“Spirits of Ilia, hear me. I call for the four-walled void.”
Tobey had heard of spirit magic. Apparently, the strongest class of magic because of their diversity. Spirits dealt with invisible and non-corporeal forces. The current Grand Mage was a spirit magic-user, A spiriter. And while Tobey had never seen spirit magic before, he had never tried gauging their power either.
As a result of this, when Principal Sinix transported over four hundred people into a white room without drawing hand signs, he was strangely excited. Most people in the large room seemed as confused as he expected, but Tobey tore a large menacing grin as he stared at the old man before him. The first spirit user he had ever seen had impressed him beyond doubt and he could tell from the look in his eyes…
This guy is a monster!
“Let the test begin,” Sinix said.
Murmuring from the crowd began. Tobey stared at the blank paper in front of him. He tilted his head to his right. Bell scrambled all over.
“My bow… Where’s my bow…” she muttered.
Tobey turned his gaze back forward as the Principal continued.
“Before you are blank sheets, where you will write down your answers to the questions that will appear before you.” With a wave of his hand, blue hologram-like screens appeared in front of every student in the hall. Ten questions popped up on the screens, the students stared at them while Sinix continued to explain.
“There are ten questions, each of them holding different marks that give a total of one hundred percent. You are to attempt as many as you like within the set time. But! One question carries ninety-one percent of the total score. Every other one bears just one percent. The passing grade for this test is ninety-five out of a hundred,” He said with a smile.
The murmurs increased in the hall. Sinix who showed no care in the world continued to explain.
“In other words, if you can correctly answer that lucky question, your chances of entering the academy are spiked up.”
Tobey grit his teeth as he listened. Staring at the questions, it was obvious he didn’t know the answers. Fuck! He hadn’t considered the possibility of a test like this. Bell, who he thought would have a better chance seemed to be in a similar pinch.
“This also means,” Sinix continued stroking his moustache, “If you fail that one question, your chances of entering this college are officially out the window.”
Tobey couldn’t afford to fail; he couldn’t fathom it. His eyes kept scrolling for a question he knew till he got to the last question. He gasped and turned to the principal who stared right back into his brown eyes.
“I wish you all good luck,” Sinix grinned. A timer appeared in the air, they had ten minutes, and it was ticking away.
Amidst the rising noise, Tobey squeezed his paper and grit his teeth so hard, he thought he would shatter his mouth. The last question: What is the name of the man who led the rebellion of the tribe of Vassar ten years ago?
Tobey’s admiration of the man quickly turned to hate. He could feel the glare of the man all the way to the back seat. As if the man was screaming at him: “Do you agree?”
A boy stood up from his seat up front and smashed his pen against the table.
“Don’t mess with me! I come from a village by the southern border, how am I meant to answer these stupid questions?!” He screamed at the principal.
“Elis-Tanak,” Sinix muttered. The boy who stood up immediately froze upon his chant. Sinix stared at the boy, his emerald eyes burning at him.
“And who gave you permission to speak to me?” The hall fell silent as the frozen boy began to disintegrate slowly, melting away like heated gold.
“Know your place, mongrel,” Sinix said, snapping his fingers.
The silent hall watched the boy disappear to dust that vanished off the chair he once sat on. Tobey could feel his heart thumping, he turned to the principal who turned back at the students.
“Tick-tock. Time’s running out,” He spoke.
Tobey broke into a cold sweat as he turned back to his questions. He ignored the last question, going back to answer the other ones. Around him, mana began spreading around the hall. Students had begun to use magic to aid them. Most likely spirit magic-users with the ability to boost their intellect.
“Hoooo?” Sinix smiled at the students using magic. The white-haired girl in front was the first to do so. Others had followed her lead. He had not given any rules concerning the use of magic in the test and she had done so of her own accord, ignoring the student he had disintegrated ten seconds ago.
The mana around her swirled in a spiral and she stared at her paper writing down and writing fast. Her brother used no magic, simply smiling to himself as he scribbled away.
Tobey was having no such luck, seven minutes in and he was at his fourth question, not knowing if the others he had answered were correct.
“It’s your father, isn’t it? The one who led the rebellion?”
Blood rushed suddenly through Tobey’s veins as he turned left to the gangly boy who sat beside him.
“What did you say?” Tobey asked, keeping his voice as calm as possible.
The gangly boy turned back at him. “If you want to turn your anger to anyone, how about him?” The gangly boy pointed at Sinix who was busy stroking Thaus. “Still, I wonder if that’s the question with the ninety-one percent?” He grinned.
Tobey turned back to his sheet. He had to write down and soon. But writing down his father’s name? He still considered his father innocent. His unsteady hands held the pen against the piece of paper. Bell meanwhile still searched around for her bow. She considered it more important than the questions before her.
“One minute,” Sinix announced. Bell’s eyes turned back to the questions. She bit her lip and she scrolled through the questions.
“Ah, here we go,” she said drawing Tobey’s attention. Tobey watched her scribble. He wondered if she had mysteriously found out the answers to all the questions, her hand moved too fast.
Forty-five seconds left. Shit. Tobey rose his eyes to glare at the principal who surprisingly grinned at him.
I will get you for this! I swear it!
He drew a long breath and slowly put his pen to paper.
“Times up!” Sinix announced seconds later. He clapped his hands and the papers of the students vanished from sight. With another clap of hands, all the students were returned to the pavement in front of the Academy’s wooden doors. This time, the doors were open.
“Thank you all for attending the test. Proceed into the first hall in the academy for your results. I will see you at the foyer,” The principal said, and with that, he vanished from sight along with the white car and the black horse.
“That bastard,” Tobey muttered under his breath.
As soon as he vanished, there was a strange silence among the students.
“What was that about?”
“I don’t get it.”
“Did he kill him?”
The students wondered.
The white-haired girl walked forward to the doors with her brother beside her.
“Let’s go,” she spoke. Her voice was as cold as ice.
“Yes, sister,” her brother replied with his eyes closed and a smile ever so present.
They both walked into the Academy. Bell watched as the red boys all followed. Then the boy with glasses who had sat under the tree. The gangly boy and his friends followed in. Her bag and bow had appeared strapped on her back, causing her a sigh of relief.
“What is this?” A girl asked. Tobey, Bell and others turned to her as she stood pushing back against what seemed to be an invisible wall stopping her from entering the academy.
“Hey, I can’t get in!” Another said. Tobey and Bell saw a magical crystal wall that stood at the entrance. While some passed through and entered, the majority could not.
“What is this? Is he fucking with us?” The first girl complained.
“Don’t you get it?” Finn said as he walked towards the door, both hands in his pocket. “If you can’t get in, it means you failed. Only those who passed will ever get to see him again. He said it himself.” Finn said.
Tobey was seeing Finn for the first time and up close he was intimidating. Finn placed his hand on the crystal wall and watched as it slipped through. “If you want to blame anything, blame your incompetence,” Finn spoke and he walked through the crystal wall.
After Finn’s words, few people tried to proceed through the wall.
“We should go too,” Bell said to a static Tobey.
What if we failed?
Tobey didn’t want to be the one to ask. But Bell could see it in his eyes.
“We won’t know until we try,” she said.
Bell turned and began walking to the door. Tobey followed closely behind. As they shoved their way forward through the remnant crowd, he could feel his heart beat faster. There was nothing he wanted more at the moment than to drive a knife through the heart of the principal and the boy who sat by his left during the test. But to do that, he had to pass through the crystal wall.
They both stood in front of the wall. Bell raised her hand to her chest and drew deep breaths before turning to Tobey.
“See you on the other side.”
Tobey watched Bell slip through the crystal wall. He turned to it and closed his eyes. He remembered the question and more than that he remembered how fast the axe fell over his father’s head ten years ago. He closed his eyes and moved his legs.
Tobey counted steps in his mind. He stopped counting when he had reached the number ten, and he opened his eyes. Golden lights from a chandelier above him shone in his face. He turned away and to his left was a tall decorated vase set on a beautifully carved wooden stool. He turned right blinking rapidly, and on the wall was a portrait of the eagle that sat atop Sinix’s shoulder.
He looked forward and ahead of him was Bell walking down the lobby. Tobey’s face lit up with a smile.
He passed.
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