"Helena, the new prospects will be arriving soon. How is the calibration of the awakening machinery?" enquired Muriel to the red haired initiate.
"Madam Muriel, the carnelian needs to be taken out of the black box. We are waiting for your approval." Helena answered. She hated handling carnelian. Everyone did. Carnelian was discovered on the outskirts of the Megalithic circle. More than hundred years of friction between the darkness within the Last act and the runes of the Megalith pillars created a crystalline substance that often coated the outside of the pillars. Surprisingly it had no attribute. The initiates of the Caretakers of Runes mined carnelian and researched on it. It was found to help mitigate the painful process of awakening. Mages and warriors before the great war used to awaken by drinking potions specific to what talent they wanted. And usually many of them awakened talents incompatible with their physique. Those who should be mages became warriors and vice-versa. One with a water type physique was found to awaken a fire type talent and so on. Carnelian mitigated this problem. Once the red crystal liquefies and came in contact with the prospective awakened, it changed its colour. Blue aura represented mage and Yellow aura that of warrior. The carnelian blue or yellow formed a ring around your index finger. This represented the first test of talent. If the liquefied carnelian does not form a ring, the child is untalented in the ways of mage or warrior. Every carnelian ring had striations on it. Rings having striation patterns of four or more were inferred as top talents. Those with two and three patterns were medium and those below two were considered lower talented. The current masters of Council of Caretakers from each race had six striated patterns. For most children the carnelian ring is the first ornament in their life. It stood as a symbol of allied races unflinching defence against the Last act.
Handling this resource required extreme care. Specially made gloves were used to take the carnelian crystals to the awakening machinery or the carnelian liquefier. If touched with hands, the carnelian ends up being polluted and causes unexpected results, results that may even take the child prospects life. Not even a speck of dust should touch the crystal before it is brought to the liquefier. Hence the warrior or mage in charge ends up being extremely vigilant. A thankless tasking job that all initiates dread and so did Helena. Helena was a beast-kin from the Tiger tribe. She was seven feet tall and adorned a white battle armour. Her long spear and leaf shaped shield were kept on a side within the tent. She was too energetic and had scuffles with the captain of the initiates. Hence she was assigned the duty of dealing with the carnelian to temper her will. Or it was the excuse given by the initiate captain to mess with her.
"You can transport the crystals to the liquefier." Muriel replied curtly and took a seat facing the liquefier so that she can act in case anything goes wrong. She caressed her blue carnelian ring with her thumb and slowly rolled it in her index finger feeling the four striations one by one. It reminded her of the past when she took the talent assessment in the Elven city of Noth-Yar, her hometown. Since the great was Noth-Yar became a shadow of itself. Strongholds of all races did suffer catastrophic damage from the Boeficians. Muriel's parents also died fighting them.
Principal Mulligans brought all the students of age in front of the tent. "Line up young'uns, and listen to what the initiates and Caretakers say, do not create trouble for the school or you will be serving detention after this." All the children quickly lined up and faced expectantly towards the huge white tent.
One of the two initiate guards in armour guarding the tent announced the beginning of the assessment. One by one children started to enter the tent. Tom dragged Michail, he wanted to be the first to go in, but pulling Michail he could only be the third. Two girls stood in front of them. "Michail, let me tell you again, lets get assessed. If nothing happens then you can say that you never took part to your Mother. If you get a talent lets face what will happen after that. And even if your mother is angry so what, she will also be happy that you have a talent."
While Michail pondered over what Tom said the first girl who entered came out. Chestnut hair and a green skirt, she hung her head low and tears were flowing. Some teachers took her to the classroom. This was a common occurrence during assessments. Those who had no talent were often denied the chance to become stronger. They could only lead normal lives.
The next girl came running out happily out of the tent flashing a blue ring. Obviously she has magic talent. The teachers took her to the initiates at the other end of the tent. They recorded the information of the newly awakened prospects. Her name Michail remembered as Jenna.
The next to go in was Tom. Michail waited impatiently for him to called. There was an emptiness in his stomach and he felt his knees buckling. But he held on and not before long he was called in.