The square bustled with people as 13-year-olds moved forward to stand before the stage. There was a huge fenestram on the stage, which looked directly into the Testing field. The city of Panelia would have its citizens looking at how you do your test, so the pressure was on. 13-years-old teens were tested for their ability to do Elemental Magic during the Annual Segregation Day. It is one of the most important days of the year for the entirety of Zeeran. And today I, Shravan, among others, would test to see if Elemental was my destiny. Suddenly, the crowd hushed as Dr. Tejas moved to the stage to address everyone. Dr. Tejas was the Dean of the Elemental Academy, The academy for Elementalists to learn and develop their powers.
"Welcome, everyone, to the Annual Segregation Ceremony! It shall begin shortly" He said into the Amplificare ball, hovering over his shoulder. "All testing teens, please form a single file line before the Testing Field", He added as an instruction to the bewildered teens. Everyone scrambled to form a line and be the first in it.
I started moving immediately, but many people beat me to the queue, so I was
somewhere in the middle. There was a clear divide between the Noble and Middle classes. The Nobles were dressed well and had a proud posture, making them 'sophisticated', while the Middles dressed decently and very rough at getting their spots in the queue. I was a Middle class, so I wasn't the best-dressed person there.
A soldier appeared at the entrance to the Testing Field and called the first person to verify their name and gave them the ostium tag. The Segregation process has started. The first person walked into the field to be tested. The test admins shaped the queue and stage in such a way that the fenestram at the stage would be out of view for the teens, and fully in view for the adults. The teens are prone to getting nervous and not doing well in their tests if they see how their fellow teens do it, hence the stage was off view. I wouldn't know what the test would be, so I turned around and looked at the faces of the adults to see if their reactions would help me judge. There were a couple of "oohs" and "aahs", and I even saw some people wincing. It didn't give me a lot of information, other than that it would be exciting. All the people who had taken the test before had sworn to keep it a secret, so I couldn't have asked anyone.
The first person, a boy I could see, returned from the exit door with a lot of bruises and cuts, sweating like he was stuck in a kiln. But his expression told the result I was seeking, that he is a Detached. A Detached is a name for normal people that couldn't do Elemental. The boy went and stood in the place designated for the Detached. There wasn't anyone in the Elemental spots yet, but there would be at least a 100 out of the hundreds in the queue. This is the usual turnout for Elementalist. The line started moving fast, and I tuned out my surroundings, except when Tested people would come out. All the teens from the entire country of Zeeran were here, so I barely recognized anyone. I noticed everyone was being classified as Detached. They tested at least a couple hundred of us, and there was not a single person classified as Elementalist yet. "Next!", the soldier called out. I started, for I was next in line, and had forgotten that in my thought process. I shuffled forward and stood in front of him.
"Name?" He asked, looking at his list of participating names. "Shravan Parameswaran", I replied gulping. The pressure was on. I was nervous and my palms were sweating oceans.
"Alright, you are in. Good Luck!" He chirped and moved aside the entrance. Butterflies were flying around in my stomach and I felt unsteady, but I knew it was a natural reaction, so I plowed on.
I walked into the huge sandy Testing field and spotted the 3 Elders sitting on their grand seats in a shaded region. The Elder in the center beckoned me forward, so I jogged over. I was shivering, partly anxious about what the test would be.
"Mr. Parameswaran, am I right?" the middle Elder asked.
"Yes, sire" was all I could say with my closing neck.
"Welcome to the Testing Field. You should know that we will test you to see if you have the skills of an Elementalist. Follow our instructions and if you have doubts, I insist you clarify them before you perform your task. Is that understood, Mr. Shravan?" He asked, with the monotone voice of a person having said that introduction repeatedly to all the testing teens that day.
"Yes, sire," I said nodding my head and moving into an attention stance.
"Good. Now, do you see that rocky area?". He continued when I nodded. "Go stand there and follow the instruction your Disputatio square tells you." Before I could ask what a Disputatio square is, a sky-blue cube that seemed to be made of light appeared over my shoulder. It started hovering in its place there. I nodded and jogged over to stand in the circle in the center of the rocky area, with the square trailing behind me.
"Raise your hands and repeat the spell with me", the Disputatio square whispers into my ear, hovering over my shoulder. "Saxa bitio inclinatio voluntatis meae et quod erit forma!", it whispered the weird words into my ear. I was highly doubting I could pronounce those words, but I had to try it.
"Saxa bitio inclinatio voluntatis meae et quod erit forma!", My voice rising to a crescendo, as I chanted the words. I waited to see the results of the chant, but everything looked the same to me. I turned to the Elders to see if they had anything to say, but they were looking calm.
"Try it again" was the instruction it gave me. "Feel your surroundings, feel the way the wind blows, how the stone feels under your feet, how the sun's heat is beating on you. Feel the world, and say the chant again", this time the voice seemed to come from the Elder in an entrancing way. I closed my eyes and tried to feel my surroundings. The way the stone was crunching against my feet, pushing into the sole of my shoe. The air blowing my hair to places. The heat of the sun was beating down on me, touching my skin like a blanket over me.
I closed my eyes and raised my hands. "Saxa bitio inclinatio voluntatis meae et quod erit forma!", This time my voice ended in a much bigger crescendo. For a second, nothing happened. Then the ground started shaking a little under my feet. The rocks were shivering, and that's when I realized that the ground was not shaking. The rocks surrounding me were shaking, making the ground rumble. I did not know if it was an expected reaction, so I quickly glanced at the Elders. It was quite clear that something was different or shocking, for the Elders' eyes had widened, and they had stood up from their chairs.
"Good. Now repeat this spell after me," The Disputatio stopped for a second to let me process it. "Protegas me terram et sctuo faciunt!" it guided me.
'What?' I thought. I have to say all that, I don't even know how to pronounce it, for Pete's sake!' I protested internally, but I did not want to go against the highly worshipped Elders. Besides, I wanted to see if I was an Elementalist, so I gave this a try too. "Protegas me terram et sctuo faciunt!", My voice rose in a crescendo again. As I started saying the spell, an electric shock passed through my veins making it supercharged. I felt like I could run hundreds of chiliometrorum. That's how powerful I felt during that moment. Suddenly, an instinct passed over me, and without control, I said: "et cupulae, vulgo volta". The Elders could hear me through the Disputatio square, for their eyes widened when I whispered those words. The middle Elders' mouth formed a shell-shocked "O" and they all looked at each other.
The rocks have been shivering all this while but when I murmured those extra words, all the sand in the entire field started vibrating. I looked around to see what was going on, but I was met with sand and stone in all directions as all the sand flew into the air and compacted itself around me in a tight, protective dome. The dome kept a nice 5-foot radius from my body, so I did not feel claustrophobic. My eyes widened as I looked at the dome encasing me.
'Did I do that?', I asked myself. I started feeling something creeping along the edges of my mind, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. My muscles tightened and I gritted my teeth. Sweat trickled down my back and on my forehead. The feeling creeping over the edges of my mind rushed forward, the darkness enveloping me. 'I am tired...don't I deserve to sleep after waiting and testing? I do. I want to sleep. Just for a moment... Just.... for....a... moment...', my eyelids grew heavy. The last thing I saw before the darkness enveloped me completely, was my dome imploding outward and the Elders rushing toward me.
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