I stopped and looked down at my hands as I began to grasp the magnitude of what I was just told. My Gift wasn’t powerful like everyone else. The most I could do was read surface-level thoughts and gather basic information. The only time I had entered someone else's mind was with Vera, but I doubted I could do that to someone I didn’t know well, and even when I was in Vera’s mind, I couldn’t control it. The fact that I passed the Culling was a complete fluke. If I had chosen to team up with someone else instead of Christopher I would have lost almost for sure. The fact that my weak, useless, and insignificant power could be changed brought me uncountable levels of relief.

Vera seemed to think the same thing, completely ignoring us as she tried to do something new with her Gift. I couldn’t see what she was doing but judging from her smile, I could tell it was working.

Annabelle looked at me oddly after noticing my expression. She cocked her head and frowned. “You didn't know that, did you?” she said.

I nodded absentmindedly and Annabelle sighed exasperatedly. “I have no hope for this generation,” Annabelle said with disappointment laced throughout her voice.

“You’re part of this generation,” I quipped without thinking.

“And it brings me an endless measure of shame,” she said solemnly without a hint of sarcasm. “We’re no longer in the Golden Era of Gifted. Even the commoners have noticed it, in every generation, the powers of the Gifted have gotten weaker and weaker. The first Gifted could stop time and part seas. Against even the weakest of them, none of us would stand a chance save maybe all three of the Councillors together.”

The Councillors.

I remembered learning about them from the Ruler’s mind. A group of three people who cared for the welfare of Choron. The Seer, who sees into the future and makes the laws and most of the decisions in the country. According to the Ruler, she was the one who designed the trials involved in the Culling. And then, there was the Ruler whose power involved creating domains and who was responsible for defending the country. Finally, there was the Creator. He was the only Councillor whom I hadn’t met. From what I could tell from the Ruler’s mind, he created humanoid creatures that worked in agriculture and construction. A good portion of the country’s wealth came from the Creator’s creatures.

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Even though I knew that the first generation of Gifted was strong, I struggled to believe that Seraphina or Annabelle couldn’t beat the weakest of them. “So,” I said, “even you couldn’t beat one of them?”

I had witnessed her power before. I had watched as she immobilised a whole field of some of the strongest Gifted our age without much effort. I had felt firsthand the level of control she had over the blood she wielded. Still, she shook her head without any hesitation.

“The first generation of Gifted existed hundreds of years ago and every generation that came after them has gotten progressively weaker and weaker. They could kill any of us and we would never even see it coming.”

I nodded. I didn’t know what to say so I didn’t say anything. After a few minutes of awkward silence, the door to the room opened and a familiar-looking boy walked through. His chocolate brown hair was tousled and his pale blue eyes looked around the room without a hint of emotion. Jason was his name if I remembered correctly. He took a seat wordlessly even though everyone else in the room stood.

I could tell he had noticed the other people in the room from the slight flicker in his eye. It wasn’t that he didn’t see us but that he didn’t care. He yawned and leaned his head back till he was facing the ceiling. His emotionless mien came closer to uncaring than Annabelle or Seraphina’s cold manner. His silence was a result of laziness rather than prejudice. Remembering what Annabelle said about the people who failed and passed being separated, I concluded that he had passed. From his carefree expression, he seemed to know that too.

Curious about his thoughts, I activated my Gift and almost immediately after, I felt a head-splitting pain go through my brain. I fell to the ground and turned his head slowly towards me.

“I thought you would’ve learnt not to do that after the first time,” he said with a hint of confusion. He spoke with a hint of an unfamiliar accent. I winced from the floor then grimaced.