The next day, Shilo was back in that infernal interrogation room at that same table but now staring at the four steel balls in a row with a random white feather thrown in for fun. He glared up at the mages in front of him: the sadist Officer Kirlim, Lytah, the pompous Archmagus Arrinon, and now another Archmage with his little lackey scribe who sat in the corner scribbling down anything someone said. Shilo’s amusement with that one ended with a jolt from the enforcer once they put two and two together. Guess there was only so many times he could bring up different animals to ask if a mage could turn a person into it before it ticks one of them off. No to frogs, toads, snails, slugs, roaches, mice, and…the list went on. Apparently, mages take offense to those questions. 

“We’re going to perform a simple test,” Archmage Jerine explained. “With this test, you will pick up each of these items and tell us what energies you feel.”

Shilo looked at them. He picked up the first steel ball, held it a second, then set it back down. “It’s a metal ball.” 

The second. “A round metal ball.” 

The third. “A METAL ball.” 

The fourth. “Oh, look! Another metal sphere in the shape of a ball.” 

He picked up the swan feather. “What the crap is a feather doing here with all these balls? Gonna tickle them?”

Arrinon growled, “Concentrate! Now, again.”

“Oh, I see! It’s a shiny metal ball!”

This process repeated itself several times before the assisting mage changed the placement of the feather and waved his hand over the items causing them to glow for a heartbeat. Shilo was instructed once again to do the same mundane task. He picked up the first ball and gave them a questioning glance. He tossed it up one handed and caught it before sitting it down. 

“It’s light, like, really light.” 

“Besides that,” Arrinon said, his eyes glittering. “Anything else that you notice?”

Shilo held the steel ball and cupped his other hand over it. He closed his eyes and concentrated. “No,” he said, a little confused.

“Next,” Arrinon barked.

Shilo set the ball down carefully. His confusion wasn’t due to the Archmagus, not entirely. However, the way the mage regarded him with such riveted interest kept him from voicing anything.

The next ball. “Normal weight. Like before.”

The boy strained a bit as he grabbed the third ball. Even using both hands he was only able to lift the ball a few inches off the table. “Heavy, obviously.”

Shilo went to pick up the feather but could not lift it at all. His fingers couldn’t even disturb any of the feather barbs attached to the quill. It felt like the entire thing was made of solid lead. “It’s too heavy to move. Why?”

“And that will conclude this portion of testing for today.” Arrinon huffed. “Archmage Jerine, please ensure Mage Gitra transcribes a detailed record of the testing along with the subject’s results. Enforcer Kirlim, please kindly escort the boy and Mage Lytah into the hallway and instruct them to wait. When the Archmage and I have completed our discussion, we will all report to the Chancellors and Council Heads together.”

The audience hall was a chamber that merged the two Chancellors, the heads of the Mage Council, and all the magistrates in a courtroom-like arena. It was large with pristine white walls, long dais, chamber desks for all the officials, and spectator benches for attendees, and more importantly, it was very unwelcoming. Shilo footsteps echoed as he was ushered to the podium. He stood in front of all of them like a prized calf on display with the enforcer and Lytah on either side of him. The Archmagus stood behind a pulpit and pointed at Shilo as if some science experiment as he explained how he came to be in their care. 

Imprisonment was more like it, Shilo thought with a glare.

Since Arrinon was long winded, Shilo took the time to look around. 

Prime Chancellor Zeir Aaramett was a blacken sinewy man with a broad nose, a neatly trimmed beard and mustache that accentuated his full lips, and a scar ran from his bottom lip down his jaw. The beard he grew was probably to help conceal that scar, but it didn’t help much. The scar gave him kind of a lopsided permanent frown that only added to the warrior feel about him. He had even multiple pleats of battle braids that ran back down the base of his skull to hang down a few inches past his ears. The Chancellor was lean and muscular, but nowhere near as burly as the guard that stood behind him. 

Crap, Shilo didn’t think ever seen a guy as big or tall as Jin. The behemoth of a man stood expressionless as he stared straight ahead, halberd in hand and sword at hip. A few paces away from him stood another blacken guard with a halberd, this one female and naturally not as big, though she was pretty tall for a woman. Her head topped Jin's shoulders instead of low on his chest like Yeisha did or his upper midsection as did Lytah. 

The Second Chancellor surprised him. Chancellor Wenray Shawshee was grey, just average grey, thus displaying it was truly her intelligence that got her the job. Well, it was that way with Zeir too, however being physically strong in stature probably didn’t hurt his chances either. If anything, it made him more imposing. Second Chancellor Wenray’s physical appearance may not be formidable, but she was still distinguished with her stern, angular features. She even bore some sort of tribal tattoo that formed two thin bands across her high forehead like a geometric diadem. She was dignified, though the sour looks she kept throwing his way were damaging his respect for her. 

Like Zeir, she had two guards positioned behind her, only hers were in Watch uniforms, one blacken male and one dark grey female, and neither of them were as intimidating as Jin and his female cohort. 

The magistrates made up a group of eleven that consisted of men and women of various shades of grey, from average to powerful. Shilo eyes went to the dark grey man, his athletic build was lean and pronounced against the cut of his stylish tunic. Another two blacken watchmen stood guard behind them, both of them runty compared to Jin. 

The mages, he tried not to look at. He saw enough mages over the past two days to last a lifetime. But he did notice there were nine in the Council seats. Two dark grey enforcers stood behind them, one of them was Civa. She flashed her teeth in a snarl when she noticed him looking.

It wasn’t just her, all of these people gave him haughty looks that displayed various degrees of contempt. Lucky him.

The wordy Archmagus was now going over the tests and describing how each one was designed to either gauge his perception towards mana or measure his physical strength. Mage Gitra passed out papers, giving each member a full report. 

Lovely, now it’s officially in writing that I’m a failure. Shilo puffed out his cheeks in a huff of breath.

“The boy has shown no understanding of mana nor any aptitude towards magic. Neither has he shown any sign of brawn. He presents himself as a fluke in the Hybryd Color System and this first round of tests confirms that theory. We would like, if all of you esteemed members are in agreement, to conduct further testing to see if that is truly the case.”

What now? Why the hell do they give such a crap? I’m nothing! Just let me go! Shilo silently fumed. He had been warned against speaking out. And by the looks of Enforcer Kirlim, who was hovering close by, the sadistic enforcer was just itching to zap him again.

Someone asked the magus a question Shilo didn’t catch. Arrinon cleared his throat, “Certain aspects I will discuss at length after proceedings with the boy are concluded. I will answer any questions dealing with that nature during that time. But to answer that remark, yes, we are all in agreement on that fact and are fully aware of what it means. And as said earlier, those aspects will be discussed later with the exclusion of a certain attendee.”

Shilo had to wonder what that yes answered.

“It was also brought to our attention that this boy is the son of Elric Armanden,” Chancellor Wenray said, her voice commanding and authoritative. “Will you be conducting tests to pinpoint his intelligence?”

“Yes, we will conduct a variety of diverse tests from a vast array of difficulties to gauge his worth on a multitude of facets from the fundamental to the more complex.”

Wow, all those words to say, yes, we’re giving him a slew of damn boring tests to torture the hell out of me. Shilo snorted, his tail flicked in annoyance. Damn mucking mages.