The headmaster opened the door to a small room, which held two chairs near a small, round table, with a glass orb on a shiny pedestal. On the glass orb, a number of esoteric symbols were drawn. They looked vaguely similar to the symbols used in Draconic Akashic, but not quite the same.
“The first part of the exam is to test your affinity with magic. To be specific, it will tell us what kind of attribute your magic falls under. It will also test how easy interacting with magic comes to you and the potential heights you can reach with it. Although, given your special lineage, I suppose this part of the exam is unlikely to be a problem for you.” The headmaster said, as he took one of the chairs and sat on it.
“Please, take the seat opposite me. Then put your hand on top of the orb.”
I took my seat and quickly followed his instructions. This should be exciting!
“Anything else?” I asked, eager to begin.
“Please make sure your hand remains still, as moving it may disrupt the reading. That may require us to repeat the procedure.” The headmaster said, then put his hands on the sides of the orb, and it suddenly began to light up.
Azoth watched us from the side, likely curious to see for herself what my affinity with magic is as well.
The letters and symbols on the orb began to move and form a circular pattern around my hand, then the orb began to shine brightly. Not long after that, a circle with six colored squares appeared above my hand. On each of these squares, the symbols of the strange language began to morph into the Coptic alphabet.
Attribute Chart [https://imgur.com/C2x6RFA.png]
Then, after a few moments, the squares which said “Arcane” and “Atypical” began to glow brightly. Azoth sharply drew her breath, and the headmaster’s eyes opened wide, jaw dropped. A tense silence took over the room, as the squares stopped glowing and the circle disappeared. The symbols on the orb returned to swirled back to their original places, and the orb’s shine faded quickly. However, Azoth and the headmaster were both shocked into silence. Unable to take the silence anymore, I asked a question to no one in particular.
“… Soooooo, what does this mean?”
The headmaster closed his jaw, then quickly moved, with a mad fever in his eyes.
“Again!”
Before I had a chance to take my hands off the orb, the headmaster activated the orb a second time.
Once again, the symbols began swirling, the orb shined, and the circle with the six colored boxes appeared above my hand. Again, the boxes labeled “Arcane” and “Atypical” shone brightly.
The circle disappeared, the symbols returned to their place, and the orb’s light disappeared. The headmaster then gently but firmly removed my hand and put his own on top of the orb and activated it again. The same sequence of events repeated itself, but this time only the “Arcane” box glowed, and the glow was much weaker than my own. Still unable to believe it, the headmaster spoke once more.
“Remain here. I’ll get another orb to test you once more.” He got up and ran out of the room faster than a Frost Eagle diving at its prey.
“How could this be? Two attributes, and diametrically opposed to each other as well…” Azoth muttered to herself, deep in thought.
I barely had time to consider my unease before the headmaster showed up with another orb.
“Once more!”
***
The headmaster ran the test again a number of times, and even brought out different objects from the orbs to test my affinity, and yet the test result did not change. The headmaster slumped into his seat, reeling at the results of the test.
“Well, do either of you care to explain what the results of my test mean and why you are both in such shock?” I asked, my patience reaching dangerously low levels.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Azoth was the first to respond.
“The prevalent assumption throughout the world is that all beings are assigned only one attribute of magic; a person with two attributes is simply unheard of.”
The headmaster added to her explanation.
“There are some records of rare individuals who have been able to shift their attribute to an adjacent one, but they are mostly regarded as mere myths and are not taken seriously.”
“I mean, why not? What’s the issue with someone changing their attribute?” I asked.
“There are several issues with that. Each attribute represents a unique family of magic, with its own rules and traits. Possessing an affinity for two attributes would be like being talented at wielding a bow and a longsword at the same time; Not only is it impossible to wield both weapons with just two hands, but they would get in the way of each other even if you could.” The headmaster said.
“There is no rule that a mage cannot use magic from an attribute outside of the one they are naturally affiliated with, but there are limits on how far you can use it with any degree of competence. A person can normally wield their own attribute with full competence, the attributes adjacent to it with relatively good competence, the attributes a step further with mediocre levels of competence. The opposite attribute is virtually impossible to use for most people. The one notable exception is the ‘Atypical’ attribute. If you are not in possession of this attribute, then you will be completely unable to use magic from it. It is the only attribute of magic that represents a wide variety of obscure, unique magics that do not fall under the other five, but otherwise are unrelated to each other.” Azoth explained patiently.
Understanding began to dawn on me.
“If I understand you correctly, you are not only shocked because I am in possession of two attributes, but also because they are opposite to each other on the attribute circle and one of them is the ‘Atypical’ attribute? Meaning that I will be able to make use of all the attributes of magic with at least a high level of ability?” I tried to sum up the two’s explanations.
“That’s one way to say it.” Azoth said, smiling.
“There’s more to this.” the headmaster said, a contemplative look on his face.
“Your affinity to an attribute is often associated with who you are as a person at your core. Because it’s up for debate whether that could be changed, people also inevitably argue about how feasible it is to change one’s attribute.”
“What do you mean by ‘who you are as a person?’ and how is that relevant?” I asked, not realizing how heavy a lecture I was summoning with that infernal inquiry.
The headmaster, however, was eager to answer.
“Well, I meant it quite literally. People with the fire attribute are known for their passion and their poor impulse control. They are known to be more emotional than most, and they possess the will to act on these emotions. This passion influences everyone and everything around them, from their friends and family to their society. Their boundless energy is often poured into the subject of their passions, for better or worse.” Said the headmaster.
“People with the wind attribute are known for their laid-back nature. They loathe to be chained by any kind of rules, be they laws, social expectations, or even ethics, and seek to do as they please. A rigid lifestyle with a routine is their worst enemy, and they are often moving out and about in search of the next adventure or source of entertainment.”
“Those who possess the arcane attribute are often curious creatures, seeking to learn more and more about the world. Their unbound curiosity is different from that of those affiliated with the wind attribute in that their curiosity is targeted at the world itself and the way it works, as opposed to people, events, and nature. For that reason, because it is not intuitive to most sapient beings, it is the second rarest attribute right behind atypical. It also means that non-sapient beasts do not ever develop this attribute, and creatures approaching sapience very rarely manage to do so.”
“Water attribute wielders are adaptable; able to take changes in their environment with stride. They are agreeable and serve as a cohesive agent in any group they are part of, smoothing any tensions that may occur between others. However, make no mistake, that does not mean that they do not stand for anything; Anything that strikes the water hard enough will shatter just as hard as they would on solid bedrock, and water attribute wielders are not an exception to this rule.”
“If you possess the Earth attribute, then you are calm and steady. No amount of force can bend you; there is only breaking whatever stands against you and your will or breaking into pieces yourself. As a result of this unyielding nature, however, the earth attribute is associated with being more stubborn than the walls of the unfathomable abyss, their principles and values unchanging.”
“Finally, the atypical attribute, which is the rarest, often indicates that those it manifests within are eccentric and strange individuals. Unable to fit in with their society or to be fully understood by those around them, they possess an appealing charisma. No wielder of the atypical attribute is the same, and on the rare occasion that two such people would meet, they would not be able to understand each other anymore than anyone else can.”
“Which gets us to you. Each attribute’s nature generally opposes the other’s nature. The wind affiliated care little for the rules, while the earth affiliated enforce them. The water affiliated will bend to suit their environment, while the fire affiliated will bend the world itself to suit themselves. The arcane affiliated are interested in how the world works, while the atypical affiliated live in their own worlds. The stronger you represent an attribute’s nature, the stronger your affinity with it. Which begs the question, how is it possible for you to wield two opposing attributes, and with such great affinity as well?”
“This is going to be one long day, isn’t it…” I grumbled silently.