Warded bag? Check.

Blood-inscribed spirit rod? Check.

Shield ring? Check.

Sanity? Well, that’s still to be determined.

Haru checked his equipment one last time as he stood in a large room with the rest of his class that had passed the final fifth-year trial, all one hundred of them. It wasn’t that much different from the aether dens they’d used to train with mana; large, circular, covered in runes, had a large vent drilled in the center of the room, the typical dungeon venting system. The big difference between this room and the endless aether dens Haru had visited over the past five years was the large, rune-encrusted, glowing door at the other side of the room that led to the academy’s private dungeon.

Without exception, they’d been through the Mists and back more than once training for this moment, training for the Day of Blood— Graduation and Branding day, the single most important make-or-break day in the life of an Ektos mage hopeful.

Without exception, the recruits were dressed in a tight, but not too tightly, fitting wardrobe of a short-sleeved shirt and long gray pants. Each student also wore a simple gray-blue vest trimmed in silver with a stylized gryphon pinned over the right breast, the Epitha region’s Scion Academy symbol. Despite the similarities between them, each student had slight alterations to their wardrobe based on their preferred style of magic. Spirit magic was a versatile art rivaling clay and sand in its versatility and had to be handled as such. Some used the ectoplasm alignment to build weapons, armor, and even bricks to build. Some used their connection to spirit to summon allies from beyond the void. Some used their own to lash out and damage their opponents while others used the same spirit to heal.

All of the mage hopefuls were anything but calm, and Haru Sela wasn’t alone as he finished rechecking his equipment for the third time that day.

The hard footfall of boots broke his concentration as his time to worry ran out.

A large man with arms glowing with spirit condensed from the aether stood on a raised platform in the center of the room. The presence of the man was not lost on the students as the murmurs began all around the room.

Sai Ektos, Scion of the Founding House.

Sai Ektos, The Blood Letter.

Sai Ektos, Spirit Incarnate.

Most importantly?

Sai Ektos, The One Man Army.

If the number of titles rolling of the tounges of the students around him didn’t clue the clueless few into his importance, Haru would eat his rod. Everyone who was anyone on Ektos knew Sai.

Most recently, the man was famous for having faced the Bound Beast of Ektos himself during the last attempted break ten years back, and his arms were a clear sign of the cost of such a task. Rumor said he reforged them himself from ectoplasm during the fight and choked the Beast out himself until help arrived.

Sai held himself with an air reserved more for the elders despite not being that much older than some of the students before him. No older than their parents in most cases, Sai wore the same apparel as the rest, but his were colored the black of night with the blues of deep midnight creeping in at the edges. His clothing was still trimmed in silver, but his pin was that of a scythe and marked him as a combat specialist. Outside of the innate magic that they would wield with the Branding, it was one of the four pins of position they could hope to earn that day during the graduation ceremony:

The first was the silver scythe for combat. A common enough badge of honor worn by those that maintained the dungeon, peacekeepers, and reapers. They were some of the most powerful of the Branded but usually the shortest-lived of the four professions.

The second was a stylized bone white spirit for spiritualists. They were about as common as the scythe, but the healers, alchemists, spirit callers, and trauma experts were renowned for their abilities across the system and were welcomed wherever they went.

The third was a copper hammer of the builders and artificers. Some said that the hammer should be two badges, as it was the only one that has a specialized offshoot in amethyst for those gifted in portal building and the mathematics needed to make the connections work, but the argument was always shot down as ‘it was still something that needed to be built.’

The final badge was a blueish-purple crystal of an ectoplasmic forged gryhon for government positions beyond the three others. This could be anything from a city planner or venter to a planetfall ambassador to a general. The gryphon badge had its own scythe, spirit, or hammer as well to symbolize the official’s specialization.

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Haru’s thoughts lingered on the pin, on the position, on the hope of so much more to come. He knew where he belonged and dreamed of being an artificer often. Then, the dreams and visions of building amazing devices with ectoplasm and blood were shattered as Sai’s booming baritone broke through the rabble and snapped his attention back to where it belonged.

“Alright, recruits!” Sai began, the gentle gray-blue of his arms a stark contrast to his heavy voice. “Today is the day you’ve been waiting five years for. Time to see what you’re made of, and I don’t mean blood and bones.”

Finally!

Haru couldn’t have agreed more.

Five years of training with Blood-borne tools.

Five years of schooling and building up an ambient mana base so the Branding wouldn’t kill them.

Five years of hard work learning cantrips and aether control theory all led up to this moment, his chance at becoming Branded.

Sai let the group roll with excitement for a moment before continuing. “I know you’re all excited, nervous, or whatever, but don’t let it cloud your judgment. It wasn’t so long ago that I was here in your place. Eager, ready to throw myself at any challenge Ektos could throw at me, sitting in that chair as someone drew the Branding on my arm and then my chest a few years later…” He smiled at that as a phantom arm brushed against where his heart would be under the shirt. “Which reminds me, I suggest the chest or the back if you have a choice, even if the upper arm is the fashion now. Otherwise, it can be quite the disarming experience if something happens to you.”

No one laughed, and Haru swore he heard crickets, alive and dead, chirping at the terrible joke in distaste.

“Reap me, no sense of humor in this lot.” Sai rubbed the back of his head, slightly embarrassed but smiling no less, and continued. “Losing your mark means you lose the largest chunk of your spirit aether control. Despite what the academy tells you, that mark is almost as important as your life even if the blood of the beast is in your system.”

Haru already had plans to have his mark placed on his shoulder, per his parent’s recommendation. Still, it was good to know it wouldn’t hurt his control if it wasn’t on his arm like some of the teachers claimed.

Returning to his more professional tone, Sai continued with the speech. “You will enter the dungeon trail based on your class rank. You should have been informed of that rank before you entered here today.”

So, that’s what that was…

There was a long pause as the assembled students took out the folded paper they’d found slipped under their dorm room or apartment’s door that morning. At least they finally knew what it meant. Haru slipped his piece of paper out of his pocket and stared at it for a long moment as he realized what the two meant.

Reap me.

“You have five more minutes to prepare before your first is sent in. Though they are first in your class now, that does not mean they will be the valedictorian, or even alive, by the end of today. I’ve heard the scores are pretty tight this year, so one slip up and poof. Bye-bye, ranking. After that, you will be sent in as soon as the classmate before you finishes the trial. The exit is not here, so don’t bother waiting or hoping for tips on how to complete it. I am advised to tell you a few things to make things easier, but in the spirit of competition, I have declined to do so.”

Over half the class winced at that. No one had expected any hints or even the vague riddles some of their teachers used as an excuse for guidance, but knowing that it had been a possibility only for it to be ripped out from under them was a gutting feeling.

Sai only smiled wider.

“You have four minutes left.”

Haru cursed and began checking his equipment for a third time.

***

“Haru of House Sela,” Sai called not fifteen minutes after Kira of House Fate walked through the trial’s door.

Haru stopped halfway through checking his spell rod for the fifth time. Kira was already done? How had she finished so quickly?

Had she failed?

If she failed…

“Second call.” The voice carried no argument in its tone as Sai waited by the large gateway to the dungeon beyond. “Haru of House Sela, present yourself or be disqualified from testing.”

Haru quickly composed himself, moved to the door, adjusted his bag, and awaited inspection.

With a quick, keen eye, Sai’s assessment was everything Haru hoped it would be, short. His words were much the same as his inspection.

“I know it’s a formality at this point, but are your prepared for what lies beyond this door.”

Haru summoned a smile doing his best to sound confident. “As ready as I can be.”

Sai’s smile softened just a bit, patting Haru’s shoulder.

“No, you aren’t, but I can’t blame you.” The man’s hands were solid ectoplasm, and just as cold as if they had been conjured only moments before. They weren’t exactly hard, but they weren’t as soft as flesh either. “No one’s ever ready for when they have to go inside. It’s different every time.”

If the way Haru’s face tweaked told him nothing of the surprise he felt, Sai continued. “Shh, don’t tell the others. It’s punishable by failure. Besides, you don’t want them to have the advantage over you, right?”

With that, he pounded three times on the door as he had when Kira arrived.

Just as it had before, the door opened slowly, splitting down the middle and allowing a glowing, blue-white mist to flow from the opening. There was a dim light deeper within, but as Haru looked deeper, it was a cascade of swirling, churning mist.

Nothing could be seen beyond its grasp.

“Any questions before you go in?” Sai asked, just as he had with Kira.

Well, if he was asking.

“How do I get the best score?”

The smile that grew on Sai’s face was almost as frightening as the words that came next. “Oh, that’s an easy one.”

Hope swelled in Haru’s chest as his curiosity was rewarded.

Sai opened his mouth to answer and then unceremoniously shoved Haru passed the threshold and into the chilling spiritual fog before vanishing to wherever the Ektos gate led.

“That’s never going to get old.”