An Ancestors Mark (#Wattys2016)

Class of the Able

"You're a women Miss Roth-Wood. Even you know you do not belong here, and you never will." Victoria had forgotten how much strength her cousin possessed, though it welcomed itself the moment his hands had seized her shoulders forcing her to tumble to the ground with lack of grace.

"Vincent, why must you be so cruel to your own kin?" Alan. The stardust shade of his hair, and moonlit eyes a sign of unspeakable misfortune. "She earned her right here just like the rest of us. Though perhaps she should prove it to us, instead of the Ancestors this time?"

The impact of his boot made her frame whither in pain, and the young men gathered around her. Chanting the names of her abusers to continue the torment, which had encouraged the pair to introduce her to an appalling amount of soreness.

She felt another set of comrades join the chaos, their knuckles and boots awarding to be just as powerful as those appointed by Vincent and Alan.  Yet when the discomfort became far too unbearable she began to scream, her cries for aid leading to nothing more but additional bruises and cuts. Both of which had already begun to swell and bleed.

"Women are crimson. Women ruin missions.Women are crimson. Women ruin missions." She felt the tears plummet to the stone as their chants continued, yet in time halted at the sound of timber on oar.

Professor of the Slayers had enter the chambers.

"Mister Roth-Wood and Mister Knight-Dale, if you would please retire. As for you Miss Roth-Wood, are you alright? Pardon these young men, the presence of a female seems to bring madness upon them. Poor souls, already all ready to fight for their units and ranks."  He had mumbled the last of it to himself, though Tori was just close enough to understand and sighed at the latest known worries.

"I'm perfectly alright Professor. A few bruises have never hurt a being, and certainly not myself." The Professor offered a slight smile, offering a hand to assist her in regaining her composure.

She felt the ache of her muscles and bones as she rose. The blood that had fallen on to her fused together with the tones of dust, the duo staining her once crimson skirt, as well as her once ashen completion. Still the sight did not compare to the pain she hid behind her grin.

"Wonderful Miss Roth-Wood, the Ancestors choose you well." Her Professor strode passed her to the opposite end of the Slayer's Chambers, his hand bashing the hands of those who had harmed her. "For we all know the Ancestors do not produce mistakes in the events of choosing. You tuilli men would respect their decision you would be much better off. Understood?"

"Understood. . ." Was muttered beneath the breaths of various members.

"Aye then, all of you to the tapestries. This afternoon is not to consist of quarrel, but of trials and evaluations. As tomorrow evening you will each be paired with a member from both the Healers and the Wise. How it is you do this afternoon determines your rank, as well as you trio."

Tori stood far from her oppressors, as the sense of strength she had felt the night before had fallen into absence, leaving her to feel as she remained.

A young lady of no importance.

"I will recite your surname, and you will stand before me. Then it is I who will determine the trial that is most suitable for you. You will endure it until it finished." The young men around her nodded, some of them chuckling beneath their smirks of arrogance. Though Victoria herself fidgeted, her heartbeat accelerating as it had during her beating. "We shall begin at the end of the alphabet.
Roth-Wood, ladies first."