"What makes a person special... is it their set of abilities, morals, The way they look? Perhaps what makes a person unique in their own way, is what they do for society. Join the United World Government today by applying at the" - *Click*
"I probably should start getting ready."
A boy says as he sits up in his bed
Corin Fortis is a seventeen-year-old with dark-fluffy hair, jet-black eyes, and fair white skin.
He starts to put on a black dress shirt, black dress pants, and a belt with his shoes.
He dresses this way today because he will be attending the Blessing Ceremony, a most pristine event.
"Corin, come down and eat breakfast, I don't want you hungry while you're away." His mother calls from downstairs
He finishes putting his clothes on and walks down.
He sees his mom preparing the table for his sister and him. She has green eyes and dark black hair in a bun.
"You're growing up, don't you feel sad at all?" his mother says as he approaches the wooden table, still seeing him as the little boy she raised.
"I do, but this is the most important time of my life and I'm just too excited!" He says with a smile as he sits down.
"By the way where's dad?" Corin says looking around
His mom looks up trying to remember something.
"Oh he left to work already, he told me to tell you that there's nothing to worry about and you'll do great."
Corin smiles as he starts to eat his breakfast.
Not too long after, his sister comes downstairs in her pajamas.
"I made you breakfast Liri." Corin's mom says to his sister while sitting next to him.
Liri is Corin's only sibling and is five years old. The odd thing about her is that even at her age she is still unable to talk, but can understand what people say perfectly fine.
Liri takes a seat opposite where Corin is sitting and begins to eat.
After a couple of minutes pass a knock is heard at the door.
"They're here already?" Corin's mom asked looking at the door
Corin quickly gets up and rushes to the door.
Upon opening it he is greeted by a tall young man in a white and blue garb.
"Hello, you are Corin I presume?"
Corin nods
"Yea"
The man smiles, "Well we must hurry there isn't much time." He coughs into his arm as he pulls out a scroll.
He opens it and begins to read, "Corin Fortis, do you agree to partake in the blessing ceremony, remember upon the agreement you are the only person reliable for your endangerment."
Corin hesitates for a second but continues
"I agree."
"Great! This way then," The man says as he starts walking away from the door.
Corin Steps up to the door and looks out into the grey-clouded world before him.
He lives in a housing district where homes are metallic cubicles stacked upon each other for miles.
Outside the cubicle homes are metallic grey railings with stairs that allow for accessibility among the stories of the vertical housing units.
As Corin leaves his mom and sister walk up to the door and see him off.
After saying his goodbyes, Corin walks through the doorway, and as he leaves the house, a large metallic blimp the color white with a royal blue design awaits him.
The blimp shoots out a path that lands at the railing where Corin stands so that he can enter.
He looks at it in awe, never having seen such technology.
He takes his first step onto the path and starts walking and as he steps, the path retracts behind him until he enters, where a sliding door shuts behind him.
The interior is white with matching benches that run across the walls, like a waiting room. There are also windows lined on the sides of the room.
Corin notices 8 other people there all keeping to themselves.
The man heads into another room past the seating area, while Corin finds an empty place away from everyone to sit for the ride.
Then A speaker in a corner of the room turns on and the man's voice is heard.
"This was our last stop so be ready when we arrive, oh and for those of you to who I haven't introduced myself my name is Jasper"
He says cheerfully
The blimp begins to take off and as they move Corin braces himself because he doesn't know what else to do when flying.
A few minutes pass and Corin starts to think to himself.
Everyone is taking this so differently, some of these guys look nervous and a few are so calm. Although I guess they aren't wrong to feel the way they do. So many people go without magic in their day-to-day lives with about 1/3rd of the population having magic. So it wouldn't be the end of the world if you failed.
The way most people function like my family is the use of magic stones, which are magic-induced crystals capable of exuding their magical element, kind of like a magical battery. We use these to power devices like the oven or the air conditioning, so we have to purchase them regularly.
Unfortunately, no one in my family has been blessed with magic yet, but my idea is that with someone in the family who can use magic our livelihood would be so much easier. With the ability to wield magic, more and better job opportunities present themself which would help us out a lot.
The speaker turns on, interrupting his thoughts
"We are here!" Jasper says in a celebratory voice
Corin sharpens up and looks at the surrounding area from the window. He notices that the vegetation and climate are much different from where he lives, there's grass that flows with a calming breeze and sun that lights up the clear blue sky.
He thinks to himself that no location around his house looks like this, so how did they get here that fast?
After a bit, the blimp lands, and the kids are then escorted out one by one and are presented with an elegant white marble staircase that leads up a just as large grassy green hill.
As Corin gets out he feels a moment up his back and he jumps in fear and swats at himself trying to figure out what that feeling was.
He grabs something and brings it forward to see, that it's a dark red gecko, with a red crystal embedded in its forehead.
He laughs to himself as he tries to set the gecko free by putting it down on the floor, but it quickly climbs back on him and hops into his pocket where it sticks its head out.
"You want to come along? That's fine I guess." Corin says catching up with the group that's already started walking.
Jasper is guiding them as they walk.
"As you all should know the Chyros do not live in our world anymore, so to allow them to judge you the UWO has created a device that will let them see you, but it's unable to let you see them."
He thinks to himself for a second
"Say, do any of you know what the Chyros look like?"
The participants start to throw out guesses. Some say they are untouchable giants, or that they are beautiful creatures.
Corin remained silent and just listened.
Jasper chuckles.
"Your answers aren't entirely wrong, they are many things, each vastly unique from the other."
After a bit, they arrive at the ceremony stage which is a giant circle made of white marble and guards surrounding the perimeter.
Corin looks around at the other participants who are all looking upwards.
He picks his head up to where they're looking and his mouth drops.
Just past the ceremony stage is the back of a massive white fortress that starts from the base of the hill and doesn't seem to have an end.
"It is custom to kneel upon entry here," Jasper says looking at the tower himself.
The participants start to kneel, but Corin does it a little slower.
"The building past the ceremony stage is the Fortress of Promise, an important UWO government building holding documents, records, and important members. Only those granted high honors may step foot inside."
Jasper waits for a second after he finishes talking
"Okay, you may rise."
They all start to stand back up
Jasper continues to talk
"Now everyone, step onto a circle platform. There should be one for each of you on the stage."
Around the symbols at the center of the stage are nine circle platforms for the attendees.
Corin decides to step up to the middlemost platform.
As everyone gets situated Jasper walks up to everyone individually giving them a gray crystal sphere.
"This is the device I spoke of earlier, the one that allows the Chyros to see and judge you. The device will change color according to who is judging you currently.
The sequence order is Red for Flame, Yellow for Thunder, Blue for Tidal, Brown for Stone, and Aqua for Gust. You get one chance for each of the five elements."
Jasper continues to explain.
"When the color sequence ends your crystal will either shatter, meaning you failed, or it will glow, matching the color to whom deems you worthy."
"If it glows multiple colors you will choose a magic to inherit but we will only discuss that further if need be."
"Now that the explanations are out of the way we shall begin, oh and we will be going from left to right".
Corin thinks to himself as he watches.
A girl, shorter than me, with pink hair.
The Crystal glows Red, Yellow, Blue, Brown, and then Aqua, and the sequence ends.
She glows red, and she smirks with confidence.
A boy, muscular, brown hair
The Crystal glows the sequence then Shatters.
A boy with, a droopy posture, and green hair.
The Crystal glows the sequence
It cracks and then shatters.
A boy, bold, blond.
The Crystal glows the sequence and shatters with his pride.
My Turn. He thinks with his hands shaking a bit.
The Crystal glows.
Red, Yellow, Blue, Brown, then Aqua.
Corin awaits his judgment nervous like never before.
The Crystal goes dark and there's a pause.
His hope turns to worry as he feels the crystal vibrate a little.
No-no!
Soft cracks start to form and a look of despair coats Corin's face.
The crystal shatters and shards fall from his hand to the ground.
Corin clenches his fist, cutting himself slightly on a shard in his hand.
The others continue as Corin stares into the distance.
It'll be ok, Nothing will change, people go all the time without magic... two-thirds the population.
Corin submerges his feelings and looks up to see the last person going as he pockets the crystal shard as a token of memory.
A boy, with black hair, like me.
The Crystal glows Red, Yellow, Blue, Brown, and then Aqua.
The crystal shines Blue.
Jasper walks up to the middle of the stage
"Well, it's already about 6pm and we got a lot more to do for those of you who passed!"
Corin looks into the sky, and it's dark out already.
How did it get so late...
Jasper continues to wrap up formalities
"This concludes our 83rd entry batch of the yearly ceremony," he says celebrating as the guards start clapping.
"Again, for those of you who passed I need you to stay here, the rest of you will be returning home. Please do comply, it makes my job much easier."
He then starts to head downstairs and the unworthy follow behind.
When they reach the bottom of the stairs the blimp is gone and the entrance is well guarded.
Everyone's a little confused except Jasper.
He turns to failed participants
"It is already much too late and the blimp was just for show," he says as he turns to a guard on his right
"Open it".
The guard on his right holds a purple rhombus-shaped crystal, It's a magic stone. The guard throws it on the ground and cracks it, opening a large purple ring vertically that has a purplish void in the center.
Corin is confused by the purple ring.
What kind of magic is that?
Jasper points at the purple void
"Stepping through here will send you back to where you came from before we picked you up, now please step through one at a time."
No one goes through, but then Jasper sticks his hand and takes it out.
"Look it's completely safe."
Corin puts together that the purple magic probably was how the blimp traveled so fast
One kid decides to go through, and then the rest follow one by one until it's Corin's turn to go through, he's hesitant but he does as he's told.
Upon entering his home he was trying to figure out how to tell his family he failed, and once he returned home, he was scolded immediately, but not for an expected reason.
"Corin! Why the hell did you dye your hair?! And are you wearing white contacts?!" His mother yelled
Corin has a confused look on his face, "What are you talking about I didn't dye my hair?"
His mom then drags him into the bathroom, he looks into the mirror to see his eyes and hair have been turned a colorless white.
"I swear I didn't do this, I think it was from the blessing ceremony!"
He says with panic, but then looks back into the mirror deeply and touches his hair
"Although I think I kinda like it," he says smugly
His mom smacks him in the head
After convincing his mom he wasn't at fault and telling the rest of his family about what happened, a total of one day has passed, and Corin is now in his kitchen attempting to feed the gecko.
"Why won't you eat?!" He says trying to give it a carrot.
"Maybe it wants like rats or bugs," his mom says.
"Hmm maybe..." he responds.
The lizard gives a disgusted look but tries to cover it up quickly.
Corin noticed before the lizard could hide its expression.
"It just made a face! I saw it!" He says tugging at his mom.
"What a weird little creature," his mom says smiling, poking the lizard in its body.
"Hey, what's with the little crystal in his head?"
She asks
Corin looks at the crystal.
"I don't know, this thing is weird."
The lizard sticks its tongue out, poking Corin in the eye.
"Corin jumps around, freaked out by the tongue."
His mom walks off. "Whatever as long as you clean up after it you can keep it."
"But I don't want it? It follows me!"
Corin says frustrated, but as he does the lizard soothes Corin with its warmth.
"Stop doing that!" Corin yells
Corin thinks that his story has ended and he will continue his life likely wooing in crystal mines like his dad. However, what he is unaware of is the crystal shard he kept is currently glowing red on his nightstand.