The receiving hall was already swarming with packs of excited teenagers when Gavrus arrived. There weren’t nearly enough of his fellow students to fill even a tenth of the seats, but that didn’t stop them from chattering so loudly in their innate cliques that the auditorium sounded full. Gavrus found himself smiling at the uncharacteristic noise, it reminded him of the hustle of his not so long distant street life.

Based off what he’d heard, Gavrus thought he would have very little in common with his peers. Sarrius said that the others would have trained their entire lives for surviving the ritual and taking on the role of Archon. That the Great Houses raised them together in groups called enclaves. Which of course meant that they’d mostly know one another. If not personally, then either through reputation or intra house competitions. Gavrus would be a big fat unknown to them, as would any other potential wild strain. Naturally, he wanted to learn as much as he could about them first.

With that in mind, he decided to find a nice seat off to one of the side aisles and observe. After quietly making his way along the western wall, he dropped into a seat on the far end of the front-row and began his people watching. Most of the teens were dressed in the yellow-red robe of an initiate. Though a few here and there still had on the traditional Trovian toga, like Gavrus (who’d had his ripped apart by Sarrius’s knife fighting lesson). They all stood congregating in threes and fours, like at a cocktail party, in the space between the stage and the front row seats.

As expected, similarity in dress seemed to be all that Gavrus had in common with the other lordlings. Some had pale alabaster skin, others color like darkened bronze. One even had what looked like coral green scales. However, to a person, they were all tall, muscular, and very beautiful. Gavrus being a head shorter than everyone with the kind of unruly features of a street urchin that had to fight tooth and nail his entire life, stood out like a fart amidst a eulogy.

He didn’t go unnoticed for long.

“Boy! Fetch me some wine from the kitchen,” a voice yelled at him.

Gavrus looked up to see a tall muscular light orange-skinned boy with cruel fine boned features glaring down at him with a hawkish nose. Above him in the words of the codex was the name “Squire Kaeso.”

Gavrus opened his mouth to tell the kid to get fucked, when unexpectedly Kaeso reached down and slapped him across the face. Everyone in the hall quit talking almost as soon as the slap rang out across his face.

“I said boy! Fetch me so gods damned wine from the kitchen!” Kaeso repeated.

A dangerous gleam took over Gavrus’s eyes as he stared back at the boy towering over him.

“I will have you whip--” Kaeso started, but never got to finish the threat.

Gavrus surged forward out of his chair, ramming a bony fist into Kaeso’s throat so explosively that the boy was caught completely flat-footed. The blow knocked Kaeso back, causing him to trip over his own feet. Kaeso started to gasp in pain on the ground, but it was interrupted when Gavrus soccer kicked him in the stomach so forcefully that he curled around his foot. Then, without giving his opponent a chance to recover, Gavrus began raining down blows on to the boy’s nose and face.

Someone yelled something incomprehensible, before charging toward Gavrus. He looked up to see a tall athletic orange skinned woman rush him, moving across the hall like a dancer. Right before she reached him, she threw a textbook perfect roundhouse kick, gliding gently on the balls of one of her feet. Her attack was aimed directly for his head, which was still low to the ground over Kaeso. If she’d thrown that kick two weeks earlier, it might have hit him. Nonetheless, after getting his ass wontedly kicked by Sarrius, he was able to time a duck under the strike. Much to her dismay, she threw it with too much sureness. Her aim had been to follow through on the target; but the target ended up being one of the stone braces for the auditorium chairs.

Her shin connected to the rock with a hard thump, causing her to scream in agony. Gavrus leapt to his feet, then gave a return low kick to her good leg. She collapsed under the weight of the kick, falling on to her ass. A knee from Gavrus caught her directly in the face soon afterward. She collapsed backward in a shaking epileptic heap.

With a snarl Gavrus looked around the room for any other attackers. Seeing none he said, “Anyone else want a fucking drink?”

A rich voice rang out across the hall, from the stage interrupting the moment, “Thank you Squire Gavrus for bringing us to the first order of business.”

Gavrus looked onto the stage to see an angel in a toga. A statuesque woman with golden skin, celestial curves and bright yellow shining eyes smiled down on the students gaily, almost pointedly ignoring the two laying on the ground. Above her head the words “Headmistress Orania” appeared via the Codex.

The angel regally waved her hand across the room and said, “There, your codices should now be activated in the academy. Hopefully we won’t have any more misunderstandings,” she said with a laugh so luxurious Gavrus thought it couldn’t be real.

Gavrus could tell he wasn’t the only one. Other students were staring at her in rapt attention, his snafu already forgotten.

Sarrius had already activated Gavrus’s codex, but even with that context he wasn’t ready to forgive Kaeso for slapping him in front of a room full of people he was going to already struggle to impress.

“Now if you please,” Headmistress Orania continued. “When I call out your name, you will be divided into one of three houses. Most of you from an enclave will already know how this works. There are quite a few of you from different backgrounds this year. So, I will explain as though it is new to everyone.

The first group will be House Dawn. If I call your name for House Dawn, it is because you have an Essence Locus. Essence Loci wielders use ether manipulation that deals with the forces of self. Most of the training House Dawn will have will involve clandestine operations and law enforcement. Please line up to my right over here…” she then read off about thirteen names.

“Next up is House Day. If I call your name for House Day, it is because you have an elemental Locus-- ether manipulation of the environment. House Day’s training will primarily focus on combat and tactics.” she then read off about eleven more names. Gavrus noted that the two-orange people whose ass he kicked joined that group. Hope you enjoyed your first combat lesson, Gavrus thought smugly.

“Finally, to my left here will be for the remaining individuals I did not call. You will be House Sunset. House Sunset is always the rarest user types, and so combines Empyreal and Eldritch Loci. Empyreal Loci revolve around manipulation with fundamental forces of divine ether. Finally, Eldritch Loci deal with space, time, and void. The training of House Sunset will be tailored to the ether expression of the individual.” she finished.

Gavrus was one of six remaining people in House Sunset and walked over to the place that she indicated. Most of the other students gawked or glared at him when he walked across the room to join the “rare” House.

“Several of you are about to die,” Headmistress Orania stated suddenly without preamble, after everyone was situated. “The only advice I can give you for the ritual is to stay strong and do not despair!”

Sarrius walked over to his group and said, “House Sunset, follow me to your ritual chamber.”

As they walked along, Sarrius leaned over to Gavrus and said, “Your punch was too telegraphed, and that low kick was too high. Don’t die.” Then he motioned for Gavrus to enter a dark room.

Once he cleared the threshold of the doorway, Sarrius slammed an oak door behind him. With no small amount of trepidation, Gavrus walked forward into a room buzzing with etheric light. LI, I’ll survive this no matter what, he thought. He was unsure what this ritual would require of him. Did he have to fight? Would it damn his soul?

A male Runist, like Lady Amatia, stood before him next to a configuration of diagrams carved into the stone floor of the temple. The man had the replete Runist look, including interweaving pin stripe runes across his skin and a black masquerade mask over the top half of his face. Above him the words, “Runist Pilus” appeared.

“Greetings Squire Gavrus.” Pilus said. “I would like you to please disrobe and lay forth on to the circle.”

Gavrus did as the man indicated. Soon afterward, Pilus grabbed hold of manacles and strapped one to each of his wrist and ankles. His heart began beating fast at his sudden helplessness. Pilus reached into a cabinet nearby and pulled out a pillow and something that looked like a gag. The pillow was placed under his head, and the gag, unsurprisingly in his mouth. Pilus then tightened the chains that were connected to the manacles so that Gavrus was pulled taut.

“I can see you breathing heavy. Let me give you a quick explanation as to what is going to happen. First, I am going to paint temporary runes into each of your seven chakras. From there, we will flood your root chakra with so much void energy that it will forced to either adapt or kill you. I am quite excited about that part by the way, we so rarely get to do a void user. Anyways, if the root chakra transformation takes, it will then open gateways your other chakras. Since you use an Eldritch Locus, all six will have to open after the root or you will die.

Finally, your heart chakra and whatever chakra that corresponds to your highest attribute will be infused. In your case that will be… “Pilus looked at a blue book in the air, “...willpower. So, your throat and heart chakra. Which is to say the disciplines of Aspect and Summoning.

Everyone who goes through this ritual will be physically changed along with their chakras. You will likely no longer look human, so please make peace with that.

Now, any questions?” Pilus finished.

Gavrus tried making a noise through the gag to indicate that he had in fact a ton of questions, but Pilus pretended not to hear him.

“Let’s get started!” Pilus said.