8 Get that passing grade...what the

Before Fyren set his pencil on paper, he heard a chortle on his right.

Hm, a chortle, you don't hear that often.

He turned to look at the source of said chortle and his eyes were immediately drawn to a huge afro.

The afro was connected to a tall, lanky body. Other than some other features making up a faint silhouette, Fyren couldn't make out more details due to the shadowy nature of the testing room. He could, however, see their eyes glowing blue slightly and their pen furiously writing.

Come to think of it, Ephekt never said we weren't allowed to use abilities on this part of the test. It is called the Magic Exam for a reason.

I wonder what kind of ability he's using right now… what am I doing? Focus on the test Fyren!

First question… Vectors? Easy.

Fyren quickly scribbled to give himself a visual interpretation and within seconds answered the question.

A groan snapped Fyren's concentration for a second. The noise came from his right this time from a… middle-aged man? The man was massaging his temples as if to will his mind to know the answer.

All sorts of people came to take this test. Nice to see he isn't giving up on his dream. I hope he makes it.

Back to the test.

Alright, question seven: Magician A fires a blast of magic, the blast is reflected by Magician B, assuming Magician A is a Light Feronest, what degree is the feron blast after being reflected?

Hm. Trying to get me with vague wording. What feron type Magician A is doesn't matter, that's just a red herring. This is too easy it's 3rd degree.

Question Eight: Which of these is the Shah not responsible for?

A. Being the head of the OUURG

B. Being the head of the OAMA

C. Resolving power, political, land, and social disputes in the Shah's court

D. Choosing his successor

This is a classic mix-up question. One obvious answer, one borderline right answer, and two answers that I will ultimately end up debating between with only a few letters being the difference. Obviously A.

He chanced a glance behind him at Melfis who didn't seem to be struggling at all. The room was eerily quiet with only the scritch scratch of pencil on paper present. He looked at the middle-aged man on his right and found that he too was breezing through the test.

Focus, Fyren, focus.

"Ten minutes left!" Ephekt announced.

Are you serious? Alright, let's go.

Fyren started to play a song in his head, driving his mind and hand to move faster.

Furious writing filled the room, along with the smell of body odor. Fyren tuned out all his surroundings and blazed through the rest of the test.

He exhaled, finally done.

As he was about to stand up, Ephekt called, "Don't forget the back side. Anyone who doesn't answer all the questions will immediately fail."

Of course there's a back side, as if I'm not already pressed for time.

He flipped his test over and was about to read the question when he felt something brush his shoulder.

Suddenly, the words on the page started to swim.

What's going on? Is this someone's ability or the test itself?

The words flew off the page and floated in front of Fyren. He sat still, slightly in shock but trying to keep his wits about him.

He looked back down at the paper. What was once a completely white paper now looked like a realistic painting of a dirt alley.

Fyren tried to tear his gaze away but when he looked over to his left, he found himself staring at a brick wall.

He turned around and saw more of the same.

Don't panic, there's no point to panicking.

Footsteps approached him, lots of footsteps, people were running.

Fyren barely dodged a stampede of children, running barefoot through the alley, by pressing up against a wall.

After a while, a group of people, mostly older people, ran towards Fyren.

"Hey, son, have you seen a herd of despicables run through here?"

Despicables? Those people with abilities that are way too dangerous.

"I saw some kids, were they the despicables you were talking about?"

"Those despicables ain't even human, Cynian, Vampire, Elect, or any other race! They're despicables through and through. Too dangerous to be left alive if you ask me!"

"I think that's a little too extreme," Fyren replied, accepting the situation.

"Now listen here you! You're on our turf in our town, where'd you even come from anyway?"

"You'll never believe me if I told you."

"Oh really? Try us."

"Well, I'm actually the Shah and I teleported myself here from the Shah's tower."

They all laughed.

"Told you," Fyren shrugged.

"Anyways, you fibber, we decide the rules here and we're going to lock those kids up!"

Another group of people ran into the scene.

"Hold it there! What do you think you're going to do to those kids?"

"Obviously lock all those good-for-nothings up!" The townspeople said.

"Not on our watch! Those kids haven't done anything wrong!"

"Like we told this kid here, our town, our rules!"

"Well, we're from this town too, and we say to let those kids go."

Should I intervene? Nah, this is kind of fun to watch.

"Then how about we let this kid decide what we should do."

"Sounds good to us," the newcomers stared expectantly at Fyren, "Those kids haven't done anything wrong, how could you let them be locked up?"

Oh boy, my spectator status is gone just like that. Fyren sighed, "Alright, I don't even know all the particulars of this situation, how am I qualified to make a decision?"

"We need someone to break the tie!"

"Then one group won't be satisfied and well be back at square one, besides I'm some stupid sixteen year-old child at the height of his hormonal years who just dropped out of nowhere. I couldn't care less about what happens here. You guys can debate amongst yourselves, but anyway you slice it, those kids are already long gone."

The townsfolk looked a little confused and taken aback.

"Well, I guess you're right."

They continued to grumble amongst themselves in a surprised tone.

Alright, I'm out.

Fyren stuck out his tongue and bent forward. He tasted paper and after a brief falling sensation, opened his eyes to the exam paper in front of him, just as he had left it earlier.

Well, that was weird, but I knew I could taste stale air.

"Time's up!"

Some people groaned while others let out a collective breath of relief.

"Come up and turn your tests in to me please in a single file line!"

Fyren stood up and stretched his legs before descending the steps on the sides of the rows to Ephekt. Melfis fell in behind him.

"So, Fy-guy, how'd you do?"

"I won't know until they review it, there's no point in worrying about it now."

"That's my Fy-guy!"

"What about you?"

"Easy peasy… since I had you to cheat off of."

"You're welcome."

They handed their tests to Ephekt and walked through a hallway similar to the one before.

By the time they got back to the lobby, a huge screen dropped down from the ceiling with a list of names on it.

Ephekt emerged from the hallway, "Ok, test-goers, if your name is up on that screen that means you've passed the first part of the preliminaries."

There was a low hum of nervous chatter as everyone looked up anxiously to see if their name was up there.

After a few moments, cries of excitement and despair alike rose up from the crowd.

"Congratulations to those who made it, and my condolences to those who didn't. Please work hard and try again next semester, I will eagerly be awaiting your return."

The majority of people left the lobby and once the last of them trickled out, Ephekt cleared his throat to speak, "Everyone here, there are ten minutes until the next part, get changed into something easy to move around in quickly!"