Magic Discovered

Chapter 5

The first thing he noticed was that the arena seemed much larger when you were at the center of it, with everyone staring at you. The students in his group were all arranged in a large circle, with Lord Eternius already positioned in the center.  

Eternius raised his arms and a bright silver sigil formed in the air above each student's head. "By the power granted to me by the God of Magic, Dioul, allow these young souls to discover their calling in this universe!" He smashed his hands together and the sigil exploded, white light overtaking James' vision. When his eyes cleared, he found himself floating in a nebula, with colorful gases spiraling around him in lazy eddies. There was no up or down, only space as far as the eye could see. 

The gases slowly coalesced before James, forming into a rainbow sigil, shaped like a 2-dimensional dragon's head. On impulse, he held his hand out, and the sigil floated onto it, glowing softly above his palm. He gasped, his eyes swirling as he saw things that he had never seen before, or rather, been able to see and understand. He looked at the gases surrounding him and saw their components, the parts creating a grand whole. He looked off into the void and saw stars and planets, glimmering brightly against the darkness, and understood what they were made of, what made them tick. It was like he was enlightened, able to see the natures of all things. 

As soon as it had begun, the moment ended, and James found himself back in the arena, the dragon's head still sitting above his palm. Looking around, he saw that each other student had a symbol too, some the same and some unique. His was the only dragon's head as far as he could see. 

Eternius addressed them all with a smile. "Quite the experience, yes? In your hand is a representation of the magic you are best suited for, the type that resonates the most with your personality and soul." He walked over to a student on James' far left and began to make his way around the circle, calling out each magical affinity as he went. 

"Water Elementalism!" 

"Temporal Mage!" 

"Arcane Engineer!" 

He got to Lydia and when he went down to look at it, it exploded in his face. "No doubt about it. Weird!"

"Lightning Elementalism!" Ren looked pleased like he had expected this outcome all along. 

He continued along, calling out different affinities as he went. James lost track of them all, especially because he didn't know what half of them entailed. 

"Incredible!" James refocused on Eternius, who was more than halfway around already. "Celestial Mage!" This one was met with more than a few cheers, and James got the impression that it was quite a rare affinity. No other people had that same sigil. It made him wonder about his dragon's head. No one else had it. Did that mean it was very rare? 

"Fire Elementalism!" Algon looked like he was going to faint under all the attention, but he smiled nonetheless. 

Eventually, Eternius reached James and went he bent down to look at his symbol, he stopped in shock. "I thought there was something a bit special about you," he said, so quietly that only James could hear him. Raising his voice, he yelled, "Pure Elementalism!" There weren't many cheers, but whispers sprung up in the crowd. James looked nervously at Eternius, who winked. 

"Don't worry. It's just a very, very rare affinity, that's all." 

It must be ludicrously rare indeed, for James did not see a single other Pure Elementalist, even after he took his seat in the arena and watched the remainder. He couldn't find Algon or Lydia, so he sat alone and waited for it to be over, contemplating his magical affinity as he did so.