Crunch
Crunch
Crunch
Aren held his bag tightly to his chest as the carriage swayed left and right. The path was uneven, and that was not even the worst of it — it was the stares he was receiving.
There were three other ladies inside the carriage, two before him and one beside him. He knew what they were — cheap whores from the bawdy house.
"Oh my god! He stinks."
"How does he even have the money to travel by carriage?"
"I can't be bothered by him. I heard mages are coming in from the academy for recruitment today — we need to put in our best performance."
What annoyed Aren was that they didn't even bother lowering their voices. It was like he didn't exist to them. Not that he cared about them, but the fact that they kept disrespecting him when he did nothing didn't sit well with him.
"Hey kid!"
The one beside him finally spoke, and when Aren thought she was about to say something sensible, she proceeded with dumb talk.
"Be a man of dignity and abandon the carriage for us."
"Eh?" Aren was beyond stunned as he looked at her. Dignity? "You speak of dignity yet you sell your body to old men." spat "I would sleep with a beast over any of you bastards."
Of course, he wouldn't sleep with a beast — he just hated the three women to the core. Before they could even retaliate, he jumped out of the carriage and sprang into the bush as he laughed at the top of his voice.
"You foul-mouthed orphan bastard!!!!!!! Come back here!!!"
He smirked as he disappeared completely. He had already reached where he was going — just a turn and they were there already. As he exited on the other side, he could see it already: a stage had been erected in the middle of the town centre.
It was made of earth — no doubt a mage at work.
"Impressive," Aren murmured as he stepped closer. His small body went through all the people gathered together until his head finally popped outside of the stage area. Three men were sitting in the middle, and behind them each were three younger men standing in queues.
Aren looked at the twelve men on the stage and he couldn't help but be wowed — they all looked feminine to him. Not that they looked like women, but the quality of their skin and cloth.
It was as if they had never been through any suffering before. Compared to the men here, these ones were heavens apart.
He didn't have to wait long until the place was completely crowded out. Everybody looked his age, and luckily he wasn't the only one looking rough, so he didn't gather that much attention.
Movement!
The man in the middle stood up from his chair as the whole place was silenced. Everybody looked as he walked forward. In one motion, he thrust the staff in his hand into the ground.
Afterwards, he looked at the kids around the stage as he spoke in a clear and loud voice,
"Each of you will step on this stage one after the other. You must only touch the staff with one hand, and it will tell whether you're eligible for practising magic."
Everybody nodded — well, everybody except Aren, who stared at the man dumbly.
What the hell does this man mean, eligible for magic?!!! He never knew about this part. Being eligible to practice magic and actually successfully awakening your magic were two different things.
Things were looking bad.
The man returned to his seat as a random boy jumped onto the stage. He was very eager to touch the staff. Taking large strides, he reached the staff and placed a hand on it.
".."
Everybody watched in silence as they expected a reaction in the crystal embedded at the top of the staff, but after five seconds, their patience busted.
"Fuck, he's ineligible???"
"You are not eligible to practice magic," the man sitting on the left announced emotionlessly. To him, this was just routine. He didn't give a fuck about these kids' future.
The boy's hand slowly detached from the staff as he walked down with hollow eyes. His soul had already left his body before the man spoke.
This was it. It was over. He would die human. There was no hope of becoming something great. Sixteen years of dreaming for this moment, and everything came down in five seconds.
Next!
Everybody had just had the nastiest reality check. Now, nobody wanted to step forward. Who would, after what they just saw?
Suddenly, someone jumped on the stage. It was a girl, and she was pretty popular.
Erin — who wouldn't know her? She was a beggar, and she was good at what she did.
People didn't take her seriously as she mounted the stage. Some only looked once and then looked away. If not for the school's open policy that any sixteen-year-old could perform, why would a worthless beggar like this one be competing for a spot with them?
Erin didn't care about the murmurs around her as she placed her hand on the staff steadily. Then, instantly, the staff lit up. It was a bright light — those closer had to close their eyes.
"What?! Erin is eligible!"
"No way!"
"Makes me want to go next!"
Erin quickly detached her hand from the staff in shock as she looked at the three men sitting down.
The man sitting on the left clapped his hands softly.
"Congratulations, lad. You're now a student."
Erin was overjoyed as she heard those words. She didn't even know the name of the academy, but she didn't care. What mattered was that she could practice magic and become a respected mage.
One of the boys standing behind the man on the left walked forward and took Erin back with him. He didn't care that she was dirty or that she was in rags.
Aren felt his hope rise a little bit. If someone like Erin could practice magic, then that meant all of them stood a chance, right?
But the next results left him rooted to his spot as he stared at the stage dumbly. He had just watched seven people go up after Erin, and each of them failed.
"You are not eligible to practice magic. Next!"
Reality slapped all of them again as the eighth person failed.
Eight in a row — what did it mean? So far, the success rate was 10%, and it might even be worse.
He felt himself leaking, but when he touched down there, he realized it was just his mind.
What if I get robbed and killed instead?
What if I starve to death?
What if I die of cold?
Many what-ifs went through Aren's head as he quickly turned around.
Maybe if he returned home quickly, they might forgive him and let him continue living with them.
He needed to give this a second thought.
"Hey, you!"
Aren's whole body froze. He didn't need to turn around to know that the man in the middle was talking to him.
"Your turn," he said almost lazily. Since they had all stopped coming, he decided to start calling randoms.
The kid with his back turned was a perfect sample — and the kid turned out to be Aren.
He didn't dare disobey. He placed his bag on the floor as he stepped forward.
Right… what's the worst that could happen if this doesn't work? I could always go back home and beg for them to let me work for limited food.
Those were his thoughts as he stepped on the stage.