As it turned out, Liam did not have an affinity for lightning. He walked off the stage with a glowing green band around his forearm instead of the yellow he so desired. Wren remarked how he didn’t seem too crestfallen, seemingly content with a wind affinity. After all, any power was power in Wren’s opinion. Liam disappeared behind the doors, being directed towards the wind planet portal and Wren redirected his attention to the next person on the stage.

It seemed that the order in which the recruits were called to the stage was the order in which they had checked in at the front desk. Wren knew that he would be one of the last to be called up. He didn’t mind the wait, he was nervous about what was coming and he welcomed anything that delayed the inevitable

He watched as the numbers in the hall dwindled down until he was left with the few other people that had come into the room after him.

“Wren Spectre.” Colonel Lambert called.

Wren braced himself. Standing up and walking to the foot of the stage he paused. This was it, after he walked on that stage nothing would be the same. He would have a new power, a new planet, a whole new life.

He stepped onto the stage and approached the crystal, there was no going back now.

Wren looked to Colonel Lambert, deep lines marked the recesses of his face, undoubtably from years of stress. Wren focused on the Colonel’s hands, covered in burns and scars. How many battles had he fought? How many monsters had he defeated? How many people had he killed?

“Hands on the crystal son.” The Colonel said.

Wren nodded and reached for the crystal.

As soon as his fingertip brushed the surface of the crystal, the stage shook, unsteadying both Colonel Lambert and Wren as the crystal began to glow. The stage lit up in a myriad of colours, a dome of rainbow coloured light poured out from the black crystal and encapsulated Wren.

“What did you do?” The Colonel shouted, wind whipping along the stage.

“I don’t know what’s happening.” Wren shouted back.

He tried letting go of the crystal but it wouldn’t budge, he pulled as hard as he could, trying to get the crystal to separate from his hand, but it was as if it was fused to him. Wren panicked, the dome of rainbow light undulating erratically around him, scaring him as it grew and shrank repeatedly. Wren was confused, why was this happening? Had the crystal rejected him? Was he not supposed to be an elemental? Was he going to die?

Suddenly Wren came to a realisation.

There was no pain.

Wren looked down at his hand attached to the crystal and realised it wasn’t hurt at all, he only felt a light coolness from where his skin met the crystal. The dome seemed to emit an aura of calmness amidst its whipping winds, letting Wren know that everything was fine and that he would be okay. When the panic had finally passed, he really began to look at the dome surrounding him, remarking how beautiful it was. Streaks of colour floated and streamed past him, growing and shrinking with the dome. Wren watched as reds clashed with blues, dancing across the dome as they became purples, he watched yellows swirl around greens, forming patterns above his head. He wondered how he ever thought that something so beautiful could ever hurt him.

~

Colonel Lambert, had moved away from both Wren and the crystal, not wanting to be caught up in the rainbow dome. He’d never seen anything like it, he didn’t know what the boy was doing, he could be about to kill them all for all he knew.

“Sir, what’s happening?”

“Do we attack?”

The guards that had been stationed along the edges of the room had quickly made their way onto the stage as soon as the dome formed. They stood at the ready, waiting for a command from the Colonel to attack.

“No wait, we see what happens.” The Colonel said, raising his voice over the winds seeping from the dome.

After about five minutes, the dome started to recede, shrinking down slowly until the recruit began to be revealed. The dome seemed to shrink back into the crystal, the rainbow light from it growing dimmer and dimmer as it shrank.

Finally, the dome had completely vanished and with it the winds that had swirled across the stage. Wren released the crystal and took a step back, seemingly relieved to have his hand back.

“The dome, did it come from the boy or the crystal?” One of the guards asked the Colonel.

“I don’t know.” He replied. Stepping forward, he approached Wren, noting the dazed look in his eyes. “Boy! Boy!” The Colonel said, grabbing Wren’s attention. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, I just touched the crystal like you told me to.” Wren replied.

The Colonel looked back at the crystal on the pedestal, it had returned to its normal state, black and glass-like with no visible glow. It was as if the dome had never appeared at all.

“Do we take him into custody?”

“We have to right?”

“For our safety and everyone else’s.”

The guards all looked at Wren, eager to put a pair of handcuffs on him, just waiting for the order from the Colonel.

“We can’t.” The Colonel said. “Look at him, he has an affinity, its out of our hands now.”

He was right, the three guards ganging up on Wren looked down at his arms hanging by his side, wrapped around his forearm, about three inches up from the wrist, was a glowing green band.

Wren had been sorted as a wind elemental.