Lola filed into the enormous auditorium with Xephyx close behind, to discover that it was full of even more people. The room was huge, with an arching ceiling held up by massive pillars climbing up the sides. It appeared to be designed with acoustics in mind, and it was clear that functionality took precedence over beauty. Xephyx snorted when she saw it, then looked at Lola defensively when she looked at her curiously. "What? It could be improved pretty easily if you knew what you were doing."

The young girl smiled at her best friend happily. Well, her only friend, really, but that just solidified the position. "You sound really smart about this sort of thing - you should definitely ask if you can fix it!" The dwarf stepped back in shock. "Is that a joke? This is Weatherton - why would they let me so much as touch the design? I just meant it could be improved, not that I wanted to change it!" Lola tilted her head. "Why not? If you think it could be better, just fix it. That's what I do!"

Xephyx seemed to take the advice with a grain of salt but took it regardless. The lights fixed into the ceiling dimmed, and a spotlight appeared, aiming at the thick red curtain on stage. The two found empty seats and sat down, Xephyx making a mental note about seating improvements out of sheer habit.

The curtain was pushed aside, and the most severe woman Lola had ever seen stepped onto the stage. She wore a flawless crimson suit and tie, with a white dress shirt underneath it and a golden watch hanging out of her pocket. Her poofy red hair was pulled into a bun and her sharp features and crisp brown eyes completed the picture.

She removed a grimoire from her vest and flicked it open to a specific page. A moment later, a strand of smooth blue mana flowed through her hands, into the grimoire, and passed through it to hover in front of her mouth. She spoke through it, her voice magnified both by her magic and the auditorium, and Lola leaned forward, excited.

"My name is Audrey Faxter, and I am the principal of this fine school. It is the sole purpose of this establishment to educate, to teach, and to otherwise prepare the newest generation of Careolis for whatever quandaries life can throw at them. Primarily, however, it is the duty and pleasure of the staff here at Weatherton to teach you all about the mysteries and histories of magic and its capabilities.

"The system we use in our everyday lives is not difficult by any means to use, and yet I hear more and more of people not using it to its fullest extent. It is these people who are the bane of civilized society, for our system is the most basic and second most important weapon in our arsenal. It is our method of living, of improving, and certainly of advancing beyond what ordinarily constitutes a mediocre human, or elf, or dwarf, or whatever you might be.

"Here, we accept nothing except the very best efforts of our students and expect nothing less. Laziness will not-" she paused and stared hard into the audience. "-be tolerated in any way, along with petty bullying and disputes. You should all be far above such childish things, regardless of your age and species.

"Welcome to Weatherton. I sincerely hope you succeed."

She bowed, dispelling her magic, and everyone began clapping. She turned around sharply and exited stage right, to be replaced by a somewhat chubby man in a robe. The man had curly black hair, beady eyes, and was sweating somewhat. He copied Audrey's voice magnifying magic, speaking in a slightly nasal voice. "Hello, everyone! I'm going to be the moderator for the entry test."

A buzz of confused murmuring swept the audience, and he raised his hands placatingly. "Now, I know there wasn't an entry test last year, but the quality of the students in that year was... disappointing, to say the least. This test - which will be quite simple, by the way!" he added with an attempt at reassurance. "But yes, the test will be specific to what your abilities are capable of. Don't worry, I'm sure there won't be anything exceptionally difficult. But first!"

People started filing in, people in suits watching them carefully. "If you can perform magic, please stand and follow the guides to the examination room." Lola stood up, noticing immediately that Xephyx didn't. She frowned in her curiosity. "You can't do magic?" The dwarf shrugged in her seat. "Not combat magic. I can only enchant objects, and I do that while making them."

One of the guides spotted her and indicated her to come over. Xephyx gave her a gently push. "Get going, Lola. I'm sure you'll be great." Lola hesitated, but the guide seemed quite adamant that she should go with him, so she did.

A few quick moments later, Lola entered a massive white room with about a hundred other people, looking around her in wonder. Another man was waiting for her with a smile. He was a little over six feet tall, with a nondescript black suit and tie. His black hair was pulled up into a flip in the front, and he looked quite nice. "Hello, there! My name is John Kahmen, and I'll be your tutor for whatever magical needs you might have. Firstly, though, we've got to see what you've got, all right?"

Lola nodded nervously. This was the first time she'd talked to an adult she didn't know without Isaac behind her, and it was more nerve-wracking than she'd thought it would be. The man got down on one knee, looking her in the eye on her level. "I know you're a little anxious, but don't worry. So long as you do your best, you'll be fine."

Her confidence when up a notch. Francis had taught her a lot about improving her mana pool, but she could only hope that she'd done enough.

Leading her over to a line, John indicated a large target about thirty feet away. "Now, for this first test, all you have to do is cast a fireball at that target. It's okay if you can't, though, this is just so we can see what you can do, okay?"

Lola nodded, a clear objective focusing her attention. Pulling Codex out of her bag, she flipped him open to his first page, not noticing John's surprised look. Most children didn't have their own grimoires and certainly didn't have enchanted grimoires.

Finding the fireball spell, she quietly whispered to the book, "I've never done this before, so help me if you can, okay?" The book vibrated in her hands, and she had a feeling it had just blinked.

She took a deep breath. Despite all of the overuse training Francis had done with her, he'd never actually had her cast a spell, and this was, therefore, her first. She pictured her mana flowing through her hands like she'd seen Isaac and the principal do, and felt a slight rush. Excited, Lola pumped it all into Codex, feeling a drain as she did. The pages of the grimoire lit up, and white-hot energy began rising from it.

It was then that Lola realized she didn't actually know how to cast the spell, but Codex seemed to know what he was doing, and the energy began condensing into a ball of fire. The ball increased in size as Lola pumped more and more of her mana through her book, and the fireball reached the same size as her mana pool's manifestation, about ten feet in diameter. John had stepped back and had a weirdly blank expression on his face.

Lola raised her hand, the fireball following her motion, and threw it at the target. Streaking away, the fireball crashed into the target and exploded, shattering the floor around it and melting the surrounding area. It actually blew some of the other targets away, and the shockwave.

Breathing hard from the exertion, she turned to her new tutor, who was staring at the crater slack-jawed. "Was that good enough?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Her office had high ceilings and was built out of dark wood, implying a forest in its design, with tall windows and a crackling fireplace. The comforting atmosphere made Audrey Faxter relax on a good day, and calmed her down on a bad day. Thus far, she couldn't decide which kind of day it was.

The principal stared at the young girl sitting nervously on the seat in front of her and wondered what she'd missed. The arrangement of students were supposed to have been 'above average', but from what John had told her, this twelve-year-old had obliterated several targets in one spell, which was decidedly anything but.

She sighed, steepling her fingers and resting her chin on them. "Could you tell me your name, please?" The girl nodded rapidly, tripping over her words. "I'm Lola Bourgeious - I'm really sorry about your targets! I've never cast combat magic before, I didn't think it'd explode that hard!"

Audrey's eyebrows shot up. "This is your first time using combat magic? It was quite effective for a first try." Lola nodded, pulling the odd-looking grimoire closer to her. The eye set in the front was glaring at her. "I know. Codex was helping me."

Her eyebrows impossibly went higher. "Really? Who is Codex?" Lola held up the book anxiously. "He's a Living Book. He's a super-duper grimoire, according to Uncle Chris!"

The principal took the information phenomenally well, nodding slowly as she processed the bombshell. "Well. That certainly does explain some things. But you can't rely on the magic of grimoires to get past the test." Lola nodded rapidly, agreeing apologetically. "I'm really sorry - I didn't know that, I swear! I still used my own mana, Codex just made it into a fireball."

She took a deep breath, absorbing the news. "So - your mana pool is large enough to obliterate six targets and create a crater twenty feet across... with a basic fireball spell." The young girl nodded again, still obviously terrified, and the principal clarified. "You're not in trouble, Lola. We're just figuring some things out, that's all."

Sucking in a massive breath, Lola relaxed, sinking into the chair. "Thank you. Codex isn't very old yet, so he only knows the basic spells."

Audrey's left eye twitched. She couldn't remember the last time, in the history of Weatherton, the last time that a student had begun with this much potential or raw power. "How did your mana pool get that big?" Lola answered eagerly now that she wasn't in trouble. "Uncle Francis taught me how." The principal nodded. It wasn't unusual for parents to teach their children how to improve their abilities, but then again...

"Would you mind telling me Francis' last name? We'd be glad to have someone who can improve one's mana pool so effectively." The young girl smiled, placing Codex on the desk in front of the principal. "His last name is Conderie. He used to be a really famous person!"

The principal smiled widely. This child was going to make Weatherton go down in history again.