Adam woke with the sun. His excitement from the night before had not faded, and despite the early hour, he wanted to begin learning magic as soon as possible. He lingered for a while in the cool comfort of the bed that the academy had provided. He wondered momentarily if Nora had found a place to sleep last night. She would definitely be mad about missing out on the events of today. Yesterday, they had been told that they would be administered some kind of a test to determine what branch of magic they would be learning.

He had learned that people had natural affinities to certain magics. Most of the time, these affinities would correspond to a specific element. The most common, by far were stone, wind, fire, and water, but there were also several other special affinities that branched off from the four, such as magma, ice, sand, and metal. He tried not to think too hard about which he would have, but he couldn't help his eagerness and his mind swelled with speculation.

He slid out of bed and peered through the green velvet drapes at the scenery that surrounded him. It was the first view of the town that he had been able to glimpse since they had arrived. It was late at night when they had been brought to their rooms. Then, all the windows had been pitch black, but now the sky was lit up in a vivid crimson hue. The entire city was built within a wall of grey flagstone. Adam could see nothing beyond the wall. Within the wall, however, there was much to observe.

The city itself seemed to be the very image of a medieval castle town. From Adam’s window, he could see the castle off in the distance, its stone spires glistening in the red light. Most of the buildings in the town were made primarily of stone. The lack of wood in their construction surprised him a bit. He had thought it would be a bit more prevalent in their more primitive culture, but that appeared not to be the case. The roofs as well were covered in clay tiles, rather than the thatching he had expected. Not that Adam minded. Rather, he welcomed the more modern influences.

Adam estimated that he still had another hour or so before the students were needed for testing, so he decided to spend it getting familiar with the academy. His clothes from the day before sat piled up on the floor. He momentarily considered wearing them again, simply for the comfort of familiarity, but ultimately left them where they laid. He pulled on a fresh pair of black pants and a cotton blouse that the school had provided and set out. The halls of the school were long and winding. This building’s architecture seemed to have no concept of straight lines. Every path Adam took curved into another. Even the rooms themselves were circular.

Through the cracks in the doors, the halls were filled with the sounds of lectures, pausing only occasionally when interrupted by younger voices in questioning tones. Adam couldn't understand their language. It was the first time he had heard this world’s residents speak their local tongue and it enthralled him. He even felt that somehow, he could occasionally understand the gist of what was being said. Eventually, he found himself picking out Latin prefixes and suffixes and realized that this was what had been enabling him to do so.

He spent the majority of the time before his exam practicing picking these keywords out and trying to understand the lectures. For the most part, it was a fruitless effort. He still had very little idea of what was going on, but Adam considered any step toward familiarity with their tongue, a step in the right direction. He couldn't imagine how a language like Latin had made its way to a whole other world, but it sure made things easier, so he was glad that it had.

Suddenly, Adam had a thought. If this world’s language was based upon Latin, then shouldn't their alphabet? It would be of great convenience, to be able to learn their language with the help of a shared alphabet. Adam became determined to find a library and see for himself. His feet dragged him through hall after spiraling hall, to the point where he began to be in danger of missing his exam.

He finally came upon one hallway more isolated than the others. It curved counter-clockwise along the edge of the building. It's outer wall was pinked with tall, decorative windows that gave a good view of the town. At the end of that hallway was a single door. The door had neither a knob, nor a knocker. Instead, at its center shone a flat, brass instrument, about the size of Adam’s fist. It seemed to display some sort of crest, though he naturally couldn't recognize it.

Adam couldn't help himself upon seeing the foreign contraption. He began to fiddle with the mechanism, and it turned like a dial at his touch. He was certain that it must require some kind of combination, but that was something that he did not have. Adam was stymied. It was at that moment that it occurred to him that the door might belong to someone important. Perhaps it was the principal or dean’s office. Adam resolved to ask someone better-informed than he about the door before continuing, lest he disturb someone he couldn't afford to.

Adam began his walk to the testing room with more questions than he had left with. Eventually, he joined the crowd of his classmates standing outside of a door. Two women from the school stood at the door taking role. Seeing that everyone had gathered, they began to address the students in broken English. They would each be entering the room one at a time, until all had gone. Each one would be guided through a sort of meditation, whereby they would be shown a clue to their affinity.

Since Adam was one of the last to arrive and be counted, he was near the end of the women’s list. He watched student after student enter the room with expressions of confidence and hope, only to return with their faces marred by expressions of bemusement and worry. They had all been told not to share their experiences until the others had gone, so most just staggered back to their rooms to process what they had experienced.

By the time Adam’s name was read off the paper, he was more than a little bit worried about what this ‘meditation’ would entail. Still, he joined the two women at the door and followed them inside. This was the first step towards victory, and it needed to be taken, regardless of what would happen.

The room was dark and cool. There were no windows, and Adam could tell that when the door closed, there would be no light whatsoever. The two women guided him to a padded cushion on the stone floor and instructed him to sit cross-legged. He sank to the floor and made himself comfortable. One of the two, a lean woman with long, black hair, walked to the front of the room where she began to burn something like incense, while the other returned to the door, easing it closed as she returned to her post outside.

Adam watched as the light began to dim, until it was snuffed out completely with a click as the door shut. In the darkness, there was nothing but the smell of incense and the pounding of his heart. He could feel it all the way in his stomach up through his ears. The dull thumping was everywhere. Being conscious of the noise seemed to cause it to resonate, drowning even the smell of incense out until Adam’s entire consciousness was drawn within his body. It seemed as if the remaining woman, the proctor, or whatever she was, could hear it too because she began to speak.

“Are you afraid?” she asked gently, her voice snapping him out of his trance.

“I'm worried,” Adam answered, “but I don't think I'm afraid.”

“Good!” the woman replied. “Fear will only make it harder to finish the exam.”

In Adam's mind, telling someone that their fear would increase their chances of failure, was the number one way to increase the person’s fear, and therefore their chances of failure, but who was he to judge? Surely, this woman had performed the exam many times before and knew much better than he. Adam took a deep breath and did his best to ward off the thoughts of worry that beat against his mind.

“Let's just get started,” Adam suggested, hoping to put his mind to better use than worrying.

“The test has already begun,” the woman answered with amusement. “Just relax, and tell me when you're done. I'll be quiet now.”

Adam’s thoughts were ablaze. Seriously? This was all the instruction he got? How had all the others managed to finish? If thinking in a dark room was all that it took to find one’s affinity, then why hadn't he found it years ago, any time he wrestled with his thoughts trying to find sleep? If it was being in this world that made the difference, then why hadn't it happened last night? Perhaps it was the incense? It was the incense. It had to be. They were being drugged and sent on some kind of vision quest! There was no other answer.

For a moment, Adam was upset that his perfect drug-free record had been tarnished against his will by these women and considered escaping, but he very quickly realized that whatever this was obviously didn't go against any laws in this land. If the school of all places was doping up students and sending them on vision quests, it had to be an accepted practice. Adam's morals quickly rewrote themselves to account for this revelation. His D.A.R.E. instructor could frown at him all he wanted from a world away. Adam, just took a deep breath and calmed himself, ready for whatever the drugs had to show him.

And he waited. And he waited some more. And then he got impatient. He wasn't alone in his impatience either. He could tell, even through darkness and silence, that he was taking longer than the others had and the proctor woman wasn't having any of it. He could feel her fuming from across the room at the injustice of having to wait here for him while her colleague was probably outside doodling on her notepad, or something. He apologized inwardly about having to put her through this. It wasn't exactly his fault though. If the drugs weren't working, she should just add more. Eventually, he decided to voice this sentiment.

“Shouldn't you just add some more?” he asked hesitantly.

“More what?” the woman questioned back.

“The incense. It makes you see things, right?” he replied.

“Absolutely not!” the woman gasped, “That's illegal! It just helps you relax so that you can focus better and find your affinity.” Adam once again revised his morals, reversing his earlier change and offering a quick apology to his D.A.R.E. instructor.

“Then how would you know your affinity?” he asked, frustration quickly coloring his mind with anger and causing his voice to rise. “Do you just see it? Does a voice from beyond tell you what it is?” he demanded.

“It is a part of you,” the woman answered sternly, thoroughly unamused with his outburst. “It has always been there and you have always known it. You will recall it, like a memory. If you have not seen it by now, then nothing is there and we are done here.” the woman finished, moving across the room as easily as if the room had been lit and opening the door. She whispered some words to her colleague as Adam was left, sitting dumbfounded, in the center of the room.

He had been wrong to get angry, but surely this wasn't it? Surely, there was some other way! He thought people from Earth were better at magic! That was what Altinius had told them. What was he supposed to do now? Adam's anger very quickly devolved into panic as his head slipped into his hands and his body sunk low in its cross-legged position. He couldn't be the only one without an affinity, could he? The others had finished just fine. What had gone wrong?

Suddenly, raised voices at the door snapped him out of his mental turmoil. The outside guard woman was chewing out the inside proctor woman something fierce. He couldn't tell what they were saying, but it seemed that inside lady had done something wrong. Adam couldn't help but feel a little relief. He didn't hate the inside lady, but he did resent her a bit for the vagueness of her instructions. The outside lady stopped her tirade, leaving the inside lady standing pitifully by the door, and made her way over to where Adam sat.

“Come!” she demanded with an energetic smile that contrasted sharply with her tone. She had sparkling golden eyes and round cheeks. Her brown, bobbed hair swung with each step as she neared him. “We go see Cogitan now.”

Adam stumbled frantically to his feet. Cogitan? Like, the king’s right-hand man, Cogitan? His panic quickly returned, flooding his mind. What exactly had he done to merit being dragged before the second most powerful man in the nation? Were they getting rid of him because he had failed the exam? He had a million questions to ask, but instead he just stumbled dumbly out the door, following guard lady and crossing his fingers that this little adventure didn't mark the end to his stay at the academy.

***

Thanks for reading! Yesterday I started letting my little sister read this and she beat me over the head with the harsh reality that Adam comes off as a complete idiot. He kind of is, so that's fair, but I will try to do a better job of explaining his thought processes from here on. Dont forget to let me know what you think in the comments!