Chapter 1

“Today is the worst day of my life”

 -32nd Iuni, 15th month, year 151- 

Even though it was still nightlight, the whole city was illuminated by the ray of the climate regulator. It was a way to manage the working time when the sun was nowhere to be seen.

Like every year, the Instruction center was holding the aptitude test. A really important day for the teenagers of the 6 colonies. It was the day that will allow them to learn about their potential as magic users and to finally be able to receive the teachings. This test was one of the most important that the children would ever take. It will impact their social status as future members of this society.

The curtains were closed, preventing the light from coming in. Yeetlhy’s connector illuminated her eyes, she heard a voice. A voice that was familiar, as if it was her own.

“Hello. It is 8am, the time to wake up. The date is 32nd Iuni, 15th month, 151 year. The weather is warm, around 36°, it is still nightlight. Your schedule today is…”

Yeetlhy raised her hand and swiped left, the voice stopped talking. She opened her eyes, the screen was on, showing the data scripts, she looked at the top right to see the main event of the day, the aptitude test. She quickly shook her hands to hide it from her sight.

“shut up”, grumbled Yeetlhy while trying to stand up. She sat on her bed for a while, breathing heavily, gathering her strength before standing up. The young girl walked toward her bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Bruises everywhere. She touched some, it was still hurting. Yeetlhy didn’t feel anything while looking at them. It was just something that she was used to deal with. She generated some ice and placed it on her body. As she was waiting for the pain to calm down, she heard her parents talking in the kitchen. Unusual, she thought. They almost never had a conversation except when it was about having some privacy, what could they be talking about? She then put on some clothes and looked again at the mirror. The bruises on her body couldn’t be completely hidden, but it will do the work. Something popped up on her screen. It was a reminder of the main event of the day. She looked at it for a few seconds, sighed, and swiped it away. Her anxiety was rising up. Today was the last day for her to get some acknowledgement from her parents. To be at least considered a part of their family. She had made all these efforts to become the perfect citizen, the perfect student, the young girl wouldn’t allow any failure today. Her existence would be recognized.

Yeetlhy went down to find the kitchen empty, her parents were nowhere to be seen. She was hoping that they would pay some attention to her on this peculiar day, but they obviously didn’t care enough to leave at least a note. She took a few seconds to overcome the emotions inside of her that wanted to come out. The pain, the loneliness, the anger, she needed to hold back the tears, to not let this impact her.  The teenager took a slice of bread that was left on the table and went out. 

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She looked back at the door.

“House, lock the door”, she said, before hurriedly walking towards the Instruction center. She didn’t pay attention to the response of  the house, being too preoccupied by the people around her. Trying her hardest not to attract attention. In the middle of all the joy and the excitation, Yeetlhy couldn’t help but feel even more anxious. They all knew of her situation and never cared about it. They even laughed at her. The child of the two greatest heroes of Yellen being treated like a pariah, there might be a reason for that. The girl didn’t want to let them hinder her path to success. But the hatred she was getting was too strong for her to handle. Avoiding them was the best option. She walked even more rapidly towards the center. When she finally got inside the Instruction center, her connector led her to the waiting hall. She was met with five long queues. A lot of faces that she had never seen before. Teenagers of other colonies that could pass the aptitude test there because of the capacities of their Instruction centers. One of the queues was illuminated, her connector spoke.

“Take the highlighted line and wait for your turn.”

Yeetlhy followed the command of the connector. It took more time than what she expected for the examiner to see her. While she was waiting, the connector started to explain to her how the aptitude test will proceed.

“The aptitude test was created in order to understand someone’s capacity to use magic. As the waving gland attains its majority at the age of 16 years old, it is considered the safest age to start using magic and as such, to test it.

The aptitude test will ascertain two things : the element and the handling ability.

There are only 2 elements that can be used by our race : water and fire, you can use either one of them or both and this test is designed to determine it.

The handling ability corresponds to the frequency, your magical signature; the regularity, how regular the waves are; the scale, how grand the scales can be; and the changement, your capacity to go from one spell to another. Each of these sections will greatly impact your capacity to use magic.

The last part of the test will determine the impact of using magic on your health, this part is important and will be determinant for your future.

Now, please wait for your turn.”

After a few hours, Yeetlhy, who was tired of waiting and was sitting on the floor, heard a pin. She looked up and saw the examiner. They were making a sign for her to come in. Without sharing a glance, she entered the room.

 The examiner went towards the terminal without informing the girl of what she needed to do. Yeetlhy, not really disturbed by this, sat down on the only chair of the room and waited for the examiner to explain themselves. The examiner approached the girl with what looked like a patch, linked to the terminal and placed it at the back of her neck, where her waving gland was. The teenager understood that this was the object that would be used to analyze her muscle.

“Relax." said the examiner nonchalantly. He went back to the terminal with no care for her.

Yeetlhy took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and as the examiner told her, she relaxed. 

“Today is the worst day of our lives.

Today is the beginning of the end of the world.”