Aspect Of Winter

by Tom Early

  “Feayr, are you alright? I promise, I didn’t know this was going to happen!”

  I groaned, getting to my feet again unsteadily. “Unh… Aiden? What happened?”

  He looked about as disoriented as I felt. “The Trials! You don’t have a month to prepare any more. The University Council changed the date. They’re happening now!”

  My eyes widened. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Why’d they change it?”

  Aiden looked like he was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack as well. “I don’t know! I’m supposed to be informed about these things! I’ve heard rumors, and none of them are good. From what I can tell, the situation for every single prospective student of the University just became far more dangerous. They’ve moved all of you without warning to a safe location, and they’ve moved up the date of the Trials so they can explain away the rush!”

  “W-what?” I stuttered, extremely confused. “I thought Janus University was supposed to be the magical learning center of the world or something! Why the hell are we in danger? Are there magical terrorists or something?”

  “That’s why everyone, including me, is severely alarmed right now,” Aiden said grimly. “As far as I know, the University doesn’t have any enemies that would, or could, do this. If there was an attack, we’ve been taken completely by surprise.”

  “And so they think now is a good time to start the Trials, as some sort of cover up? That’s insane! My parents are going to flip when they see I’m missing, and I’m pretty sure Sam’s dad is going to call in the FBI or something. There’s no way they can just do this.”

  “I agree,” Aiden responded, “but seeing as they have, they’ve probably done a reprogramming wave to keep people like your parents from noticing. They only do things like this when the situation is exceedingly dangerous, Feayr. I need to go now; I was just making sure that you’re okay. I need to get some answers out of this mess, and now you need to prepare for the Trials. What we managed to do last week won’t be nearly enough, but they aren’t going to wait.”

  “Really? Just like that? Why are you helping me?”

  “Because you’re an investment.” His eyes softened a bit. “I’m not a good person, I know that. But if I’ve put time into something or someone, like I have for you and Samantha, then you’re mine. And nobody else gets to ruin you.” He closed his eyes for a moment, and then continued. “When you’re ready, step through the gate over there,” he said, pointing to a colorful shimmering in the distance. “Good luck, and… be safe. Don’t trust anyone that you don’t have to. People only ever aim to win the Trials, and camaraderie isn’t something they can afford to show.” With that, Aiden stepped forward into a different portal, and vanished, the portal closing behind him.

  I shook my head to clear it. Whatever the University was dealing with, it wasn’t my problem. And if Aiden had some weird attachment issues, that was something to think about later. I needed to find Sam. Scratch that, I needed to find Tyler. Sam could take care of herself. I walked over to the portal, and passed through.

  This time, I found myself in some sort of massive gathering hall. There were dozens of sturdy oaken chairs laid out in tidy rows in a massive stone cathedral, with curving arches soaring high above. Light filtered in through several stained-glass windows, depicting all sorts of fantastical creatures interacting with one another, not always in a peaceful manner. The chairs all faced a raised stone dais at the end of the Cathedral. What captured my attention immediately, however, were the people sitting in the chairs.

  There were only twelve people currently sitting down in the room, and only about five of them looked human. I didn’t see Sam or Tyler anywhere, but the person in the back row saw me. A guy with short spiky black hair turned around in his chair to face me. I was more than slightly distracted by the two spiraling horns extending from his forehead, like ram’s horns, as well as the long, furred black tail that was waving lazily in the air behind him, occasionally winding around his waist. He was wearing strange folded robes, made of cloth of varying shades of purple and black, and his hands had claws. He faced me for a moment, head tilted curiously, his red goat-pupil eyes regarding me unblinkingly. He smiled suddenly, and it was terrifying. His teeth were all razor-sharp, and he widened his eyes as he bared his teeth. I bristled. It felt like he was trying to intimidate me, and it was working. I wouldn’t stand for that. Not now.

  I tried to reach for my magic, and thankfully it responded. I felt power flood through me, my hair bleed to white and my eyes begin to shine as I drew from my core. I looked coldly at the demon boy, and it was his turn to shiver. The cold gust of air I conjured around him might have had something to do with that, but whatever. He growled, I mean actually growled, and turned back around.

  His growling had drawn the attention of the other people, though, and some of them turned to get a look. There was the blonde, willowy girl with a sharp-looking nose and flowers in her hair, the African-American boy with broad shoulders, buzzed hair, and a calculating expression, the small mousy-haired boy with three large tomes clutched nervously in his lap, and the football-jock looking guy with short brown hair and a scowl on his pockmarked face. They all looked at me quickly, and lost interest even quicker, as I had stopped my eyes from glowing, leaving little about me that would hold interest. The ones that weren’t quite human just ignored the noise. That was fine by me, because if they were even half as scary as the first one, I was going to have a fit. I could see other horns, and even a pair of silvery-black feathered wings. I admit, I felt slightly jealous of the wings.

  There was a soft noise behind me, like the room itself took a breath, and Tyler stumbled out of a suddenly-appearing portal. A second later, Sam also appeared, her feet landing soundlessly on the cold stone blocks. They both looked at me, and I put my finger to my lips, trying to get them to understand that noise was probably a bad idea right now. Both of them looked as freaked out as I did about being kidnapped. I led them quietly to the far left of the back row, a good distance away from the other individuals.

  “What the hell is going on?” Sam hissed, “I just woke up in a cell, and then got dumped here all of a sudden!”

  “Did Aiden come to visit you?” I whispered back. “Or you, Tyler?” Both of them shook their heads.

  “Okay. Basically, the University is freaking out about something and moved the Trials way ahead of schedule. As in, the Trials are starting now instead of in a month or whenever they originally planned. We got kidnapped for our own protection.”

  “Seriously?” Sam whispered urgently? “My dad is going to go insane! He’ll lock down the entire state trying to find me! How the hell did they think this was a good idea?”

  “Aiden said the University probably took care of that,” I whispered back. “They have mind magic or something that can make people not notice.”

  “Uh, Fay?” Tyler whispered, looking around with wide eyes, “a lot of these people don’t seem human.”

  “Yeah, I’m guessing the University draws from a really wide applicant pool. Let’s just sit here and wait, all right? Trust me. You don’t want to make unnecessary eye contact with some of these people.”

  We sat there for around an hour, the air occasionally humming as a new entry arrived every few minutes. I kept my head down, so I didn’t know what they looked like. Eventually, however, a stern, hard voice broke through the pervasive silence.

  “Can I have your attention, please?” The voice belonged to a severe looking woman with shoulder-length silver hair wearing a silver and black tailored suit standing up on the stone dais. Her face might have been marble for all the emotion it was showing, and it was an ageless face. “I won’t ask again.”

  She looked out at us, and I jolted when I saw that her eyes were entirely silver, no whites, iris, or pupils visible.

  “Welcome, applicants, to the Trials. I am Speaker Sekhmene, and I represent Janus University today. We wish to apologize for the abrupt beginning of the Trials, but matters were as such
that we had no other choice.”

  She gazed at each one of us, and I shuddered at the way she seemed to just look through me. Her expression didn’t change once.

  “This is not the time for questions. If you do not wish to attempt the Trials, please leave now through the portal in the back.”

  Nobody moved.

  “Excellent. Then I shall begin instructions. You are all going to be temporarily housed in one of the Janus University retreats for the duration of the Trials. You shall each have a roommate, of the same gender, and fighting will not be tolerated in the slightest outside of the Arena. You will be served meals in your rooms, and will spend the rest of your time either in your rooms or in the Gathering Hall, where you are all now. You may summon your familiars, but only if you can guarantee their good behavior.” -- Tyler shot me an irritated look at that -- “Tomorrow, the Practical Trial will take place. You will all gather here after breakfast to have the test administered by your specific proctor. The day after that will be the start of the Trial of Survival, and three days after that, the Trial of Competition. You are all dismissed. Please look at the card in your right hand for your room assignment.”

  I glanced down, only to find out that yes, I was in fact holding a card. It was the size of a playing card, plain white, and with the number 13 in embossed script on one side. Sam had number 20. Tyler didn’t have one.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered, “I’ll just stay in your room, I guess.”

  The Speaker turned her head sharply at the slight noise she definitely shouldn’t have been able to hear. “Young man, who said you could speak?”

  “I, uh, er, nobody?” Tyler stuttered. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I didn’t get a card.”

  The Speaker’s brow furrowed, the first real sign of emotion I’d seen on her so far. It cleared a second later. “Ah, yes, you are the ‘exception’. You will be rooming with your Arcane, familiar.”

  At that, everyone turned to look at Tyler. He went pale, and I leaned into him comfortingly. Their expressions ranged from shock and confusion to disgust and disdain. Sam and I glowered back at them.

  “Now, are there any questions?” The Speaker continued. “No? Good. You are all dismissed to your rooms. Follow the corridor behind me to the housing chambers.” And with that, she just… dissolved. Motes of gleaming silver light poured off her form, and when they stopped flowing, she was gone.

  Everyone just looked at each other for a moment, and then we all slowly shuffled off to our respective rooms. Tyler and I went left at the corridor, down a torch-lit stone passageway, while Sam and the other girls went right. She gave me a thumbs-up as she disappeared. Hopefully that meant she’d gotten over last week’s affair. Tyler and I filed through the sturdy wooden door marked with a silver 13 in its center, and stepped into our room. There were two wooden beds, simple but decently sized, with crisp white linen sheets and two pillows on each one. A small table was in the center of the entranceway, with two ornate wooden chairs, one on either side. There was no window in the room, and instead several glowing orbs of light hung in the air up in the corners of the room, shedding a soft light around us. I could sense the presence of the Light spell in my mind, and to my surprise, found that I could modify it with a thought. The orbs dimmed briefly, and then went back to normal as I tested it out. A small room to the left of the entrance turned out to be a bathroom, with a normal toilet, thankfully. I wasn’t quite sure I could do the whole magic thing if it meant abandoning modern plumbing.

  Tyler floomped onto the bed on the left. “Well, this wasn’t exactly how I was planning on spending this Sunday. Do you think our parents know where we are?”

  “I don’t think so,” I said gloomily, falling into the other bed. “Aiden made it sounds like they were spelled to not notice a thing.”

  “Great. So, what do we do now?”

  “I guess we just wait. It’s not like I had the chance to grab a book to read or anything.”

  “Yeah, same here. I don’t even know where these clothes came from,” Tyler muttered, plucking at the baggy gray shirt he was wearing, the same as mine.

  “I’m getting the solid feeling that this wasn’t planned out with much time. They seem pretty rushed, actually.”

  “Wonderful. I’m going to take a nap, then. Doesn’t seem like there’s much else to do. Care to join me?”

  “Literally?” I asked, not quite sure what he meant.

  “Well, yeah. We could push our beds together,” Tyler said enthusiastically, but then caught himself, blushing. “I mean, if you want to. I’m kind of a cuddler.”

  I smiled at him, my face also turning slightly red. I wondered if I would ever stop feeling awkward when Tyler suggested things like this. It was still difficult for me to grasp that someone could like me as much as he did.

  “As long as you don’t mind cold hands, then that sounds great.”

  We pushed the two beds towards each other, the wood making scraping noises on the stone floor. Once they were touching, we climbed back in. I sort of just curled up slightly, like I usually do when I sleep, and Tyler just wrapped himself around me. It was like having a soft furnace attaching itself to my back. I listened for the quiet sound of his breathing behind my head, and then relaxed, leaning into him slightly. He responded by wrapping his arms around my chest, and well, that was kind of awesome.

  A couple of hours later, I woke up to the sound of knuckles rapping on the door. I disentangled myself from Tyler, and padded over. When I opened the door, I let out a little involuntary yelp.

  It was like Slender man had come bearing fresh laundry and food. What looked like a store mannequin wearing a servant’s uniform had several pairs of shirts, jeans, and undergarments slung over one shoulder, and was holding a large tray with two plates of steaming chicken and beans in his hands.

  A mild, androgynous voice sounded in my head. “May I place your food and attire, sir?” It was really creepy, not seeing a face on the thing’s head, but I forced myself to nod. It strode smoothly past me to place the food on the table, and the laundry on the bed next to Tyler. It then bowed low to me, and left as quickly as it had come. I closed the door behind it, still weirded out. I woke Tyler up, and we started eating rapidly, not having much to say.

  “I wonder what Sam’s roommate is like,” I mused. “I’m guessing that Sam’ll find a way to get along with whoever she is. Or find a place to hide her body.”

  “I hope so,” Tyler said. “Can you imagine being stuck with a complete stranger in a room right after being kidnapped? I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all.”

  “Well, thankfully that’s not the case with us, then.” We went back to eating, and finished soon after.

  “Want to go back to sleep, then?” Tyler asked hopefully.

  “Eating and sleeping really are the two pillars your lifestyle is supported by, aren’t they?” I said jokingly.

  “Well, eating and sleeping and Fay,” he replied, completely seriously. I didn’t have anything to say to that, so we crawled back into the bed and fell asleep quickly. The whole cuddling thing was surprisingly effective.

  In the morning, I was woken up by Tyler holding a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me. I could also smell coffee.

  “A store mannequin servant just dropped this off, Fay. Do you think it’s safe to eat?”

  “Hrngh? What? Oh, yeah, ‘s fine. Dig in.” I stumbled out of the bed, and drank the coffee gratefully.

  Shortly after that, our door swung open of its own accord, and the Speaker’s voice rang in my mind, telling me to report to the Gathering Hall.

  Tyler sat up in bed as I got up, his face serious and his eyes dark with worry.

  “I don’t like this, Fay. I can’t protect you if I’m stuck here. I don’t like the idea of you going off to get hurt.”

  I smiled at him. “I promise I’ll be fine. Besides, it’s just a test. I don’t think it can actually hurt me.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel any better,” he muttered, bu
nching up the blankets in his balled fists. “Just… come back soon, okay?”

  “I will.”

  I smiled at him one last time and headed out, regrouping with Sam in the corridor. We entered into the Hall together, and sat down where we had yesterday. Sam was uncharacteristically quiet, and I put it down to a poor night’s sleep. The other applicants filed into the Hall over the next few minutes.

  A few minutes after that, the Speaker strode in, followed by one of the creepy faceless servants, and everyone stopped making noise.

  “The Practical Trial will begin in a few minutes,” The Speaker’s unyielding voice rang out. “Your assigned homunculus will take you to your testing room.”

  At that, the servant standing behind her seemed to blur, and then split into two identical servants, each the same size as the original. Those two then split again, and the process repeated itself until there was a homunculus for every applicant in the room. One of them made its way over to me, and I heard its mild voice inside my head.

  “Feayr Hanson? Follow me, please.” It turned and opened a portal next to it, stepping through.

  I took a breath, and passed through the shimmering lights as well.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  I found myself in Limbo again on the other side of the portal. The homunculus was waiting patiently for me, its pale white hands clasped behind its back.

  It spoke to me in its carefully modulated voice. “Feayr Hanson, are you ready to begin the Practical Trial?”

  “I am,” I stated. There was no point in waiting around.

  “Very well.” It spread its hands apart, holding them out to either side like it was encompassing the world, and the whiteness of Limbo disappeared. We were standing in the air a few feet above a sea at storm, the steel-gray clouds rolling violently overhead being put to shame by the whitecaps cresting. Lightning flashed intermittently in the distance. I sputtered as a particularly tall wave crashed into me. The homunculus made a cutting gesture with its hand, and all of a sudden, I was falling. I gasped in shock as I submerged momentarily. The dark waters were freezing, even by my standards, and I kicked furiously to stay afloat.