Chapter 2

“My head!” groaned Jack clutching his skull. He was half supporting and half dragging Tanner as they made towards a rusted iron gate. “I think this one is ours. Gate 18.”

They had finally reached their exam site. After the harrowing speech from their blonde exam proctor, they were told to make it to their testing area within ten minutes. The site was about a mile from their initial location and the kids had to book it to reach their starting zone within the allotted time frame. There were a few welcomed armored distractions along the way, but the panicked trio had raced with mana boosting their run, so they reached their destination in record time. It took them about seven minutes to finally see their exam site. Filled with apprehension, the trio approached their designated spot.

Jack was massaging his head while he held up Tanner who looked like he was going to topple over any second. The tall boy was holding a hand over his mouth, trying hard not to empty his stomach. Both of them looked like they had seen better days, but it wasn’t because of the run. An offending foreign aura was leaking from them. It was sticking to them like oily tar, and it was trying to ooze into their conduits. The aura had been concealed from their senses for a while now. It was only when they relaxed their guard after their long run did the aura surfaced like a coiled viper, ready to strike. The two boys gritted their teeth and circulated their mana trying to cleanse the foul, foreign mana. They seemed determined to show no weakness as they made towards their gate.

The boys trooped onward with Soja trailing behind them, who looked completely unaffected by the ills that plagued his two friends. In fact, by the delighted smile on his face, one would think that he enjoyed seeing his friends in torment.

“Gate 18.” The plump boy rubbed his palms together as he regarded the metal fence and the rusted iron gate ahead. “Do you think it is safe, Jack? It looks like it is ready to fall apart.”

Jack shivered. It was still dark and the morning chill bit into his bones despite his thick vest. Through his blurry eyes, he saw an iron wire fence blocking their path. The fence was an impressive ten feet in height and reinforced with cross welded giant metal bars every few feet. It seemed to stretch on forever and the only entrance was the rusted gate in front of them. There were giant lights that lit up the area at regular intervals along the fence. On top of the gate was an old rusted electronic signboard. It said in big bold letters.

Bio-Beast Experiment area No:18A

Just below it was an ominous warning symbol for bio-hazardous and toxic materials.

Jack’s pulse quickened a little at the implications the signboard was alluding to. The whole place gave him the impression of a giant cage. A barrier holding back something dark and insidious. Just what was held inside this cage?

Shaking his groggy head he looked past the gate. He couldn’t see anything at first with the floodlights blinding him with its glare, but his eyes soon adjusted as he stared into the mist beyond the fence. The cold monsoon wind picked up and the mists shifted and he could finally see.

They were standing at the base of a large hill, which had a dense, wooded area at the bottom. A thick fog blanketed the forest at the base of the hill, giving it an eerie presence. The trees poking out of the mist stood like ghostly sentinels keeping watch over the forests, warning any errant souls not to carelessly enter their domain. Distant roars of man-eating beasts could be heard in the misty forest, and the only thing that seemed to be keeping them penned in was the rusted iron fence.

“Scheiße!” Jack cursed under his breath. He felt a chill race up his spine. Here was Eaton being Eaton again. It seems that their final exam involved interacting with some cute mutated beasts who had a penchant for human flesh. Jack was trying to calm his hammering heart while nursing his head. He had a splitting headache and he felt his temples throb violently. Each pulse felt like an ice-cold dagger piercing his skull.

Jack grunted as he adjusted the weight on his sore shoulders. Tanner was only a head taller than him but he weighed about twice as much. Jack looked down at the tall boy who was leaning on him with worry. He could feel the foul aura around him as it tried to snake its way into his system. Jack wanted to help, but he was barely keeping his own aura in check. If he was having so much trouble cleansing his aura then Tanner should be just about ready to keel over.

“You alright Ben?”

Tanner made a choking noise unable to reply. His tanned face was contorted as he fought back the nausea. He looked a lot worse than Jack. His long hair looked disheveled and had come loose from his man bun. Clutching his stomach, he was holding back the urge to vomit.

“Alright, upsy-daisy,” said Jack straightening Tanner up so that he was standing on his two feet and his head facing away from him. Tanner tried to let go but his shaking legs couldn’t support his whole weight and was soon clutching Jack like a life raft.

“You guys okay?” came a sickly-sweet voice from behind them. Soja had the fakest smile plastered on his plump face. “Need anything? Food? Water? Mint?”

Both of his friends shot him a withering look, seeing him take such pleasure at their condition. It was usually the two of them that took to teasing the little plump boy. So, now the little shit was taking great pleasure on the roles being reversed.

“That blonde, Eaton witch!” Tanner spat. “My head feels like it's on fire.”

“Feels like, I’ve been hit by a truck,” said Jack as he stumbled unsteadily nearly falling under the weight of Tanner. Sensing the danger Tanner stopped leaning on Jack and took to his feet with difficulty.

“Then I’ve been hit by a truck and then set on fire,” said Tanner holding back his vomit.

“Oh! So, like a fire truck?” asked Soja smiling pleasantly.

“Fire trucks have water dumbass,” Tanner cursed.

“Shut it the both of you. My ears about to melt off,” interrupted Jack.

Tanner groaned. “It hurts to even to think.”

“You? Think? You can do that?” Soja muttered under his breath.

Tanner took a half-hearted swipe at Soja who dodged away laughing at a speed beguiling for his plum figure. He now kept a respectable distance from the two and was out of reach for any striking fists or stray vomit. Being a caster, he was in a much better shape than the rest of the party and was able to shake off the offending aura that had invaded his body. He walked ahead and stared through the fence at the dark forest.

“But when did she even cast it? Are you sure it was her? I didn’t even see her hands glow.” He mused.

“I know it was her!” spat Tanner. “It was definitely at the speech. And it doesn’t have to glow. Jack’s doesn’t glow.”

“Don’t look at me. I’m an exception,” said Jack rolling his shoulders and stretching his neck. The sticky, foreign aura around him was mostly gone with only a few lingering traces still left in his system. He couldn’t say he was at a hundred percent but at least he wasn’t vomiting.

“My gift is a little different than most people. Why are you so sure it was her? Could have been someone else.”

Tanner seemed set on his theory by the stubborn look on his face. He had the habit of being suspicious of anyone making more money than him. The blonde proctor had made quite an impression on the examinees with her inspiring speech at the start of the test. Tanner’s suspicions weren’t without precedent either, since Eaton was well known for throwing curveballs at its students. Soja, on the other hand, looked quite thoughtful.

“Well, if not her then who?”

Jack circulated his mana with more force and the last dregs of the foul mana in his system was cleansed without a trace. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. His head felt a lot clearer now that he didn’t have to focus on fighting off the cursed aura.

“There is no point in worrying about useless stuff,” said Jack. He fished out his phone from his pocket and checked the connection. The phone had no bars.

"Middle of bumfuck nowhere," he muttered under his breath.

“It was definitely at the speech. It was in the sound,” said Tanner in a low voice, still adamant in his assertions.

Jack shrugged. He could at least agree that much. The perp had used the speech as cover when they worked their magic. The screaming crowds, the sudden rise in aggression and the elevated heart rate. The skill was masterfully applied using the crowd’s own momentum to fuel itself. It was all too purposeful and calculated. The spell itself wasn’t overly malicious. It would just subtly guide the victim into being more aggressive in their actions.

“If it was her, then what was her motive? Is this another test or…” asked Soja, his voice trailing off.

“She was priming us. They want us to fight,” said Tanner.

“Be wary of the shadow under the light,” Jack muttered under his breath.

Jack was still skeptical but he didn’t disagree. Eaton wasn’t as benevolent as they portrayed themselves. They were the first noble school to open their doors to commoners but it wasn’t anything to do it charity or humanitarianism, as much as the school would like to tell the media. They chose the best of the best from the common stock and very soon in a few generations it had become the number one school for Psyphers in the whole empire.

“No one knows where our Gifts come from or how it works,” said Jack. “Sure, we can mimic some of the effects with gadgets but that is merely copying.”

The current tech for psionics were stuck at the level of copying powers and then combining them in different ways. Like monkeys smashing together rocks to see what happens. Eaton took that principle to the next level and figured that the more rocks they smash the more they can innovate. The strategy paid more dividends than they could possibly imagine. Year after year they produced some of the strongest Psyphers the world had ever seen.

“Be careful how much you show your powers,” said Jack, giving both of them a knowing look. “If they figure out how your gift works then they have no reason to recruit you.”

“Money, money, money. It’s the same everywhere.” Tanner added. “Eaton’s just where it all started.”

“It’s a give and take,” agreed Jack. “Eaton will train you to develop your powers and you will slowly have to reveal the nature of your Gift. The more unique your Gift is, the more they will invest in you. If the Gift is particularly powerful, they might even cut an unfair deal with you and you will lose all autonomy over your powers. Be very careful.”

Soja nodded looking pensive. “It’s not like we can choose to skip school. All higher-level info related to powers are classified. Right now, we just got rudimentary high school knowledge. Just the basics of the basics.”

“Caster,” he said pointing towards himself.

“Warrior,” he jabbed his finger at Tanner, who glared at him.

“and Refiner.” He finished, gesturing towards Jack.

“I know the words, but don’t know exactly what it means.”

“You got that right,” said Jack.

“We are just groping around the dark at this point,” said Tanner.

Jack opened his mouth to speak but he was interrupted by a beeping sound coming from his chest. Looking down he saw his round badge light up.

“Attention!” they heard a robotic voice.