Can a person be fatally judged by a single moment in their lives? Maybe for things like murdering an innocent man or torturing an animal until it whines for an early demise, those would be understandable and no doubt it would be hard to look past those faults even after you go to jail for like forever. What about something totally simple and fairly inane? Your favorite colors? The books you like to read? Where you like to spend your free hours and what you like to do?
Asvati pondered those thoughts as she peered around the library. As per usual, plenty of people curiously glanced at her. Or more accurately, they intently stared at her skin. Not occasionally, and not innocuously either. In a sense, she didn’t blame them, she knew this could happen and anyone who really knew her prior to even a few days ago shouldn’t be that surprised.
Her eyes wandered away from her book and to the backs of her hands. They were marked by an array of pitch black lines that disappeared up her sleeves. This was all the proof others would need to recognize her as one attuned to the Macabre. The room buzzed with whispers periodically, though the term whisper could be used very loosely, as they weren’t particularly quiet.
The girl grabbed her bag, setting her book gently inside it, and prepared to leave; she had somewhere to be in half an hour and she wanted to be there early. The Selection was tonight. As she stood, everyone stopped looking at her, jamming their nosey faces back into their own books or staring at their phones as though they had all received the most interesting texts in unison. Without meaning to, she took in the room and the lightly scrawled skin of others like herself. As expected, there were no others with markings the same color as her.
She felt better after leaving the library –that was becoming fairly common as she preferred the fresh air these days. Maybe her attunement wasn’t so bad? It encouraged her to ponder the way she judged and labeled others, it repelled unruly and intrusive botherers, and her runes were one of her favorite colors at least. She chuckled to herself, trying to raise her own mood a bit.
The city streets were quiet. Illiya didn’t have a lot of features that set it apart from other cities. It stunk like rubber until you got used to it, then it merely smelled like rubber due to a rather active factory district downtown. The only thing they produced was tires, and that did nothing to secure its place as a tourist hotspot. It wasn’t so bad uptown, but that was hardly a saving grace since uptown was infested with chipper suburbians.
It was getting dark and most of the unattuned were already indoors, probably meditating with their parents or practicing to attune. That was another good thing about her attunement, now she could stay out practically all night if she wanted to. What could happen now? It’s not like she could attune twice or anything. She found herself having this conversation quite a lot recently.
As she passed a pizza shop with a few cars parked out front, it occurred to her that she hadn’t eaten since almost mid-afternoon. She hated herself for it, but she had no time to eat, the Selection wouldn’t wait for her. To rub salt in the wound, there were humans eating outside the shop, relaxing, smoking, and enjoying each other’s company. Asvati sighed jealously. “Blissful, I’m sure.” she grumbled bitterly. She would treat herself later to the largest pizza they had.
Almost five minutes early, Asvati had arrived at the dome-shaped Temple of the Guardian. She slipped inside and to her surprise; she was the third one to arrive. Agin and Waldus were already here and making small talk. Agin, the High Summoner, practically lived in the building, so that wasn’t THAT big of a surprise. Waldus, however, was never on time and always had that pitiful and tired look on his face, like he’s never gotten a good night sleep in his life. He was also unfocused, bitter, prone to hotheadedness, and a weird human altogether.
Asvati sucked in a deep breath of air and approached the two. “High Summoner, it’s good to see you.”
The elderly man turned to the girl and smiled faintly, holding open his arms for a hug, which Asvati practically leaped into. “It’s good to see you as well, Asvati.”
This felt good. Asvati hardly had time to visit Agin or the Guardian Temple since her attunement. Agin was always kind to her, and that was something she needed after almost a week of harsh words from her parents and disapproving or fearful looks she’d been getting on the streets. Maybe because he was Thaaraa like her, he understood? His runes were green, like leaves, and skittered all over his body, but maybe he still knew she was good?
“Asvati.” Waldus muttered out of the side of his mouth.
Hearing his voice snapped her right out of her trance of comfort. “Waldus.” She responded politely, masking her general distaste for the boy. Of all the probable candidates to be named Lead Summoner, Waldus was the person she got along with the least. This was a problem because the Lead Summoner would become a sort of captain to the initiate Summoners.
Agin, reading the mood, released the girl from his hug and excused himself quietly from the company of the other two.
Waldus averted his eyes from her slightly, refusing to make eye contact. “You must be pretty psyched, attuning so early and all.” He seemed to struggle to even get the words out.
“You could say that.” She lied through her teeth. It was true, attuning early was found to correlate to high magical talent, and that talent tended to open lots of doors for a rising socialite.
“I…” the boy huffed out a large sigh like he was trying to dispel his own feelings. “I wanted to say congrats. You’re going to be a good Summoner.”
Asvati was completely shocked. Never had she heard him speak even a single word of encouragement to anyone else. “Well, thanks. Hopefully, we’re both going to be great Summoners.”
The two chatted idly for perhaps ten minutes while the other initiates trickled in through the front door. Once the last initiate entered the room, there were a total of sixteen, including Asvati, and none of the others had yet to attune to any element to the best of her knowledge.
Shortly after the last two latecomers arrived, Agin raised his hand up high, the sign all initiates had come to recognize as an order to assemble into a line. “Pupils, it is good to see you all made it here tonight. Especially those of you who came on time.” He squinted accusingly at a few select initiates in the room, prompting muffled laughter from the others. “But before we begin Command practice, it is at long last time to begin the Selection.”
Asvati listened intently, nervously twiddling her thumbs and interlacing her fingers.
“As you know, every generation of Summoners has a Lead Summoner appointed to take partial responsibility for their fellow Summoners. The Lead Summoner will undergo specialized training; learning the inner workings of the Illiya chapter of the Temple of the Guardian, advising and training other Summoners, and, in the absence of a High Summoner, assuming command of all other Summoners in the Chapter.”
Distracted, Asvati could not help but notice the stares of her fellow initiates. Or, more specifically, she noticed the stares of her fellow Thaaraa. Since the Thaaraa fell from the sky over a century ago, the human cities of Kalendara were very welcoming of the Thaaraa. Illiya’s Guardian Temple was about half Human and half Thaaraa and this fact had never made the girl as anxious as it was making her right then.
“As such, a council of Summoners, consisting of three of your seniors as well as myself, has come to a collective decision. Within a leader must lie a multitude of qualities.” Agin’s eyes began tracing back and forth along the initiates. “Stern and well-tempered judgment. An aptitude for bringing out the best in others. And a willingness to make sacrifices, great sacrifices, both personal and extrapersonal, for the sake of others. We believe we have found such a candidate.”
Most of the initiates didn’t look particularly interested in the result at all, but to Asvati the tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. She had worked for this. She struggled, studied, and achieved results for this. She worked well with others and was willing to do what she had to do in order to live up to her potential.
“Waldus Ashting.” Agin’s voice rang out in a proclamation.
