The Passing was what we call the day every year when lanterns are to be set free. Representing the souls of every individual who has passed in our country. Whether they have participated in the war or not, doesn’t matter. Orange lights however, are those who have fallen in battle or vanished while on a mission. Those who disappear are always assumed to be dead or so badly injured they can’t hope to return in time for a healing. Blue lights represent everyone else. Before entering this building, I couldn’t help but notice, there were very few blue lights.

We walk along one of the corridors on the main floor. Torchlight flickers and dances, reflecting red flames off the shiny, marble floor. Every step echoes, reverberating back to us in the narrow space. A few steps ahead is a large, arched doorway. No doors though, just an open space between.

Shue runs ahead and turns around, waiting for my arrival. “This way!” he says. Then he enters the auditorium.

“Sai?” Senza says. Still perched on my shoulder, he glances around the enormous room.

I can hear the hint of anxiety in his voice and understand completely why. Shue was not the only young child here. There were some who looked to be even younger than he was, mixed with students in their mid to late teens and some who appeared even older than that. Could anyone join this school? Why was the age range so big?

“It makes sense for the older students, if graduating after fifty years is a thing. But… I would have never expected kids younger than Shue to be here. This… I don’t like it.”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “Neither do I.”

We approach a set of steps which lead down and all around the auditorium were seats. There must have been thousands upon thousands and most are paired with a student. I look down at Shue who is waving at me and I feel all eyes turn to me as we descend. Both Daxton and Remmy were seated near the bottom and someone…

“Is that Emri?” I ask.

“Yeah…” Senza says. “You know… he knows you better than anyone else right?”

“What are you saying?”

“Well… if anyone can see through your disguise, it’s him.”

Emri is… was my friend. Until he disappeared. We grew up together and he was the reason Senza and I became partners. The reason Senza is my familiar. And Senza is right. Senza’s glamor is good, better than most I assume, but I am sure that Emri will see right through it.

“This way!” Shue says as he turns into the row where Emri, Daxton and Remmy are all seated. He squeezes past Emri to an empty seat on the other side.

I sit on the end, right beside Emri.

He looks at me and I look at him, then we quickly look away from each other. The interaction is strange. After not seeing him for nearly two years and now suddenly finding myself beside him, I didn’t know what to-

“Sai?” he whispers.

I close my eyes and breathe, not surprised in the slightest by Senza’s prediction and then I realize something. “Senza…” I think towards him.

“He can’t see me. I extended the glamor to myself.”

Wow. When did he get so good at crafting illusions? It was one thing to change someone else's appearance or create a glamor that changed what a place looked like. Hiding oneself however. That required you to continually replace the illusion with another as you moved. Replacing it with one that resembled the surrounding area.

“Shhh,” I say.

“What are you…?”

“Call me Christina here. Or Chris.”

“But…”

I shake my head. “My father doesn’t even know I’m here, Emri. If anyone finds out-”

Emri lets out a long breath. “They won’t find out,” he says. “But we’ll talk about this later.” Emri turns his head toward the large stage before us.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Before I turn my gaze away, I can’t help but notice, Daxton’s crimson gaze upon me. He says nothing though and simply turns back toward the stage. Lights above flicker on as someone ascends the steps. Not my uncle. A tall man in a black suit, with short, onyx hair that is unkempt. A tattoo which appears like a vine of thorns stretches from his left ear, down his neck. He turns around on the stage and addresses us, with a wireless mic held in one hand.

“Unfortunately your headmaster Braeon cannot be here tonight,” he spoke through the mic. It was odd how he said ‘your’ and not ‘our’. In a quieter voice, “he is… busy.”

I roll my eyes and allow the tiniest hint of a smile, when several murmurs of disappointment erupt around us. That was so like my uncle though. Always busy with research and science.

“But let me introduce myself as your Professor Kaivos Xanotia. Welcome to Aurys Academy first years!” His voice echoes throughout the auditorium. “Most of you should know this, but I know that some of you do not. If you are wearing one of these bands…” Kaivos raised his right arm to show a band around his wrist. “That means you cannot leave!”

A few cries of angry outrage. Cries I assume are from students who were brought here against their own will and from students who came of their own accord, but had no idea what the rules were of this place.

“Get a hold of yourselves, please!” Kaivos yells into the mic. “You have a deal to thank for this! A deal that was made long ago! Anyways, we are not here to talk about that. We are here to announce this year’s trial. It will occur at the end of the year with our mages against everyone else.”

I turn my head to the side when someone makes a light, growling sound. Daxton grit his teeth.

“What’s… does he know?” I ask Emri.

“There’s only one trial where all Vaerynne are pitted against human mages. Unfortunately… it’s the same one we had to take part in last year.”

“The Wild Hunt!” Kaivos yells.

“I don’t think I even want to know what that is,” I whisper to Emri.

“Yeah,” he says. “But I think you need to know.”

“Look to your seniors to figure out what that is. Now, I know that it is late, but we need to begin assessments. Those of you who will be assessed, should have the image of a wolf on your band. That is what we call a glyph, you will learn about those later. Those who do not have that symbol, may go to the barracks where you will sleep. Your assessment will be tomorrow. Those who have the wolf mark, go and meet in the great hall!”

People start standing up all around us and begin to file up the stairs where their seats are located, in one of four corridors. Emri takes my wrist and turns it around. There in silver, is the mark of a wolf.

“Yeah… you are one of them,” he says. “Let’s go.” Emri stands.

“You’re coming?” I ask as I stand.

“We all have a choice,” he says. “We can either watch, or we can go to bed.”

We exit the line of seats and I follow Emri up the stairs. “So it’s a… spectacle…?”

“Not exactly.”

“Not a spectacle,” Daxton says from beside me. I look over at him and see the scowl he’s wearing on his face. “The assessment is to judge how powerful your magic is and be sorted into a house based on what magic you are able to use. In the assessment we are not allowed to kill our opponents… unfortunately.” he rolls his eyes.

“Wait… what?”

“Worry about that later… Chris.”

I make sure to take note of the way Emri pauses, before saying my alias. “So what are the rules?”

“The match ends when either a judge, which will be at least five of our professors, steps in to stop it, one of you gets knocked out or one of you surrenders. If a judge believes your magic is too weak, then you will be placed with our infantry instead. Oh and for the record, only mages have to go through this, everyone else is placed in a house based on what they are and what element they have an affinity to.” Emri stops at the top of the stairs and looks at me.

He doesn’t need to say anything. You shouldn’t be here, are the unspoken words. I climb the stairs and pass him, into the corridor. “It’s alright,” I say. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you?” Senza asks from my shoulder. “Do you… really?”

“Yes,” I reply.

“Well, anyways,” Emri says. “That’s how the assessment works. Oh and you won’t be fighting first years. You’ll be fighting six people, two from three different houses. One a mage and the other will be a Vaerynn. And… are you going to take him in with you?”

He was, of course, referring to Senza. I shake my head. “He’s too important for me to take into the assessment.”

“Then, want me to watch him?”

“Yeah,” I say as we reach the great hall. The entrance to the building. I lift Senza off my shoulder and hand him to my friend.

“Be careful Chris,” Emri says. “We’ll be going to the bleachers above the arena.”

I nod and watch as Emri walks off with Senza.

“Heh… are you sure about that?” Daxton says. “He’s your familiar isn’t he?”

Senza was my familiar and in most cases, familiars almost always fought with the person they were bonded with. I rarely used Senza as a combat companion. There are other things I can do.

“I’m sure,” I say.

“Suit yourself then,” Daxton says as he climbs one of the curved staircases leading to the second floor.

Without saying a word, Remmy follows close behind him and then I am left alone in a room full of first year students. We all stand there, waiting for our magic assessment to begin. I smile in anticipation.