The aura of the Door was growing stronger the deeper Ark went into the building. It felt as if he was in the presence of God.
Of course, he knew that wasn't true. If he was, he would have died a long time ago.
"People under 20 go left! Everyone else go right!" A man wearing a fluorescent yellow jacket was wildly waving his hands this way and that.
As Ark walked down the hall, however, something wasn't right.
He looked around. Everything seemed normal - all he could see and hear was the large crowd of people he was walking alongside. Everybody was going in the same direction.
Then he saw it.
In the crowd, someone was moving in a different direction than forwards. He could see them going backwards and forwards, bobbing around like a stick in water.
He tried to identify the person, but the crowd was blocking his view. He could only see snippets.
So he began to collect them.
A brown hoodie.
Black trousers.
Some form of sneakers or trainers, with laces.
Black - no, chestnut-coloured hair.
They were most likely a girl, considering their hair went down to their shoulders.
Bit by bit, Ark had a better idea of what they looked like. But he could see why she was moving around so much after a while.
She was stealing.
A flask of water here, a dagger there, and even a pen made their way out of their bags and into her pockets. Anyone else would have said that she was just taking random items, but he could tell she was specifically stealing those items with purpose.
She was combing through the crowd methodically, starting from one side to the other, and then back.
He knew that he didn't have any valuables on him, but the fact that someone was making items disappear was not a pleasant one. After all, how did she know he wasn't worth picking on? But asking himself that question was a bad idea.
Because suddenly she was gone.
Ark looked around for her, his eyes combing through the crowds like she had just a few moments ago. She couldn't be seen in front of him, or to his left or right.
Which meant there was only one direction she could be in.
With lightning speed, he turned around and grabbed her wrist, which was conveniently where his backpack was just a moment before.
For a few moments, they stood there, frozen in the river of people flowing around them. The girl was stunned since no one had caught her like that before, and Ark too because he simply didn't know what to do.
Then she simply swatted off his hand and began to walk away, flowing with the crowds once more.
"Wait, where are you going?"
She stopped and cocked her head. "What's there to wait for? Besides, you were staring at me a few moments ago."
"You were stealing!"
She kept walking down the hallways. "It's not stealing if I only take from all those rich kids." she retorted. "I'll admit, you're sharper than most people I come across. Not many people notice me working."
"You were pretty obvious. You're the only one moving in a direction other than forward."
She sighed. "It's not that I'm well hidden. Most people don't care. They don't expect to last long in Empyros. Truth be told, they're not wrong."
Eventually, she made her way to a big assembly hall, with Ark following close behind. "So, you're new too, huh?"
"What?"
The girl sat down in one of the many chairs facing the podium. "You belong to one of those big Guilds trying to employ kids?"
Ark sat down next to her. "No, I'm just a random."
The Guilds were massive associations of Marked, often based around a God that they worshipped. They held massive amounts of power and wealth, with the biggest wielding more power than the Government. They were known to send out scouts to look out for talented people to merge into their ever-growing armies.
She coughed. "Where are my manners? My name's Anna."
He looked at her cautiously before replying, "Ark."
"I thought there was a big fine for making up na-"
"Yeah, it's my real name. Is your's real?"
"Well... Yeah."
"Any proof?"
"..."
Anna (citation needed) shrugged the question off and leaned back in her chair, draping her arm over the back. "So what's your highest affinity?"
He sighed. "Got unlucky. For some reason, my highest affinity was [undefined], whatever that is."
"Ah. I've heard of that problem coming up before. What percentage?"
"97%."
"Ouch. Not knowing your highest affinity is a big letdown."
Ark shrugged. "I'll get by. Somehow. What's yours?"
"Pfft! You won't believe it. Mine's Four-Way Elemental. 88%."
"RNGesus! That's lucky!"
After a few minutes of idle chatter, a big man with a round belly walked into the room and coughed into the microphone atop the podium. Silence cut the air of the massive hall.
"Hello everyone!" The man said in a cheerful voice. "I am Mr. Urhart, but you can call me Mr. U. Today I will be talking about the High Gods of Empyros."
Upon hearing this, a murmur swept through the crowd.
"Why don't we get combat classes?"
"What's some theory going to help us with?"
Mr. U cleared his throat once more. "The High Gods will choose several of you to become their Aspects. Those chosen will be sent to Divinus's Aspect Academy."
The audience fell silent. Being in an academy meant that they would avoid all the normal challenges that a normal Marked would have to face - monsters, more monsters, other Marked… Getting chosen for one, let alone the most prestigious one in Empyros would be a ticket out of hell.
"To be a candidate for being chosen, you have to know at least a little bit about the High Gods you may have to represent."
After getting everyone's attention, he continued. "There are six High Gods in Empyros - Well, there used to be seven, but we'll get to that later. They each represent a different aspect of the universe - Light, Magic, Beasts, Space, War, Magic, and The Elements."
"The first and most important one is the God of Light. As of now, he is the leader of The Council of Gods. He specialises in light, sun, and divine magic."
"Then there's the God of Magic. He rules over magic itself but doesn't specialise in any area in particular. You can think of him as a jack of all trades."
"After that comes the God of Beasts…"
As Mr. U rambled on, Ark turned to Anna.
"Is this stuff important?" Ark asked, a puzzled look on his face.
Anna only shrugs in response. "Depends. If you have a Guild supporting you, then it is. Well, they would have taught you all this already, in much more detail. If you just walk into Empyros, there's no chance of a High God paying any attention to you. Of course, now and then an unknown talented kid gets chosen because of their skills. But most of them are absorbed by the Guilds the moment they get chosen."
"So all the Guilds hold a monopoly over those selected?"
"Exactly."
"And how exactly do you know all this?"
"I was in a Guild once."
Ark gawked at her. "What? Which guild?"
"Fictus. I left them after-"
"And lastly, the Forgotten God. We suspect that they had something to do with technology or machines, but other than that, we don't know anything. The gods keep tight control over any information about them," Mr U said whilst looking at them, interrupting their private talk.
He checked his watch. "Now, the new Marked are supposed to enter Empyros in around 5 minutes." He said. "Oh yes! Before you go, take one of these magic-imbued trinkets! Our spellcasters practice on mundane objects to hone their skills. We don't have any use for them, but it would be a shame just to throw them away." He pulled out a big cardboard box full of a wide variety of random objects, ranging from pencils and glasses to bottles and pieces of clothing. However, Ark could feel something was special about these items, regardless of their appearance.
Mr. Uhart hefted the big box onto a table near the exit. "Feel free to take one as you go!" He shouted, packing his folder full of papers and leaving through the backdoor.
Ark looked back at Anna. "So, you were saying?"