Jessica was the first mage to climb onto the third arena, while I and a few others watched from the sidelines. Her opponents were a wolf shifter named Leo Hausan. He was huge, almost as tall as she was in wolf form and his fur was a dark, tanned color. The wolf’s golden eyes stared back at her, as she never averted her gaze from his. Leo lifted his lips and let out a loud, guttural snarl.

  Beside him was a kid who looked like he couldn’t be more than fourteen. His hair was a bleachy blond, short with the roots dyed black. He allowed his lips to curve up in a grin that did not reach his eyes.

  “It… it’s okay, I got this!” Jessica said as she lifted a thumb into the air, which I knew was directed at me. It did not look very convincing.

  “It’s okay?” the boy asked with his arms spread wide. He looked like he was good at putting on shows for his audiences. He then crooked a finger towards his chest. “My name is Andrew Cavera, and there is no way you can defeat us!”

  That was a little arrogant of him. I looked at the uniform he wore. It was a dull green, like the color of ocean water under a bright sun. The crest was of some kind of sea creature jumping high out of water and into… clouds? Beneath the crest were the words Ocean and Air. From reading that, I thought I had a pretty good idea about what elements those two represented.

  “Begin!” Kaivos said, loud enough that everyone could hear.

  Leo the wolf shifter moved immediately. Teeth bared, ready to strike he leapt forward towards Jessica. Andrew raised his arms this time, muttering something under his breath. A blue, white light appeared around his feet and then he thrust both arms towards the wolf shifter. It surrounded Leo, before vanishing seconds later.

  “Geomancer.”

  “What?” I asked Senza.

  “That’s what your new friend is. She’s a geomancer.”

  Jessica looked to be too small and frail to be a geomancer but Senza somehow, was remarkably good at guessing who could use what type of magic. He was almost never wrong. Geomancers were experts when it came to manipulating the earth. They could split the earth in two, or call up vines and roots from below. Geomancers could throw boulders or create powerful shields from dust. Out of all the elemental mage classes, they were among the strongest.

  She lowered herself into a crouch, waiting for the wolf’s approach. I wasn’t quite sure what the boy had done, but I figured since it hadn’t been an attack, it had to be a boost of some kind. Something to give Leo an advantage. And then, Jessica did one too.

  Unlike the boost Andrew did, with Jessica there was no spectacle. No whispered words, no raised arms. Just a brown glow around her feet, before it engulfed her and then it was gone. She leapt into the air right before Leo’s teeth clamped down and in her hands were two, brown daggers. That was… that was something I didn’t know mages could do.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Yes,” came Senza’s confirmation. “Most elemental mages can create their own, physical weapons… though it doesn’t work as well for water, air or fire. I think it has something to do with the fact that those aren’t exactly physical and they are always moving.”

  It took less then a second and Leo hit the floor with all four paws, twisted and jumped into the air after her. Jessica twisted and brought down one of the earth daggers upon Leo, with the pummel hitting him in the head. He fell to the ground and let out a shrill whimper, before climbing back to his paws.

  Jessica landed with hands to her sides and one knee on the floor.

  “Take this, bitch!” Andrew shouted.

  I turn my head to see him charging towards her with several, tiny balls of what appeared to be water, floating around his head. He stopped about ten feet from where she had landed and thrust an arm out.

  Like miniature bullets, the balls of water flew straight at her! One managed to slice a hole in her shirt, causing blood to swell up on her arm. It wasn’t a serious cut, but it could have been. Jessica turned around and raised a brown, transparent shield around herself. The rest of the water bullets splashed into the shield, the water either being absorbed by the sand, or fell harmless to the floor.

  My eyes went wide when the girl extended a hand and that shield turned into several horizontal spikes. Two more seconds and they were flying towards Andrew. He dodged to the floor as they flew past him.

  Leo was then above her and was about to bite down when… he was frozen in place, hovering in the air.

  “That is enough!” Kaivos said as he climbed the stairs to the arena. “Well done! You have four more to take on if you want, or we can choose your house right now.”

  Jessica allowed her earthen daggers to decay and crumble into dust and then she turned to the professor. “But I thought I had to defeat all six.”

  “Whether you officially become a mage or end up joining the infantry, depends solely on how strong your magic is and how you’ve used it,” Kaivos explained. “While fighting all six might be required of most, all professors present can stop a match at any time they want, if they decide they’ve seen all they needed to.”

  “Oh… um… alright,” Jessica said.

  Kaivos smiled. “Your house is The House of Trees and Ice.”

  I watched as Jessica was led out of the colosseum.

  The other matches before me, went by in a blur. There were at least three fire mages in our group who had to fight a druid, and two geomancers along with three wolf shifters. The first kid whom I thought was thirteen, succeeded in defeating his challengers. A boy who looked to be about sixteen, failed in fighting his first challengers. It was decided he was too weak to join the mages. The third first year, in her twenties, managed somehow, to knock out her opponents.

  Others fought too, some succeeded and some didn’t. Failing though, didn’t mean they could not become a mage however. They would be given another chance once a year until they either gave up or succeeded.

  And then, it was my turn. I stood on my side of the arena, facing one whom I thought might be a vampire and tall man who had to be in his twenties. This was not going to be easy, but I steeled myself and faced them with the most determined expression I could muster.

  “Begin!” Kaivos shouted.