“This is the Na Veitawasei. The Separation. Where you get separated into different divisions.” She told me.

  “Now go on.”

  Steeling myself I walked up to the two crystal balls and stood there.

  “These two balls will test you.” She told me.

  I snickered slightly which earned me a death-look.

  I looked at it, waiting for Dauca-Werni to tell me what to do.

  “Well come on.” She said impatiently.

  “I don’t know what to do,” I replied meekly.

  I could sense her rolling her eyes behind me. “Well put your hands on that ball. You feel something enter your body and ‘search’ around before returning to the ball to signify what core you have.” She pointed to one of the two identical balls. “Wait until the ball stops changing colour, this will signify what type of core you have.

  “Copper is brown, Iron is silver, Emerald is green, Diamond is blue, Ruby is red, and Platinum is white.

  “Then you’ll put your hands on that ball.” She pointed to the second one. “You will feel a suction force, push as much as possible. It will then shine brightly, indicating which strength of affinity you have.”

  She then looked me in the eyes. “Then power will surge and your affinities will manifest around you. You will have an instinctual feeling of what these affinities are but only the basic idea.

  “You only discover what the affinities truly are later in your career.”

  I stopped and thought. What do I want? I asked myself. What core do I want? What affinity do I want? What strength?

  Well, whatever it is it had better be good and strong.

  “OK. So come on now and put your hands on the core tester.”

  I nodded, stepping up to the table that held the two balls. I reached for one of them and put both hands on it.

  Nothing happened.

  I stood there waiting.

  I looked up at Dauca-Werni. “Ummm I think is brok-”

  Suddenly a rush of intense power flooded me. Raging through my body and ravaging my insides. I feel like I was being burnt, drowned, grown through, spiked, bashed, kicked, ravaged, boiled, and every other type of torture.

  I dropped to my knees in pain trying to rip my hands away from the crystal orb only to find that they were stuck, I couldn’t rip them away.

  I started to convulse. The pain was my only thought, everything else had been drowned out and all that was left was intense unending pain.

  Time started to shift what felt like hours were but a few seconds. I started to shift between moments of clarity which brought about endless bouts of pain and hallucinations that were a reprieve from the suffering.

  The stream of power that had rushed into my body immediately went to a place somewhere just below my solar plexus. Suddenly it stopped ravaging me and sat there.

  I gasped as my first full breath came rushing in like a tidal wave of pure bliss. I hacked and coughed as I tried to settle myself.

  “What was that!” I demanded breathlessly.

  She looked at me with pity in her eyes. “The worst is yet to come.”

  “What?” I shouted. “How could it get any wors-”

  It then proceeded to get worse.

  Previously it felt like the pain was swirling around in my body, now it felt like it was pushing out from that point below my solar plexus.

  At first, it felt like before. Bad but not that bad.

  The power was expanding in this spherical shape. Pushing outwards as if feeling out the perimeter of something, presumably his core.

  The further it expanded the worse the pain, as if it had to push back against some kind of obstacle that was blocking the power.

  By the time it had found its way to where his heart was the pain was easily twice the strength of before.

  It was hell.

  Suddenly it felt like the power jumped and now it was reaching his skin, he must have blacked out for a bit.

  I expected it to reach my skin and start to stretch along it but it just kept going pushing beyond my skin. That was when I realised that this core was not a physical space. It couldn’t be, it must have been a metaphysical space that was somehow tied to me.

  Once it pushed past my skin the pain multiplied 10 fold.

  I blacked out again. Head falling back, eyes rolling back in their sockets, tongue lolling out.

  When I finally regained consciousness the diameter of the sphere was exactly that of my height and the pain had reached heights I didn’t know possible.

  This was infinitely more painful than that one time I got properly beaten up by a small gang because of what my father had done to the nation.

  Thankfully it showed signs of slowing, it was no longer a huge wave of pressing power trying to rip my body apart. It was now a slow push of endless pain.

  Suddenly it ground to a halt and with it, all the pain disappeared. Like it was never there.

  I lay there panting on the floor my hands still stuck to the crystal ball, so I lay there in a very awkward position hanging just off the floor. It turns out that the ball was also magically stuck to the table.

  I slowly manage to get to my knees before weekly standing up resting a large portion of my weight against the table to keep me from falling.

  Panting like I had run a marathon I just managed to squeak out. “It really was that bad.”

  It was now that I noticed that Dauca-Werni was standing there staring at me with wide eyes.

  “What?” I asked confusedly.

  “You were under for a very long time.” She looked so shook. “How… how… what was the diameter of your core?”

  I paused and stopped to think. It extended about 3 cm above my head and the same below my feet. So in total about 186 cm.

  “About 186 cm,” I said calmly, clearly not knowing the meaning of it.

  Her jaw dropped. “186 cm? Are you sure?”

  I nodded confusedly at her. “What is that impressive?”

  “YES!” She screamed. “Yes, it is!”

  “Uh… OK?”

  “That’s nearly 34,000 m3! That must be at least a large ruby maybe even a platinum.” She said astounded. “My core is currently 40,000 and I’ve expanded it multiple times!”

  She just stood there shell-shocked.

  And when she put it into comparison like that it did sound quite impressive.

  She then whirled to look me dead in the eyes with that hawk-like look, “I swear on all The Fair Ones if you don’t have a strong, powerful affinity I WILL hurt you.” She shook her head. “Can you imagine? Wasting the potential of such a core on a weak affinity? That would be unacceptable.”

  I gulped slightly praying even harder that my results end up good.

  “How long did that take?” I said quietly.

  “About 2 minutes.” She replied offhandedly like she didn’t just drop a bombshell on my brain.

  TWO MINUTES??? I screamed mentally. Only TWO MINUTES? That felt so much longer. It feels kind of pathetic now that I know it was only two minutes.

  Suddenly I felt that bit of power that had suddenly stopped hurting me and sat just beneath my solar plexus suddenly burst from me.

  It rushed down my arms straight into the crystal ball. It suddenly filled up with a brown before immediately switching to a silver then straight into a green. It stayed at green for a bit before switching to blue and then creeping into red.

  And then it stopped. I almost said something about it being a ruby core before another surge of power left below my solar plexus. It entered the ball and it instantly turned white.

  But unlike before where the colour just stayed the same no matter how far along the size scale it was with a platinum core the white got brighter and brighter until it was so blinding I could barely see.

  All of a sudden the white disappeared and my hands were finally freed from its captivity.

  Both of us stood there baffled by what had just taken place.

  “You have a platinum core!”

  “I know.”

  “And a large one at that.”

  “I know.”

  “That’s good.”

  “I know.”

  Silence reigned. After a few seconds, excitement flooded Dauca-Werni like she was a little kid at an amusement park.

  “Come on! Onto the next one. I’m excited to see what potential you have in the affinity category.” She said with a wide smile like a predatory shark.

  I walked over to it and almost asked if it would hurt but I realised that if I knew it did I would never be able to convince myself to put my hands on the crystal ball.

  Shaking my head I finally rested my shaking hands on the crystal ball.

  Again, nothing.

  Absolutely nothing.

  But this time I expected it and waited.

  But when 10 seconds had gone by with nothing I started to loosen up, maybe this one really is broken.

  I looked to Dauca-Werni about to say something about the absence of any ‘sucking’ feeling.

  When I suddenly felt it.

  It was strange, it felt like something vital - but not painful - was being pulled from deep inside me. Thankfully it wasn’t painful at all.

  I felt it slowly ramp up, the speed of suction started mounting and suddenly it felt like my very soul was being dragged into the orb.

  Seconds flew by as my mind started to spiral with the force of the suction.

  All of a sudden it cut off.

  Then the crystal ball started to get brighter, and brighter, and brighter.

  It started at low light, before jumping up a level in brightness, then again.

  And again.

  And again.

  Then it stopped, no longer changing in intensity.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “5 light changes,” Dauca-Werni muttered. “That means exceptional.”

  She whirled to me grabbed my arms and shook me. “You have at least one exceptional affinity!”

  My eyes widened. I mean I always hoped to get something good but this was something else. This was beyond any expectations I had had.

  Just as I was about to comment on this I felt something stir in my very soul. Suddenly something - or rather two somethings - whipped out of my mouth and started to circle me.

  They were two streams of power.

  One pitch black.

  And the other glittering silver.

  I have two affinities. At the exceptional level. I think I’m dreaming.

  A sudden sharp pain in my left arm signified me pinching myself to make sure this wasn’t a dream.

  Dauca-Werni slowly whispered breathlessly. “Reach out and touch them. Feel what they are. Feel what type of Ashe they are.”

  I complied reaching my hands out to touch the streams of power slowly twirling around me.

  I first touched the black one and had an intense feeling of shadows and darkness and all things that conspired within the dark… but somehow without it feeling evil. Just the flip side of light.

  Then words started appearing. Words swirling around my head flying past me.

  Darkness.

  Nothingness.

  Shadow.

  Shade.

  Void.

  Black.

  Then a second later everything was back to normal. Everything snapped back to reality.

  The black stream of energy swirled around me even faster before whipping into me in the same place my core seemed to originate. I felt the power suffuse through my body, but it wasn’t painful it felt amazing. It strengthened me in ways unseen, it felt amazing.

  It was then that I finally found the name for it.

  Shadow.

  I then reached for the silver one. And again got an intense feeling but this time it was only a single thing not multiple ones like with the other one. It was a single feeling…

  Power.

  Then words started flying past me again. Swirling around me like I was the centre of a whirlpool, but again this time it was a single word. Not many.

  Ashe.

  Again like the shadow affinity, it whipped around me at high speeds before hitting me straight below my solar plexus.

  This time the suffuse of power was even greater. I physically felt my muscles condense. I felt my heart get stronger. I felt myself humming with power.

  The name of the affinity came to me.

  Pure Ashe.

  I stopped panting, hanging my head low I soaked up the feeling of endless power.

  “Well?” I heard. “What are they?”

  I lifted my head and looked her in the eyes. “Shadow and Ashe,” I replied.

  Her eyes flew open.

  She was suddenly in my face her hands on my shoulders and she picked me up like I weighed nothing. She shook me, making my feet sway in the air.

  “You have an Ashe affinity?” She demanded.

  “Yes,” I responded.

  “You must NEVER EVER tell anyone you don’t explicitly trust that you have this affinity.” She hissed, the room started to fill with a stifling power as some of her raw Ashe started to leek out in her shock.

  I gulped and nodded quietly.

  She dropped me. “When we go out there you will only say you have a shadow affinity. Because if people know you have an Ashe affinity you will be enslaved and used for nefarious deeds.”

  My eyes widened even more as the seriousness of this situation came into play.

  The only thing I managed was a weak. “Why?”

  “I don’t have time to explain, we must leave soon else they’ll begin to suspect something. But all you have to do is tell no one.”

  I just stared at her blankly.

  “OK?” She half shouted at me.

  I somehow half mumbled a ‘yes ma’am’, before she straightened up and walked towards the door like nothing had happened.

  She opened it and walked through, leaving the door open for me to follow suit.

  I stepped up and walked through the doorway to be met by hundreds of eyes all glued to me. I walked up to the front of the stage and cleared my throat.

  “So, what are your results?” The Head-Dauca asked me curiously. “I wonder how our year shall go?”

  I gulped and opened my mouth. “My name is Alex Toui,” I had already decided not to tell anyone my name is actually Fouw else they’ll know I’m a ‘bastard’. “I have a Platinum Core,” Gasps and whispers sprung up among the groups. “and I have an exceptional affinity in Shadow.”

  Now the crowd really started to roar.

  “SILENCE!” The Head-Dauca shouted. The effect was instantaneous. She was talking to them but her eyes never left me.

  She walked forward, stopping a slight distance from where I was. “Alex was it?” She posed it as a question but it definitely was not. “You will of course go to The Academy. I expect you will do well at the Na iKarua ni Veitawasei. The Second Separation.”

  She stepped aside and gestured to where the other 30 or so Academy students were. As I walked past her she whispered under her breath.

  “I’ll let you get settled and get a grip on your new powers but then we will need to have a long conversation. You have the most potential in this age category,” she snorted and shook her head then added. “and the last 50 years. This includes the nobles. They won’t like that, so be safe. We can’t lose such a powerful prospect.”

  So is that what I am? A powerful prospect.

  “Thank you, ma’am,” I said quietly.

  I silently walked over to the crowd of soon-to-be Academy students.

  I could feel everyone’s eyes following me to my position in the crowd, hungry stares like sharks waiting for their next meal.

  I felt unsafe.

  But there was nothing I could do except watch my back and stay on guard.

  What would they even gain from killing me? It’s not like they can harvest my core. Wait they can’t harvest my core, right?

  She then walked around us to look at the new Mines students they were the brunt of the new students numbering in the 90s. “You shall follow Dauca-Turner, the mine division will provide basic training manuals from which you can enhance your bodies to perform better. Your sole purpose for the rest of your life is to mine metals and minerals.” Ouch. That was cold. “I truly wish you luck.”

  At this Dauca-Turner whirled around and walked out through one of the doors that led into a long corridor.

  “You shall follow Dauca-Threwq, the military division will provide more comprehensive training manuals but you will focus more on your physical strength rather than your magical strength. Your purpose is to be foot soldiers in the war against the Tarta.”

  She turned from them no longer paying them any attention. “Leave!” She commanded. They all followed Dauca-Threwq through one of the long hallways towards the military division.

  “And you. You all are the newest commoner batch for The Academy students. Congratulations.” She said surveying us.

  She really seems to like studying us.

  “In three months the Na iKarua ni Veitawasei will begin. This is The Second Separation. This will signify what benefits you shall receive from The Academy to further your training. It will be a test of martial capabilities, mental fortitude, Ashe control, and teamwork.” The Head-Dauca said while looking us all in the eyes.

  “This will determine a few different items you receive. Firstly, accommodation. For the next three months you will all be put into the communal hall, yes which includes the nobles even though the crown prince is among them, then the Na iKarua ni Veitawasei will decide the size, the location, the Ashe density and more of your accommodation for the next few years you have here.

  “It will also dictate the resources you receive. For example, it will be the deciding factor of the Ashe crystals, the training manuals, and the weapons you will receive.”

  She stalked forward. “I already said some of this but let me repeat. You will be split between girls and boys in the communal dorms for the next three months. For the next 2 months, you will practise with wooden weapons of your choosing. The next month before the Na iKarua ni Veitawasei you will practise with steel weapons, it is only after you finish the Na iKarua ni Veitawasei that you will be rewarded with tempered, and enhanced weapons. Until The Second Separation, you will receive only the most basic materials.

  “Everyone will receive one tier 1 training manual in each of their affinities tuned to the strength of the affinities.

  “Everyone will receive a stipend of 50 silver and 1 Ashe crystal personally tuned to your affinity per week.” My eyes bulged.

  I have never had more than 1 silver in my life let alone 10 per week. This was going to be good.

  I’ll get a manual and Ashe crystals for my Shadow affinity but what about my Ashe affinity? But I wonder if they even have manuals and crystals for an Ashe affinity.

  I noticed that the people around me were also blanching at the large stipend. I forgot most of these people also didn’t have very much, just like me.

  “Now you all shall follow Dauca-Werni to The Academy. It’s late so you’ll go straight to bed. Tomorrow will be a relaxed day where you get to meet new people and get settled then normal day life will start immediately.

  “For the first month, you will be put into groups of people with the same affinities as you every other day to work on your control. Or like in the case of some that have strange affinities like Shadow,” she pointed at me, “you will work with someone with something similar like light.” She pointed to someone behind me that I couldn’t see.

  “Each session will take 4 hours so if you have multiple affinities you will have a harder time. Any free time you have can be spent on anything you wish.

  “The days where you don’t have the group work you will do sparring and fitness training. You need to be strong to fight against the Tarta.

  “Now go! Go rest and recuperate, the next three months are going to be literal hell.”

  The Head-Dauca turned and walked out in the direction we had come in from at the very beginning.

  The rest of us followed Dauca-Werni through the doorway into a long winding corridor made of cobblestone bricks.

  Sconces in the wall held torches that shed light along the dark and damp corridor.

  We kept walking slowly dragging our feet across the floor, everyone was exhausted except for one person.

  Dauca-Werni.

  She walked with purpose, ‘leader’ was infused into her very stride.

  After what felt like hours of walking, but truly only 20 minutes, we ended up at a large double door that looked like it weighed the same as the rest of the building.

  But Dauca-Werni strode up to it and pushed it open like it weighed little more than a normal door.

  I gawked at the casual display of power.

  A small evening breeze worked its way towards me. We had all been stuck in a room with no windows for the past 15-16 hours and the small freezing air was such a reprieve from the stuffy room we came from.

  We all quickly piled out into the cool night air.

  I let out a satisfied sigh as I took in a deep breath. I felt the chilling breeze entering my lungs and defusing through my body.

  But this time something felt different.

  Not in a bad way… but just different.

  Like the oxygen that circled my body was doing more. Each breath felt like I had taken two. My body felt more…

  Efficient?

  That makes sort of sense. I remember the feeling of when the affinities diffused through my body, I had felt invigorated now I feel strong and activ…

  A yawn split across my face.

  …Actually hold that thought.

  It was too dark to properly see the surroundings but of what I got we seemed to be in some kind of a courtyard.

  It wasn’t large, about 10 metres in both directions.

  Some of the brothels I had to sleep/stay in when I still lived with my mother had courtyards multiple times the size of this.

  I suspected that either they wanted it modest or this was just a small side courtyard, not the main one.

  In the dark gloom I noticed that the three other walls apart from the side we just came from were all a lighter brick, they were all sandy yellow, probably made from sandstone or something similar.

  We quickly walked to the opposite wall and entered it immediately.

  After another 10 minutes of walking, we finally entered a large room that was very brightly lit.

  It was a large communal sleeping area. It was made up of 100 bunk beds laid out in a 10 by 10 grid, so it could sleep 200 people.

  It did have a thick heavy curtain - that was currently open - that split down the middle signifying the girls’ side versus the boys’ side.

  I did notice that the room already had some people inside. By the looks of it they numbered about 50 and all had a very rich demeanour to them, they were most definitely the nobles of this age group.

  That made us somewhere in the 80s.

  It wasn’t split down the middle like 40 boys and 40 girls it was more like 45 to 35.

  “ATTENTION!” Dauca-Werni shouted out.

  Everyone snapped to attention as all the nobles ran from their beds to join us. However, I did notice that they kept their distance away from us, I also caught a few wrinkling their noses at us.

  Dauca-Werni scoffed at our poor attempt at forming ranks but continued anyway. “There are 82 of you. 47 boys and 35 girls, all of you are the newest generation of Academy students. You will behave like one. I want no fighting unless it is for good reason, and no that does not include the commoners being at your every beck and call.” The last statement was directed towards the group of nobles.

  Some upset muttering went around but gladly most didn’t seem to be upset by this.

  “By the end of tomorrow, I want new friendships, new alliances, and new enemies. But make sure you don’t hate the other’s gut.” She added at the end.

  “By the end of tomorrow, you will no longer be considered nobles,” she pointed to the nobles, “you will no longer be considered commoners,” then pointed to us. “You will be Academy students.” Then bringing her hands together.

  “By the end of tomorrow, you will also know the groups that you will be working in. At least for the Ashe control groups. The PT -Physical Training - groups will be decided on which weapon you choose.”

  She took a deep breath. “If you haven’t yet go have a shower,” she pointed behind her to a door that led into what I’m guessing is the shower. “Then go to bed, tomorrow is a relaxing day.”

  With that, she quickly left the room leaving us to our own devices.

  I was so exhausted that I nearly went straight into bed but the appeal of a shower was too great.

  I hadn’t had a proper shower in months, anything I did shower in was usually rainwater dripping off roofs.

  I suddenly realised I had no other clothes and I didn’t really want to put these back on by the way that the nobles were looking at us like we lived in the trash our whole life.

  Looking around at us most of us probably did, just like me.

  I noticed people pulling out clothes from a chest at the foot of their beds.

  I quickly scrambled into the farthest corner from anything and checked the chest. I felt a light presence wash over me before a bunch of clothes suddenly materialised inside of it. I reeled back in shock.

  This was magic.

  Literal magic.

  When I touched the clothes they were the softest I had ever seen let alone touched, let alone had.

  I dropped them then grabbed a towel that was sitting on my bed and scrambled into the bathroom eager to wipe months of sweat, grime, dirt and rubbish bits off of my skin.

  I flew in noticing that there was only one more stall left I ran in before someone see could take it.

  I hung my towel on the wall before turning around to look at what kind of contraption this one would be.

  There was a round head that was stuck on a long pipe that hung down from the sandstone ceiling. There were two nobs on the wall one bright red and another dark blue.

  I turned both slightly fiddling about with them to make sure that the temperature was perfect. My first hot shower in I don’t know how many years needed to be perfect.

  Once the temperature was hot but not scalding I quickly dunked under the shower feeling the nice hot water running down my back soothing my skin.

  I searched around for a bar of soap and found three things.

  Two bars. One rough, one smoother.

  And a bottle labelled hair soap.

  I first picked up the rough soap and started to scrub. I rubbed my kind continuously until I felt better. Swapping to the softer soap I used that to just get the rest of my body cleaner.

  Someone pounded on my door making me jump at the noise.

  “Hurry up you’re taking so much time we all want to shower.” Somebody shouted angrily from outside.

  “Go away,” I shouted back.

  Grumblings continued from that side but nothing else was shouted.

  I grabbed the hair soap and started applying it eagerly to my hair. My hair was knotty and unkempt, it hung down to my shoulder blades in a tangled mess.

  But the soap was amazing. It completely de-tangled my hair in seconds, soon my hair was clean and perfectly smooth.

  I stopped the shower and grabbed my towel starting with my hair before making my way down my body.

  Soon everything but my damp hair was dry and people began shouting at me to get out, so I wrapped the towel around my waist and walked out of there feeling like a new man.

  I felt more confident. I felt like I was worth more. It’s crazy what a good shower can do to a man.

  I walked out and went straight to my bed. I noticed others were doing the same and that the girls had their shower separate from ours.

  I had been so focused on getting to the shower I didn’t properly look at what was in the chest.

  I opened it now and saw 8 pairs of underwear.

  Why do I need so many?

  5 pairs of light workout trousers.

  5 pairs of tight-fitting workout shirts.

  A set of comfortable-looking pyjamas.

  Two pairs of boots.

  And a large cloak.

  The cloak was slightly different to what I expected. This cloak was quite tight fitting around the waist before stopping at the waist with a coattail that hung behind nearly reaching the ground. It also had a deep hood that could be used to conceal the wearer’s face.

  Everything was black. All the uniforms were pitch black. Those were the colours of The Academy students. Once you graduate - or if - then your uniform becomes that of your primary affinity.

  Guess I’ll be wearing black for the rest of my life. I thought to myself.

  I quickly changed into the pyjamas before plopping into bed.

  Just as I did the curtain separating the girls and boys snapped closed and with it the light.

  My last thought before I drifted off into sleep was.

  I hope this doesn’t kill me. I hope I thrive.