The next chamber I entered was far larger than the cafeteria I had eaten food in and it accommodated more people than the forty or so in my group that had gone down the same path as I did. It looked like three of those testing groups had converged into one path, and the room was filled with almost a hundred Bronze candidates. I saw my friends, Antonias, Caesia, and Kato and walked up to them. They looked worn out, stretched thin, and miserable.

“Hey guys.” I said, hesitantly. “How are you doing?”

No one answered me at first.

“Adrias… I don’t think the three of us are going to make it with you.” Caesia said, not meeting my eyes.

My heart sank.

“Don’t give up hope.” I urged them. “There’s still time, still more tests. We can still make it, believe in yourselves.”

“None of us have gotten anything more than Satisfactory.” Antonias said, dejected.

“How have you been doing, Adrias?” Kato said, dejected.

I did not want to rub my Abnormal Primacy in their faces right after they had shown me such vulnerability.

“You know… winning some, losing some, I’m doing my best.” I said.

Caesia wrapped her arms around herself, looking downwards, her white hair falling over her eyes.

“I don’t know why I deluded myself into thinking I could get into the Scholarium just because I wanted to.” She whispered to herself.

“You can if you want it enough-“ I said, trying to convince her.

“Then maybe I don’t want it enough! Maybe I don’t want to have feel my skin break out in agonizing blisters while my lungs scar from the inside and I have to try not to vomit as I smell the burnt flesh of my feet, Adrias! Have you ever considered that when you dragged us along after you into this? That maybe we aren’t all masochists like you?” Caesia snapped.

Some other candidates turned their heads to look at us. I gave them a cold stare back that made them turn back around to mind their own business. They could still hear us with their hearing if they wanted to, but they would have to at least give the appearance of courtesy if they did not want me to teach them some manners.

“I tried, Adrias, I tried really hard with the treadmills, but I just could not get past a Satisfactory rating.” Kato said tiredly, not meeting my eyes. He looked ashamed.

“Guys…” I said reaching out, but they seemed to draw further into themselves. I sighed and turned. Maybe I should just give them some time.

I walked forward into the crowd, pushing past clumps of chattering candidates. I came to the forefront and saw that we were all waiting in front of a single Medicus woman who was standing beside a metal pillar with a needle point in the middle of the top of it. The Doctor idly tapped on her datapad, unconcerned with all of us waiting candidates for the time being.

“Monitor, what is this test?” I asked my wristwatch.

“This test will observe the purity and potency of your DNA as well as any abnormalities. This test will be scored differently from others.” The monitor said.

“How so, monitor?” I said to the machine.

“Scoring will be determined by the Evaluation Committee on a case by case basis, and it will be separate from the rest of the examinations. High purity and baseline genetics will provide a bonus, but genetic augmentations may not be negatively scored unless they are determined to have a negative effect on performance.” The wristwatch said.

“See, I told you.” Clodias said, popping out from behind me. “Your friends will get in.”

“Oh, hey.” I said in surprise. “I… I don’t know about that. From what they told me, they’re not doing so well. How can they get in when the best they are getting is Satisfactory results?”

“I guarantee you they are virtually the only pure Imperators here. They would need to be trying to actively fail not to get brought in. Now, they’ll never get close to the top of the three hundred, and they will likely never be the top of the class at the Scholarium in anything, but they will get in. Call it genetic nepotism.” Clodias said.

I breathed more calmly, less stressed and more relieved.

“Thanks.” I said. I would go back and tell them that, but I was afraid they would not believe me in their depressed state.

“Attention, candidates!” The Medicus said loudly over the din of our numerous and many conversations of comparing our results with each other or discussing the latest high society gossip about who was having an affair or a duel or had embezzled state funds to build a luxury staryacht.

“My name is Doctor Lakion and I will be calling you up one at a time to have your genetic code analyzed and interpreted.” Doctor Lakion said. “Please wait at the other side of the room when you have finished your testing, the rest of the examination stations are still setting up.”

“You would think they would have everything prepared today with so long to plan it.” I said to Clodias.

He laughed. “One would, yes.”

“Antonias Calion!” Doctor Lakion announced. “Please come forward.”

Looking like he was being dragged against his will by invisible prison guards to be lined up against a wall and shot in the back of the head, Antonias worked his way through the crowd and presented himself to the Medicus at the front of all of the candidates.

“Please prick your finger on the needle, Candidate Calion.” Doctor Lakion said.

Antonias did so reluctantly, pressing his index finger down on top of the needle on the metal pillar.

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The results came back a few moments later and the Medicus hummed to herself as she interpreted the results.

She smiled brightly. “Pureblooded!”

Murmuring spread through the crowd like a wildfire.

“Absolutely pure baseline Imperator, without the slightest hint of genetic tampering, hybridization, mutagens, bloodline curses, aberrations, disorders or degeneracies!” She continued happily.

“Is-is that good?” Antonias asked, stuttering over his words.

“My dear boy, it’s positively delightful! Quite frankly I am shocked someone thought to send an ordinary child into the fray.” She said.

“Oh.” Antonias said, still seeming a little confused. He walked beyond her and waited in the back for the rest of us to join him.

“Told you.” Clodias whispered to me.

“Aurelia Nerion! Please come forward.” Doctor Lakion requested.

A girl came forward, her face set and determined. Interestingly, she had dyed her hair blonde, an eccentricity that no one else here had followed suit in. Imperators were proud of their white hair as a racial signifier of their subspecies. Was this a sign of Aurelia Nerion rebelling against general Imperator society and our Path’s general social norms?

The second odd thing I noticed about her was that just beyond her violet irises but before her Bronze sclera was a thin red ring, sandwiched between the two layers. It glowed scarlet softly.

“Is that a Red Halo?” I said quietly to Clodias.

He nodded. “Yeah. She’s Red Haloed.”

“What does it mean?” I asked him.

“It means your parents pushed your genetic code too far when altering it and that Heaven has marked you as an abomination.” He said, keeping his eyes on the girl.

Aurelia Nerion pricked her finger and stood back, silently.

There had only been coldness in the Medicus’s eyes as the girl had approached and disgust only increased as the Doctor read the genetic testing results. Aurelia bore this disdain with no outward expression.

“Impure hybrid.” Doctor Lakion said in a frosty tone finally, her tone just a touch away from spitting out the words like a curse. “Massive alteration done with added sequences from the Hetaira geneline. This medical professional’s opinion is that the work is largely cosmetic and serves no benefit to combat or cognitive function.”

I realized that the blonde hair was not dyed and that it was actually Aurelia Nerion’s real hair color that she had had from birth.

“I’m surprised her parents even sent her.” Clodias remarked. “Her alterations give her no actual advantages for getting into the Scholarium, but that level of genomic mixing will give her a substantial demerit. She would be better off trying to get through these trials as a quadriplegic with a lobotomy.”

Aurelia walked over to Antonias, evidently unbothered by all the stares of the other Imperator candidates, the results of her analysis, and the revulsion displayed by the Medicus Doctor.

“Octavena Corion, please come forward!” Doctor Lakion said.

The girl proudly marched to the testing station and pricked her finger.

“Hm, hmm. Excellent! Minor enhancements consisting of accelerated homeostatic mechanisms, increased memory and visual processing, flexibility, and durability. Well crafted, well placed, subtle and restrained in its addition.” Lakion said, her smiling shining. “You do House Corion great credit.”

Octavena beamed. “Thank you, Doctor!”

Octavena skipped off to stand next to Antonias and Aurelia.

“Can Andarias Fulvion, Caias Fulvion, Lucias Fulvion and Quartias Fulvion all come up here?” Doctor Lakion said.

As they came up, I was shocked to see how similar their faces were.

“Quadruplets?” I said in surprise.

“Clones.” Clodias said in distaste. “Even worse than the Red Haloed in the eyes of Olympus.”

Three of the clones were Red Haloed in addition to being clones, and I saw now as they were lined up together in front of the Medicus that they were all very distinct despite their similarities. One was taller than the rest, eight feet tall and heavily muscled. Another was the standard seven-foot-tall Imperator height like the other two brothers, but was frighteningly thin. As he smiled, I saw he had elongated canines like some kind of vampiric creature. The third seemed completely normal and lacked a Red Halo around his violet irises like the rest of his siblings. The fourth seemed younger than the rest though he had the same face, like they had gone back in time to bring him here to the Scholarium’s examinations with the rest of his brothers.

I could tell that the clones disturbed and unnerved Doctor Lakion, but rather than openly wear her feelings on her sleeve as she had done with Aurelia, she pretended to smile at them warmly as if she was very pleased to see them.

“She’s afraid of them.” I said, observing the nuances of her expression.

“Of course. The Fulvions are the second most powerful Iulian House after the Claudions and the clones have a reputation already for being vicious and resourceful in the three years they have been alive.” Clodias said.

Three years?

“Those are some big three-year-olds.” I said, eying the eight-foot tall one.

“Quite.” He replied.

“Andarias Fulvion,” The Doctor said to the big one.

He stepped forward and pricked his massive finger.

“Impure hybrid with Kadmean aberration markers. Inserted Campeador DNA.” She said, adding no further comment or announcement of her opinion on the genetic engineering that had gone into him.

“Kadmean aberration markers?” I asked Clodias, leaning over to him.

“Mutations that inevitably occur during the cloning process. The marking of nature’s horror at mankind’s monstrous handiwork.” Clodias said.

“Caias Fulvion.” Lakion said.

Caias, the thin boy with the fangs, stalked forward and submitted a blood sample.

“Impure hybrid with Kadmean aberration markers. Inserted Venator and wolf DNA.” She said.

Caias joined his brother Andarias, Antonias, Octavena and Aurelia Nerion on the other side.

“Wolf DNA?” I whispered to myself. What monsters were these genelabs creating?

“Lucias.” The Medicus called next.

The clone who lacked the Red Halo like the others pricked his finger.

“Pureblooded baseline Imperator with Kadmean aberration markers.” Doctor Lakion said, looking much happier with his results.

“A control experiment.” Clodias said. “Something to measure the others against. No less dangerous or devious, mind you. Lucias is still a Fulvion after all.”

“Quartias.”

The last boy touched his finger to the needle as well.

“Impure hybrid with Kadmean aberration markers. …completely unknown synthetic material.” She said.

Quartias Fulvion moved to the back.

“Clodias Aezion!” Doctor Lakion said.

Clodias stepped forward away from me and touched his finger to the tester.

“Slightly modified Imperator. Minor bodily adjustments in regards to bone density and regeneration speeds, an interesting array of cognitive and emotional variations on the norm. High quality work, I must say.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Clodias said politely.

“Adrias Lucion!” The Doctor said, calling my name.

I stared into her orange eyes as I pricked my finger.

She looked down and for long painful moments said nothing.

“Well?” I finally prompted her.

“Impure hybrid.” She said.

I suppose I should have expected that given Clodias said he had smelled someone mucking around in my DNA and that he was surprised I did not have a Red Halo.

“Inserted Servus genes-“

Someone snickered at that. I guessed something of the old Adrias Lucion remained.

“-Old Thaekyrian genes…”

Every candidate in the room went dead silent at those three words.

“and… I don’t even know what this is…” She admitted. “They’re unique sequences that don’t match any of the database’s known genomes in either the Imperator geneline or the other Paths…”

I said nothing.

“Some of them look almost like Campeador genecodes but like they have been rewritten to serve an entirely different purpose…” Lakion said, engrossed in the results.

I could feel the eyes of everyone around me like needles pushing into my back.

She looked into my eyes and looked suddenly annoyed.

“Take those contacts out of your eyes!” She snapped.

“What contacts?” I said, bewildered.

“The ones you’re using to hide your Red Halo.” Lakion said sharply.

“I’m not wearing any contacts.” I protested.

She marched over to me on a warpath and stuck a finger in my eye and then pulled backwards when she did not find a contact hidden there.

“Can I go now?” I asked her.

When she did not give me a response, I merely walked around her and found my place with the other tested candidates.

Clodias was looking at me very differently.

“Old Thaekyrian?” He echoed.

I shrugged. “Can’t help your family.”