Becoming an Apprentice (1)

"You will be taking your Apprentice test tomorrow." Master Hogan says as our lesson comes to an end.

"What?" I say, caught off guard. This is the first I am hearing of any test.

"You've completed the Student curriculum, and to the best of my knowledge you've mastered to a reasonable extent most of the skills within, correct?"

I hesitate for a moment before nodding. What he said was true, after learning how to manipulate my Uua and use noers, I found it easy to grasp most of the things I had been taught. Most likely because they are all Laen 'basic knowledge'. Apart from that, I made it a point to practice every day. Even during my time in the Lands of Time I never forgot to practice, mostly because of Drew's explanation of the way cores work. According to him cores are like muscles, the more you work them out, the stronger you get and who doesn't want to get stronger. Most of the skills are second nature to me now, well, all except telekinesis. It is easy enough to learn, but using it with any bit of skill requires quite a bit of practice. Still, I could use it reasonably well.

Master Hogan nods as if he had expected such an answer. He holds out his two hands and asks. "Which hand is covered with energy?" he asks.

I close my eyes for a second as I activate the second-sight noer. When I open my eyes again the world has changed, colors are brighter, objects are sharper, and everywhere is a strange multicolored mist I had come to know as the Eani, the world's natural magic. I look at Master Hogan. He looks quite different through second sight, more dignified than normal, his body exuding a soft glow that hides the raging power within him. The most conspicuous thing about him is the glowing noer on his forehead, a mark every Laen has. I look at his hands and notice that the left one is covered with flame-like red energy. I blink and the world returns to normal.

"The left one," I say and he nods. For some reason, he seems to think that I'll have problems using second sight. I still remember the slightly confounded look he had on his face the first time he taught me second-sight. I had grasped it within twenty minutes and he had done something similar to what he had just done now. He held out two hands and asked which one was different. The expression had appeared when I had gotten the correct hand. He repeated the test many times but the result was the same, I could use second-sight. I can only assume the reason he was so surprised is that others find it hard to use second sight. As for why I found it so easy, it might have to do with my potential, who knows?

"You are ready for the exams so don't worry too much about it." He says reassuringly. Although he is a bit strict, Master Hogan can be a bit nice sometimes, like now for instance.

A slow clap sounds, startling me. I turn around to see Grand Master Zarel, a glowing orb floating above his head, standing behind me. The Master who had wanted to wipe my memories when I first came to the Metorium only to be stopped by the Eldest.

"Grand Master Zarel," Master Hogan greets, bowing slightly to the Master. Grand Master Zarel barely nods at him, his cold glowing eyes never leaving me as I stand and greet.

"This is a wonderful thing isn't it?" he says sarcastically. "The genius Ian is ready for his Apprentice exam. How thrilling." His voice is practically dripping with venom by the end. I can feel a fearsome aura from him, pressing down on me as I stand, slightly terrified.

Suddenly the pressure is gone as he turns to Master Hogan. "Call me when he is about to start his exams tomorrow. I would like to watch."

Master Hogan nods respectfully. "I will."

He shoots me one more cold glance before turning around and walking out of the classroom. I stare at his retreating back as my heart pounds loudly. What on earth did I do to piss him off? Oh crap, I think, he is going to be watching me tomorrow. What if he doesn't like my performance and prevents me from becoming an Apprentice?

All of a sudden I am filled with apprehension at my coming exam. I am going to have to do really well in my exam tomorrow.

With Grand Master Zarel gone, Master Hogan explains to me how the exam is going to be held.

* * * * * *

I wake up early the next morning and start the day by purifying my Uua. It made it easier for me to use noer whenever my Uua had been purified as I usually needed less Uua to achieve whatever effect I need. After about thirty minutes I am done. I stand up and do a bit of stretching before going to take my bath. The test is by two so I have quite some time to go before I leave for the Metorium.

After my bath, I stand in the middle of my room naked as I decide to try something I have been doing ever since I learned telekinesis. That is, dressing without using any of my limbs. As I stand my wardrobe opens and clothes fly out and begin revolving around me. After a few seconds, I pick what I want to wear and lead the rest back to the wardrobe before closing it. I raise my arms and my shirt maneuvers itself before pulling itself over me. Around twenty minutes later I am fully dressed and smiling smugly at myself.

When I had first tried dressing myself using telekinesis, I had failed miserably, my clothes unable to do anything except jolt strangely around me. Now after numerous tries, I can finally do it almost seamlessly.

I hold out my hand and my phone flies into it. I check the time before sending the phone back to my bed. After that, I use telekinesis to clean up my room. Before leaving my room to do my chores. After an hour I am done and head to the kitchen to eat my breakfast. My mom had gone to work earlier so I don't expect to see her.

I take my breakfast alone. Emily is asleep - she usually gets up late during the holidays. She comes down just as I finish my breakfast.

"Good morning." she greets.

"Good morning."

She looks like she just got out of bed, her shirt rumpled and her hair doing its best to fly out in all directions. She yawns as she makes herself some cereal.

"So, you're finally tired of sleeping."

"I'm not. Once I'm done with this, I'm going back to bed."

I give her a strange look. "What?" she says defensively. "I have to catch up on all the sleep I missed because of school."

"I doubt you missed too much," I say remembering all the days she woke up late. If not because Diane usually gets her mom to pick Emily up, I doubt she would ever get to school early.

"Besides," she says, "it's better than spending my entire summer reading."

Since I read in the Land of Time, I had had to leave my house with a lot of books, most borrowed from the public library, and Emily had of course noticed it and had immediately mocked me for not having anything to do during the holiday.

"Whatever," I say as I turn on the T.V. My Apprentice exam is still on my mind but as it isn't something last-minute preparations could affect, I choose to spend my time relaxing till I have to leave for the Metorium. Still, I can't help but feel a bit of excitement and dread at the thought of the examination. The dread is because I haven't done anything like this before. Even though Master Hogan had explained it to me, experiencing it is quite different from listening to it.

After an unknown amount of time, I hear the doorbell ring. I look around to see if I can find Emily to tell her to check who it is, but there is nowhere near me. With a groan, I get up from the couch and head to the door.

"Who is it?" I ask as I stand behind the door.

"It's Drew." the reply comes.

Drew? I open the door to find Drew smiling sheepishly behind it. "Hey," I say surprised. "What are you... I mean come in."

I stand back and allow him to enter the house. I am a bit surprised because this is the first time he has ever come to my house.

"What's up?" I ask as I go sit on the couch.

"I just wanted to ask if you wanted to come to the Metorium. School's starting tomorrow so most people are going to come today."

"Oh. I would have come anyway, I have my Apprentice exam today." I say as I check the time on my phone, 12.19 pm. I look up to see Drew looking at me with a surprised look on his face.

"You're taking the Apprentice exam today?"

I nod. "Yes."

He opens his mouth and closes it before laughing a bit. "I don't know why I'm so surprised. I kind of suspected this would happen when Master Hogan gave you the Student's textbook."

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Well, it's rare for people to take the Apprentice exam at a time like this, especially one person so… just ignore my reaction. This kind of thing doesn't usually happen so I was just caught off guard. So shall we go?"

I nod. "Hold on, let me just tell Emily I'm going out."

After telling Emily I'm going together we leave the house.