Evander’s heart jumped when he heard the bell tower chime. The hour was upon them. As the bell completed its tenth chime, a tall middle-aged man in green robes and a pointy wizard hat emerged from the hallway leading to the outdoor lounging area. His long grey beard hung several feet from his chin.

The man spoke in a simultaneously feeble and loud voice.

“Listen up students. Exams are to begin in the auditorium. Please make your way there now. After your exams are completed you will spend an hour with one of our professors who will guide you through your tutor selection”

The man then disappeared down the hallway he came from.

Evander thanked the three for their hospitality and bid them farewell before rushing down the hallway. As he walked he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to his right to see Cilian matching pace.

“I wanted to wish you good luck on your exam. You’ll need it after that stunt you pulled”

“Thanks Cilian. I’m hoping he gets less combat-oriented affinities like illusion and life. That way he’ll have to call off the duel”

Cilian laughed as they both sped past other students.

“And what will you do if he gets fire and kinetic while you get healing and illusion?”

“Cry and run away? Or maybe just forfeit and deal with the consequences”

Evander and the other students made their way down a wide hallway made of stone and lit with what appeared to be gass lights. The walls were made of smooth red stones that reminded Evander of the bark of a redwood tree. The floor was made of a black marble tile with the same seamless joins as the lounge area.

They made their way down the hallway to a pair of large, twelve foot high arching double doors. Each door was as wide as Evander with his arms spread apart. At the door, the old mage in green was standing handing out tokens to each student as they passed through.

Evander and Cilian approached the doorway and the man pulled out two tokens.

“Take these tokens and go sit in the group with the same number as your token,” instructed the man

Evander and Cillian took their tokens and checked the number.

“I’ve got nine”, said Evander

“Three. How about we meet up after the test and we can go for lunch?”

Evander hesitated for a moment. Cilian was a nice enough guy when they attended basics together, but there was something about other people that just made him feel awkward. He looked at Cilian’s warm, welcoming smile and he knew he couldn’t just say no. Unable to think of a plausible reason to refuse, he decided to accept.

“Sounds good. Given our predicaments, I’m sure there will be a lot to talk about”

He waved Cilian goodbye as he walked into the auditorium. The room was large with a high ceiling. Impossibly detailed glass chandeliers hung from the ceiling, illuminating the room with the steady glow of warm orblight.

The auditorium was split down the middle by a walkway with five tents lined up against the walls on either side. Each tent contained several rows of seating in a crescent shape around the tent’s entrance. Many students filled the seats in front of various tents, conversing with one another.

On the wall next to each tent was a large poster with the numbers one through ten painted in very large print. The tents were numbered sequentially from the entrance going clockwise around the room. From that Evander deduced his tent would be second on the right and headed in that direction.

When he arrived at his numbered tent he saw around six students waiting eagerly as they chatted excitedly about the exam. All of them were silver-cloaks.

“I heard if you pay the examiner extra, you can guarantee at least two affinities,” said one student.

“Makes sense. How else do you explain the rainbow-cloaks all having at least two affinities?” said another.

Evander felt uncomfortable around strangers, but thought it best to get to know his potential classmates.

“Hi. Mind if I join you?”

He held up his token that read 9. The students went silent, seeming uncomfortable at his sudden interruption.

“Uum, sit wherever,” said one of the students

Evander attempted a friendly smile to ease the tension he felt, which lightened the mood a bit. He sat one seat over from the group of six.

After a few moments of silence, Evander decided to attempt a conversation.

“So, magic”, Started Evander, “Pretty cool hey? Do you guys have a favourite affinity?”

After a moment’s hesitation one of the students responded.

“If you want to be a mage on the front lines, fire is the way to go. Alaria Alerion is the greatest mage of all time,” said a female student.

“What about Pathmaster Havias? He’s a master dimensionalist and at least as popular as Alaria”

“We all know the king values military power above all else. Havias is just a replaceable tool compared to Alaria”

Not wanting to argue, Evander decided to agree with her.

“I guess you’re right. I’m Evander Emberheart, by the way”

He held out his arm to greet her as he did with the other students earlier.

“Annabelle. And I’m not doing that. I’ll save you the time and tell you I’m not interested, and just because you want something, doesn’t mean you can take it.”

Evander realised his mistake just after putting his arm out, but it was too late.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to…“And for what it’s worth, I’m not a noble. I just have parents that care a lot that I look like one”

She scowled at him

“And I suppose they chose your name for the same reason? Playing the long game I see”

Evander began to sputter.

“Well, I mean..”

As Evander's stammering drifted off one of the students spoke up.

“People like us have neither the money nor the power to survive the antics of people like you.”

Evander felt himself becoming flustered and desperately tried to think of words to diffuse the situation.

“I’m not like that. I’m just a regular person like you”

“Then explain why your parents wasted perfectly good money on such a flippant vanity?” asked a student, gesturing at his cloak.

Another student joined in.

“Most common folk aren’t rich enough to waste money trying to impress a bunch of nobles for a day or two. Not to mention, once they figure it out, you’ll have a target on your back from the more entitled brats who don’t like posers”

Annabelle cut in once again.

“We don't know what game you’re playing, but I think it’s best if you do it over there. Like Felix said, we don’t have time for the antics of spoiled rich kids or posers”

Evander became increasingly flustered as the silver cloaked students berated him. Realising he wasn’t getting anywhere with them, he decided to disengage. He put his hands up, palms facing out and stepped back.

“Ok, ok. I’ll just sit over there until the exam”

He moved to the end of the last row of the crescent seating arrangement and sat quietly. After a few moments the six silver cloaked students began murmuring among themselves. He made out a few words like ‘lecherous’, and ‘entitled’, but otherwise couldn’t hear their conversation.

Over the next few minutes more students trickled in and several more students joined their group. The silver-cloaks joined the existing group, while the two fancy-cloaked students seemed content with standing in the other corner of the seating crescent.

Several minutes later Evander noticed a man entering the auditorium. Clad in all black, he stood at the entrance holding a foot long silver rod with an affinity stone affixed to its end inside a wire housing. The man had an aged, stern looking face with a scar running down his left cheek. From head to toe he was clad in a rigid, form-fitting black fabric, with black gloves and boots that looked as though they were a continuation of his clothes. Evander was familiar with the style of dress, being favoured by battlemages with access to a reliable Enhancement mage.

As Evander was admiring the outfit, the man held out his rod, which began glowing with white light. Tendrils of silver light swirled around him while white tendrils of light swirled away from him, branching and thinning as they spread throughout the auditorium.

“Attention students”

Despite not shouting the man was clearly audible to Evander as though he stood right next to him.

“The exams are about to begin. You will be called one at a time by your respective examiners who will conduct your exam inside the tents provided. After your exam is over you will be given a list of instructors for each of your affinities. You may also book time with a professor to go over your options. You can select as many or as few instructors as you like, provided you have the affinity. You will have until the end of the day to submit your preferences. And now, let the exams commence”

The man walked to the first tent, where he pulled back the flap and walked inside. As he did this, several other instructors entered the hall and made their way to their respective tents.

The woman approaching tent nine appeared to be relatively young for an instructor. She was dressed in formal attire, with a purple robe slung over her outfit. When she got to their tent she glanced at the students waiting. There were now about ten students in total, with seven silver-cloaked students clustered together and the other two fancy-cloaked students standing off to the side talking.

The woman stopped in front of their tent and turned to face the group.

“Okay students. My name is Gale and I will be your examiner today. I will select one student at a time. The exam will take around five minutes each. Until it is your turn I ask that you wait quietly and come when you are called”

The woman pointed to Annabelle.

“You’re up first. Name?”

“Umm, Annabelle”

The Examiner pulled out a notepad and graphite stick and wrote something.

“Your full name, Annabelle”

“Annabelle Frost”

“Come inside and let’s begin”

Annabelle nervously entered the tent, then Gale lowered the tent flaps as she ducked inside.

Evander looked around the room as students began entering the exam tents. He imagined himself taking the test, causing his thoughts to fill with images of him in place of the great mages, hurling fireballs and lightning bolts.

“I am about to become a mage”

His feet were unconsciously tapping the ground as mind raced with the possibilities: levitation, portalcraft, flying…

“I am about to become a mage!”

His tapping intensified as he found himself unable to stay still. The restlessness from the night before had returned, the immediacy of his situation amplifying it tenfold. He was on the precipice of his old mundane life, about to take a leap into a world of awe and wonder.

“It’s finally here. I’m actually here. I’m literally minutes away from becoming an actual mage!”

His heart pounded and his stomach fluttered. He realised his frantic tapping was beginning to draw attention to himself, so he stilled his legs for a moment. After trying to think of something to do to pass the time, he decided on pacing back and forth between the front and back rows of the crescent seating. He considered calming his nerves by conversing with his fellow fancy-cloaked students at the other end of the crescent, but decided against it. They seemed content to point and laugh at silver cloaks in the auditorium, an activity Evander would rather not join in on. With nothing better to do, he paced the rows of seats and escaped into his own thoughts to pass the time.

After a few minutes he heard a yell from the other side of the auditorium.

The tent five examiner stepped out of the tent with a very red faced student in tow.

“Take it again you pathetic half-wit! My parents paid good money to this academy and I will not allow you to do this to me!”, shouted a red-faced student in colourful robes.

The examiner raised his hand while looking over at some cloaked figures near the entrance.

“Did you hear me you fool! I said take the damn test again! My parents paid you people a small fortune in donations and I will not settle for any less than two god's damned affinities!”

One of the tall brown-cloaked men near the entrance approached the scene while the shouty student continued to berate the silent examiner. When the examiner arrived, he simply waved his hand at the student, thin wisps of silver light briefly appearing around him. A moment later the student was on the floor.

As this was happening, two figures in green emerged from the hallway doors carrying a stretcher. They arrived at the unconscious student and proceeded to place him on the stretcher.

As Evander watched, he noticed the entire room had gone completely silent. Looking around the room, all eyes were locked onto the student as the two figures carried him out of the hall.

“OK students, back to the task at hand”, said a voice from behind him.

It was Gale. She had emerged from the tent with Annabelle, who had already begun heading out of the hall.

Gale pointed at another silver-robed student.

“You. Come with me. And tell me your name, and that’s your full name”

Felix approached the tent as he responded, “Felix Smith, maam”

Felix stepped inside the tent, followed by Gale as she closed the tent flaps behind her.

Over the course of the next hour only silver-cloak students took the affinity exam. There were several more outbursts by fancy-cloaks, but after the second stretcher was summoned the objections became more subdued.

It appeared nobles were under the same misguided notion as the silver-cloaks, that ‘donating’ extra guaranteed more affinities. Evander shook his head and pondered the entitled ignorance on display.

After another good chunk of time, Evander was startled out of his daydreaming by a voice calling his name.

“Emberheart”

Evander snapped out of his daze and looked in the direction of the voice. It was Gale. He looked around and noticed he was the last one at tent nine.

“Oh, it’s my turn? And do you know me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. It’s on your fancy cloak. But I am going to need your first name”

Evander blinked as he stared, taking a few moments to process.

“It’s Evander. Evander Emberheart”

“Come, I want to get this over with so I can have lunch”

She scribbled what Evander assumed was his name onto her notepad and began walking towards the tent.

He had mostly calmed down by this point, his pacing and introspective thought managing to quell his jitters. Though with his name called, his heart began to pound again. He walked his shaking legs towards the tent as he stepped through.

“This is my moment”

First he would acquire his affinities. Then he would train until he was a half competent battle mage so he could knock Kevin off his smug little throne. Finally, he would continue to hone his craft and fulfil his promise to become the greatest mage ever.

But all that could wait. In this moment he needed to focus on the task at hand: Taking the test, and becoming a mage.