The Ranking Ceremony 2

By the time Sky's class had arrived at the auditorium, the rest of the student had arranged themselves in the alphabetical order they were supposed to be in. Sky had tried to join in where her last name went, but no one answered her when she asked what letter they were. She had simply taken up the last spot in line.

The auditorium looked much like the stands at the outdoor practice courts. It was on a sublevel of the school and had five sections of seats, each row higher than the one that preceded it. The sections of seats were arranged in a narrow fan shape around a large, raised, dark wooden stage. Upon this, a wizened old male stood behind a podium with a glowing, translucent circle like the one that had come out of Aven's bracelet in front of him. A medium sized table stood just before the podium, and shiny looking bag sat upon the table. It seemed to glow with a pearly rainbow of light that shifted and changed each time Sky looked at it. A larger circular display was above the stage just like the one in front of the male on stage.

Instructor Drakkon led them down the center aisle to the first row in the middle section of seats. He pointed, and they sat. Then, he walked to the left side wall and joined several other males in white uniforms. Jin was nowhere in sight, but Sky saw that Aven was among them. He met her gaze with impassivity before looking away dismissively. It was a brief look, but Sky had been able to ascertain that his uniform today was impeccable. She almost smiled when she heard the male on the stage clear his throat.

Sky turned her attention to him again. The male smiled warmly at everyone. "Now that I have everyone's attention, I will explain how this will go. When I call your name please come onto the stage using the left steps, reach into the bag, pull out your rank, and show it to me. Then, exit the stage using the steps on the right. Ninety percent of your rank is based on your magical potential. The other ten percent is based on the magic you know. Class 1-ES1 is first, and we will start with Char Rexwing." Char's name appeared on the large display. He got up from his seat, used the stairs on the left of the stage, and reached into the bag with drawn brows and a severe frown. Pulling out his rank and looking at it, he smiled slightly before showing it to the male.

"Rank 4 – Gral," the male announced. The glyph Gral appeared under Char's name as he walked off the stage. He was immediately joined by Instructor Drakkon, and they left.

The male on stage called the next student and on it went until everyone else in Sky's class had been called. Before she could even do anything, the male started calling the next class. Sky kept waiting for an opportunity to say something, but none presented itself. She watched student after student get ranked and leave. Finally, several hours later, Sky was the only student left in the auditorium. The male on stage packed up.

"Wait!" Sky cried out frantically. The male jumped and peered at her with moist, owlish eyes. She raced onto the stage and said, "you never called my name." He frowned.

"If I did not call your name, it is because you are not a student," he said in a crisp voice that reminded Sky of the crunch of frozen snow under foot.

"No, I am a student. I was attacked right after I got here and left in the woods to die. They marked me down as having run away as a result, and I haven't been able to get my status changed yet," she explained. The male's frown deepened into a stiff scowl.

"Godsdamnit," he muttered under his breath. Sky, thinking he was angry at being accosted by a human, tried to plead with him.

"Please let me get ranked. I have to get ranked, or I'll have no chance of surviving the cuts once I do get recognized as an active student." Her eyes misted. The cuts were how the first-year class currently of two hundred people was narrowed down to just one hundred, the standard class size. Those people with the lowest ranks were cut first. If there was a tie, the school looked at points. The person with the higher number of points would get to stay. It would likely take a long time for Sky to be recognized as an active student. When she did, if her rank was one with no points, there would be no way for her to catch up to the other students. There was only a month between cuts. If she were cut, she really would have to leave. She stared at the male with desperation written in every inch of her body.

"Calm down;" the male said gently, "I'm not angry with you. It just infuriates me sometimes how such a blatant bigot tries to fill the shoes of a truly great male." He pressed a button on the podium, and the circular cloud of light shot out again. "I will, of course, allow you to be ranked, but it may take me a little bit to enter your rank into your file. I will have to do a manual override, which cannot be done from this terminal. What is your name?"

Skylar spoke though her words sounded choked due how tight her throat had become. She had very nearly started crying when he'd said he would let her get ranked. "Um- Skylar Maren, human, first year, in class 1-ES1." The male frowned.

"Why aren't you in the S class?"

"My name wasn't on any of the class lists, so I chose my own. I wanted a class that spent more time studying magic." The male blinked then shrugged.

"Well, if that's what you want. Now, Skylar, reach into the bag and draw you rank, please." Sky smiled as she eagerly drove her hand into the red, silky bag. She could feel a lot of palm-sized, rectangular, metal things. Frowning in concentration and praying for rank two, Sef, she grabbed one. She pulled it from the bag and looked at it. It was not a symbol she recognized.

"I don't know what this is," she said and showed the rank to the male. He blinked in surprise and snatched it from her. Sky watched as he turned it upside down and stared at it mute for a what seemed to her a long time.

Finally, he said, "please do that one more time." Sky frowned and pulled out another rank. It was Gral, rank four. She stared at it in shock then smiled as she realized that with its big swooping tail, this was the same rank she'd gotten last time, only now it was right-side-up. She showed it to the male. He nodded.

"Very well. You are a Gral, rank 4. I will add this to your file. Ordinarily, students are supposed to wear those, but I strongly recommend that you do not do that. You may go now. If you ever need any help that is within my power, stop by room 119. I am Instructor Gillianice." Sky beamed as she gazed at the male.

"Thank you, sir," Sky said. She tucked her rank into her pocket and skipped off the stage.