7 Infuriating busride

"Welcome listeners to our morning magic news! On today's program, we have some news that will sweep the nation! It seems that the man behind the terrorist attacks has been caught! This and more with Bif and Chip coming up in five minutes at eight o'clock."

Five minutes… until eight o'clock.

"Shoot I'm going to be late!"

Fyren leapt out of bed, smashing his fist on the radio to turn it off. Luckily it was made of durable magic metal or else it might have been smashed to pieces.

He scrambled to get dressed, making sure he put his pants and shirt on correctly the first time. He grabbed his tie and his bag with everything he needed for the exam.

Time for Fizzy? No. Wait, but there might be.

He checked his watch…

Never mind, no time.

He sprinted down the empty hallways, trying to tie his tie as he ran.

Maybe I should just skip the prelims… it's not like I'll pass. Nah, I'm not going to chicken out of this. May as well go so I can skip school and find out what goes on there for next year.

Continuing to run, he came upon the busses in the parking lot. To his luck, they were still loading students.

Fyren came to a stop at the back of the line, panting.

Where did Melfis go? Did she stay? Who am I kidding, this is Melfis.

When he got on the bus, he looked around, but didn't see her. Maybe she's on a different bus.

He sat close to the back, ready to sleep when the bus driver announced, "Alrighty students, we're nearing the warp gate to Fransangelos, buckle your seatbelts."

Fransangelos, that's fun to say.

All the students looked out the windows as the busses approached a portal station.

A man in a guard's uniform with a cross insignia on his chest came up to the window of the bus.

"Good morning sir, may I ask what business you have here?"

The bus driver flashed his badge with the O and L, "We're on our way to the preliminaries in Fransangelos."

The guard checked his clipboard, then held up a communication cube, "Coming through," he turned back to the bus, "You're good to go. Good luck kids."

What was a tunnel entrance in front of them started to glow bright white. The display above the tunnel flashed and changed to say "Fransangelos, Corduo."

"Ok, kids, make sure your windows are closed!"

They were engulfed in a bright light and before Fyren knew it they were on the road again.

It wasn't even five minutes before a huge stadium came into sight and the students started to shout in excitement.

Fyren groaned, realizing he wasn't going to get any more sleep.

Someone started playing some kind of annoying, upbeat, pop music and everyone started singing and dancing in anticipation. Fyren wished Mr. Alnald was chaperoning the bus, then all he would have to do is flex and that would shut everyone up.

Maybe I should've stayed at school after all.

After what seemed like an eternity of obnoxiously loud music (if you could call it music), they were allowed to get off the bus.

Fyren stood up but couldn't get out of his aisle since all the students sitting in the rows behind him cut him off to be with their friends.

I can't believe I actually wish Melfis was here. I forgot what it was like without her giving me a presence.

Fyren had to stick his foot into the bus door so he wasn't left on the bus. He thanked the bus driver and departed.

Before him stood a huge, donut-shaped stadium. He could see the reflection of the city behind him on the surface.

He breathed in his first deep breath of outside air. Ah, authentic Corduo air… kinda underwhelming, but to be fair it is the city after all.

After that brief moment, he hurried into the lobby to the back of the student crowd.

A tall man with slicked-back black hair stood in front of the crowd. He had a strange look about him, almost like he was in constant pain, grimacing.

Must be a side effect of his ability, I've heard there are abilities that cause their feronests pain.

"Good morning students, my name is Ephekt, I hope you're all ready to make the first step toward becoming the future of the Five Realms," despite his appearance, he sounded pretty enthusiastic. Fyren found something admirable about that.

"Ephekt? Were you named after that Shah's Pillar guy who died a couple of years ago?" Some nosy student asked.

Ephekt gave a weary smile, "It's not my birth name, but since I knew the man personally, I feel a sense of loyalty to him, and adopting his name is definitely a way to build ethos for credibility with anybody."

He looked over the crowd before speaking again, "First, please form a line and turn in your forms at the front desk."

I didn't forget my form, did I?

Fyren searched in his bag and found that, in fact, he did forget his form.

Alright, don't panic, they probably have forms here. Why are they even using physical forms, that's pretty outdated.

He took a deep breath and acted as confidently as he could until he got to the front desk.

An old lady in glasses with white hair gave him a wry look, "Papers please."

"Yeah, do you have any extra forms here?"

She sighed and slowly (and I mean very slowly) reached into a drawer and pulled out another form. Fyren took it and filled it out quickly as to not draw any attention to himself by slowing down the line.

Name? Fyren Torr. Age? Sixteen. Gender? male. Kingdom/country of residence? Animatres. Height? six feet. Weight? two-hundred pounds. Physical abnormalities? Corrective lenses. Magical abnormalities? None. Requested division preliminary tests? Internal Protocols.

He looked it over one last time and filled in some other minor details before handing it back to the lady.

That didn't take as long as I thought.

Fyren looked around for Melfis, just like earlier, he didn't see her anywhere.

Is she in the bathroom?

He sat on the side of a planter to wait. Just as he looked up and caught a glimpse of Melfis' characteristic hairstyle, Ephekt called out to the students.

"Alright students, since everyone is done turning in their forms. Then it is time for the written test, please follow me."

Ephekt led them down a dark corridor lit with dim lights spaced far apart which left the students in almost complete darkness for a couple of minutes.

After some time, they emerged into a very large classroom with lecture hall-style desks and chairs.

"Please find your seats."

Fyren found the perfect seat, not too close to the back where all the troublemakers and suspicious students sat and not too close to the front where the opposite end of the spectrum sat, but not directly in the middle.

Upon sitting down, he felt someone tap his shoulder. I wonder who here would do that…it's obviously Melfis.

He turned around to see a familiar grinning face.

"Don't be mad, but I'll be cheating off you."

"Sure, I'm so incensed I'll cause a scene… do whatever you want."

A paper magically appeared in front of Fyren. This is it, let's see what the preliminaries have to offer.

"Just a reminder that none of you will know the time limit of this test. Anyone who doesn't at least get fifty percent won't even get to showcase their skills in the next test, so do whatever you can to pass. And with that, let the test begin!"