Soulburned : The School of Souls

Chapter 13 : The Illusion of Choice

Lyra sat in the Assembly Hall, surrounded by other new students to the Iris. The Archmage stood on a podium affixed to a large stone dias. Behind him was a row of X cauldrons. Each was filled with a bubbling concoction of differing color and viscosity. Behind the cauldrons, was a Brazier of the Shriving Fire, casting a constant reminder of power around the large room.

The chamber took up an entire floor of the Tower, so was octagonal in shape. Each of the walls had a large stained glass window, each depicting some scene from antiquity. Each was a work of art that was studied in Sclera's primer schools, and Lyra was able to identify each.

The Gift from the Void. The Chaining of the Accursed. The Sorcorial Betrayal. The Arrival of the Black Fire. The Shriving. The Cleanse. The Construction of the Iris, and the Forging.

Dozens of Tier One students sat on benches, arranged in long, curved rows, each facing inwards towards the dias.

The ages of her fellow first-tiers varied wildly, some several years younger than her, still in their teens, but others appeared to be at least a decade older.

That has to be so strange... She thought. Being so much older than your peers.

She couldn't imagine being comfortable being surrounded by people who were comparatively children. Honestly, she felt old here. At twenty-one she was already one of the oldest students in this TIer. She had sat down next to a few students that seemed to be about her age. A boy and a girl. Elsewhere around the Assembly hall, it appeared that the Tier was already dividing itself up into cliques.

Void, this better not be like primer had been...

Don't worry too much, Lyra. You won't be Tier One for very long.

Lyra jolted.

Entity? She thought.

In the flesh. No, wait, in your flesh.

Where have you been? I was beginning to think you were just some sort of fever dream!

How do you know I'm not?

Lyra frowned.

I'm kidding. I've been sleeping. Kind-of. The amount of Thymos we channeled through that Sorceror kid was a little over the top. Really took it out of me.

"Kreg." The boy said after a prolonged silence, pulling Lyra out of her conversation with Entity.

"Lyra."

"Tuley" The girl sighed.

"How many times did you take the entrance exam?"

"What do you mean?" Lyra asked.

"Come on, everyone tries as soon as they graduate Primer. We're all a bit older than most... ergo."

"I had to take it twice," Tuley replied.

"Three," said Kreg, beaming. "Da almost disavowed me after the second."

They both looked at Lyra.

"Four..." Lyra said.

"Yikes," said Kreg. "That couldn't have been cheap!"

"To be fair, the first two weren't my fault!" She said defensively, "Do you remember that flood a few years back?"

"Uh-huh," Kreg said, clearly incredulous.

You had to take the exam four times?! Entity laughed in Lyra's head. Wow!

Lyra bristled.

I thought you had 'scoured the entirety of my existence', or something. Lyra thought back.

Well yeah, but I skimmed over the boring bits. I thought everyone passed that thing on the first try. I stopped looking at those sequences of memories ages ago.

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Wait, now that you're with me... how will the Trial work for everyone else?

"Doesn't matter," Tuley said, perceiving Lyra's thousand-yard stare to mean she was uncomfortable with that line of questioning. "We made it. What vocation are you going to choose?"

"Summoner for 1st TIer, but then Agricultural Conjuration," Kreg said proudly. "Da wants to be able to compete with the Mornstag farms. They're a big House, but supposedly, Lord Mornstag doesn't hire any Wizards."

"He doesn't." Lyra said, "With how large the estate is, It's cheaper for him just to hire field hands to actually grow crops, rather than conjure product wholesale."

"Exactly. Da says we can beat them in quality if not quantity. 'Boutique' is the word he used... he sold half the farm just to get me in here."

"Rumour has it that second Mornstag heir ran away." Tuley said, "Might be the end of an era."

"No one runs away for that much scratch," Kreg said. "Especially not some silver-spoon Great House kid. Da says it's just a publicity stunt... What about you? Which Vocation are you eyeing?"

"Ugh," said Tuly. "I don't know. I've waffled back and forth between Alchemist and Illusionist. I think the Tier 2s for the Alchemy branch are more lucrative... but the power to turn invisible just sounds is so tempting."

"What about you Lyra?"

"I don't know... " Lyra said, "I honestly didn't think I'd make it this far."

"Students!" The Archmage boomed over the chattering 1st Tier Wizards. "Congratulations on earning your Marks, and welcome to the Iris!"

The younger students cheered.

"In light of recent events, the Council has decided to make a slight change to this term's structure. As always, you'll be choosing a vocation, but instead of getting two electives from that vocation, you'll only get one. Your remaining slot will be reserved for 'Intro to Combact Soulmancy'. At this time, conscription is still not compulsory, but we want our students to be able to defend themselves in the event of another breach. Our defenses have stood strong for decades, but it's time we accepted fact. We are under siege. It is time we started acting like it."

A somber air took hold of the assembly hall.

"Now, you'll be called up to the stage one at a time, and choose a vocation. There are limited spaces in each vocation, so your names will be drawn at random. After everyone's made their selection, you'll be accompanying your new Vocation Heads to their portion of the Tower to select your electives. Dorms will be assigned for those staying in the Iris shortly after."

The Archmage waved his hand and a small circle of light appeared in the air. He reached his hand into the circle and pulled out a silver disk.

"Now, without further ado,"

He glanced down at the glyphs engraved into the silver disk.

"Lyra Mornstag, you're first. Please come select your Tier 1 Vocation."

Lyra stood and began walking to the dias.

The Hall was quiet as she made her way to the stage. Kreg, upon hearing Lyra's last name, suddenly looked incredibly ill.

First? I had to be first?! She'd been hoping that some of the Vocation would have been filled before it was her turn to choose.

Lyra climbed the few steps at the base of the stone dias, then took the silver disk from the Archmage's hand and stared at the line of cauldrons.

"Drop your glyph stone into the Cauldron that matches your chosen Vocation. The logos-saturated liquid will permeate your Glyph Stone, and the resulting talisman will help hone you into an effective Soulmancer. Choose wisely."

The Cauldrons were large, ornate, silver bowls. Like the other Artifacts she'd seen, these were completely covered in intricate Glyphs and Runes. Each had one large glyph symbolizing the vocation stamped in its center. Each cauldron bubbled ominously, despite there being no fire beneath them

Her choice of vocation wouldn't affect Iris's core curriculum, it was largely just a symbolic ceremony, but it would limit her options for elective classes. She was more than a little frustrated that one of her elective slots had already been taken away from her.

Intro to Combat? She wasn't planning on fighting anything. What Entity had made her do during the invasion was already more combat than Lyra ever wanted to see. She wasn't Declan.

Lyra knew very little about the Glyph Stones. All she knew was that it would be converted into a necklace with a minor buff, but she didn't know what each buff would be. Declan had once shown his her, and he said it had allowed him 'to better understand' rune formula. Whatever that meant. The Logos in it had eventually run out, but by the time it did, he claimed that he was able to replicate its abilities on his own.

Any Wizard could learn any Vocation's skill, and many did in time, as the further into the Tier system overlap progressed, the more overlap there was. When it came down to it, the Soulmancy used to Summon a creature was the largely the same as the Soulmancy used in transporting matter from one place to another.

She would, in time, strive to learn all of the Vocations.

But where to start?

I have... preferences. Entity chimed in. Since I'm the Entity of WIllpower, I'd recommend the vocations that rely heavily on that aspect. So in Tier 1 that'd be Summoning or Runes.

Declan started as a Runic Wizard... Lyra thought.

Pretty good at it too, from what I've seen.

You've seen Declan's runes?

I'm in your head Lyra. I know what you know.

The Archmage cleared his throat.

Lyra's palms began to sweat.

Don't overthink this Lyra. It's one class and a temporary buff. All roads lead to mastery.

She had seven options. Summoning. Illusion. Alchemy. Runes. Constructs. Transportation. Rituals.

Lyra froze. She didn't know what she wanted.

Void, Lyra, it's not that hard.

Entity dropped Lyra's stone into the Summoner's cauldron, then calmly walked back to Lyra's seat.