13 before the tests

The youths were intermingling with aristocratic elegance, they looked like a bunch of peacocks trying to outdo each other, every once in a while a name would be called and one of them would leave entering a door to the side, only to return with either defeated, incredulous looks or happy and hoping ones, they would all return holding a slip of paper, the scene reminded me of that final day on earth, all the graduates leaving with bright futures and the contrast between them and the ones who failed, it resemblance was eerie.

"Hello there, you alright, I saw you standing here looking dazed and thought I might as well introduce myself." A voice resounded from beside me, looking up I saw a boy, around my own age, he was dressed in the same expensive clothes as the surrounding youths, his face was plainly, average, his frame tall and wiry, his narrow eyes looked scheming, he was facing me his hand outstretched for a handshake, acknowledging him I followed suit shaking his hand, his grip was firm.

"Good to meet you I'm Alexander Campion. you are?" I asked formally, following noble etiquette, in turn, he smiled knowingly "let's forget all that, I came to talk to you to escape this." he pointed around us, garnering a wave for disapproving glances, "it is Toby, formally Tobias Archer, it's a pleasure." he added smiling genuinely.

Releasing his hand, I chuckled "you came to the right person, so do you know much about the tests?" I asked curiously, all my knowledge comes from the old dusty books I found in the attic, and happenstance, that's where I found the term arcane.

"The tests..." he pondered his hand idly taping against the sword hilt hanging by his side, "ah I know of some news you might find a revelation." he grins down at me as he was the taller of us two, "I heard that the ivory aquatic tower is opening its gates and that they require only the best, so there is a chance, of an increase of requirement.

Other than that, there's nothing else particularly noteworthy." that revelation was more than just noteworthy, it was ground-breaking.

The ivory aquatic tower, an organization created in an unknown era, it was as ancient as it was famous, one thing that perpetuated its fame was its enigmatic nature, its leader has never been seen in the last thousand years and its entrance requirements are incredibly stringent, even if a genius is born in the time of their seclusion and came knocking at their door, they would send them away with a passing 'fate will guide the fated'. The tower was located in the largest ocean of this world, the Enderthraul ocean, the main point however for me is their specialization in both the water and darkness elements of the archaic arts.

"Alexander Campion, you are to proceed" the busk voice from one of the guards shattered my reverie, turning I thanked Tobias, bidding him farewell I left with gusto. Walking over I entered through the signaled side door, the room inside was small, compact, and cramped, with a single table taking up most of the space in the room, on both sides of the table there were chairs, the chair facing me was outened slightly, leavening room for me to sit, on the desk was a stack of thick papers, all blank.

Sitting across from me was a woman of roughly thirty, she gestured to the chair commanding, "sit here" then she looked me coldly in the eyes, "name" I replied with my name, after a few more questions she picked up a stamp, smothering it with ink before stamping the paper, the ink flowed off the stamp covering the page, before gathering and imprinting itself onto partitions, eventually a form manifested, with my identification across the top, the bottom was still blank.

The woman handed me the form, ordering me coldly to 'move on to the next room. So, I walked past her to the heavy door behind her, the next room was spacious with the colour purple dominating the walls, the lilac velvet sofa, and the tablecloth, sitting behind the table on a short stool was a person, their face was horribly disfigured, scar tissue patching together their thin skin, skin so thin I could see the workings of their muscles, twitching as they spoke, their voice was androgynous and magnetic "mind not this tragedy, I did this to myself, so the form." their grasping hand was at great contrast with their face, rather than mangled and wretched, their hand looked smooth and sculpted, I handed the from over, "you know." they spoke again their voice sounding heavenly "the organizers put me here to test the courage, I don't mind per se but it's rather demeaning." they passed their eyeless face staring into me "wouldn't you say Mr, Campion". I hurried myself to answer, not knowing what to call them I improvised "great one." I looked for any sighs of displeasure at the title, but there were none "great one what is the meaning of this test," I asked cautiously.

"This test is more than for mere courage," something grotesque pulsated through their face "it's for something more important, your affinities, you may not know this, but there are many contributing factors that lead to affinity.

Firstly, raw talent, a talented person will always manifest a law, the fundamental of affinity, think of it as an acceptance of that element. If your affinity's high, then you will have an easier job controlling and absorbing it, and the process will put less strain on your body too.

Secondly is bloodline, sometimes the talent of a generous ancestor is passed down to their descendants, at a price to them, however.

The third l is outside influences," they coughed their hinged jaw widening, sputtering emerald blood "outside influences consist of many things, perhaps it's too generalized, well put simply, its anything that you don't have control over after birth, maybe a passing god took pity on you granting you great affinity with their path, maybe you liked in an environment rich in a certain element, so you adapted to it gaining affinity.

Finally, is a change made proactively, like an elixir, herb or any artifact strong enough however, one must be judicious when deciding to use this method, sometimes an anomaly can occur, and an element can reject someone."

After this lengthy monologue over they lifted a bowl filled with a bubbling liquid, the liquid was clear clearer than any water id ever seen, its rippling surface reflecting the twisted horror on their face, "now all you need to do it" they took out a ceremonial silver dagger "prick your finger on this dropping a droplet of blood into the pool, this will form the initial link to your affinities, other than that just release your inhibitions and vent your emotions into the very water itself, the rest it does itself, also the initial colour it flasher represents the level of your bloodline, but that's not relevant here." the melodic voice echoed as they handed me the dagger instructing me to "believe in the me, that believes in you" the soft laughing timbre of their voice consoled me into taking the plunge, the prick was painless, and the cold clear water turned a royal purple.