After fighting the crowd to get through the doors, Vivienne and Adam came out to a large open room. There were many desks in this space that held receptionists to process the candidates who came for the test. This room would take up about half of the large building's first floor. At the back of the room, there was a wall that curved back towards them, separating out employee facilities from the commons. There was a grand staircase that ran from in front of the offices to the next floor. The first few steps of staircase started out wide and were curved back. As the staircase extended upwards, the steps narrowed inwards. The second floor had open railings from which one could view the first floor from the second.
All in all, the many curves gave one a mysterious feeling. They seemed to defy common convention for a building. Vivienne was curiously observing the architecture as she led Adam into one of the smaller lines in front of a desk. There were a few candidates that did not even get in line, simply flashing a badge at two stern looking receptionists by the stairs while heading to the next floor.
Adam found this place to be very noisy and uncomfortable. He would be easily jostled as people brushed past them to find a line to enter. With the mindless clamor of everyone talking, he felt that he would have to shout to be heard by anyone. He was starting to feel nervous and overwhelmed.
Seeing her son's pale face from being nervous and overwhelmed, Vivienne knelt down on her good knee and wrapped Adam in her arms. She placed her mouth near his ear so she would not have to speak loudly at him. “Don't worry. I am right here with you. Don't feel too nervous about anything. It doesn't matter if you have the ability to become a spiritualist or not. You will always be my little Adam.”
Adam felt comfort in her embrace and words. He hugged his mother back as he thanked her for worrying about him. For the rest of the time in line, while they were standing, Vivienne would keep her arms draped over Adams shoulders to tell him she was there.
It took over half an hour before their turn finally came up. As they were proceeding through the line, most of the candidates and their families left. Apparently they did not have the qualifications to become a spiritualist. From their line, Vivienne had only seen one candidate, and her family, gleefully head toward those stairs that led to the second floor.
As they approached the desk, Vivienne could finally get a good look at the receptionist. It was a young blonde woman in her twenties. Finally it was their turn and as they got within a certain distance of the desk, all the clamor of the the area around them disappeared! Vivienne was amazed as she thought: “This must be a mysterious spirit formation!” The receptionist gave them a warm smile as she greeted them. “Hello, my name is Alyssa. Why don't we get your son sitting on the chair in front of me.”
When Vivienne brought Adam far enough forward, Alyssa could see that Adam appeared to be blind. She gave off a little frown as she tried to carefully speak: “I don't mean to pry or offend, but is your son blind?”
Adam gave a small nod, he couldn't speak as he was marveling at the sudden silence that surrounded them and an odd sensation he felt, right before all the noise was cut away. Vivienne continued for Adam: “We were recommended to check if he could become a spiritualist, in an effort to possibly regain his sight. Is there something wrong with this?”
Alyssa shook her head. “No there is nothing wrong with it. Its just that, if he does qualify for further education, it will be more difficult for him to become a spiritualist than for those who have eye sight. There are spirit gathering formations that are available to be viewed that make the candidates progress easier. Though we might offer additional aid to him if he does qualify.”
Vivienne understood a little of what Alyssa was saying. Seeing examples was a great way to learn something new. Adam would not really be able to see any type of example that could help him. But, of course, this will only matter if Adam does posses any type of spiritual sense.
Vivienne spoke: “We will worry about all that after the test. Let's just see how it goes first.”
Alyssa nodded her head. “You are right, sorry if I spoke out of turn.” She then spoke directly too Adam with a sweet voice: “Can I get your name?”
He simply replied with a quiet “Adam.”
“Well, Adam, I am going to hand you something that is like a little rod. If I could get you to hold onto it, it will do the testing for us!”
Vivienne had been curious about the test. What could they use to test spiritual sense? She couldn't clearly see what they were doing at the desk from the line.
Alyssa then pulled out a small rod, the size of a piece of chalk really, and put it in Adam's outstretched hand. Vivienne was stunned when she saw the rod. It was glimmering with all sorts of colors, but it did not give off any light. Truly mysterious.
Adam could not see the rod, but felt something weird tickling his hand when it was handed to him. He also heard some weird faint sounds, that some how couldn't actually be heard, emanating from the thing in his hand. “You don't have to think of anything or do something, just hold onto the rod for a few minutes and it will tell me whether you have any kind of spiritual sense!”
After a moment, Vivienne regained her composure as she asked: “How exactly does that thing do the testing?”
Alyssa gave a wry smile: “I am no spiritualist myself, so I can't give the exact details, but it basically collects spirit essence from around us and tries to see if there is any type of reaction between Adam and the spirit essence. Don't worry, it is perfectly safe.”
Vivienne was contented with that information. She patiently waited as she watched the rod in her son's hand, not knowing how the rod would tell it's results. Adam kind of wanted to put the rod down, though. As he held the thing, waves of itchiness spread across his hand and he couldn't itch his hand while he was holding the rod. He was unsure if he was supposed to feel something and tell Alyssa about, or just continue to wait patently. He tried to sense any other reaction his body was having to the rod but, besides that faint sound that wasn't really there, he felt nothing. He was getting a little anxious too. He did not want to put too much hope into becoming a spiritualist, since it could potentially be impossible for him to do, but hope and expectation still welled up inside him.
A few minutes passed before the rod showed a reaction. The various glimmering colors almost all disappeared, only a bright green color remained in the the rod. Alyssa smiled as she spoke: “Congratulations, it appears that you have an affinity with wind spirit essence.”
Both Adam and Vivienne were startled. Adam had did not notice the color change, since he couldn't see. Vivienne was surprised at how simple the test and the result appeared to be. They were also both shocked that Adam did indeed have spiritual sense. Now it would appear that his chances to become a spiritualist were closer to one in a thousand, rather than one in a million.
Alyssa patiently waited for the two to come out of their thoughts. There were many different reactions she had seen to the results the rod had given. It ranged from bad experiences like families who demanded a retest, or said that this was a ridiculous test and that their child was a prodigy so they demanded access to spiritualist materials. But there were also happy experiences, like now. Adam wanted to see again and this was the start on a path to possibly regain his eyesight.
After she regained Vivienne's attention, Alyssa pulled a badge out of a drawer and placed it on the desk as she spoke: “This badge will allow you to access the second and third floors. On the second floor is a resting area where you can wait for classes to start. There are also receptionists there to give you more information about our institution. You can also go to the classrooms on the third floor, if you wish, as there a books pertaining to spiritualists that are available for reading there.”
She then gestured towards Adam. “We will need to register the badge with Adam. It will require a small drop of blood.”
Vivienne became a little alarmed. She put her arms around Adam, in a protective manner, as she quickly asked: “Why do you need his blood!?”
Adam was also a little shocked as mumbled “My blood!?”
Alyssa patiently responded, she had dealt with many families that held similar concerns. “In order to ensure that no impostors come to the second or third floors, our badges are registered to a specific candidate. If you were to attempt to sell this badge to someone else so they could gain entry, Adam would be banned from ever receiving instruction at this institute again. If it is stolen, the badge can be replaced as we investigate the whereabouts of his previous badge. This is all done for security reasons. There is a small spirit essence formation in the badge. To register it to Adam we require a small drop of blood. I have a small sterile needle for this, it will feel like a pinch at worst, and he will barely bleed. I can give you the needle to do it yourself, it only matters that Adam's blood touches the badge, that is all.”
Adam thought to himself: “If it only hurts like a pinch, and they only need a little, I think it should be fine.”
Vivienne silently looked at Adam for a second, then asked Alyssa: “You only need a small drop right? And it wont hurt much?”
“Yes” Alyssa responded. She opened another drawer in her desk and pulled out a small box. She opened it and placed it before Vivienne. Inside the box were small, precise needles ordered in a row.
Vivienne then asked Adam: “Are you okay with this?”
Adam returned with a firm nod. “It will be fine, mom.”
Vivienne then gently took Adam's hand as she pulled a needle from the box. She carefully pricked one of the tips of Adam's fingers. Adam felt a sharp pinching pain on his finger. It was a little more painful than he though it would, but it was still alright. Vivienne then picked up the badge from the desk and pressed Adam's finger to it. Vivienne was shocked to see the badge give a brief white glow, when she pressed Adam's finger on it.
When he touched the badge, Adam felt an odd, inexplicable feeling. It was like something was latching itself somewhere deep inside him. He felt the thing connect to him. It felt like a new body part, but had no idea where it was, or what it was.
Alyssa spoke: “It is done. Adam may feel something weird, that is just the feeling of the badge registering itself to Adam. Since he can sense spirit essence, he can feel the spirit formation connecting itself to him.”
Vivienne separated Adam's finger from the badge. When she checked his finger, there was only a little irritated redness. Truly only a small dot of blood was needed for this. She then looked at Alyssa. “It is all done? Is there anything else we need to do?”
Alyssa responded with a pleasant smile: “Nope, you can go upstairs right now, if you want to. When you get there, be sure to talk to receptionists on the second floor. Tell them that Adam should qualify for additional assistance, and they will set everything up for you.”
Adam and Vivienne then got up and thanked Alyssa for helping them. Then Vivienne led Adam towards the stairs to see what awaited them on the next floor. When they approached the stairs, the two men by the stairs politely asked to see Adam's badge. At first Vivienne tried to present it but the badge glowed a faint odd red. She nearly dropped the thing when it did this. The two men politely instructed her; Adam had to hold the badge himself and present it, in order to gain entrance. A little confused, she gave the badge to Adam who then held it up in the direction of the two men. The badge lit up with a faint white light this time. Smiling the two men said they now had access to the next floor.
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Adam and Vivienne carefully climbed the luxurious stairs. Vivienne did not want to put too much weight on her bad leg, and Adam couldn't see where he was stepping. Looking at them from behind, the two men at the bottom of the stairs had a pang of sympathy for the two. Clearly their lives had been difficult recently, to the point where they could hardly climb stairs. It took most families ten to twenty seconds to ascend the stairs, Adam and Vivienne took a little over a full minute for the same climb.
Finally reaching the top of the stairs, they were able to see what lied on the second floor. It was about the same size as the open room on the first floor. There was a luxurious resting area, which included fine dining tables and chairs where food could be served. There was a bar off to the side where one could order simple drinks and food. It also had expensive couches in a lounge area. There was artwork that could be viewed as well. The back wall of this room was a narrow curve, as it was the opposite side of the oval from the entrance. Here, a staircase started. It went directly to the back wall and then split to both sides, crawling along the curved wall, even to the point where it the stairs started pointing in the opposite direction from where they started. This staircase would lead upward to the classrooms.
There were only a few desks by the landing from the first floor. Vivienne noticed the girl, and her family, who passed the test before them was seated at one of these desks. A few receptionists were waiting for new candidates to come. Since only a few people made it past the initial test, they had plenty of free time. One of the free receptionists came over and greeted them.
The young man, who was also around twenty welcomed them: “Hello! I do not recall having seen you before, did you just pass the initial test?”
After Vivienne confirmed his suspicions he gestured towards his desk, with a smile, as he congratulated them: “Congratulations for making it! My name is Gerard, if you come over to my desk, I can give you all the information you could ever hope to know about the classes or our institution.”
After being seated down, Vivienne started out by asking about the additional assistance that Adam should qualify for. After ascertaining Adam's situations Gerard started to speak: “Yes, Adam certainly does qualify for additional assistance. I will work on finding a teacher to assign to him. This teacher will have a specific day that Adam can come and ask for guidance. This way Adam can essentially take a supplemental class weekly, instead of monthly. At least, until he is ten years old.”
Vivienne was excited that Adam was going to get some preferential treatment, but became confused. “Why only until he is ten? He just turned nine a little over two weeks ago.”
Gerard responded with a nod: “I thought he was getting close to that age. Well, this is something we talk about with everyone who makes it here. The best way to become a spiritualist, is to start learning and getting into the initial phases of a spiritual path by ten years old. By the time someone turns ten, the foundation of their souls are mostly set. It becomes incomparably more difficult to become a spiritualist after this. All types of preferential treatment for candidates end when they become ten. If Adam does not become a spiritualist by the time he turns ten, it is unlikely that he will ever become one in his life.”
Vivienne was shocked into silence. Adam had only one year to try and become a spiritualist. Adam was also unsure of the words that were just spoken. He was excited that he was able to make it this far, to have the chance of regaining his eyesight by becoming a spiritualist. But he had a deadline of less than a year. For him that was both a long and a short time. Perhaps he could make it, perhaps he would fail. He could only try. Though there was one thing he was confused about.
“What do you mean about my soul? What is that?” Adam asked.
Gerard turned to Adam. “An excellent question, one that many candidates have asked. Though it is a little hard to understand. Your soul, is basically you. Every thought you have comes from your soul. It is something immaterial, or rather cannot be seen or touched, that exists in your head. All the decisions you have made in your life, came from your soul. The soul is very important to spiritualists. In order to set up spirit formations, they have to pass spirit essence through their souls to control it. This is the first step you must achieve to become a spiritualist. If you are unable to do this by the time you are ten, your soul will not want to pass spirit essence through itself as it needs to in order to form formations.”
Adam started to mull over the answer he was given. There was a lot of information, and he still wasn't entirely sure what a soul exactly was. He accepted the fact that he would not be able to learn everything he needed to know at once. It would take time to learn, and he had supplemental classes he could take every week to help him.
At this point Gerard pulled out a rather thick pamphlet and placed it before Vivienne. “This contains most of the information you will need to know about our institution and Adam's learning process. I will go over some of the information with you. During Adam's class, he will also be presented with a book he can take with him to help in his studies. They will explain about the book in class, so I will let them tell you about it then.”
Gerard proceeded to open the pamphlet and point out various sections as he explained them. This institution was a branch of a large reaching spiritualist organization that existed through out the known world. It was called the Spiritual Institution of Learning and Understanding. It was a big name that was abbreviated as SILU. Most of the spiritualists that existed in the current world were taught in one of the branches of SILU. After a candidate passes the first step to becoming a spiritualist, they will become a student. No student ever really graduates from SILU. Each student learns at their own pace, so there are no class years or anything like that. The students will seek out answers on their own to truly understand their path while they might ask their seniors for additional help, to gain insights that they can't figure out on their own. Even the oldest members of SILU collaborate together to form a deeper understanding of spirits and spiritualists as a whole. So far no one has ever had the audacity in history to say that they know everything about their spiritual path.
Adam was awed by this information. He had not realized that he was attempting to join such a large organization, by trying to become a spiritualist. He had also never studied in his life, before. There were almost no schools in Heider to teach commoners and even if there were, it would certainly cost money to attend. Most commoners were self taught some simple letters and mathematics. This would get most people through their entire life without trouble.
Gerard then started to talk about classes. The first monthly class that Adam would attend was for junior candidates. This way, all questions that were asked during class could be beneficial to all candidates present. Vivienne would be granted an exception to be with Adam during class to be his eyes. For future classes, Adam could choose to go to one of two other classrooms that would teach senior candidates. It did not matter which class he chose, both would have pretty much the same information to give. The teacher of this class would typically gloss over basic information and start with some practical examples and receive any questions from the candidates. Adam's weekly sessions should be one on one discussions with a teacher, there was hardly anyone who qualified for additional assistance.
Gerard took a good hour talking about everything within the pamphlet. By the time they were done, Adam and Vivienne's stomachs were rumbling as it was lunch time now. Gerard smiled at them as he hear their stomachs. “Why don't you come and sit at one of these fine tables. We offer free food services to our potential future students of SILU. In just a few minutes, lunch will be served!”
People had already started to sit down at some of the tables. There were a few candidates that came up from the first floor and directly took a seat. There were many more that were descending from reading on the third floor. All these senior candidates looked at ease. Then there were a few families, that just had their children admitted, that were anxiously waiting in the luxurious seats.
Adam and Vivienne took up a couple of empty seats as they waited. It did not take long before servers started pouring out from a door behind the bar. First came out some speedy servers who had arms full of plates, cups, and silver ware that they sat down before everyone. Then came large heaping plates of food that were placed along each table for the occupants to gorge themselves upon.
Vivienne was surprised about the amount of high quality food that was presented before them. Even the smallest dish served was larger than any plate she prepared at the Dancery and the quality was a step higher than Madame's. Adam couldn't see the food, but he heard the heavy plates being set down before them while smelling the great flavor of the dishes.
A chef had stepped out while the final dishes were being placed. He exclaimed with a wide smile: “These dishes were made with the highest quality ingredients we could afford. Please enjoy and dig in!”
There was a large clamor as everyone started to grab food and place it on their plate as they ate. Vivienne had to get Adam his food since he couldn't see what was what. He savored the food as he ate it. It was some of the best food he had ever eaten in his life and it seemed that he could eat this at least once a month now!
By the end of the meal, Adam and many others had eaten too much. They were starting to get very sleepy from all the good food. Some started smacking their cheeks a bit to stay awake. More servers poured out from the bar, pouring new cups for everyone.
The chef had come out once again and spoke: “I am truly happy you ate my dishes so well. Classes are next so it wouldn't do to just leave you sleepy from good food. These drinks will reinvigorate you and keep you awake!”
The senior candidates were all expecting this drink, but the juniors and their families were a little surprised. Adam felt gratitude towards the chef as he took his cup and started to drink. There was a wonderful fruity flavor in the drink. At first he still felt sleepy, but rather quickly he felt his mind get assaulted by a strange energy and became fully awake.
Vivienne had also taken the drink and was pleasantly surprised by its effect. Vivienne then reached out to Adam. “Come along now, let's head to the classroom.”
After getting up, Adam was guided by Vivienne to the stairs. They once again made their slow journey upwards. They were passed by a lot of people on their way up, but hardly anyone was complaining about the two. They were not being intentionally slow, they were just physically impaired.
Reaching the third floor at last, Vivienne took a look around. They were in a space that contained both landings of the split staircase. This area held a small lounge area situated in the curved wall that was at this end of the oval shaped institute. Containing more of those strange curves, There were additional walls that curved inwards to form an oddly shaped hallway, they started flush with the walls on the sides of the building before coming in. The classrooms could be entered from doors in the sides of this hallway. The other end the hallway curved back out into another space that held the teacher's offices.
Vivienne led Adam down the hallway to the first door on the left. This was classroom one, the junior class. The classroom had neatly ordered rows of luxurious desks. There was also a large black chalkboard on the front wall, close to the entrance. After entering, they were stared at by the handful of other candidates. The rest of their families had to wait in the resting area until they were done, what was Adam's mother doing here?
Adam felt a little embarrassed as they entered. He could hear the other candidates talking among themselves before they entered. Now that they turned silent when they entered, he knew that they must be staring at him and his mom. Vivienne led Adam to an empty desk in the front. She then found an extra unused chair and brought it to sit down beside Adam as they waited for the teacher.