After dinner I immediately returned to my room to study and prepare for tomorrow’s test. The entrance exam for Sky Haven was the main reason we came to Sky City. No one had any doubt that Kyla would get in, but my admission wasn’t so certain.

Not having magic wasn’t uncommon, but not having magic and being me, a member of the esteemed Ray family, wasn’t just bad, it was almost sinful. Coming from a noble house made my crime even more disgraceful because I was the first in a long line of accomplished mages to be born without any magic at all. My father being a former hero candidate practically guaranteed that people saw me as defective.

My mothers accomplishments were almost as grand as my fathers. Before she graduated from Sky Haven, mom had been both an adventurer and a skilled member of the castle game team. She was a master tactician and led her team through four undefeated seasons. When she wasn’t competing, she was exploring the wild lands and had recovered at least a dozen magically charged relics.

My life was like one long ordeal that no one understood. I didn’t resent my parents. They weren’t bad people, and they had taken good care of me, but sometimes I couldn’t help but wonder what my life would’ve been like if I was born to less accomplished parents.

We’d only been in the house a few hours so my things weren’t unpacked yet, I wasn’t even sure they’d all been brought in from the velociter.

Fortunately the bedroom I chose came equipped with a holographic display that could show anything from a map of the country to holofilms or even just images from the web.

It didn’t have any extravagant features like the living room. Kyla got the only other room with features like that, but this was sufficient for my needs. I used the holo projector to review information about historical sites, including a movie that told the story of king Trestin.

King Trestin’s fall was basic knowledge, but the story was a classic. I especially liked it because before he was king, Trestin was the last person you’d expect to lead a country. He was just an ordinary beast keeper, but somehow he caught the attention of the royal family. One night the entire royal family was burned alive by white fire that the citizens believed to be divine judgment. In the chaos, Trestin presented a plan to eradicate all of the dangerous creatures within Vania’s borders. It was a bold plan, but the citizens trusted him. They made him king and in a few short years Trestin achieved his goal.

The plan had worked, but unfortunately for Trestin, just after the last battle a mysterious new disease appeared and wiped out over half the population.

They called it the great plague and many saw it as a reckoning for Trestin’s heavy use of mages to win the war. Some even speculated that the disease was caused by a vengeful mage. But that didn’t make much sense given the limits of magic before the plague.

In the end Trestin was executed and the citizens governed themselves for many turbulent years. The spread of plague started to slow, but humanities troubles weren’t over.

After the plague powerful beasts started attacking cities. Unlike before, it wasn’t just when they were hungry or when they happened to come across a city, it was deliberate and ruthless.

The beasts attacked with a vengeance like they were bent on taking back their territory and forcing humanity back into an age of fear and cowering.

Around the same time, people started developing stronger affinities for magic and it became possible to do things that were previously thought impossible. This was also when the first heroes emerged. Somehow they managed to fend off the daily attacks even though there were only four of them at the time but beasts weren’t the only threat they faced.

Several groups, drunk on new power, grew into powerful criminal syndicates. A group of eccentric people, from parts of the continent still unknown to us, started causing trouble as well. These rogue mages, especially the foreign ones, posed an even greater threat than the beasts.

It was for this reason that Pyro thought it necessary to establish a SAFE zone where trained enforcers would patrol and deal with any rogue mages or beasts that threatened the peace.

Sky City was at the heart of the SAFE zone. Sky Haven University was one of many schools established to train young mages and magic knights, however no other school could compare to it.

It was nearly morning by the time I stopped studying. I had hoped it would help me on the written test. The practical exam would come down to my skills, but the affinity measurement was an obstacle I couldn’t overcome through effort and will power. I was just going to have to hope that my other two scores would be enough.

I tossed and turned in bed, anxiously watching the clock, unable to sleep but also too tired to continue studying. I blinked, but when I opened my eyes, there was a little white fox bounding around a field of flowers.

Everywhere he pounced, flower petals turned into black butterflies then flew away. The green stalks withered and shriveled away, but the fox kept going until there was nothing left of the field.

The lonely fox sat in the empty space, looking at me with sad eyes that said, “come and play with me.” Whether he could actually see me or not, I wasn’t sure.

I was curious but also skeptical of the small creature. For all his innocence, something about the vivacious little critter felt as dangerous as he was mysterious; and yet I felt drawn in by his gaze. As if pulled by gravity, I took a step forward then another and another but before I reached the fox, a painfully sharp hiss forced me to my knees.

I was back in bed when I opened my eyes again. There was an alarm blaring to let me know that it was time to get up, only it wasn’t time. It was well past time. With no small amount of noise, I bounded out of bed and raced to the kitchen where I was relieved to find my mother cleaning up breakfast while Kyla casually sipped from a floating cup of coffee.

Noticing my presence, mom asked, “are you two ready to go?”

“Almost,” I answered, then darted back to my room to freshen up and change clothes.

It wasn’t a long ride from the house to the school, but there was so much to see and do in the capital that we could’ve easily spent a day on each block. There wasn’t time to stop and explore now, but I was sure I’d have a chance in the near future.

“Where’s Emilia?” I asked, wondering why she wasn’t with us.

“She had her own business to attend to,” mom answered curtly.

I was a bit relieved knowing that she wouldn’t be with us all the time, but wondered what business she could possibly have given her short notice of the trip.

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“Hey,” Kyla said, poking me in the ribs. “You’ve got other things to worry about. You better not be distracted during the entrance exams.”

“Thanks,” I smiled. “I didn’t think you cared if I passed or failed.”

Kyla turned away from me so fast that I wondered if she’d hurt her neck. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m only saying this because we’ll probably be paired together for the practical test. I don’t want to get disqualified or fail because of you.”

Sebastian stopped the velociter and let us out at the end of a long bridge. At the other end, Sky Haven rested like a crown on a large island. The twelve giant towers were arranged in a circle and connected at their base. The towers of Sky Haven were daunting from afar, but up close they were as frighteningly impressive as a massive dragon looming over the city.

We entered through sliding glass doors that opened and closed on their own. The doors opened straight into a large round room with a domed glass ceiling. There was a constant stream of traffic in and out of the multiple doors. I’d never seen so many people in one place before. There were staff members and students passing through as they hurried to various destinations. Enforcers stood guard in their iconic uniforms. There were even tourists that came to see the gallery of wonders Sky Haven had to offer.

Enormous murals painted on the walls told stories of the twelve hero's greatest battles. Displayed like trophies, there were skeletons of various beasts the heroes had defeated. Some were on stands and others hung by thin wires. Most impressive among them was the sea tyrant leviathan, the beast slain by Irina.

Unlike the rest, the leviathan wasn’t just a skeleton. It was so life-like that when I first noticed it, I flinched. Then I realized that a real living leviathan would never venture this far inland. The beast's long body, hung from the ceiling, coiled around the room with its wide jaws open above the center reception desk. The creature looked poised to crash down on the desk and swallow it along with anyone nearby.

Kyla shivered with excitement when she saw it. “Do you think that’s the one, or just a replica?”

“Of course not!” I declared. “The real leviathan wouldn’t have a head at all. The story says Irina was like a goddess of the storms and sea. She conjured a massive storm and struck the creature relentlessly with lightning, then when it started to slow down, she concentrated all of her power into one decisive blow.”

“Yea…yea… the lightning was so bright that it blinded an entire city and so powerful that there was nothing left of the leviathan’s head,” Ky rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fey, you’re not a child anymore. Even you must realize that some of those details are just unrealistic.”

“Oh I don’t know,” mom interjected. “You kids were only children then, but that battle took place on the western coast and I recall seeing some pretty bright flashes that night.”

Sordeive was at the eastern border of the SAFE zone, so there was no way Lenora was being honest.

“Welcome to Sky Haven, how may I help you?” a receptionist chimed when we reached the front of the line.

“These two are taking the entrance exam. Where do we check in?”

“If you have your ID’s, I can get you checked in here. Then the entrants will follow Ben to a measurement room and Kena can guide you to the parents and spectators area.”

With a nod, our mother prompted us to hand over our SAFE ID badges. The receptionist scanned, then returned them.

A man wearing a name badge that said Ben, guided Kyla and I toward a distant hall, packed with people. A woman came from a different direction to take mom.

It seemed like there were multiple lines of people waiting for something, I wasn’t sure what.

I was actually relieved that our mother wouldn’t be there for the measurement. It eased some of the pressure on me and helped me to stop stressing about my lack of magic.

“What are those lines for?” Kyla asked. “Are they all here for the entrance exam?”

Ben scoffed and chuckled a little. “Those lines are all the wisps that think they’ve got power. I’d be surprised if any of them makes it past the measurement.”

My chest tightened at his words. By wisps he either meant those with low magical ability, or commoners with no background and no one to speak their abilities. In either case they’d be more qualified for entry than me since they could at least use magic, some of them could probably even use it well.

“Why wouldn’t they pass the measurement?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I actually wanted to know.

This time Ben stopped walking and gave me a serious look before he answered. “Are you really that daft boy? This isn’t a charity. We’ll let them try, but how can they compare with those who were raised with private tutors and daily instruction since birth? Since results are the ultimate goal here, Sky Haven only accepts the top ten percent from every entrance cycle. Those dirty nablers are lucky we even waste time measuring them.”

I didn’t want the answer. Sky Haven was supposed to be about fairness and equality for all; that was why I thought I might still have a chance. He didn’t have to say it explicitly, but Ben’s words made clear, this was all about money and the measurement was just a way to justify it.

I noticed Kyla giving me a sympathetic frown, but she straightened her face and looked away when our eyes met.

Ben continued on, taking us past the lines, and eventually stopping in front of an open door with two affinity measurement devices and a couple staff members inside.

“Go inside, those two will help you from here,” Ben instructed as he started to walk away.

The measurement process was simple. We each stuck our hands inside the holes on the front of separate affinity measuring devices. On top of the AMD there was a clear orb that would change color to indicate the affinity. The orb would fill up more the stronger your affinity was, and the color would also become more solid. My measurement was going as expected, so far there had been no change in the orb.

Kyla’s orb had already started to swirl with colors. First a deep orange, flickered about like a dancing flame. Then electric blue lines began darting around the orb and finally a green gale gently whirled to life. The orange was overwhelmingly dominant, but it was still impressive having three affinities, even if they were the most common.

Then a clerk from another room burst in, shouting. “Come look at this! I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The clerk measuring me must’ve been startled because he dropped the device. After a quick recovery he said, “we’ll come after this measurement is done.”

Kyla’s measurement had just finished, but mine had to be redone from the beginning.

“Fine, but hurry up!” the man snapped.

I resumed my measurement, but this time the orb on the AMD cycled through a rainbow of colors before finally turning pure white and filling the orb until it was completely solid. At first the clerk and I were in awe; but when Ky asked, “does that mean he actually has magic?”

The clerk looked at me with a scowl. “You’re inept?” he demanded, yanking away the AMD before I answered.

Reality settled in and washed away the brief excitement I felt watching the colors swirl together in the affinity orb. Most mages only had one affinity, but some, like my sister, had been lucky enough to have multiple. At most I’d heard of people with up to four, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t have more. In any case I obviously had none so I reluctantly nodded.

The man clicked his tongue then mumbled, “waste of my fucking time.”

My heart sank even further as I realized the true height of the bar set before me. Getting into Sky Haven wasn’t going to be nearly as easy as I’d hoped.

Setting aside the AMD devices, the two clerks led Kyla and I to a room lined with desks. There were already quite a few people in the room and there were two other identical rooms which were already full of students taking the theoretical portion of the entrance exam.

As the two men walked back to the measurement room I heard one of them say, “that dumb kid must be the one they let in as a favor.”

“I wonder who sponsored him,” the other man replied. “Can’t imagine why anyone would tarnish their reputation by supporting some inept waste.”

Unexpectedly Kyla slapped me on the back. “Don’t listen to them.” She smiled. “I’ve seen your fights with Emilia, and I doubt I could last as long as you do.”

Until then I had no idea she’d ever watched me train. The unexpected praise also lifted my spirits. Even though Kyla was no expert with a sword, her words reminded me that I still had an opportunity to show everyone that I wasn’t worthless.

“Really, even with your magic?”

She nodded. “I won’t say it again though, so pull it together and show these people what an inept is really capable of.”