The recruits that were not able to use the wind slice had been told to return to the main campus, as they would not be taking part in the last two tests and so did not need to be there. They were led away by Instructor Lops, who had entrusted the rest of the testing to Instructor Penn. The recruits were not happy. They cast jealous looks at the remaining recruits as they were led off the meadow, some even angry. The majority of the angry looks were directed towards Wren, who the recruits felt didn’t deserve to be counted among the other accomplished recruits. They thought him a cheater, and were of the impression that he should be reprimanded for his actions that day. They thought he didn’t deserve to be there.

Wren himself didn’t think he should be there. He was pretty sure that out of all eight of them that had passed the first elemental test, he was the only one that wasn’t a Legacy. He had no idea what he was doing and was pretty sure he’d be better off just following the rest of the class back to the main campus.

The only thing keeping him there was his desire to use his abilities again. That, and he didn’t want to have the awkward conversation explaining why he was backing out now. Using his ability was addictive, he’d never felt more like himself when using it and he wanted that feeling again.

Carlos, Wren and Liam’s roommate, was among the recruits to be led off back to campus. Despite being a Legacy, he had not been able to use the wind slice, but this was not the thing that Wren found the most strange. It was that while most of the recruits were shooting him looks of disdain, Carlos only looked back with curiosity, as if he wanted to see how the rest of the testing would play out.

“Okay everyone, just a quick roll call to make sure we have everyone whose supposed to be here.” Anastasia said, breaking Wren from his reverie. “Liam Cacas.”

“Here.” He said.

“Steven Stone.” She said.

“Here.” A stocky boy with a shaved head replied.

“Nina Shell.”

“Here.”

“Lars Erikson.”

“Here.”

“Scott St Clair.” Anastasia called.

“Um its pronounced Sinclair Instructor Penn. Sorry, it’s just the second time you did that.” The boy corrected her politely.

“Oh right, won’t happen again.” She replied. “Natalie Prince.”

“Here.”

“Xiao Peters.”

“Here.”

“And finally, Wren Spectre.”

“Here.” He replied, meekly raising a hand to indicate his presence.

“Okay good, that’s everyone. How about we move onto the second test?” She asked the group.

They all nodded in agreement and she turned and led them further into the meadow.

They reached the next station. The grass had been trimmed down in a large circle and five different targets were placed in the circle. They were much smaller in comparison to the target that had been used in the first test and were placed in a receding pattern, each an equal distance from one another.

Anastasia stopped on a white mark in the grass and turned to the group.

“The second test is a distance test.” She pointed to the targets behind her. “As you can see, the five targets before you get further and further away with each one. This test is meant to see how far your wind slice can travel, you must hit the target before moving on to the next one and you will be marked out of five depending on the furthest target you hit.”

Without turning around, she tilted her body, lifted her arm and pointed it at the furthest target. Without a sound, a wind slice came flying out of her palm and hit the target.

“You may have realised this already, but this is also an accuracy test as well as a distance test. So take careful aim before firing your shot.” She told them. “Wren, you can go first, you went last last time.”

Wren gulped and nodded.

How was he supposed to follow that. There was no way he could do a no look shot like that. She was too impressive.

Anastasia moved off the white mark to make room for him as he stepped up. He took a deep breath and prepared himself.

“Feel the wind, right?” He said to Anastasia.

She paused, looking at him with a wry smile.

“That’s right. You’ve got this.”

“I certainly hope so.” He said under hushed breath.

Wren looked out before him and saw the first target, it was only five metres away, he could hit that. He lifted his hand and pointed it at the target.

He closed his eyes and centred himself. He listened for the wind, felt is swaying over his body, stirring up the green energy within him. He touched the green energy, guiding it up through his body and into his palm. The wind slice appeared from his hand and whizzed through the air, hitting the target first try.

“Very good. Next.” Anastasia said.

He pushed down the feelings of joy and pride that begged to rise up, he wasn’t done yet, he still had four more targets to hit. The next target was another five metres away, making the total distance ten metres.

He felt for the green energy and once again guided it into his palm. The wind slice sailed through the air, shimmering in the light of the twin suns. It hit the second target but only just, the wind slice had clipped it, but it was enough to light up the target and mark it as hit.

Aiming was more difficult than he thought it would be. He didn’t have to aim in the first test, the target was big enough to ensure that he would hit it no matter what. But this was more delicate, he had to take more care with his shots, fine tuning their trajectory.

“Next.” Anastasia’s soft voice called out.

The third shot missed. The target was fifteen metres away and was just too far to hit correctly on his first try. He adjusted his aim, moving his palm slightly to the left and steadying his arm. It was shaking slightly under the strain of being lifted for so long. He called on the green energy once more and shot the wind slice out. It missed again. He had adjusted too far left and it had sailed past the target.

Wren steeled himself, denying the creeping doubt that was clawing at his heart. He reached within himself and touched the green energy once more. But something was different. There was less than before, quite a bit less. Was it running out?