Chapter 6: The Second Half

After getting the passing grade from Captain Crans, Zel managed to pick herself up and hobble back over to Miriya, who was about to explode with excitement.

"That's my sister!" Miriya squealed, her arms locking around Zel like a vice as she got back in the line. "I knew you could do it! I never doubted you for a moment!"

"Thank you, Miri…" Zel said with a weak smile. She was exhausted, except that wasn't quite right. Physically she felt fine, her mind, however, was a different story. She was barely able to walk straight and felt as if there were a wet towel thrown over her thoughts. Everything was sluggish and hazy. She leaned against the wall for support until things started to come back into focus.

"You okay, Zel?" Miriya asked upon seeing this.

"Yeah, I'm alright… Just a bit worn out."

"I'll bet. That was a lot of lightning you slung."

"Yeah…" Zel went quiet. She was having a hard time remembering. There was something clawing at the back of her mind like it was trying to dig its way out of her skull, but she couldn't grasp it. All that she remembered was that she was scared, and then she wasn't.

It didn't take much longer for the strange sensation to fade. As the fog lifted, Zel felt normal once again, better than normal. She felt like energy was flowing through her, her mana practically full to bursting despite having just exerted a lot of her reserves. She couldn't understand it.

"Hey, Miri," Zel said.

"Yeah? What's up, sis?" Miriya asked, she was focused on one of the other prospects who was taking their turn at the exam, somebody who had a wind affinity.

"Did… did anything weird happen while I was up there? Or did you hear anything weird?" Zel asked.

"No, nothing happened at all, besides you kicking Captain Crans butt!" She said. "What? Was there something that I missed?"

"No, no. I guess it was just me…" Zel said quietly. "Nothing really happened? Nothing at all?"

"I mean, you missed a couple times, then you grabbed him? Are you alright, Zel?" Miriya asked, clearly concerned now.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was nothing. Really. I just thought something was a bit weird, must have been my imagination." Zel said, dispelling the thoughts with a wave of her hand

"Okay. But tell me if anything is wrong. Alright?" Miriya said with a smile. Zel smiled back before bringing her attention back to the exams.

Coincidentally, Zel and Miriya had been among the last chosen for the first exam, so they did not have to wait long until the last of the others finished up. After the first round was over, the Captains conferred for a moment before Captain Skylee came back to address the students

"That is the end of the first exam, congratulations on all of your efforts up to this point. From here on you will be working with Captain Ceres Duphor." Captain Skylee announced. "Captain Ceres is a master at magical manipulation and will give you each individual instruction on how to complete the test, so please listen closely to what he has to say."

The captain that looked like Cleinz stepped forward while Captain Skylee and Captain Crans both joined the headmaster on one of the benches now that their roles were complete. Zel remembered that Crans had mentioned that this person, Captain Ceres, was actually Cleinz' older brother.

"I would like to once more give you my heartfelt congratulations on passing the first round." Captain Ceres began, his was shockingly similar to Cleinz, however, he spoke in a much more reserved manner.

No, reserved isn't the right word. Regal. Like proper royalty. Zel thought to herself

"This second examination will determine your aptitude with mana." Captain Ceres continued. "Affinities are the magics that individuals are gifted in and are seen as an expression of the user's mana given life. They are the form that your mana takes when touched by who you are."

"What we will be testing now is your mana directly." Captain Ceres continued, "Allow me to demonstrate before I continue."

Captain Ceres knelt down and placed one of his hands on the floor as Cleinz had done earlier, except he did not manipulate the stone as Cleinz had done. Instead, the floor began to glow brighter than it had before. Starting from where his hand was placed and spreading outward, a new light appeared beneath the students feet. Captain Ceres stopped after a short time and continued.

"This hall is made of Manastone. It is a material that, as you can see, absorbs mana and ,from that energy, emits light. This is what we will be using to test your mana."

"Mana is one of the driving forces of our world, and there is almost nowhere in Tenyarn that exists without mana," Captain Ceres continued. "Of course, it will also be vital to the work you will conduct here at Dream Academy. A foundationally sound pool of mana is essential."

"The second exam will consist of an endurance test of your mana where you will expend everything that you have." Captain Ceres said. "This exam will take place in the same order as the previous one to keep the time of rest consistent among all students. And if you feel as though you have already exhausted your mana, I apologize, but that is part of the exam. Let us begin!"

As Cleinz was the first student in the first exam, he once again stepped up first for the second exam. He approached his elder brother enthusiastically, as he had done before. Ceres, however, did not seem so excited to see Cleinz, Zel noticed him sigh as his younger brother approached.

Cleinz greeted Captain Ceres heartily as they met, but Captain Ceres' somber expression was unchanged, nor did he give his sibling an enthusiastic greeting. Cleinz appeared taken aback by this and the two of them began to whisper. Neither Zel nor Miriya nor anyone else in the room could hear their exchange, but they saw the aftermath. Cleinz came away from their private chat with a look of rage on his face, his visage twisted and flushed. He quickly moved away from this brother and got on with the exam.

Cleinz knelt down and placed both of his hands on the floor. Almost immediately a glow could be seen emanating from his hands that began to expand all across the floor, almost reaching the walls. Cleinz began to strain harder and harder, his handsome brow furrowing and face contorting as he approached his limit. The light continued to expand towards the walls, but did not quite reach before Cleinz released the floor and leaned his head back, gasping for air.

"Well done." Captain Ceres said, flatly. "Exelcia, please take care of this applicant."

The shortest of the captains with the large weapon stepped forward.

"Of course!" She said, more than happy to help as far as Zel could tell. "Come here, dear. I will help you up." Captain Exelcia gently lifted Cleinz to his feet and offered him her shoulder before he violently wrested himself from her grip.

"Get off me!" He said through clenched teeth, before he began to hobble his way to the door. Captain Ceres sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

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"Please lead that… please lead him to the appropriate room. Thank you for your hard work Exelcia." Captain Ceres said. He had the briefest flash of anger as he spoke, but regained his composure quickly.

Exelcia was unphased. She still cheerfully dashed over to the door and held it open for Cleinz before he could reach it himself. He, exhausted, resentfully accepted the assistance and disappeared out the door.

"Be right back!" Exelcia said chimed before darting out of the room after Cleinz.

"Man, what a dick!" Zel said, obviously a bit louder than she had intended, as she drew several looks from surrounding students. Zel shrunk back a little, hoping that maybe it would disappear. Miriya, however, laughed and laughed.

Cleinz' mana was still floating around on the floor. Zel noticed that from his initial effort, Cleinz' mana had actually spread further than he was able to push it, spreading like a liquid through the stone and it gradually began climbing up the wall of the room. It was mingling with the other mana that had been thrust into the stone before and now it was quite unclear whose mana they were looking at at all. Captain Ceres clearly noticed this as well and turned to the last captain yet to be introduced, the one that had wandered away from the others when they arrived.

"Captain Kartave, if you would?" Captain Ceres asked.

The strange captain who Zel had had a hard time looking at earlier simply nodded in response. They placed one of their gloved hands on the wall and, in an instant, the entire room went pitch black. It was as dark as when they first entered the room and the students could hear Captain Ceres call out from the murk.

"Would the next student step forward, please."

Zel and the others could hear shuffling footsteps heading out into the room. Not long after that the floor began to glow once more as a new student took their turn at the exam. Their mana was not as voluminous as Cleinz, and only filled about a quarter of the area of the floor whereas Cleinz had managed to fill it up almost entirely, though it was enough to give light to most of the room.

After a short while this student collapsed and the process repeated. Captain Exelcia escorted them out, Captain Kartave turned the room to pitch blackness, and a new student made their way into the shadows.

Unlike the first exam, Zel was not as intimidated by the level of her peers. It seemed that, like with the first test, Cleinz was a standout in this category. By the time the test had reached Jammy, no one had managed to fill the room to the extent that Cleinz had. While each student was at a different level of mastery of their affinity, it became clear that the amount of mana that everyone could produce was something of an equalizer. Even the large Splitfolk was only able to produce enough mana to fill out less than half the volume of the floor beneath them, which seemed to be the average. Zel hoped that she could at least manage that.

When it was again Jammy's turn, Zel was excited to see how large her mana pool was. After such an impressive demonstration with her plants, Zel was sure that she was at least a match for Cleinz or maybe even greater. But Zel's expectations were thoroughly thwarted as Jammy only managed to make a small portion of the floor directly beneath her glow, one of the weakest performances among the candidates.

One by one the students walked into the darkness and completed their second exam and before they knew it, it was again time for Miriya and Zel's turns.

"Get out there and knock 'em' dead, Miri!" Zel shouted, giving Miriya a powerful slap on the back that pushed her forward into the darkness. Miriya gave a single thumbs up as she disappeared into the shadows.

Just like the others, after a few moments Miriya began her test and the floor began to glow as she pushed her mana into it. It expanded from the starting point reaching to about three quarters of the way to the wall before it began to peter out and she collapsed. Exelcia helped her up, and with one more weary thumbs up for Zel she was escorted out of the room.

Zel was impressed with Miriya. Just as I always am, she thought. No one had approached Cleinz' record even though they were almost through every student, as far as Zel could tell Miriya was the closest.

She's so amazing, she thought, as Captain Kartave darkened the room once again.

"Next student, step forward." She could hear Captain Ceres call from the darkness. She walked forward over the cold stone floor and soon she could make out his figure in the dark. She approached the Captain who greeted her with a gentle smile, just barely visible in close quarters.

"Hello, Zel. As you know, my name is Captain Ceres Duphor, it is wonderful to make your acquaintance," he said, holding out a single gloved hand. Zel was a bit taken aback. Captain Ceres was very different from his brother.

"It is very nice to meet you as well, sir!" she said and shook his outstretched hand.

"Your sister Miriya is very impressive. I bet you are proud to have such a skilled sibling." Captain Ceres said. His words were kind, but Zel could detect a hint of annoyance in his voice. She suspected that his brother Cleinz may have had something to do with it.

"Yes, she really is incredible," Zel responded sincerely. "I feel like I'm always trying to keep up with her."

"Well, this is the next step," Captain Ceres said, smoothly motioning to the floor. Zel nodded and Captain Ceres continued.

"I was watching you earlier during your affinity examination. I noticed that before you used your lightning you pushed all your mana that you could muster into your arms and controlled it from there. Does that seem correct to you?" He asked.

"Yes, I always try to push it to where I want it to come out." Zel said with a nod.

"Interesting. That may be a habit that we will eventually have to work through. One of the basic principles of magic control is that you only use as much magic as you need to, not all of it when attacking." He spoke as if he were lecturing in a classroom. Zel could tell that Captain Ceres was an experienced instructor.

"Well, I do not use all of it. Like you said, I try to just use enough to do what I think I need to."

Captain Ceres frowned.

"When you had your first examination, you used all of your mana at your disposal to fill your arms with electricity, did you not? Ah, you must mean you did not use it all to attack! You were able to portion it off for each of your bolts and still have some in reserve for when you latched onto Captain Crans. I understand." The captain seemed satisfied with this answer that he came to himself.

"Umm, well no, sir," Zel said, "Even after I managed to hit Captain Crans, I still hadn't used all of my mana."

Captain Ceres' frown grew a bit deeper and he had begun to furrow his brow as well.

"That is interesting. Well, either way, your habit of pushing your mana around your body will be useful here." Ceres moved on quickly, "when you move your mana in your body, you can direct its flow and when it leaves your body it comes out as electricity. In this case, the stone will serve as an extension of your body. When you allow the mana to enter your arms and your fingertips as you always have, instead of releasing it like lightning, imagine pushing it further. Through your fingertips and the palms of your hands down into the floor as if there were more of your body to work with. Please take your time, I can give you further help if you need it." By the time he finished his explanation the frown he had worn had disappeared.

"Okay." Zel said. She knelt down as she had seen the others do.

She placed her hands on the floor and tried to envision what Captain Ceres had explained to her. She thought about how she wanted to draw her lightning to the tips of her fingers. She could feel her arms and fingers tingling as the charge built up, but instead of releasing this time, she continued pushing. She imagined that more of her body was just beyond her fingertips and pushed the mana there. As she did this, the floor began to glow beneath her.

"Good, good." Captain Ceres encouraged, "Remember to push everything you have into it."

Zel pushed harder, the light growing from a small puddle to a vast pool that began to reach towards the corners of the room. She was starting to feel the fatigue as she pushed herself further and further, but she also felt something else. It was the same warm sensation from earlier and she began to remember.

Zel felt a smile creep across her face as she thrust her mana into the floor with a new gusto. The tide of mana beneath her surged forth with ever greater force, and as Zel filled the stone with mana she felt a sense of pleasurable joy tingling within her. She couldn't help but laugh.

It didn't stop the sensation, however. She had never felt like this before. Using her mana filled her with a sense of pleasure she had never experienced before, and she felt herself getting lost within it. She lost where she was, forgotten in the euphoria, she almost forgot who she was too, except that suddenly she was ripped from her high by a loud sound and a stinging pain.

She had run out of mana, and collapsed, her head bashing against the stone floor. She managed to pull herself back up to her knees, holding her injured head with her hands. Captain Ceres, who was still next to her, was not paying her any mind, instead he was looking up to the ceiling of the hall.

That's when Zel noticed that the entire room was ablaze with light. The hall from where Zel sat all the way to the roof was glowing intensely, the mana inside the stone unevenly raging like a wildfire. It was far brighter even than it had been when the headmaster had lit the room.

Captain Ceres looked down at Zel from where he stood, a spark of excitement in his eyes.

"Unbelievable." He said, his voice shaking.

Zel heard a long whistle from behind her. She looked back and saw Exelcia walking towards her.

"We got us a keeper, don't we Ceres! My my, where are you keeping all that stuff." Exelcia poked at Zel's belly while lifting her to her feet.

"Let's get you some place you can rest. Good luck with this one Karty!" Exelcia yelled at Captain Kartave who gave a silent nod as they walked out of the room into the halls of the Academy.