Chapter 4: Testing Sara

Chapter 4: Testing Sara

Location: Location: Estriduros Republic; Acordus System; Acordus 3; Spicagi

The next day, Shay leads me to her training ground deep in the woods. Leads me puts it in very kind words. She mutated into a relentless taskmaster the next morning. I barely had time to sleep, as we talked till late in the night.

But still, there wasn’t even an alarm when she woke me up rather roughly by pulling away my blanket at six in the morning. She barely gave me 15 minutes to shower and eat breakfast. I made it though, and now we’re running like we are hunted by a horde of wild dogs through the woods.

This is nothing like the short sprints I do while playing Gravity Ball. I pant and sweat, but Shay doesn’t care and pushes me further and further. She even has the energy to laugh. How can she be this fit? She only left five days ago!

“Stop, that’s enough for now. We’ve arrived.”

I immediately stop running upon hearing those words and almost fall over in exhaustion. “Ahhhhhh! Do you want to kill me?” I shoot an angry look at her and sit down to wipe the sweat out of my face while trying to catch my breath. Wet strands of red hair are sticking to my cheeks.

“This is just the beginning.” Shay has the nerve to smirk at me. “A nice jog to warm up the muscles. For the Space Ranger fitness test, we have to run that distance in half the time. Now on your hands and give me twenty!”

I stare at her when she says just how much faster I have to get. Then her next words register, and I have no clue what she means. “Huh? Twenty what?”

“Pushups you dummy, come on.” I groan but start to do it…

Eleven, that’s all I manage before my arms simply stop working. I fall facedown to the ground, unable to move.

“I can’t, that’s too much. I need a break.”

Shay sits down next to me. Suddenly, there is a concerned expression on her face while she plays with her black ponytail. “You didn’t joke after the run?”

I manage to shake my head while groaning.

“Fuck!” She stands up and starts pacing. “Shit, I’m so sorry. I got so excited and held you to my standard… I completely forgot that you’ve never done something like this… I’ve been going for regular runs since I was your age. That clouded my judgment, I guess.

That explains the mad dash through the woods. I don’t even have the energy to complain about her cursing right now. When I’m finally able to sit up, I take a deep breath. “It’s okay. Now I know how far I have to go in the next four years so thank you for that. But please let me start slowly.”

Shay seems to think a little bit, then her face lights up. “Hah, I’ve got an idea! But first have something to drink, you look like hell.” She hands me a bottle of water and I gulp it down in seconds.

“Thank you, now, what do you have in mind?”

She gets up. “You’ll see, follow me.”

Luckily, she stopped running and we are walking now. While it isn’t a stroll, I think, I can manage the pace. We walk and walk till we arrive at the foot of Rocugo mountain.

“All right, see this trail over there?” Shay points at a small path that leads up the mountain. “It leads up almost to the top. If we can keep the pace, we should arrive a little after noon. This should help build up your stamina and overall fitness if we do it every day.”

I look up, barely seeing the tip. “Isn’t that 1.5 kilometers straight up?”

“No you silly, the whole mountain is 1.5 kilometers in height, but we are already at around 900 meters here, so it’s not too much.”

I sigh in relief. “Okay, let’s do this.” We start walking and soon we fall into a steady pace while talking about random things.

Every break we take, Shay comes up with a new exercise to keep the body flexible. It works! My stiff muscles relax and I’m able to walk further.

That doesn’t mean, I transform into a superwoman from just one walk. I’m still completely exhausted when we arrive at the top of Rocugo Mountain. Still, I somehow find the energy to do a silly dance. “I did it, can you believe it, Shay? Haha, Space Rangers here I come!”

We relax at the top, eat our lunch, and enjoy the view. I can even see the Spire in the distance. Huh, it’s still higher than we are here on top of the mountain.

While walking back down, Shay tells me of her plans. “I think I’ll apply directly at the Mage testing in two years. I’m 18 then and if I can show them some moves, I think it’s better than filling out the application form and hoping for the best.” She looks at me, her eyes go wide. “Wait…that’s going to be your Mage testing, right?” My mood drops and we walk on in silence. A few silent minutes later, we both look at each other and start to chuckle.

Yeah true, as if Thomas and I are both Mages. “If I am, you have to check the orphanage’s food supply… they might very well feed us magical stuff.” We both laugh and start talking again. We even talk about Thomas a bit, even if it still hurts. But now we have a good chance of seeing him again.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I think I’ve made a new friend!

We arrive back down at our hotel in Spicagi. “What’s the plan now?” I ask Shay and she thinks a little before answering.

“I’m going to stay here. The woods and the mountain are a good place to train. I can do a few random jobs to earn some money.” She stands up and walks through our room. “I’ve just finished school and I don’t want to learn some boring job here, so that’s all I can think of doing.”

I look at her, her lithe body, and eyes full of determination. Yeah, she can do this. “If you’re certain you’re going to make it, I think that’s the right way. What about starship theory?”

“I’ll do as good as I can with my tablet… there is no course in Acordia College either, so that’s all I can do… I guess, I have to convince them with my fitness.” She’s got a point here. That is one of my concerns too. Guess that’s it then.

I sort my thoughts and come up with my own plan. “Okay, so you have two years. I still have four, but I also need to finish school… I can’t stay here with you. I have to return when the next school term begins.” I put a stray strand of hair behind my ear and stand up, full of determination. “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll stay with you here for the remainder of the holidays and then I’ll come down on the weekends. On weekdays the park has to be enough for me.”

Shay nods her agreement. “That’s a good plan. But please don’t overwork yourself. I still feel bad about earlier today… And don’t slack at school. If we don’t get accepted, you are done without good grades.”

----------------------------------------

Location: Location: Estriduros Republic; Acordus System; Acordus 3; Acordia

This is it! Today is the last day, that can change my plans. For the past two years, I trained like a madwoman. Alone and together with Shay. Gone is my thin weak body. It made way for a muscled and yet lean form that only top athletes have. I also grew quite a bit, standing now tall at 175 centimeters in height, a good half-head above Shay. So now at the age of sixteen years, almost graduated from school I’m about to go to my own Mage testing.

There is just one thought lingering in the back of my head. What if, against all odds, I test out as a Mage too? Even worse, what if I’m a weak one, not strong enough for the military?

Just in case, I’m now standing back at Thomas’s and my favorite place in the Recreational district. The hidden clearing by the small lake. With me is a shovel and the Gravity Ball suitcase. I can’t lose that! I dig out a hole and hide the suitcase. Done, now on to meet Shay.

I stroll back to the grav train station and take the train to the Administrative district. Shay is already waiting for me. Standing proud, I can see her well-defined muscles. She too managed to keep her thin frame and doesn’t look like an inflated balloon made out of too big muscles. Her black hair is cut at shoulder length, which suits her well. “Are you ready?” She asks and I nod in confirmation. Let’s do this.

She doesn’t look nervous, but I can see small traces of insecurity in her blue eyes. I’d wonder if there weren’t any. For her, today is even more important. While I only have to touch a ball and wait for a negative response, it is do or die for her today. If she fails, she has to stay on the planet for at least another year, maybe forever. Without starship theory, she’ll never get accepted if she applies online.

We walk to the testing center, it’s in the same building as last time. We are late. There is a long line of waiting people. With no other choice we join the line and wait… and wait.

Finally, it’s time for us to go inside. I decide to let Shay do her thing first. She walks towards the military man on the registration table. It’s a Space Ranger. A Sergeant to be correct. I recognize his rank insignia on his shoulders. My training pays off, yay! She stands at attention hands behind her back and declares. “Shay Jensen reporting to join the Space Rangers as a recruit." I hold my breath, this is it.

The Sergeant is taken aback. He didn’t expect something like this. “Hold on a minute, you know this is Mage testing, right?”

“Yes Sir, I wanted to make an impression instead of simply applying by form and never getting an answer because of this shitty backwater planet.”

The Sergeant’s eyes go wide, and he strokes his bushy beard. “Hah, you’ve got a point here, let me contact my superior.” His eyes move around, and he taps onto seemingly random spots in the air. A holographic interface!

“Captain, I have a young girl here who wants to apply as a Space Ranger recruit…”

“Yes Ma’am, I know… Still, you should see her. Looks fitter than half my Privates here…”

That causes the Privates in the back to shoot him some angry glances.

“Okay, thank you, Ma’am. I’ll ask her.”

He focuses back on Shay. “You are 18, right?” She nods and the Sergeant confirms for his Captain, then listens to their reply.

“All right, Captain says to give you a chance. You can join us for the remainder of the tour till Estriduros. But you’ll have to do all the chores on the ship as the cost of transportation. Also, Captain will check you out once we’re finished here.”

Shay jumps around happily. “Yeesss, thank you very much, Sergeant, I won’t disappoint you!”

“You can join the Privates back there, but don’t interfere with anything or the offer is off the table.” He points to the six Privates in the back. Shay nods and hurries to the other end of the room. “Now back to business, next please.”

That’s me. I nervously walk to his table. Looking into deep brown eyes, I state my name. “Sara… Nelson, here for Mage testing.” He gestures to the orb in the center of the room.

“Name and age check out, go ahead and touch it. If it shines, you get further information, otherwise, you can leave through the door over to your right.”

Further information… I suppress a snort. More like a collar and some anesthetic. I go to the orb. Then I lift my left hand and let it hover over the ball. This is it. I take a deep breath and touch the orb.

Nothing…

Wait, what is that? I frown, a tingling sensation spreads through my whole body. The orb glows in a faint purple light. Why is it purple? And why is the light so dim? Why is there even light at all? That’s not supposed to happen!

I can’t be a Mage!

The tingling gets stronger, especially in the area around my navel. Is this normal? Nobody seems to notice anything. Should I just leave? Yeah, I’ll do that, same as Shay, Space Rangers in two years.

Just as I want to lift my hand, there is a sharp intake of breath. “Sergeant you’ve got to see this!” One of the Privates – a smaller one, with muscles like bazookas – shouts. “I think it’s Space!”

The Sergeant rushes over to me and takes a close look. “Unbelievable, collar her. I’ll call the Captain.”

He steps back, to do just that. I stand there in shock, hand still on the orb. The tingling starts to get uncomfortable, but I don’t care. Space? I know that they are the rarest kind of Mage… but why they are so special, I have no clue.

How can I be one of them? How can I even be a Mage? My knees give out, just like the last time in this very room. This time strong arms catch me, not Shay. I’m too shocked to even let out a yelp. A cold metal collar closes around my neck. The tingling stops!

I look at Shay, she stands in the corner just like ordered. Her eyes are wide as saucers, her mouth forms a perfect O. The Sergeant calls out. “That’s enough Privates, Captain says she’ll get V.I.P. You, recruit, make yourself useful, and guide her to the back room. The collar keeps her there, just keep an eye on her.”

We are both too shocked to speak. It’s over. All my plans are ruined now. There’s nothing I can do; I feel the collar restricting my movement. How can I feel that? I give a slight nod to Shay. She nods back, walks over, and guides me to the back room. There are eleven other people, all collared and out cold.

What do I do now?