Celeste~

"Okay. Jared! Go and get the test dummies!"

He squirmed off at the sound of her orders and returned with a lineup of 5 people. "This line of people are individuals with different levels of Harmea starting from weakest to strongest. Max, go on and step into the box."

The brunette man walked into the glass room and stood in front of me. "Now, what exactly can you do?"

"I can make people see things, like actual objects or people or weather or just anything that isn't actually there. The most I make it last for is usually for about 40 seconds."

"Okay, you may use your power on him."

This use of magic felt totally different. The usual sparks of energy that I feel within when I use that power are not the same as when I use my Harmea power. It comes from the mind, it was like I was sending a direct telepathic signal to the person I was using my power on. Using Harmea powers didn't actually take up any energy unless the person fought back, instead the downfall of it being that you couldn't actually just tap into everyone's mind. It was due to a lot of factors, some people had personal Harmea levels that were weak and very susceptible to being manipulated. Others just simply didn't align with the frequency that I was at and it didn't allow for me to access their mind like I usually could. Our direct powers already came with their niches but Harmea was a totally different ball game. Most didn't bother with the technicalities and just took it for what it was which was just a 50/50 chance of really being able to use those powers properly on people. Now this average went up depending on how strong your Harmea was; some people were more Harmea heavy with having more Harmea power than actual magic. The real kicker was that even those who had weak minds, the ones who could be manipulated so easily may just have strong Harmea power themselves, and do you know what happens when you're already tapped into that psychic link? They can turn their powers on you in an instant through that same like, without even being able to see or hear you.

"I, I see water all around me, like an ocean." This was me using my powers on the weakest one at the highest level. He didn't look as concerned as someone who was now placed in a whole new environment should, but I'm guessing that he's had much practice with this over the years and that my silly water trick was probably the best thing someone has made him see.

"Are you able to be present in here, or are you completely surrounded by ocean?" She asked him. "I'm completely surrounded. This looks like real life." She turned to me.

"How long can you keep this up for?"

"There's no resistance from his mind so as long as I can stay awake for." She grinned.

"Okay then, next person. Keep the imagery the same for consistency." When I let my magic down she waved for him to leave and allowed the next man to come to me. I did the same thing, this time I felt the barriers between his mind and I, but I was able to worm my way through and start my hallucination.

She questioned him. "What do you see?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"I see an ocean, very clear image, feels very real."

"No inconsistency?" Those could be things like gaps in the image or things that made it look less real. The whole point of the power in combat was to distract your enemy and keep them contained and unaware of their real surroundings.

"No, not at all."

"Okay, repeat." I did the same thing with the third person in the line. It was again, more difficult but I did it end the end with no inconsistency.

The fourth woman was a bit of trouble, I had issues first with linking to her mind and then with creating a detailed image. It was about 95% accurate because there were no detrimental faults like actual gaps of real life within the image but it was not as detailed as the previous two. She allowed me to switch the image to something less detailed than the ocean I pictured and I chose a simple dark room which I presented perfectly. She'd also tested my ability to hold onto the link when their mind was fighting back but with the four so far it wasn't that difficult of an effort.

"The next person please."

I attempted to use my Harmea power on this person but I just couldn't reach them. It was cloudy, I couldn't see the straight line it was all complicated. None of us knew if it was because of her and I being incompatible to the mind or if I was just not strong enough to reach her.

"Backup number five! come please." The replacement woman came through the door and stood in her place. "Try again."

I did, this time I was able to see but it was still so hard to touch that link. I struggled and struggled until I found a tiny little opening that I could put my images into. When I did though, I knew that this was it. I could barely formulate a basic image while I was in her mind let alone an ocean. The most she saw was black but she went in and out of that and could see me and everyone else clearly for half of the time.

"Okay, that's the end of the Harmea section. Please note that you and your peers were not given an equal selection of the Harmea power of those who came here today. It is unlikely any of you will be able to compare."

"Yeah, that seems to be a common theme."

"Blue Phoenix does not want anyone to get upset about their result and lose faith, or in other cases lose their tempers. It's better this way, you will all know your result sooner than you think though."

She spoke as if she owned the institution her dammed self. But I guess she was right, with the way people cared about hierarchies, it would be absolute chaos in here if anyone knew how they were placed.

"Yeah I guess you're right."

"Okay, you are done for the initial assessment today. Please enjoy the rest of your day. You may, however, be called at a later date to clear up or explore anything to do with those powers of yours." She cleaned up her table as she readied to leave herself. "Sure thing."

She turned to me once again and spoke, "Oh, and Celeste?"

"Yeah?"

"Work on that confidence of yours, you're gonna need it for the Academy you're going to end up at." She grinned like someone who knew something I didn't, that checked out because she definitely knew something that I didn't, and there wasn't anything I could do about it.

"But it hasn't been decided yet?"

"Number #7 Blue Phoenix, Number #1 at Blue Phoenix, Meh, when you're in the top 10 who even cares." Yeah I didn't really know how to respond to that.

"Well you seem confident."

She giggled. "When you do this job long enough you get a gist for calling what place students rank. Plus, the practitioners are all the rave about your power, they're very intrigued so you'll get bonus points there." She winked at me and all I could do was gawk. What did she mean they were interested in me? For what exactly?

"Um, right. So why exactly are they so interested, they have a lot more notable and powerful people to concern themselves with do they not?" The same glint of amusement shined from her eyes.

"Well of course Celeste, that's why you're so amazing, new blood, fresh meat you know? Especially after that fight with Caspian, everyone wants to know who you're walking out of this place with."