The people around me stood quietly, waiting for the Ruler to start his speech. I was a bit flustered that I had missed so much when experimenting with my Gift but I tried not to let it faze me. I silently shuffled over to Vera and smiled. She returned it happily.
“So,” the Ruler said, “all you of have passed the Culling. We will give you the option to leave now if you want but the Seer said none of you will choose to take it. And, well, the Seer is never wrong.”
I wondered how the Seer’s Gift worked. I knew I had the choice to leave but I also knew that what the Seer says is absolute. If she says no one was going to choose to leave the Academy then it’ll happen. Does this mean I don’t have a choice? That the free will I believe myself to have is nothing more than an illusion? Was the future predetermined or did the future change based on what the Seer said? I was tempted to say I wasn’t going to go to the Academy just to see if I could prove the Seer wrong. But I didn’t.
“As first-year students,” the Ruler continued, “all eight of you will have access to the outer layer of the Academy. Second and third-year students live solely in the inner layer of the Academy so you won’t be seeing any of them this year. The Academy will provide you with a weekly allowance that you can spend inside the Academy to buy food and supplies. You will all live in the same building but in separate rooms. You will be taught by the Instructor on weekdays and you’ll be free to do whatever you want during the weekends. During your stay in my Academy, you are not permitted to leave except for the purpose of missions.”
He paused as he tried to remember if he forgot to tell us anything. “The Guide will show you around the place if you ask him. Since it’s a Saturday right now you won’t have any lessons until later. If you’re curious, it’s nighttime right now. You guys haven’t eaten all day but since you’re all Gifted, it wouldn’t affect you as much as it would Regulars.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, that’s probably it.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“So we can leave now,” someone asked; the blonde boy whose name I had forgotten. Alex, I noted after using my Gift. It was nice to have someone’s mind I could read without any repercussions.
The Ruler pointed towards the door. “Door’s that way.”
Alex didn’t move. Probably expecting it to be a trick of some sort. He stared at the door as if expecting it to explode or a monster to burst out of it. Small wisps of blue energy swirled around his left hand as he licked his lips nervously.
After a few moments of tense silence, Seraphina threw her hands up in frustration. “For God’s sake,” she said exasperatedly, “just open the door. Open.”
The door slammed open with explosive force leading to outside the church. If the Ruler wasn’t reinforcing everything with his Gift, I was certain the door would’ve broken. I was surprised when the door didn’t lead to the same room that it had before but I guessed that was the Ruler’s doing. Spatial Manipulation.
The blue energy faded from Alex’s hand and he waited as not to be the first person to leave. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same. Seraphina groaned. “Do I really have to do everything around here?” she asked.
She walked outside of the building and waved at us from the outside. “Easy,” she said confidently.
“I swear that girl just enjoys embarrassing herself,” I hear Annabelle whisper to herself under her breath. Regardless, Annabelle followed Seraphina’s lead and left the room. As if inspiring everyone else, the rest, including Vera and me, followed. To my surprise, the building looked cleaner than it did during the Culling. The sky was painted a dull ebony. It’s around nine, I guessed from the position of the moon.
“You’re probably all tired,” the Ruler said, “you should all go find your rooms and sleep.”
With that, the Ruler disappeared without another word. I’m sure his words would be useful… if we knew where our rooms were.