Joe

(Joe's house)

This was it.

"I'm totally calm." Joe reassured himself mentally.

The day Joe would take his first steps to becoming Humanity's first Magic Scientist.

"Maybe."

It wasn't like he would be shooting off to another planet yet per se.

"Just having a casual conversation with a magical alien. In orbit. For a few days. No biggie."

They said he had the potential to become a 'Magic Scientist'. A. Magic. Scientist.

"Nope, totally not calm. Definitely not calm."

"I'm going to space! Before you Mike! Try beating that!" Joe shouted at the ceiling.

"Joe! Enough with the shouting, get out here already, Lauren and Ray just arrived! There's nothing more you could possibly be packing!" Mary hollered down the hall.

"Ugh, no need to shout, geez." Joe thought to himself as he grabbed his laptop bag, stuffed with the essentials, off the bed and headed for his door.

They had contacted him three days ago after Mike had left to go home on their last sleepover. He had received an email that morning from one 'Va'al Nek, Head of Magical Science at Shi'kaar Magical Society'. The invitation came because of a recommendation from an 'unknown benefactor'. The email had stated that Joe had 'singular, but unpolished talent' for the field of magic, and had demonstrated remarkable natural proficiency in deducing its possible mechanics.

Mike's aunt and uncle were indeed there, and Mary invited them inside. They had all agreed to keep Joe's emails a secret, Mike had enough going on without having to worry about Joe too. Lauren and Ray came to support Joe in his own next chapter. The emotions and worry were still fresh from the previous day when Mike left, so Lauren and Ray were a little puffy-eyed.

It's kinda weird that I'm also leaving only a day after Mike left, but hey! Everything happens for a reason right?

They all had a couple of snacks and chatted amongst themselves, most of it was directed at Joe though.

"So do you know what you'll be doing the next few days Joe?" Aunty Lauren asked.

"Sadly, all I know is that I'm gonna get picked up, stay for a few days, and they're going to 'evaluate' me. I don't know why it would take so long though. Definitely not complaining, of course, I get to go to space!" Joe grinned.

"No fair, I wanna go to space too! You're really lucky Joe." little Emma commented.

"Or I'm just the best friend of the luckiest guy in the world." Joe thought with a smirk.

Joe wasn't going to be teleported according to one email. It wasn't a certainty yet that normal humans could survive magical teleportation, and the Livari, being 'life-conscious', weren't about to find out guinea-pig style. Maybe that's what Joe was going to be working on.

They spoke some more about what might transpire when a shadow passed over the house, followed by a low thrum. Joe's ride was here.

Joe ran and looked out the dining room window and saw a large glimmering silver crescent rapidly approaching his house. The same ships that had first landed, unloading the teleporters and equipment that was now generating the majority of the Earth's power. That's what was picking him up!?

Joe quickly grabbed his laptop bag as Mary opened the front door. The air was thrumming loudly as he dashed outside ahead of everyone, just as the silver crescent turned and came down gently to hover horizontally in the street in front of the house. A number of the neighbors had come outside to gawk at the sight as well.

It's not every day that a spaceship hovers in the street! Joe thought as an imperceptible hatch in the center of the crescent opened up, and a literal alien stepped out of the ship. He floated gracefully down onto the street where an increasing number of bystanders had their phones out taking videos that would no doubt go viral. The pale green elf-alien set down across the street and began slowly walking toward Joe.

"Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy, I did not think I would be this nervous." Joe thought as he felt like he audibly gulped. A small tug on his sleeve shook him from his reverie.

"Joe, please be safe okay?" Emma tugged on his sleeve. The usual irritation he felt at her evaporated for a moment as he turned and smiled at his little sister.

"I promise!" he said as earnestly as he could to her.

"That promise better be to all of us." Mary chided as she and the other adults drew closer to him.

Joe turned to see his mom all teary-eyed, and his dad beaming with pride. He hugged them together fiercely, before letting them go and turning to face the alien.

"No, the Livari!" Joe thought with determination. He plucked himself up and strode purposefully to meet the Livari that had halted in the middle of the street. The alien was wearing a stunning ensemble consisting of a uniform of navy blue with silver trimming, miniature silver chains looped around several decorations of what must have been rank, and a coat, inlaid with bits of trim he couldn't identify, hanging from a glossy fabric on his shoulder.

"He looks like a badass!" Joe thought as he finally came to a stop in front of the Livari.

Joe had to look up to meet the alien's eyes. They were a shocking blue, with ovoid pupils that dilated as he smiled. "Hello Joe, my name is Va'al Nek. It is a pleasure to meet you." he said, holding his hand out to shake Joe's.

"Man, I was half ready to bust out the Vulcan salute I'm so nervous. It figures they'd know we greet each other with handshakes, what were you thinking Joe!?" he thought, as he reached out to grip Va'al's hand firmly and shake it.

"Thank you very much! I...guess you already know my name is Joe, and I'm really excited to be here. I mean, to be there. On your spaceship. In space. Soon." Joe faltered, trying and failing miserably to contain his nerves.

A small smirk played along Va'al's mouth before he addressed the assembled adults. "I promise he will return in four days." He declared before nodding to them and addressing Joe once more. "Shall we depart?"

Joe nodded eagerly. Before trotting off, he waved goodbye to the parents and his sister and followed after Va'al. Approaching the enormous floating silver crescent was daunting. Va'al came to a stop beneath the vessel where Joe came alongside him.

"Are you ready?" Va'al asked.

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"Extremely!" Joe nearly yelped.

Before he knew it, he felt extremely light and began to float upwards. The feeling of his equilibrium being thrown off was intense, sort of like a ride at a theme park.

"I never really liked those." Joe mused as his stomach rebelled at the strange sensation of being pulled upwards by...nothing.

"You will find yourself being deposited quite lightly once we reach the lip. Simply prepare to 'step off', as it were. Think of it like an invisible escalator." Va'al reassured Joe, whose eyes were growing wider the higher they went. Sure enough, they came to the hatch which nudged Joe forwards. He did his best to take a step forward, but since his momentum was now returning downwards and he was no athlete, he ended up tripping instead and sprawled across the deck.

"Great. Best first impression ever." Joe thought to himself irritably, feeling slightly nauseated by the brief ride up to the ship. Joe pressed himself up and found a hand offering to assist. It was Va'al's.

"Do not fret Joe, you actually handled that remarkably well for your first time." Joe took his hand as Va'al helped him up.

It was then that Joe looked around at the interior of his first alien spacecraft. It was surprisingly spartan, with very few furnishings other than some hardpoints, control panels along the cream-colored walls, and what looked like readouts. "Huh, wonder how bad others must have been for that to be good." Joe stated plainly.

"Well, actually there have been cases where copious amounts of vomiting occurred, other times inconsolable screaming, and one of my worst experiences was having to rescue a panicked quadruped who simply jumped out the hatch, requiring my intervention so he didn't kill himself." Va'al sighed at the retelling.

"Wow, well that's...quite extreme." Joe mused out loud.

"Hence, my 'remarkably well' comment. Your species is, after all, rather unique amongst the galaxy." Va'al wore a lopsided smile as he ushered Joe toward the only other door in the room. The wooden door silently split open as Joe approached, leading into a small corridor. The corridor was not nearly as spartan as the 'drop bay' he had just been in. The corridor was circular, but spacious in design. Joe had no idea what the floor was made of, but the walls looked like marble, and...

"Are your walls moving?" Joe looked back at Va'al who was stepping into the hall.

"Astute, I see. Yes, they are moving, albeit slowly. We can program the walls to look however we want." Va'al spoke with a smile.

"Epic!" Joe intoned. They didn't have to walk far before coming to what looked like a lounge. Reclining furniture decorated the space, a bowl of exotic fruit sat in a depression of one of the clear tables at the center of the fixtures. What caught Joe's eye first, however, was the view. They were still hovering over the street across from his house.

"Is this see-through or a screen?" Joe asked, walking towards the viewport his curiosity piqued.

"On this vessel, it's 'see-through', as you say." Va'al patiently watched Joe come to grips with all the goings on. Hundreds of times Va'al had gone through this process, but for the first time, curiosity, not fear, was the first response. Oh, other species had technology, vehicles, and magic in abundance, but none as complete or as refined as the Livari's. Usually, the sheer elegance and ease with which the Livari did things often made other species afraid. Afraid of the potential they wielded, afraid that they would be made subservient in the truest sense. But this boy...

"So, when do we get to go?" Joe piped up excitedly, looking back at Va'al with a glint in his eye.

"This boy does his species proud, certainly. If this is what we can expect going forward, then what La'ar said was true." Va'al thought, his mind racing with the possibilities.

"If you're acclimated, then right away!" Va'al said with an air of surprise.

In a moment, Joe felt himself get slightly heavier, and a thrumming hum resonated within him. Everything inside of him screamed that he was within something that was...

"It's like it's alive!" Joe exclaimed, his feet remaining heavy but steady as his stomach barely lurched. The thrumming changed pitch and intensity as they steadily descended, his parents and neighbors waving toward where he had entered the ship initially.

"Would you like a 360-degree view as we ascend?" Va'al asked the enamoured Joe.

"You can do that!?" Joe lit up.

"As you like to say, you haven't seen anything yet." Va'al replied grandly as he made a deft gesture with his fingers, and the room simply melted away, making Joe feel as though...

"Oh wow, it feels like I'm flying!" Joe exclaimed. Before he could speak further, a small whine grew in volume and the ship turned about. Joe imagined the ship as he'd seen it from the outside. If they were doing what he thought they were doing, they were aligning themselves to fly 'forwards', like a flying crescent, a sickle cutting the sky. They were angled slightly upwards now, Joe's street a few hundred meters below. A deep yawning sound emitted throughout the frame of the ship announced that something was about to happen, and just like that they were accelerating. He could somehow 'feel' it in his bones. He looked down at where his parents were likely standing, as the ground rocketed away from them. He could see the vapor trails left by the edges of the crescent-shaped ship, and then the subsequent vapor cone as they broke the sound barrier.

They were still accelerating, Joe was sure, since the ground got further and further away rapidly. He never 'heard' anything except for the ship itself, humming happily as it helped them traverse the boundary between Earth and space. That was when Va'al spoke up.

"Feel free to admire this, young Joe, there are few things in one's life as special as seeing your home from afar. Yours is quite breath-taking too. A multifaceted paradise for your kind. We'll dock in a few minutes."

"Thank you, sir Va'al." Joe said earnestly, as the curvature of Earth began to make itself known more prominently, and the blue haze of atmosphere became apparent. The sky changed to become dark as the night, and stars began to twinkle to life in his vision. Not a word was spoken between them as Joe was wrapped up in the Earthrise, his planet, a glittering jewel never seen from such a vantage before.

In his head Joe knew this to be the 'Overview effect', seeing Earth from so far away, and a rare phenomenon amongst humanity, but seeing it for himself was different.

Very few things moved Joe, personally. Once, he'd had the opportunity to drive as a passenger in a Lamborghini, and they had gunned it. The sheer power and majesty, the clamor of the engine, had brought a tear to Joe's eye that day. Another time he'd been to a combined military forces demonstration followed by an air show, and to say it had been breath-taking was an understatement. He'd been in awe then too.

But this time, in the space of his vision, a realization struck him. All he had ever known, all he had ever loved, and all the people he held dearest to him, were all right there. This beautiful, blue, green, and wispy world, was it. Humanity. It was all there. He couldn't explain it, but it overwhelmed him. He shed tears he never knew he would, for a world he never knew he would love so much. He wiped at the tears as the ship spun and Joe stopped looking towards Earth. On the other side of the vision was the black expanse of space, and so very many stars. One never saw this many on Earth. Amongst the glittering though, was a different glimmer altogether. There, as Joe strained to see closer, was the starship he was told he'd be spending the next four days on. To the Livari, it was known as the Ya'thai, which literally meant 'the light which carries away evil'. However, it translated as...

"Welcome Joe, to the Aurora."

* * * * *

Mike

(Colosseum, Academy Ground)

Mike...had no idea what he was doing. He was a little anxious since he was 5 students away from getting to try out his power. So far, most of the students hadn't done, well, particularly amazingly.

"Some, like the asshole with the hammer, are spectacular, others..."

"Heeeeelp! I don't know what to doooooo!" Mike stared as the floating girl flew off, tumbling through the air.

"...not so much." Mike sighed. That left four students until it was his turn. He had his 'Wisp', but he had no idea what to do to make it...well, do anything! He could make it twirl around him, make it fly away, hold it under something till it caught fire, but it didn't 'do' anything. When he made it crash into something fast, it just poofed out of existence and then reappeared next to him again. Some things caught fire, others didn't. It was beyond frustrating.

"How am I supposed to do anything with this!?" the guy currently facing the target said in exasperation as everyone watching started giggling. Mike looked and saw that along the entire lane, the grass had grown slightly longer.

"Patience, Daniel. Your Gift, like everyone else's, is still in its most benign phase. This exercise has a purpose, I promise." La'ar spoke above them as he witnessed each and every attempt, encouraging each person who made the attempt.

"Ah geez, am I really gonna end up being lame today too? That race with La'ar and Sam pumped me up so much! But now, I've got nothing to work with." Mike floated his flame over to himself and held it. It felt like it had a personality of its own, which Mike couldn't quite put a finger on.

"Next!" La'ar called. Two people had stepped out of line in front of him suddenly. Mike looked up at La'ar in confusion but stepped forward anyway. "Those students possess the gifts 'Paralysis' and 'Forgetting' respectively. Very useful against live opponents, not so much against a stone slab. They did try though" La'ar smiled.

"Oh boy, here we go then." Mike thought, knowing full well the results of this, before an idea struck him. "What if, I try to do what La'ar did in the race? Maybe I could spin my flame when I throw it!" Mike thought with determination. He summoned the Wisp to himself and began to think 'spin' at it.

It promptly began spinning, and it started to look a whole lot more impressive. Mike was now ready to throw.