Excited? Val was thrilled. The hairs spanning across her arms stood on end. An electric feeling she couldn't name filled her being. She wasn't far from jumping the fence herself.
"With all that said, I want you to look at those dressed the same way you are, green sash and all."
Participants surveyed their friends, their recently made teammates and their recently made enemies.
"Those are your future comrades as well as your future competition. Memorize their faces, as this is the generation of mages you walk along, the generation you cultivate with and the generation you protect Ciazel with arms linked.
"No one else besides you, conductors and overseers are allowed inside this premises because this moment is about you. As much as the clans, houses, and esteemed families would love to see what this country has to offer, you witness it first. The first privilege you're privy to, with more to come as you climb."
"Now." Fiona gestured to digital screens hovering all around her. "District, sector, region and names will be displayed above. Your first duty is to pay attention and look for when you are called. If there are any causes for confusion, turn to the conductors stationed throughout the aisles."
'Northern District'
'City of Nocelle'
'Stall Region'
'Unbound prepped for manifestation are as follows:'
'Tyson Gerald'
'Allison Red'
'Pattison Jones'
'…'
Minerva Louise
A line of names streamed down the screens, tugging the gazes of the eager youths in the brimming crowd. Various people sprouted to their feet, a couple of hoots sounding from the distant corners, and rushed down the aisles.
Upon reaching the lower floor, they scattered about, stationed in front of each manifestation orb. Overseers strolled up and down, surveying the entrants like aether creatures ready to pounce, like threats. And until the awakenings settled, technically, they were right for acting like so.
The process of tethering to such an unknown, powerful source brought about the same magnitude of reaction. Though manifestation orbs were a practical way to bring awakenings forth, it could happen when any form of shock took hold of a person—mentally, emotionally, or physically—and it was far from silent.
"On my say."
Fiona's voice boomed through multiple sounding crystals, pulling Val's attention onto the arena floor.
"Stretch your arms."
Fingers remained an inch away from the sphere.
"You may now touch the orbs."
Some prodded at it with the faintest touch of their fingers while others spread their palms wide across the sphere. Val honed in on an Auricean man in his early twenties, sweaty palms shaking. A faint, ghost-white glow enveloped the orb, transitioning to a luminous azure.
His almond eyes dulled, as if he wasn't all there, before taking up an azure colour of its own. Viscous water swirled all around in a gyre of blue liquid, turning the sand into dark mud.
A water mage.
"While common, the Elemental Gate of Water is not the worst to tether to." Williams seemed to be watching the same mage as her, a hand on his chin. "If his PAST and elemental affinity are high enough, he'll excel anywhere he decides to go."
"Woah… check out the one over there." Caro pointed to the far left.
A Kidraan girl around Val's age held a manifestation orb exhibiting a deep crimson colour. Pillars of flames budded all around her, licking the ground and spreading to her clothes. Fiona teleported to the girl in a frame of a second, conjuring a folded towel out of nowhere.
The light show lasted a moment longer, the flames disappearing all at once. The new mage wobbled where she stood and Fiona wrapped the long towel around her.
"To have her flames man, to have her flames." Caro sighed.
"Fire's one of the most common elements to be had," Williams said, "not all that special."
Caro rolled her eyes. "No duh, the Elemental Gate of Fire is positive-concrete for a reason."
"Wow." Williams glanced her way. "I find myself surprised."
"Of what, that I know my property groups?"
He nodded. "Precisely."
Caro scoffed. "Look, I know the primary elements like the back of my hand. Right Val?"
"Because of Miss Peppers," she replied. "Better go apologize to her for all the trouble you gave her."
"Nah." Caro waved the notion away. "She loved me."
"She hated you."
"Same difference."
Val huffed a small laugh. Jokes aside, the knowledge of the primary elements was as commonplace as the letters in the Standard alphabet and at that, she recalled one of the questions in the exams.
'Define the property groups given to each element.'
She thought she went crazy at the sight of such a kindergarten question. It was free marks, however, so she wrote.
'Positive→ Related to the Biotic Essence '
'Negative→ Related to the Necrotic Essence'
'Concrete→Tangible'
'Abstract→Intangible'
From there, plugging an element into their preferred attributes wasn't difficult to achieve.
"No way!"
"Ah, I wish that was me!"
"You've gotta be kidding me…"
The arena fell into disarray, dragging her out of her memories. Surveying the thousands of manifestations taking place, she found it hard to pinpoint the center of the commotion.
Thankfully, the ring of screens displayed it for her. A Kidraan girl held a pitch-dark orb, limbs of darkness swishing about in a chilling manner. Her eyes were black, swallowing her pupils and sapphire irises whole.
Williams whistled. "Now that is an element to have."
If negative elements were rarer than positive ones and abstract scarcer than concrete, the element of darkness, carrying both negative and abstract properties, went unseen in the Second Halo.
Val glanced behind her and grit her teeth. 'Not even halfway done.' Sighing, she allowed herself to be absorbed in the event.
"Unfair, he tethered to the Elemental Gate of Ice!"
"Wow, I can feel the cold from here!"
"The Elemental Gate of Ice doesn't exist, dummy."
'Ice's one of the best to have.' Rarer than some abstract elements, compound elements occur when two Elemental Gates overlap. As one participant said, there wasn't an elemental Gate to connect to, instead, one tethered at the point of contact between said gates, an ensign. For ice, it would be the watergate and the airgate.
"By the clouds, he's got two! Both fire and air!"
"What in the hell?"
"Lucky lucky him."
"I don't understand all the commotion." Williams sneered. "Is it not common knowledge in Ciazel that a mage can have two elements?"
"Still." Caro leaned forward. "The chances are kinda low. Though I bet dual-bound mages like him are popping up like crazy over in the First Halo. Scions of high-ranking mages and all that."
Hours passed, ambient light disappearing as the afternoon came and went. The floodlights poured radiance onto the stone seats and sand floor. At last, the screens displayed the information she'd been waiting for.
'Northern District'
'City of Wyn'
'Belt Region'
'Unbound prepped for manifestation are as follows:'
'Kindo Grey'
'Walter Kent'
'Ian Freight'
'Ayenga Forte'
…
'Mikhail Williams'
Val scanned the names, twice, thrice, and four times for good measure. 'I don't see mine?'
"The hell's going on," Caro asked, searching the wall of text.
"Seems like I'm the first." Williams rose from his seat, dusted off his clothes, and made the journey down the steps. He took two steps before being absorbed into the enthusiastic surge of participants, people gushing out the aisles and scurrying to the nearest available orb.
"Ready yourselves."
Fiona's voice echoed, signalling the start of another round of manifestations.
"Let's go," Caro said.
"What?" Val wrenched her sights from the arena floor, brows arched at seeing her friend shuffle down the aisle. "Where you going?"
"I don't know about you, but I live in Wyn." Planting her feet on the staircase, she made a bee-line for a conductor. Val hurried to catch up, barely arriving on time to the beginnings of a sure-fire way to be shut down. "I didn't see my name on the list."
"Did you pass?" the conductor asked.
"Am I standing here in front of you?"
"Cee," Val hissed.
"And you live in Belt region?" he went on to ask. The two settled for a nod. "Uh…" His gaze wandered off to another of his kind, a few strides away. "Sir, how do I respond?"
"Tell them to sit back down," the other replied. "Sit down," he ordered directly to the pair.
"But—!"
"Sit. Now."
"It was worth a try," Val whispered. "Let's do what the powerful man with magic says, alright?" With a firm grip on her back, she chauffeured her indignant friend—still throwing glares sharper than daggers behind the shoulder—back to their seats right as the umpteenth round of manifestations started.
Williams' orb shone a bright teal colour, threads of lightning surfing on his clothed forearms. His raven-black hair pointed in all sorts of directions, defying gravity in every way.
"That damn lucky guy." Val cracked a smile, shrugging off the ominous feeling that arose from being held back. "Can't believe he got lightning."
Caro clicked her tongue. "An element known to be proud and loud. Suits him."
A grin was plastered on Williams' face the whole way through the process of his awakening, his climb back up the stairs, and his sitting down beside the pair.
Val raised an eyebrow. "How different do you feel?"
"I'm not sure… It's hard to put in words." Williams clenched and loosened his fists. "I feel… connected somehow."
"Connected?" Caro leaned across Val to give him an incredulous stare. "That's it?"
He patted down his hair and turned to face the arena floor. "You'll see for yourself, won't you? Stop asking me questions and watch the event."
Caro raised a finger in protest. "You…"
"Truce, please?" Val asked.
Caro muttered something under her breath but kept quiet nonetheless. Another hour passed, and Val watched as all districts—every single one of them—were called and dealt with.
Fiona's eyes glowed and she teleported upwards, standing on thin air. "I congratulate you all and welcome you into the ranks of mages, Novices. You all possess newfound powers. Experiment. Learn. Create. However, do so under supervision, as a single mistake now may halt your advancement forever."
"This is sounding an awful lot like a concluding speech," Caro mused.
Val frowned. "I think that's because it is."
"Bullshit. We still haven't gone."
"Exactly…"
"Bus rides back to your original testing sites have been provided, where you will receive all belongings originally confiscated at the beginning of the trials." Fiona smiled. "We forge, we fight."
"We live with might," the crowd answered, a surge of conversations filling the arena at the dismissal. Newly-ascended Novices chatted excitedly as they streamed into the aisles, gaining contacts, saying farewells and talking to the idle conductors for advice.
Something she should've been doing as well, had she been called upon. Val's gaze crossed Caro's, her almond-brown eyes filled with horror.
Were they the only unbound people left in the gathering of Novices?