Po’s Story Part 2: The Choosing Chamber

There are moments that you forget as you grow old, the details fading with time, and there are other moments that will forever remain as a snapshot in your mind. While the background noise of the exact way the trees moved then might have not been imprinted in my mind, Tatiana’s stricken look could never leave me. It took me years to understand exactly why she was so startled, but by then it had been years since I’d seen her, and we didn’t talk like we used to.

Half an hour later, after Tatiana had been forced to turn around and tell the two adults that our parents would be home soon and offer them tea, the four of us were sitting on the ground with the steaming beverage in front of us. My parents looked nervous, they didn’t tend to interact with the Village Head since they weren’t overly important.

The Village Head began the meeting with a polite, toothless smile, a facial expression he had clearly failed to teach Kaliban. If he had, I’m sure there would have been a lot less animosity between the two of us. It might have been fake, but at least it wasn’t combative.

“We’re here to talk about Po’s schoolwork.” My parents gave me simultaneous menacing expressions. They couldn’t imagine that this meeting was a good one if the Village Head was here to talk to us.

“Tatiana, please go tend to the garden outside,” Dad said in a carefully controlled voice. He was always so careful with his temper. But his hand was quivering, and I shied back. Nothing I said would change his verdict once he made up his mind. If I deserved a quick beating, I would get one. My fate was in the hands of Teacher and the Village Head.

Tatiana gave me and Dad a worried look but obeyed. I didn’t fail to notice her glance at the Village Head. She wanted something from him. That was something I could use later. Maybe tease her about it until I got an extra vegetable in my soup. Maybe even a tarroc. I really liked tarrocs, especially because Tatiana did too.

“Po has been doing exceedingly well in school,” Teacher said. Why didn’t they start with that?! The tension in my parents seemed to flee them in one big swoosh. I could almost feel the breeze of it escaping the room. I gave them both an impish grin. Ha! I was exceling! I could practically count the amount of tarrocs I’d have later.

“Po has always been smart,” Mom pet my fur before her hand hesitated, her eyes going back and forth between  the two important men in our home sipping on tea from the mugs Tatiana had made just a couple of months prior. “Is there anything else?”

The two men exchanged a glance, seemingly communicating without words in a language only they understood. I wished I could do that. I lacked subtlety. Whenever I tried it with Tatiana she would always laugh and say the whole world knew what I wanted.

“The Choosing Chamber has his name on the sign in my office,” Dad took a sharp inhale at the Village Head’s announcements, suddenly looking years older. I, on the other hand, was ecstatic. I’d be getting a Skill! There were so many options for what I could get, and I immediately started to daydream about having fire manipulation, however unlikely it was. I would be just like Graylin, a character I loved from a popular children’s story.

Graylin had fire-attuned mana, which he cultivated from his first fire manipulation Skill. When my mom told me the story before bed she always liked to emphasize how Graylin would be able to both help her cook her soup as well as take down his enemies. In her eyes, the first ability was much more preferable to the latter. After all, what type of enemies did a backwater village even have? Or even us personally? We had no power. Therefore, we had no enemies.

Still, the dream was farfetched. Skills from the Choosing Chamber tended to be boring. The only reason I daydreamed about Graylin was because I hadn’t thought this day would come for years. The only thing I had available to me were previous extravagant, impossible dreams. A lot of kids would readily analyze what type of Skills they thought they would get offered before their names got put on the Choosing Chamber sign. If they were lucky, they’d have choices. If not? Well, then they would have to take what was on offer. Not much of a choice, but it would be a Skill nonetheless.

Suddenly, I got scared. What did it mean that I getting the opportunity to go to the Choosing Chamber so early? Would I be one of those unlucky few that had no choices? Would I have a huge amount? Would I hate all of them? Unconsciously I started to bare my teeth in distress, though thankfully none of the adult’s attention was on me, for all that they were discussing me. I had never been grateful for that annoying side-effect of youth until that moment.

“That’s impossible. He’s only four-”

“I’m almost five!” I piped up, interrupting my dad, who continued to completely ignore me.

“The earliest the rest of the kids got a Skill was 11!” I knew they were talking about Tatiana. She had told me about that day when Teacher had announced to the class that she was deemed ready. My situation was somehow different. I warranted a meeting with both the Village Head and Teacher at home.

“That’s why we came to talk to you. You could defer his first Choosing Chamber experience, but that could have substantial consequences. We also have an option of having him go through it and staying in his class,” the Village Head seemed to leave the decision up to my parents. It took me years until I was able to comprehend the careful web of manipulation, he hung around them. Of course, they would choose to send me to the Choosing Chamber. How could they cripple my future like that otherwise?

A day later, and there I was. The conversation hadn’t lasted long once my parents had made their decision and not much else dominated the household either. Still, the decision still stood, so there I was in front of the building, though that word seemed a bit excessive for the structure. The Choosing Chamber, for all of its grandiose reputation, looked like every other building in the village. Small, low to the ground, and a slightly lighter shade of blue than my skin. I didn’t blame it, achieving such a deep blue was hard. Not that I put any effort into it.

Stepping in, it wasn’t any more impressive on the inside. At least until my eyes were overtaken by white and I was presented with my choices. Or rather, my one singular choice. I wanted to cry. But I was four years old. I was supposed to be a man. At least nobody commented on my allergies when I walked out equipped with the new Skill. A new Skill I seemed to have zero qualification for. One with no practical application in our village. So what if I was young and with a Skill if it was completely useless?

Mana Injection [Rare]:This Skill is awarded to those meticulous individuals who have been judged by the Pact to be capable of controlling such power. Allows individual to inject mana into an inanimate object.

What the heck could a Skill like that even do? I had never heard of it, at least. It’s utterly useless nature meant my life at home didn’t really change. I stayed in my normal class, though I didn’t gloat to Kaliban. I had been ordered to keep my Skill secret. Not that it remained one for long. Still, an attempt was made. The day that Kaliban learned of it… well, let’s just say that was the one time we got into a physical altercation.

The Skill, though, wasn’t as dumb as I thought it was. Apparently, me getting that Skill made waves in the Pact with people with a lot more power and influence than even our Village Head.

Within a month, the sharks descended on our quiet village. They were recruiters for various Pact academies that wanted promising students to join their ranks. The Village Head hadn’t mentioned that this was likely when he pressured my parents to have me go to the Choosing Chamber at the earliest time. It became increasingly clear that I would be whisked away to study at some academy for the betterment of the Pact. Glory to the Pact.

For the first time, I began to view my beauty as a curse it truly was. I was instantly recognizable on the street, everyone knowing exactly what I looked like because of how striking I was. When the recruiters would come to visit my parents, I caught how many of them gave Mom judgmental looks. At the time I dismissed them from my mind but looking back I could see how they had untoward thoughts about how I was conceived. After all, how could a child such as me come from such a village?

Thankfully, those academies were quickly taken off our list. Still, finding fault with each and every one that came proved to be difficult. Not to mention the growing pressure by the Pact to have me sent off. My parents were bribed with reduced taxes, outright gifts and money, and, eventually, with the winning argument. Tatiana wanted to marry Roland. If I were sent off, they’d become important enough for her to be able to do that.

This Skill, which I, at least, remained wholly unimpressed by, had secured both mine and Tatiana’s future. At that point, I couldn’t refuse leaving home. Even if I wanted to stay around Tatiana. Even if I wanted to stay home.

And so, my life as a Pact Enchanter began. I didn’t know it yet. I didn’t know a lot of things yet.

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You didn't think I'd let the lot of you leave without part 2?? Anyways, looks like this is actually getting extended to a 4 part side-story. Thank you so much for spending this month with me. Seriously, thank you.