For the first time in the short part of my life that I could remember, I had somewhere to be, and I was late.

  I was late, and cold like I had never been before.

  I was late, cold, and I couldn't breathe.

  The sullen sky was too grey and the morning light was too bright. The thin air was too frigid and the knee deep snow between the evergreens was too white. My lungs burned with every breath and it took twice as much of me to move as it should have. Every hurried step I tried to take came with the sound of compacting groans as the snow under my boots crushed into slick mounds that threatened to take me to the ground.

  Nothing had gone right on the most important morning of my life,

  The gathering of maidens that I should have already been amongst stood scattered in small groups on the snow cleared road beyond the tree line.

  "Hasn't started yet." I smiled through a heavy breath

  All was not lost.

  A gust of blustering wind whipped through the trees. It shook a flurry of snow loose from the branches above and sent it crashing down over me. I shielded my head with my arms and pressed on against the pelting until the tip of my boot caught on something hard.

  My foot crunched against it and I fell face first into the snow.

  The snow formed around every part of my body and tried to swallow me. All of the light left my sight. My face and hands stung on contact. A dull throb shot through my foot. The cold broke through my too thin jacket and tights so quickly that I might as well have been wearing nothing at all.

  The shock snapped me into a sudden spasm and I struggled against the chilling clutches until I managed to throw myself up with a desperate shout.

  Between the trees in the distance, a man stalked towards me from the direction I had come.

  The hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end.

  A feeling that was not unusual for me forced me to hold my breath and a shiver ran down my spine.

  There was someone else among the evergreens, and they were looking at me.

  It's just the cold. You must have gotten snow down your shirt. I insisted to myself while I still searched the forest for any sign of prying eyes. All I could find was the trees, snow, the man, the grey stone wall that stood to my left, the mountain peaks in the distance, and the maidens.

  "The maidens!" I shouted and crawled to my feet as quickly as I could without falling once again. Sweat dripped down my face despite the cold ache that my body had become. Every step brought pain to my foot. Whatever I had tripped over had left me worse than I had it, but I could not let it delay me.

  I had somewhere to be.

  Much too long after my fall for how short a distance it was, I stumbled through the tree line feeling like I had been running for hours. My chest stung from the frigid air, but all I could do once I stopped was bend over and try to catch my breath.

  The crunching sound of one of the maidens approaching me found my ears shortly before their voice did. Whoever she was, she knelt down and rested her arms on her knees. "Are there wolves after you? What were you doing out there? There is nothing but trees."

  "I got," I said through a pant and forced myself to stand "Lost."

  "Were you coming from Hymneth? It would be damn hard to get lost if you were." The maiden said as she looked at me with obvious confusion on her face. Curved in a way that made her look strong and sturdy, she had sandy skin and chocolate brown eyes. As soon as I stood, she followed me back up and I found her to be much shorter than I was.

  The rest of the maidens seemed uninterested in my inexplicable appearance from the woods. All of them, including the one standing next to me, wore thick coats, dresses, or proper pants. Looking much more warm than I felt, they were all keeping their own conversations as they waited in front of the iron gates for the priming to begin.

  Before I could catch my breath or answer the muddy eyed maiden, the gates parted and slowly swung outward.

  "I made it." I sighed through a smile and wiped the sweat from my brow on my sleeve.

  I had seen the gates once before when I had arrived in the frozen mountains. The dark metal bars shaped a ring of circles, semicircles, and crescents that formed around a pearlescent moon of gleaming stone. It split down its middle when the gates opened, but it did not reveal what had been locked behind it. All that lay beyond the gate was gloomy grey sky and the snow blanketed mountains underneath it.

  A high female voice called over the wind and the shapeless din of the gathered maidens. "Pack in tight! You all shall lose any reason to be shy soon enough, if you are not shoulder to shoulder with the person next to you, you are not close enough!"

  The maiden that stood beside me made for the gates and joined the gathering at the back of all the others.

  Still trying to catch my breath, I limped my way around the side of the crowd to try and see who had called for us. She spoke again. The gathered maidens gave small laughs in response, but the snow crunching under my boots and the hollowing wind kept me from hearing her. I met the wall on the right, and still could not see the speaker. The same proved to be true on the left

  I had walked too far. I had too much snow melting through my clothes. Too many impossible things had happened for me to be where I was. I would not let myself freeze on the fringes while the others that had suffered none of the hardships I had were able to watch and listen.

  Making space where there was none, I slipped through gaps that were not there and shouldered my way into the heart of the crowd. The chocolate eyed maiden let me pass without a word. Some seemed bothered by my intrusion, but only punished me with looks of annoyance.

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

  I stepped past a girl with a blue stoned necklace hanging around her neck and laid my eyes on the speaker.

  She wore a thin cloak of icy blue that hung straight over the shoulders of her thick coat and ended at the tops of her polished boots. Her white gloved hands clasped together at her waist and her pale pink hair pulled back in a neat bun, every part of her was in perfect order. The pastel blue of her eyes shared their shade with her dress, and they shone bright and open without ever becoming sharp.

  "I am Precept Seram. For those of you that gain admittance into Lun Arcanicil as new moons, I will be your teacher in all things regarding Implementation. For this warm and pleasant morning however-"

  She paused and smiled as more small laughter came from the maidens. Having heard what had been said that time, I joined them.

  If the morning was warm and pleasant, I would freeze to death if I took a night time stroll.

  "-I am here to welcome you and tell you what we expect of you before and during your trial."

  The maiden with the necklace stepped back in front of me and blocked my view.

  "Most of you are here by way of a primary academy, your parentage, or the interest of one of our precepts, but it makes no difference how you arrived. You are all maidens and equal until proven otherwise." Precept Seram continued.

  I leaned to my left to try and see past the maiden.

  She mirrored my movement.

  "Before you cross through these gates, there are three rules you must obey absolutely while you are within the boundaries of Lun. " Precept Seram held up three of her gloved fingers and continued, her tone growing serious.

  I leaned to the right and the maiden did the same.

  "The first, is that none of you are to use your aura until the trial begins. No charms, no glamors, no throwing each other's things about and making a mess. Understood?" Precept Seram asked.

  Everyone, including the infuriating girl in front of me, gave sounds of agreement.

  "Spotless," Precept Seram exclaimed and lowered the first of her fingers. "The second, and I should not have to say this, but every term that I do not, I regret it, is there is absolutely no duels or fighting. Understood?"

  I waited for the maidens to give their agreements again. When they did, I feinted right and slipped past the girl with the blue stoned necklace and reclaimed my place in front of her.

  "Spotless," Precept Seram affirmed and lowered her second finger. "The third rule is the most important of all."

  Someone tapped me on my right shoulder. I turned around to find that no one had needed my attention. The girl had stolen it and used it as an opportunity to step in front of me again.

  So quick that I was certain no one had seen me, I snapped my elbow into the fluff of her coat that hugged her side.

  "Maiden Tana, and I believe you are Maiden Ire, is there something you would like to share with the rest of us?" Precept Seram asked, her sudden attention bringing the eyes of all the gathered maidens to me and the girl with her arms wrapped around her middle.

  The wrong sort of heat reddened my face and in that moment I knew I should have just stayed behind everyone. I didn't meet her eyes. I looked down at the snowy ground and wished it had swallowed me fully when I had fallen earlier.

  "Yes, Precept Seram." Maiden Tana said as she glanced at me, her smirk having returned to her face.

  The second rule. I had broken it not a second after it had been given. The girl was going to tell. She would say that I had hit her and all the other maidens would watch as I was cast out.

  "What do you have to share?" Precept Seram asked, the last of her raised fingers still waiting to be lowered.

  "If one of us here is no longer a maiden," Maiden Tana said as blue light began to tint the trampled snow around her feet. "Should she still participate in the trail or will other arrangements be made?"

  "I hope that she would remain silently confident about her chances because she listened to me and remembered that using her aura on school grounds was against the rules." Precept Seram said without dropping her smile.

  The maiden's eyes all shifted to her and her face reddened just as mine had only a moment before. Her light turned to dust within the snow and her smirk died for the second time.

  It brought me no pleasure. I had just felt what she was and it had been awful. She had taken the precept's and the maiden's attention off of me however, and it did bring me some small relief.

  She hadn't told. I hadn't been sent away. All was not lost.

  "The third rule," Precept Seram began again. "If any of you are found out of your temporary rooms after nightfall, you will be barred from tomorrow's trial and turned away. That leaves plenty of time for you to bring your things from Hymneth or whatever it is you need to do. Understood?"

  Maiden Tana, myself, and every other maiden agreed.

  "Spotless." Precept Seram said as she lowered her last finger and nodded.

  No aura, no fighting, inside by sundown, even though I had already broken the second, the rules seemed easy enough to follow.

  "Why do we have to wait? Can't we go now? " The chocolate eyed maiden I had met earlier called out from the back of the gathering.

  "Maiden Reese, we were hoping you would come. We cannot go now because none of you have registered, inspected, assigned a bed, or received your parcels. Though your eagerness is welcome, come this time tomorrow, you will be glad you have had a good nights rest and a warm meal." Precept Seram said with a smile.

  "What are we being inspected for?" A different maiden said from somewhere beyond my sight.

  "The safety of Lun Arcanicil and those that are within her walls is of the utmost importance. To prevent anyone with ill intent from gaining entrance, you will be inspected to make sure you are not a sorcerer or some other ugly thing sneaking in under the guise of a glamor," Seram spread her arms out to her side. "Now, I know all of you would love to spend the rest of the morning sun bathing and enjoying the pleasant weather, but we must begin. Cross over and join Precept Mon-Zetta in the courtyard."

  More small laughter came from the maidens but there was nothing resembling good humor within me. Precept Seram was likeable in her own bubbly way, but she had just said the worst thing I could have ever heard and sounded perfectly nice while doing it.

  The moment that the maidens separated and entered the court yard, the wind bit back through my too thin clothes and a cold chill shook me to my boots. I pulled my black jacket tight and buried my aching hands in the crook of my arms.

  The cold was the least of my worries, but it could not be ignored.

  I would give them my name, but I would not pass the inspection. I would never receive my parcel or be given my bunk number. I was not an evil sorcerer trying to gain entry into the school of my enemies. Nor was I some malevolent demon whose interests lay in the maidens themselves.

  Still, the face I wore was not my own.

  "Is something the matter?" Precept Seram asked as she came to me where I had frozen in place.

  The other maidens were nowhere to be seen. There was only the neat woman in front of me, myself, and the gates.

  "Just cold." I lied as I met her eyes.

  Visions of black fire, a fat faced man gasping for air, and a bubble bursting bright blue, flashed in the front of my mind. A shudder shook through me that had nothing to do with the cold.

  "You will be inside and next to a warm fire before you know it. This should not take long," Precept Seram said as she pulled her pristine white gloves off her hands finger by finger. "Take these. It is a small comfort, but they will warm your hands."

  "No, I couldn't." I shook my head in denial.

  She reached into her coat beneath her coat and pulled out an identical pair from somewhere in the folds of her dress. "It is no trouble. I always keep a second pair. Come, I am as eager for warmth as you are but I cannot go inside until all of you are sorted."

  I took the gloves and shoved my hands into them. Fur lined the insides and they were warm from her hands. She had been wrong however, as they were not a small comfort.

  If the precepts could see through glamor, my time at Lun Arcanicil would end before it began.

  All was not well.