The roof of the monastery dorms were marble like the rest of the building. White with light grey waves and swirls. By the time the sun spilled its early morning light into his room, Jasper could have sworn to have counted each one of these swirls. From night until morning he stared up at that roof just counting and swirling inside as the roof had.
He did not need the morning bell to chime to be up on his feet and dressed. He found he was not the only one to be up before the bell when he walked into the eating hall to find the line already in progress.
The bell finally did chime as he was half way in the line’s progress. The bell seemed to shake the souls of everyone there. It was a signal that the next trial was almost upon them. He did not remember being this nervous during his first trial. He had spent the years leading up to this day studying and training. Was it the fear that all of that would go to waste if he failed this trial regardless?
The longer it takes you to get into a trial, the worse you are thought of in the eyes of the monastery. After this his only trial in the monastery would be the warrior’s trial. The monastery did not care for those who failed that one. Whether born to a noble or born a street rat; if you were not to be of any importance to the society of Ilcor, you were not worth the resources and time. It was not like the monastery was short on supplies or rooms to house these people. The monastery received regular donations from the families of the noble monastery children as well as those who prayed to the gods in hopes for their blessings, thinking that gifting their resources to the monastery would put them in good grace of the gods as they were the god’s messengers. The monastery takes in children and shares their dorms and resources with them in order to nurture future servants of the gods and people who would provide in exchange in adulthood service to the kingdom on the god’s behalf. If the child had no contribution to the kingdom they are not worthy of the gifts of gods.
Jasper, ever the questioning child, found this concept odd. Why are commoners not considered people with worth to the gods? What about the goddess of earth, was she not worthy of the gifts? Commoners and those who toil away on farms and in bakeries were the one that provided them with food but they were not worth the nurturing of God's messengers?
Snapped back to reality by a sharp back jab from the boy behind him. He was at the food table and was holding up the line. Jasper looked at the food, suddenly unappealing as the stress built up inside him. A light breakfast it would be today. Sitting alone of course, away from the rest. Had he sat next to someone they would move away either way, best to not set himself up for it. Or so he thought. He sighed. Of course today was not going to be that easy.
Jonathan, the fourth child of a noble, and his crew of three sat besides him.
Jonathan was a boy that joined the monastery rather close to the trial, abandoned the moment his younger brother passed the dragon rider trial. Taking it out on the low borns was of course his hobby.
That was one thing he wasn’t looking forward to. Jonathan was smart. The chances he would get into the mage academy was high. If he managed to also pass the mage trial, he would have to deal with this boy.
Jonathan wrapped an arm around Jasper aggressively and grabbed the loaf of bread that was Jasper’s breakfast. Chewing on it loudly, through breadcrumbs, the boy began his daily taunts.
“You don’t need to eat street rat, you’re a waste of food. Especially when you’re going to fail this trial and the next” the crumbs sprinkling onto Jasper’s face as well as the gefaws of Jonathan’s crew. Jasper just stared down at his empty food tray. He wanted to retort back, to laugh at the friends and tell them with a sneer that it's not like they would pass either, they were idiots. The best they could do was pass the warrior’s test and swing around a sword blindly. If they even survive that trial. What were they so smug about? It was ridiculous to think that Jonathan was so confident that Jasper would lose the trial to begin with. Through his efforts, Jasper was the top of their age group in studies and academic results. Jonathan was only in the top ten through the rigorous studies his parents had him go through in preparation, before he was abandoned of course. What a waste of time. If he wasn’t going to get to eat in peace he might as well get ready to leave for the trial. He went to stand only for Jonathan to shove him to the ground.
“Where are you going, you can’t go to the trial before having some breakfast, you need all the energy you can get!” He threw the half eaten loaf in front of Jasper and stepped on it, then forced Jasper's head over it. “Eat up little rat”.
Jasper’s head and stomach were spinning and his ears ringing with anger as well as defeat. Then a voice in his head soothed him don’t worry. You WILL pass the mage trial. You will be out of here, the magic academy won’t let people walk all over you like they do here if you’re a respectable mage. After calming down, he tried to lift himself up despite the foot on his head, trying to mess the boy’s balance and get him off. Jonathan, seeing this leaned down to the floor, took the smashed and dirty bread, and shoved it into Jasper’s mouth.
“I said eat up.” He growled into his ear as Jasper choked and forced the grainy bread down. “Good little rat, now drink up.” He poured Jasper’s water jug on his head. Satisfied that his stress was relieved and his pet rat was put in his place, he and his friends laughed as they walked away back to their table to have their breakfast, leaving Jasper dripping and tethering between the line of despair and hope of escape. It didn’t cross Jasper’s mind that the hierarchy would persist even after he became a mage, so for now that spark of hope got him to his feet and out the food hall double doors.
It took them a day and a half to reach the site of the trial. Jasper was lucky to be in the wagon with the other low borns. It would have been detestable to put them in the same, much better, wagon as the noble children. The monastery kids always had to set out earlier than the trial day due to its isolated location. It would have taken longer still had they not taken the drakes instead of the horses to lead the wagon. It was not his first time seeing the drakes, however as a child of 7 he was unable to fully grasp its existence. As a 12 year old he was able to appreciate the muscled creature. It was a mixture of murky green and greyish brown. It was a wingless dragon but nowhere near the scale and forocety of one. They were fast ground creatures. It was said that a herd of drakes crawled out of the dragon’s haven centuries before and evolved past their dragon genetics into a new species that relied on fast ground movement and high defence. It was rare to see these in regular life, but they were always provided to the monastery for trial travel.
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The group was grateful for the half a day of rest and recovery it took for those ailed with sickness from the drake’s fast and slightly rocky movements.
Finally it was the day of the trial. Dressed in swimwear, a strange material made out of flexible water serpent skin that was light and water resistant as well as special coral necklaces made out of the shells of the dead magical clams they would be visiting today that gifted the wearers with the ability to breathe underwater. This trial was about intelligence. Anything that would take away from that focus was deemed an insult to the trial of the goddess of water. Jasper knew he would be safe while underwater from the other children’s torment, but of course he could not let his heart believe it just yet, so when they all dived underwater and began the trial, his first instinct and choice was to swim far away from the other children doing the trial. Most of the others focused on finding one, right near the start of the trial, where it was most common for them to show up, however there were clams scattering the lake’s floor whenever you looked, they were just further apart the further from the shore you went.
The Lake of Muirin, in which the trial took place, was the lake the magic academy sat upon. It was connected directly to the ocean but somehow lost its salt on the way inland and provided the kingdom with their water supply and was the reason for their good agriculture. It is said that the magical clams, gifted to the humans by goddess Muirin, provided the water with freshness and nutrients and were the lake’s guardians.
Jasper swam far into this lake and finally spotted a clam glimmering at the lakebed below. Jasper was a strong swimmer so had no issue navigating through the lake. His swimming and smarts were the only thing he was deemed good at in the monastery, and what he banked on in order to pass this trial.
The moment he approached the clam he felt a gentle wave, a magical hand, probing his mind and making a course through his brain. It was an odd feeling. Not a bad one, but it still made his skin crawl and made him weary at first.
“Do not be weary child” the clam spoke with a velvety clear voice into his mind. The voice held no gender nor judgment or emotions. only wisdom.
“Child. I can see your intelligence. You worked hard in your lessons and increased your knowledge through books and study. Passing this trial is no issue for you, however I see so much doubt and apprehension in your mind. You were of low birth and are treated negatively because of it, no matter how much you work for it you will never get the acceptance you seek. When you will be faced with constant hate and rejection, how will you handle your resentment? That is my question to you.”
Jasper was taken aback by the question. No one prepared the children for what they might face or be asked by the clam, they were only ever prepared through studies and swimming. Each person faced a different experience so were not able to tell the process to its exact. Jasper was expecting a question to showcase his intelligence, not one that tugged at his heart and questioned his very core.
Jasper thought about the question after a moment of collecting himself. So far all he had been faced with by others was hate and prejudice. He was unable to escape it in the streets or the monastery. There was always someone singling him out for something he had no control over. Every time he was faced with this he had told himself that he would get through it by putting effort in his studies, to get accepted as a mage, have a higher status and through that escape the torment. What the clam was saying… what if he never got that acceptance no matter what he did, no matter how much effort he put. What if his circumstances of birth would haunt him for the rest of his life. He thought of it and finally, through telepathy, conveyed his answer.
“Even if I am faced with such hardship again in the future, resentment will be a waste of time and pointless. If I keep hating the world and the people in it for the way they treat me, I will always live my life with darkness in my heart like my mother did. She was sad and bitter, I do not wish to be like her. If I let go of my resentment I will be able to hold onto the small happiness I encounter in my life. I do not want to live my life in darkness. I hate the way this world works, but no matter where I go I know the hierarchy will always follow me whether I am at the top or the bottom of it. Hoping for the very nature of the world to change will just make me resentful when it does not change. My aim is to live my life away from darkness, I will not let resentment consume me.” Silence followed. The clam observed his mind and thought on what he had said. It felt like hours before the clam finally spoke once more, although only minutes passed.
“I can feel your sincerity in your worlds and accept this answer as what your heart truly believes in. I will grant you my pearl. Good luck child. Your future will not be an easy one.”
The clam opened, light spilling out and blinding him for a moment. There, resting inside the clam, was the pearl he worked so hard to obtain. Jasper almost broke there and then with relief. He settled his heart and took the small, shining pearl in his hand. He looked at it for a while. What if when he got to the surface, one of his tourmenters took the pearl for themselves? He would have no power to fight them. He knew that consuming the pearl and the metamorphosis your body went through afterwards was a painful one. Would he be able to swim up after consuming the pearl?
“Do not worry, child. I will take you to the surface. Take the pearl with ease.” Jasper looked at the clam and nodded his thanks before popping the pearl in his mouth and consuming it.
The moment the pearl hit his stomach his body began to heat up so much that the water around him began to bubble and churn. He let out a muffled scream as he curled and braced himself against the pain and roaring, splitting headache that shook his body.
The clam let out a gentle stream of water and enveloped Jasper’s body in a bubble. The bubble floated softly to the surface and transported him back to the trial’s starting point, popping only once he reached the shore.
The mage supervisors pulled him out, confirmed that he was undertaking the pearl metamorphosis, before transporting him in a stretcher into the maw of the mage’s academy. He was unable to say goodbye to anyone or anything, he was not able to think upon the fact that he was finally free of the monastery and about to enter the place he worked so hard to get into. All he could think of was the pain going through his body. Either way, he made it to the mage’s academy. A new chapter of his life would now begin.