Ameni abruptly returned to consciousness, as if he was in the middle of a nightmare. He looked around himself. By the looks of things, every child had been moved from the circle to appropriate resting places, with the commoners neatly laid upon the grass of the garden in an organized pattern, and the nobles getting to lounge on banquet chairs. Ameni was still very disoriented from what he had seen, and simply sat there, confused and amazed, trying to process what he had just seen and done. He shook his head, trying to force himself out of his daze, when suddenly, the voice that had initially made the speech rang out behind him, causing him to turn his head.

“That makes 20…”, a man with purple hair, a purple suit, and a polka dot tie whispered under his breath, then moved to a shout, “Hey you! When do you plan on getting up!?”

Ameni promptly realized he was simply sitting there in a daze, while everyone else was quickly standing up and forming an orderly queue. He rapidly followed their example, looking sheepish as he did. He briefly considered telling someone about his vision, however, decided against it, shuddering at what the hyper-religious officials in The Free City of Briaze would make of it.

“Okay, you lot”, the man said, “Get ready for the Test of God”

An exited murmur reverberated from the crowd, while Ameni simply looked timidly at the man, not daring to open his mouth. He wondered what significance his vision would have on his magical power, a pit styarting to form in his stomach.

“Pipe down you lot”, the man ordered, turning to the group, “The rules are simple, you send a command to your companion to manifest your magical energy in a five by five cube in front of you, you will be graded by those judges there”, he pointed to a group of old men with white hair and formals, “according to a standardized rubrik to find out how much magical power you have, and it’s quality”

Ameni nodded, and started doing breathing exercises to draw as much magical energy as possible when he suddenly froze. Companion? He did not know if he had a companion! He had gone to that nightmare realm instead of a companion’s domain! He had not contracted with anything! Ameni’s eyes widened as the pit in his stomach the deeper, his mind racing through the array of implications this would have. He wanted to puke. He wanted to drag himself into some small and insignificant hole and die there. His life was essentially already over. All of that practice, all of those hours studying the theories of magic all of them would be wasted. Thrown away. Forever. All because he decided to hallucinate instead of do the things required of him.

Ameni fought the urge to sob as he looked ahead, seeing people try their best at the test, the pit in his stomach growing every time a child manifested a cube of varying colour and viscosity in front of themselves and then walking away. Some looked dejected, while others looked like they had just won the lottery. If you think about it, they had. Getting good quality magic of the correct type could take a person from rags to riches instantly.

Before Ameni knew it, he was the one standing in the front of the lines, the bespectacled eyes of the judges staring at him. He outstretched his hands, and took an upright posture that he had read was conductive to magic. He slowly formed an immaculate packet of information in his head, commanding his companion to do exactly what the judges asked for him, in the vain hope that his vision was actually some twisted way of forming the contract, when, nothing came out. He tried again. For the second time, nothing appeared. The bespectacled judges looked at him with crazed eyebrows, the man who had commanded him stepping backward with an expression of wonder and horror.

Ameni tried for the third time, when suddenly one of the judges started vomiting and another screamed in a shrill voice, “That boy is non-existent in my mage vision!!!”, the kids stared at him with amazement, while the adults looked at him with horror. Ameni was very confused when he was suddenly tackled from behind. His weak body fainting instantly.