Mana Exam V

Seeing Ambrose ready to escape, Maria quickly spoke, "The Academy's mage will likely force you to take the test when he gets here. After all your sister has such great talent he would want to test all your family members again."

Ambrose who had just taken one step paused.

Maria suddenly not seeming so motherly spoke like the devil threatening him, "You also wouldn't want to abandon your sister at the Academy... would you?"

Ambrose who had just thought about leaving turned right back around. Glancing at his tear stricken sister he knew he could never leave her alone. They had spent so long together. They always did everything together.

After so long they learned to love. Together learned about everything. If he cared about anything it would be his sister.

Lily who heard everything looked afraid. Even more afraid than when she knew she had gotten a great talent. She too had experienced everything together with her brother. There wasn't anything she cared about more than her brother. Now the thought of going to the Academy was bad, but the thought of going alone was even worse.

Ambrose said nothing as he let go of his sister's arm. Throwing his paper at Maria he stepped up on the stepstool and reached out to the orb...

*

Something clicked when he placed his hand on the orb as he instinctually knew to close his eyes. He suddenly understood how to channel his energy as his body acted almost on instinct as he knew the right way to guide the energy in the orb.

Soon a comfortable feeling spread throughout hir body as he suddenly felt what his elements should be. Just as his sister had done before, he softly mumbled, "Life... Lightning..."

*

Lily stood to the side watching everything. She didn't know how to feel. She should feel happy that her brother is doing all of this for her... Yet... Only guilt remained...

Still, she stood strong as she watched the orb react. The droplets soon turned into a storm as all the smoke condensed into liquid. Looking at the beautiful sight she wondered if she had the same beautiful sight.

The liquid swirled as it shined and changed colors. Unlike her vibrant green and deep blue colors, the colors Ambrose depicted was a dark green and a shiny purple colors that had the same swirls as before.. 

Just like before Ambrose opened his eyes and saw the orb filled with liquid. He knew he passed even as his hand left the orb. Maria also made sure to be ready as she quickly handed him a book and asked for his name.

Ambrose didn't resist. With dead eyes, he gave his name and spoke neutrally. He had expected to pass. He knew nothing could change. So with tired eyes, he looked to his sister.

Her red eyes seemed to stimulate him as tears formed and dripped from his eyes. He didn't make the same scene as she did simply because he had spent the entire time she was crying preparing himself. Otherwise, he would have acted the exact same way she had.

Lily saw her brother's tears but said nothing until he walked up to her.

"Should we leave?"

Looking at the door to leave Ambrose suddenly had an idea, "Dad would likely force us to come tommorow. How about we stay here until all the tests are over?"

"Talk?" Lily looked slightly confused and asked.

Ambrose nodded, "Talk. In private."

Lily glanced around and noticed many were looking at them. Quickly pulling her brother along she went to a corner of the chapel. There they started whispering their plans to each other.

No one escorted them out so they were completely able to leave whenever without worry. The other two who had passed the test were the same as they were allowed to stay.

"What about our Parents?" Lily started their conversation.

"Will likely not help in our escape and might impede on it. Where should we escape to?"

"Solo escape it is. Hmmm... The unexplored forest is our best bet."

"We don't know much about what territories are taken. How do we escape a mage is the real problem."

"How fast the mage will arrive will be our time limit for escape. I saw that wench Maria use some magic and an item to communicate. She likely already informed them."

"I think we at most have a week. We have also exposed our lack of interest in the Academy."

"So we will be hunted no matter what?"

"It is likely... I have two ideas of what we can do."

"Oh? I also have two ideas." The twins smirked at each other as they knew both of them had similar ideas.

"First is simply faking that we have accepted fate and we run as soon as possible. Likely directly after arriving at the academy. Second is to simply run and never stop running."

"I think you are missing a few ideas my dear brother. You see we might have the answer right in our hands." Lifting up her book Lily started to explain her ideas, "First! We can learn all we can for magic and come up with a countermeasure to escape the mage's pursuit. Second, is to refuse to come into contact with any Mana! If we show enough resistance they will likely give up trying to use us."

"All ideas are good, but many problems with each. How about we combine ideas?"

"I was thinking the same. Learning magic might be a priority after all if we don't understand anything about the enemy then we will just be blindly running around. Eventually forever running might lead us right back to them."

"Also if we don't learn any magic they might just try something terrible... maybe even experiment on us..." Both of them shivered as if they had heard the worst thing possible.

"Faking that we accepted our fate should also fit well with this as we are 'learning' Mana related things." Lily spoke thoughtfully.

"So never learning anything Mana related is off. How about mastering mana and running away constantly?" Ambrose rubbed his temple as he complained internally.

"No, this book is supposed to be the basics of mana. It might not be enough to help us."

"So from the Academy we escape? Is that the best option?"

"There is also something we are forgetting."

"What?"

"Family."

"What?"

"Do you want them to suffer?"

"Of course not... oh... If we just up and leave they will likely suffer in the face of a powerful Academy mage...*sigh* Looks like the Academy is the only choice."

"Maybe we can barter? We don't know the personality of the Academy, so maybe we can focus on farming inside?"

"No that won't work. They only care about magic and making people stronger if what dad said is true."

All the twins could do was sigh as they got lost in their thoughts while staring at the orb testing other kids...