A Crystal Steeped In Darkness

Five

Five
           
                                                 Academy Enrollment

                   Once we had finished practice using our essence it was late into the evening and we were very hungry and tired. When we had finished freshening up we sat down to a feast: Roast shadow hog and shade potato sticks with goblets of dark nectar littered the table. " I have pulled out all the stops on dinner tonight because of how hard working you've all been the past few weeks. Dig in and chat amongst yourselves." And we did. I grabbed the goblet of sweet dark nectar and knocked it back.
     
      Dark Nectar varies into two types: alcoholic and non alcoholic. Jonah looked at the massive feast spread out before us. " Aren't you hungry Jonah?" I asked as he hadn't touched a thing on his plate. He didn't respond, instead he just got up from the table and went upstairs. " What's his problem?" Lia asked through a mouthful of food. " I don't know but whatever it is he'll talk about it when he's ready." We finished dinner and readied for bed. In bed I summoned my grimoire and tried to read the writing but couldn't. "Thorn, how do I read these words?" I asked. " To be able to read me you'll have to learn the language I was written in. Although I'm sure your mother was the only person who could have taught you."

As I slowly drifted to sleep I started thinking about why my mother had kept all this a secret right before she died.
         

In the morning after breakfast I decided to practice using essence on my own.
I opened my grimoire and took out the sheel blade Edwin gave to us. " If I can't read the grimoire directly then maybe I can practice using runes." I thought aloud copying the rune for earth. Suddenly the rune glowed brown and the ground began to slightly tremble as a jagged stone poked its way through the floor. 

     " Woah, So basically my main essence type is nature but using runes I can summon other elements." I said in awe, staring down at the sharp rock. " What happened! Are you alright?" Edwin exclaimed, rushing into the training room. " I'm fine just experimenting with runes." I reassured him. " Ok, just be careful I don't want you to hurt yourself." He sighed. I nodded and continued.

If I combine runes then maybe I can create different results I'll call this method: Conversion. I thought to myself drawing a nature rune, a light rune and a water rune together creating a rune combination. Then it started to glowing green yellow and blue as a plant grew into a different flower that watered and lit itself.
" I think I created the first self-sustaining plant ever!" I exclaimed excitedly.

Just then Lia came down to tell me that Edwin had something to tell us. I nodded and quickly created a pot out of the jagged stone and placed it in there. " Ok, I'm coming." I said walking towards the door.  In the massive living room Edwin, Jonah and the twins sat down waiting for me. Once I had settled next to Liam Edwin began to speak. " Young masters I know you haven't been here for very long but I have reached out to Dryas Academy and they said that they will accept you into their school as long as you take the entrance exams."

There was a long awkward silence as what he said to hold. " What does his entrance exam entail?" Jonah asked with a raised eyebrow. Edwin pulled four golden scrolls out of a small light blue portal. " Here, these were given to me by the staff at the academy." We took the fancy scrolls reluctantly and opened them. Each scroll held almost the same information except for a few details.

My scroll read: 'Greetings Vora Daxx we humbly invite you and your friends to attend at Dryas Academy of the Mystical and Magical. But first you will have to go through an enrollment process. This will entail 4 trials. These trials will monitor your adaptability, mental fortitude, physical strength and, essence power. The exam will begin two days from now so come prepared.'