The next day one more cadet was taken to get his evaluation done. After about half an hour it was done. Then The priest came again to get the one more Cadet. This time during Lyra's class.
"Flint Woods." The priest said as he stepped into the gymnasium, "You are requested for evaluation by the Flame Tribunal. Please follow me."
Flint was annoyed to say the least. The Resonance training class was his favourite. "Uhhh..fine let's get this over with."
He walked into the evaluation chamber already annoyed. "Do I have to take my shoes off?" he asked, glancing down at the etched ring in the floor. "They're regulation."
"Remove them" the preist replied without looking up.
Flint sighed loudly, kicked them aside, and stepped into the circle barefoot. The stone was warm. Uncomfortably so.
After a few moments the five hooded and masked priests circled the chamber.
"State your name."
"Flint. Second Division." he replied.
"Do you consent to harmonic evaluation?"
Flint crossed his arms. "Do I have a choice?"
The evaluators were silent. They hadn't expected such a response.
"No."
"Then yes." Flint replied.
A crystal rod descended from above, hovering near his sternum. It hummed once, sharp and expectant.
"Stand still" the evaluator said.
Flint did the opposite. He shifted his weight, cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders. "You know, if this thing shocks me, I'm going to be very upset."
The rods hum spiked, then it stabilised.
The evaluator frowned. "Breathe with the rhythm."
Flint closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, syncing his breath to the Vein's pulse. The hum evened out, smooth and steady.
"See?" Flint muttered. "Easy."
The rod circled him once, then twice. Runes along the floor brightened in approval.
"Emotional state?" another voice asked from the wall.
"Annoyed." Flint said flat.
The hum did not waver.
"Clarify."
"I don't like being dragged out of training for this" Flint said. "Feels like a waste of time."
"Do you resent the Flame?" One of the five figure circling the chamber asked.
Flint opened one eye. "I don't think about it much. It does its thing. I do mine."
The evaluator made a note.
"Have you experienced doubt?"
Flint snorted. "About what?"
"Anything??"
Flint shrugged. "I doubt instructors. I doubt priests. I doubt other's sometimes."
The rod paused.
"And the Flame?"
Flint thought about it for half a second. "No. It works. I can feel it when I fight. That's enough."
The humming of the rod became deeper and stronger.
"Anger detected" the evaluator said.
"Not anger, my clergy friends....it's called annoyed. I don't et angry. that's kind of my Jam." Flint replied easily.
The five priests ignored the comment. "Anger does not disrupt alignment" the voice said. "Only contradiction does."
The rod withdrew.
"Evaluation complete" the evaluator announced. "Status: Stable. Volatile temperament noted. No corrective action required."
Flint blinked, "That's it?"
"Yes."
He bent to retrieve his boots, tugging them on with unnecessary force. "So I pass because I'm mad, not confused."
The evaluator did not answer.
As Flint stepped out of the chamber, he glanced back once.
"Hey" he said. "Just so you know...if you're looking for problems, you're checking the wrong people."
The door closed behind him before anyone could respond.
In the gymnasium, he found Arata waiting.
"Well?" Arata asked.
Flint shrugged. "Apparently I'm emotionally loud but spiritually boring."
Arata almost smiled.
After Lyra's class, the bell rang for lunch.
. Arata sat with Wanuy as usual, his tray barely touched. Flint joined them moments later, dropping onto the bench with a dull thud.
"So" Wanuy said, glancing at him. "How bad was it?"
Flint snorted. "Disappointingly boring. Five priests, one floating stick, zero shocks."
Sierra smiled faintly, pushing her food around with her fork. "That's… good, right?"
"Depends" Flint replied. "They didn't like me, but they understood me. Which somehow feels worse."
Arata said nothing. He was watching Sierra.
She hadn't touched her drink.
The priest appeared midway through the meal.
He didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to.
"Cadet Sierra" he said calmly. "You are requested for harmonic evaluation by command of the Flame Tribunal. Please follow me."
Sierra froze. "Now?" she asked quietly.
"Yes."
She nodded immediately, too quickly, and stood. Her chair scraped softly against the stone floor. She smoothed her uniform, hands trembling despite the effort to keep them still.
Flint frowned. "Hey.."
"It's fine" Sierra said, forcing a smile. "I'll be back."
She wasn't convincing anyone.
Arata met her eyes as she passed him. She was scared.
...
Sierra stepped into the circle without being told. She removed her boots, placed them neatly to the side, and stood with her hands clasped in front of her.
"State your name" the evaluator said.
"Sierra" she replied. "Second Division."
"Do you consent to harmonic evaluation?"
"Yes."
No hesitation.
The crystal rod descended slowly, stopping just short of her chest. Its hum was softer than it had been for Flint it was almost gentle.
"Breathe with the rhythm."
Sierra inhaled carefully and exhaled in time with the Vein's pulse. Her shoulders trembled as she adjusted, correcting herself instantly at the slightest fluctuation.
The hum steadied. The rod's shine brightened. Runes along the floor flared with clean, uninterrupted light.
The evaluator's stylus paused.
"Emotional state?" a voice asked from the wall.
"Anxious" Sierra admitted. "But willing."
The hum smoothed further. The rod drifted closer, tracing the line of her spine.
"Do you doubt the Flame?"
Sierra swallowed. "No."
There was a pause. The evaluators waiting for some kind of response from the hovering golden rod.
"And if you did?"
"I wouldn't act on it." Flora replied shrugging.
The answers were perfect. It was the perfect alignment according to the five hooded priests.
The chamber seemed to relax.
"Fear detected" the evaluator said.
"I'm sorry" Sierra blurted out.
"No apology is required" the voice replied. "Fear enhances compliance."
The rod circled once, precise and careful. "Evaluation complete. Status: Aligned."
Sierra exhaled sharply, knees almost buckling with relief.
"One more question... who do you think id the most unique among your batch mates.." One of the five priests asked.
"Unique...how?" Sierra asked.
"Emotionally."
"I mean no one in particular. Everyone of us is a soldier. so not much difference in emotional states. Maybe Arata, but that's due to the death of Flora." Sierra said as she looked at the ceiling of the evaluation chamber in deep thought.
She was dismissed without another word.
...
Sierra returned to the cafeteria quieter than she had left.
"That was fast.." Wanuy said as he remembered his own evaluation.
"Yeah it wasn't that hard." Sierra said as she sat down.
"You pass?" Flint asked as he sipped his soup.
She nodded. "Yes."
Wanuy smiled. "That's good."
"I did everything right" Sierra said. "I followed the rhythm exactly."
Arata studied her. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yes" she replied immediately. It was too fast almost rehearsed.
Arata looked down at his own hands.
For Flint, anger was harmless.For Sierra, fear was rewarded.
And somewhere between the two, Wanuy was being corrected.
Arata understood then, with sudden clarity:
The evaluations weren't about finding what was wrong.
They were about deciding what kind of person the Flame preferred you to be.
And he already knew, Whatever he was becoming did not fit.
After lunch, there were some physical training classes and weaponry class. After that it was late in the afternoon. It was at that time the summons for Wanuy came.
He just looked at Arata as he exited the class. He has a bit of doubt in his eyes, like he was unsure why this was happening. there was a bit of fear in his walking.
Arata just looked at him go. he couldn't do anything even if he wanted to do.
Wanuy was not told where he was being taken. He was only told that the rite would be brief.
After a few moments he found himself standing deep in the valley away from the academy. Only the castle was visible. there stood a ruin. A vein way too close to the surface.
At the centre of the ruins stood a shallow basin filled with clear liquid. Not water. Something thicker. It pulsed faintly, in time with the Vein below.
"Step forward" the priest said.
Wanuy did.
"Remove your outer garments."
He complied. Folded them neatly. Set them aside.
There was no resistance in him now. No questions left worth asking.
"Do you consent to reaffirmation?"
"Yes" Wanuy answered. The word came easy, it was the intent behind it that was missing.
The priests formed a circle around the basin. Their faces were uncovered. Ordinary. Forgettable. That unsettled him, it meant anyone could be one of them.
"Place your hands in the medium" one of them instructed.
Wanuy knelt and lowered his palms into the basin. Cold spread up his arms it wasn't painful, just quieting. The pulse beneath the liquid synced immediately with his heartbeat, overriding it where necessary.
"Breathe" The priest insisted.
At that command Wanuy inhaled. The ruins hummed in response, integrating him as one.
"Reaffirmation is not correction" another voice said gently. "It is remembrance. The Flame does not change you. It reminds you of what you already were."
The hum deepened. Images surfaced unbidden, unwanted.
The Academy gates on his first day.The sound of the Vein during training.Flora's laughter, a memory he cherished..How could someone be so happy in a world so rotten. It was cut short, reshaped into something distant and indistinct.
He frowned. Something tugged at that memory, smoothing its edges. "No" he whispered without realising it. "That wasn't..."
The hum from the vein sharpened.
"Do not resist" the priest said calmly. "You consented."
Wanuy's breath hitched. The liquid in the basin grew warmer, thicker. It climbed his wrists, numbing thought as much as flesh.
"What did you hear during the demonstration?" a priest asked.
"A… gap" Wanuy said. The word felt heavy now. "Like something missing."
The hum surged. "Absence is not possible." One of the priests replied, "That was misinterpretation on your part."
The water in the basin pulsed.
Wanuy gasped as something inside him shifted it was not torn out, not destroyed. Simplified.
The memory of the silence blurred. It Lost definition.It Lost importance to Wanuy.
"Repeat after me" the priest intoned. "The Flame takes."
"The Flame takes" Wanuy echoed.
"The Flame gives."
"The Flame gives."
"We serve so it may live."
"We serve so it may live." Wanuy said the last line. Each phrase settled deeper than the last, layering over thought like sediment.
The basin's pulse aligned perfectly with his heart.
"Reaffirmation complete" the priest said.
Wanuy's hands were lifted from the liquid. They trembled, not from pain, but from unfamiliar lightness.
He was helped to his feet.
"How do you feel?" the priest asked.
Wanuy searched for the answer. "I…" He paused. Listened inward. "It's quieter," he said finally.
The priest smiled. "That is alignment."