Lleu opened his eyes to a scene of infinite white. All around him was only nothingness except for a dimly glowing star hovering slightly apart from a set of crystals connected by phantom wires all identical in appearance to those in the testing device. The crystals were lazily rotating and other than occasionally letting loose a brief sparkle they seemed docile. An oddity in their rotation was that their spinning seemed to have no regard for the wires that held them up and instead of colliding they passed through them unhindered.

For a little while, nothing seemed to happen but then, with a stuttering flicker, the star bloomed into an array of colors. They shot out in every direction and quickly the white world became a chaotic mess. Seemingly in response to the vibrant light, the crystals began to increase the speed of their rotation and soon were only visible as a blur.

From their centers, colorful specs radiated out and joined the star in brilliance. In awe, Lleu watched as the specs began clumping together to form various shapes. The chaos exponentially increased and soon it became difficult to keep track of what was where.

Lleu’s head hurt, his eyes hurt, there was just too much light, and just the black of unconsciousness began creeping into his vision the spinning stopped and the star extinguished.The colorful specs dispersed and vanished as reality came back.

A whining sound brought Lleu’s mind back into focus. He looked at the crystals before him, each one faintly glowing a different color and vibrating violently. Together they illuminated the utterly shocked look of the boomer who could not seem to decide whether to look at the crystals or at Lleu.

“Listen closely and follow my instructions” muttered the boomer, seeming to have finally have composed herself.

“When I say so I want you to take your right hand off of the crystal as fast as you can move it.”

She began expertly adjusting the wires and soon after the hourglasses seemed to have stabilized somewhat.

“Ready?”. She asked

“Ready” replied Lleu with a nod.

“Now” commanded the boomer as she twisted a strand of wire. Lleu pulled his right hand back with the haste of one retracting their hand from the jaws of a beast about to snap its maw shut. The crystals flashed almost blinding Lleu in their brilliance. Blinking away the afterimages he looked down to see several of the hourglasses still while the rest were still active.

“Very good, now do the same with your left on my mark.” said the Boomer as she continued working with the wires.

“Sorry!” a voice from behind said. Lleu felt his chair jolt as someone bumped into him, his left hand being slightly shifted off of the center of the sphere as the result of the unexpected shove.

BOOM

The crystal contraption in front of Lleu annihilated itself in a flash of multicolored light. For a moment he could see the bones through his hand and then a shockwave blasted him backward and caused all the papers on the table to fly into every direction.

Eyes clearing from the sudden brightness Lleu once again regained his sight and looked around to see that the entire room was filled with shocked expressions that were all pointed down at him. Although he was a little shaken Lleu picked himself up right away and sat back on his bench, looking back towards to Boomer who seemed halfway between a grin and annoyance at the mess.

Getting up she began moving towards an opening in the side of the tent motioning for Lleu to follow.

They entered into another room which although still being a part of the same tent was much smaller than the one they had just been in. Instead of being filled with people its only contents were several shelves and other assorted furniture scattered around.

“My name is Lania Iginos but you can just call me Lania.” she said, beckoning him to take a seat in one of the chairs standing near the center of the room.

“I think I can safely assume you are aware that you passed and that you do in fact have a magical affinity. But… I think I am making an understatement when I say your testing was beyond unusual. I have participated in the testing of youths looking to join the societies yearly for the past two decades but you are the first I have heard of or seen who managed to cause a testing device to tear itself to shreds. Any guesses as to why it did that?”

“Because I was knocked down?”

“Well yes, that's what triggered it but it isn't the cause. I honestly cannot say for sure but I think I can make a solid guess. You have multiple affinities, at least two, but considering how many shades of light the tester was giving off I wouldn't be surprised if you had more than that.”

After a brief pause in which Lania got up and began looking through some of the shelves lining the wall she continued,

“Having multiple affinities in itself isn't special, have two is a base requirement for any high-ranking society and three is the minimum the Royals in the upper district are born with. However, when you have opposing affinities as I believe you do, it should cause major instabilities in the testing device which could lead to what we just witnessed.”

“Which opposing affinities caused it?” asked Lleu

“I’m not sure, usually I would determine that by looking at the colors of the crystals but for you there was too much blending to do that. I will, however, do some investigating on the pieces of the tester, should be able to figure out some of them.”

Lania picked up a small leather bag from a table and began choosing items on the shelf before her to place inside. The shelf's contents included some scattered books along with a collection of what looked like random junk.

Looking a little closer, the junk seemed to be mainly comprised of a variety of carved wood and stone, feathers, shells, bones, or even what appeared to be glass vials full of water.

“Since you have at least one magical affinity you have a spot in a society and the expedition they will be shortly setting out on, I know that's what you came here looking for and that I can promise. What role you will play and what society will be taking you in... that I cannot say. Normally new recruits are brought into the middle district where one of the less powerful societies will offer them a place but I think that would not be the best course of action.” said Lania as she picked out several pieces of junk alongside a worn looking book and placed them each in the bag.

Handing the bag it to Lleu and motioned for him to follow and they walked out another opening in the tent. Instead of leading back into the main room it connected to the back of the tent where there were a handful of guards and several carriages.

“Alright Lleu, the expedition will leave for the north in 5 days from the plaza at noon, I will be waiting for you there. Hopefully, I will have figured out your affinities by then and will have found you a suitable mentor from one of the higher ranking societies I can hand you off to. Until then study the book I gave you, it should cover all the general knowledge you will be expected to have. The other items in the bag are replica totems, try to make them do something but don't worry if you can't.”

Without even a goodbye Lania vanished back inside the tent leaving Lleu outside. Noting how the guards were glaring at him, most likely believing he had done something to anger Lania, he decided to go.