(Eve Solaris)

Mayla and I began walking through the long corridors, following the signs that marked the way towards the first selection process: Mana Control.

“Man, you really laid him out, huh?”

“He had it coming.” I said with a snort. ”It’s what he gets for underestimating me.”

“More like being a dick. Hey, at least you can live with knowing you saved that kid’s life.”

“I didn’t even do it for the kid, I just hate people like that, that’s all.”

“Hmmm? Well, I get you. Although I prefer not to get involved. Draws too much attention; something I don’t need right now.”

I eyed her a bit, still curious as to who she really was. There was something about her that just didn’t sit right with me. Not to mention, she said she wanted to be different… Different in what way?

We reached the end of the hallway where a large archway marked “Section D” awaited us in front. The area was massive in size. The building itself was almost like a stadium of sorts; a domed roof above us, multiple entrances flanking me on either side, a large, flat, elevated surface infront of us, and a podium on the opposite side from me.

There were individual areas for each of us to stand in on the flat surface as well, most likely to separate us. There was enough space in between every section to fit an entire food-stand you see walking down the market area.

‘To think this was just for Group D…’

I walked up a small set of stairs onto the elevated surface and then to the closest open area I saw before awaiting further instructions.

Mayla had chosen to wait a little before picking somewhere to stand. Eventually, she made her way to an open spot a bit of ways to my left. I cursed in my head at this, wanting to see her mana control up close.

Before long, a light began to shine where the podium stood.

“Welcome, all, to the first part of this year’s selections! My name is Mara Slade or, more notably, the Third Paladin! It is a pleasure to see each and every one of you here today.”

Chatter and awe began to resound from individuals all around me. The only Paladin I knew of was Kalan, however he never told me where he fell in the ranking.

“I want to thank you all for your interest in joining the Church. Whether that be for a place to belong, a way to grow stronger, or a way to protect the ones you love, all are welcome within the Church!”

“That being said, however, the Church is as competitive and challenging as ever. Only the best and most witted will make it through to the second phase, let alone actually be allowed into the Church’s ranks.”

“As you may all know, the early selections phase has already come to a close and those of the early selections have been given priority in the selections. As such, the normal selections are almost twice as competitive, marking only half of the individuals able to make it to the second phase.”

Looking back, I am a bit annoyed that I couldn’t participate in the early selections, despite the fact that I’d undoubtedly failed.

“Do not let this discourage you, however! I pray for all of you to perform your best and I wish to see you all one day as one of us.”

“Now, to today’s exam.”

As she said this, attendants began coming through the rows of individuals, laying out four pairs of different colored orbs slightly bigger than one’s fist.

“As you can all see, there are eight total orbs currently in front of you. Each orb’s color is correspondent to one of the four basic mana types. Please, pick two orbs; one of whichever mana you feel most akin to and its respective counterpart.” she said, doing the same with two orbs in front of her..

“As a refresher, hydro and fire are opposites while gale and earth are opposites.”

I, along with many others, followed suit, grabbing two of the eight orbs in front of us.

“After choosing two orbs, you will then be tasked with a very simple yet arduous task. That said task is to infuse both orbs with your mana.” She then began to infuse the orbs with her mana. We watched as the orbs began to glow brighter and brighter until they were shining fiercely with a brilliant light.”

“Once the orbs begin to shine as bright as mine, you’ll know you’ve completed this exam. Pretty simple, no? The catch, however, is that all orbs can only take a set amount of mana at a time. If the incoming mana exceeds that threshold, the orb will break and you will have to restart with the second orb of the same color.”

“If you break both orbs of the same color, you can try your skill at the other two colored orbs. If you succeed in infusing one of the orbs to its capacity but fail to infuse the opposite color both times, in turn shattering them, you must forfeit the color you succeeded in and attempt to infuse the other two colors instead.”

“If you fail to infuse two opposite orbs with your mana, you will have failed this part of the selections. Failing this part does not mean you’re automatically disqualified, however it does mean you’ll have to overshadow that with your efforts in the two other upcoming parts.”

“Once you’ve either passed or failed, feel free to either wait in the waiting areas around the room or head to the activity and banquet hall that we have prepared for all participants of the selections.”

“Now! Please, begin the exam! I wish you all the best of luck!” With that, she disappeared in a flash of light.

The sight was almost surreal. Seeing her just up and vanish was almost unforgettable to all who witnessed it.

After a short while, all of the contestants began to break out of the trance we had been put in. I could feel the mana around me begin to swirl and build with all the individuals attempting to infuse their orbs with their mana.

I began infusing the orb I felt the most comfortable with: gale.

To be honest, it wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be. The orb sucked in my mana almost greedily, beckoning me to keep infusing more and more mana into it. Not too long after starting, the orb began to shine a brilliant greenish-blue hue. After completing the first orb with such ease, I started on the second orb.

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The second orb felt like an uphill battle, completely unlike the previous one. The previous orb could be described as a constant flow or a fierce gust of wind eagerly traveling in a specific direction: into the orb. This orb, however, felt as if I was sending my mana into a wall, or rather a solid sphere within. I was stumped to say the least.

Time passed and individuals seemingly began leaving left and right, walking to the waiting area.

I, however, was still stuck on even getting the orb to even accept my mana. I tried inputting mana at different rates, changing the amount of mana I was inputting at a time, where I put the mana in from, and even tried using both hands to input mana. Nothing seemed to work.

‘Ughhhhh! This is so annoying. Why won’t this work!’ I thought, recalling my mana.

‘I don’t understand what it is I need to do. It should be as simple as giving the orb my mana, but I seemingly can’t even do that.’

No matter how I looked at it, nothing seemed to add up. All around me, individuals were moving on as if this was a piece of cake, yet I had no idea where to even start.

‘If the opposite of gale is earth, maybe the process itself is opposite to that of gale.’

That was easier said than done, however, as the opposite process wasn’t exactly something so straight forward.

I sat down for a bit trying to think of a different way at approaching this before remembering something Ryla had taught me.

Back when I first learned about my affinity, she explained to me how the elements and the ability to manipulate them was dependent on how “physical” the elements were. For example, gale was the easiest to manipulate, but the hardest to manifest into a physical form because it lacked a physical form to begin with.

She then said that next came hydro and then finally earth. Earth was the hardest to manipulate, but the easiest to give shape with as it already had a physical shape to begin with.

With this in mind, an epiphany occurred to me. All this time I had been trying to urge the mana through the seemingly solid sphere, when trying to shove something through a physical object was pointless.

I then began channeling mana back into the orb. Instead of trying to move my mana through the sphere, I instead began wrapping my mana around it, effectively coating the object within. It was then that the orb began to glow, albeit with only a gentle hue.

I was close but not done.

I then urged my mana to attach to every bit and piece of the object within before forcefully trying to reshape it. This, however, worked only for a split second before cracking the orb and shattering it.

‘Ermmm…’

I took a deep breath before releasing it. I then picked up the second orb and tried the same process again, however this time, instead of forcefully trying to reshape the object inside, I took it slow and tried to mold it gently with my mana.

I slowly manipulated the object to change its shape so that some of it would jut out of the sides, leaving for a bit of it in a different place to expose the inside of itself. It was then that I saw it: a core.

I quickly infused my mana into the core and watched as the orb began to glow a brilliant light as its opposite counterpart.

“Haha, I did it!” I said more to myself than to anyone.

I placed the orb back down next to its counterpart and made my way to the waiting area.

I looked around to where Mayla was previously at, only to see she wasn’t there. I then looked around the waiting room, but saw no trace of her.

‘Figures. I guess I was a bit slow on the uptake. I’m sure I’ll find her in the lounge’ I thought as I began walking towards the familiar corridor I had come through.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I approached a set of wooden doors that seemed bigger than any one man would ever need. I opened the doors and slowly scanned the room. What awaited me, however, was a large, open area that had been littered with food and drinks of all kinds. There were many places to sit and chat with friends as well as a door that led to a hallway, connecting to another area.

It was very much like the waiting area Group D had been set in, but much bigger and more places to lounge around in.

I tried looking for any signs of Mayla, until eventually I found her sitting in a corner staring at the ceiling. I began making my way towards her, slightly curious as to what she was thinking about.

“Hey Mayla, I saw you finished quite fast.”

“Yeah… after all it’s all I’m good at according to my… ah nevermind that, anyway how did you do?” Mayla asked, as she brought her head back down to meet my eyes.

“Well I can’t reveal everything to you, after all we are competing against each other.” I said with a sly smile.

“Ah, c’monnnnn, you know you wannaaaaaa.”

She gave me these odd yet somewhat cute and childish puppy eyes that almost made me want to tell her.

Before I could say anymore, however, I heard a bunch of footsteps going down the hallway.

I turned and watched some people from Group D as well making their way to the other area.

“Hey Mayla, do you know where they’re going?”

“Sparring more than likely. It seems your little stunt earlier has improved the courage of those participating.”

“That wasn’t my intention, but at least I was able to loosen them up a bit…”

I thought a bit before continuing.

“Would you like to go watch with me?”

“I don’t see why not, it would beat just sitting around here anyway.”

As Mayla and I arrived at the area where everyone was sparring, I took in the sight that was laid out in front of us.

Two rows of five stone square training areas, more than likely each around a fifth of the size of the lounge area, filled the area with two sets of stone stairs leading up to each one from opposite sides.

Wanting to keep my abilities a secret I decided to take a seat on one of the many bleachers to the sides of the stone training areas, Mayla following shortly behind me.

I surveyed the many spars going on around me and watched the many different types of affinities at work.

From water to fire to earth, It was quite the sight to see. There was one participant that was really catching my eye, however.

It was, from what I could tell, a boy wearing a light brown cloak and a hood to cover his head. He was more than likely no taller than I with a very slender build. What stood out, however, was that he was practically dismantling everyone who came to face him. What was more impressive was that he seemed to be doing it without using any mana sort of mana.

‘Now this might be worth getting involved in.’ I thought to myself as I stood up and started to walk towards the area he was in.

As soon as I stepped up the stairs and onto the stone platform, golden markings that encased the perimeter of the area began to glow a brilliant yellow, followed by a translucent barrier that was erected from the edges of the arena.

As I got closer to him, we locked eyes for the first time, and I saw a small smirk appear on his face. His bright green eyes seemed to pierce me on sight.

“Silver hair, one eye that’s violet and another that’s gold. You must be that one girl who made such a show in Group D.”

“Your guess would be correct, although it was not my intention.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, may I ask your name?”

“Eve, and yours?”

“Ah Eve, what a fine name. My name is Amadar.”

“I see, nice to meet you as well. So, care to tell me if you’re defeating all those opponents without using your mana, or are you just good at hiding it?”

I watched as a wide grin appeared on his face before he answered me. “Why not find out for yourself?”

“As you wish.” I replied with a small smirk, as I got myself ready, coating myself in a light layer of wind, almost unnoticeable unless you were specifically looking for it.

Before he could get ready I dashed towards him, putting my affinity into my legs to increase my movement speed, bringing me in front of him within seconds.

I looked at his face as his eyes widened in shock at just how quickly I had closed the distance. I tried to bring down the same kick I had used to knock out the other kid, but he raised his arms just barely in time to block it, sending him skidding backwards.

Deciding not to give him any time to recover, I immediately moved again to bring myself behind him this time and went for a spinning roundhouse kick, but felt my leg connect with nothing but the air.

He had vanished from my sight seemingly in an instant.

I looked all around trying to find where he had disappeared to, then I realized there was only place he could have gone.

As I looked up, I saw him quickly descending down towards me with his fist out only a few feet away.

I quickly side stepped his punch, using extra mana in my legs to increase my movement ability, but I still only barely dodged as I felt the wind from his punch as his fist narrowly missed by a few inches past my face.

I quickly turned around and shot a blast of wind magic at him as I jumped back which sent him skidding backwards a few feet, putting some decent distance between us.

“You’re not bad.” I called out to him as he lowered his arms from defending against the wind blast.

“You’re quite good yourself, Eve. However I believe it’s time I step it up a notch.”

“What do you me….?” I started to ask, but then I saw lightning starting to tendril up and down his arms, as his power grew way past what he’d been giving off earlier.

‘He can use lightning?!’ Was all I could think.

“Now Eve, let’s begin round tw-.”

Before he could finish, a bell rang throughout the lounge and arena area followed by the voice of a different person that I didn’t recognize.

“Good evening, participants! I hope you all have had your fair share of relaxation and chatter. The Church has graciously arranged a room for each and every one of you to stay in for the upcoming days during your participation. Please, go to your groups’ respective waiting area and await further instruction!”

The sound of the announcer's voice receded into the noise of silent chatter not before long.

“Well, it looks like we’ll have to continue this another time.” Said Amadar as he recalled his mana back into him.

“And it was just about to get better,” he added.

“You can use lightning?” I said, still shocked at this revelation.

“Ah, that’s a secret.” He said with a sly smile before walking off the arena.

‘Amadar, huh?’ I thought to myself.

“I’ll be looking forward to that.” I said before following shortly after him.