Hello people! After a very long absence (thanks univerity and many projects) I'm coming back to give you this story that will only be a few chapters long. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Melody - x.

Chapter 1

The wooden door of the barn creaked, letting three small figures run inside, the last rays of the sunset projecting tall shadows on the dusty ground and their innocent laugh slowly fading as they were out of breath. The girl with the long red hair climbed onto a haystack and sat there, looking down mischievously at the two boys.

"I won!" she exclaimed, making the black-haired boy pull a pouty face as the blonde one was smiling at her, his green eyes sparkling, echoing hers.

"That's not fair! Jace let you win anyway!" the pouty one said, pointing his finger to the blonde.

"Oh come on Kyrill!" Jace exclaimed, amused by the fact his mate always wanted to win, and if he did not, he would always make a fuss about it. They were only eight year old children after all. He climbed onto the haystack with her as Kyrill let out a sigh.

"What is it?" asked the girl.

"Nothing, it's just… I don't like that name… 'Kyrill', just doesn't feel quite right."

"Well, we don't like ours as well but you know, we have to wait until we're big enough to change it." said the blonde.

"Yeah, plus you can't really disapprove it, it has been given to you by the Matrix so… we have to accept it." she said, shrugging. "It's this or revealing our real names… which we're not allowed to do."

"Yeah I know…" Kyrill said simply, knowing it had to be this way.

The door of the barn opened again, letting a woman with curly hair appear.

"Oh, I thought I'd find you here you three!" she said with an amused smile. "Come on, it's time to get home, tomorrow is a big day!"

The girl and Jace glanced at each other before saying:

"We'd rather stay here."

"Why don't you want to come inside with the other boys and girls? Look, even Kyrill is coming. And you know it gets quite chilly at night here."

For a second, Jace hesitated. He knew that the girl was always getting colder before anyone else. He did not want her to feel cold so he jumped on the ground, ready to follow the woman and Kyrill.

"Come Ariya, you'll freeze if we stay here." he said to the girl.

She nodded and she followed them, back to the Capitol where all the other boys and girls that had been reunited for the next day were.

"Ariya! Come on, wake up!"

"Mmmh…"

The girl turned around in her cover, hiding under it. Jace, pulled it away and shook his friend by the shoulder.

"Come on! We have to get prepared, it's the day!" he said. "How comes you always need so much sleep!?"

The day? The day! She quickly got up from the bed and grabbed the long dress she had been given for the ceremony. Dark red and golden, with high circular Gallifreyan embroidered on it. It was beautiful, she thought, very beautiful.

She put it on, not caring much about her friend who sat on the bed, before turning around like a little princess and asked:

"How do I look?"

"Amazing." Jace answered with a smile, his green eyes shining.

They both joined the other children, waiting to be taken to the ceremony.

After a while, a tall man wearing the High Council robe with the great round golden headset encarved with high circular Gallifreyan came to them.

"What a horrible hat!" whispered Jace, making both Ariya and Kyrill chuckle.

There was maybe forty children for this session, all of them wearing the same robe. The man spoke up, making all the children listen in silence, impressed:

"Children of Gallifrey, welcome to the Capitol, the Citadel of Gallifrey. My name is Dayra. Today is an important day, it is the day you will be presented before the Untempered Schism." he started. "This is a crucial ceremony that will decide your future among the Time Lord society. You will be called to come and look inside the Untempered Schism, and depending on the result, the High Council will appoint you to your Chapterhouse in order to integrate the Academy and start your formation."

All the children nodded and seeing they all understood what was going to happen, the man took them to the Untempered Schism.

They entered a huge room with a very high arched ceiling. Complex engravings decorated the crimson walls and the copper and golden arches. The crimson floor was shimmering in the warm light with copper sparkles under their feet, and on each pillar could be found the seal of Rassilon. Their eyes wide, the children were looking around them at this marvellous place: none of them had ever seen such a beautiful place.

Jace glanced at Ariya: her red hair made her look, once again, as though she was the personification of her surroundings, her green eyes shining like two emeralds with a hint of blue complimented by all the red around. For a second, as they were getting closer to the Untempered Schism, her pale skin seemed to shimmer with a dull golden glow, but it faded very quickly. Blinking, Jace thought it was the reflection of the decorations around.

They all gathered a few steps away from the tall circle standing in the middle of the room and opened on the Time Vortex. The Untempered Schism.

A stone in the ground, round and marked by the seal of Rassilon was just at the foot of it.

The five members of the High Council stood in a line to the right of the Schism before Dayra joined them as the sixth. A few seconds later, seven women dressed in red and gold with a veil on their hair came in and stood by the right of the Schism, silent.

Suddenly, the members of the High Council bowed with their oversized hats as a man, wearing a way more richly decorated headset and robe entered the room. He had a metal glove on his left hand and a staff in his right, and as he overlooked the children, they realised it was the Lord President Rassilon and also bowed awkwardly.

Dayra stepped forward and, standing side by side with the Lord President, he activated his bracelet that projected a list of names in front of them.

"Let's begin." only said the Lord President. He hit the ground with his staff four times before Dayra called the first name.

Name after name, the children would step forward and stand on the stone before the Untempered Schism. They would look inside for a moment before turning to the High Council that would appoint the child to his or her Chapterhouse, and then, the child would walk out of the room, a bit dizzy.

"Kyrill, from the House of Oakdown."

Kyrill came forward, glancing one last time at his friends before stepping on the stone. After a few moments, he turned to the High Council, seeming away and dizzy.

"Prydonian Chapter!"

He walked out of the room, like a robot, his face livid. Seeing their friend in this state, Jace and Ariya looked at each other, worried, but they did not get the time to share their thoughts as Dayra called:

"Ariya, from the House of the Jade Dreamers."

Trembling a little, she stepped forward. The seven women who had not moved since the beginning of the ceremony suddenly looked at her, making the little girl feel even more uncomfortable: there were only a very few members of this House. She awkwardly stepped on the stone and looked over her shoulder to Jace. He could see in her eyes that she was afraid. She looked at her feet before taking a deep breath and looked up, inside the Untempered Schism.

The whole of Time and Space before her, inside her, her within the Vortex, all the possibilities appearing in a flash before her eyes, some she already knew, some she ignored. The Vortex took over her, filled her and completed her, in a second that felt like eternity until a far, very far and faint echo called her name, bringing her back from the other side of the Universe.

Like in a dream, she only heard Dayra claim, with surprise:

"P… Prydonian Chapter…"

Members of the House of the Jade Dreamers were never integrated to the Prydonian Chapter.

And as she automatically left the room, she barely heard him call:

"Jace from the House Lungbarrow."

Arrived in the room receiving the new initiates, she merely noticed Kyrill in one corner, holding his head before her vision shrouded. It felt as though something was pushing inside her head and as though her body was burning from the inside.

"Ariya…" she heard faintly.

She turned around, discerning Jace coming toward her. She lifted a hand to reach him but she felt herself falling backwards. Like in a slow motion, Time was altered, and in a second that felt like eternity, she fell to the ground, unconscious before touching the red floor.