James was standing in a long queue, it has been a tiring day but also a relatively important one, so it was justified.
Looking around, James checked on the other initiates.
On the vast courtyard, hundreds of them were organized in lines, and in front of each one, a cultivator was standing with a floating crystal that appeared to be twice the size of a man’s head.
James looked at his own.
An initiate was advancing toward the examiner, the man told him something, and the initiate touched the crystal with his right hand.
For several breaths, nothing happened, and the boy looked dejected.
Almost as if his family has abandoned him.
The young man has apparently failed. James was about to check on another line when he heard something, he turned around and yep standing behind him was a young man who looked like he was in his late teens or early twenties.
James responded to the man.
“Hello, how may I help you?” James said
“Hi, you don’t need to be formal, I am probably younger than you but not by a lot, my name is Kim.” said the young man.
Well, James looks older than he is. And even before he reached eighteen last winter, people thought he was twenty-something.
Not that it did him any good. That crystal can’t be fooled as far as he is concerned, and the sect does not accept anyone younger than eighteen, well the young man doesn’t need to know all of that.
“Nice to meet you, my name is James.” James said
“you just looked bored, and I wanted to chat to pass time.” said Kim
James looked at him again, black hair, black eyes, not very fancy but fancy clothes, so not a noble son or relative (those probably wouldn’t talk to him, James knew that from experience), but probably a merchant son.
Well if he wants to talk, James can indulge him, he just has to lead the conversation correctly.
“Sure, what aptitude do you wish to get?” James said
Something safe to talk about, because dreams and wishes can’t hurt anyone.
“Mmm, if it is up to me, one of the special ones and more particularly the time aspect, no need to fight, just divination and a very good position in the sect, and you?” said Kim.
Well good luck with that, everyone wants to be special but few are.
In the first place, having an aptitude is rare, getting a special one is another thing entirely. And time and space are the most desired aptitudes, and sometimes years pass without any of them appearing.
Case in point, from the almost hundred that have already done the test, only seven passed. And none of them has a special aptitude.
But James does not need to crush the dreams of youth.
“I hope you got one, as for me, I would like an elemental one, particularly the wind or water elements.” James said.
They are the most common so no politics, just hard work and some competition, and being accepted by the sect will make things easier, or so he heard.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Not a lot of ambition there, you have to dream big to go far in life.” Kim said.
Well, in the street, you don’t have time for dreams, and you learn to keep your head in the ground.
At least if you want to keep it.
James just shrugged and didn’t respond.
“So where are you from” Kim said
Well, here it comes to why he doesn’t like small talk because sometimes they develop into interrogations, and he hates those.
Before James could respond, the surrounding chatters became very quiet, so he looked, and yup, in the line to his left, a crystal was glowing.
James looked at the crystal, he didn’t recognize any of the colors the crystal assigned to the four elements, orange for fire, blue for water, green for wind, and brown for earth.
Well, there were many other colors, he only knows those four, because they were the most common ones.
Well, he could always ask.
He turned to Kim and asked. “What is that ?”
Kim was looking at the crystal, when he heard James, he turned around and looked surprised someone asked him that question.
He went quiet for some time before responding.
“You know that the colors are used, so commoners can recognize these aptitudes and have nothing to do with the element itself, and that all the schools in the city teach them. Well that rainbow combination is the time element, and with it my chance of being one of the same is gone as well, there is no way two time elements can be discovered in the same place. I hope to at least get the space element now.” Kim said
Well, you can keep dreaming. James thought
Space is as rare as time, and no way in hell it will be discovered today. As for school and the non-asked questions, well every school in the city may have taught kids about the elements, but James didn’t know that because school wasn’t something he could afford at the time. But Kim didn’t need to know that as well.
The time initiate was a young woman, wearing very fancy clothes, very good-looking, and with curves in the right places. Probably many of the young men will be having dreams about her tonight.
Maybe James as well, but while he is awake and aware, that is a combination James learned to stay away from.
Not like he has the chance to meet many, because from where he came being pretty is a crime in itself, and you didn’t survive long being on. And being rich is a dream no one can afford.
He hoped his future would be different, but he has learned to be pessimistic, and it has kept him alive, till now at least.
Kim looked like he had lost his spirit and did not talk after that. Which was a good thing as far as James was concerned, because if Kim is quiet James will be as well, then he won’t say something that may screw him up.
And sometimes later it was James' turn.
James said goodbye to Kim and advanced toward the crystal, the cultivator, who appeared to be a man in his forties with a hard atmosphere around him, looked at James, and James continued until he was at the crystal.
“Name?” the man growled
“James, sir.” James responded.
“Family name?” the man asked.
“None sir.” James said.
The man looked at James for several breaths. Well, it was rare to not have a family name here because it meant you were an orphan or a bastard and had no next of kin to adopt you. Those have no business coming to sects.
“What is a Nyxen doing here?” the man said.
Well here it comes, Nyxen the cursed word, a word used to describe children who will become slaves when they reach adulthood, it is why he didn’t like to talk about personal information.
Having no last name gives three options in life.
Becoming a slave is the end of most Nyxen, because slavers are working hard to ensure that.
The second is to become a soldier, which is possible if someone is accepted by the army, a hard task but very possible, which is James’s second option if today’s recruiting didn’t work.
The last option is to be a cultivator, but this is the hardest because not all sects accept Nyxen.
Well, the Verdant sect did, which was why he was here in the first place. The only thing that was protecting him from slavers was because he was a child, and in the empire, children can’t be slaves. Well, legally at least.
“Coming for the test, sir.” James said.
“Place your hand on the crystal.” the man said
James did as told, at the beginning nothing happened but after that the crystal became darker as if it was night inside of it, James didn’t recognize that sign, but the man did and he said one word.
“Shadow”
Well, that was not what he expected.