Control Comes from Within

Nothing happened.

For a few hours, everything continued as it usually would. Housewives and maids poured buckets of water to clean the front of their houses. Guards patrolled the city streets, on the lookout for vagrants or petty criminals. Merchants were setting up their wares in wooden stalls or opening their shops.

I and what looked like several hundred other people were waiting in the center of the city, in the inaccurately named ‘city square’ despite it being circular. Most were prospective applicants, but there were a good number that I recognized as parents or guardians, talking with their children before sending them off to study. I noticed a few people who stood out from the crowd, both literally and figuratively.

At the edge of the city square, a group of six or seven people with a skin tone approaching olive stood in their own group, eschewing interaction with the surrounding crowd. Their hair was braided in complex knots, and their clothes had earthy color tones, full of different shades of greens and browns. For as long as I had been in Khobadaar, I couldn’t say that I had seen anyone with a skin tone like mine, but those people were the closest.

It took two hours of waiting, and there was still no indication anyone from the academy had come.

Then I saw it.

A silhouette, appearing out of nowhere, was backlit directly by the morning sun, blinding anyone who looked at it or its vicinity. It stayed there for a few minutes, while the people were gasping, whispering, or cursing, reacting to a clearly magical presence making itself known.

Then it descended, with all the speed and subtlety of a meteor. I was expecting a plume of dirt and stone to rise up as the figure made a crater upon landing, and so I braced myself for the impact, until I realized whoever was up in the sky was putting on a show, and probably liked the attention.

That said, crash landing or landing properly would garner attention equally, so I assumed the worst, crouching on the ground, covering my head with my hands, and my eyes closed.

“Now! To the good people of…what was this city called again, Hamer?” The voice I heard was loud, but the person who spoke did so softly, such that every syllable was clearly heard. It was like he was using a megaphone or bullhorn to amplify his voice, only there was no static or tinny quality to it.

He must have landed without a fuss, as I didn’t hear any crash of broken bricks, or see a cloud of dust rise. I got up from my crouching position on the ground, trying to ignore the looks facing my direction. I couldn’t even see the speaker, as there were too many people crowded together.

“Ah yes, Khobadaar. Wonderful city. Wonderful indeed. Now, none of you care about my banter or small talk. We, all of us, have gathered here today, to determine which of you will be among the new batch of students this year in the honorable Jyvra Academy. So, let’s get started. Hm, how to do this…what’s that, Hamer?”

There was a brief lull as the speaker was listening to that Hamer person, while the rest of us were waiting on them. It wasn’t long before he resumed his speech. “This is why we at the academy value forging bonds of teamwork and fellowship. You see, I was unable to come up with an effective solution and Hamer proposed that -”

The speaker’s voice was cut off, and a different person began speaking, having the same volume as the previous one did.

“My sincere apologies, everyone, we’ll have everything sorted out soon. For now, I request all commoner applicants to move to the south side of the square, while those of nobility proceed to the north side. More instructions will be forthcoming, and thank you for your cooperation.”

The silence following the speech was broken as the crowd was divided into nobles and commoners. I saw that there were far, far more noble applicants than commoners. There were thirty people total, including me, on the commoner side of the square. The other hundreds of people standing opposite to us were nobles.

Hundreds.

I thought about the class divide, and the wealth disparity that would occur as a result, then somehow my train of thought led me to wonder how profitable teaching at the academy was, taking so many circles from all these people? And this was just one batch in one city. The academy teachers must have been living extremely well.

Finally, the noise, mostly coming from the noble side, died down as the second speaker started up again.

“Thank you for your patience, everyone. We will proceed with the enrollment now. To all the prospective students, simply line up, single file, in front of the stalls we’ve arranged and follow the instructions given to you by the staff. If you have any doubts, feel free to ask the monitors, all of whom are wearing the blue and gold robes of the academy staff. I would also ask the parents or caretakers of applicants to stand aside for now. You may speak with your children if an issue arises, otherwise I’d ask that you stand further away.”

While the speaker wrapped up the instructions, the crowd turned to face the quickly erected stalls made of exquisite-looking wood, each having two or three staff members sitting behind them, while a device that looked like a flat board made of gleaming metal sat on the surface in front of every staff member. There were two stalls on the commoner side, and twelve on the noble side.

Where did they even come from?

I stood in line waiting for about twenty minutes pondering possible answers to that question before it was my turn.

========================================================================

Goludanis had a faltering smile on her face, trying to be polite while enduring the utter monotony of the task she was assigned to.

That boor of a man kept obsessing over ‘his entrance’, having devised twelve different methods of introducing himself to the crowd, each showier and more flamboyant than the last, not to mention more costly. Luckily, Hamer was assigned to their group to rein him in as much as possible, reducing the already noticeable burden on the others. Even that idiotic charade of hiding the staff behind light screens was unnecessary. Why would anyone care about the entrance of the staff when that…clown, admitted on multiple occasions that his entrance had to be as eye-catching as possible?!

Thankfully, the addition of Hamer in their group meant they only had to leave from the academy that morning, as his comprehension of space spells was top-notch and provided a very convenient alternative to the usual method of travelling. If it were done the old way, their group would need a fleet of either flying creatures or carriages to travel from city to city, organizing and cataloging wayward children and utilizing each city’s ancient teleportation formation to send them to the closest academy.

Her musings on the enduring works of the ancients were shuttered when the next hopeful kid approached her, looking nervous and excited, as academy newcomers usually did.

“Please place your dominant hand on the affinity board, right here.” She said politely, repeating it for the fifth time.

The boy nodded, and as his affinities were being determined, she saw him try to control his facial expression, revealing a brief smile and a glint in his eyes before they returned to aloofness. It looked like he was mesmerized by the affinity board, but…there wasn’t all that much to look at.

Sure, it was shiny, but the metal plate was only used as the base material due to its high essence conductivity. It was bisected by a carved line in the middle, so it looked similar to an open book. The testee placed one hand on the right side, causing the board to glow dimly, while the left side had an essence stone powering it and the resulting information displayed beneath it.

She read off the boy’s affinities and attributes for his benefit, as she usually did for the commoner applicants. It was likely the first time they were interacting firsthand with any type of magical device, and she wanted to share in that moment, even if only a little.

It also had the added benefit of adding some variety and something approaching excitement to the banality that the majority of this day consisted of.

“So, you are fourteen. It’s always good when applicants adhere to the age rule. Now for the more important parts. It appears both your essence capacity and conductivity are above average, which will be useful when casting spells. And you have two affinities! Multiple affinities can be either a boon or bane, so think carefully before selecting your classes in the future. And your affinities are, nature and blood!” She said carefully.

“Forgive me, but could you explain what that means, exactly?” The boy asked her. His speech was more formal than she expected, displaying a sense of initiative that rarely showed up in commoners, as he had clearly enlisted the services of a tutor before applying. That mindset would no doubt be an asset in the academy, if he could maintain a hold on it.

“Yes, of course. Well, the least important part, at least for you, is your age. We receive numerous prospective applicants every year who fall outside the established age range, claiming all sorts of reasons they should be admitted as a special case. In the end, the age rule is there for a reason, and seeing as your age is acceptable, there are no issues on that point.

“Next, the foundation for all magic. Your essence capacity and conductivity. Capacity refers to the total amount of essence you are able to contain within your body. You expend the majority of your essence when casting spells, and can recover essence through a variety of methods. Your above average conductivity signifies that you are able to attract and retain essence at a rate above the majority of students, another advantage in your favor.

“Finally, your affinities. As I said, you have two of them: the nature affinity, and the blood affinity. Now, there is no such thing as fire essence or water essence, despite what the novelists would have you believe. Elemental essence is a dangerous fiction that only helps writers sell stories, and poisons the minds of future mages. All essence is…neutral, for lack of a better term. The essence in the air, in the water, under our feet, even within us, is utterly pure. Surely you’ve heard others refer to essence as Mother’s Breath before?” She asked him.

The boy nodded back, the blank expression on his face quickly wiped away by a more confident one. He was obviously lying. Had he never heard the term before? How was that even possible?

While she would love to dig deeper into that particular mystery, she had a job to do, unfortunately.

“Well, Mother’s Breath became the epithet for essence due to its properties of being pure and ever present, a gift from the world to all her children. Now, while essence itself is pure, it can be used in myriad ways. Every so-called ‘element’ that you’ve heard or read about consists of a single branch of the totality of magic. Fire magic, light magic, water, wind, rock, blood, nature; essence can be used in a multitude of spells belonging to different categories. These categories are what we call affinities.

“Well, to put it simply, your essence will be most efficient when performing blood or nature magic. Not that casting spells from other branches is impossible, they’ll just be more difficult compared to those two, in your case. As for what spells are in those branches, it’s for the best if you learn that from your professors at the academy.”

“So, does that answer your questions?” She finished, again, as politely as she could.

“Yes, it did, and thank you for the explanation.” The boy responded, about to salute to her, until he stopped himself, simply giving her a nod in appreciation. It was clear the boy wanted to display noble etiquette, but he was unsure of her nobility, leaving him no other recourse but to act as an ignorant commoner, implicitly asking for her pardon if she were a noble.

The boy was odd, there was no other word for it. His conduct was at odds with his lack of knowledge, painting a contrast that was, well, odd.

But she pressed on regardless, trying to ignore his…oddity.

“Now that we’re all done with that, we can proceed with your registration. So, do you have any official identification with you? Anything with your personal details will do.” Goludanis had to proceed a bit faster, as answering the boy’s questions took some time.

She went as quickly as she could, copying the details from the boy’s Workman’s Society card into a different magical device.

She was inwardly shocked when he paid for everything himself, counting out a small stack of circles and a triangle onto the table. Most commoner applicants had a noble sponsoring them, and so she had become accustomed to speaking with a representative of the noble in question, or seeing a note signed with the noble’s official seal. It was rare for a commoner to be both able and willing to pay the various fees presented by the academy by themselves.

She gave the boy a slip of paper containing all his relevant details, then told him to wait for further instructions. Finally, she thanked him for showing an interest in the academy, then sent him on his way. The odd boy thanked her, then left, and so began another repetition of the cycle with the next applicant.

And it wasn’t even midday yet.

========================================================================

My registration was done, and all fees were paid upfront. I was a student of the academy now. Technically, I wasn’t a real academy student, as apparently there was more paperwork I had to do within the campus grounds, but for all intents and purposes, I was an academy student.

I was told to wait for all the other applicants to finish their registration before more instructions would be given. So I waited. And waited. Until, finally, the gods took pity on me, and the wait was over.

The last noble finished sometime after noon, marking the end of the day’s boredom. I could barely make out yet another silhouette in the sky, shouting at everyone assembled in the square.

“Now, then. You’ve all completed your registration, marking you as unofficial academy students. However, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a few days until we can depart for the academy.”

The crowd, well, only the nobles really, were making noises of complaint and dissent. Some people had confused looks on their faces, waiting for the speaker to explain. But the speaker quickly followed up.

“Why the angry faces? I’m sure the official notice we sent out months ago informed everyone that registration would last a week. Surely you didn’t think you would just be personally sent to the academy as soon as you finished? Oh, children, children, children. Do you have any idea how ridiculously expensive teleportation formations can be? The stones alone cost more than my annual salary. No, we, all of us, will only leave for the academy once the time period for registration lapses completely. Were you perhaps unaware that various prospective applicants have to travel quite far to reach us here? Be that as it may, now you know. Until then, you may all return to your estates or residences.

“Remember, registration officially ends in one week, an hour after sunrise. Be here by that time with your registration slips, or you won’t be allowed onto the academy grounds. And children, do not mistake my vivacity for weakness, or worse, tolerance.” Those last words had a certain weight to them that made some people stumble and fall over as they heard it. Others were clutching their chests, trying to recover their breath properly.

“Now, off you go. Unless you wish to stay here for the next week.”

The silhouette faded from the sky, and the speaker’s voice died out. Slowly, the square emptied out, everyone returning to their residences. The academy staff stayed where they were, sitting in their stalls, or walking around the square.

I returned to the inn, feeling lost despite finding myself in familiar territory. I was expecting to be at the academy by now. But, in hindsight, that one week rule did make a certain amount of sense.

After recalling the countess’ explanation on the history of the academies and their growing expansion, it made sense that they wanted to continue expanding by recruiting students from further and further away. They got more money and good PR, so it was a good move for them.

So, I kept my registration paper safely stored between the pages of one of my notebooks, tucked into my satchel, while I rebooked a room at the inn I had left mere hours ago.

Looks like I really had nothing to do this time, I just had to wait for one week.

“Rhaaj! You’re here! Why, why are you still here?! You told us all you were going to the cad-dummy! Did they say you can’t go in? It’s okay, don’t worry! Mommy and daddy can teach you instead! And then you can play with us every day! I’ll go tell mommy right now!”

And before anyone could react, a young boy ran out from his job of wiping down tables to inform his mommy that his villager friend would be playing with them every day.

“Well? Go on, boy. Might as well explain why you’re still here to his parents. Mother knows how that child will tell it to them. Your room will be here when you come back.” The owner glanced up from her ledger, gesturing for me to go after him.

So I left the inn and walked to Gillen’s house, and within a few minutes, I could hear Evelyn laughing as she listened to her son recounting what happened, or at least, what he thought happened.