Talin waited in the courtyard beneath one of the mist willows with a couple other boys he was familiar with, Maxil Leepos, a slightly chubby and short boy from a wealthy merchant family in Vornei, and Varis A’ndelei, a rarely seen Avi with pointy ears and olive skin.

The three of them passed the time by playing a game of Conquer on Maxil’s set while waiting for any news. Talin was doing much better than normal. Usually he could be considered good among his peers, but lost quite often to Maxil. Today, however, it felt like everything was much clearer. Every time Maxil moved a piece, his intention seemed clear to Talin. He ended up winning three of his five games against Maxil and all his games against Varis. Maxil was grumpily prodding him about how he got so much better when a teacher finally arrived.

Professor Tinly, the same professor that made the announcement in the food hall this morning, had appeared.

“Alright students, gather around and listen up. Due to the unfortunate incident this morning classes will be canceled for the remainder of the week. You are now free to leave your dorms and campus facilities and certain teachers will be available if you need them, however you are not to step foot outside of the academy districts without faculty approval and escort. This is for your own safety.”

“Professor Tinly, umm.. Who died?” One boy finally spoke up to ask the one question that had been on everyone’s mind since this morning.

The professor pursed her lips in thought for a moment.

“Well I suppose there is no harm in telling you. Doyle Krosik has passed. He was found in the woods early this morning. May he find peace.”

Professor Tinly gently bowed her head while saying the last sentence, a few students repeated the words in a somber murmur bowing their heads as well.

Talin was stunned at the revelation. He had feared it being someone he knew but it turned out to be someone that he not only knew but disliked immensely. A part of him was happy it was Doyle, but that part made him feel sick. Doyle had been a jerk, but had he deserved this?

He wasn’t sure.

*****

It was sometime after lunch that Talin went to the research department to report his advancement and have his soul’s attribute tested. Normally he would go to Professor Frost but after asking around he found that she was busy in the archives. Instead he ended up with a research assistant named Theodin Redborn.

Talin wondered if his family had been nobility during the time of the Redfall Empire or if his family changed their surname after its fall like many others had, in an attempt to claim legitimate rule over the pieces of a crumbling empire. He decided it might be rude to ask.

Theodin seemed annoyed when Talin asked for his assistance, but seemed to take it seriously at least. He led Talin to the student records room. The room was quite large and filled with shelves organized in some pattern Talin didn’t understand with numbers engraved on copper plaques on the side of each one.

“So you weren’t able to determine your attribute in the soul forming stage, eh? Fairly common I guess, Sometimes even those they have figured out can be wrong. When I was in your grade there was a kid who the teachers thought had a fire attribute. Turns out he had a rare blood attribute.”

“Those seem pretty different, how is that possible?”

Theodin continued along the shelves seeming to count while still talking.

“Well, there are a couple of reasons. Souls aren’t usually pure and he really did have some fire attribute to his soul, even though it was small. Even after he finished soul forming the teacher still thought he was fire until they finished his testing because his soul was red, which is pretty normal for fire.”

“I didn’t realize souls had a color after obtaining form.”

“Yep.” Theodin paused and counted the shelves up from the bottom. Finally he reached above his head.”

“Here we are.” He pulled out a stack of student records and plucked what Talin could only assume was his own from the bunch.

“Follow me to the testing room and we will get you set up.”

He and Talin then went across the hall to a small room that was set up with a magical array engraved in the floor off to one corner was a desk and a stone obelisk built into the floor where Theodin took his seat. Under his direction Talin went and sat cross legged in the middle of the array on the floor.

He watched as Theodin poured spiritual energy into a rune carved into the obelisk. The floor lit up as the array beneath him came to life. He could feel as the array seemed to turn its attention on him. He felt.. well exposed might be the word, or vulnerable. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

A small crystal was inset on the floor in front of where he sat. It lit up abruptly, before turning black.

“A black soul... that’s uncommon. Hold on just a moment, let me adjust it.”

Theodin began to fiddle with the rune, pouring his spiritual energy into it in different ways. The focus Talin felt upon his soul increased and the image in the crystal became clearer. Talin was able to see a small version of himself now in the crystal, all black, seated cross-legged just like he was.

“Hmm.. no aura. Interesting.”

Theodin adjusted the rune some more and the discomforting feeling of having his soul exposed became more intense than ever. It was almost painful, but somehow even worse, like a terrible itch that couldn’t be scratched.

“Well this is unusual.” Theodin tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Looks like you don’t have any attribute to your soul.”

“What?!” Talin was startled.

“Hang on, let me go check something.”

Theodin got up and darted out leaving Talin alone in the irritating array. He thought for a while about getting out until Theodin came back but wasn’t sure what would happen if he did.

Luckily, Theodin wasn’t gone for too long. He came back with a professor Talin did not recognize and a strange device with crystal orb attached.

“See, no aura, like I said.”

“Hmm, yes, quite interesting. Use the aura scanner and see if it picks up anything our senses can’t detect.”

Theodin walked into the array and held the strange device up to the crystal on the floor. After a few seconds, it made a humming sound and lit up.

“I got a reading. It’s.. void element.” Theodin and the professor both had blank expressions.

“Is that bad?” Talin asked, feeling trepidation from the two’s reactions.

“I have no idea.” Theodin replied. “It’s just really rare.”

“Can I come out of the array then?”

“Of course.”

Theodin reached over and fiddled with the runes on the obelisk. Talin sighed in relief as the array powered off.

“So, what does void element mean?” He asked.

“Well..” started the professor. “I assume you remember the elements that all attributes are based in right?”

“You mean the fourteen element systems?” Talin paused trying to remember the elements they had covered in class.

“If I remember right, void is one of the seven celestial elements right?”

“Right.” The professor, seeing that Talin was struggling to remember, decided to turn it into a teaching moment.

“The fourteen elements form into two systems consisting of seven elements each. One is labeled the Elements of Heaven and Earth, while the other is called the Celestial Elements. They are separated because?”

“Because they form interactions independent of each other?” Talin remembered.

“Correct. Or close enough. Their interactions are not completely independent but that would be a class on its own. Just remember the classifications. Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, wood, and metal form the Elements of Heaven and Earth. Meanwhile, light, darkness, life, death, space, time, and void are the Celestial Elements.”

Talin nodded.

“But professor, what kind of properties does the void element have? I don’t think we covered it much in class.”

The look on the professor changed a bit. Talin thought he caught a trace of pity flash through his eyes.

“Ah, well… It’s quite rare, so not too much info on it, but..” He paused.

“What is it?”

The professor sighed.

“It’s not good for much. It doesn’t have much utility or offensive power. It’s best at defense especially against energy based attacks, but the biggest detriment against it is the lack of information about it. Besides time which never appears, void is the rarest element. Come with me to my office and we will talk about it more. Elements are my field of study in the research department so I will look through my records so we can come up with a plan before you go into Libraterium in a few weeks.”

Talin followed along behind the professor quietly, slightly disheartened by the news. One more setback to overcome.