by Pirateaba
“Aah!”
“What are they?”
Ceria heard shouting as she ran to wrench her door open. When she raced out into the corridor, hands ablaze with fire, ready to throw it at whoever was outside, she saw retreating shapes running down the corridor. They were being followed by a stream of…
“Ceria?”
Pisces yanked open his door, looking bleary-eyed and confused. He stared around, but now the corridor was deserted. A few other students were opening their doors as well, wondering what was going on.
“I think they were trying to put a trap on my door again. But something chased them off.”
“How strange.”
Pisces looked innocent. Too innocent. Ceria squinted at him suspiciously.
“You did something, didn’t you? What chased them off?”
“Mice, I believe. I ah, cast a spell to attract a few of them.”
Pisces grinned at Ceria and closed the door. She stared at it and smiled before going to sleep. If the next day Calvaron pointed out a few Human students with small bites all over their arms and legs, neither Pisces nor Ceria commented on it. Some secrets were just that: secret.
—-
In the last few panicked days of studying, one last important thing happened as Ceria and Pisces were studying. Both mages poured over the spellbook they’d taken from the library each night before they went to sleep. Ceria had given up on learning [Stone Fist] in time—she thought with a week or two she might do it, but not when she had to devote her time to memorizing all her lessons.
But Pisces doggedly worked at decoding the spell he’d focused on. And as Ceria was sitting with her back to a wall in his room, trying to create the perfect [Stone Dart] to use as a model for her spells, he suddenly exclaimed and shot to his feet.
“I’ve figured it out!”
She looked up. Pisces was waving his arms about. He took a step—and suddenly blurred, appearing several feet forwards in an instant. She gaped. He turned to her triumphantly estatic.
“Look, look! Ceria, look! I can do the spell!”
He took another step and vanished. Ceria heard a yelp and saw him reappear and knock over the desk. Pisces jumped about and cradled his shin. She was dumbstruck.
“What? But how?”
“[Flash Step]! I told you I could learn it! It’s so useful! See—look at this!”
He took another step and appeared right in front of Ceria. She recoiled, but Pisces just grabbed her hands.
“I did it, Ceria! It’s so wonderful.”
He stepped away from her, disappearing and reappearing again. Ceria watched, open-mouth. Pisces took a deep breath.
“It works. And I can use it. If I…”
He broke off, and began to mumble to himself. Ceria just stared at him. He’d really done it. And so quickly! It had been what, less than three weeks? She couldn’t imagine any other new student learning a Tier 3 spell so quickly.
But he’d done it. And now Pisces did something that made Ceria go speechless. He took another step and disappeared. Reappeared. He wasn’t teleporting, but rather moving so quickly around the room that he generated his own gusts of wind. But Pisces wasn’t doing it randomly.
He moved about the room, slower now. Ceria watched, mouth slightly open as she saw Pisces’ energetic leaping about turn into something else.
Was it a dance? Ceria had seen a waltz before, and what Pisces did now looked similar. His feet moved slowly, but with each step he flicked a few feet away. And yet, not once did he crash into a wall. Slowly, Pisces circled the room, stepping, turning, one arm on his hip, the other held outwards.
Turn, step, pivot, step. Pisces snatched up his rapier and then it was in his hands. He circled the small room, vanishing from sight and reappearing, facing off against some imaginary opponent. Just…circling.
If he hadn’t been using [Flashstep], Pisces would have just been moving about in a complicated dance of steps with rapier in hand, to better maneuver around his opponent. But with the spell he was suddenly impossible to predict. He moved about Ceria and she was sure that if she had a sword she’d be hard pressed to strike at him.
Still, that wasn’t what kept her eyes on Pisces. It was that he never hit anything. His room was large, yes, but even so, one careless step or moving a bit too far with the [Flashstep] spell would send him face-first into one of the stone walls. Yet Pisces never hit anything. He moved around gracefully, exerting perfect control over a spell he’d learned just moments ago.
Pisces walked for a long time, rapier held at the ready, doing a dance that made it appear like there were ten versions of him in the room at once, all flicking in and out of sight. Ceria watched silently, spellbook in hand. She stared at the young man, eyes closed, face upturned. She wondered who he was, who he had been before he had come here.
He was a genius. Pure and simple. And she envied him and delighted in the fact that he was her friend. A Human. A Human she could call friend.
She wanted to keep studying with him. She wanted to pass the exam. But when Ceria looked at Pisces, dancing about with flawless perfection, she knew she’d never be able to copy what he did. So Ceria bent down over her spellbook and got back to studying. She had to pass.
She had to.
—-
The day of the exam, all the prospective students gathered in front of the double doors where their exam would take place. Ceria supposed finding the spot was an exam in itself; any student who couldn’t navigate Wistram’s halls by now deserved to fail.
All of the students stood talking or practicing spells by themselves or in small groups. Ceria was with Pisces. Neither student had had the stomach to eat much this morning. They’d already been wished well by Calvaron, Beatrice, and a few other students who were rooting for them.
Now Ceria stared at the two marble doors, wondering why anyone would bother making doors out of marble so she didn’t worry about how she was going to perform. There could be no mistakes, she knew. If she failed, or if she took more than one try to do something, it would be noted by the mages who’d gathered to watch.
There weren’t a dedicated group of examiners for the test. Some mages like the teachers had to attend, but all the mages had a voice in choosing who would pass and who would fail. That made Ceria worried.
Very worried, especially when she saw Rievan talking with Charles and a group of his friends off to one side. The young man looked too relaxed, and so did Timor and a few other of his friends.
“I bet they’ll pass one way or another. If Rievan can’t get them through, Charles and Timor can just pay their way in.”
Pisces muttered that to Ceria. She nodded, glaring at Charles. He looked over and saw her. Before Ceria could debate whether to look away he was approaching.
“Don’t fight, Ceria.”
“I won’t.”
She murmured it and then looked up to glare at Charles.
“Something you want, Charles?”
“That’s Charles de Trevalier to you, half-Elf. And this hallway is free for anyone to use, as is Wistram. Not that your people would know what being free meant.”
Timor sniggered behind Charles. Ceria saw some heads turn, but she was in no mood to spar with Charles. She shot back at the young man.
“Go boil yourself. You smell like rotted fish.”
Charles’ nose turned white with outrage, but before he could retort, Ceria walked away from him. Pisces followed, grinning happily.
“I do believe that was the most civil conversation you’ve had with him.”
“If I fail the exam, it’ll be the last. That would be the one silver lining.”
“It won’t come to that. We’ve studied.”
He squeezed her arm, and Ceria smiled at him. And then, before both students were ready, the doors opened. A mage stepped out, making the students go instantly quiet as if he’d cast a [Silence] spell.
“Come in groups of eight! Order has no meaning.”
The exams were beginning.
Caught off-guard, some students fearfully retreated, not wanting to be the first ones in. Others decided that boldness might earn them points and headed in. Ceria and Pisces held back until the third group, and then took the exam.
—-
“A large number of applicants this year.”
The mages who’d gathered to watch the new students take the tests were a diverse group, both in race and faction. Of course, every group in Wistram wanted to evaluate promising students, but some had come to support their candidate, or just to mingle and talk amongst themselves.
Some were here against their will, too. Illphres stood with a group of influential mages, both in power and status, scowling as she stared at the students casting magic under the instruction of a mage performing the test. A few feet away from her, Rievan hovered, not quite in the group which consisted of mages from every major faction, but unwilling to mingle with other mages. He kept interjecting comments or agreeing with a comment from one of the mages which several found quite annoying.
“Too many students is what I think. This is taking too long.”
Illphres folded her arms. The scowl on her face didn’t change until she passed a hand over her face and it returned to its expressionless stare. The mage standing next to Illphres, a tall Dullahan with his head held up to stare at the students, chuckled. He was unusually talkative and good-natured for a Dullahan, which meant he was about normal when compared to how much Humans acted.
“You’d say that if we had one applicant, Illphres. But some of these candidates are genuinely talented. Look at those two. The half-Elf and the young Human on the left side. See?”
“I see. So what?”
A pale Selphid, hair dyed dark blue, stroked his beard thoughtfully as he studied Pisces and Ceria showing off their control of magic with the other students.
“A half-Elf? She’s not bad and they do have more talent than most. But the Human next to her—”
“Gifted.”
One of the Lizardfolk said that. She was a tall, sinuous woman with a head that resembled a cobra’s. Her arms and legs were longer than a Drake’s and she was distinctly reptilian, whereas the Drakes more closely resembled Humans and their draconic ancestors. She nodded at Pisces approvingly as he demonstrated his perfect control over the [Electric Jolt] spell.
“Ooh yes. I like him. He’s very good. We should accept him.”
Rievan raised his voice hurriedly as the others agreed.
“WE haven’t finished the tests, Quexia. I think there’s still more considerations to be made. I told you, we’ve already seen some good candidates. Charles de Trevalier for instance is quite talented for being so new to the craft—”
“Shut up, Rievan. No one’s interested in a lordling with money. He can buy his way in if he wants, but he’s as talented as my left toe. Less.”
Illphres interrupted without looking at the mage. Rievan flushed angrily, but dared not reply. He glared instead at Pisces and Ceria, fervently wishing bad luck on them.
—-
Ceria felt like she was making a mistake every time she cast a spell. She was so nervous her hands shook. It didn’t help matters that she’d spotted Rievan among the watching mages, and he seemed like he was trying to cast a spell on her with his eyes alone. Ceria was pretty sure that was impossible, but it added to the pressure she felt.
She felt herself getting tired and worried—and a bit lightheaded because she’d forgotten to eat enough! And always, she could feel Rievan’s gaze on her. It made Ceria make simple, stupid mistakes a few time and she berated herself for slipping up.
The exams were exhaustive. Even with eight or more students being tested at a time, they took a while. Ceria had to do everything from repeat lessons on magical theory to demonstrate spells they’d learned, or pick out dangerous artifacts from a lineup presented to her. Some of the tests were easy, just to make sure she knew what she was doing, but others were fiendishly hard, so that the best students could distinguish themselves.
Ceria did passably well at everything. She was proud of herself for picking out an artifact that would have caused horrible itching out of a lineup when everyone but Pisces had missed it, and mortified when her [Stone Dart] spell was found to have an imperfection in its composition. But she thought she hadn’t done anything too badly wrong, so Ceria kept going.
Soon, she and the other students were done with all but one of the tests and she had to lean exhaustedly against a wall as Pisces nervously paced back and forth around here. There was only one test left, and Ceria tried to gather all of her wits about her for it.
“Alright, the combat test is next. You, students. Twenty of you come with me. The rest of you will have to wait.”
Ceria’s stomach twisted into a knot as she heard those words. This was it. Time to prove she could fight as well as cast magic. She didn’t join the second group, but told Pisces she was going in the next one.
“I’ll go with you. Just don’t hit me with a spell, please.”
“You’ll just dodge it if I do. Are you going to [Flash Step] your way to the end? And why’d you bring your rapier? You won’t need it!”
He grinned at her nervously, hands shaking. He had buckled the rapier to a belt over his robes which made him look slightly ridiculous, but Ceria hadn’t told him that.
“I might. I have no idea what’s going to be on the test. Did you know, last year Calvaron said the examinees had to fight a Troll?”
“They did not! Who’d be stupid enough to pit new mages against a Troll? They’d be dead in a heartbeat!”
“I’m just saying—”
The doors opened. Ceria jumped, and walked towards the mage before he announced they were ready for the next group. She heard a groan as Pisces joined her.
“”What, what?”
“Look to your right. See who’s joining us?”
Ceria turned and saw Charles and Timor and two of their friends standing with the mages. Her heart sank as the smirked at her.
“What are they doing?”
“I don’t know. They can’t interfere during the exam. Not with all the mages watching—”
“I guess.”
Ceria wasn’t so sure, but there was no time to do anything. The mage took them down a corridor, and then Ceria entered into a strange corridor.
The walls, the ceiling, the floor seemed…vaguely transparent. Ceria gasped as she saw the stones were actually ghostly replicas of the real thing. And yet, the mage assured them the corridor was solid.
“Mages will be watching from the outside. Ignore them. Your only job is to prove you can navigate your way down the corridor and pass the other obstacles with your own magic. If you fail, just say so and you will be removed. Your speed, ability to handle each obstacle, and resourcefulness will all be taken into consideration. You will begin when I say so.”
Ceria eyed the empty stone corridor with trepidation. She had no idea what was ahead of her, but she was busting with nervous energy. Beside her, she felt Pisces tensing.
“Now!”
At the mage’s words the students started. Ceria took two steps forward and ducked as a fireball came hurtling down the corridor towards the group of students. Half of them screamed, one fainted, and Pisces vanished.
“Ceria!”
—-
Standing together watching the students make their way through the first part of the combat test, the mages chortled as the fake [Fireball] spell burst harmlessly among the group, showering them with fire.
“I never stop enjoying that.”
“One of the students has fainted? Well, I think he’s out.”
“Did you see that, though? The half-Elf dodged most of the blast, but that young man avoided it completely!”
“[Flash Step]. At his age? Impressive.”
“Now, how will they do with the traps? Oh? Looks like that half-Elf is quite daring. Isn’t she the one I saw practicing in the morning?”
Illphres watched Ceria navigating the traps ahead of
the others. She was doing well, avoiding or disarming the ones in front of her.
“She’s nothing special.”
“Well, she’s doing well enough. Oh, look. That Trevalier boy’s set off three traps. Hah!”
Rievan ground his teeth as he watched the students move through the hallways of traps. But he comforted himself, knowing what came next.
—-
“Monsters!”
Someone screamed that, which made Ceria want to kick them. She dove out of the way as a shimmering bird that seemed to be made of light dove at her. Of course it was a monster! If you had the time to shout it, you might as well cast a spell!
“[Stone Dart]!”
She shot the bird through the head and it dissipated into fragments of light. All around her, students were fighting a swarm of magical creatures, the next part of the gauntlet that was their combat test. Ceria had gotten into the room first, but she’d been hard-pressed to progress. Some of the illusions were the circling birds who dove at you from overhead, but there was a huge Troll guarding the exit and she was wary of getting close.
“A damn Troll? Someone’s got a sick sense of humor!”
She growled as she shot down a huge wolf that was running at her, mouth open. All the illusions seemed so real! She’d already been hit twice, but instead of being injured, the apparitions had left bright, shining marks where they’d struck her.
Ceria was determined not to get hit again. She saw some students scream as a flock of the shimmering birds dove at them. Pisces was blinking around the room, dodging desperately and she saw most of the other students were huddled near the entrance of the trap corridor, throwing spells desperately.
This was her chance. Ceria called all the mana she could into her fingers and aimed at the swarm.
“[Stone Dart]!”
This time not one dart flew, but a score of them. Ceria fired the spell repeatedly, shooting jagged shards of rocks into the swarm, trying to hit as many birds as possible.