“Alright!” Basillo barked, marching up and down the line of students as they stood at attention, “Now that the written portion is out of the way, we get to the real test!”

The open area around the Wards had turned into a battleground in the past week, a microcosm of a war-torn city full of areas designed to test the Academy’s students. Explosions both distant and all-too-near rocked the titanic mountain, causing stones to clatter across the ground from the constant force unleashed around them. Inhuman roars and screams echoed throughout the city as students battled against, or alongside, conjured monsters and demons.

“I don’t care how well you’ve memorized the spell circuits!” Basillo shouted as he continued to pace, “The true test of an Amber mage’s mettle is whether or not they can keep themselves – and their allies – safe once they’ve made contact with the enemy! Knowing when to shape your ward into a shroud, an aegis, or a full circle of protection is critical!”

He stabbed a beefy finger at the smoke-choked warzone behind him, an explosion turning one of the buildings into shrapnel with perfect timing, “We professors conjured this little city especially for you – and filled it with death and destruction! You only have ONE objective: get from your designated entrance to the exit on the opposite side of the city as quickly as you can.”

Some of the students nodded and chuckled.

“You think this is simple!?” Basillo shouted down at one of the chuckling students, “You think that getting past an enemy that wants to kill you is a laughing matter!?

“Think again recruits!” Basillo’s glare cut across everyone standing before him, “Because you’re not going in there alone!”

Shaya and a few other students groaned, dread building at his next words.

“That’s right! An Amber mage isn’t just responsible for their own safety! Your comrades rely on YOU to keep them alive in battle, their own defensive measures TRASH compared to what we can defend against!”

Some of her peers relaxed, but Shaya could read Basillo like an open book.

“But EVERYONE looks to Amber mages for protection when disaster strikes, and it is your DUTY to protect the innocents of the Empire!”

Everyone groaned.

Every Amber mage’s least favourite job: escort duty.

“Correct,” Basillo gave them a sadistic grin, his voice dropping to a normal level and still punching through the sounds of battle around them, “And I swear to Blessed Astoria that if one hair on your charge’s head is so much as singed, I will bust your ass back to the start of this course!”

The class was split up after that, a teaching assistant escorting Shaya to her designated starting point where she found her charge waiting for her.

“Avaim,” she smiled and nodded at the squire that had supervised her lance’s training sessions, “good to see you!”

He returned her grin, “I don’t think you’ll be thanking me when this is over.”

“Ha,” Shaya grinned, and clapped him on the shoulder, “I’m guessing you’re going to have to act like a scared idiot in there. Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you, and I’ll keep you safe.”

“My hero,” he fawned dramatically while rolling his eyes.

A nearby bolt of lightning burned her retina and the screech that followed made her wish she was allowed to bring her equipment, especially her shield to use as an implement. Despite the early winter starting to settle onto Arcadia, the testing grounds were unnaturally hot, rivaling the heat of Kelahk’s summers.

“Your allowed zone of movement for this exam,” her teaching assistant said, bringing her attention back to his glower, “are the two streets before you, as well as the first row of buildings on either side of them. If you leave this zone, you automatically fail the exam. If you cast any spells not taught in this class, you automatically fail the exam. You will lose marks for each time you are injured, despite your ability to keep going. You will lose significant marks for each time your charge is injured. The longer you take to complete the course, the worse your mark will be. There are additional hidden criteria that may cause you to gain or lose marks. Do you understand?”

“I do,” Shaya nodded, putting on her game face, “I’m ready whenever you are.”

Time to be a big damn hero.

A warhorn bellowed across the ‘city’, its deep bass dwarfing the explosions and reverberating deep through Shaya’s bones.

“Go!” The assistant shouted.

“It’s going to be okay, sir,” Shaya said with calm confidence, turning to Avaim and getting into character. She put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze as she continued, “just hold my hand and move when I move, I’ll get you safely away from here.”

“O..okay,” he stammered convincingly, trembling under her hand.

“Phaedra Amon, Guardian of Hope!” Shaya invoked with flourish, her esper manifesting in a burst of light that weaved into the shape of the armoured woman with angelic wings.

A pang of guilt stabbed into Shaya as she looked at her esper’s - her mother’s - crystalline blade, resplendent beside the spirit’s larger-than-life panoply.

With a shake of her head, she dismissed those thoughts for later, blinking the moistness from her eyes. Caused by the smoke, no doubt.

Eyes glowing gold with Amber, Shaya offered her scarred, brawny hand to Avaim, who took it.

“Seven protect,” she said with injected reverence.

He echoed the blessing, then they entered the warzone.

Shaya extended her feline senses out, listening for the sounds of people scrabbling over rock, the sight of anyone preparing a spell, or the pungent smell of brimstone. The warzone assaulted her senses, overwhelming them and leaving her unable to pick out one aspect from the chaos.

They didn’t say anything about drawing other aethers...

Shaya braced herself for the deluge, drawing in Jade until she felt her senses sharpen. Not only that, but she felt herself rooted in the moment, her distant concerns washed away by her immediate surroundings.

Grumbling from a bored mage came to her from her right, along with the smell of brimstone. Distantly, she spotted someone crouching atop a building, camouflaged against the sandstone with a tan cloak. Blue flames flickered from around a window. She could make out faint invocations involving death or fire.

She stepped into the warzone with her charge, and the enemy mages started blasting.

A golden red aegis weaved into existence over her free arm within a heartbeat, prepared for their assault. Fire sprang at her from the right, but her ward absorbed it before it could touch her or her charge. Necrotic energy shot at her from a roof top down the street, but she moved into cover behind a building, pulling Avaim with her. She projected her aegis further from her arm, pushing the flames closer back to the mage hurling them and forcing him to drop the spell.

Before he could cast another spell, she shouldered through a decrepit wooden door and kept moving. Amber flowed into her freely and she traced another ward in preparation of emerging on the other side of the building, long legs carrying her across the empty room as she dragged Avaim with her.

Two mages ahead... Amethyst and Ruby based on the smell of rot and brimstone.

She came out into an empty alley and didn’t slow, bursting through the door across the way. Mages jumped her, as predicted. A full circle of protection against Amethyst magic erupted around her, soaking a spectral wave that sought to sap their energy. The Ruby mage was skilled, launching two rays of condensed, blue fire at her, but Shaya’s aegis was more effective than that of her peers from her time with Auric and it deflected the beams away rather than simply blocking the energy.

Thinking fast, she kicked a large dining table over to serve as cover against the Amethyst mage, knowing his spell would do nothing against unliving wood, and hurled one of the chairs at the Ruby mage, forcing him to throw his arms up as the furniture smashed into him. The pyromancer dropped with a surprised grunt, groaning in pain, and his partner looked shocked by the storm of violence rushing through their trap. The look stayed on his face as Shaya spun around table and punched him across the jaw, watching him drop to the ground like a sack of flour.

Shaya lost track of time as she weaved into or around buildings, defending herself and her charge as she moved forward. Her senses warned her of most danger as she advanced, but even with forewarning she found her reaction time tested alongside her casting speed, raw magical power, and problem-solving skills when the rest proved insufficient.

And the early part of the test was the easy part, filled only with Amethyst and Ruby mages. She knew she had reached the next stage of the exam when she felt a strange pressure building in the air, like the depth of the ocean crushing in around her, using her third-eye. She slowed as she neared the door leading out of a building she had ducked into, catching her breath.

Azurite mage outside?

Shaya dismissed her cracked shield, giving her enough space to trace a new circuit as she rushed forward. Directional shields were unreliable against Azurite magic, so a shroud crawled over her, hovering just above her skin. A full circle would have been better, but she wanted to conserve her energy, given how much she was burning through absorbing all this punishment, and keep as much space available in her soul to adapt to the onslaught.

“I need you to trust me,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Avaim.

“What are yo-hey!”

She pulled Avaim to her and threw him over a shoulder to carry him, then kicked down the door to the next alley. This one was filled with crates and a shanty lean-to, reminding her of her time in Blight Town. A mage materialized from thin air, snapping a command for them to drop to the ground.

Splinters erupted across Shaya’s ward, the enchanter surprising her with his raw power. Avaim went limp on her shoulders, the spell ramming into his mind and forcing him to do his best impression of a rag doll. She ignored both sensations and kept moving, putting one foot onto a crate, then leaping atop the lean-to. As it screeched beneath their weight, she quickly leapt again, hitting the rooftop running.

The Azurite mage’s next invocation died on their lips as the lean-to collapsed explosively behind Shaya. Other enemies in her area called out in alarm, stabbing fingers her direction, and necrotic beams lanced at her from other roof tops.