“Take a seat. We three have much to discuss.”

Administrator Reed pointed at the two chairs in front of her with flaming fingertips and Kaitlyn Perez slouched into one of them. Aiden Wright, her best friend, took the seat beside her.

Picking up two folders from her desk, the Administrator spun them around and tossed them in front of the prospects.

“Read.”

Kaitlyn stared at the folder in front of her with confusion but reached forward to pick it up as she was instructed; Aiden did the same. Opening it up, Kaitlyn found herself staring at a sketch of her face. Surprised, she lifted the page and found all of her information listed on the page below it, including her name, date of birth, the address of her family home, the names of her parents…everything.

Making a face, she looked up at the Administrator sullenly, “Is this my record? Why are you showing us these?”

“Keep reading, Ms. Perez,” Administrator Reed encouraged firmly.

Rolling her eyes, Kaitlyn flipped to the next page. Listed in clear detail were all of the activities that she’d been involved with since arriving at the Academy. On the page after, were listed all of her classes and the evaluations for each. Following that, documentation of her interactions with the other students as well as the times she’d come into contact with members of the staff. And, beyond that, all of the times that she’d ventured out into the village without permission, the times she’d broken curfew to have dinner with her family, and all of the interactions she’d had with her friends and neighbors within the village since she’d become a prospect of the Order.

Her entire life for the past year was broken down into lists and bullet points, with annotations made about her personality and recommendations for future disciplinary actions noted from time to time.

“I don’t understand,” Kaitlyn muttered, genuinely unnerved. To her right, Aiden looked up from his file, equally perturbed.

“Are the files for every prospect this in depth?” Aiden asked the Administrator straightforwardly, not enjoying the feeling of having his illusion of privacy so blatantly shattered.

Administrator Reed casually waved her hand, still refusing to address the questions of the two troublemakers, “The next page.”

On the verge of erupting into a rage, Kaitlyn knew the futility of doing so and could only clench her jaw in anger at the lack of a “discussion”. Pushing down her indignation, Kaitlyn flipped to the next page and found a breakdown of every one of the infractions she’d committed since moving to the Academy. This list continued for several pages.

“The last page, Ms. Perez. Mr. Wright.”

Grabbing several more pages, Kaitlyn skipped through the embarrassingly long disciplinary record and arrived on the last page of the file. A large, official looking stamp took up the upper left side of the page. Written in neat, concise print were the following words:

Evaluation of Prospect Potential: Exceptional

Recommendation: Immediate Enrollment in Hervan Selection Academy

Addendum: After heavy consideration, the Prospect is hereby recommended for the upcoming Selection Exam. The Selectee is to be sent to HQ along with the next batch of Selectees.

Administrator Cynthia Claire Reed

Gone was the confusion and anger, her eyes were locked unto the words written on the page in front of her and Kaitlyn felt like her world was falling apart.

‘Why? Why is this happening? After everything I’ve done to convince these people that I don’t belong here, why am I…why is this happening?’

She gripped the file in her hands tightly, fighting the urge to rip it to pieces.

“Congratulations Selectee Perez. Selectee Wright. You two have officially met the requirements to attempt the Selection Exam and are therefore no longer students of this Academy.” The Administrator spoke with a sarcastic tone, “Your expression tells me that you’re having trouble understanding how this possible, Ms. Perez. Is this not what you wanted? To be free of the Academy? Let me assure you of one thing: this decision has my full support.”

Taking the records from their slack hands, Administrator Reed placed the folders back on her desk and stared down calmly at the speechless duo.

With a pitying gaze, she addressed the unspoken questions flooding Kaitlyn’s mind, “Did you honestly think that you would be sent away for not following our rules?” Administrator Reed scoffed, “Merely guidelines to keep order among the student body. As if we could let someone, anyone, with your level of latent potential roam free in the world unchecked and untrained. How ignorant can you be? With your latent ability, you are a danger to everyone around you. Your family, friends, this entire village. At the moment, your very existence places them at risk of death.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

His voice hoarse with emotion, Aiden decided to use this moment to speak up, “Then why have the rules at all? Why have us go through the process of attending the Academy if nothing we do matters in the end?”

“Don’t be obtuse, Mr. Wright. I just told you why the rules are in place. This entire facility exists to educate and prepare potential Selectees for the Exam. Can you imagine someone without any sense of decency or respect for others gaining access to the power that a Warrior wields? As for the role you play, that should also be obvious from what I just said. We don’t make a habit of sending unstable, unreasonable people through the exam.”

“But we—,” Kaitlyn sputtered to a stop when the two folders rose up slowly from the desk, understanding hitting her.

‘Neither of us are unstable nor unreasonable.’

“You see? This is exactly why we keep such in-depth accounting of all of our students. We have to be very careful with who is allowed the attempt at transcending. Granted, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone else with an Academy file as thick as either of yours, particularly you, Ms. Perez, that we would ever consider passing.” the Administrator teased, her attitude lightening a little, “But, when you look at your file as a whole, it becomes clear from the way you interact with those around you and the way you handle yourself around the village that both of you are exemplary individuals…although, a bit misguided.”

Kaitlyn looked dejectedly at Aiden, who reached over and squeezed her hand for comfort.

“Aw, don’t be like that you two. The world isn’t coming to an end anytime soon,” a chipper voice spoke from behind them, startling the two Selectees and causing them to jump in their chairs.

Hands appeared over the tops of the two chairs and a blonde haired, hazel eyed woman stuck her head in the space between the two, “I’m guessing that the possibility of simply coming back to Hervan to teach at the Academy never crossed either of your minds?”

Sighing dramatically, the Administrator shook her head, face palming in a manner that left both of the former villagers astounded, “Didn’t we agree that you would wait until I introduced you?”

The blonde-haired woman grinned, not a trace of shame on her face, “What? It doesn’t look like either of them are going to blow a gasket. If I waited any longer, you’d probably have us all here until way past sundown, explaining all the unnecessary details.” Her grin transformed into a smirk, “Am I wrong?”

“I--!” Administrator Reed blurted loudly, completely ruining her authoritative image, “You know what? Fine.”

Coughing to dispel her previous behavior, the Administrator gestured towards the blonde woman who had moved around the side of the chairs to sit on the edge of the Administrators desk, “Ms. Perez. Mr. Wright. This is Warrior Taylor Mitchell. She will be the one, along with her partner, Warrior Mac Cameron, who will be escorting your group of Selectees to the Capital this year. She’ll also be in charge of beginning the next stage of your combat training along the way. If you have any questions regarding the upcoming process, feel free to ask her.”

“Hey there! This trip is going to be so much fun. I can’t wait!” Warrior Cameron said, eyeing the two flabbergasted Selectees mischievously.

Reality skipped and something stirred.

Abruptly, Warrior Kaitlyn Perez began to cough. Screams and the wails of loss filled the air around her as she ran through the streets of Hervan in a frantic state.

She had been in the Capital preparing to take the bi-annual Competency Evaluation, which would’ve allowed her to increase her Authority Level by a set amount, when she had received the horrifying news that the village had suddenly been attacked by a large force of Rogue Warriors accompanied by several hundred regular troops. Such a large armed force was unbelievable for a Rogue outfit, and no one had seen them coming until they had already advanced into the plains. The village was caught completely off guard, and, with no time to prepare, the Guard Corps defending the village had immediately crumbled beneath the onslaught.

Seeing the image of her sweet, loving mother and her large, pushover father in her mind’s eye, Kaitlyn’s heart had dropped into her stomach. She had sprinted to the exchange counter, practically trading in all of her savings for enough energy cells to reach the village without stopping. Now, she was running the scorched ruins of the once quaint village, screaming in her heart for the loss of her father, who she knew would never have abandoned his brothers-in-arms.

Sobs forced their way out through her clenched teeth as she dashed through the ruined doors of the massive Academy building. Scrambling through the hallways, Kaitlyn made her way out into the central yard surrounding the keep. She maneuvered her way around the rubble that had once been the stone ceiling of the walkway that had connected the two buildings and found herself in front of the massive, reinforced doors of the institution's safest building.

Fighting back her tears, Kaitlyn nodded to the shell-shocked Guard members assigned to protect the door as she proceeded through them without breaking her stride. Within the entrance to the keep, the few remaining Corps members lay scattered about on the floor. None of them dead, they were simply taking their rest in shifts due to most of their members having been wiped out, leaving them severely short-handed. Like the men outside, the rest of the survivors looked ragged and broken, most of them simply staring into nothing or laying on their sides facing away from everyone and everything. One of the men closest to her looked up and seemed to recognize her. A look came to the man’s eye that wasn’t quiet pity, as if what he wanted to convey went beyond mere empathy.

Looking through the woman towards a scene that only he could see, the man spoke determinedly, “Your father was a brave man, Warrior. You should be proud. He was one of the last to remain atop the wall, fighting back the bastards that had already overtaken the gatehouse. A Rogue had him pinned down inside, but we all heard him shouting through the door as we were pushed back, ‘My daughter is worth a hundred of any one of you pieces of shit! Remember the name Perez, you cowardly whoresons, because my baby girl is going to tear you all limb from limb before this is over!’

The emotion in the man’s eyes grew deeper, watching as tears battled their way out and streamed down Kaitlyn’s cheeks, more and more of her sobs wrenching through until she thought that she might die from it all. Her face twisted with pain and guilt. She couldn’t take it. The pain was too much! She was only one person; how could she bear it all?!

"...Poppa..."

Her grief was vast. No one paid her any mind, nor did they intrude on her grief. Those that remained had already faced their share over the past days, leaving nothing but empty husks to do their jobs.

“You should go on,” the ragged Guard rasped, “your mum is in the main hall with the rest.”