Following the general direction of the small crowd around, Amara found a spot on the third row of benches, with a decent view of the central arena-like space. She settled into her seat and tried to focus her attention on her surroundings for once, as more people filed into the room.
The faraway walls of this space were smooth and gray, matching the exterior appearance of almost every other building on campus. The benches were made of a hard material, colored to match the looks of hardwood, and could easily hold hundreds of audience members. The middle area seemed to be matching the size of a sports field, large enough that the people on the opposite side of the benches from Amara seemed like animated flecks. There was exactly one gray-suited figure in the arena, standing in the middle of the empty space, presumably waiting for the benches to be fully filled up before making a speech.
‘Hey, I think I should use this waitin’ time to recover some energy.’ Amara quickly became bored after sitting still for several minutes, and reached into her mind to give a heads-up. ‘Now that I thought about it, I think it’s the first time today that I''ve got some time for breathers.’
Just keep an eye out for the upcoming exam instructions. Life immediately responded to her and paused the godly squabble that had been ongoing. She and Destruction then phased into silence, letting Amara have her break in peace.
‘Thank you.’
Eyes now closed in reality, Amara turned attention to the green pool of energy in her mind and began to take deep breaths. As she gradually cleared her head of stray thoughts, she could slowly begin to ‘see’ tiny sparks of green light floating around her. She knew that these small clusters of green light were representations of life around her, and most—if not all—living organisms are able to produce such energy to signify their survival.
The first time Amara was capable of sensing these energy clusters, she almost burst into tears until Life explained to her that absorbing these wouldn’t cause anything to die; from bacteria to fungi to animals, anything that is alive could and would produce energy, and she’s unique in having the ability to grow her Talent by replenishing her power with this type of energy, as well as wielding it to grow and enhance pre-existing life forms.
Now, after years of experimenting on crops and learning from the Deity of Life, Amara is fully confident in her ability to absorb life energy without bringing harm to the subjects she was taking said energy from. However, with dozens and dozens of living humans around, Amara hesitated as she was about to fill up her energy pool.
‘People’s energy clusters are so much bigger than potatoes…would this be alright? I don’t want to accidentally cause anything bad.’
I am glad you have this concern, Life answered Amara. But you should not be afraid. Think of what you see as excess energy that human bodies do not need to keep themselves alive, otherwise these clusters would not be hovering around for you to take as you please.
‘That makes sense, thank you.’ Amara felt relieved. She continued taking in deep breaths, with each inhale drawing in small streams of energy that flowed naturally into her green energy pool, in a process that only she herself could sense.
Barely five minutes later, Amara’s energy pull was back at full capacity once more. Even though she still avoided draining entire energy clusters, the sheer amount of people in the room with her still provided her with an abundance of supply. Opening her eyes, she did a quick scan around her, and sure enough, nobody seated nearby seemed to be affected in any way.
This is a brand new experience for you, correct?
‘Yeah. I’ve only had this many trees around before, this is definitely a first for me. I feel like I could grow in power at least twice as fast as before if I’d meditate here every day instead of in the corn fields!’ Amara thought to her ‘tenants’.
All the more reason to pass this entrance exam, right? Life responded again. It would be good for you to familiarize yourself more with the workings of human bodies, and explore more venues for power usage. After all, I—life—is anything but limited to helping plants grow.
Amara suddenly had a question. ‘Can I start a weight loss program by constantly takin’ energy from specific people?’
Child, you ought to spend less time observing Destruction.
Oh, sure, and miss out on listening to the next bit of instructions. Destruction answered sarcastically.
That statement shocked Amara back into reality. Sure enough, the lone gray figure in the arena opened its mouth to speak: “Welcome to the academy, everybody!”
Amara sat close enough to see that the figure did not hold anything that resembled a microphone. Despite that and having their back towards Amara, she had no problem hearing the person’s voice. Assuming this to be some secret auditory technique, Amara had her eyes fixated on the figure, trying to see if there was anything special to the way the person was speaking.
“First of all, congratulations for making it past the written tests. My name’s Jason, and I am—”
Another gray-clad figure sprinted out from the audience and dashed for Jason, then firmly shoved a stack of paper to the latter before sprinting back with equal speed.
“...Pardon me, I forgot the script.” Jason cleared his throat, and proceeded to read off of the papers in a deeper, slightly raspier tone: “My name is Jason, and I am delighted to see so many young faces eager to join us. Welcome, again, and reaching part two of our entrance exams means that you have proven your skills…”
Amara’s face flushed red as she remembered how many blank spaces she had left on the test earlier.
Focus. Destruction’s voice sounded as if it came through gritted teeth.
“...And for this section, the Academy would like to test your familiarity with your Talents. Of course, we’re aware that not everyone’s skills are convenient for indoors places like here, and so we offer two modes for you to demonstrate. It’s easy! Just come up to the stage whenever you feel ready, and either choose to show us what physical forms your Talent has, or use our specially made simulators to show what you can do!”
As Jason continued to speak with his face turned away from Amara, a translucent projector screen materialized on his right hand size, while the floor on his left split open to reveal a metallic object that resembled a human sized pill capsule.
“No need to fight anybody here, and please be civil and line up if someone’s faster than you. This will be the easiest part of the exams, and I’ve already explained everything! Oh, besides the fact that the first ten up on the stage would be offered five bonus marks of course, once I say the word ‘ready’!”
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Amara’s entire body tensed up, ready to pounce onto the stage. She knew she needed the bonus marks to make up for her written exam, as well as the penalty for the interview section that was made by Ms. Vexpley.
“Rea-”
Jason only spoke one syllable before Amara moved. She launched herself right over the people sitting in the first two rows of benches, landing on the ground with an impact that numbed her ankles. Without wasting any time for pain to follow, she sprinted as fast as she could towards Jason.
“STOP!”
Amara skidded to a halt right before she was about to tumble face-first into another person. She wobbled, nearly crashing into Jason before regaining her balance, and felt her heart sink as she looked at at least thirty others present on the stage.
‘Did I make it?’ Amara thought weakly as her legs began to ache from her rough landing. Before either deities could form a reply, she saw Jason point a finger right at her.
“You, miss.”
“Y-yes?” Amara gulped.
“You’re the tenth.” Jason flashed a small grin. He was a muscular man that was at least twice Amara’s height, with a clean shaven head and crooked teeth. His attempt at appearing friendly made him look even more frightening to Amara.
Between feeling relief that she got her extra marks and feeling uneasy by standing in a spot surrounded by spectators, Amara decided to look down at her shoes. Barely a second later though, the person in front of her spun around to face her directly, and hissed: “You again?”
Amara immediately looked up and first noticed that Jason had begun to walk away to other applicants who were also on stage. Then, her vision was filled with an angry face that looked oddly familiar as the boy stared her down while pushing his face closer to hers.
“Do you know how many marks I lost because of you? You almost RUINED my life!” The boy screeched at Amara, his voice cracking as he shouted louder and louder with each word. He was already a little taller than Amara, and having his anger adding to his presence nearly made him seem like he towered over her.
Amara’s memory was refreshed as he spoke. This was one of the children in the families that got penalized alongside her. By the sounds of it, he probably didn’t do well on his written exams either.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have bad-mouthed people then.”
The boy’s face turned beet-red and his facial features all but crumpled into one mass from rage: “And where did-”
“Alright, we have our order ready!” Jason’s voice boomed loudly, covering over whatever else the boy was going to say next. Amara took the momentary distraction to roll her eyes at him and shuffle to a different spot further away, while he was turning his attention towards Jason.
“Starting with our fastest applicant, please introduce yourself a little and tell us which way you’d like to show your Talent!”
The girl standing next to Amara’s new spot stepped towards Jason. She’s nearly a full head taller than Amara, lanky with long limbs and her hair in a short bob. She moved without a sound and looked almost blurry from speed as she walked at a seemingly normal pace.
Jason gave the girl a strong pat on the shoulder, with the sound being audible even to Amara’s ears. The girl herself dipped to the side, but righted her body in one fluid motion that nearly created motion blur. Afterwards, when she began to speak, her voice also rang out across the room: “Uh…my Talent is related to electricity, should I be on the safer side?”
“Oh? Do you have any skills you can demonstrate without causing harm?” Jason asked, as several more adults dressed in gray dragged a wooden podium towards them.
“Yes.” The girl answered. Amara blinked once, and suddenly the girl was on the ceiling, hanging off an uneven chunk with one hand while touching a light bulb with the other. Without giving anyone else a chance to react, the bulb she held burst into eye-blinding light.
The crowd burst into chaos as people were not prepared for the change. There were a few screams here and there, a lot of waving arms to shield eyes from the light, but surprisingly enough, the chaos only lasted a few moments and the audience was once again back to a normal level of noise.
Amara shut her eyes as fast as she could, but still didn’t fully avoid the flash of eye-watering light. She turned her head down and wiped off the tears on her face, but the discomfort in her eyes was nothing compared to the pit of dread and familiarity that opened in her heart.
''She''s also one of the people I crossed, isn’t she?’ Amara asked inside her thoughts, hoping for one last shred of denial.
Yep. Destruction was always quick to give her the truth. Attagirl, now you’ve got at least two other kids hating on you, and you didn’t even make it past all the tests yet.
Life was no more comforting. These two are clearly strong contenders for admission spots for you, even after penalties. My estimate for their Talent points are in the high twenties at least, and factoring in their age…prodigies, indeed.
‘High twenties…not the worst case scenario, I can take ‘em in a fight.’ Amara winced.
Don’t underestimate them, that girl definitely has plenty of tricks up her sleeve. Destruction told her confidently.
‘Even more tricks than you?’
Nonsense. How could a half-grown mortal ever compare-
She’s goading you and you fell for it. Life interrupted. And stop zoning out, Amara.
‘Right, right.’ Amara gathered her thoughts.
The girl was already heading off the stage with a card-like object in hand, and she was definitely moving unnaturally fast compared to a regular human using her movements. The light bulb on the ceiling returned to normal levels of brightness, but many people in the audience were still covering their faces.
Jason, now with two suspiciously puffy eyes, smiled as if he was being paid to act content and beckoned the next person to go up to his podium and demonstrate: “Now for our runner-up, please come out and introduce yourself!”
Behind Amara, A figure in a hooded black cloak glided, or rather, floated towards Jason. The cloak fully covered the person from head to toe, but it was evident that the edge of the cloak material was simply not touching the ground, along with the rest of their body.
As they passed by Amara, the latter felt there was an unnaturally strong gust of wind blowing past, much more powerful than a normal amount of airflow generated by someone else moving by. She was momentarily reminded of being in a storm, though all traces of the winds disappeared as the mysterious figure moved onwards. Despite what she experienced mentally, her clothing didn’t even get a crease from the drastic change in air pressure.
The figure was floating above Jason’s head by the time they reached Jason’s podium. Before Jason could change from a gawking expression, the figure slowly descended to the ground, landing soundlessly with indescribable grace. Jason had no time to make a comment about the figure before they took the chance to speak first.
“Can I go now?”
Strangely, their voice was capable of projecting out loud and clear as well, without any assistance from Jason.
Jason was clearly taken aback. “Do you have, um, anything else…?”
The figure extended a hand out, and one massive fireball was forming rapidly atop their palm. Amara counted just three seconds before the flames were nearly the size of Jason himself, before vanishing into nothingness with a simple finger snap from the cloaked figure, along with all the heat produced by the fire.
“Can I go now?” The figure repeated. Jason, with mouth open and puffy eyes as large as they could open, wordlessly handed a rectangular wooden object to the figure, and continued to wordlessly gaze as the figure returned to his seat in the benches.
The entire room went deadly quiet for several moments as Jason remained petrified. Finally, the third applicant stopped waiting, and approached the podium by himself.
This was someone who clearly began puberty, as he stood almost as tall and wide as Jason, though clearly many years younger. He kept a straight face as he spoke with no voice amplification: “I want to use the simulator.”
The applicant crossed his arms as he waited for a response, flexing his muscles in the process. If Amara had to guess, his Talent would certainly be related to physical strength.
“Ah? Of course, yes.” Jason forced a smile onto his face halfheartedly, possibly still trying to process the emotions each contestant had brought to his mind. “Welcome to our first applicant who’ll try out our simulators! Don’t be afraid, I promise under the Academy’s reputation that the process in one hundred percent harmless—”
“I know how to use it.” The third applicant responded as his feet already moved towards the metal pod off to the side. From Amara’s angle, she only saw him open some sort of latch on the simulator’s surface, before opening up a door-like space that he squeezed himself into. Jason had his mouth hanging open throughout the time the applicant took to get himself ready, only to realize his slip-up and coughed away his awkwardness after the metal pod had been shut closed.
‘This might be a good time to see if the simulator would give better marks? I’m not quite sure what this part of the whole exam was supposed to do anyway.’ Amara thought to herself, even as she pondered why this third applicant gave her a feeling of familiarity. ‘Ain’t this just gonna be a weird useless show-n-tell game?’
My bet is that this Jason mortal does not know what he was supposed to do anyway. Destruction complained.
He does seem quite inexperienced.
‘Really?’ Amara tried to see why the deities reached this conclusion. Instead, she fetched another memory from her head: ‘Wait…isn’t this guy…also…?’
Oh. I believe yes, he is indeed another one that you have not exchanged pleasantries with. Life’s green orb pulsated several times in Amara’s mind, which meant that she was taking a look at the outside world through Amara’s eyes.
Destruction was cackling in glee.
‘There were five of them right?’ Even Amara’s thoughts had a tinge of despair as she tried to see if anyone else currently on stage was also a familiar human. Luckily for her, the rest of the applicants were all strangers.
While she was peeking around, the metal pod containing the third applicant began to spin and shake around. Meanwhile, a spatter of colors was beginning to be displayed holographically, right on the projector screen that was generated alongside the pod.
The screen showed an image of the third applicant in a mountainous area, with about a dozen boulders nearby. As the colors solidified, the applicant was then shown to be lifting up multiple rocks with clear ease, then hurling them one by one out of frame without breaking a sweat.
Amara gulped as the last boulder disappeared from the screen. ‘I gotta admit, I don’t think I can take all three of ‘em in a fight.’
Oh come on, if I were you I’d have-
A bloated ego. Life skillfully intervened.
A bloated- HOW DARE YOU! Destruction nearly went off the wrong track.