Gray basalt pillars stuck out at odd angles from the crown of a hill. They'd grown into each other from different directions so they intersected at a point well above, forming a corridor within their outcropping. The pinnacle sported points going this way and that, so the whole structure resembled mineral fingers steepled together, contemplating some mystical higher purpose.

The hole was eight to ten feet tall, wide enough for two small children to pass side-by-side, but no grass grew within the walkway that went on for twenty feet. It bent rightward out of view, continuing to an unseen exit.

A faculty member of Signal Academy, a grown-up dressed in his windbreaker of black and green, offered his hand to Ruby. He hadn't shaved his face in a few days, and a few tired wrinkles laced the joints of his outfit. "Your turn."

Underneath his jacket, a fishnet shirt was all that laced his chest, also revealing a green tattoo under his collarbone.

Ruby recognized him from earlier: he had stopped Oni's watcher from entering the bus. She couldn't get a closer look at the mark on his skin, but for a moment she wondered where else she'd seen it.

One at a time, all of her classmates who once stood in front had taken their turns going through the rock feature.

Spring's outdoor fragrance swelled her chest as she took it in. "Is anything in there?"

She and the teacher, whatever his name was, came to the threshold together, but she was positioned at the entrance's center. She would have to go in alone once they separated. So many students had already asked for company but were denied.

Instead, he answered, "Nothing is in there except you. I promise."

She made a peace sign but at once tightened it into a ball. "Okay." Her moment had arrived whether she'd prepared for it or not. She puffed her cheeks, gripped the man's hand for dear life, and strained to see through the shadow filtering the tunnel ahead.

Before another word slipped out of him, she let go at a sprint into the passage, howling her fool head off.

It would've made the most sensible moment to realize her semblance. This perfect place of first year tradition. The attitude it took to face the unknown. Her first test going into school.

The soles of her slippers pounded over rock. Thudding of her frantic feet over the ground sent tremors into her heels, up her ankles. She pumped her arms back and forth in time, for the quicker she flailed, her legs matched their speed.

Loudest, grandest, fastest — it was meant to make the most impression, showing how much energy she had to offer. As long as she demonstrated how much this meant, how mighty she could be, even the basalt couldn't question who was princess. So her scream ripped out fervent and emanating. Her aura distorted the very air through which she raced. Out of every pore in her skin, she radiated spirit.

It was the best time to realize her ability.

Veins along the stone interior lit up fluorescent white, starting at the ground, speeding upward along zig-zags. They branched left and right the further they moved, dozens of electric bolts turning into dozens more. Criss-crossing multiplied them all different ways until they met at the top. They had all begun in various places, but the climbs united them in webbing high above.

Energy followed her sprint. Arcane power no one would ever see pursued hot on her heels and urged her faster. Its pressure on the small of her back, like wind in a sail that carries a ship on adventure, propelled her into breakneck speed.

She made it to the other side as quick as she'd entered and it was done!

Her pace scuffled to a halt inches from the grown-up who met her.

A thrill claimed Ruby. She punched the air a bunch of times as her baby warcry trailed into a triumphant, "Yeah!" She kicked, punched, flurried the open space all different ways that didn't hit the employee. A jab in the direction from where she came emphasized her victory. "I did it. I won!"

"Good job, you did it!" The instructor gave a hand for her high-five, before he guided her away from the exit.

His next comment floated with her during the whole remainder of the afternoon and evening. It fit a few things together she hadn't realized at the time, putting mysteries into place, answering questions she'd forgotten. She didn't make any of those connections at the time, but most of it made more sense as she went forward.

All of the first years who'd preceded her turn in Eraclock asked how it went as she joined them along the hill's furthest slope. Their wide eyes probed her with unspoken curiosity but a hunger to know her results.

Oni scampered from their place on the grass to be at her side. "You screamed really loud. What happened?"

The faculty member didn't make it sound like a question. "You had to show it who's boss, didn't you."

"That's right!" Ruby flopped onto the ground and stretched her legs. "I'm in the Summer Court and I'm the best."

The announcement sucked a soap opera gasp out of Oni who thrust their fists skyward.

Their guide earned another high-five out of Ruby, but he followed it by saying, "I don't know about the best, but welcome to the Summer Court, kiddo."

Oni blurted, "I'm in Summer Court, too."

In unison, they shouted.

Ruby tackled and held her friend around the shoulders. "We'll be Summer buddies!"

"Best friends!" Oni squeezed the air out of her within both over-muscled arms.

Meanwhile, the faculty adult trooped uphill once more, where they all had a view of the Eraclock's exit. A few more students remained at the start who had yet to be sorted.

It wasn't a test after all.

It wasn't the moment to awaken her power.

She never had to prove a thing within the eldritch corridor, where energy of old perceived her once and for all.

Everyone knew the Eraclock analyzed a child to determine their health, though going through it still hadn't resolved what that meant. It seemed at first the Eraclock tested each child for their fortune, whatever that meant. Instead, it appeared to organize the kids into four groups — four courts.

To the first year students of Signal Academy, the why didn't matter anymore.

Once the process was complete and everyone returned to the bus, one of the faculty members explained on the intercom what that meant.

"All of you know, now, in which court you belong, and it's important you remember which season that is, for your other classmates have been sorted into their own courts: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Students who have been selected for the same court as you will be your family this year and all years going forward.

"You will board with these fellow first years: you will eat at the same table, sleep in the same room, and learn in the same classes. These people will be your lifeline."

The instructors brought them to school at last, knowing what they needed to sort their students.

Once the bus found Signal Academy, all of the students crowded one side of the bus admiring its hazel-brown and marble-white statures. Its buildings were connected by territory spreading out for multiple grassy acres under the warm sunlight.

College facilities sheltered their lecture halls and studios.

Dormitories, multiple stories tall, offered homes within their walls.

Tough and natural colors constructed them out of stone. The materials made them immortal and ageless, like mountains that had grown forever beforehand and would grow forever more into the sky.

The bus passed within a mountain rock archway, along curving asphalt roadways that met at parking lots, and beside fenced-in play yards for youth sports.

Here, they would learn it all.

They would learn everything between ages six and seventeen.

In their home away from home, they would evolve into the finest people of their time.

Their bus slowed to a halt under the shade of a soft yet polished building, where columns framed a huge portico from the parking area. Open wooden doors invited them before they'd even arrived, though Ruby couldn't quite see within. Two stories of square windows viewed the first years as dozens of faces. They were lit hazy amber from within, having anticipated the arrival and awaited shining bright to see them for the first time. The easy and luminary impression spread itself to either side as if an imaginary smile was spreading cheek to cheek, and laugh lines formed in the mortar between its mountain rocks.

Dawn Hall was carved into the lintel above the door.

Ruby mouthed its name.

Dawn Hall.

Her home.

This was the first years' dormitories and the beginning of her life at Signal Academy.

"Let's go!" Ruby snatched Oni's wrist and they, among the rush of their classmates hooting and hollering, stampeded out of the bus to claim their place.