1 Month Earlier
She remembered watching the gates of the school, clutching the elbow of her right arm. The crowd's push against her body, and the faint smell of burnt food. The school that she worked so hard to get into. That thing. The stages of the Culling changed every year, but one thing never changed. Sixty people would enter and only eight would pass. Even though it had been years since she entered the Culling, Clara– no, it was the Instructor now– remembered every moment.
No one grows up and thinks, I want to go recruit kids into the Academy. No one wants to flip through files to look for suitable children for the program, but when your dreams fall flat and reality sets in, you don’t have much of a choice. Who has time to go and change the world when there are jobs to do and children you have to teach? Working for the Academy wasn’t the most glorifying job for a Gifted, but the pay was nice, and the work wasn’t particularly hard.
The two casually dressed people flipped lazily through the folders on their respective desks. The shorter of the two, Lewis, who wore a plain t-shirt, glanced over to the other. He set his eyes on the taller woman’s profile. “Have you found anything interesting on your half, Clara? The Seer said there should be around sixty useful candidates by the time we finish.”
Clara adjusted her glasses and looked up from the sheet she held and eyed the headmaster of the school cautiously. “I think these two seem interesting. Kira Westburn and this Vera girl. They’re both commoners but the Seer must have put both their profiles in here for a reason.
Lewis teleported to peer over Clara’s shoulder and frowned once he saw the faces on the paper. Squinting, he said, “They both don’t seem that interesting.”
Clara quirked an eyebrow. “There’s still an extra three slots to fill.”
Lewis shrugged and said, “The girl needs skin contact for her to be able to do anything and the powers that Vera have seem a bit too boring.”
Clara started at Lewis. “According to your title, you are the Ruler. Complete control over everything in your domain right? This whole district is part of your domain. Can’t you just teleport us there? It won’t take long. I feel like we should give them both a chance. Apparently, they both used to live in an orphanage, but after turning sixteen, it isn’t the orphanage’s responsibility to take care of them anymore. They’ve had to live without any help in an abandoned house for the last few days.”
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Lewis, the Ruler stared for a moment but conceded to her point. With a bored exhale of breath, he instantly teleported them outside. Their eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness of the night, and Clara scanned their whereabouts before pointing towards one of the houses. “The files say that they live in that house right there.”
The house in question stood out with its worn-out wood and unkempt lawn. Pale flowers faced the pair miserably, and weeds hid the path to the front doors. The lights were on, and the silhouette of a girl could be seen through the closed windows. Clara shrugged. “Guess they’re home. Think we should knock?”
Lewis put out his hand in a ‘stop’ gesture. “Even though they’re weak, we still need to be cautious. Let's set up a barrier first.”
Clara sighed but complied. Yellow energy began to condense in her hand before expanding suddenly and surrounding the street around them in a thin sheet of power. From outside the barrier, the street would look empty and people passing by would feel a sudden urge to go somewhere else. Clara walked up to the door and looked around for a doorbell. Once she realised that there wasn’t one, she knocked.
An irate girl answered the door. Her dark hair was splayed messily across her face, and her cool eyes glared angrily at Clara. “If you’re trying to sell me something, then you can leave.”
She looks a lot older than she did in the picture, Clara noted. She chuckled lightly and raised her hands in mock surrender. “I’m not selling anything. We’re just here to offer you-”
“I’m not interested in joining the Church.”
“This isn’t about the Church we’re-”
Clara faintly noticed Kira’s Gift activating without contact and frowned, pausing her words. Before she could say anything, Kira spoke, “I can feel your bothersome friend over there.”
Clara almost grinned at the look of annoyance on the Ruler’s face. “We’re from the Academy. We–”
“I know what you’re going to say. I’ll attend.”
Clara smiled at Lewis–the Ruler– gleefully. Clara smirked, “Well look at that it–”
The Ruler teleported them both away before Clara could finish her sentence. Kira stared at the place where Clara and her friend stood. “Vera,” she shouted inside the building,” I think we might have a chance out of here.”