Chapter 9(14): First Test Part 2

The main castle rouse from the ground up, reaching just bellow the towers in each corner of the academy. Different buildings jotted out around it, the pathway towards the castle was hedged with gardens of roses and tulips, leaves scattered across the grey pavement floor as our feet,the only sound in the still path, echoed around us. The black cloak sticking out like sore thumb as it billowed in the wind. I chewed at my bottom lip, squirming inwardly. I really don't like this guy, his aura is way to intimidating and scary. And that's saying something since the only thing that scares me happens to be inside me. The two suns lights glittered off of the castle walls and windows, the stones each another colour than what they were supposed to be in the morning suns. The Magi,dressed as a Gæsi walked in through the castle doors, the floor was decorated by a pure white rug, a table sat in front of a staircase that broke off in three, two of which went to the West and East side of the Castle. There were two hallways on either side of me each of them promising freedom from the silence of this man. I'd rather be yelled at by Yuki right now, it would have been much better than this silent tension. It feels like I'm about to be interrogated for committing a murder or even Arsen. Well I have committed Arsen before....40 times actually,but I'm pretty sure this isn't about that, since no one can possibly know that I had and it didn't happen in this world or in this life so....murder? Nope. Never done that, okay Lily had....more than I would like to admit but not in this Lifetime, we're still 'babies' in this life. He began was halfway up the stairs when I snapped out of my inner turmoil,I ran after him and caught up easily. Awe man, please say he didn't notice that!

' I'm sure he had. He is a Magi, after all and your still sloppy at hiding yourself.' Lily says. My shoulders slumped. I concealed my presence by making my aura fade away a bit, this attracted his attention. Red eyes glared at me as I paused half a step behind the Magi and made my presence noticeable. Bad idea! Very very bad idea! Now I look even more suspicious,he's probably gonna use a truth crystal on me, damn those things hurt when you lie. The truth crystals are small black crystals with a red outer ring, once you touch it,the instant you lie the crystal will burn your soul, it's the worst kind of torture any one could endure. He took out a rusted old key before inserting it in to the lock of the old library, but no one is allowed in there and no one had owned it or even stepped in to it in my first life....is this a butterfly affect? I've endured countless butterfly affects before so this must be one of them probably because I blocked the man from reading my mind, but it's private there's no way I'm going to let him know everything I do!

'You could have just spoken Norway in your thoughts, it would have made things simpler.' Lily reminded me....Right. The doors swung open revealing a dusty old library, there was a cherry blossom tree that sat in the middle of the room,the room itself slanted down wards, stairs evenly spaced apart from one another ran down and towards the tree, it's blossoms were scattered all across the room, over the shelves and books, the tables that stood further to the side. There was three levels above us, a spiralling case flowed through each level, providing a safe way up. The man circled around the tree, the hems of his robe creating a clean path in the dusty floor, I walked in his shadows, scanning the rising shelves. So many books.... A few books fluttered around us like birds, probably enchanted to make finding them easier. When we finally arrived at the other side of the room the man unlocked a second door and walked inside, I inclined my head back to get a better view of something that had glinted above. There was a massive dome window above that provided sunlight to the tree, a small hole I assume meant for letting water and birds through,why they would allow birds in a library beats me.

"Miss Dawn,please enter the room and stop daydreaming would you?" His voice sounded incredibly bored as he spoke up. Snapping my head down in shock I backed a step away when I found him standing just in the doorway, he had his cloak folded over his arm. His hair was white with black streaks running through the strands,tied in a low hanging ponytail that could match my own. This is.....the King. Or at least the future king. I gulped audibly, no wonder he scares me.

"R-right,Sir." I stutter and stepped in to the surprisingly open room. A shelf stood on either side of the entrance to the study room, a cloak hanger just beside it. A desk stood before open balcony doors, three chair surrounding it, each looking mighty comfortable. Low hanging baskets of flowers hung on the walls. Photos of people whom I barely recognise decorated the golden brown walls. Travin sat down and motioned for me to do the same,he was already marked by the Royal King,so he's a crown prince which means that in ten to fifteen years he'll take over. Ahh, why did I forget such important details but remember the most weirdest of things? I sat down uncomfortably but couldn't help but relax when I felt the cushions squeeze beneath me. Rabbit fur, Truni feathers, a creature almost like a geeze but far more wild and dangerous, comparable to a bear, because of its magic, it's feathers are so soft that it's hard not to fall asleep when you're on them or even holding them. Aya, and I'm still affected by that apple from last night,the only things that is keeping me awake at this point is the tension in the room and the intimidating aura.

"Call me Edward, nothing else,nothing more. Now tell me the truth." He placed the dreaded crystal in front of me and folded his arms,wow,he's actually allowing me to speak his first name, when we first met in my first life he'd chop the first persons head off who would call him out by his name. I placed my hand on the awful crystal already having a grudge against the murderous thing.

"Who are you?"

"Asher Dawn." I reply and nothing happened.

"Your age?"

" 17." Nothing.

"When did you get here?"

"Yesterday." Still nothing.

"No I meant,when did you cross your bridge?" Edward rephrase.

"A few days ago." Nothing.

" How do you know wanzo then?"

" There are bridges that are on my world of people that had already came here,they do trade with us and we learned over time this language, wanzo, in turn. I know it through them." Just barely the truth but still the truth. Nothing happened. Edward leaned back.

"Which bridge did you cross?" He asks.

"The Hell Fire Bridge." Nothing. He bit his lip and looked away.

"Where did you learn to hide your thoughts like that?" Edward asks.

"I taught myself,it doesn't require mana so it's easy to do." I state and nothing happened.

"But why did you teach yourself this?"

"Because the people who cross are sometimes bad." I say simply. Nothing. I won't lie with this thing under my hand, its hurts to much to lie.

"Alright,then why block me?"

"Cause my thoughts are my own. I don't want or like it when someone reads my thoughts. It feels like I'm naked." I say shuddering,nothing. He nodded before taking out another object this one transparent with a golden spiralling core. A potential diameter.

"Don't remove your hand from the black crystal, place your other on the new one. This is a potential diameter. It will tell us what your elements are and what your potential it." Edward says, and crossed his arms,the intimidating aura dispersing replaced with an eerie feeling of calm,like a sleeping dragon. Still suspicious? Yeesh. I placed my hand on the potential crystal.

"What am I supposed to do, Edward?" I ask eyeing him. I wish he'd return to his goofball aura I like that one more. His eyes met mine, pining me to the chair, my heart stuttered as if about to stop.

"Just close your eyes, relax." Edward says. My nose twitched slightly.

"Don't think that's possible, not with you like this, Edward. Your making the air way to tense." I say bluntly. He blinked to shocked to respond, he leaned back,rubbing the back of his neck and looking anywhere but at me as the air began to drain of the tension. My shoulders sagged in relief,I hadn't even known that they were bunched up in tension. Hai,much better. I closed my eyes, but remembered the too soft cushions under me and then felt the cold of the two crystals under the palms of my hands. My body gradually relaxed as my senses clouded. Colours danced under the lids of my eyes, each a strand with a different hue the further in you go. They rouse like fountain water, spraying around me with no rhyme or reason, tangling and twisting, spiralling until they began to disperse as my fingers were pried away from the crystal. I gasped as the coldness of the room increased not because of Edward but because my elements were upset. I tried to calm down but it didn't seem to work, not until warm fingers brushed gently across my knuckles.

"Breath,Asher. It's as simple as that." Edward says. I sat up straighter as I woke from the images of colour and strands of elements.

"What was that?" I asked numbly, I never heard of something like this before,never.

"I don't know,and it's best that you tell no one you felt that, it seems that one of your elements refuse to work with the rest. Your potential is to put simply very high. Congratulations you've passed the first test. The second test will start in over two hours. You may explore this library and this library only,don't go out of the castle until the two hours have passed." Edward says,writing down on paper. My potential is high? I only passed the first test in my first life because my potential was at A Healers rank. But now it's higher, I guess that is expected considering.

"My elements? You're saying I have more than one?" I ask sounding incredulous even to my own ears.

"Yes. You do. All of them. Which is a unique aspect that should not have happened. Trust only those you've already met with these words, Asher. This is a world filled with demonic beings that would tear you to pieces if they found out about your strength before you could even cultivate it further. But for now,forget about this,relax." He made a shooing motion before going back to writing,I pouted.