“Mr. Kaiser, what do you think you are doing?”
A powerful voice permeates the area. Jalen can feel his ears ringing from being too close to whoever is yelling.
Jalen turns around and he can feel his heart drop to the bottom of his chest. A man with a large scar going from the top of his forward that flows down to under his shirt is scowling at Jalen as the confused chemist sits on the ground baffled.
‘Mr. Crandel, better known as the hard ass of Herald Academy! I always tried my best to stay out of his view, how am I already on his shit list?!’
‘Better yet, what happened? Am I inside the game? I feel the intensity of the sun on my face. Or is this from embarrassment?’
“Get up Mr. Kaiser! You are expected to finish your aptitude test, even if you try to pass out from forcing yourself to bleed.”
Jalen’s mind tries to come up with an answer from the situation, but since he can feel the tenseness of the crowd around him Jalen obliges to the command given to him.
“I apologize, Mr. Crandel, I don’t know what came over me.”
Mr. Crandel finally stops scowling so intensely and even smiles a bit after Jalen’s placating words. Mr. Crandel is an easy man to upset and an easy one to please. If you do not follow his orders or treat him with respect, he will make your life a living hell. Luckily, if you just follow the rules, Mr. Crandel for the most part will leave you alone.
‘Also, are they calling me by my in-game name?’
A glistening knife lays on the table in front of Jalen as he continues to fully grasp what exactly has transpired. Picking up the knife, Jalen swiftly slices it across his palm, drawing the blood out from under the skin.
This was a mistake.
Jalen’s character has done this many times within the game, but what Jalen forgot was that this might not be a game and following the blood came the worst feeling ever.
Searing pain.
Jalen grits his teeth from the unexpected pain and his hand shakes intensely after slicing itself. Instead of the bright red blood that most humans are used to, Jalen’s blood looks to be a dull grey color.
Mr. Crandel slightly tilts his head in curiosity when he sees a Curia that he doesn’t know, but the older man just simply waits to hear what the Curia Testing Orb has to say before jumping to any conclusion.
Dripping his blood onto the white orb, Jalen waits with bated breath.
A quick lesson on Curia. Most games or fantasy worlds have Mana, Ki, Energy, etc. The World of Darandia is a little unique as it has Curia. Curia is the attribute bestowed unto one's blood when they are born. If someone is born with the ‘Fire Curia’, then their blood is literally on fire. If they bleed, then their blood will put off intense heat and can even catch flammable things on fire. Curia itself can have many different types of attributes. There are Curia types that revolve around the elements like Fire, Ice, and Water. There are also Curia types that revolve around ideas, like Happiness Curia and Depression Curia. There are even what are called Reality Changing Curia. These Curia’s are extremely rare and guarantee a bright future in whatever one wishes to accomplish. An example of Reality Changing Curia is Death Curia, Miracle Curia, and the Curia that has ruined Jalen’s campaign the most, Omega Fire Curia.
Essentially, the Curia you are born with can help determine your fate in how far you make it in the world. In the game, you can spend points to determine your Curia, but Jalen didn’t get this choice.
As the Curia drips on the bright white orb, the orb pulsates for a few seconds. It then lets out a high-pitched squeal and glows yellow.
Mr. Crandel’s eyes go wide and his face once again is flushed with anger.
“This is why you refused the test! Your Curia is unmarked, a symbol of you being a foreigner! Guards, grab this man and bring him to Camilla!”
Jalen falls to his knees when hearing the results. Herald Academy is only for residents of the Herald Empire, and if he truly was a foreigner… That would spell a lot of trouble for him.
Questions would arise, like how did he make it into the capital in the first place, or how did he get an invitation to the academy in the first place.
‘I have to meet the second most horrifying woman in this academy within my first hour here… And not under neutral terms, but instead hostile ones. Fuck my life.’
Guards surround Jalen and grab him by the arms, dragging him away from the Curia Test.
****Several Hours Later****
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
A melodic voice rings out, one that does not match the theme of the room.
“So let me get this straight.”
The woman speaking is none other than Camilla. She is the Spy Master of the Herald Empire and right-hand woman to none other than Empress Herald herself.
“You say you were an orphan that travelled around from city to city, doing whatever work you could do for food. Are you then implying that an invitation to the academy appeared in front of you and you decided to make your way towards the capital?”
Jalen kept his mouth shut. His shirt is entirely soaked in sweat from the intense interrogation from Camilla. The third scariest part about this woman was her Curia. Camilla was born with the Truth Curia and can tell when someone is telling the truth. This led to Jalen having to think for over a minute with each sentence he said.
‘I can’t just come out and say I came from another world! I also can’t say I’m from here! I am possibly screwed at this point.’
The situation was looking dire as each second passed. Camilla was not letting up in her interrogation.
Now came in the second scariest part about Camilla, which was her devilish charms. Jalen remembers the in-game lore dialogue that is used to describe Camilla the first time you meet her.
“Her long silver hair feels exotic to everyone who glances at it. Her bright red lips and seductive smile were once enough to topple over rebellions as she used her charms to pacify any nay-sayers to the Empress. Her body had all the curves in the right places, and she showed it off too, wearing the tightest dress she could.”
Looking back on it, Jalen was never too interested in her character as he wasn’t a ‘Waifu’ type, but now he understands what the game was getting at. It was one hundred percent correct in everything stated.
Jalen is trying his best to not directly stare at Camilla with a fear of getting enchanted, while also trying to keep his mind straight and formulate an answer that will not immediately oust him. Camilla was having none of it.
A loud slam on the wooden table makes Jalen nearly jump straight out of the chair he is sitting in. The sweat continues to pour as Camilla’s stare tries to pry into Jalen’s soul.
Here is the final, and scariest part of Camilla, which is her twisted personality.
“Listen here you little shit. If you don’t start answering me, I’ll start using this.”
A knife is brought into Jalen’s view and he quickly recognizes that the dagger has runes on it. Jalen studied some of the runes within the game, and realizes that one of the runes on the dagger reads ‘enhanced suffering’.
Camilla is a very sadistic woman and is not afraid of using violence to get results. Who would dare arrest her if she went too far? She is basically the head of the FBI in this world, and no one except the Empress could challenge her authority. Jalen finally decides to try his best and get out of this situation as fast as possible, before the knife actually gets used.
“Okay, I am not from any of the surrounding empires!”
Jalen's sudden shout of admission causes Camilla to freeze for a second, but a satisfied nods follows.
“Good. Now, what did you do before coming to the academy? And none of that not answering bullshit, or I’ll start slicing.”
‘Damnit! What am I supposed to say from that? Say I mixed chemicals together to create new things?!'
...
'Wait, that could actually work.’
Taking in a deep breath, Jalen prepares himself to create a complicated, but not too far from the truth story.
“I studied all my life to become what’s called a Chemist. A Chemist is a simpler version of Alchemy because I could never find someone who could actually teach me Alchemy. That is when recently I got a message from someone asking if I could be a good Alchemist. I responded by saying I would be the greatest Alchemist of all time. After that, I came here, hoping to find someone to teach me Alchemy!”
Towards the end, Jalen unintentionally started yelling out of panic as his brain was working too fast to create a believable story. Heavy breaths escape Jalen’s body as a wave of fatigue washes over him. Camilla slowly puts the dagger down with narrowed eyes that never stop staring at Jalen’s face.
“Hmm. That doesn’t explain how you got an invitation.”
Jalen curses in his head as he literally has no way to explain that. He simply showed up on the ground during the Curia Test and doesn’t know how he got there.
“However, that doesn’t matter. I since no Ill will from you, nor do you lie when you say you are not from other kingdoms. Why you will not directly claim residency here, I do not care. Everyone has reasons to possibly resent this place and I’m sure you have had many hardships Mr. Kaiser.”
Jalen relaxes back in his chair as he can feel all of his worries involving dying this immediate instant washing away. His tired eyes lock with Camilla’s unrelenting gaze.
“So, am I free to go.”
There is a pause, and suddenly Camilla starts laughing hysterically.
“It seems that you misunderstand something Mr. Kaiser. Since you are an orphan and you have never legally been registered, we must complete that process. On top of that, since you have an unregistered Curia, we must complete test on you until we can figure out how it broke the Curia Testing Orb.”
Jalen is stunned at Camilla’s last words.
“It… Broke the Curia Testing Orb?”
“Oh yes, it did. Everyone who tested after you came up with the same results. We initially interrogated 3 other people alongside you till we realized your Curia simply broke the device. Oh, you will have to pay for that eventually.”
“And how much will that cost?”
“About 5000 Star Coins.”
Jalen feels another headache already rising at the thought of paying off 5000 Star Coins. 1 Star Coin was worth around $10, so 5000 was about half a million USD.
“Don’t worry about that for not, we gotta start testing your blood so we can get you out of here before dark.”
Camilla has a sadistic smile plastered across her face as she brings her dagger back into view.
“Wait wait wait wait wait. You said if I answered my questions, you wouldn’t use that thing.”
Jalen tries to plead his case as Camilla draws closer with her knife.
“Now Mr. Kaiser… How else am I supposed to draw out your blood?”
“No… No… NOOOOOOO!”
A scream echoes throughout the dungeons under the Herald Academy. Luckily, Jalen doesn’t seem to be in any more threat of his life within his first day in the Herald Academy.