3 Examination and Potential
Something felt different, the world became clearer, all my senses were amplified, the world slowed, I could feel the gentle breeze from the window gliding over my hands, the faint sound of scribbling and pages turning, my eyesight became clearer easily able to see the birds flying outside. I could feel a new faint new sensation, each examiner emitted a huge amount of this new feeling, while the golem let off a fainter amount.
The orb began to faintly glow in different colours randomly switching between blue, white, green red and grey. My vision went black, "I can't believe you told them! I trusted you!" a familiar voice screamed, as the source of the voice gradually appeared, it was apparent my mind began dredging up a memory I wish I could forget, and I instantaneously forced myself back to conciseness. I slowly regained my vision the glowing orb was now glowing with an almost blinding white intensity the orb became almost too hot to maintain my hold, before slowly dimming and cooling down.
"Thank you, Miss Patel, your examination is over, please exit the way you came in," Said the old man with a smile on his face.
"Umm if you don't mind could you explain what exactly is happening?" I hesitantly questioned.
The old man opened a large old book, "well let's see" replied the old man, turning the pages quickly, "Ah there you are, so you're Emilia from the Consecratus. that explains a lot, I'll send one of my students that could perhaps explain everything a little better to you. Hee smiled and gestured to exit the way I came.
"Umm thank you, I guess this is goodbye then." I waved and turned to exit the room, to my surprise the door now leads to an extremely large banquet hall filled with several hundred people all dressed in different types of attire and colours, 'I should have expected this from some whacky magical world and door' i thought to myself.
Confidently walking through and closing the door behind me the instant I released the door handle, the door faded away leaving a solid stone wall behind me. No one seemed phased by what just happened, either they were too engrossed in conversation or vanishing doors were an everyday occurrence. The room was illuminated with chandeliers and torches along the wall, piano music could be faintly heard in the background but with no direction from where the music was coming from, and several large banquet tables filled the central parts of the hall, all filled with what I assume are varieties of foods and many Empty goblets.
Walking around, the banqueting hall was bursting with excitement and happiness, totally opposite to how I was feeling. Why am I the only one who feels lost among the hundreds of people? I felt like I was back in school again, I never found it easy to talk to people and make friends. Feeling completely lost I decided to look for the first seat free, my nerves got the better of me, I became a hermit shutting myself off from my surrounding,
I began wondering if I'll ever get to see my friends and family again, I didn't even get to say goodbye, they are probably going crazy with my disappearance, the more I thought about it the more upset I became, the piano music also changed along with my mood. Tears began to fall down my cheek, I sat quietly sobbing into my arms. All I could think was my parents panicking and there is no way I can reassure them that I am alive.
"Are you okay?" a female voice asked beside me.
"Yes, everything's okay," I replied sitting up and wiping away the tears from my face with my sleeves.
"Nice to meet you I'm Caroline!" she smiled
"Emilia" I replied.
"Let's start with getting you a drink and let's talk about what's got you down okay?" the female voice offered.
She grabbed two empty goblets handing one to me and keeping the other.
Looking at the empty goblet "so where do I go to get something to drink?" I asked
Caroline's face looked a bit confused as if she's never been asked such a question, "well you just hold the cup think of whatever water you want and it will fill up."
Following Caroline's instruction, I thought of apple juice, the cup slowly began filling up with a yellow transparent liquid, I hesitantly took a sip, and somehow the goblet managed to fill itself with apple juice. I then thought of grape juice, the liquid turned from a transparent yellow to a transparent purple. This is something I could get used to thinking to myself.
"So what got you feeling so down?" Caroline questioned
I smiled at her, "just the thought of missing my family and friends and them missing me." I replied.
"Yeah, sadly that's the downside of being chosen I guess." Caroline signed taking a gulp from her goblet.
"How do your parents feel about it?" I questioned with intrigue.
"Well the village I'm from it is considered a great honour to be chosen, so no doubt my family will be throwing some sort of party." She smiled with a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"I know something that will help both of us!" I smiled grabbing both goblets and thinking of Pinot Noir, as the goblets filled with the red wine, I handed one back to Caroline, "try this." I smiled. Caroline full of trust drank without hesitation.
"Wow, what is this?" Caroline beamed.
"That's a secret" I hummed as I enjoyed the tiny reminder of home.
"Umm Miss Patel?" an unknown male voice from behind me pulled my attention.
"Yes, that's me." I turned around to reply.
"Hi nice to meet you my name is Timothy you can call me Tim." Tim held out his hand for a handshake. Tim was a young man, wearing glasses with short hair, he was relatively tall but was very skinny. He wore a robe similar to the one was wearing.
I reach out to shake his hand "Hi Tim, nice to meet you" I smiled.
"So my head teacher said that you have some questions?" he inquired.
"Umm yeah kind of." I hesitantly replied.
Tim proceeded to take a seat beside me so I was in between Tim and Caroline, "So what sort of questions do you want to ask?" Tim questioned.
"Oh, so you must be the student the old man said he would send to help me?" I inquired.
"Yes that would be me" Tim answered.
"Well, I'm not too sure what's going on here" I shrugged with a smile.
"Well as stated in 19.5 B any-"Tim started to recite.
"Umm sorry, I get all that, but I'm kind of perplexed about everything that's happening" I politely interrupted.
Tim looks at me with a look of confusion, he thinks for a little before opening a small handbook he had in his hand and started scanning for information. I couldn't help myself but peek at the pages he was reading, it looked as if the book was writing things about me on the fly. "Ah I see now" Tim looked up at me with a big smile snapping his book shut. "Well this might sound crazy but you'll just have to believe what I have to say." He smiled.
"Umm sure" I hesitantly agreed
"Well let me start with, the world you lived in before isn't the only world out there, there are many countless copies of your world each with similarities and differences. We call these planes of existences." He explained.
With a confused look "okay so like alternate dimensions" I hesitantly nodded in understanding.
"Sure, I think" Tim hesitantly agreed.
Tim takes another pause thinking to himself again. "So the strange feeling you must have got from contact with the orb is basically Arcanum, this is the energy source used to produce all sorts of things, like magic, enhanced abilities, Visium Powercells, magical equipment the list goes on." Tim beamed.
My jaw dropped in shock, I was speechless, I have literally been dropped into a fantasy story. Suddenly every strange thing that happened to me seemed plausible.
"Tim is it okay if I ask something?" Caroline requested.
"Sure ask whatever you want." Tim smiled.
"Umm, what plane is Emilia from?" Caroline asked.
Tim opened his book once again, "Umm it looks as if she is from Consecratus" replied Tim which then made him look at me a little shocked.
Caroline looked at me with a similar face of shock and amazement, "That explains why you were so lost and upset, Arcanum users from your plane are almost non-existent, there have been only six before you." Caroline explained.
"Great that explains why I barely made an effect on the orb during the examination." I sighed.
"Actually rumours have it that although Arcanum users from your plan are extremely rare, the strongest four sorcerers that ever existed are rumoured to be from your plane!" Caroline giggled with excitement.
"Really? No way!" I gasped, wondering if I have heard of any one of them.
"Yup and the 4th and 5th rankings aren't even close, some say their mastery is unrivalled and beyond comprehension!" beamed Caroline.
I smiled back at Caroline, it felt a little reassuring but Scarlet said the test was a measure of my potential, and my potential seemed abysmal. The thought of being in a world of magic filled me with excitement like a childhood dream come true, maybe I was the chosen one to defeat the big bad, or the lost princess or any of the fantasy tropes that I loved to read.
