Chapter Text
24 Sol, Year 609
Strider Reyvaris stood among a crowd of several other young adults around their age, waiting for the old wizard to return to the entryway where she’d left them and give the further instructions she’d promised. The people around Strider seemed to be growing restless, and the hallway grew loud with murmurs.
“Your sister went to the Academy,” said one person. “Did she ever tell you what the test would be like?”
“She said it hurts a lot,” said another. “But I think she was just saying that to mess with me.”
Finally, the telltale sound of heels came clicking down the hall toward them. The wizard had returned, and she brought three more robed folk with her.
“When I call your name, you will follow us to the rune chamber to be tested. Everyone else will wait here-- quietly, please-- for their own name to be called.
“Now, without further ado, we may begin. Autumn, Eowyn.”
A red-haired girl stepped forward, and the wizards disappeared back down the hallway with her. Several long minutes passed, then the wizards returned, but Eowyn was not with them.
The murmuring began anew. “Where is she?” “Did she pass the test?” “Do you think she’s dead?”
“Quiet, please!” demanded the wizard. “Now then. Azeroroth, Revalor.”
People resumed murmuring as the wizards led Revalor away. “Are they going to kill him, too?” “Where’s Eowyn?” “Do you think we should make a run for it?”
This time, everyone returned. Revalor walked right past everyone without a word.
“He was, unfortunately, not compatible,” said one of the younger wizards once Revalor was out of earshot.
This brought about the largest bout of murmuring yet. Strider said nothing, but their heart suddenly clenched with dread. What would everyone in Brooktown say if Strider returned incompatible? They would never hear the end of it.
One by one, people continued to disappear down the long hallway. A few returned unsuccessful, but most of them never returned. Strider guessed that the people who didn’t return had passed the test, but what did that mean? Were they alive, or had they been sacrificed or something equally horrific? Was that what the wizards meant by “compatible?” Compatible for having their organs and/or soul harvested?
“Reyvaris, Strider.”
Strider’s heart clenched again at the sound of their name. They no longer knew whether they wanted to pass the test. They followed the wizards down the hallway, their whole body trembling.
The wizards led them to a large room with a circle carved into the middle. One of them instructed Strider to stand in the center of the circle. They reluctantly obliged, positioning their feet on a strategically placed outline. No sooner had they done so than a set of iron bands clamped down over their feet, trapping them in place.
“Hey!”
“It’s not ideal, I know,” said the old wizard. “But you must be properly connected to the rune circle for the test to work.”
The circle lit up with strange symbols, which began to spin around Strider. Eventually, the spinning stopped. All but one of the runes went dark. The single lit rune glowed bright blue, bathing the chamber in that color.
“Congratulations,” said the old wizard. “You pass.” As if she sensed Strider’s confusion, she added, “If you had been incompatible, none of the runes would have remained lit.”
That was not the question on Strider’s mind. They wanted to ask whether this meant they could be released, but the old wizard seemed to be occupied again.
“You have been selected to become attuned to the element of water,” she went on. “Now, remain still…”
All four wizards began chanting in a language Strider had never heard before. The old wizard raised a hand, and a strange orb rose up from the blue rune. As it approached Strider, a rushing sound filled their ears, as though they were standing in a river. The orb seemed to be spilling over on itself, like it was made of liquid.
Made of water, no doubt.
As soon as Strider realized this, the orb rushed at them, embedding itself within their body. The rushing sound grew louder, drowning out the wizards’ chanting. Strider could feel the water from the orb flowing inside of them, and they struggled to draw breath.
So the old wizard intended to kill them after all. Strider could see her watching, waiting for them to drown from the water inside them. It seemed as though their fear of passing the test had been correct. Now they were going to die, and the rushing sound would be the last thing they ever heard--
And then, just as soon as it had come, the orb left Strider’s body and retreated back to the runestone. The iron bands released, and Strider fell to their hands and knees, breathing heavily in horrified gasps.
“Help them up,” said the old wizard. Two of the younger wizards appeared at Strider’s side and lifted them to their feet.
“You handled that better than most,” the old wizard said. “Now, come with us to the waiting room.”
The wizards slowly escorted Strider into a side room where several people were already congregated. Some looked fine, while others were shaking. They must have gone through the same awful ordeal as Strider had.
Eowyn, who had been the first to go, seemed to have recovered just fine. “How did your attunement go?” Strider asked her.
Eowyn laughed. “Oh, it was horrible. It felt like vines were slithering through my body.”
“So you’re plant-attuned,” said another person. “The same thing happened to me.”
Someone else stepped forward and said, “At least you didn’t feel like you were dying.”
Strider, glad to know that they hadn’t been alone in that regard, said, “Hey, so did I.”
They grinned. “Were you metal-attuned, too?”
Strider shook their head. “Water.”
Several people shuddered audibly. Strider guessed they had all been water-attuned as well.
“So what did attuning to metal feel like?” Strider asked.
“Like I was melting. What was attuning to water like?”
“Like I was going to drown. I’m Strider, by the way.”
“Deryn. Nice to meet you.”
Someone in the back interjected, “I don’t see what the big deal is. I handled it just fine.”
“You did not!” Deryn snapped. “When you came in, you were babbling like an idiot.” She turned back to Strider. “How many people were left after you, by the way?”
“Yeah,” said Eowyn. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’m getting pretty tired of getting left alone.”
“About fifteen,” Strider guessed. Another person entered the room. “Make that fourteen.”
“Ten,” the person corrected them.
“Thank gods,” said Eowyn. “Maybe we’ll even get out of here soon. Hey, y’all want to place some bets on people’s attunements?”
“I’m game,” said the person who had just come in.
Not long after, the sound of spinning runes could be heard again outside the room, followed by an affirmation that the person being tested had passed. Everyone in the room put their hands over their ears, so they didn’t hear what the old wizard said next.
When Strider uncovered their ears, they heard a loud howling noise, as though of a terrible windstorm. “Air attunement?” they guessed.
“Has to be,” said Eowyn.
Guessing people’s attunements based on what they could hear passed the time well enough, but eventually a person entered the room saying there was no one behind him, and the excitement vanished.
“So that’s it, then,” said Deryn. “Now what? Are we going straight to the academy, or do they send us all home first?”
“Finally!” exclaimed Eowyn. “I’ve been waiting here forever.”
But to everyone’s surprise, the old wizard didn’t enter the room to let them out. Instead, one of her attendants opened the door.
“Well done, all of you,” they said. “Now, preparations are underway for you to travel back home for the rest of your spring break. In two months’ time, you will receive a letter to your home address with further instructions for coming to the Academy. Without further ado, please follow me outside to the carriages.”
Strider climbed into a carriage marked To Southern Yllea along with three other future Academy students. As they rode farther away from the castle where they had been tested, they wondered what else lay in store for them.