"Well this is a surprise." Alea said before continuing.
"The three of you very rarely appear together before others."
"Youngest kept going on about this human who was staying at the palace and how she is friends with him." Oldest started to explain.
"Then when she claimed he was taking a magical assessment in the room normally reserved for the royal family it caught our interest so we decided to come observe."
"However after hearing what this young Kitsune said regarding the human boy having nine elemental affinities I have decided that the three of us will oversee his assessment."
This declaration surprised all those present."
"We will? I mean of course we will." Youngest said, puffing out her chest.
"Grandmother, are you sure?" Tanelia asked.
"I am." Oldest said.
"I will also observe this." Another voice suddenly spoke up making everyone look towards Alea's access band where Tia had suddenly appeared.
"Elasha." Oldest, middle and youngest all said with smiles on their faces.
"Tia!" Everyone else said in surprise as Alea held up her wrist.
Tia looked towards the three Elmyra's and gave a small nod.
"Why do you also wish to observe my daughter?" Middle asked.
"I have my reasons and for now that's all I will say." Tia replied, making middle raise an eyebrow but she said nothing.
"Well this is getting interesting." Sakoto said with a grin as her tails swayed a little.
***
As John pushed open the large double doors he entered into a large circular room.
Around the walls of the room were carved images of the different elements while in the center was a large circular platform that had four levels.
The outermost level had five stone pillars layed out in a five pointed star.
The pillars had vines growing up them and at the top of the pillars the vines formed spheres that had carvings of different elements on.
Leaves for nature.
Flames for fire.
Water drops for water.
Air currents for wind.
Rocks for earth.
The next platform had two stone pillars on it situated to the north and south, these also had carvings.
Light spots for light.
Dark spots for darkness.
The third platform had the last two stone pillars situated to the east and west, only one of these had carvings on it while the other was left blank.
The symbol for infinity was carved into the sphere representing time.
The last sphere had nothing special on it showing the emptiness of space.
The vines from each of the spheres led towards the highest platform where they seemed to form a sort of ring made out of vines.
John also saw that around the edge of the lowermost platform was a ditch carved out that ran around the entire circumference of the room.
"Welcome human boy, you have been granted a rare privilege." A voice came from the opposite wall to which John had entered and as he looked over he saw three completely blank pictures.
As he looked towards the blank pictures three similar looking women except for their ages all with silver-white hair appeared, each in a different picture.
"Elmyra." John said surprised.
"Hi John." Youngest said while waving before she added.
"Let me introduce you to my older selves, middle me and oldest me."
"Elmyra amillë Quendi, sa ná -nya túra hantalë omentien lle" (Translation: Elmyra mother of elves, it is my great honor to meet you).
John used the same greeting he used towards the youngest Elmyra on his first day in the palace again now to the older versions of her.
Both oldest and middle smiled before middle said.
"Well it seems what youngest said about you greeting her was true."
"Told you." Youngest said with hands on hips and chest puffed out.
"Very well John, are you ready to begin?" Oldest asked.
"Might I enquire as to how this will proceed?" John replied.
"I guess my granddaughter was going to explain this to you, but since I have taken over I shall explain in her stead." Oldest said before explaining.
There are two stages to the magical assessment, once you stand in the circle of vines the first stage will begin."
"As you can see there are nine spheres on stone pillars and each represents a different element, if you have an affinity with that element the sphere will light up starting with the outer spheres and moving inwards."
"Once your affinities have been determined we move onto the second stage and the circle of vines will start to absorb mana from your body in order to fill the trench, the more mana you have for the vines to absorb the more the trench will fill however do not be concerned because the vines won't extract all your mana, they will leave you just enough to prevent mana sickness."
"Any questions?"
"Yes, what is mana sickness?" John asked and all three Elmyra's showed surprised looks before oldest said.
"It seems you have not been taught the basics, I will have to speak with little Alexia regarding this."
***
In the observation room when Alexia heard what oldest said she could not help but sweat slightly.
"Hehe it seems someone's in trouble." Sakoto said while giggling.
"Damn bastards, I should have tortured them more before they were executed." Alexia hissed.
"Mother, some of John's former teachers are in prison are they not? Why not punish them for their lack of providing a proper education?" Adria suddenly suggested.
"An excellent idea my daughter." Alexia said before using her access band to contact Maria about this.
***
"Mana sickness is a state our bodies enter automatically when we get low on mana." Oldest began to explain.
"All living beings from humans to elves, from rabbits to tigers, even weeds to the tallest trees have mana in their bodies, it is necessary for us to survive."
"But while not everyone can use that mana it does not change the fact it is there, if we used up all our mana or it was in some way extracted we would die just like if you lose too much blood."
"However, unlike with blood loss, the body of those who can use mana has developed a survival mechanism, if our body's mana level drops below a certain amount our bodies essentially shut down."
"We start to feel all lethargic and have no energy to do anything and will fall asleep unless your willpower is strong enough to prevent it."
"This is because all the body's energy is being directed to the emergency production of more mana."
"While in the short term mana sickness won't cause any harm, repeated exposure can cause serious damage to your mana veins."
"I see, thank you for the explanation." John said.
"You're welcome, do you have any more questions or are you ready to begin?" Oldest asked.
"I'm ready." John replied.
Oldest nodded before saying.
"Go stand in the center then and we shall begin."
John nodded before he crossed the empty ditch and climbed up the levels until he reached the top where he went and stood in the ring of vines.
As he stood in the circle, the vines seemed to come alive and slowly moved towards him before wrapping around his ankles and climbing part way up his legs.
"The fact that the vines are reacting to your presence and climbing your legs proves you do have the ability to use magic." Oldest explained before adding.
"Now let us see which elements you have an affinity for."
After the vines stopped climbing up John's legs nothing happened for a moment until they started to glow slightly.
The glow slowly started to spread along the vines as it headed towards the nine stone columns with spheres atop.
Strangely the glow reached the spheres on the lowest level first even though they were the furthest away.
As the glow of mana reached the five spheres they each reacted in a different way.
The sphere representing nature seemed to sprout leaves and small flowers.
The flame sphere burst into flame.
The water sphere had water start coming out of it before falling towards the floor.
The air sphere started to release gusts of wind that swirled around the room.
The earth sphere seemed to turn from vines into stone.
"All five basic elements, not bad." Middle stated before all three Elmyra's and those watching in the observation room turned towards the next level.
As the glow approached the two spheres on the next level they saw them start to react.
The light sphere started to emit a shining warm light.
The darkness sphere on the other hand started to emit a chilling dark glow.
"Both light and darkness." Middle said in surprise as they all looked to the final level with anticipation.
The final level that represented space and time was always the last to react if there was any affinity for them.
As the glow crept closer and closer to the final two spheres everyone held their breath wondering if they would see the birth of the first human to possess and aptitudes for all nine elements as Shizu's mystic eyes had seen.