Soon enough we reached the Luxian capital, Rothen. Elaine and Aaron said that it was one of the biggest cities on the continent of Terra, and I could see it held true. As we watched it from above we could see the countless buildings piled on top of one another and we could even see the Calbourne Castle, the headquarters for the council.

The castle itself was quite menacing with thick, stone walls protecting the outermost layer. Inside the wall was what seemed to be an endless array of hallways and rooms. It seems that nobody knows all of the rooms there and are many secret passages. In the middle of the monstrous building stands a lone tower that looks as if it could crumble with a simple magic attack, but that was not the case. This tower was the meeting place for the council, and at the very top level was the highest level council members of ten wings. It was said that no one could break that tower and the day that it fell would be the day that the kingdom of Lux was defeated.

The only reason I knew about the city was because Elaine would not stop speaking for a single moment. She spoke of how magnificent everything was and how lucky she was to be raised in such a beautiful place.

We flew over to the examination hall and I found it quite remarkable. It had massive white pillars supporting the building in the front that had the engraving of a coiling dragon breathing out a breath of burning flames. The building itself was made of a dark brown material that seemed incredibly solid as I touched it. We could see the endless stream of examinees that were waiting in line to get registered, we of course, were no exception.

I also learned that the place were at, the Kryvirt Hall, was often rented out for different things. Every year Drudania Academy would rent it out along with a few other schools, but because of the amount of money it cost to rent out, it very rarely was occupied.

We got in line behind a small angel girl with purple wings protruding from her back. I guessed she wasn’t a flying type of angel because her wings did not seem strong enough to lift her up and carry her anywhere. She seemed nervous and was shaking slightly. The girl looked as if she were about ten at the most.

Not all angels had the ability to fly, even when awakened. The general, unawakened population could really only be identified by the occasional halo residing above their heads. The angels that had awakened usually gained wings but only a few could actually be used. The ones with wings that couldn’t fly were usually due to the wings being too small or too weak.

“Good luck, Lucifer. We have to go now, but hopefully the next time we meet we will be talking about how you passed the exam.” Elaine said before flashing a huge grin and turning away to leave. Aaron followed suit and turned to leave, but to my surprise, he left me with some parting words.

“Shana kien.” Aaron then left the line and walked towards Elaine. Good luck, that was what it meant, but I’m not sure if he intended it to also mean the light’s path. Why would I follow the light’s path? That is where everyone else would go, so I would have to travel a different path. At the time I had not realized how important that thought would be.

While I was waiting for my turn to sign up, I saw the platforms on which each test would be conducted. On each platform was a building, that from what I heard, contained a small collection of rooms each student would use to be tested in. There was five platforms each with a long line of students surrounding it. The few times I did see the children leave the building most of them had a dejected look on their faces because they knew that failing one meant failing all. Only once or twice did I see any children show happy expressions when leaving the platform.

The written test was currently being taken by a group of children that signed into the registration papers before me. After they finished taking the test in the main hall area they would go and wait their turn for the platforms while their answers were being judged. Quite a few people stayed to see whether they passed the written exam, they all were probably waiting to see if they should even get in the lines to wait for the platform tests. Luckily the lines to all the places seemed to be moving at a relatively fast rate. Very soon I was at the front of line.

“Name?” Said the woman at the desk while looking down at her papers.

“Lucifer Udev.” I replied quickly. I decided to keep my parents last name because, well, without them I wouldn’t be alive and that I have a truly horrendous naming sense, at least according to Elaine. Even Aaron agreed with her, which happens once in a blue moon.

“Hmmmm.” She said while turning through her papers. “Here you go. Just go wait by the main hall’s door. It should be opening soon?” She handed me a card that had a metallic feel to it and contained my name, gender, species, and age. There was also a rectangular box drawn on to the cold piece of metal. I did not know what the box was there for, but I determined that they would probably tell us before we started the written exam.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Soon enough the massive doors opened and a flood of students stormed out. After the stampede, I was able to go inside and find an enormous room with tons of small desks and chairs.

“Examinees, take a seat at one of the desks and then turn your attention towards me” Cried a shrill voice that belonged to a small faerie. This faerie was only around three feet tall and had wings the color of blood. Its face was old and weathered, but its voice certainly wasn’t affected. I quickly found a desk with a thin pencil resting on top of it.

“Turn this direction, children.” The old faerie spat at us. “You are about to take the exam to one of the most prestigious magic schools in the continent, and most of you will fail. At the registration desk you all received a card with your information on it. That card will hold all of the results from your tests and determine whether you qualify to move forward. The results from the exam will also be posted outside. This almost completely eliminates the possibility of cheating, so don’t any of you buggers try anything funny. You have 15 minutes to complete this part of the exam. Beginning now!” She cried while banging her fist on her desk as if to emphasis the point. Interestingly enough the second she said now the exam papers appeared in front of us.

There was only five questions, but you had to support your answer with facts previously learned. The first four questions were easy, mostly pertaining to theories of magic and the use of magic over the course of history. But the fifth one was……. different.

5. Explain your views towards good and evil. Provide examples to support your answer.

This question made me think quite a lot before putting down my answer. I do think this is a very good question to put on the test because by the students response you can determine if their views match up with what the academy is looking for or if they belong elsewhere. My answer was something I truly believed even though others may have different views toward it.

Answer: I believe that good and evil are terms that have been misused over countless years of misunderstanding what it is to be good and what it is to be evil. We see everything in to colors, white and black, white being good and black being evil. But that is wrong. We must not look at it in such a way that you only see one side of the story and not the truth. The world should be seen in shades of grey. The lighter the shade the better or more good it is, but it still has something evil or bad about it that changes it from pure white to a light gray. The darker the shade is the closer to evil it is but it still has good things that allow it to be gray. Even when you look at it this way it all depends on your views of good and evil. What one may see as good another sees evil and vice versa. People must begin to not only see the cons or pros of ideas or things but they must begin to see both sides to truly understand the entirety of the subject in question.

I was confident about my answer for it is the truth in the way I see things. If Drudania Academy does not accept my ideals simply because they are too abstract and have no solid form, then the academy is most likely not a fit for me.

“Put your pencils down.” The old faerie shrieked yet again. S soon as the last pencil was laid upon the desk, our exams disappeared. “Now put your card onto the upper right corner of your desks and make sure the rectangle is facing downwards.”

We all waited for a second then a bright flash of light erupted from beneath our cards. It disappeared as quickly as it came and the faerie then told us to pick up our cards and leave. So we all began to storm toward the doors that were beginning to open.

Most of the people rushed to see their scores on the board outside, only to find out that the small white stand only showed you your scores, so nobody could tell you scored the top position. As I slowly advanced to the front, I saw my “score” and wondered if something was wrong for the board said, “Lucifer Udev, please report to the headmaster's office.”

Not knowing where the headmaster’s office was, I started searching for a teacher and found one wandering around the exam grounds. It was a tall elf that had very dark skin with reddish hues shining through. If I hadn’t saw the long, pointed ears I would have most likely assumed that he was one of the darker humans or perhaps someone of the demon face.

“May I help you boy?” The elf asked with a slight frown on his face as though telling me that I was unwelcome.

“Could you please tell me where the headmaster’s office is?” I asked as politely as I could.  A look of surprise clouded his features for a moment, but he quickly returned to his previous scowl.

“Go down this hall until you see it split into a fork then take the left fork and continue to the second room on your right. That is the headmaster’s office.” He said before turning away and continued walking.

“Thank you.” I said before heading to the direction of the headmaster’s office where I did not know what to expect.