It was an eerie sensation, looking at the woman standing in the middle of the lake, a thought-provoking idea assaulted Oliver's mind. The very same old tales that he had already listened to so many times at church came back from his memories shaped in a strange way.

Of course, he should have made it clear already, that such an act was little in comparison to what he had already seen. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder, how was she able to do it? through which sort of Sympathetic process the water or the female had to go through to be able to perform the miracle? and most importantly... did this mean that Jesus also knew how to use Sympathy? maybe it was just him, who had too much of a curious and unserious type of mind. Maybe it was a completely fair question.

The truth was one no matter the less, he was there to learn that sort of thing, thought Oliver.

— Guys, you're here —

Said a familiar voice from their back. Almost immediately, both America and Oliver turned around.

— I thought you wouldn't make it —

He said smiling behind his glasses, his left eye beneath a lock of hair.

— Park —

Answered America, Oliver searched around with his eyes. There was no sign of Kiki around. He wondered why.

— Look —

Park pointed out with his head, Blackwood kept talking from the center of the Lake.

— As every year, we're happy to welcome a new generation of students, eager to cultivate wisdom, skill, and awareness about this world's dim light —

As she walked calmly toward the crowd, reaching the zenith of her allure, Oliver started to feel dizzy.

— Hey —

Said America

— Are you ok? —

Oliver looked at her, eyes loose and wavy stand.

— Remember what I told you, hold it tight —

Making a gesture to her waist, Oliver remembered the big chunk of wood that he had attached and called a sword. Then he put his hand on top of it and breathing in, activated the Hex. There, something inside the sheath shone.

— Ok —

He said as he remembered running into the woods behind his house at Hollow Creek.

Suddenly a wave of strength filled his body, his muscles got tense and his senses turned so sharp that the light, sound, and crowded area started to bother him.

— Better now? —

Oliver nodded his head, he felt more like himself now.

— For more than three hundred years now, this Academy has taken pride in teaching generation after generation of bright minds, and outgoing people, to go beyond the ordinary and forge stories worthy of living —

The woman kept walking, till her feet, bare and nude, touched the ground gracefully.

— Making no exceptions on Old or New, Fae or Not, Gifted or Worked Through, we take an oath on every new student, a promise for the future, that they may have what is needed to change those stories around them for good —

She said while leading herself into the crowd, which opened a way to let her dive in.

— This journey in which we ship ourselves, of course, isn't free of hardships, fireproofs, and challenges that will put the very fabric of your self, as well as ours, under test, being every new threshold a way into the forge —

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

One by one, the stream of uniforms flowed around her, as she moved to an invisible point in the middle of them. There, surrounded by the look of hundreds, she stopped her speech and gave an eye to everyone in the room.

Big black baggy eyes masked with red and under a long pair of eyelashes lurked into the crowd searching for something. Something more ethereal rather than psychical.

There, as she did it, Oliver could swear she stopped and looked at him for a second.

— A commitment to greatness, that is what you're being called to, a step into the fire, to go from raw potential, to cut edging beings, today and here —

He held his sword firmly, feeling his strength would leave him if he didn't do it.

She raised her hand, smiling to the crowd, and as she did it, Oliver felt how a hand took him by surprise.

— Move! —

Said Park steady from his back.

Suddenly, an explosion of light and heat stole his attention entirely, from the place where Blackwood was a second ago, a big fire the size of a human stood. In the middle of it, the witch, her face distorted by the flames still showed her smile, much more eerie than before.

— S-she just... explode —

Oliver said, letting the surprise pull out the obvious from his lips.

— Well, they did it big this year too —

Answered Park, America looked at him with a mixed bag of feelings.

— Dude, you're so weird —

— Thank you —

He answered as Blackwood came steaming and completely unscathed out of the fire.

— Now fellow students, it is your turn to step in, would you dare? —

She lent along her hand as an invitation, holding everyone's attention.

Then, the same stream made out of chit-chattering, whispers-filled mutter started. First barely perceptible, then so loud that the crowd ran out of silence. Astonishment, Wonder, Disbelief, what was under the scope was no unknown thing, but rather the weakling of fear, doubt itself. There, before Oliver could spill his own thoughts out, America said it first.

— Their doubting —

Oliver looked at her face, she was dead serious now, probably thinking the same thing as him.

— Aren't you too? —

He asked

— I mean, I don't even know how she's able to walk on water, I can't... why should I assume I'd be safe like her if I jumped into the fire? —

America looked at him

— What a good talker you became all of a sudden, what happened before? —

Oliver swallowed

— I... I mean it's logical, she's asking crazy things —

Then, both remain quiet.

— She said there would be fireproofs, last year there was something like this... but it was a cliff instead —

— A cliff? —

Oliver asked

— Yeah, a sort of leap of faith, don't make me remember it —

He stood there filled with questions, and then he thought of asking Park.

— What do you think? —

But when he looked behind, the boy had disappeared.

Instead, he felt the movement around and found him sneaking through the crowd while excusing himself all the way to the fire.

— Holly crap —

Oliver said, reaching America's shoulder.

— Wha... no, he wouldn't —

She answered as soon as she saw him, rolling her eyes up.

— Move! —

She screamed, pushing aside the two students in front of them, a couple of boys a few inches taller than her.

— Wait, what's happening —

Said Oliver, while following her through the crowd.

There, as the three of them moved upfront, the crowd started to shake, nervously inside their uniforms, and the mutter became exalted and filled with contempt. Someone from the front line screamed something, that echoed in the last lines, and when America and Oliver were able to see the fire only a couple of heads from behind, the only thing they could see was Park's back diving into the flames.

A thread of steam he left behind and his silhouette got quickly mixed with the flares. From the outside, the only sign of him was a blurred shadow inside the fire, and the splattering sound of the flames burning something.

At that moment a heavy silence fell under the crowd, like a rain that muted every other sound, dense and hefty, to a point where it became unbearable. Then, weak at first, but growing like the fire did, a sound took over the silence. It was a laugh, it was Park's laughing as he came out of the fire, steaming and unscathed. Blackwood laughed with him.

— Of course, he would —

Said America, smiling in relief next to Oliver. The two of them make their way through the last couple of uniforms and tackle Park as the crowd rumbles in joy.

— You freaking dumbass, why didn't you say a thing! —

Said America

— I want it to do it before everyone else —

Park kept laughing

— That was... something you know —

Said Oliver on his spot, Park saw him with a glimpse of consciousness.

— It should be that way always, yes —

Then, a second silhouette came out of the fire, and while the crowd still celebrated the first one, a third one also did it.

Suddenly, a few lines had taken place next to the fire, and taking turns student after student, everyone was crossing the flares threshold.

The doubtful crowd from the start, had become a sort-of-pagan party, where in between laughs and jumps, courage songs of old were sung and words of cheers shared between fellas.

The welcoming ceremony, as the young, beautiful witch had told, had already started.