[I must succeed. I trained so hard for this] I thought to myself.
The annual Entry Examination of the Combat Mage Military Academy had finally started, and I felt like I had been waiting for it all my life.
Well, maybe it wasn't fair to call it just a feeling. After all, I'd known since I was born that I would pass the Exam today.
Almost 195 years ago, on June 8th 2018, a German woman called Sophia Martin gave birth to her son William in a never-seen-before state of trance. During the entirety of the delivery, her eyes had been revulsed and she had been mumbling guttural sounds. The doctors and nurses present had said that all her vital signs had been normal throughout the delivery, but everything looked like she had been possessed by something.
After the birth of William, Sophia had woken up without a single memory of the event. Her son looked perfectly normal on all aspects, so despite their shock, the hospital's staff decided that it was better to forget about the incident, in case some religious weirdo happened to hear of it and bring trouble to the Martin family and the hospital.
Unfortunately, it was only the beginning. After Sophia Martin, a lot of other women started to have the same trance phenomenon during their delivery. It was still rare, affecting approximately 1 out of 1000 births across the world, but it quickly became public knowledge that during birth, women could be visited by an evil being. In most countries, the mothers and their children became ostracized, being called the spawn of demons, forcing the governments to take active measures to protect them. In exchange of allowing scientists to test them to understand the origin of the trance, the families would be taken care of. They would be given money, housing and protection.
This situation lasted a few years. Scientists didn't manage to find out anything, and "demon births" kept happening.
On June 8th 2032, William Martin turned 14 and changed the face of the world. Overnight, he developed unbelievable capabilities, not unlike what fantasy authors used to describe as magic.
He could create fire with a finger snap, could make water and wind submit to his will, and flatten or create mountains wherever he wanted.
The first demon child had developed superhuman capabilities. This news made the entire world tremble in expectation. What were the limits of his new capabilities ? Were the circumstances around his birth responsible for his powers ? Is that what awaits the others demon children ?
For two weeks, everybody had split their attention between the new powers of William Martin and the second demon child, Sol Min-Jung, a Korean girl born on June 21st 2018. Would she get powers as well ? Or was William Martin a singular event ?
Sure enough, Sol Min-Jung developed magic powers as well when she turned 14.
And it kept happening. Every child born of the demon trance would get an array of magic powers whenever they would turn 14.
This changed the geopolitical state of the world. Because of the sheer power displayed by the demon children (who would later be called the chosen children), the military created a division to enlist those with power, train them and make them loyal soldiers. The range and nature of military operation changed drastically in only a few decades.
195 years later, in 2213, here I was, trying to enroll in the Combat Mage Military Academy of the North American Superblock, one of the three hegemonic powers in the world, with the European and the Asian Superblocks.
The truth was that after the three first demon children, who were exceptionally powerful in multiple ways, the intensity and the range of powers from the following demon children were highly variable. Some chosen children would only develop a small affinity with an element, making their combat rating almost null. For example, a high fire affinity user could summon column several meters high fire tornadoes that would decimate the enemy, whereas a low fire affinity user could barely light a fire on his own, being just as useful as a match.
The military was obviously uninterested by the latter. That's why, a hundred years ago, to spare money and only train the most powerful magic soldiers, they introduced an Entry Examination to their Military Academy in order to filter the good seeds from the bad seeds.
Was I a bad seed ? No, I didn't think so. I felt that my powers manifested in a way that could be useful in warfare. I wasn't sure of the ranks and the nature of my elemental affinities, since we didn't have any testing devices in my village. But I was sure I had at least a decent lightning affinity, since I could actually manage to conjure thunder from the sky if I was given enough time ! That should be destructive enough to pass the Exam, right ?
The Combat Mage Military Academy of the North American Superblock was situated on the banks of Lake Winnipeg, Canada, and it had been quite a trip to go there from my hometown, Batteau, situated at the east shore of Canada. I had to take the ship to Quebec City, which took me thirty hours. Fortunately, there was a magically powered railroad from Quebec City to the Military Academy, so this last part of the trip only took me two hours.
When I disembarked from the train and went out of the station, I was basically right in front of the campus of the Academy.
In one word, the Academy was magnificent. It was composed of a 30-meters-tall main ovoidal building with four rectangular wings forming a cross shape. It took the codes of ancient and modern architecture and blen them together perfectly. There was a small island floating a dozen meters above the central building. One could see a small wooden construction on it, but it was difficult to see more because of the four metal circles rotating slowly around the island. It was the residence of the Principal of the Academy, which was also a General in the Army.
I doubted there would be anyone who wouldn't know about this small island. Even in an age of magic, this island had been declared one of the new Wonders of the World. I knew that on each of those metallic circles was engraved the name of one of the four schools in the Academy, their motto and the name of the first School Heads.
The School of Water and Lightning !
The School of Fire and Earth !
The School of Light and Darkness !
The School of Space and Time !
Every kid in the North American Superblock would learn about those four schools and their main representatives in elementary school. Obviously, the vast majority of them would never get to enter one of them, but in their heart was engraved an indelible respect for members of those schools, who accomplished heroic deeds in the numerous wars.
But me, as a chosen child, I had the unique opportunity to enter one of them ! Given the talents I developed, I was obviously hoping to enter the School of Water and Lightning !
The Academy was obviously not the only building on the campus, which extended in a radius of five kilometers. I could discern the arena right besides the banks of Lake Michigan in the north. Near the arena there was the Academy's Hospital. On the western side of the campus were various building that were probably of administrative nature. Finally, on the east side was a massive forest that was used for training sessions.
My military notification letter in hand, I approach the main gate of the campus. I could read on top of the gate "Combat Mage Military Academy" in golden letters animated by magic. Under it could be seen the motto of the Academy, "Amor fati", Love your Destiny in latin. It was obviously very fitting, given how much entering the Academy can change our lives.
Students of the Academy had a base salary of $5000 per month. They would get first grade education, even in non-magical subjects. Of course, at the end of their studies, they would have to enlist in the Military, but they would immediately get a high rank and enjoy immense notoriety. They would enjoy immense benefits in civil areas, like free public transportation, priority queues and specific access to buildings among other things.
Also, students of the academy were extremely popular. Every year, multiple TV channels would follow a few exceptional students to promote the Academy and further reinforce the popularity of the chosen children. Those students would often gain millions of fans, and receive countless fan mail every day.
But even those who weren't specifically followed by TV channels would become famous too. If I could get one of the 100 places opened for this Entry Examination, I would automatically become one of the most influential people in the North American Superblock ! To me it didn't mean much. But to my family… Ever since I have been in age to understand, both my parents
But I had to focus.
[Focus focus focus. Don't get too excited yet.] I told myself.
There was one chosen child born out of every thousand birth. Even in the North American Superblock, it meant that every year, there would be around ten thousand chosen children ! And out of this ten thousand chosen, only a hundred would make it into the prestigious Combat Mage Military Academy ! That meant that, statistically, I would only get a 1 percent chance to make it !
When I thought of this number, I felt the stress and anxiety coming back.
[Focus, focus, focus.]
It was only eight in the morning, but despite the notification letter asking to be at the gate at ten o'clock, there were already a lot of young people my age there. Probably a few hundreds. Obviously, I wasn't the only one to feel an extreme pressure and to have come a bit early.
No one was talking. They were all super focused, but some of them looked even more stressed than I was, pacing back and forth or mumbling some unintelligible words.
Just like me, a lot of them had luggage with them. I thought to myself that some of them must have had an even longer trip than mine, especially those coming from Mexico
I decided to wait in silence, just like the others.
****************************
As more and more youth arrived in front of the gate, the Academy's staff started to split the candidates into groups of a hundred. They took our names, our notification letters, and every time a group was full, they would guide them inside the Academy to take the examination. I felt quite happy to have come earlier, because it looked like it would take quite a while to handle several thousand students.
My group was the fourth group to head inside, straight into the main building. Into the main hall, I was once again breath-taken by the beauty of it. Paintings dating from the Renaissance would be exposed next to very modern sculptures. Above the stairs leading to the second story was a magically animated fresco. It depicted the battle between two great combat magicians, one from the North American Superblock (NASb) and the other from the Asian Superblock (ASb), victory being obviously taken by the former. But beside the picture, what shocked me was the aura of greatness that transpired from the fresco.
[I want to have a fresco depicting my awesomeness too, one day], I thought. By the gaze of admiration of the other 99 candidates, I knew I wasn't the only one to think that. But we knew better. In our group, statistically only one of us would enter the Academy, let alone getting enough achievements to get your own fresco.
Our guide led us in an amphitheater which had several hundred places. They were already two people inside : an old man in a purple military robe and a middle-aged lady with glasses in civil clothes. I recognized the insignia on the old man' robe. He had the rank of Major, and the two stripes gold and blue on the insignia indicated that he was from the Academy. For the woman, I could only guess that she was from the government, I didn't think non-governmental civilians could get the chance to be next to a Major to welcome the Academy candidates.
When everybody was seated, the old man started speaking.
"Chosen children, welcome to the Combat Mage Military Academy. I am Major Esteban Lancaster, Vice-Principal of the Academy. The Entry Examination has always been my favorite time of the year with the start of the school year, because I absolutely love seeing young heroes like you show everything they have in order to enter the Academy. I can't wait to see which ones among you will become the next military legend of our great country ! Next to me is Gabriela Mercer from the Department of Defense. She will assist me today in doing the preliminary assessment to the Entry Examination you are so eager to take. Gabriela, would you please explain them what you're going to do ?"
"Of course, Major. Good morning everyone, I am Gabriela from the Department of Defense. Maybe some of you already know it, but before the start of the Entry Examination this afternoon, we will need to do a preliminary assessment."
I actually doubted there was anyone who didn't know. The Entry Examination details were freely available on the Academy's network.
"This preliminary assessment consists in evaluating your natural affinities with the eight elements taught at the academy : water, lightning, fire, earth, light, darkness, space and time. I know that devices like this," she pointed at a strange machine next to the table that looked like and open coffin, "are far from being available everywhere, so there should be only a few among you who know the rank of their ability, and even then, their exactitude compared to this one, which is the latest model, is lacking. So for commodity, and to ensure fairness across all the candidates, we will do this test here."
This last statement was fairly well accepted by the youths. Chosen were being born indiscriminately from the socio-professional category of the parents, so a lot of chosen children simply didn't have the contacts to access such an expensive machine. It was even redundant, since they were being tested during the Entry Examination anyway.
"The assessment will proceed like this. When I call your name, you will come down and stand inside the machine. You won't feel anything, but in the 30 seconds necessary to test, the machine will very accurately appreciate your absorption of elemental particles. Depending on the absorption rate, you will be given a ranking going from F to A, F being the worst ranking and A the best, or null if you don't have any affinity."
At this point, Vice Principal Lancaster spoke again.
"To be authorized to take the Entry Examination, you have to achieve at least a D ranking in one element. You'll be allowed to take the Entry Examination for each element you get at least a D ranking. I know most of you spent probably most of the past year to train your main element, and you might even ignore that you have other elemental affinities, but you still have the possibility. Of course, we value exceptionally gifted student a lot, so if you manage to get either an A ranking in one element, or two B ranking in two elements, you'll be exempt from taking the Entry Examination. Of course, those cases are extremely rare, concerning at most one or two people each year."
That wasn't one of the information publicly available. A wave of excitation went through the audience. Wouldn't it be awesome to be immediately accepted into the Academy without needing to go through the Exam ? I certainly wouldn't mind at all.
"Please calm down," the Vice Principal continued. "Now, do you have any question concerning the preliminary assessment ? You will be given all information concerning the Entry Examination in due time."
No one dared to ask anything.
"Very well. I let you in the hands of Miss Mercer. I wish you good luck, and amor fati !"
The Vice Principal left, and Miss Mercer started to call people's name.
The assessment was indeed very quick, the candidates only needing a few dozen seconds to get the results. Gabriela Mercer didn't announce the results out loud, but it was easy to see when the results weren't good, the dejected faces of the rejected candidates being pretty clear clues. On the other side, people with good assessment looked quite happy of themselves, just like the fatty next to me.
I mouthed to him : "Was the result good ?"
He mumbled to me : "C+ ranking in water element!" He raised his thumb.
"Wow, that's super cool, congrats !" I told him. I also raised my thumb to him.
"Thanks, I hope it goes well for you too !"
And just as he said that…
"Next is… Jeremiah Blackwater, please come here" said Gabriela Mercer.
It was my turn.