Today was the day, and Dorian couldn’t be more excited. He was positively bouncing with energy and anticipation; literally he was bouncing on the balls of his feet in front of a guard who just gave him a knowing smile. He watched the boy for a few minutes waiting for him to calm down. Then he waited a few more minutes… and a few more. The kid had a lot of pent-up energy, apparently.
“Listen kid, it won’t go any faster because you’re bouncing on your feet. It’s better to just relax, center yourself,” he bent a little to meet Dorian’s eyes. He was sixteen and currently in his growth spurt, but this guard was easily a head or two taller than him. “it’s a test, no one fails, true,” he continued with Dorian’s full attention “but the slightest hesitation at the wrong moment could change your future drastically”.
Dorian gulped and looked at the guards’ feet nervously, stopping his bouncing, “What is… what do I do in there”?
“No one knows really, every test is different, but it’s usually a series of general things.” He stood straight and started to scratch his chin while he remembered his own Focusing. “I had been an athlete in primary so I think it tested me more on my mental capability instead of that, it reads you and finds your deficiencies, matching you to a Focus that will help all of you grow and not just what you’re strong at”. He pursed his lips and looked at Dorian, “Well, that’s what people think at least”.
“Great,” Dorian mumbled “I’m not good at anything… can I get a Focus that helps me do… everything?” He looked at the guard hopefully, the end of his sentence he said with emphasis.
“Everyone is good at something; you may not see it now but after your test you should have a better idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are”. He reached out a hand and put it on Dorian’s shoulder reassuringly, “just relax, you CAN’T fail, there is no time limit, just keep it slow, think everything through, don’t rush through words, make sure you understand the writing and its meaning completely… if you have to read anything, I mean”.
“I, uh, ok, thank you I’ll try and remember that.” The guard smiled, looking excited for Dorian and a little proud at calming him down.
“That’s the attitude!” he reached out a hand “my name is Guardsman Elliot Red, don’t forget me when you’re a top climber!” he laughed jovially, “I don’t want to be a guard forever, this is just temporary, that’s what they told me a couple months back.” The smile he gave now was a little less wide than the other.
Too young and distracted to pick up on it, Dorian just acted normally, “I don’t know about a top climber but, I won’t forget you, Elliot. I’m Dorian Feldayne,” before Dorian could continue his introduction the guardsman squealed in an extremely childish way.
“Feldayne like The Feldayne Bakery? I LOVE that place, are you part of that family?” all traces of sadness gone from his eyes. Dorian didn’t realize how much he needed this guardsman, he took his mind off the test, made him laugh, he was helping him more than he realized – maybe that’s why they kept him here, they recognized his talent.
“Yeah, my parents own it, my Ma specializes in sweets and my Pop makes the best bread on the continent”. Elliot looked at him with extreme jealousy, was that drool in the corners of his mouth?
“How are you not fat?” most people might find the question a little weird, but Dorian got it all the time, he laughed at it and told him the truth. He worked for them, moving boxes and bags of flour, trays of breads and cakes, Elliot couldn’t believe how much a cake could weigh when Dorian told him of some of the larger ones they’d made for special occasions.
Dorian stopped for a moment to think about how weird it was for him to be so casual with someone he’d just met. He wasn’t a social kid really; he had a few friends he liked and didn’t really pursue more. He wasn’t awkward or weird, he just didn’t like the hassle of trying to tiptoe around new people figuring out what they did and didn’t like.
The friends he did have, though, kept him pretty active. If it were up to him, he would sit inside all day and play games when he wasn’t working. He loved to learn about fantasy lore, worlds created by others, the different creatures, loot, there was so much to learn. With the emergence of the Towers this knowledge became more mainstream because of the fact that these horrors, ancient ruins and maps, treasure, it was all real now and literature
He played video games, board games, read books, and trolled the internet; when he got into one of those dark holes of web searching where he was up until four a.m. the only people that could stop him were his two best friends or his family. When he wasn’t focused on one thing his mind ran a million miles a minute. One voice spitting all of his thoughts at him like he wasn’t currently thinking them, another voice telling that other voice to shut up, a third trying to block out the song currently stuck in his head.
The hours of reading and learning about what he loved paired with the simple act of being near his friends distracted him enough to keep him in the now. He did, however, complain when they dragged him outside to do something along the lines of training. They wanted to be top climbers, so they trained for it… and they brought him along. More like forced him if he had to be honest. He wasn’t sure why they liked him so much; he was kind of unmotivated… ok a lot of unmotivated but, he could admit that when he was doing something he enjoyed he gave it his all and then some.
He always thought that one of the reasons he didn’t play sports more seriously was because he gave his all… all the time. In practices when coaches would say half speed, he was not going half speed. He loved winning, LOVED winning, when he couldn’t win or was told to not give his all, he avoided it. Not a great outlook on life he admitted openly, but it was the way he was.
“Dorian, you’re up man, snap out of it.” Dorian heard something but was thinking about the time he broke his foot playing basketball because he refused to back down from people much better than him. That’s the fastest way to get better, playing against people much more skilled than you. “Dorian,” something touched Dorian’s shoulder and he jumped, shaking his head. He focused on Elliot who smiled at him and repeated what he said, “it’s time, man”. All the nerves rushed back, and Dorian’s mouth filled with saliva.
“Where can I throw up?” he said as his face paled. Elliot laughed but pointed over at a trashcan near the wall. Much to his dismay, Dorian threw up right there on his boots. Elliot closed his eyes and flattened his mouth into very thin line. “I’m.. I’m sorry Elliot.” He said meekly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“It’s alright, you just got my boots,” he said as he shook some of Dorian’s breakfast off without looking at it. “Now get in there and when you’re done give me some bread to make up for this.” He nodded down without looking down, then he thumbed at the bathroom. “Good luck, Dorian, I’ll be here when you’re out, of course”. Another forced laugh that Dorian didn’t pick up on. In the bathroom he washed his mouth out with some water a few times then rubbed water on his face. He stared at the sink, the anticipation still making his stomach broil.
Back outside the bathroom, Elliot had called for a janitor and when the janitor came in, they started talking. “Another one didn’t make it to the trash can?” he asked as the mop cart rolled squeakily.
“They almost never do.” Elliot lifted his boot to show the sick on it.
“Maybe we should move it closer.” He laughed, the mop bucket squeaking ever closer. Dorian emerged from the bathroom to sounds of laughter, but he didn’t know why they laughed, he saw the janitor though and assumed it was something about him.
“I’ll just go in, then.” He moved for the door when Elliot called out to him and wished him luck one more time, the janitor giggled as he used the mop to clean off Elliot's boots when he had turned away. Dorian pulled his gaze away and stared at the door; it looked like it would be heavy, but it swung open as easily as a hinge door from a cowboy movie. Through the doorway was just a stone hallway, nothing ominous or dangerous looking about it but Dorian was nervous all the same. Steeling himself, he took two steps over the threshold and the door closed behind him as if it were on a, well, on a hinge.
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The lights didn’t change, the door didn’t lock forebodingly with a thunk, it was just a dim hallway that went one way, straight, so, Dorian went straight. After a few minutes the hallway opened into an equally plain room with a little more light than the hall had had. There was nothing in the room except a plain looking bed. A sanded down, brown, wooden frame, thin mattress, white sheets that looked freshly cleaned, and a single pillow. Dorian was extremely confused; he looked around the room trying to see anything to indicate a direction he should go. There was nothing in the room except a bed and walls.
He grunted and lifted an eyebrow as he thought. Obviously, he was supposed to lay down, but… why? Did he need rest before the test? He smiled at the rhyme he’d made unintentionally before returning to the previous train of thought. “I guess I just have to take a nap…”. If he was being totally honest, he wasn’t that mad about it. He felt crappy still and laying down might be nice, if the test came and he had to run or something he would most likely throw up again. He walked over to the bed slowly moving the pillow, then the sheets, and finally knocking on the frame to see if there were any surprises or traps. He found none for he took off his sneakers and laid down in the bed.
Dorian had laid down and faded immediately, not fell asleep, faded away like smoke drifting into the wind. He didn’t feel tired; he hadn’t even shifted positions to get comfortable before he was just out. He opened his eyes and knew he wasn’t on the bed anymore because the ground was hard, no sign of the bed he was on previously. He also noticed that he no longer felt sick, so that was a plus. He was trying to figure out what had happened when he realized the fact he was on the floor; which meant someone came in and moved him as he slept, or passed out? He wasn’t sure.
He stood up and looked around, immediately noticing the tables filled with objects on them, the tables surrounded him and the items themselves looked to be completely random, nothing alike about them in the slightest. He realized pretty quickly that there were Focuses. Each item was unique and correlated to a different power or ability that was chosen for the tester, it looked like Dorian had a plethora to choose from. This room was supposed to give everyone their first Focus which was formed for the user so perfectly it would start with a 100% bond rate compared to future Focuses that couldn’t match that until the owner used it enough to increase the bond. Even then a non-natural Focus could get maybe 80% mastery. These Focuses could range from weapons and jewelry to mundane objects like a coil of rope and… was that a cup of water?
He was slowly looking at the objects as he walked closer seeing each item in detail. There were no descriptions but instinctively he had a general idea of what each did when he looked at them. It was an odd feeling, like scrolling over an item in a video game; he had the knowledge when he saw it, but it went away went he focused on something else. The water was… amazing… in the video game world it would be labelled as overpowered in an instant.
When you drank the water, it melded into your body and let you use water in a certain area around you as a weapon. Dorian’s jaw dropped at this, and he almost reached out to grab it when another bit of info mentally jumped out at him. When he chose one, he could test the powers out and decide, at the end, which he wanted. He thought he would take a test and then a Focus would just appear, he didn’t know he’d get options, he'd never heard anything about that before. The smile that Dorian grew was so wide the tops of his cheeks crept into his vision. It was going to be a long test, and not like the ones in primary school, it was one he was going to enjoy very much.
Dorian didn’t lose track of time; he lost all concept of time when he first started testing. The water he tested first was powerful but after the little beams he made passed a certain distance from him they fell apart pretty quickly, there weren’t any bodies of water to jump in, but he was sure he could water walk or breath underwater with it. He created and carried out basic tests anyone would try and then outlandish ones that most people wouldn’t even think of.
He held rocks and created a quickly spinning vortex to erode it down, the rocks in the water he couldn’t control but if he made the water hold onto them he could whip it and throw them like shotgun pellets. The water was put on his list of maybes, but he had found other amazing Focuses and started trying them as well. A shield with absorb and release capability, he could smash it against a wall and use that as a secret surprise before absorbing something stronger; he would have to learn to use a shield though. The rope on the table extended and retracted on its own and was extremely durable.
The strength of Focuses like jewelry that granted things like night vision, stat boosts, and shields weren’t really calculable until you had a Focus that measured it; then you could see a set of numbers to track your progress. How much damage your barrier could take, you state ranges, things of that nature. Skin hardening rings and amulets, elemental control items like the water, a necklace that gave him a powerful sonic attack almost got him before he saw another table in the back with only four items on it. He didn’t know why he hadn’t seen it before; he just knew he hadn’t found anything he wanted yet, he hadn’t found or seen anything that called to him. Everything he heard and read said the Focus would match the person, it would choose them, so why did he have so many. "I'm not good at anything so I need something that does everything" he remembered saying that to Elliot, he hadn't found anything that would let him do it all.
He had tried easily fifty different powers and liked some of them but didn’t feel connected to any of them. He didn’t really have a path he thought about following except helping his friends; so, these minimal range powers that he wouldn’t be able to cover them with wouldn’t work. It was as he thought this that he saw the newest table; with a slight inaudible call it pulled Dorian toward it. It was like waking up to freshly baked goods, the smell practically carried you to the confections, this was like being slowly dragged toward power.
There were four items, a pair of void black, glass-looking, eyeball size orbs, a ball of what looked like yarn, a horn, and a black box maybe two feet in length. These items, when he looked at them, did tell him what they did but not in the same way as the others. These items were different, special, he knew that if he chose one that would be it, he couldn’t test them he could only choose one. These Focuses were powerful, different than all the rest, they would bond themselves so deeply into the host you wouldn’t be able to remove them. It was common knowledge that someone could use as many Focuses as they wanted as long as they were compatible, and they couldn’t be in the same place as another Focus. With a larger Focus so deeply rooted into someone the use of other Focuses was basically impossible.
He focused on each item taking in their powers and descriptions, reading each word very carefully. The orbs were… eyes. They would be his new eyes and with them he would have the power to use any shadow he looked at as a spear. The possibilities were endless, defense, support, offense; he could instantly think of a dozen ways for each with this power. The limitations though… if he couldn’t see, if someone used light and got rid of the shadow… he could find solutions to these problems, but he kept it at the fourth spot for now.
The yarn was extremely strong wire that would merge with his body and let him use it however he wished. This was hands down better than the eyes in Dorian’s opinion, that same number of options with way less drawbacks. He could think of drawbacks but without more details he wouldn’t know if those were the only ones or if they were things he wouldn’t have to worry about.
The horn would let him summon animals and monsters. This was also very cool, but he put it in the third spot under the eyes. He would need to bond with the animals, it would take time to call them, they would need to be there to actually help him so if someone stopped him from summoning… he wouldn’t choose that one. He also couldn’t have an animal he loved get hurt or die in front of him. When his childhood cat died, he was inconsolable for a week.
The box wasn’t open, and he didn’t know where the items inside would go on him but the powers it said it would give him were definitely the best out of the four. Barriers. Whatever was in the box would let him create and manipulate barriers, he didn’t know if they were translucent, how big they were, anything about them except he could create them. Even if the barriers were the size of his hand the uses were literally endless. Armor, traps, attacks, support, he could do absolutely anything. He picked it before realizing he picked it.
The box opened up and bones flowed out of it shifting into the shape of a humanoid skeleton. Some kind of magic fuckery had to be happening because the box was definitely not big enough to hold all of those. Dorian watched, transfixed by the runes carving themselves onto the bones. They started to glow red hot and etched themselves into the pale-yellow leaving behind intrinsic black lines. Then, Dorian was lifted into the air by some invisible force, his arms and legs were pulled apart and he floated in the air in an X. He went from excited to extremely panicked so fast he got whiplash. “Hey, whoa! Hold on, what’s going on…” the bones started floating toward him and he tried to struggle against the immovable force holding him.
He tried so hard to move even the slightest bit, but he didn’t shift even a single iota. “STOP!” he screamed “Help me! ELLIOT!!” he screamed for his parents, Gods he didn’t really believe in, imaginary friends that had faded away years ago. Fourteen years of primary school, one of “discovery” and now in his sixteenth year he was going to die, alone, in the testing chamber. As far as he knew he would be the first to die in the chamber, he'd be remembered forever - he pulled his thoughts back to the present and screamed again.