Chapter 25 - The Sorting II

Who’s who:

Professor Myra Mistvale: Mind Magic professor from Camelot. Gave Hazel her letter, and a very stern lecture.

Erik Morsin: Heir to the Duchy of the Emerald Isle. Just wants to play his violin.

Lance Thalorien: Grandson of the headmaster. “Just wait until my grandfather hears about this!”

Sora Park: Erik’s loyal friend. Loves flying. An absolute broombrain.

Alexandria Renard: Wants to be the next Morgana Le Fay. Can’t speak louder than a whisper. 

Vivian Merryweather: An expert on all things color, fashion, and of the heart. Gets seasick easily.

Felix Sutter: Poor boy living in Sacramento, recently found out magic existed. Hard worker, knows the price of everything.

Naomi Bones: Beautiful, elegant, and refined. Wears golden jewelry, but makes it look classy. Purrs a lot in her speech. Has bone and spider silk fence for her mental defenses.

Odric Martin: Accident prone. Prophesied to die… eventually.

Hazel Winslow: Ran away from an abusive cult. Awoke as a natural mind mage.

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Entry I – Of the New World and Hope Reborn

By eastward sail and fated compass, the New World was at last beheld. And lo - upon its untrodden soil did the children of magic feel once more the stirrings of ancient Hope.

Long had we laboured beneath the shroud of fear, our arts branded heresy, our kindred slain. Yet this new land whispered of sanctuary. Its trees spake secrets in tongues unknown, and the very winds sang of magicks yet unshaped.

It was a promise, fragile and bright, as the first light o’ dawn upon a battlefield. A dream most precious... and most fleeting.

Chronicles of the Sundering: A Personal Record by Mine Own Hand by Archmage Elowen Thorne, Keeper of the Black Flame, Scribe of the Meridian Vaults

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Erik kept the malicious laugh off his face as he strode past Thalorien, letting the other members of the peerage openly laugh at the red-faced boy. He’d told him. He’d warned him. 

He’d given him enough rope to hang himself with. It wasn’t Erik’s fault that he didn’t pay proper attention to his lessons. May the gods keep the rest of the Thalorien family healthy and prosperous, so that Lance was never his peer.

The Morsin heir stepped forward into the sorting chamber, not flinching at the tiny pinprick of pain that skittered across his mind. There were seven great doors surrounding him in an uneven pattern, the pattern of each totemic animal carved clear on the door. Phoenix, Hydra, Kraken, Unicorn, Thunderbird, Kirin.

And Dragon.

Above each door was a statue of the animal, in the house’s colors and each one was lit up to various degrees, acting like an independent animal. The Dragon house one was the most notable.

Golden lights were lit up behind obsidian scales, and it was breathing a wall of flame in front of the open Dragon house’s door. Two students were inside, a girl from Unicorn house, and a boy from Dragon house.

“All may join Dragon house.” The student said. “If you’re willing to pass through true dragonfire using no artifacts or focus.”

Erik leaned back from the heat.

“I believe I’ll be taking my chances with the more traditional houses.” He said.

“Smart move.” The girl said. 

High above, the other students from the college were watching. Magic let them see and know what was going on at a ‘normal’ pace, even though they were witnessing dozens of sortings every minute. One of the last pieces of time magic from before the Sundering of the World, still preserved in Camelot.

Erik looked around at the chamber, taking in his options.

Phoenix house was the first one he looked at, but the magnificent statue was anemic. It was barely lighting up, barely moving, and the door was open only a tiny crack. Erik would have to struggle to squeeze himself in, and it was considered exceptionally poor form to force his way into a house he ‘didn’t belong’ in. 

As much as he wanted to be ‘just Erik’, he knew reality wouldn’t work that way. Valerie had a point there. If any house would accept a squeeze, it would be Phoenix, but trying and failing to get through a door would simply be embarrassing.

Kirin wasn’t much more lively, but Erik at least thought he could work his way in. The six-headed hydra over its door was swaying and moving around, the thunderbird was flapping its four wings with little crackles of electricity, and the kraken was moving in an animated way, its eight tentacles snapping around its domain.

Hydra, Kraken, Thunderbird. Would one of them work better for him than the others? What about the people inside?

Sora would try to follow him whenever he went, and Hydra looked promising for her. But he couldn’t look after one person at the expense of everyone else.

Kraken had Gideon Bane most likely going to it. The boy was nice enough, and Erik hoped to be friends with him, but that wasn’t particularly persuasive.

Felix was going to Kirin house, and Erik mentally listed all the other students he knew and where he thought they were going. 

The only person he found particularly convincing in influencing his decision was Alexandria.

His fiancee.

He hadn’t expected the level of vitriol and hate she’d displayed towards him. Kneeing him in the balls at their first meeting? Seconds after saying hi?

They were fairly stuck with each other, and he didn’t want to be married to a woman who hated his guts. He had a few options there, but the one that had the fewest long-reaching consequences was to simply make friends with her. If she didn’t hate his guts, the problem was mostly resolved.

It wasn’t like he was responsible for the arranged marriage. 

She was full of fire, and seemed hellbent on going to Thunderbird house. A house that Erik was forced to admit to himself would be great for him as well.

Power, and the application of it.

Magical power, political power, military power. In just a few short years he’d be wielding all three of them, with tens of thousands of people trusting him. 

Would the house of power, or the house of judgment and wisdom be better? He needed both, since part of power was learning to wield it well, as the texts outside the room were clear.

Choices, choices. Bless the time magic of the chamber, it wasn’t like he was holding everyone up. 

Erik stood.

Erik stared.

Erik Morsin strode through the wide-open door, and a bronze emblem traced in electric blue appeared on his robes.

Only a few of his fellow Thunderbirds stood up in applause, while the rest looked murderous.

In the sorting chamber, a number of students who’d been considering Thunderbird house were suddenly changing their mind.

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“Renard, Alexandria!” Professor Mistvale called out.

Alexandria hissed as she jolted, a surge of pain radiating from her face. She grit her teeth and stomped into the sorting chamber, not even feeling a pinprick as she entered. Her pain tolerance was too high. She barely looked around, ignored how some of the houses were less animated - Phoenix and Kraken were barely moving - and how the rest were wide open.

She strode straight through the Thunderbird door without pausing.

Who cared that Morsin was also in the house? She was going to become the most powerful witch in history, and that would happen in Thunderbird. 

Damn anyone who stood in her path.

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Felix was watching the entire thing with wide eyes, and after the first few, they were mostly blurring together. The one that stood out in his mind was Naomi Bones.

She got into the room, and didn’t like what she saw. The girl stared haughtily at the completely closed Phoenix door, and seemingly through pure force of will, managed to get it opened a tiny crack after staring at it for minutes. She then spent another three minutes wiggling through the tiny crack, before the red and gold of the Phoenix landed on her robes.

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“Merryweather, Vivian!” The professor called out.

Vivian nervously walked into the chamber.

Why, oh why, did Alex have to go to Thunderbird!? How were they supposed to be besties when she was all the way over there!? She brushed off the little pinprick as she entered the room. It was nothing compared to what Alex went through on a daily basis. 

Phoenix house was wide open, tempting and inviting. Thunderbird was open a little. A tight squeeze, but not so terrible.

Vivian walked back and forth, torn between her choices. Cold, hot, cold again, as she paced past the waterfall of flame that was blocking off Dragon house. 

Phoenix house was about friendship, empathy, and comradery… but how could she be a good friend while abandoning her current one? How was that friendly? How was that empathetic? 

‘Thanks for the ride, see you?’ How terrible of a friend would she be to do that?

Alexandria had nobody. Slapping away people’s hands was doing the bitter girl no favors, and Vivian fretted that she might’ve ruined things with her fiance forever. Which would be a tragedy.

No no, better be Thunderbird for now. She could always change later.

Ugh. The house colors were going to be hell to coordinate with. Who came up with these things!?

Vivian squeezed through the door, cursing the drop of maturation potion she’d taken a few weeks ago, and joined her friend.

She was now in a new crisis - her current makeup and nails did not match at all, and it was an emergency to get them fixed.

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Poor Odric Martin.

The boy had been convinced he was going to get screwed over. That his uncle would be proven right. That he’d be too fat to squeeze through the one door that opened a crack for him. He flinched and clutched his head as he entered the room.

Instead, the door to Hydra house had opened wide, with the statue on top practically doing a dance to show how excited it was to welcome Martin.

The pudgy boy sprinted over, uncaring of how close he was to the Dragon firefall. The sleeve of his robe caught fire, and viciously spread. The flames were powerful, eternally hungry, and finally had food.

The boy left the chamber screaming and on fire, then was flamed to the hospital wing a moment later.

The Unicorn girl watched with huge eyes.

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“Park, Sora!”

What on Arcadia had possessed Erik to join Thunderbird house, of all things?

To Sora’s great joy, the door opened widely for her. With a quick look at Hydra - the beast was indeed hissing and moving around with great energy - she skipped through the door and joined Erik at the end of the bench.

“Scoot over bossman.” She said with a laugh.

“Why’d you come here?” He asked.

“Eh, someone’s gotta make sure you don’t get murdered in your sleep. I did say I was going to follow you.”

“Broombrain.” Erik said with an affectionate smile.

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“Sutter, Felix!”

Felix walked through, feeling quite a bit better in some ways, and unbearably nervous in others. It was his turn now, and everyone was watching him. At least he’d planned it out. Embarrassing or not, he was going to get into Kirin house. Walk in, walk out. Easy. Simple.

So why was the damn door not activating!? Why was it closed!?

Felix looked around, panic rising.

Kirin - closed. The creature wasn’t prancing.

Hydra - closed. The heads were completely still.

Thunderbird - closed. The wings didn’t flap.

Kraken - closed. The tentacles didn’t move.

Phoenix - closed. The bird didn’t fly.

There wasn’t a single light on. There weren’t any doors open.

Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.

There must’ve been a mistake. There wasn’t magic. It was all a cruel joke. They were going to realize they’d screwed up, and kick him out.

Oh, and because his luck was just that shit, they were going to send him the bill for all four years. Felix could just imagine the conversation.

“Hi mom! I’m back home. Yeah, already. Less than a day, and I managed to get almost half a million dollars in debt! Bankruptcy? I don’t think they believe in that. They did mention that I was prime ritual ingredients. I don’t really need all my organs.”

Oh god oh god oh god.

Felix looked around in a panic, trying to find something, anything, that would help him out. Unicorn door, closed.

Dragon door, open.

Flames poured from the statue's mouth, and its eyes were glinting with golden light.

He could die going through the door.

Or worse, expelled staying here.

The student’s eyes opened wide as he looked at the door.

How much could it hurt, really?

“Don’t do it kid.” The boy said.

“No no no!” The girl shouted as Felix sprinted to the open door. The Unicorn girl slammed her hand on an invisible rune, and the flames winked out a moment before he dove through the open doorway.

A black and gold dragon appeared on his shirt as he stumbled to a landing in front of the three dozen members of Dragon house.

“Stay!” Leona Thorne barked at him, and strode off towards the chamber. She gestured with her staff, and a wall of darkness blocked off the door. 

Moving darkness. Felix could see wings and beaks snapping through the air, and had the uncanny sensation that the wall was watching him.

Not that it was the only thing looking at him.

The members of his new house were all staring at him.

“H-hi?” Felix said tentatively.

======================

“Winslow, Hazel!”

Hazel was the last person to be sorted, and she shuffled into the room. She felt a tiny mental ‘handshake’, and she viciously grabbed onto it.

Who!? She snarled at the intruder.

The magic of the chamber. Welcome! It’s been forever since I last had someone I could chat with. The mental probe responded back. Its mental quality was… flat, for lack of a better word.

Oh. Well, I just want to get sorted and go to bed. Too many people.

You’re all the same. The chamber complained. None of you ever want to stay and chat. Alright, alright. Which house do you want?

Could I ask for Unicorn? Hazel asked, mostly out of curiosity.

Hmmm… be tricky, but I think we could wrangle it. Would you like my advice? The chamber asked.

Sure. Hazel said.

Hydra house is the best fit for you right now. In a few years, the Phoenixes would be better.

Well, let’s do that then. Hazel said.

As she strode through the open door, a dark green badge etched with black appeared on her shirt.