Page 31 of Exordium

I wasn’t fond of Diane. My childhood was shit because of the conniving bitch, not to mention the conniving bitch she produced. Father dearest loved to talk far and wide about following the rule of the Council, even though his Faction was only surpassed in power by the Hawthorne Faction. He was the one that passed the mandate, so I didn’t find his actions noble.

“I saw her name on the roster. I already have an addition to her first obstacle course planned. Let’s see if she can live up to her mother’s abilities.” I smiled in anticipation.

Kristine was almost bouncing in her seat with excitement. “I think I’m going to hang out here and watch.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you do. I’m not doing any of this for you,” I sneered, standing up to leave the room.

Entering the gym, I leaned against a wall partially hidden in the shadows. I wanted to have a good view as the students started filing in.

The Passive students walked into the gym, most had looks ranging from caution to outright fear. Then, a group strolled in with the Moon twins. My gaze homed in on the raven-haired girl directly in the middle. I was stunned at her beauty. Those eyes looked like polished gold. I saw her laughing at something the guy next to her said. Both dimples were on full display. The guy put his arm around her, looking like your typical boy next door, high school prom king all the way. What a fucking douche.

The twins' eyes were laser-focused on her. I wondered if they were going to attempt the ritual with her—poor, desperate bastards. The guy behind her was a massive motherfucker. His hands were twice the size of mine, and I wasn’t small. Coming in at 6'5", I didn’t look up at many men, but this dude had me by at least a couple of inches. Bouncing behind them was the twins' annoyingly hyper sister, Chloe.

Well, it looks like she didn’t wait long to surround herself with allies; it wouldn’t do her any good. I planned on testing her strength, and none of the bitches surrounding her would be able to do shit about it. Her beauty had left me stunned for a moment, but it wouldn’t change anything. Let’s see what she was made of. Waiting until everyone was seated in the stands. I walked out of the shadows to address the class.

“Hello Passives, my name is Oren Storm, and I’m here to ensure you survive the initiation. Some of you are new to our culture. You have no idea what’s coming for you, and it’s my job to see that you’re prepared. I will do my best to give you a chance, but it’s your job to pay attention and make the most of what I teach you. I won’t repeat myself or hold your hand through any of this. At the end of the day, it’s your life on the line, not mine. Honestly, I don’t expect most of you to make it.” I smiled at the terror on their faces. What a bunch of little bitches.

Looking directly at Reverie, I smirked, “We’ll begin with obstacle courses. I incorporated a few surprises, but Emberhold created them. I have no idea what the Academy will throw at you because it’s different every year. You will perform these alone, just like your initiation.” Damn I loved making this speech every year. There was nothing like the scent of terror in the air.

Was that stupid girl smirking at me? I frowned. That just wouldn’t do, she must be taught a lesson. Her ridiculous family probably put her on a pedestal and never made her train at all. My father had always said the Hawthornes thought they deserved special treatment. I was about to show one member of their family that I didn’t abide by that bullshit. You couldn’t survive in our world without putting in the work.

The Moon twins made their way out of the stands to go to the stations I had assigned them. It was apparent that neither wanted to leave Reverie’s side. Those two fuckwits weren’t doing her any favors by coddling her. Zeke and Zane were known for their ruthlessness, but it looked like it didn’t extend to her. More’s the pity.

Unlike Zeke and Zane, I wouldn’t be coddling anyone. I truly didn’t give a fuck about most of the Passive’s survival. Training to pass initiation was a personal responsibility and if you didn’t have the sense to recognize this, the Aurathions didn’t need you. Staying at the academy was of utmost importance to me, so I hadto fake it occasionally. I’m not sure the dean was fooled but, my ruthlessness had saved more Passives than it hurt.

Looking at my roster, I started putting the Passives in groups, little Hawthorne just happened to find her way into mine. I noticed Prom King had a mini breakdown when placed in Zeke’s group. Zeke leaned close to him and said something that had him relaxing his posture and losing his attitude. Very interesting. They looked to be forming a friendship. Some would even say bonding. Hmmm, I wonder why that was.

We had about thirty Passives to a group. There were two classes: Group One trained for the first two hours after lunch, then switched with Group Two and went to conditioning. I was the instructor of both, lucky them.

Looking over my group, I could pick out the newly found Passives. Some looked like they’d been training, some looked like they had never trained a day in their ridiculous lives. I bet most wouldn’t make it through my training, much less initiation.

“OK, let’s get started.”

Behind me stood a course with a series of obstacles. The course started with students scaling up to a narrow beam several feet in the air, where the Passives had to keep their balance until they came to a series of climbing walls that got progressively larger, followed by an extremely tight maze with many twists and turns. Darts were shot out at different points, leaving glowing marks on the students on impact. The course ended with the Passive going through a dark, narrow tunnel that was deceptively simple. Emberhold Academy imbued it with the ability to expose them to their worst fear. Some didn’t make it out of training completely sane. I personally believed you couldn’t be completely sane if you made it through.

Passives from past groups that barely made it through had chosen to leave Emberhold and integrate back into human society, giving up any chance of coming into their abilities.I guess their thought process was, if they couldn’t survive training, they couldn’t survive initiation. Spoiler alert: they were right.

“Aren’t we going to change into workout clothes?” a cocky-looking guy in the back asked. I loved this part.

I smiled, “Do you think the Academy will give you time to change before throwing you into your initiation? I’ve seen Emberhold pull guys standing at a urinal pissing. If it’s important to you to be in workout clothes, I suggest you wear them morning, noon, and night.”

“This first attempt won’t be timed. Starting tomorrow, that will change, and every attempt should get better. Then we’ll move on to the next course.

These courses will get more challenging as soon as you master them. Emberhold makes damn sure of that.”

“What if we still can’t do it?” A tall, extremely slim, blond girl in the back asked. She was biting her nails, and her face was flushed in unattractive red blotches. I would bet my left nut she was going to find out.

Checking my list, I saw her name was Cassandra Silt, “Then you better hope you get the chance to drop out before the Academy decides to start your initiation,” I had no sympathy for her. She should have prepared better. “Those new to our culture will find we like to weed out the unworthy. There’s not enough Nexus to bring out our abilities. We don’t need Passives who are weak blocking the line.” Good riddance, to any Passive that were as pitiful as this girl. We didn’t need Factions made up of weak cowards. Her ability would probably end up being able to tell a person’s name by smelling their ass.

I couldn’t wait to see how Reverie handled the special surprise I had in store for her. If she made it out, nothing was guaranteed. Her last name meant shit to me. Making it through my tests and the Academy’s was going to be based on her ability and nothingelse. I wanted to rub my hands together and laugh evilly, like a super villain.

I had brought a little something special back from our home world. My pride and joy, Pantar. His name meant Midnight in the Aurathion language, and I loved the vicious, blood-thirsty Fellat. I’d found him as a cub and brought him back to raise. The beast was more of a friend than a pet. He usually came and went as he pleased, and since he chose to remain invisible most of the time, no one had found out about him yet.

Unfortunately, I could only see Pantar when the big Fellat chose. Fellats only bonded with Nexus. Faction members gained the ability through them. I had looked forward to bonding with my beloved friend, so when it never happened, I assumed that I was destined to be Faction.

I had noticed Pantar hanging around the gym and my office all day. As soon as the Passives filed in, he settled near the stands, becoming invisible. The Fellat were an intelligent species. They had many different abilities, some Pantar had been willing to share. They could be extremely vicious and cunning, sometimes hunting for fun and not just to eat. My Pantar was especially fearsome, and that’s why we made such perfect companions.

Fellats resembled a panther but were the size of a small horse. They ranged in many colors not found in this world. The beautiful animals all had massive, serrated teeth with two large incisors; it was a mix between a shark and a saber-toothed tiger. Two massive fur-covered tentacles were just below the shoulder muscles. Instead of suckers, they had small spikes that they used to kill their prey and hold them while they feasted.

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