Early in the morning, Saiph was standing in the middle of the town, Exorcus, with hundreds of similarly-aged children standing around with him. Every single child of age in this region of Orion centered around Exorsus was gathered here today to be brought to the Academy to see if they had the potential to become a Mage and if they would get into the Academy itself.
Typically, as long as one had the innate talents to become a Mage, they would be accepted into the Academy without any issues. However, if they just barely reached that mark and did poorly on the rest of the exam, it wasn't unheard of for people to be turned away.
At least, this was according to Mr. Mayers, who, through his business and trade, knew a reasonable amount of people and had heard their tales. Saiph's parents were a bit more isolated out in the fields and hadn't heard as many tales as the wizened old man.
Gazing around, looking for anyone or thing of interest, Saiph noticed a taller figure step into the herd of children, completely standing out.
All the other adults and guardians of the children had said their adieus and left by now, so this lone figure could only have been one person.
The escort!
A buzz ran through the group, and then, silence. Dead… silence. Saiph couldn't make out the face of the escort from where he stood but felt a tremendous pressure being exhibited onto his spirit.
Wasn't this person… many times more powerful than the Mages he had seen collecting taxes last time?
"Thank you, for your attention." A loud voice blared out from the direction the Mage was standing.
"I am Kyle Malavik, your escort through the 49th world, Carina, and onto the Academy for your admission trials. First, we will go to the World Gate connecting Orion and Carina. It should take us a few days- four, to be exact. You are all responsible for yourselves. If you lose me and the rest of the group on the way, you can only blame yourself. Now then, let's head off."
The Mage turned away from the group and started walking out of town. Voices of shock and anxiousness erupted behind him, but no one dawdled. The entire group of children was successfully herded.
The group trekked through the fields of Orion from dusk to dawn for three days. Midday of the 4th day of their journey, the group reached one of the revered World Gates of the Tower.
During the entire journey, Saiph had kept to himself in the back of the group. He didn't feel comfortable reaching out and talking to kids his own age; he had practically never talked to one before.
What if he was weird and different? The only reference he really had was his parents and Mr. Mayers, and even the Spagyrist was more of a teacher than someone he was truly close to.
His parents treated him a bit oddly, he thought, but had little reference for that either. Mr. Mayers treated him like an excellent pupil and Spagyrist but in terms of judging his personality the old man had never made any remarks, for the good or bad, so Saiph wasn't sure if he was a normal 10-year-old.
Saiph sighed and shook off the residual thoughts and focused on the matter at hand. All derisory issues paled in comparison to the grandeur of a revered World Gate.
This was the day that Saiph was going to be able to leave this impoverished World and continue on his quest to become a Mage! Who cares about a little loneliness and social exclusion? It only hurt a little bit to see all the other kids group together and get along just great…
No, no. It didn't hurt at all. Mages don't feel lonely. That would be stupid. The path to the top must be a lonely one, after all.
Saiph sighed once more and tried to focus on the task at hand. They were about 5 minutes away from the World Gate. Or, so said the whisper that rebounded from person to person. Saiph himself was too far back to make much out. The only thing he did notice was that the ground was notable much smoother and gentler here than his home and Exorsus and there wasn't any crops growing, for some reason.
Seeing how there wasn't much else to do, Saiph started walking slightly diagonal and off to the side so he could possibly see what he was missing.
After a little bit, he was finally wider than the rest of the group and hadn't fallen behind in the process. His legs were too sore to jog at this point so if he wasted too much time he wasn't sure if he would ever catch back up.
The sight that he saw was one of majesty and grace. A massive stone structure of sorts laid out of the flat grasslands in the distance. It was probably just less than a hundred feet tall and a few times that wide. Hung up on the side of the structure was a similarly massive flag depicting some sort of pattern that Saiph couldn't quite make out from that far away.
After looking a bit more intently and observing the surroundings, Saiph noticed that there was another few groups ahead of them, maybe two or three. He then turned his head around to look behind his group only to see another one a few minutes behind them as well.
"Wow, there sure is a lot of people on Orion after all," Saiph murmured to himself.
Satisfied with his discovery, he coasted back over to the rear of the group and awaited their imminent arrival to the stone fortress.
Just a minute or two later and, indeed, the group was standing under the massive flag secured to the wall of the fortress.
"This, potential fellow Mages, is the official flag of humanity and the Academy! This flag stands for truth, justice, and Hope! Genuflect to the flag and recite the pledge of humanity after me."
The group Saiph was in's escort Mage projected his voice for the first time in four days.
""Do what?"" Saiph heard multiple exclamations of confusion from the kids around him. He, too, was confused by the terminology used by the Mage and anxiously looked around to see if anyone knew what the Mage was talking about.
Most of the kids awkwardly stood around unsure of what to do until the wave a people dropping to one knee and putting a hand on their chest reached them. Saiph was no different, but once he knew what to do, he earnestly carried it out.
After the last of the movement had subsided, the Mage's voice rang out once again.
"I pledge allegiance to my flag..."
""I pledge allegiance to my flag," the group echoed.
"...And the Academy for which it stands."
""...And the Academy for which it stands.""
"I pledge my head and my heart to Hope and my people."
""I pledge my head and my heart to Hope and my people.""
"One race, one goal, and one flag."
""One race, one goal, and one flag,"" they finished.
During the entire process, Saiph was staring intently at the flag overhead. It had a Vermillion backdrop with a golden trim all along its perimeter. Square in the center, Saiph counted a circle made out of 100 white circles as its primary design. There were other intricacies in the corners, black markings and lines that Saiph couldn't make much sense out of, but the core circle spoke volume to the boy.
The Academy had its clutches over all 100 worlds. Humanity was the dominant race of the Tower, that is what that must mean. This… this was the Academy, the representation of all of mankind.
A bizarre sense of emotionalism overtook Saiph and he wiped the tears from his blurry vision.
The group slowly got back up on their feet and the Mage declared his intentions to go inside. Before he knew it, Saiph had entered the fortress.