Gates

While waiting for his order, Theo noticed two people chatting quite close to him. One of them looked like a travelling merchant, with all those gaudy clothes and jewelry. Maybe that one had even come from Sernia. On account of the tanned skin and the blonde hair.

The other one looked pale, as if the man hadn't seen the sun in multiple weeks. It was made all the more apparent by the strikingly black and short hair which created a strong contrast.

"What do you think of the recent incidents?" The merchant asked while sipping his wine.

"What?" The pale man stopped eating and asked.

"You know… what everyone, everywhere is talking about."

The pale man rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "I thought I already told you. I've been stuck in my lab for weeks. I've got no idea what the hell you're talking about half the time, let alone now."

"Ah, right. How's that going, by the way?"

"The same old. Barely any progress. You'd think that they would place more people on the project, but no. They expect me to do it all alone. What a load of bullshit that is." The pale man stabbed his knife into the piece of fish in front of him.

"Hmph, you complain and complain. But you still get paid by the guild almost as much coin a week as I make myself. And I have to travel halfway across the world." The merchant said while looking at the fish of the pale man. "You know, you don't need to try and kill it like that. It's already dead."

The pale man glanced at the merchant but didn't respond and only moved the knife, splitting the fish into neat little pieces before starting to eat again. "You mentioned something about some incidents before?"

"Ah, those." The merchant put down the glass of wine he had been sipping this entire time and leaned closer towards the pale man, lowering his voice at the same time.

Theo was only barely able to catch the words of the man.

"Beasts have started acting strange. There are huge amounts of reports of sudden rises in populations across Hubrias, Sernia, Vulcania and I've even heard word that the Infernal Grasslands is suffering from the same problem."

The pale man raised an eyebrow. "They happen from time to time, what's so weird about it this time?"

"There was no precursor. No warning from the animals. Nothing."

Theo raised an eyebrow. It seemed that it was also strange enough to have gained the pale man's attention. "Not even Habul's crows?"

"None of the churches noticed it." The merchant sighed. "Dozens of villages and settlements have disappeared from maps, and almost every week I get a letter from the guild that tells me which routes to avoid, since they're not profitable anymore."

"So, that's why my requests for materials have been so delayed…" The pale man mumbled to himself. "And why all the beast materials I need are just pouring in."

The merchant nodded. "The warrior's guild is rather busy at the moment, trying to cull all the beasts and whatnot."

"What about the front?"

"That's even weirder. It's stable. There were no sudden surges, only the same normal onslaught." The merchant picked up his wine. "I've also heard that each crown is considering withdrawing some of the troops from the borders they share. What with the recent peace treaty."

"As if." The pale man snorted.

"If only." The merchant gave a small laugh and nodded.

'Beast tides across Draphen?' Theo wondered as the two men ventured into casual conversation about the many conquests the merchant had found during his travels.

News across the sea were rather hard to come by, at least for Theo. So, it was surprising to learn that the whole world was suffering from simultaneous beast tides at the same time.

From what Theo knew, they were supposed to be rather easy to pinpoint and stop from ever forming. It was strange, but nothing for him to worry about.

"Here you go, sir." A waiter appeared behind him and placed a plate full of food in front of Theo, breaking him out of his thoughts. "If you need anything, just call out and someone will come."

The waiter then left, leaving Theo alone with his food.

He had ordered a plate of gezor. A dish that was named after its main ingredient, the gezo fish. The fish itself was small, so to make up for it, there was a lot of it.

Theo didn't know much of the preparation process, as the times when he had asked for it. He had been rejected. A secret, they had always said. Sure, he could have just given them a few coppers and they might have told him the recipe, but he wasn't that interested.

Though, he knew that they pickled it before doing anything else. But that was about all he had managed to gleam that one time before he got a beating for sneaking into the tavern kitchen. He really had been rather carefree when he was young.

'Wonder what all that is about, though.' Theo thought to himself as he started eating.

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The days leading up to the Academy's entrance exams passed by in a flash. Theo only left his room in the Wailing Captain to eat. Other than that, he spent his time inside his room either exercising or training with the aether.

Most of that time was dedicated to manipulating the aether. He was slowly familiarizing himself with it. With each passing day, it was almost possible to feel the slight improvements he had.

The process of guiding it along the pathway took less time, and he was able to modify the amount with but a few seconds of thought. Though, the amount of aether within his soul never increased past a certain amount, only diminishing when he used it and then naturally recovering over time.

Back when he had first sensed his soul, he had asked both of his parents how you could advance, but they hadn't told him anything. No matter how hard he pestered them, they only kept saying that he would find it out in due time.

Hopefully that would be something they explained at the academy.

His admittance was basically guaranteed, but as the days passed, a certain type of dread appeared in his mind.

What if he wasn't accepted? What if the way he was manipulating the aether was wrong? What if he had messed up on some of the steps mentioned within the scroll?

These thoughts played in the back of his mind as the days rolled by.

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"Today is the day…" Theo said to himself as he stood in his room.

He had already made sure that he left nothing behind and was ready to leave.

Today was the day that the entrance exams would begin. He had seen a lot of aspiring arcanists like himself yesterday while eating at the tavern. And the little bits of information he had managed to gather worried him.

Apparently, the entrance exam wouldn't just be about manipulating and manifesting the aether. There would be written tests to test the area of knowledge of the aspiring student.

That made sense, of course. They were looking for students. Theo didn't know why he had thought that such a thing wouldn't be a part of it.

But now it was too late to start studying, better yet, he had no idea what topics those written tests would contain.

He was going to be going in completely blind.

With heavy steps, he walked out from his room, returned the key and exited the tavern. The same group of children were still standing close to the tavern. Their clothes were just as well-kept as they had been a week ago.

He ignored them and continued towards the gates of the Academy.

That was another thing. Why did they call it the gates of the Academy when it was a humongous tower? He hadn't heard anyone talking about it, except a few other people like him who, like him, had no clue why it was like that. It puzzled him to no end.

Theo was trying to distract himself from the dread that grew with every step. It didn't work.

Soon, he was already on the street where the tower was located at. The number of people already there shocked him.

The exam was starting in an hour. He had thought that he would be early, but these people had been even earlier than him.

'Are they all going to take the exam?' Theo wondered.

The amount of people there was ridiculous. How was there this many people who could finish the third step? He had barely met a single arcanist in the past four years, and yet here there were at least a hundred people who held the potential to become one.

Maybe some of them had come here to witness the spectacle, but Theo doubted it.

He had seen the amount of reverence and respect the people in Zeah and everywhere held towards the Academy. To the extent that this street had been the single most peaceful one Theo had found in Zeah so far.

No one paid him much attention as he joined the crowd of people. It was loud, extremely so. And that only served to affirm his opinion. They didn't hold the same amount of respect towards the tower as the people of Zeah.

Arrogance. It was a word almost synonymous with an arcanist. At least according to some of the stories he had heard from his mother and father.

The minutes ticked on as everyone waited for the exam to start. Some people tried to talk to Theo, but whenever they did so, he managed to slip away from them before it got irritating or they started asking real questions. It was rather easy to do thanks to the crowd.

It provided a nice distraction, and he started treating it as a game. After twenty minutes, when no one approached him any more, he started approaching other people, chatted them up and then slipped away from them when they were distracted, leaving them confused.

It wasn't productive and could be rather destructive to his relationship with these potential arcanists, but it was the only way for him to distract himself from the dread in his heart, so he took it gladly.

Theo had just slipped away from a conversation with a rather eccentric young male when he noticed that the atmosphere had changed.

The loud chattering was cut off by a rumbling so intense that almost everyone shut up and looked towards the source of the noise.

The base of the tower was shifting. The previously pristine tower that looked like it had been cut from a single piece of stone suddenly had a crack in the middle.

Then it widened.

Not like a normal crack. There were no off shoot branches. No, it was like a clean cut that someone had grabbed and was now pulling wide open.

It revealed a pitch black interior, where no light existed.

Soon, an impossibly bright white light appeared from inside the tower, illuminating the interior and the whole street. It was empty, except for a pair of figures standing inside.