Jay woke up, sheathed in a warm blanket. The familiar, earsplitting cry of his mother rose from downstairs. “WAKE UP!”
His eyes blearily opened, wondering why his body was obeying her as he rose out of bed in his usual zombie-like manner. Throwing off his blanket, he watched it hit the floor, then slowly compress, as if disappointed with his decision. He almost fell to the door, grabbing the cool brass handle and opening it with a jerk, launching himself down the wooden stairs. Bashing into the railing multiple times, he seated himself at their table. Shoving his breakfast-fresh bread and cheese-into his mouth, he regained a semblance of consciousness, slowly taking in the room. Then he bolted upright at the table, finally registering the world around him. His mother was staring closely at his eyes, waiting for the moment he returned to lucidity. “Oh. I get Appraised today,” Jay murmured.
His mother stared into his eyes. Sometimes, when she did this, he could swear she saw into his soul. “In two minutes.”
Jay’s eyes widened, and he was out the door, sprinting along the road. As he reached a corner, a shiny metallic tendril reached out from his hand, latching onto a fence just to his right. It swiftly retracted as he jumped, sending him flying in a short arc before the tendril released the creaking fence, which always seemed ready to break but never did, and retracted into his hand. He hit the ground and kept running at full speed, unfazed.
In this town, you’d never need to make more than one turn to find one of the eight main roads, which each led to the center of the city. He followed it, dodging around the occasional passerby, as he approached the center of the city. The buildings grew taller as he ran, and more opulent. The richer you were, the closer to the center you lived.
He continued running down the street until he reached the back of a very long line leading straight into the biggest building in town, blocking the road with how massive it was.
The place officially known as the Appraiser’s building.
“Mommy, why are there so many people going into the old coot’s building?,” A small girl asked, standing far enough away from the line that she was obviously not a part of it. The family spoke loudly, not employing any subtlety. She tugged on her mother’s hand, nearly tripping her with the strength of her pull. Her name for the building perfectly illustrated what people thought of the person who lived inside.
Her mom cuffed the girl on the side of her head before replying. “It’s the Appraiser’s building, Thea. How many times must I tell you so?,” She scolded with no genuine anger or annoyance. She cast her gaze onto the long line before turning back to her daughter. “It’s Appraising day. Yours will come in around ten years. When you come of age, you walk in front of the Appraiser, and the gods tell him what your School is.”
“But I already know what my School is!,” the child said. “Why do I have to go to him?”
Her mother gave a swift reply. “He’s not very useful, really. The Appraiser can recommend you to an Academy where you can learn about your School. ”
The girl’s eyes started shining. “Mom, what Academy did you get recommended to?”
Her mom sighed. “None.”
“I’ll get recommended to the bestest one!”
Outwardly, her mom nodded, but Jay could see the hurt inside. Almost no one got recommended to an academy, and those who did were always from rich families with enough money to bribe the Appraiser into sending their asshole kids to a prestigious school. Apparently, some Appraisers actually looked at talent, but they were few, and the one they had at Bastion definitely would not be looking at anyone’s talent. Anyone who was of the School of Aura, with any affinity, could apply to become an Appraiser.
The line slowly diminished, an equal amount exiting the building as the number that went in. One noble, who Jay recognized as Joseph Von Baldenhien, heir of Baldenhien, walked over to him. “I wonder what affinity you’ll have, idiot. With your family of weaklings, you’ll probably have some kind of dirt affinity. And you’ll be singing songs with those numbskull Songstresses off in the mountains!”
Jay raised an eyebrow. “Do you know who Diana the Songstress was?”
The noble shrugged. “No. I fail to see-”
“So, Diana the Songstress saved the world. Multiple times. From numbskull nobles. Obviously you wouldn’t have heard of her, with your failing grade in history, but one can dream.”
The noble stewed, stepping towards Jay, but then turned and left, probably to report this to his father. As he stormed off, the little girl from earlier accidentally ran into his path. After a few seconds staring down at the girl, he reached down, closing his hands around her shoulders. “What do you think you’re doing in a noble’s way?”
The child’s mother ran up, attempting to grab her child from the noble’s arms, but he didn’t let her go, ignoring her pleas.
Jay sighed, stepping up behind Joseph and putting his arm over Joseph’s shoulder, sheathing it with a sheen of mercurial silver which dripped loosely off his arm, the droplets threateningly hanging in the air, reminiscent of tiny, midair spikes. “You should let her go,” he said, waiting for the counterattack from the boy.
When it came, he was ready, instantly covering the little girl with a coating of quicksilver, making holes for her to breathe and allowing her freedom of movement-though the coating protected her from the blast of fire that the noble shot out.
The fire had no effect on Jay, who simply covered himself with liquid metal before grabbing the little girl out of the noble’s hands and casually slapping him away with a tendril of metal. The quicksilver retracted into his body as he handed the girl back to her mother, who could only nod in terrified thanks as the noble left with a burning glare to report the events to his father.
A filament of quicksilver poured out Jay’s left hand, twisting out in front of his face. He started generating more quicksilver, pulling it into a shining metal rose. He made sure there were no sharp edges as it came together, floating in front of him. Jay cut it off from himself, grabbing it out of the air as gravity took effect. It lost some of its luster, though still shiny, and settled into a solid form.
Taking advantage of his spot at the back of the line, Jay walked over to the girl and her mother, handing the little girl the metal rose. She gratefully accepted it as her mother clutched her close. When he returned to the line, she voiced her gratitude behind him before leading her daughter away.
The line had now shortened, only a few people left before he would go in. Jay didn’t feel nervous, only confident. After all, if you were impersonating someone, you had to be them within and without. The same emotions, the same expressions, everything. He schooled his face into a smug grin, waiting confidently.
Finally, it was his turn, and he sauntered into the tall building. A receptionist sat with a massive, filled out, mound of paperwork next to her, and picked up the last uncompleted sheet she had. “Jay.”
He nodded, and the deluge of questions began. He answered all of them with the same confidence, the knowledge he had money and she didn’t, and the receptionist wrote with blistering speed before sending him into the next room.
Jay walked through the dark corridor, entering a room with two pieces of furniture-a desk and a chair, which the Appraiser sat in.
The Appraiser was an old man, massively overweight, with a diamond-studded cap and rings of all varieties. He wore opulent clothes, showing off all the bribes he’d gotten over the years.
The Appraiser waved at Jay. “School of Thought. Metal affinity.”
Jay sighed. “Check for everything else, if you will.”
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
“How much time must I waste on you trash?”
“If I ask, you’re required to do so.”
The Appraiser tilted his chair back before nodding, staring down Jay. “Schools of Thought, Aura, Song, Spirit, Change. Huh. Never heard of that last one. Affinities-can’t see any. Get out already.”
Jay pulled out a single gold coin, the only one his family owned, but which, with his attitude, would make him seem like a noble. “Where can you recommend me?”
The appraiser’s eyes locked onto the gold coin. “I can recommend you to the Gemstone Council’s School, sir. Sorry for not recognizing you earlier.”
Inside, he was burning with anger. As soon as he pretended he could bribe the man, the appraiser was meek and fulfilled his every request. Either way, the man wasn’t getting any of his money.
Part of the wall opened as if it was a door, and a man stepped through. “I am Diamond, principal of the Jeweled School.”
The principal wore a diamond, clearly visible on his lapel where a rose would normally go on a suit like his. The principal’s suit was more of a musician’s style than a noble’s, the jacket hanging down past the waist and splitting into two on the back. He wore a light blue dress shirt under the suit, perfectly matched by his hard light blue eyes, faceted as a diamond would be.
Jay nodded, flipping the gold coin back into his pouch. “I am Jay. I would like to join the Jeweled School. This appraiser accepts bribes.”
Diamond nodded. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”
Diamond snapped his fingers, and the appraiser disappeared. A new man appeared in the room, and Diamond turned to them. “Hello, Calvin. You are to be the new appraiser of this Appraiser’s building, at least until I find someone else.”
Calvin settled behind the desk. “How much money did this guy have? I’m rich now!”
Diamond shook his head. “All bribes.”
Calvin visibly deflated. “Fine. I’ll send the money to you.”
“Thank you, Calvin.”
He turned to Jay. “So. What Schools do you have abilities in?” Diamond scratched his chin. “I suppose I’ll be the first to welcome you to my school.”
“All of them, and Change, apparently.”
Diamond stopped for a second, his face seeming to twist before he continued walking as if nothing had happened. “That last one’s new to me.”
He gestured to the door, and Jay walked through, finding himself in a wide courtyard. In front of him was a massive array of buildings, with students walking between each one. Behind him were the gates, so tall he could barely see the top, with stone dragons curling around each hinge. Diamond snapped his fingers once more, and they both teleported to the interior of what seemed like a training room. There were dummies all over the floor, with each having a painted target on them. Somehow, every single one was pristine, unmarked by any damage.
“Show me your metal creation and manipulation.”
How does he know our abilities?
Jay paused at the voice inside his head addressing them as ‘our’. He was one person, wasn’t he? And only kings talked about themselves in the third person. Seriously though, how did Diamond know?
He was the schoolmaster, and in the end, he couldn’t defy Diamond. So he obeyed.
Jay summoned a tendril of metal, sharpening it and stabbing it straight through a dummy. As he was doing so, he created a sword, metal flowing straight out of his hand and arm to coalesce into his desired weapon. His tendril retreated as more formed behind him, each moving individually. Each engaged its own dummy as he danced between them, each sword strike using maximum momentum.
Once he deemed he’d fought them for long enough, Jay summoned more quicksilver. A pool formed at his feet, giving him perfect traction while spiking up at imaginary enemies.
Jay dimly noted Diamond raising his eyebrows as the quicksilver quickly coated him. It didn’t seep back through his skin, however. He continued to fight, the liquid metal following his movements, increasing the power of each blow.
Suddenly, one dummy turned and shot a bolt of fire at him. He raised an arm, extra quicksilver from elsewhere concentrating on it and all of it hardening, to block the blow. He easily rebuffed it as he continued to scythe between the dummies.
Then the front half of his quicksilver tentacle fell off. Jay instinctively grabbed it and attacked Diamond, the tendril liquefying and coalescing into knives that shot at him. “So you can control your metal if it’s not touching you. Interesting. You might verily be the first commoner to survive properly in this school.”
Jay nodded. “If this test is over, when can I see my mom?”
Diamond waved his hand dismissively. “This was just my personal thing. I’ll send you back home to finish anything you may need to, and give you an object to teleport back.”
Before Jay could answer, he was suddenly staring at his very surprised mom, who was holding a ladle in the air while next to the stove. She opened her mouth, and Jay immediately knew this would take a while.
“So you bluffed the Appraiser into getting you recommended to the best school in the world, and the principal from that school came over himself to test your skills and he also said you might be the first commoner to survive in the school and then he teleported you back home from the school which is like a million miles away-”
“It’s actually quite close, mom.”
“-a million miles away,” she repeated, glaring at him before continuing. “And he teleported you right into our house.”
Jay nodded. “Yeah, that’s the gist of it.”
His mom stood there, shocked for a moment, before she sat down at the table. Jay sat down as well. A piece of paper puffed into existence on the table, and Jay grabbed it before his mom could. It was a contract detailing his attendance in the school. Apparently, he had a full scholarship, guaranteed by Diamond. It also detailed how he could get expelled, noting various reasons(though fighting wasn’t anywhere in the list) and also what he would get from the school.
“I’ll get clothes, an allowance, and a room. Also food. And everything I need, basically.”
His mom narrowed her eyes. “What’s the catch?”
Jay rolled his eyes. “I’ll be the only commoner in a school full of nobles. Also, the rooms I get are based on my position in the class. This also extends to nobles, apparently, though they still have to pay to go to school. There’s going to be an initial tournament where your position is determined. The higher I am, the better the food, the better the room, and the better everything, really.”
His mom gushed,”But how will you beat all those nobles-”
Jay interrupted her. “You don’t need to worry about that. You know I’ve been practicing for my entire life.”
“But the appraiser said you have other Schools. You don’t know how to use any of them.”
Jay shrugged. “I’ll figure it out on the way. I also have my quicksilver.”
His mom nodded. “I’ll sign it and it’ll teleport you there?”
Jay nodded. “And I don’t need to pack anything.”
His mom hugged him. “You sure about this?”
“When have I ever been unsure about something?”
“Well, you were ‘sure’ when you went and got yourself in trouble with Old Agatha…”
“I’ll be fine.”
His mother sighed, pushing him aside in favor of the contract, signing it without bothering to read, as he guessed she would. Then she handed it back and watched him fade away, as if he stopped existing. Then she shrugged and went back to cooking. She wasn’t one to think about magical anomalies. That was for the scientists to deal with, using their weird chemicals deep inside their labs.
Jay faded into view in front of Diamond, who held out his hand expectantly. Jay handed him the contract, and he nodded. “I didn’t expect you’d tell her about the death clause, but that’s always in there.”
Jay shrugged. “I wouldn’t have been able to go here if I told her about the clause. So I’m not going to.”
Diamond nodded. “I’ll forgive you your indiscretions. I would’ve done the same thing.”
Jay nodded as the contract disappeared into thin air. Diamond led him to a small room and directed him to the bed. “If you sleep there, you’ll stay asleep until the selection tournament begins.”
Jay nodded. “Thank you.”
He walked towards the bed, jumping on it. As he fell asleep, he swore he heard a soft voice whisper.
Good luck.