10 Affinity
The doors led to a spacious hall, big enough to fit everyone in there even though there were hundreds of them.
The chaotic group was then split into organized rows by new figures wearing blue robes. Something that Theo had by now come to realize were a signifying mark that someone was from the Cobalt Academy.
Theo had the luxury of being amongst the front rows, so he was able to see the five stands at the front. Each had a pair of older figures standing beside them.
They wore a similar set of robes, but they were a slightly deeper hue of blue.
The stands themselves were small, only supporting a singular orb atop it.
Upon seeing the orb, Theo was glad that he had left something of trail behind him in the last week. If he had only now started to use his real name, it would have been problematic if they tried to look deeper into him.
Though, now that he was here. Someone would tell the Mannings for sure. If he failed to get admitted, his plans would have to go through a major rework.
'I wonder how the Bronze Fang had access to something like that, though.' Theo wondered to himself as the first five people were sent to the stands.
One of them was the pompous boy who he had talked to for a while before they got separated.
The whole hall was quiet, so the words of the man standing next to the stand were loud and clear to everyone's ears.
"Lay your hand on the orb and state your name and age." He said.
The pompous boy followed the order. He laid a hand atop the translucent crystal ball before opening his mouth. "Harry Giles, eighteen."
"Birthplace." The man continued after seeing no reaction from the ball. The other figure was presumably writing the answers down onto the piece of paper he held.
"Shingha, Vulcania." Harry said calmly.
The man asking the question raised an eyebrow but nothing else as the crystal ball showed no reaction.
"Proceed."
Harry nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating intently before pushing out a trace amount of white aether into the crystal.
Theo wasn't able to see the boy's affinity as there was a slight ruckus coming from the stand next to him.
"No, no! I swear, I can do it!" A boy was frantically looking towards the figure standing next to his orb.
The male figure shook his head and looked at his partner. "Write the penalty. Ten gold."
The figure with the paper nodded and quickly wrote something on a slip of paper before handing it to the boy. "Will you leave on your own or do you need to be escorted out?" He calmly asked.
The panic on the boy's face intensified. "Ten gold?! I don't have that much coin!"
He showed no intention of moving from the place on his own.
The older figure sighed and motioned for one of the blue robed figures who had organized them to come forward. "Take him back and get that ten gold. You'll get twenty five percent of it."
The blue robed figure's previously annoyed expression transformed slightly as he heard the old man's words. He wasted no time and physically grabbed and threw the panicked boy onto his shoulders before basically sprinting out of the hall.
'Guess everyone needs coin.' Theo thought to himself. That spectacle had been interesting, but he had missed Harry's results by looking at it. A shame.
The others proceeded as normal and when they were done, they were directed to enter through one of the many doors at the back of the hall, before new ones were brought to be tested. The minutes ticked on as everyone was tested individually.
The previous quiet atmosphere was slowly growing louder as everyone grew bored of having to wait for their turn and just began chatting with the people next to them.
Soon, it would be Theo's turn.
Just as he was thinking that, he noticed a girl with long, flaming red hair done up in a ponytail walk up to one of the orbs. The chattering around him quieted down a little as everyone paid attention to the girl.
'No way… it can't be…' He thought to himself in disbelief. Even though the cat-like ears atop her head left little room for doubt. It couldn't be her.
"Name and age." The words were the same as ever, but Theo felt as if though they were said agonizingly slowly.
The girl laid her hand on the orb and opened her mouth. The voice that rang out shattered his last hopes.
"Scarlett Walters, seventeen." She answered with a sweet voice.
"Fuck me…" Theo mumbled to himself as the orb showed no reaction. Why the hell was she here?
The figure looked towards the one with the paper and continued after he received a confirmation for something.
"Birthplace."
"Zeah, Hubrias." The answer was concise. The crystal showed no reaction.
"Proceed."
She concentrated for a while before pushing white aether into the crystal ball. Shortly thereafter it glowed with a bright red.
The fact that she had an affinity towards fire was basically the only logical thing that Theo could think of happening in this situation. Everything else from her being here, let alone having the potential to become an arcanist were far from the picture he had of her.
The old man nodded at her and pointed towards one of the doors, but she didn't immediately head towards there. Instead, she turned to look at the crowd.
Her twinkling red pupils were roving across the crowd, searching for something while her small nose twitched occasionally. She was looking for someone.
More specifically, him.
Her gaze stopped right at him. Her mouth curled into a smile and she winked at him before skipping towards one of the doors.
There was quite a lot of murmuring around him. Everyone thought that they had been the focus of her dazzling smile and the flirtatious wink.
'I'm doomed.' Theo thought to himself. The only gloomy male in this group of excited youths was the one whom it all had been directed at.
'You're all being fooled! That cutesy exterior is all an act!' He screamed at the fools in his mind, just barely keeping himself together and not allowing the panic to takeover.
This was bad. Someone was here who knew about his illicit activities. Though, if she tried to expose him, he would just do the same. A truce, that was what he would need to negotiate.
Somehow.
Or maybe he could just stay as far away from her as humanly possible. It was a big place, after all. At least if it hadn't changed from his mother's stories. He should be able to manage to keep away from her if he tried hard enough.
There was nagging in the back of his mind, as if he had forgotten some important detail. But before he could try to recall, it was his turn to step up to the ball.
'Whatever, I need to concentrate on the exam for now. Scarlett is a problem I'll deal with if I even get in.' He thought to himself as he walked up to the crystal.
He nodded towards the figures conducting this little verification test.
"Name and age." The figure to his left spoke while the one on the right was ready to take notes.
Theo laid his hand atop the cold crystal ball. It wasn't something that he was terribly familiar with, having only been forced to use one once before. But he still knew the basic principle behind it.
It would show an obvious indication if someone touching it was lying. Granted, it only worked on those with a white soul, but it was more than enough for this kind of thing.
He knew it from personal experience, and he wasn't particularly interested in experimenting with this one. Even if the orb hadn't glowed for anything other than affinities so far, he wasn't about to be the first one to lie and be caught.
"Theodore Hall, sixteen." He tried to say as calmly as possible.
It had been a long time since he had actually said his real name. Abbreviations, sure. Shortenings of it, sure. Only once in the past four years had he uttered or written the full thing.
The figure on his left raised an eyebrow in surprise. Whether that was because he recognized the name or because of the age, Theo didn't know.
The figure with the paper also displayed the same range of emotion.
"Birthplace." The figure on his left stated after a while.
"Felwinter, Hubrias." Theo said.
"Proceed." He said.
Theo nodded and concentrated, pulling a small stream of aether before guiding it along the path until it reached the end of his fingertip. He pushed it past that point, and made it materialize in the world, before pushing it down onto the crystal.
A moment passed with no change in the crystal. Then another.
A bright, pale blue glow suddenly appeared within the crystal. Illuminating the stand the crystal was placed upon.
'Ice.' Theo simply thought in his mind. It was the same affinity as his parents'.
He cut off the stream of aether and let it settle back in his soul before removing his hand from the crystal and looked at the two figures.
Both looked surprised and pleased at the same time, and this time Theo knew why. The Cobalt Academy heavily favored those with the ice and water affinity.
There wasn't any grandiose reason behind it, according to his mom. They simply had way more water and ice affinity beasts than any other type.
The old man that had told him the instructions smiled at him and pointed at the centermost door at the back of the hall. "Your exam will await you within."
Theo nodded and proceeded to walk towards the door. It looked as if it was slightly better maintained than the ones next to it. Or maybe it was just thanks to the fact that not many people really went through there.
Well, he didn't really care enough to make sure which conjecture was the truth and just opened the door before stepping inside.
