"COME ON!" Iris exclaimed as she jumped out of her chair. She grabbed Jane by the hand and the two of them rushed put of the box.
"Hey wait for me Tri-clops!" I yelled as I bolted after them. The second floor hallway was utter chaos as the other nine teams rushed out of their boxes and made a mad dash for the stairs. It was a good thing that our box was the last one in the row, the snobby group that was in the first box got trampled by two other teams trying to get past them.
Iris and Jane saw the chaos of the hallway and decided to sit tight for a moment until it calmed down. While the others were falling over themselves in the lobby we were just making it to the top of the staircase. When we it outside I could see the ten steed carriages parked in front of the theatre. There were already a few groups fighting over carriages.
"Let grab that one at the end." I said pointing to a midnight blue carriage at the end of the line. It was the furthest from the theatre and the groups that were fighting.
It'll take too long to get to that one!" Iris growled.
"Would you rather waste time fighting over the closest steeds?" I asked. Iris thought about it for a second then frowned.
"Okay let's go!" She snapped and raced down the stairs. Jane gave me a apologetic look then rushed after get friend. I brought up the rear as we made it to the bottom of the steps. The other groups were still fighting over carriages. We went around them and made a beeline for the last carriage. The three of us hoped inside and quickly took a seat.
The driver on the other side of the partition jumped when we opened the door. He was a elderly man, looked to be in hid early sixties. He looked at his watch then back at the three of us.
"Well that was quick. I was expecting to have at least ten more minutes before someone picked my carriage." He said in jovial tone.
"Just drive!" Iris snapped.
"Iris!" Jane snapped at her. "Don't be rude!"
"Lady Jane we are in a competition to become students of a Paragon! Manners are the least of my concern."
"I noticed." I said smugly. That earned me a glare from her.
"Why aren't you driving?!" Iris snapped again when the driver didn't move. He smiled and crossed his arms.
"Because I'm not a driver, I'm a guide." He repied
"Then where is the driver?" Jane asked.
"There isn't one."
"Then who is going to drive the carriage?" Iris asked.
"Something wrong with your hands that you can't do it?"
Iris looked like she'd been slapped in the face.
"You expect me to drive a carriage? Do you know who I am?"
"Oh for the love of the gods!" I groaned then hopped out of the passenger section of the carriage and hoped into the driver section and sat next to our guide.. "I'll drive!"
"Thank you." Jane said. I grumbled and waved at her absent-mindedly as I looked for the reigns for the steeds. There were none.
"Where are the reigns?" I asked the guide.
His expression; which was joyful and warm a second ago was now blank, void of emotion.
"A splicer shouldn't need reigns to control a steed. And a trained evo such as these need only a command to take you to your destination." He replied.
"I see… practical skills…" I muttered then turned to the steeds.
There were five of them in all which seemed struck me as odd when I first saw the carriages, they were small enough that they could have been pulled by two steeds easily. The extra three weren't necessary unless you were using them for a test.
I held my right hand up and closed my eyes. Feeling time slow to a crawl as energy built up in my crystal I felt my chains of energy shoot put and wrap around the closest steed. Taking control of the first one my chains jumped to the next and the next until I reached the lead steed. I felt some pushback from that steed as it tried to resist my control but by adding just a little more power I was able to overcome it.
With all five steeds under my command time picked back up again and I opened my eyes. All five were looking back at me waiting for my orders.
"What the…?" Iris gasped.
"So much mana…" Jane breathed.
"Take us to our first destination." I ordered. The steeds took off without a moments hesitation. They weaved around the other carriages; all of which were still parked and thundered down the road. I didn't know where we were going but I could feel the confidence in each of the steeds, they were in deed well trained and knew where they were going.
"Congratulations, you three just passed the first test. Admittedly not the way you were intended." Our guide said, his jovial tone back.
"How were we supposed to pass it?" I asked and looked over at him. A look of terror flash on our guides face.
"You shouldn't talk, you'll need all your concentration to keep all those steeds under control." He said pointing at the steeds. I simply shrugged, my control over evos never wavered once they submitted to me the first time. It also wasn't my first time controlling a large group of evos, I did it a lot during the summer growing up when I interned at the factory in town.
"I'll be fine. Now how were we supposed to clear this?"
"Together." He said incredulous. "That's why there were five steeds instead of the two you would normally need for a carriage this size. It would waste a bunch of time and eventually force you three to work together to bring them all under control. I've never in all my years seen someone take control of five evos at the same time and so quickly too."
"You're giving off so much mana too, how are you not tired yet?" Jane asked.
"Mana? What that?" I asked then turned to look back at Jane. Their eyes widened in disbelief when they heard my question.
"You seriously don't know what mana is? That's like splicing 101. Its one of the first things you learn about." Iris said.
"Didn't your family teach you anything?" Jane asked.
"Everyone else in my family is normal, I'm the only splicer." I sighed. "Plus I think I was the only splicer for two hundred miles around."
"Information like that could have been easily found in any book about splicing." Iris said.
"They burned any and all books about splicing in my country about one hundred years ago in the 1960s. Then made it illegal to import them in the 1970s."
Jane and Iris' mouths dropped. They both looked like they couldn't even fathom the idea of burning a book let alone one about splicing.
"Wait…are you from America?" Our guide asked. I turned to him and nodded.
"Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri." I replied.
"That's the one country in the world where it is illegal to practice splicing!" He yelled.
"Yeah tell me about it. I grew up in a town that had a large Techno-Splicing factory so I didn't have it as bad as splicers in other parts of the country but the only thing I know about being a splicer is controlling evos. Since no one would rat me out to the police if I used my power to stop a evo that broke out of the factory and started rampaging…that happens more times than you'd think."
There was a short moment of silence as Jane and Iris thought about what I just said. When it sunk in, Iris' eyes got wide.
"No, no, no, no! Are you telling me that you have absolutely no training as a splicer and no idea what the hell you can even do outside of controlling evos?"
"Yes…?" I replied sheepishly. Iris and Jane looked like they were both about to pass out.
"Oh my gods! WE ARE SO FUCKED!" Iris screamed.