At Grimsnow, candidates began to prepare for the entrance exam. A slender, bearded young man fixed his deep amber eyes on all the candidates.
"Many applicants today, right, Professor?" he said to his acquaintance.
Another man stepped closer to the one-way glass. The prim, middle-aged man noted his associate's fixation on the children. "What's going on in that head, Lower? You seem to be in a trance."
"Can't you see the Manick joules emanating off these children? It's exhilarating!"
"Indeed, I'm glad you noticed," the older man answered, matching his energy. "You can feel the slightest bit of power surging from just beyond the glass!"
Continuing to the window, the professor lightly touched the glass, and the window dropped its opaque veil, drawing all attention to him. His grey hair and white trench coat, littered with patches of dirt and other trinkets on his belt, made him look like a mad scientist. Muffled speech came from the window; subsequently, the candidates started to trade confusion among each other until turning back to the window. The professor, noticing his blunder, quickly clutched a small orb. A corresponding orb hummed to life in the lobby.
"Hello, students, I am Professor Alexander Jill. You can address me as Jill with an appropriate title—be it Teacher, Mr., or Professor, any will do. I will be your proctor for your entrance examination. But enough with formalities. Now, I would like all parents and guardians to guide their youths to the examination room to the left."
The orb dimmed as the professor's voice faded. The children looked to the steel door as it slid open, eerily slow; you could hear the rust scrape against the metal frame as it settled into place. The room, which had been a small group of children playing and conversing moments ago, was now filled with weariness and fear from kids and parents alike.
"I'm not sending my child in there!" one mother shouted.
"Don't make me go in alone, Papa!" a child blurted from the crowd.
Other parents shrugged, left, or stayed seated. Not everyone was on the same page. The crowd grew restless in the lobby, children crying and screaming, parents herding them away from the door, and worst of all, candidates leaving. But Professor Jill's demeanor was unchanged by the commotion. Professor Jill whispered to Lower, and he nodded accordingly. Stepping out of the room, Lower pulled a book titled "Our History" from one of the shelves in the lobby. "Everyone, please, I won't ask you to stay for the test, but allow me to say a few words before you decide to leave." Lower's voice took over the entire room, not loud, but it felt like it came from everywhere, leaving everyone in stunned uncertainty. Lower opened the book and began to read.
"On the coast of North Retelina—" Before Lower could finish his sentence, black mist filled the air, followed by panicked screams. He calmly closed the book and took a look around. What a shame, I thought they would've read our contracts when signing up. Lower thought to himself, shaking his head slowly in disappointment. Just then, a brutish man grabbed Lower's collar, pulling Lower, leveling the two face-to-face.
"You have 5 seconds to tell me where my little angel is, or I swear I will burn this facility to the ground, leaving only ash and your charred corpse." The man's eyes began to swirl with fierce blue flames; he was ready to strike. Lower with both his hands held his face closer to the man's.
"Who are you talking to? I'm not even here." As Lower's words left his mouth, his body started to soften, leaving only a black mist in its place. Lower's mist flowed through the man's hands like someone trying to hold sand.
"I'M GONNA FIND YOU MIST MAN!" The brutish man stomped to the door along with other parents. The door was locked, fixing itself in place.
One of the parents tried to break down the door, but Lower grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "You can't harm anything in this facility. So I must ask you to sit down or leave." His voice was strained, and even though his face would tell you he was putting all his efforts into holding this woman's arm, his grip said otherwise.
"You're running on low, Mr. Lower," she stated with a devious smirk. With a quick pull, she freed herself from his grip. With rapid succession, she began pummeling Lower: Left, right, left, right, and a haymaker as wide as a valley concussed Lower. Stumbling as he tried to find his footing, the woman swiftly kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying into a wall, putting the man out of commission.
"That's enough!" Two mages stepped into the lobby, both of them with different colored cloaks. The orange one stepped forward with a wand pointed at the parents and summoned three rocks ignited with weak flames, and the other mage pressed their hand to their green hood. "If you wish not to be knocked out, please sit in a chair and you will not be harmed!" the orange mage yelled, standing firm and ready to put down anybody who didn't comply. With the 25 parents in the room, some had already left, others sat down, and the last seven still stood with their conviction, believing they could retrieve the children. A faint voice came from the ground, "Apologies, but you didn't read the contract." A familiar black mist started from the seven adults, pulling them into the ground. Lower trudged his way over to the two mages with a blue liquid spilling down his lips.
"Thank you, two, I couldn't pull such a big audience away after one mass teleportation with those children." Lower struggled to even breathe.
The other mystery mage finally spoke, "I'll have you examined by the upper infirmary, Gala. Please stay here to help with things, with Mr. Jill."
"Thank you, Ian." He slumped onto Ian's shoulder and was carried away.
---
A black mist formed a slide in a corridor; 20 kids funneled into the corridor, some kids landed upright, others... not so much. One kid looked around, noticing a light about 20 meters ahead. Proceeding to the light, other kids followed; however, some followed for fear of being alone, while a smaller portion followed to get back to their parents. Once at the end of the corridor, the leading kid made out that the light was partly obscured by a steel door with a small hole for a window.
A small scarab flew through the window, rapidly flapping its elytra, but something was off. Tilting his head, the leading kid noticed faint glints refracting off the scarab. It's a metal beetle, how strange, the child thought to himself.
The beetle played audio out of its belly: "When the door opens, please step inside to begin your test." Just then, the door slammed open like someone had just kicked it in, revealing a cylindrical room formed from reinforced concrete walls. All of the students followed the instructions, some with hesitation due to the sound of that door hitting the wall, and others with pride, most likely having been prepared for this moment by their parents. Their murmurings echoed through the room, crowding the air with uncertainty. After the door slowly closed, the beetle flew through the small gap. Flying over the candidates, it began to play more audio.
"In this test, we will evaluate whether you are a Ritualist, Agent, Scholar, or Originator. Your target will be…" The voice trailed off as the beetle flew to the center of the chamber.
The bug stopped flapping. Subsequently, out of thin air, a boy appeared shrouded in an all-black cloak with no noticeable features except for that familiar black mist, but this one was noticeably less dense than the mist conjured by Lower. This man, if you could call him that, was no older than 17. He caught the beetle and pocketed the metallic insect. After a short pause, the boy spoke, "My name is Nova, and I'll be assisting your proctor today. When I point at you, please step forward and display your Manick ability."
He pointed to a random candidate. "You."
A small girl confidently walked up to Nova. She immediately held out her hand, striking a sassy pose without saying a word, and created a small golden, translucent flower bud. It puffed out gold-like pollen and softened the tension in the chamber.
Nova studied the ability, unimpressed. He stated, "You're an Originator. Please step to my left and wait for further instructions." He pointed to another, and a boy approached. He took ash from a pouch, then proceeded to throw it on Nova. Following his first action, the boy clicked his heels, igniting the ash—luckily not enough to kill Nova, but still garnering some damage to his cloak.
"No words, but due to your strange actions, I can confidently say you are a Ritualist. Please step to my right." With a heavy exhale, Nova told the students, "Try to keep your abilities to a minimum. This is your last warning," although he had never actually said anything about a warning prior. Lifting his finger, he pointed to another girl. "Next,"
The girl prayed something barely coherent. In the next moment, the girl was suddenly sporting wings on her back as well as a flaming short sword in her hand. Several candidates ran away from the girl, screaming. She was barely pointing the sword in the air with her tiny two hands. The unwieldy weapon was suited for wielders with bigger frames.
Because of the girl's inability to listen, Nova had to shout and point amidst the mini-havoc. "You're an Agent! Now, please release your form and step behind me!" She just barely noticed Nova and obliged, but not before flying and showing off her grace to the other students. "Another stunt like that and I'll have to remove you from the exam." The girl tilted her head in confusion and held up her hands sporadically, at least that's what Nova thought at first. Within a few seconds, he realized just what she was doing. Shit, she's deaf!? Nobody told me there'd be a deaf one. Nova knelt to the girl, barely signing, "I'm sorry." The girl then settled on the ground, patiently waiting like the rest of the kids.
"How about you?" Nova gestured to a boy in the back. The boy timidly hugged the walls. With a piece of chalk, the boy began to inscribe the wall with runes. Nova watched with anticipation, but nothing happened.
"Must be a dud, but that's okay, we all have our bad days."
After the timid boy's apparent failure, Nova finished up with the rest of the candidates. After the exam, Nova led the candidates out of the chamber and recounted his chart. 7 Scholars, 6 Agents, 4 Ritualists, 2 Originators, and 1 dud.
But before he could leave, the chamber began to fill with heat, and embers flaked through the room. Nova tracked the embers' path, tracing them back to their origin. "The runes?"
A low but noticeable rumbling started to come from the runes. Erupting, the runes spewed molten lava all over the air. Nova just barely ducked below the lava, only getting off with a small section of his cloak being scorched. Winded, Nova panted, "That's 8 Scholars." Rolling away from the runes, Nova pulled out the beetle and cracked open some key into it. Putting it up to his mouth, he spoke into the belly, "Clean molten rocks, Chamber 14." He stopped winding the key and sent the beetle through a scarab-shaped misty portal while he walked through another door parallel to the entrance of the chamber.