Chapter Two- The Test
"Young master." He woke to find a servant shaking him, rubbing his eyes, he sat up, yawning. "Lord Thorn is here to talk to you about the test."
"Thanks." She left the room and Sekka got dressed, he walked into the main room to find Lord Thorn sat in a chair, reading a small notebook, he looked up as Sekka walked in, the boy bowed and murmured.
"Lord Thorn."
"Ah, Sekka, your test is in an hour, I suggest you don't use your power too much."
"Okay. Where's the test?"
"Novices' Library." He replied and Sekka nodded. "They'll be plenty of other Novices' there to show you where to go."
"Do you know how many will be in the classes?"
"No, I think it'll be about ten though."
"How many Novices' have applied?"
"About ninety, but most don't have any proper magical talent and are turned back."
"Oh."
"Don't worry, just don't think of it as a test, think of it as showing off to your friends."
"Hey! I don't show off!"
"What was it yesterday then when you moved the chair to knock Vanir over?"
"That was different." Sekka said, pouting slightly.
They continued to argue for a while until Lord Thorn glanced at the clock. "You'd better get going." Sekka stood up and left, his stomach tying in a tight knot. As he reached the library he found it almost full of Magicians and Novices', Lucas and Suki walked over.
"Hi." They both said, he nodded in reply, feeling slightly sick. "Don't be nervous." Lucas said. "I was and it was easy."
"Believe me, you'll pass with flying colours." Suki said, he smiled gratefully at them then bit his lip as a Magician called out his name, he walked towards the door, he found himself in a large room, there was a row of magicians watching him, he bowed to them, they noted something down and he tried to avoid their eyes. The one in the middle addressed him.
"Will you please light the candle." There was an unlit candle on the desk in front of him, he focused and it lit. They made approving noises and wrote something down. "Please put the candle out." He focused, it wavered and went out. "Will you now please move the ball into the box and close the lid without touching it." This was harder but he managed to complete the task.
"Now remove it from the box and keep it level at eye height while lighting the candle." One of the Lords near the end of the table said, the others turned to regard him in surprise.
"Lord Madoc, that-" But they didn't get any further as Lord Madoc had smiled, they turned to look at Sekka who had done as he had instructed. They all looked at each other in surprise.
"Fill the glass with water." Lord Madoc said.
"Lord Madoc, that is pushing it too far, a mere Novice could not accomplish that." The only woman at the table exclaimed rising slightly out her seat.
"I want to see if he can do it." Madoc replied. Sekka heated the air above the glass then cooled the edges of the glass slightly, he put the heat into the glass and droplets of water formed, he pushed it further and the heat burst into water, filling the glass. Everyone at the table stared, Sekka rubbed his head. "Interesting." Madoc said, "Lord Thorn told me that he was talented but to be able to perform such a task so soon." Everyone agreed with him.
"I believe we should cast our vote."
"I accept him into the Guild." The Lord at the far end said.
"Seconded."
"I agree." The woman said.
"It would be foolish not to accept him."
"I agree as well." Madoc said, "Welcome to the Magicians Guild." They all smiled, Sekka gaped, he'd done it! Grinning he bowed and left the room, Lucas and Suki were waiting for him, he was still rubbing his head, he felt a migraine coming on.
"Well?" Lucas asked.
"Huh? Oh I passed." He said, they both jumped and hugged him. "Ow, do you mind, I've got a migraine!" He said, they laughed.
"How did you get a migraine?"
"They asked me to fill an empty glass with water. I didn't even know how to do that." They gaped.
"Bloody hell, did you manage it."
"Duh, why do you think I've got a migraine?" They all laughed and left the library.
"I forgot to say, Gaara had his test earlier, he passed too."
"Good." They had arrived back at Sekka's room, Lord Thorn was waiting for them.
"Well?" He asked as soon as they walked into the room.
"They asked him to fill an empty glass with water and he managed to do it!" Suki exclaimed as Sekka sank into a chair, opening a box of chocolates. Thorn didn't seem surprised.
"Lord Madoc by any chance?"
"Yes."
They talked about the test for a while until Thorn suggested that they get something to eat. Suki announced that she was going somewhere and she'd meet them after, Lucas muttered about it for a while and they met up with Gaara on the way to the food hall.
As they arrived back at the room Suki met them, in the room was a set of Novice robes and a piece of paper, Sekka picked the paper up and began to read it.
Lord Madoc
Novice- Sekka
Views-
-When he entered he showed respect by bowing,
-He lit the candle by using his will and mind power, unlike other Novices' he showed control over his power.
-When moving the ball he showed control and power, he also showed that he could control two things at once when I asked him to keep the ball at eye height and light the candle simultaneously,
-I then tested him by asking him to fill an empty glass with water, he did so in an unusual but effective way,
-Overall he has the makings of a brilliant magician.
Sekka smiled as he read it. The others all read it too while Sekka was getting chanced into his robes, Gaara returned to his own room to study and change into his robes.
Sekka fell asleep while they were talking and they left after Suki had covered him with a blanket, when he woke up again he found that it was dark. He tried to get back to asleep but couldn't and decided to go for a walk. As he left his room he felt slightly worried, were they allowed out at night, shrugging off the thought he walked down the corridor, the hallways were empty and his footsteps echoed loudly on the marble floors. As he reached the doors he found them open, he left the University into the cold night air, his eyes adjusted to the dark slowly and he found himself walking down towards the gates of the Guild, they swung open silently opening the passage to the city, he bit his lip and glanced at the sky, it was still pitch black and he had plenty of time. He left the Guild and walked through the posh parts of the city, he reached the gate leading to the West Quarter, there were two guards at it and Sekka felt his stomach tie in a knot, but as he drew close they opened the gate, recognising the robes of the Guild. He smiled slightly as they closed behind him and he headed towards where he used to live, perhaps he'd pop back to see his mother. No, bad idea. He carried on walking anyway and stopped as he heard shouts coming from the street that ran along side the street he was on. Carefully he walked down an ally joining the two streets and found himself behind a man holding a knife, there was a young boy stood in front of the man, backing away slowly, the man grabbed the boys collar and lifted him up, Sekka noticed the symbol on the sleeve as the sign of the House Poril, neither the boy nor man had noticed him and he wondered what to do. He hated the Houses but he wouldn't let a kid die because of that.
"I'm gonna stuff you like a pig!" The man said and the boys eyes widened in fear, he wriggled and tried to get free. Sekka summoned his magic and sent a blast of it at the man. It struck his back and he dropped the boy who landed on his feet, the man was sent halfway down the street, he scrambled back up and let out a cry of alarm when he saw Sekka. "Magician!" He yelled and sprinted away into the darkness, a few curious faces appeared in windows then vanished again when they saw Sekka. The only warning they needed was that he was a magician, it didn't matter if he was only a Novice, he was part of the Guild. Sekka walked towards the boy, the kid bowed to him.
"You shouldn't be out this late, it's dangerous." He said to the kid, "Especially in this area." The kid bowed.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, but just remember that if you decide to go walkabouts at night." The boy nodded and bowed again, they walked back up towards the gate, the guards opened the gate again and gave the pair curious glances. They stopped in front of a grand house, there was a woman at the door, she looked slightly distressed, when she saw the boy and Sekka she bowed and rushed forward, hugging the boy.
"My dear son, where have you been? We were worried sick!" She began to scold him and the boy began to tell her how Sekka had saved his life, she turned to Sekka. "Thank you so much, we were worried sick!"
"Don't worry about it."
"Wait here, I wont be a moment." She hurried back inside and returned with a heavy bag of gold, she handed it to Sekka, bowed and went back inside with her son. He stared for a moment and headed back to the Guild, slipping the bag into his pocket. When he reached the gates he saw that there were a few Magicians coming down towards the gates, had they noticed that he was gone? As they drew close he saw that one of them was Lord Thorn, he sighed slightly.
"Sekka? Where've you been?" Thorn asked curiously, the other two halted beside him.
"For a walk."
"You haven't seen a boy around have you, from House Poril?" Another asked.
"Yes, I just dropped him back."
"What? How? His father said that he'd vanished!"
"He'd snuck out I think. I found him in the West Quarter, this man was threatening to stuff him like a pig and was holding a knife so I hit the man with magic and he scampered."
"Blimey." One of the others said. "His father asked us to send three Magicians out, and a Novice who only joined today defeats the attacker."
"Yeah, oh, his mother gave me this." He took the bag out his pocket.
"You can keep it, you earned it." Grinning Sekka headed back to his room, he got changed out his robes, dropped the money onto his bed side table and fell back onto the bed, falling asleep.
"My lord." He woke to find the servant girl shaking him awake, he sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah?"
"Lord Thorn wishes to speak to you in the Novices' Library." He felt a knot tie in the pit of his stomach, he nodded and got out of bed, changing into his robes as she left. As he entered the living room he found that there was a note on his table from Lord Thorn.
Lessons start tomorrow, Good Luck.
Smiling slightly he felt the knot begin to fade and he walked with confident steps to the Novices' Library, he'd never been in there properly and wondered where Thorn would be. There were bookcases that reached all the way to the ceiling, there were ladders to get to the top and in front of the bookcases were desks, a few people were sat at them, studying, he wandered around a bit then spotted Thorn sat in a corner, reading a thick volume. He walked over and bowed as Thorn looked up. "Ah, Sekka, sit down." Thorn gestured to a chair opposite him, Sekka sat down and Thorn watched him carefully. "I was wondering if you saw anyone else last night."
"Um, apart from the man with the knife, the kid and his mom, no." Thorn looked thoughtful.
"Did you see the mans face?"
"Well, he was mainly in the shadows, but he did have a beard." He said, pulling the mans face into his mind.
"Hmm…" Thorn leant back, he seemed lost in thought. "You should refrain from leaving the Guild at night."
"Why?" He asked before he could stop himself.
"It's dangerous, we think the man may have been working for a group of murderers and it would be wise if you didn't draw attention to yourself." Sekka nodded, it made sense really. "Oh, and you're robes are in the Novices' Quarters, you're in room 23 with Regin, I think. You might want to go over there and introduce yourself, and change into your Novice Robes." Sekka stood up and bowed. Suki had told him where the Novice Quarters were and he had a rough idea of how they were laid out. As he entered the building he found himself face to face with a tall man in Purple robes, he bowed to the man.
"Ah, you must be Sekka," Without waiting for an answer he continued. "You're in room 23 with Regin." The man left the Quarters and Sekka looked down the corridor, it was empty except for a group of Novices' huddled in a circle at one end. The doors all had numbers on, he was at 18, he walked down the corridor towards the people, as he drew close he realized that they were stood in front of his door, taking a deep breath he was about to ask if they could move, before he'd even opened his mouth though he recognised one of them, Suki. She spotted him and waved him over, pulling him into the huddle she put an arm on his shoulders.
"This is Sekka, Sekka this is," She looked at the crowd and sighed. "They can introduce themselves." Sekka found himself greeting what felt like half the Guild.
"Hey! I'm Maria." A girl with bright red hair said, smiling.
"Hi, um, thanks for the sweets, and the card." He didn't manage to say anything else as she was pulled away and more people took her place.
"Hi I'm Naruto!" A hyper-looking blonde guy said, grinning. "I'm in your year!"
"Hey! I'm Ino!" A girl with long white-blonde hair said, winking before she was swept away.
"I'm Tamaki!"
"I'm Kyoya!"
"I'm Mori."
"I'm Hikaru!" A boy with light red hair said, grinning evilly.
"And I'm Kauro!" His twin walked over and put an arm round his brother, grinning the same wicked grin.
"I'm Light." Many more followed and eventually the crowd cleared slightly, they all watched Sekka. He rubbed his head.
"That's a lot of information to take in, in thirty seconds." Everyone laughed. Suki put her arm back round him and patted his head.
"Aww, poor Sekka." She smirked at him and he ducked under her arm as she tried to reach for the bag of sweets he had in his pocket, sticking his tongue out at her he slipped into his room. Thankfully it was empty, putting his ear to the door he listened to what they were saying.
"I'll get those sweets somehow." Suki said, he imagined her folding her arms and huffing.
"Of course you will." Maria said, the voices faded and he guessed that they were walking away along the corridor. Sighing to himself he turned to look at the room, there was a bathroom two bedrooms leading off the main room that held a bookcase, two desks, a pair of comfy looking sofa's, a circular table and a cupboard filled with quills, ink and parchment, when he examined the cupboard closer he found that it had a fake back, taking the parchment out he took the back out, there was pile of work books behind it, taking one out he wondered why someone had hidden them. He opened it and found all the pages black, replacing the back and stuffing the parchment non too neatly back inside it, he closed the door and walked into one of the bedrooms, he knew that it wasn't his by the fact that there were rows of grand clothes on hangers in the wardrobe, he rolled his eyes and entered the other one, it was slightly smaller. There were three sets of Novice robes on his neat and soft bed. He opened his wardrobe and was surprised to see that there were some new and very nice clothes in. He smiled slightly and got changed into his brown robes, he laced up the black boots and walked back into the main room, the book that he'd taken from the cupboard was still on the floor next to it, picking it up he dropped it onto the desk and took a quill and ink out the cupboard and sat down at the desk. He wondered what to write then decided to make notes on one of the books on the shelves, it wouldn't be very interesting but he wanted to kill time. Taking the book, Rise of the Empire off the shelf he began to make notes, he was half way through the third chapter when the door opened, he glanced round, a boy was stood in the doorway, he looked at Sekka and recognition flared in his eyes. The boys brown hair bounced over his eyes as he walked over, he held out a hand.
"I'm Regin."
"I'm Sekka." They shook hands and Regin vanished into his room, closing the door softly behind him. Sekka returned to his writing, wondering if him and Regin would speak again, he doubted it, there was an awkward air about both of them. About half an hour later there was a series of loud knocks on the door, Sekka jumped slightly, smudging his writing, closing the book with a sigh he stood up to answer the door. When he did he was tackled to the ground by Suki, she grabbed the sweets and took off down the corridor, Sekka scrambled up and sprinted after her, doors flashed by. They both stopped when they reached the end of the corridor, breathing heavily, Suki took a few sweets out and threw the rest of the bag to Sekka.
"Thanks." She said, grinning.
"Next time, you could just ask."
"Ah, but that would be too easy." Rolling his eyes he grinned back and walked back to his room, it opened at his touch and he saw that Regin had popped his head out his room, looking confused, when he saw that Sekka had returned he vanished again.
Opening his book again Sekka was about to sit down, but before he had even touched the chair, someone knocked on the door, muttering a colourful curse he opened it and bowed as he saw that it was Lord Thorn. Hovering behind him were a pile of sweets, Thorn made them float into the room and settle themselves on the table. "You forgot them." He smiled at Sekka. "Settling in okay?"
"Seem to be, hopefully I wont have to hide all these sweets from Suki, she just ran half way round the Novice Quarters with my sweets, just to get a handful of them."
"Why not just ask?"
"She said it would be "too easy", I really don't get that." Thorn shrugged.
"Hopefully I'll see you around, if not, I'll see you in my Alchemy lesson."
"You teach Alchemy?"
"Yeah, purple robes are for Alchemy teachers, red robes are for Warrior teachers, green robes are for the Healers, Blue robes for the Administrators, Black robes for the High Lord."
"Ahh… makes sense I suppose." Thorn waved and walked off, Sekka closed the door behind him, Regin had popped back, he was staring at the sweets, open mouthed, he noticed that the door closed and gave the sweets one last look before slipping away. Sekka returned to his writing, almost praying to god that no one would disturb him, thankfully no one did and he continued writing, he was noting the length of the first Emperors rule when he noticed that it had become quite dark, he glanced out the window and gaped, it was almost pitch black outside and all the candles were out. Regin walked into the living room, reading a book, he sat down at the other desk and began to note things on a roll of parchment, Sekka wondered if he should tell him about the books, but what if he wasn't meant to use them? Inwardly shrugging he lit a candle, Regin watched from the corner of his eye as Sekka made the candle float just above the book he was working in. Sekka returned to what he was doing, Regin turned back to his own, for almost an hour they worked in silence until Sekka yawned. He closed the book and screwed the lid back on the ink, while drying the quill. Rubbing his eyes he put the candle out and put it back in its holder, he walked into his room and that was the last Regin saw of him that night.
