We sped off into the auditorium, which was already packed with students. It was almost impossible to make out the usual decorations on the walls and it was clear they'd moved the tables and chairs to accommodate all of the students. The dais, only used during such occasions as today, was cleaned up. The large symbol of Aether, a twelve pointed star enveloped by two crescent moons, was portrayed on the banner behind it. There was no one standing on top of it, as of yet. The three of us easily managed to force ourselves in between the masses. I looked back one more time, seeing the doors open again with Judith's entrance. We made eye contact for a few grains before I looked away. She wasn't going to drive me crazy. Not today. Few of my year noticed me. Those who did either nodded or rolled their eyes. It depended on who it was that I pushed into. Janice and Suzy were close by, rarely leaving my sight.

The ruckus of an auditorium full fourteen year olds was silenced when finally someone stepped upon the dais. Four teachers and their familiars lined up while the principle and his hare familiar took front and centre. I recognized the teachers. The school didn't have a lot of them, so it wasn't strange to be taught by the same teacher for multiple years. Mrs. Kingsley, Mrs. Forres, Mr. of Meads and Mr. Woods were the mentors of the last year of students. Mrs. Kingsley and Mr. of Meads were both professors in the magical department, with Mrs. Kingsley's subject on focussing and directing mana and Mr. of Meads' on the development of proper magic circles. Mrs. Forres focused on the history of Lindell and Mr. Woods made sure our language skills were up to the task of proper reading and writing. I've had the pleasure to have had all of them the past two years in a row. Some were agreeable. One was not. I just hoped that of Meads wouldn't be my mentor. I couldn't stand the man and I was certain he didn't like me. Probably because of all the classes I had to take, I failed his the most.

"Students, welcome back at your final year at Starlight Academy," the principal called out, his voice easily reaching us in the back. "Before you are sent to the market place to Summon your lifelong partner - his hare took a proud step forward - you are first separated into groups as always. Your group will join your mentor to the marketplace, where they will explain what is expected of you. Of course, I don't need to add that you're all expected to be on your best behaviour and make us proud as a school. Before you leave with your class and mentor, place your sacrifice in the box near the entrances which you've all probably seen already. Well then. I will give the stage to Mr. Woods. Happy Summoning to you all!"

Students murmured the greeting back. I didn't. The panic from before came bubbling up. I hadn't seen the boxes. Did I have to leave Mousey all alone? After what happened at the entrance, I was only more avert to do so. Still a part of me sneered at my thoughts. What was I, seven? I was going to summon a familiar today. I shouldn't be afraid of dropping my sacrifice in the appointed box. Still the grip on my bag didn't lessen. I only snapped out of my thoughts when Suzy patted my back. I looked at her and saw her giving me a wry smile and wave as she left with several other students and Mr. Woods. It took me a while to realize that she did because he'd called her name.

"Lennart Johnson, Evi Pacely, Janice Shine, Tom Westles..."

I looked in shock at Janice, who was as surprised as I was. We'd never had a year where we weren't in the same class. And now the twins were split over two classes, but I was with neither of them. She gave me a sad smile. She almost looked apologetic when she left me in the ever waning group of classmates. I watched her go with Mrs. Forres and saw how she carefully placed her sacrifice in the box. By now my hands started to tingle. I barely managed to pull one hand free from the bag. My fingers were cold and they looked even whiter than usual. I rubbed my hand over my leg, hoping to warm it. It had been a while since I felt this alone and threatened in the school. The eyes of fellow students were all focussed on the two remaining teachers, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that some of them looked at me. That the smirks I saw in passing had been for me. They were enjoying my presence more than I liked and it made me feel even more isolated. I tried to get rid of my thoughts by listening to Mr. of Meads as he listed of the students of his class. Few of them were of kids I truly despised and who, much like Judith, had been trying to make my school life less than comfortable to put it nicely. Youri, one of the guys who together with Judith lead the group that was keen on bullying me, was the last name he called. A deep sigh left my lips as I watched how of Meads left the stage, followed by everyone he'd called for. Youri of course strutted his way to the box, where he almost made a show of placing his sacrifice in the box. I was far away, but even I could see the shine that came from it. I hated to even imagine how many Lindwurms had gone into that thing, whatever it was. I hated him for being so casual about it.

Mrs. Kingsley came to the front of the stage. Her familiar, a raven with the name "Bertrand", cawed for our attention. The auditorium was empty aside from the handful of students and myself. I glanced around, trying to see if there were any threats in my class this year. I recognized three girls, who had never been hostile and with whom I could even have a conversation albeit school related. A few of the guys were people who'd probably been on the bully list if I hadn't been in their year. Nice, but also very to themselves. However, perhaps they could be people I could hang out with before class started. That was, if they would tolerate my presence. That hope was dashed when I found Judith smiling at me. Around her were at least three of her other friends. They too were giggling as they threw me a few glances. Judith waved and I repressed the urge to just flip her off. Aside from Mrs. Kingsley seeing me do that, I'd definitely would be punished for it later during the day. And the day hadn't started that well to begin with. So I returned her sugary smile with one of my own and waved. This caused hers to widen before she snapped back to her friends. Well shit. With Judith in my class, I knew I couldn't find a safe haven with the other students. None of them would risk themselves for someone like me. They hadn't done it in the past and I doubted they'd do it after today.

"Come along. Follow me to the market place and don't forget to place your sacrifice in the box."

I don't know how I did it, but somehow I'd managed to start moving. Maybe this was my punishment already for insulting both Judith and Shirley. Aether had decided to punish my insolence by placing me with the former. I slumped after the group of girls I'd recognized. Judith had been up ahead, but she'd waited for me to come closer before revealing her clearly expensive silver necklace with studded jewels. I'd never seen her wear it and wondered whether it was really precious to her or if she had just asked her father to buy it for her. I hoped it was the latter. I hoped that her sacrifice would be enough for her to summon a...a... snail or a mouse or a small fish. Something unimpressive that would make her the one to be ridiculed. At least something worse than what I would summon. Finally my turn came. Judith and her club had been lagging behind, but I ignored them to the best of my ability. I also didn't bother to take out Mousey. Instead I dropped my bag into the box. After prying my fingers from it. I then straightened my shoulders, nodded to myself and followed my classmates. Judith and her group quickly followed me.

"Daddy told me the secret of the Ritual," Judith's annoyingly nasal voice said behind me. I was certain she was raising her voice a little more than necessary, to be certain I would hear her as well.

Her group of gaggling geese all started to beg her for the secret. I merely huffed through my nose. Secret my ass. There couldn't be a secret. And if there was, then why had no one of her own family shared it with her?

"The more valuable your sacrifice, the more impressive your familiar will be."

A stone sank in my stomach. Normally I would disregard everything that came spouting out of Judith's mouth, but somehow her stupid secret made sense. The richer a family, the more impressive their familiars. It was extremely rare for a noble family to produce a small time familiar. The lowest any noble had summoned - as far as I knew - was a rabbit. A noble family at least never summoned something as stupid as a bug or a fish. No. I shook my head and picked up the pace. I had to believe Judith was making this up. Her cackling laughter, echoed by that of her friends, followed me as we walked into town. The many decorations of today’s festival already coloured the town a cheerful yellow, orange and red. Stands were still being set up, with the merchants merely waving at us as we passed. Familiars raced past us – and sometimes through us – to aid their summoners with their tasks. Magic circles flared up as some of the town’s folk fired some early celebratory fireworks and flowers into the air. It probably would have felt amazing to be cheered on. I wouldn’t know it because I was far too concerned with Judith’s words and the rising probability that I would summon the lowest Summonable familiar yet to be Summoned.

When we finally arrived at the town’s square, I was nothing more than a nervous wreck. Normally I’d be excited to see the fire pit being set up or the orchestra practising their music. I usually smiled when I smelled the scent of freshly baked pies that were being set up at the stands along the edges. Now I only saw the ground below me and the wavering steps I took to follow the rest of my class. I only looked up when we came to close to the stage. Perhaps a bad idea but I couldn’t stop myself. On there I would try and Summon my familiar. I had to succeed. If I didn’t…

We filed into a tent behind the stage. Being pressed into it, I simply followed the path until I ended up closest to the right wall of the tent. I watched how Mrs. Kingsley herded Judith's gang into the tent. Normally a tent filled with fourteen year olds would be filled with chatter. Students would compare their holidays with one another or talk about what they expected of this year. Today, everyone became dead quiet the moment Mrs. Kingsley walked to the front of the tent, where another opening was. My eyes were solely focussed on my teacher as Mrs. Kingsley slowly stood up straight, holding her hands in front of her in vaguely concealed excitement. Bertrand, who was the size of a child of five, stood next to her and proudly puffed out his chest. She gestured us to sit down and started to draw on the ground before her. I couldn’t make out what, but I didn’t have to wait long. She placed her hand on the drawing and light flared up. Letters formed above her, creating the words “Cores and potentials”. I felt bile coming up and swallowed.

"Once again, a very good morning to all of you. You will be my charges for the last year here at Stardew Academy and we will begin this year with the two most important rituals of your life. Behind me a small part of the tent has been separated of this one and has been set up for the core and potential test - she pointed at the magic letters to emphasize her words - and I will ask you all one by one to come with me to that part of the tent to ascertain what elements your mana core has settled upon. Who can give me a short summary of what cores and potentials are?"

Not surprisingly, no one volunteered. I'd wondered if teachers ever got tired about the fact that no student would ever be as stupid as to raise their hand. I glanced quickly throughout the tent, and sure enough, no one was trying to grab the teacher's attention. Everyone was either looking away or staring up at the magic words above her.

"Ms. Grey?"

Of course. Who else would she have chosen anyway? I swallowed again and straightened my back. The first words that came from me cracked, and I had to cough to get my voice back.

"Every human possesses a mana core which protects us from disease and aids in the restoration of wounds. It becomes this powerful the moment someone turns 14. At that age, the mana core also becomes attuned with four elements, of which two are stronger than the other two. The strongest two elements are also referred to as core elements, while the other two are called potentials. The difference lies in the ease a caster has with using elemental magic. If the caster uses elemental magic that's one of his core elements, the magic goes nearly effortless and is easily maintained. If it's of his potentials, the magic becomes a tad limited and takes more mana to maintain. If it's neither, the magic is rather limited and will cost a lot of mana," I listed off, ignoring the giggles when the first words were nearly croaked.

Mrs. Kingsley too ignored the giggles. She nodded at me with a smile. A flare of pride heated my cheeks. A small smile formed on my own lips as I settled back in, breathing in relief.

"Correct. The elements your mana core will attune to are either to the primary elements of water, fire, earth and air," Mrs. Kingsley continued, drawing the sigils of each element on the ground, of which a version flew up to join the already floating words above her. "Or the secondary elements of ice, steam, lightning, metal and flora. Remember that you can only have a secondary element as a potential if you possess any of the two primary elements that make up the element."

To illustrate that, she drew lines from the primary elements to the secondary elements. Fire and air made lightning, fire and earth made metal. Water and air made ice, water and earth made flora. She stood up again and pulled out a form from her bag. She counted all of us, looked back at her form and nodded.

"Well then, let's begin. Erica Appleton, follow me."

Erica got up and sent a short nervous smile to her two friends. Mrs. Kinglsey waited for her at the door. As Erica moved along, I too couldn't help but flash her an encouraging smile. Nothing bad happened during the core and potential test. There was nothing to be concerned about. She saw my smile and returned it before ducking out of the classroom.

"Be silent while the test happens. We're in the next room and any noise may affect the outcomes of the test. And I believe none of you are willing to remain here longer when there's another ceremony you're thrilled to go to. Bertrand will remain here."

Bertrand cawed and flapped his wings while Mrs. Kingsley left.