As I fell, I panicked and froze, but I did catch sight of a few winged races flying among the applicants. How nice; we did have quite a mix of races in the testing hall. It would have been even nicer if a few of them had helped those who didn’t have wings. But this was part of the test, so they didn’t, and I could understand why. Still, that didn’t mean other applicants couldn’t grab them as they tried to save themselves and steal a scroll.

If I close my eyes, I might recall hearing the air battles raging around me, but I had other worries like not falling to my death. I guess the first trial of the test will show how you won’t die from something simple like a fall.

Before I go on, I want to make clear that there aren’t usually casualties during the academy’s examination. However, that doesn’t mean they won’t test you rigorously so that they can determine prospective students’ abilities. Besides, they won’t be held liable for any applicant’s death. Why? Because we all signed the application knowing all the risks. Think of it as nothing ventured, nothing gained, and what you stand to gain from being an academy graduate is great!

I’m not saying it’s the only way, but it gets you to your goal a lot faster. Little me knew that most of my parents' problems were because we weren’t well-known. If I could just advertise it, bring people, show them that we weren’t bad, or use forbidden magic for “nefarious purposes.”

In the first place, it didn’t make sense why we would risk using forbidden magic and live in a tiny little house with only one bathroom. Stay in a little town with barely a hundred residents? It didn’t add up, and- and- I digress. Sometimes the risk, at least in my opinion on this specific topic, was worth it.

Anyway, back to the mountain. Where was I again? Oh right, I was falling.

I had to save my life. I remember thinking if I fail, I at least want to return to my parents alive. I’m sure they had something set up so we wouldn’t all die; after all, the school has a reputation to maintain, and killing off prospective students wouldn’t gain them any future generation students. But at that time, falling from that height, all I could think was, I don’t wanna die here!

So, I had to save my own life. What I used was a simple float spell to slow down my descent. Before my feet got within a full-grown oak tree from the ground, a winged applicant crashed against me. They sent me flying into a tree with plenty of branches to catch me. I don’t know what happened to them after they crashed into me. I was just happy to be alive and still have my scroll.

I did feel pain from the crash and from being sucker punched by a tree limb on my way down. I couldn’t relax with all the fighting sounds around me. Determined to, at the very least, not be caught up in the fighting, I cast a quick shadow spell to hide in the shade of a tree. The test had officially begun.

I won’t lie. I spent the first hour or two, possibly three, completely freaking out. It might have taken till hour four before I moved. My body ached, and I prayed I hadn’t broken a rib. More than once, I thought of just giving up, raising my hand, and calling it quits. Yes, you have that option if you want to quit the test immediately.

I clearly remember all those negative thoughts along with what made me change my mind: my hat slipping past my eyes. My mother had enchanted this hat herself for me. It had exactly two enchantments and a charm. The first made it so that my hat would remain on my head no matter what. The second was an abyss enchantment to help me store a few items inside my hat, and the third was a charm meant to give good luck. The charm was more for my emotional support than actual luck. They bought it for me, believe it or not, just three months before the test.

Witches' hats were commonly used for classification purposes like rank or position, not so much anymore since covens have diversified, but the aesthetic of the witches' hat is still a classic. I could say that wearing a witch’s pointy hat is kind of old-fashioned. I could say that I could, but I won’t. As I said, it is a classic! Plus, once I got my rank ribbons, I placed them on my hat and not on my arms or clothing like the new covens allow their witches to do! Rank ribbons are what you wrap around your hat or clothing or anywhere visible on your body. The ribbons represent how skilled a wearer is at magic.

The ribbons can be granted by a magic school or directly through a coven or a mentor. Usually, covens want witches that have been tested and have received rank ribbons through a credited school of magic. As I’ve said, the Knoles Academy carries a lot of prestige through its hard-earned purple and gold ribbons.

The ribbons' colors range depending on the level of expertise shown by the wearer. Purple ribbons are for moderate knowledge and skill, but those are a dime a dozen. Now gold ribbons are the ones everyone wants because they are only received through showcasing expert knowledge and skill. I was aiming for gold! Gold ribbons equal more prestige, which means apprentices who wish to learn your teachings, which I could lure to my coven! Never mind about the whole thing of legacy witches who have pledged allegiance to a particular coven. I’ll mention those later.

I figured that even if I didn’t manage to recruit new members, apprentices still boost a coven's profits because of mentor payments! Mentor witches are those skilled witches who have perfect original spells. Knowledge from those witches is immeasurable. Becoming a mentor is also a way to become independent, without an affiliation with a coven, but only if you are in high demand.

I think I went a bit off-topic.

Back to the forest, first test, my hat.

I remember the brim was still firm, and the light angle it made as it flopped from the weight of a small blue magic stone on its’ tip was perfect. Am I getting sentimental over a hat? Yes, I am! I’ll reveal what happened to it later.

Ah, I need a tissue.

It was my first hat. It got me through the test! I received my first- ah, wait, I’m not there yet. Pacing is important.

Okay.

I think I’m good.

I can continue.

I wanted to give up! But when the hat covered my eyes, it was like a fire was lit under me. I practiced every day. I mastered several runes and sigils. Plus, I got myself to the capital, which was a challenge given my anxiety and demeanor. I felt determined to see the test through, I figured that at worst, I would fail, and at best, I would pass. The young sixteen-year-old me didn’t know what fate had in store, so I think I was pretty brave given the circumstances.

Luckily for me, nothing hurt too badly, or at least I had convinced myself that nothing was broken. I pushed on for a few minutes with leaves crunching under my feet to realize I was making too much noise! There were races with sharp hearing taking the test, and there I was, a beacon of come and get me.

I couldn’t let anyone catch me. I wasn’t prepared for a fight, well not mentally, and that’s half the battle already. I used a spell called gloom, a simple spell to quiet my steps. It has other functions, but for now, it muffled all the sounds I made.

Smart, right? I was moving, and I was doing well, all good, right? Until I tripped and fell on my face. Ugh, the agony but with a silver lining. In my anger from tripping and falling flat on my face, I dug up the thing that had tripped me, expecting it to be a root or something, maybe a tooth. I don’t know. It was, and I still can’t believe my luck, a scroll!

My second scroll! I didn’t have to rely on just passing with one. I had to protect it no matter what! So, I put it under my hat. As I said before, my hat has an abyss enchantment, roughly like an item that’s bigger on the inside than on the outside. Since my hat was not a top-quality hat or one of the hats with a strong enchantment, the space underneath it was limited. This meant I couldn’t just stuff things that couldn’t go through the hole. If I must estimate the size, I think it could have held about ten scrolls total. The scrolls were three by six inches long, so that would mean math. I don’t have a paper to write with, so I’ll leave it at that.

Anyway, in my hands, I had two scrolls! Imagine my delight! Sure, I got a few scrapes, but I think it was worth it. I didn’t question it much then and quickly put it under my hat while fastening the first one to my waist. There were no rules to hide your scrolls or not, so I figured if I kept one out and one hidden if I was attacked, they might assume I only had one. Smart, right? I thought I was super smart, but that only lasted about two more hours.

I feel so dumb retelling this next part. I don’t know what I was thinking. I came soo close to being a seating duck! As I sneaked around, avoiding most of the fighting, I found another scroll!

It was placed perfectly on top of a branch on a regular tree. I think I even ran to it when suddenly, my bootlace caught on a root. This strange feeling hit me like a soggy sock as I stooped down to untangle it. Right then, I knew that I had almost made a grave mistake! Just like they had not told us any rules about hiding our scrolls from each other, there was no rule in using them as bait. The scroll on the tree had a petrification spell on it.

If I had grabbed it, it would have frozen me in place. I would be frozen for who knows how many hours, and I might have lost all my scrolls. Maybe the luck spell was actually on my shoes because I was narrowly saved! After a silent thanks to my mother, I had to decide if I would take the time to undo the spell.

Undoing a spell you didn’t cast is not easy. It takes knowledge, skill, and practice to accurately undo a spell without it backlashing. Luckily for me, I was all three. It’s not that I’m singing my own praises. Well, maybe a little, but with good reason.

I am a weaver.