Rachel awakens, feeling refreshed but also nervous. She knows today is the day M.A.A.S decides how weak or strong her magic is a part of her stresses over what she will say if they ask her how long she’s had it for. Will they understand that she obtained it barely twenty-four hours ago? Will they get mad over it and tell her to come back next year? She can’t help but worry they might look into her file more and find out that she isn’t from here.
She sits up in bed, rubbing her eyes. She can’t let the panic and worry overtake her. Certainly not today she HAS to get ready and pretend she belongs.... She belongs.... Right? She’s been treated as an equal, no questions asked about her background or living arrangement. She can’t help but wonder if everyone just thinks she is Bailey’s cousin in all of this, she knows it’s very possible if one of amber’s siblings (if she has any) had married and started a family with someone who isn’t white... Back in her realm, Rachel is half white with her father being Welsh. She gets out of bed and goes over to the wooden wardrobe. Today it’s filled with three new dresses all of which are coloured purple with a tint of pink and some red, the trims being yellow with a mix of orange.
The first dress, one that has pointy and zigzag pattern at the bottom, sleeves that reach down past the elbows, and the top part of it circle around some white fabric which she can assume that’s where her head goes through. There are leggings sewn into the dress, which she feels it is sewn all the wait up to the waist. She gives the dress and leggings a tug, testing out to see if they are specially made to pre-vent panting or giving someone a wedgy and to her surprise it is. She sees a slight glow across the stich line, preventing her from pulling them apart. She grabs the second one, which the dress part goes to her ankles. Design wise, it looks simple with a single bag thrown over the shoulder and two belts around the waist and a hoodie connected to the top part. Inside, she sees the same leggings. The third one is one she really likes, a short that is going from her right side of her waist and longer down to the left side of her knee, wavy with pink flowers and a yellow centre at the edge.
She puts it on and feels like she is herself; she feels pretty; she feels happy and proud. She feels that no one can tell her otherwise or make her feel bad over how she looks. From the shirt to the pants, she feels complete. She leans towards her bedroom door as she hears two voices quietly whispering to each other. Unsure of the specifics, she caught fragments of “She doesn’t know,” “This is a surprise,” and a voice reprimanding loud footsteps. She pushes her ear up against the door as she hears them whisper something again, this time quieter. She knows what she is doing is wrong, but she’s only eleven. She can’t help it. Well, she’s really ten, but she remembers amber explaining to her that birthdays and ages work a bit differently here. Or they don’t? She doesn’t really understand why she had to put that she is eleven on the form when her birthday four five months away.
She stays quiet, trying her best to hear what is being said, but she doesn’t have any luck - Whoever is speaking is just speaking to quiet - She ends up giving up and going back to look through her room for any slippers she can wear until she can find some shoes. She grabs a vine and ties her hair up in a high ponytail. She never liked High ponytail hairstyle, but she could remember Naomi always going on about how she’s beautiful and how it suits her.
“She’s doesn’t know”
“Right, so don’t let her know... What if she works it out, or she tells her?”
Let’s discuss it when the time comes.
‘She?’ She was in Rachel or she was in someone else? They must be talking about her. Who else could she be talking about? Bailey? Jessica? Eva is very unlikely. She doesn’t remember if she was told about the youngest sister but she thinks they aren’t talking about her. She steps back from the door as a black circle appears on the floor just under the door knob, she watches as a skeletal arm and hand reach out of it, grabbing the knob and throwing the door open, the door smashing the arm into pieces. Standing just on the other side of the door is two boys, both fairly tall, one has the dark blue hair and red eyes, dressed in black with a white trim rope, the sleeves go down to his elbows and the bottom of it goes to his knees, he is wearing pants that stop just before his ankles which are also black with a white trim. He isn’t wearing a hat and his skin as the same snow white like Bailey. The boy next to him has green eyes, yellow hair and his skin is more tanned, he is wearing Dark orange robes with a pyramid sewn into his left sleeve. The trim is coloured a dark yellow with zig-zag lines through it. His pants only go down to his knees. Both of them are wearing socks and no hat.
She looks down at the boys dressed in black to see his left hand having a black glow around it. She watches as the glow around his hand disappears and the black circle on the floor. She knows who opened the door now, she just doesn’t understand how he knew... She looks at the pair of the worried. Do walls possess all-seeing and all-hearing capabilities?
“Did you enjoy our conversation?”
The one in orange asks her, his voice not sounding mad, not sounding disappointed, just sounding annoyed. She feels a little embarrassed of herself, but she wants answers. She also wants to know how they knew she was there. Was she breathing too loud? Do walls possess eyes that can see through them using a third eye? Do they have some type of super hearing or did they just take a wild guess? She looks at them, unsure of her answer. She could just say it’s because she’s eleven and hopes they believe it... But many not, as one of them could be the older brother to Bailey. She can only assume the one dressed in black is related to Bailey, as he has the same skin tone as her. She hears him sigh.
“Rachel? Right? We weren’t talking about you. We were talking about my mother; she doesn’t know we came home to surprise her; my younger sister knows along with Bailey. We plan on surprising her, so please don’t say a word.”
“Your secret is safe with me... I’m sorry, but what are your names?”
She needs to know, if she is going to be living in the same house as them, she can’t call them ‘Boy one’ and ‘Boy two’. No one will understand who she is talking about. It would be weird if they did. The one dressed in black speaks first.
“I’m Cody OwlThief and this is our oldest brother is Corey FairyFlower. Mum shared a bit about you and your temporary stay. Am I correct? Little tip. Don’t be mad if you don’t get into the school, you’re hoping to get into. Each school is looking for something different... Good Luck with your assessment today.”
She nods. Like Bailey, it looks like they haven’t been told much either. She agrees to self to keep quiet until she is asked. While trying to speak, she is halted by the opening of a bedroom door. A younger female resembling Baily and Cody appeared this time. She can tell almost right away that it’s their youngest sister. They watch as she slips to the kitchen, clearly grabbing something to eat before running back to her room. Cody turns back to Rachel before leaving but says nothing. Rachel slowly makes her way around the house, following the path Bailey took her in yesterday to find the kitchen... Down the hallway and taking a right past the room they wash their cloths in, she takes a couple more steps until she reaches a door that looks a lot like the kitchen doors. These doors differ only in the darker wood and the switch from wave patterns to vines.
When she opens it, she’s greeted with another bedroom, this one smaller than hers, a single bed that is half made near the bay window, a desk that is cluttered with what looks like leaves, branches, and other nick knacks and trinkets. Books horribly organized on the shelves and the shelves clearly drilled into the wall, all four rows, and an open gem bag on the bedside table. There are approximately ten pearls in the main pocket, with only one visible in a side pocket according to Rachel. She doesn’t touch it; she doesn’t know who it belongs to and whose room this in which she shows she shouldn’t be in. The pillow on the bed looking like it’s a bundle of leaves being held together with magic, a blanket that’s made of water and the wooden bed frame a black colour. The rug on the floor a mix of yellow and orange with the rim being red. In Rachel’s opinion, the room is colourful and has personality. Not a spotless one at that.
“Rachel? What are you doing in here?”
“Bailey? Where are you?”
“In bed... you look beautiful”
That comment makes her blush. She shakes it off by saying thanks and turns back to Bailey who is buried deep under the blankets. She waits until Bailey is sitting up to speak. However, she knows this would be a good time to ask her more questions, mainly wanting to find out if Bailey is Eva’s primary victim of bullying. She watches as she sits up and rubs her eyes. She fidgets in the spot she is standing on, hoping, preying even that the question doesn’t upset her.
“Can I ask you something? You said I think yesterday about not liking the hair colour the stone gave you… Why is that?”
“I liked the colour at first, but then I was being called ‘bald’ at school… I know I’m as white as snow but back then I used to go outside so I wasn’t this white well I was but not this white … you know?”
Rachel nods, understanding. Her brothers get bullied at school and stay inside a lot. It wasn’t until they moved to Mildura is when the bulling stopped. They never liked Ouyen to being with… She remembers her brothers staying in side a lot during those times but no they have made friends and even go out to football games and even have sleep overs and birthday parties, which they end up getting invited to some of them. She nods. She doesn’t understand what it feels like fully, but she understands that her brothers stayed in doors when it happened.
Amber knocks on Bailey’s bedroom door telling her to get up and get ready. She calls for Rachel to come out so she can fill out the form for M.A.A.S. Rachel leaves the room as Bailey pulls her self out of bed. Rachel finds Amber in the kitchen. Rain hitting the roof, windows lighting up the room, candle on the table. She sees Amber is looking at two forms for M.A.A.S. Some areas like her name, city of birth, current home, sex, element, and past education have already been filled out.
She sits down next to her and fills out her birthday. What she revealed is known only by Amber and Gavin. Rachel looks up from the form to the purple wand with yellow tulip petals at the bottom. She was surprised with how fast she made it yesterday. She only wished she had more time. She likes what she made so far, but she knows she could’ve easily done more… maybe she can add onto once she gets accepted into a school.
She looks back down at the form; it asks about any mental health issues… She remembers yesterday’s four hour check up with Doctors Leigh Vault and Stephanie Mist. She loved how they listened and explained things to her. She longs for people like them in her home. She looks down at both of the forms she filled out.
She gazes upward to find that Bailey has completed the identical pair. Amber takes the time to explain that one form will be handed in while the other stays with us and how it’s done to make sure one side changes nothing and so we can remember what was written. She holds up a copy of the money sheet in this world and rent she will be paying. She understands some of it but the rent assistance. Does the children in the higher end of their parents work to get it? Do they have to pay more rent? Is Amber and her family considered the lower and working end.
She was right. The better job your parents work the higher rent students have to pay.
“Grab your things. We’re leaving here soon”
Amber tells Her and Bailey. Gavin hands the both of the plates full of food, a small cup filled with milk, a sandwich which holds cheese and ham and some small candies wrapped up in leaves. She watches as Bailey grabs her two, both wrapped up in brown leaves. It’s clear she left the two wrapped up in green leaves for Rachel. Rachel does hand Bailey a green one, pointing at one of the brown ones. Bailey does smile, handing Rachel a Brown one and accepting the green one.
“Thank you, Rachel”
“You’re welcome, Bailey. Are you ready for today?”
“A little, I’m nervous… last year I wasn’t given an offer, so I hope I get one this year.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened last year?”
“I froze up.” She paused. Inhaling deeply. I was asked to make a potion, but at the table, I froze. I did not know what to make. I studied the week before but, I just forgot everything.”
She listens to bailey as they walk through the streets of Cragglen, roads and pathways full of people standing at shops buying food or magical items, some even trying on some clothing. Chatter is heard and louder than normal. Parents going in and out of buildings with their children carrying books, clothes, and even different types of animal feed. Amber and Gavin are discussing something that Rachel doesn’t quite understand. She understands the freeze up Bailey was talking about. Well, some of it. She has frozen up in class during the class presentations twice herself. Even with the cards in front of her, she felt like they weren’t there and they were empty, like there was nothing written on them.
She nods, reassuring Bailey that she has been there herself.
After walking a while longer, they are soon standing in front of a huge gate way, walls spamming all across the bottom of a mountain that leads up to a castle that shits high at the top, walls and small buildings placed around the outside, all of them leading down towards the walls at the bottom. The land a beautiful green surrounded by large bodies of water with ducks, swans and other magical creatures swimming and floating on it. Frog and Lili pads also visibly with some dragon flies. Trees and flowers blooming in the day and thriving. The sign on the gate saying: ‘NETABOROUGH CITY’
“Hey Mum, We’re at Netaborough, why aren’t we at Peterborough?”
“Someone flooded Peterborough with their Maffyn magic so the whole assessment was moved here”
Amber explains why, Rachel is excited to see the city. The entire city looks lively, and she is just excited to get in there. They head towards the gate and walk in. As they walk around, they see shops that are very different to Cragglen. One shop is shaped like a book standing up straight, the right side of its building partly open and the bricks carved out to make it look like pages. Another building it shaped of some herbs placed upside down. The doors are open and she can see inside, being able to tell there are many floors and shelves just full of different herbs, weeds, and other ingredients.
Every building is made of white stone and has blue roofs. While the wall surrounding the city is made from a dirtier white stone, some parts of the wall showing other colours like red, light brown, dark brown and even orange, looking as if the wall was painted in the past but the paint has slowly chipped away and no one bothered to restore the paint. The gate’s sign stands out as one of the city’s few fresh things. The food stalls placed next to each other on the main street, each one selling something different labelled in English and some other language.
‘Apple Worm Candy - ᚢᚹᚹᛇᚺ᛫ᖷ𝖵ᛕᛒ᛫ᚴᚢᛞᛋ - ◇5,500’
‘Lek Stew - ↆᚺᚴ᛫ᐳᛚ⨝ - ◇10,655’
‘Netaborough Sandwich - ᛏᚺᛚᚢᚱ𝖵ᛕ🝧ᚬ᛫ᐳᚢᛞ𐌒ᛁᛚᚳ - ◇100’
‘Peterborough Sandwich - ᚹᚺᛚᚺᛕᚱ𝖵ᛕ🝧ᚬ᛫ᐳᚢᛞ𐌒ᛁᛚᚳ - ◇100’
‘Fehu Salad - ᛩᚺ⅄ᛟ᛫ᐳᚢᛇᚢᚫ - ◇1,500’
‘Merlin and Ambrose Cookies - ᛒᚺᛕᛇᛁᛏ᛫ᚢᛞ᛫ᚢਬᛕ𝖵ᐳᚺ᛫ᚴ𝖵𝖵ᚴᛁᚺᐳ - ◇5,100’
‘Sir Arthur Lemon Tea - ᐳᛁᛕ᛫ᚢᛕᛐᛟᛕ᛫ↆᚺᛒ𝖵ᛏ᛫ᛚ⤊ - ◇9,500’
‘Miss Barabar Apple Pie - ᛒᛝ̈ᐳ᛫ᚱᚢᛕᚢᚱᚢᛕ᛫ᚢᚹᚹᛇᚺ᛫ᚹᛁᚺ - ◇10,500’
‘Sunny SunShine Cream - ᐳᛟᛏᛏᛋ᛫ᐳᛟᛏᐳ⅄ᛁᛏᚺ᛫ᚴᛕ⤊ᛒ - ◇250’
‘Giggle Gum - ᚠᛁᚠᚠᛇᚺ᛫ᚠᛟᛒ - ◇550’
‘Maffyn Water - ᛒᚢᛩᛩᛋᛏ᛫ᖷᚢᛚᚺᛕ - ◇350’
‘Faxis Chillies - ᛩᚢᚴᐳᛝ̈᛫ᚴ⅄ᛁᚯᛁᚺᐳ - ◇350’
‘Zilin Stingers - ᚷᛁᛇᛁᛏ᛫ᐳᛚᛁᛯᚺᛕᐳ - ◇350’
Gavin hands her and bailey a potion with water in it, the label reading Maffyn Water. She also hands her a Sandwich filled with tomatoes, lettuce, eggs, bacon she thinks, salt, pepper, and cheese, bread brown with seeds in it. She looks at the wrapping to see it says: Peterborough Sandwich. Bailey is handed one with no meat and full of just ‘rabbit food’, as my brothers would put it, the wrapping on her Sandwich saying: Netaborough Sandwich.
They sit down in a park surrounded by a mote. Lillie pads on the water with dragon flies just flying at the top of the water, some fish jumping out trying to catch the dragon flies in their mouth. They use this time to eat the food they were handed.
As they wake their way inside the castle, the pair of them see different types of kids, all different heights, weight, skin colours, and even races, some kids have blue, green, and red skin, some have animal ears, others are have pointy ears like an elf, others have wings like a fairy but are the size of a human, she even sees some that are vampires and werewolves’. As two students walk by, she immediately notices one as a cyclops and the other as an ogre.
As they walk through the giant sliver doors, they see four flags, each one grey with words woven into them. Many students talk, some look around, most go to the front desks for forms, and what Rachel assumes is their assessment number. Bailey and Rachel head to the four tables, each one having an older looking female sitting at the both of them.
One table being made of clouds, a female with grey skin dressed in light brown and dark brown clothing. On her table is cards with photos of some type. Her hair is tied up in a pony tail. Her flag behind her reading: MADAM ELORE TINETH.
The table next to her made of charcoal, the lady sitting behind it having a pinkish-red skin tone; her dress more curly than Elore. Her hair a dark red and curly. Her flag stating that her name is MADAM RINNEAS GASIM. Some round thing on a chain is placed on her desk.
The third table made from water is next to Rinnea’s table, her clothing different blues smoothed out, her hair, a medium blue and straight as a line, a giant blue bow with light blue waves sewed onto the bow. Her skin a sky blue. On her table is a book which Rachel can’t quite see the title of. However, the flag behind her read: MADAM ASINI SHARAS.
The fourth and final desk is made from a mix of boulders and tree roots. Her clothing dark and light green, skin is almost a light mint green, her hair a dark moss green. A rock that is brown and polished enough to be smooth is sitting on her table. A pink and purple flowers tucked behind her long slender ears a clear give away that she is an elf of some type. Her flag reading: MADAM CELYN AQINN.
They head to the tables that have Madam’s Rinneas and Asini. They smile as the two women in front of them smile back, greet them and hand them a sticker with their name and number on it. ‘Bailey.O.T-M.A.A.S: 18015001’ and ‘Rachel.B-M.A.A.S: 01055002’. They hand them a copy of their forms to them and place the stickers on their shirts where it can be easily seen.
Assessments could take anywhere from one to two hours, just a reminder. You will first sit down as a group in one room to do a written one for how much basic knowledge you have, then you will be assessed individually.”
Madam Rinneas explains to us, showing us an empty copy of the Assessment Results page. We will be given by the end. Rachel gives it a scan over before handing it to Bailey to look at.
Expressing thanks, they walk away to make their way through the students. During this time, they observe the main area they are in. The walls are a dark grey with paints hung all along the walls. Spiral staircases on both sides of the room lead to a second floor with many doors. As they climb the stairs to the second floor, carpets gradually appear on the floors.
They walk some more, seeing that each door has the name of the room carved into the wall above the door: ‘Female Toilets’, ‘Male Toilets’, ‘Them Toilets’, ‘Private Students Study’, ‘Homeless Help’. Each door being made of a deep brown wood but having unique patterns on each one.
She and Bailey soon find them self standing in front of two giant wooden doors that open on their own. A library extending deep into the room. Ladders provide access to two levels. The shelves a light brown resting against walls that are made from some cement, the carpets a beige colour with a red and orange zigzag pattern that goes all the way down it.
In the centre of the room, resting on a pedestal is a giant glowing orb of some time, its blue with some green and yellow patches. A lot of white little dots on the yellow and green areas. The pair of them stare at it, amazed. They observe the base, spotting icons and labels. That’s when they notice the small icons above certain areas of the orb.
“It’s the mortal world”
Bailey states, pointing at the sun that is currently placed perfectly over Australia and New Zealand and various other islands and counties in that general area such as most of Asia. She puts her fingers near the small cloud icon and brings on up near New Zealand, placing just right in front of the sun, making it look like to the new Zealanders a cloud is passing by. Rachel does the same, but putting one over Australia, mainly over Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales borders at the north west side of Victoria.
“I see you’ve found earth as those mortal’s call it”
A male voice says from behind them. They both turn around and Rachel sees that boy that was at Amber’s house with Cody. She thinks his name was Corey FairyFlower. This time, in significantly different clothing. Dark blue pants that reach just above his ankles, sometimes of dark blue shirt that is hidden under some light blue, sliver armor the top half looking a lot like the Japanese Kimono. She notices the sparkling it does in the sun that is beaming through the windows. A blue jade is sewn into the sewing into the sleeve just above the elbows. His shoes a dark blue with sliver edges on it, both of which reach just up to his pants.
“This is earth, you are correct dear sister and what you both just did wasn’t much, but gave some towns in New Zealand and Australia a cloud. That is our shared goal. Keep earth and the mortals safe. The masters have been teaching us to control the weather and how the earth reacts to some events.”
Rachel understand him, she understands him a lot. For him, it’s like playing The Sims, but with earth instead of people. She watches him walk around earth explaining things. He stops once he gets to Japan and pulls moves a little earthquake icon.
“Someone gave Japan another earth quake. I really want people to stop doing that.
He didn’t look pleased one bit about someone putting an earth quake on Japan. He explains some more stuff. They watch as he moves the full moon icon over the areas that are in the night time section of the world. . She watches as he turns to the pair of them to explain how there is more than one person that watches over the globe, watches over earth. That is until Eva walks in and calls him a pirate. Corey looks at her with not anger but just confusion, Bailey steps back behind Corey when Eva gets closer and Rachel stands near Bailey.
“Care to explain how? Miss Moon”
Eva scoffs before turning towards him, shooting a glare at Bailey and then looking back up at Corey who is still calm about all this. The room quiet for some minutes, almost like Eva is thinking of what she should say. The wind is heard outside of the windows, some birds flying past, others landing on the edge. The shelves have a layer of dust building up on them and the sound of some books being removed, opened and read it heard from the second floor. The scratching from a fine line paint pen is heard gliding across some paper, possibly by a student or adult, maybe even a new rising author. If there was a clock with hands Rachel is sure it would be heard from the other side of the room. However, Rachel understands what Eva is trying to get at when she goes on about Corey’s outfit… she decides to wait though, hear out what Corey has to say
“Your outfit. It’s native to Nanyonne Village over at the Segonca District, you’re not from Nanyonne you’re from Torrine Village in Kethia District. It’s not your village native clothing so you’re a pirate”
“Well, I am wearing this lovely outfit because my mentor is from Nanyonne village, he personally made this for me and requested me to wear this during work hours as respect for him and his culture and I made it my duty to not to let him down and so far he has told me I haven’t let him down. he is also teaching cultures are meant to be shared”
“You’re still a pirate anywa-“
“And that’s your opinion and I won’t make you change it, just remember my mentor has requested that I wear this so I followed through with his request. I’m not going to change just because you think I’m a pirate. My mentor has told me how respectful I am being and his opinion is all that matters to me”
We face as Eva’s face turns red, her cheeks puffing out and she storms away with her friends in toe, still going on about how his behavior is pirate behavior. Corey smiles turning back to Rachel and Bailey who are in shock. Rachel doesn’t know how many people stood up to Eva like that but because of Eva’s reaction she can only assume not many. Rachel and Bailey are led out of the room by Corey as they hear shouting from the main floor that the first part of the assessments are about to start.
They make their way out of the room, down the stairs. Once they are with the dominant group of students, they stand in their assigned age groups. The four ladies guide them all into a big room just made of stone, The centre of the room is a circle platform made from some type of stone, around his stone seats, the first row sitting on the floor, the seconds row having been built more raised about the first one with stairs that lead up to them. The third row is higher than the seconds, she follows her group to one part of the seats; she is placed on the fourth row, which is higher than the third, second and first but lower than the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.
As they all sit down, Rachel hears some flutes, bodhrán, a Bango, and various other things some as harp, fiddles and even hammered dulcimer. She can tell almost right away that Celtic music is being played. She looks around, trying to work out where they are playing from, but because of the large group of people she can only see the many types of people and creatures. She doesn’t know what song they are playing, but it is low and calm. Another way she would describe it would be the main menu on a fantasy game like Skyrim. She sits back on in her seat as the music changes too much calmer and quieter. The ball of glow bugs dim the lights on their butts and the chatter in the room becomes more and more silence.
Everyone watches as the room darkens, most people are silent and waiting by this point… They grab onto the seat as the grounds and stone seats shake and move, knocking people around as the ground in the centre breaks apart. Rachel can only assume it’s an earthquake. But her assumptions are soon brought to a close as tree roots come out from the debts of the stone platform spreading along the ground and a tree quickly grow up from the centre, the leaves lush, the wood healthy and thick. Pink, purple and red flowers, they watch as the tree branches reach out to the edge of the platform, just enough for the front row people to see. Standing in the centre of the tree is an Older lady with beautiful dark drown skin with Green hair that more it gets closer to the tip the lighter it becomes. She can tell her hair is somewhere between 4A and 4B.
Up her arms and along her shoulders, neck and even chest is some green tattoos of Leaves, vines and even brown small circles the Rachel thinks represents boulders. A long dark brown skirt that reaches down to her feet has some light brown circles and other stone like feathers at the bottom, Over the dark brown skirt is a green skirt that reaches barely even half way because the bottom of it is torn, making it look like moss of some type. Her shirt being a dark green and having a giant green leaf wrapped around her chest, she can see some tree roots also hugging the top part of her body with two different coloured green shoulder straps that are holding on around her biceps. On the lady’s head is a flower crown all different colours, the small white flowers falling from the crown don’t go unnoticed with the berry necklace and earrings.
They watch as the lady does some type of movement, nothing happens for a while, soon birds, butterflies and other animals and insects run out of the gaps from the platform and tree. The flowers on the branches open up and float into the air before slowly falling down to the ground. Everyone claps and cheers but is soon cut short when fire surrounds the tree. Everyone watch as the fire consumes the tree, burning it. The lady on top had vanished and been replaced by another lady, this time with lighter brown skin but with grey to white hair that reaches down to her backside. Her skirt starting off as a dark purple at her waist, the closer it gets to her feet the lighter it gets, her waist upwards is smokey purple with some golden wires hugging her waist, abdomen and chest. From her shoulders and arms they can see white lines through out her body and a black tattoo of squid arms wrapping around her left bicep and part of her neck. Around her wrists is golden braces and a golden flat necklace with a red gem in the centre, the crown shaped as squid arms with a with a gem placed on the centre, Rachel can see that it is on fire.
They jump again as water filling the room, coming from the gaps of where the tree grew out from. It only reaches the knees of those sitting in the first row. As it reaches their abdomen, the water shot up, covering the tree in water, extinguishing the flames. Standing on top of the tree now is a female with ivory coloured skin. Her hair is green with her clothes. She thinks the females cloths is also made some type of seaweed. It’s very obvious that the girl’s arms and legs are coloured some dark green with light blue wavey lines on them. She thinks there are bubbles around the girl’s neck and on her skirt. The crown is some octopus that is very much alive and sitting on her head with its tentacles up in the air.
Just as they stable them self in the seats, a gust of wind is heard, it isn’t until everyone’s hair is a mess and the tree is fully grown with a woman with tan skin, rainbow hair with a golden head band around her forehead and hair. Her leggings are see-through, everyone can see that this female feet and legs are rainbow. She is also wearing a rainbow corset over a white t-shirt and white dress with glitter on it. There is two small black stings tied around her waist. The rest of the jewellery is gold, one ankle bracelet, many wrists bracelets, and some golden ones around her biceps. A flat necklace lies on her shoulder and top part of her chest. Her crown golden lines, two of them. To Rachel she looks like a god of some type.
(Made by me on: https://www.dolldivine.com/four-elements)
All four of them are now standing on top of the tree, everyone claps and others cheer, they bow as the animals all run back around the tree, the black Panther the only one climbing the tree and standing behind the one dressed in purple. Once everyone settles down, the four ladies on the tree spoke. The first on being the one in purple.
“Welcome one, welcome all to Magical Ability Assessment Society. Here today alone. You will be assessed of your magic and your skills. Do not worry if you don’t get a high score that is normal. I am Headmistress Mia Lefor of Kazams University of The Wicked and this here is a trustworthy companion, Damion.”
The panther holds his head high in the air as everyone claps, Many others say hello and very few don’t clap or say anything, those people are mainly the other head mistresses. Once everyone stops, they ask for everyone to clap at the end once they had finished introducing them self. The next one to speak is the one with the teal coloured hair and the clothes that are like water, as she speaks she sounds young but also cheerful.
“Hello everyone! I’m so happy to see you all here! My name is Head Mistress of Saxon Magical College and my name is Siti Moon! I hope everyone is relaxed and ready for today”
Everyone then turns to the girl dressed in white and rainbow, she seems calm and elegant, which gives Rachel a more of a reason to think she is a god. After all, it must be the only answer, who else would she be? She believes Human but mostly a God right now. She listens carefully, listening to everything the women has to say.
“I am Brooklyn Butterfly Tamer, the head mistress of Runite Academy, the academy in the clouds. As everyone or most people know I am one of the newer school headmistresses and I hope we can all grow together."
God, definitely a god no doubt about it. How could she possibly not be one? Everything about Brooklyn screams I AM A GODDESS. She has been hoping she will get an offer to join Saxon, but now she is hoping to get an offer to join Runite; she wants to know to find more out about Brooklyn and whether or not she is a god… surely she is? She is brought out of her thoughts when the fourth and final women speaks.
“I am Aaliyyah Vandoe. My husband is Blaise Vandoe and with him I co run and own Allure North For Everyone Gifted. My school aims to give every student of any back ground the best chance at learning”
Rachel nods, sounds simple enough, she understands the lack of students the school has now; it doesn’t really stick out or isn’t anything major. A lot of schools in her world also say the same thing and surprising enough the school’s don’t do well. She’s glad none of them tried to say they have an anti-bullying policy because from her experiences schools don’t follow those things. She wants to give place the benefit of the doubt and right now she is but she will keep her guard up. After all how nervous Bailey is, she believes this world isn’t perfect. She listens to the four of them explain how everyone will be put in different groups of four and together they will have to work together to find certain things to answer the questions on the sheet of paper that is flown over to each of them. Once she has hers, she reads it over.
“Just remember it’s okay if you get a low score, these tests are made hard and we don’t expect everyone to know everything”
Mia reminds everyone, it calms Rachel’s nerves a little bit being reminded of that. Everyone is quiet as they read out the groups of four everyone will be in. Rachel smiles and relaxes more as she hears both Bailey and Jessica’s names be read out in her group, she hears one more name being called and it’s Bradley Ice. She gets from her seat and goes to find those three. It doesn’t take her long as she is greeted by both of Bailey and Jessica. A male with white skin (but not as white as Bailey) smiles at her, his hair is messy and a calm blue, his eyes are also a blue. His outfit, almost looking like he is from some type of royal family, is a mix of dark blue and light blue, his wand an icicle with some type of carving in it. As he spoke, he was confident.
“My name is Bradley Ice, it’s nice to meet you”
He tells her, she smiles and greets him back. She notices how much he looks like Caleb… Maybe Bradley is Caleb’s magic doubleganger?
“It’s nice to meet you too, I’m Rachel Blossom”
“What element did you get? Mine is Istrea”
“The… um… the one with the lightning bolt”
She struggles to remember the name, maybe she should ask Amber and Gavin to help her write some type of cheat sheet. If anyone asks why she has it or if they aren’t a normal thing here, she can make up some lie, it would be easy enough. But she is relaxed, the chances of cheat sheets being real here and having a different name will probably be a thing. They talk for a while, trying to get to know each other before the four ladies announce which groups will be entering which door. Everyone stays in their place, confused, wondering what doors? The doors leading into the room have vanished.
Everyone steps around the tree as the seats they were just sitting on move, pull apart and form into something else. They watch as the seats turn into stone archways, each one against the walls of the the room, each one having a different letter on top of it and its portal colours all ranging from red, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, brown, black and even white, of course all of them are different shades. The first door has a red light going formed into a portal, on top of it is the letter ‘H’. Next to it on the right is blue with the letters ‘LD’, the blue portal’s shape it more slimming and straight while the red portal is more jagged and bumpy. The door with the 'C’ has a portal that’s coloured green, its frame looks broken and being kept together with something like vines. The ‘D’ portal has some broken parts as well, but those seem to be kept in place but mud? Dirt?.
The ‘T’ portal is strangely round but looks like that it can still be walked through. ‘L’ is more of a rectangle. Its edges seem sturdy enough to be holding itself together, but the corners are round? The ‘P’ portal was the strangest of them all, with having 13 sides all of which are flat, curved, round, wavey, and many other shapes. It seems like it works normally as a portal, but you would need to bend down to walk through it. ‘HN’ and ‘AZ’ are like Ying and Yang. ‘HN’ being smaller and wide and ‘AZ’ being taller than skinny. ‘V’ just looks like a normal circle portal. As the ladies and their soothsayers read out which groups go through what portals Bradley tries to spark up a conversation.
“Which school do you three hope to get into? I hope to get into Allure”
Jessica is the first one to answer his question.
“Saxon or Runite. Maybe even Allure, I would say Kazams but everyone here will be trying to impress Lady Lefor. Don’t get me wrong I respect Lady Lefor as coming from Taewe village and trying to make a name for yourself isn’t easy, but she already has enough students on her hands. I also wish to learn about her Froan culture but I could easily do that by cauldron classes”
Both Rachel and Bailey look at Jessica amazed, They hadn’t thought of reasons they hope to get an offer by their dream school when Jessica already has several of them and isn’t scared to go in depth how she can take classes from other schools when attending another. Rachel didn’t even know that was a choice here.
“Froan culture is so beautiful, I understand why you would want to learn about it. I heard Lady Lefor froan’s race is a snake hence why her hair is thick.”
“How about you, Bailey?”
Bailey freezes in her spot as Jessica asks her, she looks like a deer in some head lights for a couple of seconds before she clears her throat. However, she spoke fast and nervously before asking about me
“Um. Allure. I… I think it’s because it seems like a calming place to study. How about you Rachel?”
“Oh. I hope Saxon, but I am happy if I get an offer from another school.”
“Both of them are good choices. Allure is such a calm place to study because of the low number of students it would be perfect for you, Bailey. My dad went to Saxon, and he said he had to multi-task a lot”
The four of them go quiet as Lady Aaliyah Vandoe walks over with a boy with orange hair, yellow eyes and white skin, to Rachel he looks like Lachlan. His clothes are colour red and orange, with the lining being yellow. His colours are more random, his cape having looking like wings, his shirt having flames all coloured different shades of yellow with a black outline around them, his wand in some wand holder that is tied around his waist, from what they can see its red wood base.
“Meet Keiran FireFlame and his group pulled out, but he still wants to participate, so can he join you four?”
“Sure, welcome to our group, Keiran”
Bradley is the first one to welcome him, Keiran smiles as Lady Vandoe walks away, smiling. Rachel looks around the five of them, besides Bailey the group is like her friend group in the mortal realm… besides Bailey… Bailey is her friend, Jenni should be her friend in the mortal world, she should be in the group of friends. Bradley is handed a blank piece of paper by an elf dressed in clothes that are on fire and smoking.
“Bradley, Bailey, Jessica, Keiran and Rachel… you five will go through the portal marked with the letter ‘C’ on it”
Lady Mia Lefor says, guiding us towards the green portal, the whole thing broken and being held together with vines and possible even mud and who knows what else. They all look at each other, nervous. What if the portal breaks while they pass through and what if they can’t get back? What if it’s a cliff? What if it’s something dangerous? The paper is empty, so what do they do with it? They don’t even have a map, so how will they know where to go?
Bradley and Jessica are the first two to walk thought, as they pass through the vanish the portal wakes a vaooish sound. Keiran going next and then Bailey slowly but surely walks through, Rachel is last. Mia looks down at her and smiles.
“You’ll be fine”
Lady Lefor tells Rachel, trying to reassure her. What’s the worst that can really happen? If Rachel is right that means there should be someone watching them from afar and ready to step in if things turn south… right?… She takes in a deep breath and steps through it. In barely a second later, she is in a whole new location. Around the piece of land they are standing on is a river, the water a deep blue, dragon flies just flying above the water, Lilly-pads floating with fish swimming in the water and frogs jumping from one pad to another, the grass green for miles, the trees thick and tall and healthy. Birds of many types can be heard chirping from one tree to another, some even flying to the ground to pick up sticks and leaves to possibly build a nest.
Behind them, the portal is an oval shape, all rounded off and looking much more stable than the one at the assessment… or the hall? Grass and vines are growing on top of the portal and all around it, the steps being made from the same grey stone as portal but covered in moss of some type. Bradley walks down to them, testing whether they will break, which they don’t. Keiran follows him and then Bailey this time. Rachel and Jessica following close behind.
“Where are we?”
Keiran asks as Bradley looks down at the paper, he remembers it being blank but at the top of the paper is now writing: CHESTER, GILLAMOOR.
ns 18.68.41.175da2
