was dark, but some light was coming in from stained glass windows placed high above, casting an eerie glow on the benches and walls. Around the main room were large paintings framed in gold. At the front was a raised dais with plush chairs where the church leaders could sit.
The service was a mixture of congregation singing, recited prayers and a lecture. I didn’t know the song at all, but after it started repeating, I tried joining in. I noticed my voice was higher and lighter than it used to be, sounding quite pleasant, to my ears at least. Fascinated, I started singing out, trying to make it sound even better.
As the song progressed, I noticed the people around turn to look, giving me either smiles or odd looks. Right around me everything seemed to get a little brighter. I just figured the sun must be shining on us through the windows, so I didn’t think much of it until Lil elbowed me hard from the side.
“You’re quite loud and you're glowing!” she whispered loudly in my ear and pointed to my arm.
I looked down and saw that my skin was indeed lighter than it should be, giving off a little light. I immediately stopped singing and watched as the light slowly faded away. I sorely hoped no one else saw that, but was disappointed when I glanced around and saw a number of people behind us pointing at me and talking.
Not again! Why do weird things like this keep happening to me?
During the lecture the preacher encouraged us to believe in God and to be kind and forgiving to one another. I became aware that his voice projected over the whole room, even though we were a good distance away and he wasn’t yelling or straining. Then I saw another man off to the side, concentrating with his eyes closed. He was pointing one palm at the speaker and held the other out towards us.
Is he doing something magically with the sound? If so, it’s interesting to know that the church is not against the use of magic.
After the service, as we were walking out, Lil quietly said, “Sorry, you sounded really nice, but I think you were projecting your voice, kinda like the preacher did. I wouldn’t have said anything except you were also getting brighter. Do you know why?”
“No, I have no idea. I was just trying to sing with everyone.”
As we stepped outside the church, a nicely dressed girl was talking to another girl, pretending to whisper, yet we all heard her clearly. “I can’t believe they still allow rabble and beggars like them!”
So much for being forgiving and kind to one another!
The next afternoon Fin, Lil and I were waiting outside of the headmaster’s office in the administration building of the academy. They had sent a message requesting us to come so we could get our class schedule, since a new semester was going to start soon. That seemed odd to me, since they could have just sent the class schedules in the message.
After waiting for an uncomfortable amount of time, we finally were shown into his office. He seemed to have calmed down since we last saw him, but I could still see a slight smugness to his expression.
“Thank you for coming to see me. We are anxious to get your schooling started. We have your class schedules ready, however, we have a few more tests we would like you to take. Hopefully, that will not be a problem.”
“May I ask what kinds of tests?” I asked. They already knew we didn’t know much of anything. I didn’t see how any more tests would help.
“Oh, these are tests of your magical affinities, since you all claim to be exceptionally talented in that area.” He could not keep the smug grin from his face now.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
But it made my blood freeze at the same time.
They could not be allowed to learn about my null magic. As far as I knew it was still forbidden, illegal and only worthy of death. Prejudice of null magic was the reason Mother was dead, and why we no longer had a home. There was no way I was going to ask if the laws or public opinion had happened to change while we were slaves.
“Can I ask how these tests work and what they show?”
“Oh, of course.” He stood from his desk, went to the door and opened it. “Professor Wendcut here will escort you to the testing room. She will be happy to explain how each test works in detail.”
I didn’t like this one bit, but there wasn’t much I could do about it right now. As we walked behind Professor Wendcut, the headmaster, with a noticeable limp to his stride, followed closely behind us. Luckily, along the way he got distracted by someone who approached him with a question.
I quickly leaned down to Fin and Lil and whispered, “I hope it doesn’t happen, but be prepared in case we have to run or fight our way out of here.”
They both looked worried, but nodded. Lil linked her arm with mine and laid her head on my shoulder as we walked.
“In here please,” the professor said as we got to the testing room. The room had some book shelves along one wall and a few chairs arranged around the sides of the room, but had only a single desk in the middle, but with no chair. It was disappointing to see that the headmaster had caught up and took a seat as we entered.
“You may be seated in any of the chairs around the room. I’m excited to see what we will learn today. If you are to be believed, you are all quite extraordinary.”
You may be excited, but we’re all dreading this!
I pretended to be interested in what she was saying, but I was having a very difficult time concentrating.
She continued, “This first test will show us the amount of mana you each have. The brighter the glow the more mana you have.” She pulled a blue crystal from a box which was sitting on the floor. As she placed it on the desk I saw it was already glowing. Then she pulled out a rod from the box and touched it to the crystal, making it go dark.
If this was like the magicite stones, then it should glow for both Fin and Lil but not for me. Having played with the stones in the past, I knew I could send some mana outward, rather than let my body soak it all up as it would normally do.
“Can you explain what mana is?” I asked. I thought I knew but maybe we didn’t know enough yet.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot you haven’t taken Magic Fundamentals yet. Mana is a form of energy which mages use to produce magical effects. Mana can be found in all things, including your bodies, but some minerals attract and respond to it much more so than others, like this crystal.
“For this test I need each of you to come up here and simply touch the crystal. Now, who would like to go first?”
I nodded at Lil. I wanted them to go first, so I knew how bright it was for them. Then at least I would know what I was shooting for.
Lil walked up and touched the crystal, which immediately started glowing bright, even brighter than when the professor first placed it on the desk.
“How can that be?” The headmaster asked. “She’s still a child!”
“Impressive,” the professor said, jotting down some notes. “You may take your seat, Lilleren. Who is next?”
Fin walked up and did the same thing. It shone bright again, but maybe a little less than it was for Lil.
“Very good Finneren,” the professor said, writing some more. The headmaster just shook his head in disbelief. “Alright Jerisha,” she said as she extinguished it again with the rod.
I walked up to the desk thinking about emitting mana, but not too much. My null affinity always wanted to absorb mana, not release it, and when I did, it was difficult to control. My body was tense, but tried not to let it show.
As I touched the crystal it remained dark at first, so I pushed a bit harder, causing it to start glowing dimly. I decided to push a bit more so they wouldn’t think I was too weak. That caused it to brighten a bit more. I was satisfied with that so I moved away.
“That was strange,” the professor said, her brow furrowed. “It usually jumps right to the level. I don’t think I’ve seen it do that before.”
“Is anything wrong?” the headmaster asked.
“I don’t know, but it did finally settle at her mana level. Maybe it’s because it was so much lower than her younger siblings.”
I didn’t dare say anything.
She wrote down some notes, then continued, “Alright, this next test is to detect your magical affinity. You might think you already know, but you might be surprised.”
“Can you tell us more about affinities? We know a little, but not much.”
“Right, of course. There are actually quite a number of them: common, uncommon and rare. There are some that are so rare there aren’t reliable tests for them. The common affinities are Body Forge, Fire, Light, Nature, Shock and Sound. Uncommon are Healing, Imbuing, Kinesis, Shield and Wind or Current Flow. Rare affinities are Gravity, Psychic, Sensing and Transformation. Once you start school you will learn many more details about each of these.”
Listening to this list carefully, I was actually quite happy to hear that my affinity was not listed. I don’t actually know if I have other affinities. I had seen evidence of healing, shock, maybe even sound and light when I was singing the day before. I had no idea what that meant. Whatever was going on with me was definitely not normal. I was beginning to worry that none of their ‘normal’ tests would even work for me.
I was also glad that Lil’s second affinity of time manipulation was not mentioned. That lets us keep a little more private, in case we need to take advantage of that without anyone suspecting.
The professor set out several strips of wood on the desk, each with some stones embedded in them. There was some small writing on them too, but I couldn’t read it from where I was seated.
“Alright, I need you to come up and hold your hands above these bars, like this.” She demonstrated how to position both hands, almost touching them but not quite. “Then concentrate on using your mana the way you naturally would. We should be able to see an indication from at least one of these. Each has been attuned to a different magical effect, which will tell us your affinity.”
Lil was the first to walk up. When she held out her arms and concentrated, one of the stones flashed brightly.
The professor's eyes went wide, as she said, “Gravity, amazing. That is a rare affinity. Thank you Lillern.” We knew she had a second affinity of Time, but we had discussed it previously, and decided not to say anything about that one, unless we had to.
Fin walked up and did the same thing. For him we saw two of them light up.
The professor nodded, and said, “Body Forge and Kinesis— two affinities, one common and one uncommon. Having two affinities is also rare. Thank you Finneren. Knowing this, their story about the branch is starting to look more plausible. Wouldn’t you say so, Headmaster?”
He shook his head, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “Possibly,” was all he said, though.
Then it was my turn.
Sorry for the cliff-hanger.
