Welcoming rituals

Ashton's thoughts were sour, but the feeling he had finally been brought to the MTA resonated a contrasting feeling, sharing him up a bit.

Staying at the academy will definitely strengthen him more to face the beasts who have disturbed the peace of their world.

After a while, they all got to a building that had strange characters embedded in it's walls. Ashton did not bother to read those words as they seemed to not be the normal alphabet he had been accustomed to.

Some of the characters inscribed in the wall looked like standard mandarin characters, they other letters were in a blur.

Maybe it was because the dim fire lights that were standing outside the vertically around the building were not bright enough. He abandoned the quest to read those words.

Two black cloaked Mages pushed the door open allowing entrance for the other Mages and the two boys who were trailing adjust them.

Inside the building was a single room, large enough to be a lecture arena. The lights inside were so bright that it sent Ashton and Jamil to cover their eyes momentarily before they could adapt to it.

Inside the room were about some masked Mages in black cloaks as well. They were standing in a big circle and inside the circle was a big tub of steamy water with chrysanthemum petals shed on the surface of the water and a royal chair placed two feets away from the bath tub.

The door roared as it was shut close as they all had entered by the Mages who had opened it. Ashton's eyes were darting around the room hastily and his little presumption was that an occultic ritual was going to be held in there soon.

The Mages in the black cloaks all spread across the room taking their places in the already left space in the huge circle the masked Mages had formed while the three Mages in gray cloaks walked to the front of the bath tub, the Mage with the gold rings sat on the royal chair that was already placed in front of tub.

He thrusted his hand forward beckoning to both boy to come stand in front of the tub. As soon as they got there, the Mage spoke.

"What are your names?" he asked, his voice poise.

"I am Jamil," Jamil spoke up first and turned at Ashton. "And this is…

"A-Ashton!"

The Mage nodded and continued.

"Tonight, we shall perform the first welcoming ritual for these two boys- Jamil and Ashton. After this ritual, other befitting procedures will be announced to them." He stopped, looking around to see who was not paying attention to what he was saying. He found none, so he continued.

"They have come to join this academy as special students for they would be the first of their kind to get into this academy in just one night. Hence, they shall not be treated with disdain."

The first Mage with silver rings continued from where the leader had stopped.

"They shall observe the first three test of test. And if they are not found worthy, they shall receive the penalty for failing."

The second Mage with silver ring also picked up his words from here the first silver Mage had stopped his.

"They shall not taunt the holy constitution and…." He was cut short by Ashton's sudden outburst.

Ashton had yawned loudly not minding where he was. He was just tired of the boring speech and he could hold the yawn in his mouth any longer.

The Mage grunted at Ashton's nonchalant behavior and glared at him. He continued with his speech nevertheless and every single word safely passed off Ashton's ear.

He did not bother to pay attention. What he wanted was to get into the full setting of the academy and not being baptized with some boring lecture.

The Mage eventually finished his speech and announced the next theme in their agenda.

"The boys shall now begin to strip!" He announced in a commanding tone.

"Strip? What?!" Ashton and Jamil exclaimed at the same time.

As if preplanned, well it was preplanned, strange drum noises came out from nowhere, a quest to urge both boys to start striping.

Their eyes darted around frantically trying to figure out where the sounds were coming from but, their search seemed futile as they got no hint of where the sounds came from.

A minute passed by swiftly and both Ashton and Jamil had refused to remove their clothes. The silver Mage shouted at them again to strip.

"Strip now!" He commanded again.

As he shouted at them, their hearts skipped a beat making them fret in the positions they had been standing.They both stuttered at the menacing cold gaze of the Mages in the room.

Finally, they reluctantly started to remove their clothes. The thoughts of standing unclad in the midst of the circle clouded their minds. It was one weird way to perform a welcoming ritual.

As they removed a cloth from their body, the sound of the drum grew more intense till they were finally unclad. The drumming stopped abruptly and two black cloaked Mages walked up to them and packed their clothes off the ground and tossed it in a fire that had been ignited outside of the circle.

A flat tray was brought into the circle and on the tray were placed two emerald green vials. Both vials were sealed with a cork. The boys were offered the vials to drink its content. They both took one for themselves and the Mage with the gold rings spoke up.

"The first potion you will be drinking in this academy. Made from fresh chrysalis, a reminder of what life can give to you behind the four walls of this academy. Now drink! Drink and arise with thy glorious self."

As soon as they removed the cork off the vial, a strange harsh smell hit their noses hard. Ashton tried to resist but he was vulnerable.

The content of the vial reeked that Ashton retched making the vial fall out of his hands. The vial broke and its content spilled. Ashton looking guilty slowly raised his head from the floor and looked up at the leader Mages after letting out a faint gasp.

Thinking he had escaped from drinking the potion, his was surprised with a new vial bottle. Another bottle had being brought to the tray a black cloaked Mage had been holding and he was served the new vial.

Now, he was not in charge of holding the bottle so as to not waste its content again. A black cloaked Mage volunteered to feed the content to Ashton. Though reluctant to open his mouth, he had no choice now or else the potion will be forced down his throat.

Ashton casted a quick glance at Jamil and to his surprise, Jamil's vial was empty already.

''Wait what?! When did he drink his potion?' Ashton thought to himself.

He opened his mouth and the potion was poured into it. Alas, his fear was smitten as the potion touched his tongue.

The potion had the perfect culinary flavoring and Ashton was bewildered as he savored the taste in his mouth wanting more of it only if he could skip the distinctive reek sensation it oozed out.

A system chime tuned across the room but it was not visible to both boys as they were still pre-users.

[Cleansing completed]

[Two new younglings have been registered]

[System ability will be administered to them after attuning]

The next ritual was announced again;

"Both boys shall proceed to have a cleansing bath in the chrysanthemin water!"

Ashton and Jamil need not to be told twice as having a bath in the steamy tub would be a way to shield their dignity from the piercing gaze of all the people in the room.

They quickly got into the tub and sat in it slowly washing themselves in the nice fragrance. As they both relaxed in the steamy bath, they couldn't help but compare the pleasure they are experiencing now compared to whatever rubbish bath they had always had at the public bath house.

All they wanted now to last forever was to continue soaking themselves in the rich bathe.

But, nothing lasts forever as they were asked to round up there bath. Ashton stepped out of the tub with water dripping from his body. He laced his hand towards his groin hoping to hide his pride away from the prying eyes of the Mages.

As he made that gesture, someone muffled a chuckle- it definitely was one of the Mages under the mask according to Ashton's intuition.

But, something tugged at him relentlessly. The voice that had chuckled was a females voice. He was damn sure about that. His eyes darted across the room hastily hoping to catch the little rat who had been seeing him unclad all long.

Instantly, a wave of embarrassment flushed through him. A girl had seen him in his birthday suit, and that alone was not what baffled him alone.

''What if the masked Mages are all females?' he thought to himself.

''What sort of public humiliation is this?'