"Gather around, First Years. Everyone else, parents included, stand outside the circle," the teacher's voice suddenly caught Arthur's attention.
The prince looked to the ground and noticed the shimmering amber runes were complete and spinning in concentric circles beneath his feet.
This was all to go on, "Sophie Brunhilde is my name but you will all refer to me as Professor Brunhilde.
As you all know, the Sorting is what will determine what you will be studying for the three years you get to attend Barthlorn School of the Supernatural.
Before the end of the Sorting, you cannot have your robes and uniforms and as such, aren't yet members of this esteemed institution. Without wasting any more time, let the Sorting begin."
As soon as Professor Brunhilde had said this, a bright light invaded Arthur's vision. The prince looked down in time to see bright glowing runes spinning even faster, emitting a bright amber glow.
The magic circle was much larger than the one he'd seen earlier and instead of three spinning circles, this one had five.
"Is this a teleportation circle?" one of the students asked loudly.
The old woman smirked, "Not exactly, dearie! You will come out of this circle in an entirely different place, but that depends entirely on what the results of the Sorting will be," the woman replied warmly, "Good luck to you all."
'Wait, the Sorting has started?' Arthur panicked.
That's when he noticed some of the robed students standing to the side chuckling to themselves, "I can't believe they fall for this every year."
"What's the meaning of this?" another boy asked. He was large for his size and exuded an heir of confidence that was rare in First years. The light from the magic circle was growing more and more intense.
Arthur shifted his weight to one of his feet and found that simple movement hard in and of itself. 'The spell had already taken root.'
As of right now, none of the students had the power to escape the magic circle.
"It is what it is, Mr Black. The Sorting starts now… This spell will evaluate each and every one of you and place you in the most fitting Squads and Courses. Only then will you receive your robes and uniforms and become fully registered students of Barthlorn."
Arthur smirked. The nature of the Sorting was hidden from everyone and they hadn't even noticed when it was that the famous ceremony started.
'Devious… utterly cunning,' the prince chuckled to himself.
As the light from the circle got brighter and brighter, the prince couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. The warmth of the magic was like being dipped into a pool of warm water.
He felt the magic fill his body and vanish inside him… and more entered him still. It was an odd feeling but not a dangerous one.
Right before he was rendered blind, he locked eyes with Professor Brunhilde. It must have been his imagination but there was a curious expression on her face… as if she'd been hiding it earlier.
When she noticed his gaze, however, she smiled warmly, her ageing wizened face quickly developing wrinkles at the eyes.
Arthur smiled back.
The amber light got so bright that the prince had to close his eyes completely.
..........
When Arthur opened his eyes, his sight was invaded by a storm of white that he was forced to close again, tears stinging his eyes as he adjusted to the sudden change in his environment.
When his eyes finally adjusted, he took a look around. He was in a white room with no noteworthy furniture to speak of. The room was completely empty, in the shape of a perfect cuboid, except for a white table and two chairs.
There were no First Years around, perhaps, transported to other places similar to the one he was standing in right now.
He wasn't alone in the room though.
The only thing in this room that had a colour other than white was the old man seated on the other side of the table in front of him.
The man's face spoke volumes about his age. He was dressed in a light blue gown scattered with swathes of white that resembled snow and silver embroidery.
His beard was so long that it dropped below the table. When he spoke, however, his voice was deep and rich, revealing a potential well of knowledge and wisdom gathered by time.
"Marvellous, you're finally here. Take a seat, Arthur."
The white-haired boy walked up to the white chair opposite the man and took a seat, looking around the plain room curiously, "What is this place?"
"A good morning to you too, Arthur Ember. That is your name, isn't it?" the man asked.
"Apologies for my rudeness. Yes, my name is Arthur Ember."
Oddly enough, the man was holding a file in his hands that Arthur hadn't noticed earlier, going through the information.
"Interesting name!" the man mumbled as he went through the file. After perusing through the document, he clicked his tongue, "Well, no mistakes there. This file is so clean that I could even call you a Standard Issue Human being," the man chuckled at his own joke, his smile easily reaching his eyes.
He seemed like someone Arthur could trust wholeheartedly… and yet, Arthur felt on edge around him. Like it was a mistake to let his guard down around the old man.
One of Arthur's curiosities, probably something that could answer the question to his nerves, was the old man's eyes.
His iris was blue and white at the same time, constantly shifting between the two colours in a mesmerising dance, as though there was a blizzard trapped within his irises.
Arthur resisted the urge to unleash the flames within his core. One of the simplest ways to identify what kind of shifter someone was... was through their core.
Sending a pulse of heat from his Flame core would bounce off the other creature's core and return at least some amount of information that could narrow down what type of beast was standing before him.
That, however, could also give away his identity as a phoenix... or at least, a Fire Elemental creature, and he couldn't afford to break his Standard-Issue-Human facade.
Normally dragons simply gave off the heat of their flame cores naturally, not bothering to hide anything. As a result, Arthur was always aware of the dragons he came across. This old man, however, gave off the exact opposite.
'Cold?'
"I am human. But you're the farthest thing from a human I've met at this School," the prince mumbled.
"You have a good eye. I'm not human indeed. You will come to know my race soon enough. Trust me… You won't miss it. On to the short briefing of what the Sorting is.
The Sorting is a ritual that takes place at Barthlorn to place someone into one of six factions, groups or whatever it is you'd like to call them:
Dragons, Supernatural beings mainly Shifters, Warlocks, Specialists, Hunters and finally, Civilians.
As you've already noticed, we have Red Fire Dragons attending this school. Being a Dragon doesn't mean you'll get chosen for the Dragon course and the same goes for Shifters or humans.
This depends on a lot of things like someone's personal opinion, ambitions, inborn talents and aptitudes and how well you do during the Sorting test.
That said, a human cannot join the Shifter or Dragon Courses simply because one of the requirements, as the name suggests, is possessing the ability to shift into a dragon or any other supernatural creature.
As a human, by default, you're unable to take on the Dragon and Supernatural courses but that leaves four others:
Warlocks… well, people with the power to channel magic. Warlock families usually choose this without a second thought since they tend to have the right mana capacity to attend the course.
But that doesn't mean an average human can't try out for the course. Anyone can be a Warlock as long as they have the aptitude for magic. It's not compulsory though…"
"How much does someone's choice influence the end result of the Sorting?" Arthur suddenly spoke.
The man sighed but didn't scowl. Instead, he calmly continued, "…Try not to interrupt me or at least raise a hand when you feel the need to ask a question.
Your choice is a top priority during the Sorting. The purpose of the Sorting, however, is to make sure a student is placed in the Course that will allow them to reach their greatest potential and to keep them from making... 'fatal' mistakes.
Moving on…
Specialists are humans with rare abilities or skills that prove invaluable to the school and society as a whole. You'll find that the Department of Magical Enchantments and the Department of Rune Research and Manipulation are always in search of such young talents.
RuneTech is always scouting the Specialists out as well to find if there are any promising young individuals that can drive Alcove's number one technological industry to even greater heights," the man explained.
For a moment, the prince zoned out.
He thought of the RuneBinder, the RuneTrain, his phone, which was RuneTech as well), Gray's Cadillac and many other inventions that were famous among the young humans he met in the school in Alcove.
'So a specialist could be capable of making something like that… Scary,' the prince thought before turning his attention back to the man's explanation.
"You probably know what Hunters are. They are the most famous among humans even though it's the hardest course to join.
Hunters make up the units that protect The Light Pact Alliance from the Dark Supernatural forces beyond the Wall. They are divided into two categories… Guardians and Warriors.
Guardians protect while the Warriors attack. The Guardians have no business outside the Wall but the Warriors… well, that's another long story. If you choose to become a Hunter, you will go through a selection process to decide where you're strongest and work with that.
If you make it, that is…
If you are, however, deemed unworthy of being a Hunter and have no special qualities that make you a Specialist, then you will be placed under the Civilian course."
The Civilian Course, of course, was self-explanatory and obvious.
This was like continuing with the school as it was meant to be. No magic, no weapons, no combat…
Simply learning how to live within the society inside The Wall and help improve life within The Wall in all sorts of mundane ways that a normal human could.
A Normal Life.