1 Chapter 1 - The entrance test

Today has finally come. Rahvin looked around trying to look at everything at the same time without missing anything. Rahvin, a youth with brown hair almost dark enough to be called black if observed in bad light, with his average height and build was trying to stand still tough the excitement were threatening to force his legs to move. The bridge Rahvin was standing on was really crammed with people waiting to be accepted into the famous city's second tier, the Guardian district.

He was still on the far side of the bridge that had its start in the Servant district. It was hard to see over the masses on the bridge. 'What was taking such a long time?' While waiting to get closer to be able to get a better look Rahvin peered around at the city district behind him. Even though Rahvin wasn't in any way unfamiliar with cities, he had grown up in a city after all, no city was as spectacular as Th'al xin. Rahvin had never seen a city this beautiful and thus far he had only seen the Servant district, the most mundane part of the city if you were to believe the rumors.

The huge city was divided into three districts. The core of the city were the Si'an district, surrounding the Si'an district where the Guardian district, and surrounding the Guardian district were the Servant district.

The houses that Rahvin saw around the plaza that connected the bridge to the Servant district could have easily belonged to a wealthy merchant or lesser noble in the city Rahvin had grown up. Alternating between three and four floors, built by what seemed to be master stonemasons. The entire way passing through the district hade not shown a single building small enough to belong to someone claiming to be a servant. The bridge was by it self a marvel to see, 50 meters long built by stone that almost seemed to be 1 single arching block. You had to really look close to find any edges where 2 stones met.

Snapping out of his daydreaming about the wondrous city Rahvin realized that he was almost at the other end of the bridge. Looking up at the sun he was surprised to find that he'd only been standing in line on the bridge for about 40 minutes. There were only 5 more meters before standing at the entrance where Guardians where checking that every one that wanted to enter their district had the paperwork for it.

Rahvin had finally 2 months ago managed to get his paperwork. His teacher had finally deemed Rahvin ready to go and train with the Guardians even though he managed to fulfill the requirements more than a year ago. Just as everyone else Rahvin had practiced manifesting his magical power and becoming Sen-di. Everyone was more or less able to become a Sen-di and manifest something, though most were really weak or unable to manifest their power fast enough to make it useful. Those who could manifest power within 30 seconds on consistent basis could get a letter of proof from their teacher and come to the Guardian district and train with the fabled Guardians. Rahvin had wanted to come last year for the accepting ceremony but his teacher had refused to write the letter because he thought Rahvin to be to young to go and train with the Guardians at 16 years of age. Since then Rahvin had practiced a lot more and worked hard to show his teacher that he was ready. He was now abel to manifest his power consistently in under 7 seconds. An impressive feet for sure and what had finally convinced his teacher to send Rahvin to take the accepting tests this year and not next year like his teacher had wanted.

Rahvin was now first in line before entering the high gates leading into the Guardians district. This close to the gate the big mass of people was divided into four lines and at the end of each line a single Guardian was checking letters of proof and letting people in to the district. The Guardian in charge of Rahvin's line reached her hand forward to receive the letter from him. Rahvin gave her the letter while looking at her trying not to stare. 'She is impressive!' She was the only thing between the huge mass trying to get in to the district and the district itself. Her armored figure and youthful face showed nothing but patience, as if the hundreds of people behind Rahvin all decided to push for the gate she and her three colleagues would have no problems holding them back even though they were unarmed and outnumbered by at least 500 to 1.

'That's a Guardian for you', thought Rahvin as he got his document back and was given a ticket with a letter and a digit on it. It said Q-5. The Guardian let Rahvin pass and said: "Go to test-area Q. You will be tested in group 5. The test starts in two hours and seven minutes, good luck!".

Rahvin was brimming with excitement. 'Now I only need to find the test-area in time without getting lost'. As Rahvin went through the huge gate, it must be at least 20 meters high, he got his first impression of the Guardian district. The plaza he was entering was huge and there were people everywhere. Even more on this side of the wall than the other side in the Servant district. The plaza were buzzing with activity. On the left side there were a lot of different stands, merchants selling their goods. Everything from vegetables and baskets to scarfs and what smelled like really delicious food. In the center of the plaza was a huge statue of a Guardian standing proud, saluting with his right hand to his chest and his left behind his back as was the customary salutation among the Guardians. Everything in this city seemed to be gigantic, the sword hanging on the statues hip must be at least 4 meters tall and the statue looked to have been made from gleaming white marble.

It was easy to figure out which people were here for the test and which worked or lived here. There where a lot of people around that must look very similar to how Rahvin look, big eyed marveling at everything around them. There were the merchants and other people from the Servant district buzzing around, working, and then there were the Guardians easily spotted for their determined steps and air of confidence, like they could conquer the world.

Following the flow of people, that was leading to the left side of the place, Rahvin found himself close to where the merchants were selling their wares. He found himself gravitating towards the stands selling hot food. It was almost noon and Rahvin hadn't eaten anything since before he left the campsite he had been sleeping in early this morning. He quickly found a stand that were selling meat pies that smelled heavenly. He hadn't eaten any fresh meat in over a month, the time it had taken him to get from his hometown to Th'al xin.

"One meat-pie thanks!"

"Here you go, that will be 5 coppers." said the woman selling the pies. Rahvin quickly fished up 5 coppers from his pouch and took the meat-pie. 'It's a perfect day for a meat-pie', Rahvin thought, 'the sun is shining, I'm in Th'al xin, life can't get much sweeter'. Rahvin looked around for a good place to sit and enjoy his steamingly hot meat-pie.

As he looked around he saw some kind of commotion near the statue. People were gathering around to watch something. 'Well, I might as well get some entertainment while I eat'. Rahvin moved towards the mass of people gathering in something that could be best described as some kind of semi-circle around whatever was happening in front of the statue. Rahvin being of average height could not really see that well from behind the masses. He asked a tall man in his middle years standing in front of him to the right.

"What's happening over there?"

The man turned his head briefly and answered with excitement in his voice, "Two Guardians is having a duel". Now this was something that Rahvin couldn't miss! He looked around and realized that the semi-circle ended at the railing in front of the statue. As he approached the railing he realized it almost was as high as himself. Rahvin had never been afraid of high places and had good balance to boot. Therefore he took his backpack of his back, put the meat-pie inside as carefully he could manage and put it on his back again. With that he started climbing the railing. Once on top he unsteadily balanced on the railing that was about as thick as his wrist and walked a few meters so that he was centered in the middle of the semi-circle, a perfect view of the duel. He quickly sat down wobbling a little while doing so, and retrieved his meat-pie from his backpack. Now having a perfect view of the duel and his meat-pie in hand he started gobbling it down.

In the middle of the semicircle there where 2 Guardians fighting, one was a dark hued woman with her brown hair in a braid falling down on her left shoulder. Wearing no armor and carrying no weapons she had a brown vest and brown baggy trousers. She were fighting with her fist. Her opponent a short man with blond hair cut into a bowl-cut well above his eyes were wielding a one and a half hand sword. Both of them lean, very well trained and muscular. The woman where still almost a head taller than the man even though she where no more than 1.7m tall at most.

The man moved forward with exceptional speed and attacked with his sword falling downwards towards the womans face. The woman raised her right arm as if to protect herself from the falling sword, not quick enough to dodge the small mans attack it seemed. Rahvin wanted to look away, he had come here to look at a duel between 2 of the fabled Guardians not a slaughter. Oddly he could not look away. Transfixed of what seemed to be the ending moments for the woman he stared in horror as the sword moved towards her face in what looked like a killing blow.

The sword and the woman's arm connected and instead of her arm being cut below the elbow and the sword crashing in to her face, the sword stopped dead in its track on the woman's arm. Rahvin's jaw dropped, this woman had just parried a sword with her arm without even a scratch. The swordsman tried to back out of range but now the woman was so quick it was hard for Rahvin to follow with his eyes. She took one step forward just as the man was starting to back out and punched him strait in the stomach with her left hand, the right arm still keeping the sword away from her face and neck. The punch threw the man back 5 meters but strangely he landed on his feet with his guard up.

Rahvin was trying to understand what he had just witnessed. The woman had from the looks of it used her powers to reinforce her skin to make it hard as steel, making yourself sturdier with the power was something he seen people in his city do but making yourself hard enough to parry a sword was unbelievable. She had then proceeded with enhancing her body's speed for the punch. She seemed to only be able to use one power at a time since she had been so slow when defending comparing to when she attacked. She must be a Sen-di tought Rahvin. Sen-di, the description of someone that can manifest one power at a time and can use the power to affect themselves only. This was the most common of all people, but she was obviously very skilled and powerful, a top-tier Sen-di. The man on the other hand was harder to determine what rank he had without more observation. Somethings regarding magic was commonly known by all; such as the tiers of power and what you could affect. Other things like weaves and spells were another story completely. A family might know one weave and the parents might teach it to their children. Or like in Rahvin's case he had learnt the spell he was going to use today from his teacher. But what the mythical Guardians were able to do was not commonly known. Well maybe if you lived in Th'al xin, but for Rahvin he was seeing tales and myths coming to life.

Focusing on the fight again Rahvin took one more bite of his meat pie. The woman was on the offensive and where throwing a flurry of blows, she was obviously extremely good in martial arts, much better than her opponent. Tough he had the advantage of range with his sword she mitigated that advantage by not allowing the distance between them to become big enough for him to use it to his advantage. As Rahvin continued watching the women's furious assault which the man barely managed to block with his sword, Rahvin realized that the man must be Sen-ban, he were blocking the punches from the woman with great effort using his sword, communicating that he was not enchanting his own speed which would be the obvious choice to do if he could use more then one power. Everytime the sword and the woman's fists where clashing it was as if a small shockwave was generating and it almost sounded as metal meeting metal. If the woman's skin was hard as steel and that sword kept blocking those punches without becoming chipped or breaking, that meant he was strengthening his sword with his powers. Sen-ban meant he could manifest one power at a time but use it on both himself or things that he was touching.

The woman got a grip on the man's sleeve and threw him hard to the ground pinning him with this sword arm up behind his back. This match was clearly over. 'Guardians are indeed extremely impressive, to think you could make your skin as hard as steel if you were as strong as a Guardian, I'm going to learn that' thought Rahvin.

"You owe me 4 rounds of beer I believe, that was the bet right?" the woman Guardian teased the defeated Guardian while helping him up.

"Yes yes, i'll take the first 4 rounds tonight Kaila" grumbled the man. As they were making the exit the mass around them were starting to dissipate and Rahvin was just about finished with his delicious meat pie. 'This is the best I have eaten since I left home 2 months ago' thought Rahvin as he ate the last piece of the pie and thoroughly licking his fingers not letting any of the delicious fatty meat sauce escape.

Not hungry anymore and the entertainment gone it was time to find test-area Q. Taking a look around before jumping down from the railing Rahvin found 2 big streets on the opposite side of the plaza from where he had entered the gate. Moving diagonally through the city the one to the left and the other to the right both going straight.

"Left or right, left or right, where is test-area Q" Rahvin mumbled to himself as he was moving across the plaza towards both the streets. Both of the streets connecting to the plaza at the same place merging just before they entered the plaza. 'Left feels right', thought Rahvin taking the left street not able to make any more distinction between them then their orientation.

The street he entered where huge and buzzing with people, it was about 25 meters wide at least according to Rahvin's estimate. Walking down the street looking at all the people he passed and all the stores that lined the road Rahvin soon came upon a plaza, smaller than the one he just visited but still pretty large. The road passed through on the outskirt of the plaza, or more precisely to the right side of the road, towards the center of the city the row of buildings ceased for about 30 meters and the plaza open up.

In the center of the plaza there where a big square lined with ropes to prevent anyone from wandering in to the square and on the far side of the square there were a small pavilion raised where 5 Guardians were sitting and observing the people inside the square. On the wooden roof of the pavilion it said with a huge letter N. 'This must be test-area N then' Rahvin thought.

Interested in what was going on in the square Rahvin wanted to stay and take a look but unfortunately there were no more time for dragging his feet. He needed to find test area Q and time was running out. He had spent way to much time looking at the fight and eating and now he was kind of in a hurry. Regretfully he continued down the streets walking at a quick pace.

This city was huge, walking along the streets it took about 15 more minutes before the next plaza appeared. This plaza were exactly the same as the last one and on the pavilion in the center there were the letter O on the front of the roof. With a sigh of relief Rahvin was now sure he was moving in the right direction and the choice of taking the left road had been a correct one. Backtracking and taking the other road would have been extremely tight even if he had run the entire way. Continuing on the road he came a across an equally big road passing the road he was walking on going diagonally across.

Rahvin saw no reason to change road and so he continued and pretty soon passed the plaza with test-area P. After about 1 hour after he started his journey on this road he had arrived at the 4:th plaza.

On the Pavilion in the center there were the letter Q. 'Perfect!' he had made it, he probably had about 15 more minutes before the test started, barely enough time to get something to drink and calm his nerves. There where a lot of people everywhere on this plaza, enough in fact to make it feel crowded regardless of its size. Just like on all the other testing-areas that he had passed there were a lot of spectators. Unlike the other places though, none of the people that were here to be tested had yet to be accepted or failed since the test hadn't started yet so needless to say, it was packed.

Rahvin found a small drinking fountain to the right on the edge of the plaza and stood in line to get some water and refill his wooden bottle he used for water. The fat man in front of him was drinking like his life was depending on it and he was sweating like he had run a marathon. He was probably about 10 years older than Rahvin and had on brown pants and a brown shirt. But the sweat stain under his armpits and around his neck had extended so far that the shirt almost look black with brown patches sewn in to it. Rahvin was getting more and more impatient, was this man trying to empty the entire water reserve under the city? 'Obviously that is impossible, there are tons of rivers all across the land around the city so it will just keep on refilling. But if we stopped that flow, i'm sure this man would succeed in this quest' Rahvin thought bitterly to himself. Finally the man was straightening and moving away from the drinking fountain. Rahvin quickly took a few mouthfuls and filled his water bottle and hurried towards the test-area.

There were approximately seventy people standing at the entrance to the testing platform. The entire right side of the platform was filled with people. Rahvin took a place at the back of the crowd closest to the pavilion. The amount of people that were gathering was increasing by the minute, and not only on the right side where all the people that were going to be tested was standing. As the minutes passed slowly and Rahvin was getting more and more nervous there where people packing up behind him. Rahvin hadn't been nervous at all when leaving his city, he hadn't been nervous when he enteréd the city, but the amount of people around the testing-platform where getting to him. Sure he was quick to manifest his power, but it wasn't really that quick if you compared the Guardians from the fight before. What if it was that kind of speed that was expected. Another thing that was bothering him was that he only knew one weave and it really wasn't amazing at all. He could make his skin glow, in different colors. It was a fun little trick and could be handy when it was dark but common, he had just seen a woman block a sword with her bare arm. He was slowly working himself up to a full blown panic, what was he doing here? He were not powerful and awesome enough to be a Guardian. Sure, he was known by his friends back at home to be brave and to some extent reckless. Panicking like this was not something Rahvin was used to. He had dreamed of this his entire life and the prospect of failing here were so scary, scarier than anything he ever faced before, what was jumping between the 4 stories high rooftops of the school back at home compared to failing at his lifelong dream?

A young woman, beside him tapped him on the shoulder.

"Are you alright?" the woman asked him. Rahvin looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?" asked Rahvin?

"You were panting and had a face of someone who just saw his last cow dry up." the woman responded. Rahvin hadn't noticed that he had been breathing very heavy, on the verge of hyperventilating.

"I was just… eeh…" Frantically trying to come up with a good excuse Rahvin didn't want to look like a fool. Slowly getting a grip on himself he turned and said

"Anyways, thanks for your concern!"

"You're welcome!" she responded. Finally calm enough and now turned towards her he finally saw her for the first time. She was an young woman, maybe 2 years older than Rahvin, she was blonde with brown eyes, athletically built, about the same height as Rahvin. Rahvin's face reddened slightly as he became a bit more embarrassed. This girl was cute! And he had been standing there hyperventilating like some hillbilly panicking first time seeing a crowd.

"Your first try?" she asked.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yupp, me too! I'm Thea by the way!" she reached out a hand as she introduced herself.

"I'm Rahvin, nice to meet you!" Rahvin took her hand and was surprised to find a really firm grip, not painful, but almost. He gave her a firm shake back and he was just about to ask if she was nervous when a loud voice from the pavilions caught everyone's attention.

A Guardian in his middle years stood inside the pavilion, a bit of gray at his temples but looking at him he was fit enough for everyone to realise this man was in his golden years yet. The graying at his temples meant he was at an considerable age, Guardians aged A LOT slower than usual people. With a firm and confident voice the Guardian started to give instructions.

"Everyone here for the test, take out your test-ticket and be ready to present it to the Guardian at the entrance to the testing-area. You will be given a cloth with a number on it which you are suppose to fasten on your chest on your shirt. Then lineup orderly according to your number inside the testing area at the stairs to the testing platform. The five people will be allowed up to the testing-platform at a time, on command you will show us your talent by manifesting your powers as quickly as possible and weave your spells. You will have 1 minute to impress us. We will call the numbers of those who have made it, they will take the exit on the opposite side of testing area, closest to the pavilion. Those whose number aren't called take the exit at the opposite side from the entrance but at the back of the testing area and are free to leave.

His voice wasn't booming, neither were it hard to hear was he was saying. And he was talking in what seemed like a normal voice. He could be heard well all across the plaza. It was obvious that he was using some kind of magic to enhance his voice in someway. Tough Rahvin couldn't figure out how that worked.

The crowd started to push forward, there were at least a hundred people in this mass trying to get in to the test-area. Even tough Rahvin and Thea had come to the testing-area pretty late there were now a lot of people behind them and because they were standing pretty close to the pavilion and the entrénce to the testing-area they were soon at the entrance and showed their tickets to the Guardian there. Thea's sign had the number 24 on it and Rahvin got 25, they would be in the same group up on the testing-platform. While moving towards the stairs at the back of the platform to get in line Thea pinned her numbed sign on to her white wool tunic that ended just below her hips, the tunic was squeezed tightly around her midriff by a brown belt and it was covering the top part of her tight brown leather pants.

Rahvin pinned his sign on to his brown wool tunic which was also had a belt that kept his tunic in place though it was black. His tunic was not as long as Thea's tough so it did not cover more than a few centimeters of the top of his light gray linen trousers.

It was getting crowded inside the test-area now and almost everyone in that had crowded outside that was going to do the test had come inside.

There were easily four-five hundred people in the plaza that where there to spectate the test. Rahvin realized that inside the testing-area you were standing too close to the platform and could not see what happend up on what felt like a stage. The people outside tough had perfect view of it, high enough so that everyone, even those in the back could see but not to high so that those closest would have an issue. Unless of course if you were inside waiting for your turn, then you would see almost nothing.

The Guardian in the pavilion that had spoken before was standing at one end of the long table in the pavilion.

"The first group up on stage!" he said and the sat down at the table where his 4 Guardian colleagues were already sitting.

The first five that was waiting to go up on the platform walked up the stairs and took their places on the platform.

"Begin!"

There were about a minute of silence from the stage, of course it was hard to tell that it was silent on stage because there were alot of ooo's and aaa's from the audience. Children pointing at on of the people on the platform whilst telling their parents "Look look!", "Amazing!" and so on. Of course Rahvin couldn't see anything of what happened up on the stage and where left to live in ignorance of what transpired whilst battling with his nerves. After that minute there was about a minute of wait and then the Guardian called out:

"Number 1!"

That was followed with applause and after that the Guardians voice said:

"Next!"

The next group of five went up the stairs.

"Begin!"

The process repeated it self but this time there came no calling of a number.

"Next!"

Rahvin felt panic gripping him, only one in 10 so far.

"Begin!" Trying to cool his nerves Rahvin forced himself to find something else to do, anything beside thinking about what happened up on the platform since he couldn't see anyway. He tried to initiate some talk with Thea.

"Sooo…. Thea, have you traveled far to get to the tests in Th'al xin?" Thea were stretching her arms seaming to prepare for the coming test.

"My home is just a few villages away, so not very far. I started my journey yesterday. How about you?"

"I have traveled for about a month to come here. I'm from the City Seika." Rahvin responded while pondering this enigma of a girl he just met. 'She didn't look like a farm girl, and she didn't behave like a farm girl in a city. Very interesting indeed.'

"Number three and number four!" Big applause and some shers came from the audience again as the Guardian continued: "Next!".

The next five people went up on the stage and now Rahvin and Thea together with the three people in front of them were at the stairs. Rahvin could just barely see up on the stage from where he stood. But because they now were standing abit away from the platform at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the platform Rahvin could see the last guy that had gone up on the platform, the guy with the number 20 on his breast. He was a real strange man, he looked to be in his late 20's with disheveled thick slightly curly white hair that just covered his ears. He had a blue tunic and white trousers with a small brown leather pouch hanging at his waist.

"Begin!"

The number 20 guy retrieved small sticks of wood from his pouch and then focused. His hands that were wrapped around a few sticks each and his right hand started to glow slightly red after 23 seconds and soon thereafter the sticks he was holding in that hand caught fire. This guy was making his hands warm burn wood, a lot cooler ability then Rahvin had if you asked him. 'It actually could be used in combat as opposed to mine'. Rahvin thought bitterly. Exactly 23 seconds after his right hand went red his left hand started to glow instead and he second stack of sticks started to charr and slowly caught fire.

"Number 20!", the Guardian said followed by big applause from the crowd. The number 20 guy as Rahvin thought of him moved from his view and a few seconds later the next call came.

"Next!"

"Good luck!" Rahvin murmured as he started up the stairs. Thea turned her head and smiled at him.

"Good luck to you too!" she said in an excited voice.

Once up on the platform there were 5 spots marked on the floor in a line directly in front of the long table on the pavilion. Rahvin took his place furthest to the right. They were lined up in number sequence from 21 to 25, left to right. Once on the marked spot the Guardian said:

"Begin!"

Rahvin thew all thoughts aside, nervousness with it. Emotions and though were not something you could hold on too if you were to manifest magical power. He focused and felt himself reaching Sen and manifesting his first power source after 8 seconds. It was called reaching Sen when you manifested your first power source because while doing so you also reached a state of serene calm. Now in Sen he was perfectly calm and now focused on the task at hand. He spun the weave that would make his desired body-parts glow. He lay his weave on his outstretched left hand. And it started to glow in yellow light. It was not a feint light but out in the sun it was barely visible. That was a bad choice Rahvin pondered while seeking a new power source.

It's not like you discharged your calm mental state while making the weave for the spell, that's not why you needed to seek the power again every time. It was more like you gathered the power that was needed for making the spell and then consumed it while weaving the spell. Even though that was not entirely true either. You continued providing power to the spell as long as you held the weave. But as soon as you weaved the power manifestation in to a spell, it was set and could not be reformed in to another spell. This way you needed to manifest a new power source if you wanted to do something different. Once you manifested a new power source you had to choose if you wanted to maintain your current weave and lose your grip of the second power source you manifested or release the first weave and focus on creating the new weave. Well at least if you were a Sen-mage. If you were a Tiann-mage then you could form and maintain two power sources. What the Tiann-mages did was quite amazing, it was a bit like thinking about two things at the same time. For those who had the potential it was very hard to access this power because of that mental challenge. The mental challenge was of course only one part of it, the other part being that you needed to be able to actually manifest two powers parallel to begin with. Much like the fact that you can't lift two separate things in two different directions unless you are actually born with two hands. There were of course mages that could manifest even more power sources in parallel than Tiann-mages. But the more parallel power sources the more scarce the ability.

After 6 seconds Rahvin manifested a new power source and now lay a weave on his right hand while releasing his old weave. This time he made his hand glow green. This was much more visible and he heard the audience make sounds in the background in response. Not finished he started to manifest a new power source for his third spell. While doing this he cast a glance to his left to see how Thea was doing. She was currently arching her back backwards looping her torso in between her legs and were spinning her torso around her right leg and up in between her leg again making herself in to a horrifically twisted human knot. It was like her entire upper body were made out of jelly or something.

7 seconds later Rahvin had gathered a new power source and where now weaving that in to a spell to make his head glow red. He continued weaving spells with about a 7 second interval to make his body parts light up in different colors until a Guardian woman in the middle seat at the long judging table in the pavilion raised her hand to signalize the minute mark. The Guardians spoke to each other in inaudible voices. Due to the distance from the Pavilion and the sound from all the people in the plaza it was impossible to hear what they were saying without them using the voice enhancement spell that the male Guardian had used previously.

After a little while they seemed to have reached consensus and the male Guardian that had announced everything until this point spoke:

"Number 22…" Rahvin's heart sank, until this point only once had two people been called in the same group, the odds were not looking good.

"... number 24" Rahvin felt his dreams being crushed in one fell swoop, with just a few words the Guardian had robbed him of his lifelong dream. His number, 25 had not been called. He would have to go back to his master and try to learn better spells that could impress the Guardians and come back next year. The shame came over him when he thought about going back after arrogantly boasting to all his friends that he would become a Guardian this year. Sadness, shame and the feeling of a crushed heart all welled up in him in a mixture of emotions he fought to control in his exposed position on the platform.

"and number 25!" the Guardian finished.