“All candidates at 09:00 a.m. sharp will take a sip from their cup which contains the blessed water from the Cup of Dreams. There is nothing to fear, all it takes is a tiny sip to determine the future of everyone in this room. Good luck to you all and may your dreams come true.”

The proctor for the exam returned to his seat and joined everyone in watching the countdown on the projector with bated breath.

The alarm went off and every candidate took a sip from their cup as instructed and immediately their bodies began to react differently to the liquid.

What felt like an eternity in the dream world was just a few minutes in real time.

Azalea was plunged into a world of darkness.

Dark…so dark. Why can’t she see anything?

Feeling deprived of oxygen her lungs felt under pressure to survive.

Ignore the biting cold, the feeling of being on the verge to suffocate.

Suddenly, Azalea Lily Blume felt a surge of rapid energy flow through her body.

Every inch of her skin came alive and her limbs maniacally thrashed around.

Before she could think to curb her impulses and get her body under control. 

Her fingers roughly broke through the surface and her hand felt the coolness of the air.. 

Gasp—

After working so hard to leave this backwards town behind she couldn’t throw all her hard work away so easily. 

Must…claw.. my.. way..out.

More air poured through her nostrils and rushed into Azalea’s lungs.

She took a few more precious gulps, satisfied to just be alive!

A sense of smell returned, moist dirt beneath her fingernails as she clawed her way out of the soil. 

Slowly her eyes opened until they readjusted to the light.

It felt like she had been buried six feet under and was climbing out of her grave.

Instinctively, she knew that she had broken out of her mental prison and climbed into her mental garden.

At first she thought it was barren and devoid of life until she walked for some time and stumbled over a root. 

A tree had been cut down but out of the hollowed remains grew a tiny bud. 

This bud was her mental root and she needed to nurture it.

So that it could flourish and grow but the ability to protect and fertilize it was currently not in her means.

Next she knew she was kicked out of her mental garden.

Her stomach was queasy and she still felt disoriented from the earlier feeling of suffocation while attempting to crawl out of the dirt.

Azalea woke with the disappointing knowledge that she possessed very low mental energy.

Yet she was still far better off than other candidates. 

Other candidates woke to find that they had become null.

Imagine entering the room confident in the ability to wield mental energy.

Only to awake from their dream with their mental powers depleted and the sad realization that they would never wield mental energy ever again.

No one knew why they suffered from rotten luck as those poor souls would only be given the most menial jobs in their lifetime.

It was pitiful, every year the amount of nulls increased while the number of gifted declined.

A quarter of the candidates rejected the dream liquid and started foaming at the mouth. 

Medical assistance was immediately provided to ease the rejected of their discomfort and rush them to the nearest hospital. 

Only fifty eight students in the district of Meadowbrook died that year.

The highest record in the history of the coming of age ceremony in Meadowbrook.

Some gained an increase in spiritual energy while others gained outstanding abilities.

A few gained breathtaking beauty, becoming irresistible to the opposite sex and emitting a scintillating and refreshing fragrance that drew others to them like flies to honey.

It seemed like Janet fell into the latter and the more she gloated about her good luck to her envious friends the more repulsed and nauseous Azalea felt. 

Yet nothing about Azalea changed except a small crest appeared on her wrist. 

The only thing that mattered to Azalea wasn't an illusion.

No matter how she rubbed her wrist the crest did not disappear. 

It was then Azalea noticed that she was being watched from across the room. 

A persistent and compelling gaze that had Azalea transfixed until she thought that perhaps he was looking at Janet and they made eye contact by accident.

Annoyed, Azalea looked the stranger in the eyes but he did not flinch at being caught staring instead he smirked. 

The guy was so far away that she could barely see his face but from what Azalea could see he was tall and exceptionally built.

Calmly he continued to observe Azalea shamelessly without moving a muscle or the blink of an eye. 

Something unsettling about his demeanor made Azalea break eye contact first.

Those cool and deceptive eyes of his were akin to the eyes of a predator that had latched on to its prey.

She shifted her eyes to the podium where the proctor would make the next announcement. 

“Outside stalls for each academy have been set up. Please match your crest to the correct stall and collect your package in an orderly fashion. Congratulations to those of you who managed to get into an academy. Today’s coming of age ceremony is officially over, you are dismissed.”

Even with the proctor talking she could feel the hot gaze on her body and unfortunately her body started reacting to the strangeness of the situation. 

She needed to find the nearest bathroom as her stomach started to roil and do somersaults. Growled so loudly to the point where others nearby could hear Azalea’s tummy, so embarrassing. 

Her entire body felt like it was on fire, her temperature soared and she couldn’t stand the heat.

Despite the weakening of her limbs she managed to make it down the hallway. 

A somber male voice caught her off guard when he inquired curtly, “Are you okay?” 

Surprised, she stared at the guy recognizing his build as the one that had been watching her obsessively from across the hall. 

There was something unnatural about him, how did he move so quickly through the crowd from the other end of the hall to reach her side?