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The Fall of Genectel - Identity Crisis
Genectel - 01/02/2011
King Virmor watched proudly as his first daughter and heir to his throne knighted a deserving soldier for the first time.
“We did well with this one,” Queen Serin whispered to him from the throne on his right. He glanced at his queen to see her expression. The usually critical expression was nearly hidden by the pleasure she experienced in her daughter’s success; but Vimor knew his wife. Aughraysiah would be hearing about exactly where she went wrong not even five minutes after the event was over.
Breathing deeply, he returned his attention to Aughraysiah and the soldier about to be knighted. She did it gracefully. She held her head high, her back perfectly straight as she lightly tapped the woman’s shoulders with the decorative blade. No one but Vimor and maybe Serin saw the slight tremor in Aughraysiah’s hands as she slowly handed the blade back to him. Her face did not betray her emotions the way her hands did.
When she returned to her place on his left, her hands clenched the armrests. “An attempt to stop the shaking?” He wondered as he turned his head forward to speak. It was a good tactic to use. He’d done it himself numerous times when he was her age.
Grinning as he began his address to the court, the nobles before him probably believed he was simply in a good mood. Only one person in the entire room knew his thoughts. Aughraysiah herself. She had seen the words in his eyes as she had handed the sword back to him. “She’s just like her mother and I,” his eyes had said as they gleamed with unspoken pride. Luckily Vimor did not see Aughraysiah’s shoulders as they sagged, despite her best efforts to control them, and she whispered,
“I’m nothing like you.”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
03/02/2011
Aughraysiah grinned almost maniacally as she performed her 50th spell for the morning. She had been up long before the sun had risen, ensuring that her performance was perfect. That day, she would be officially enrolled in Genectel’s Royal Academy. As the Crown Princess, she was expected to perform exceptionally. She knew that among practicing magicians her age her natural abilities were second to none. Everyone expected her to be oriented into the Magician’s Class.
Genectel had four major vocational classes: Scholars, Warriors, Workers, and Merchants. No class was held in higher regard than the other. Many times they tended to intersect anyway. “All the mess of ranking, discrimination, and entitlement came from either one of two places,” she thought sadly. “Lineage and skill: those of average skill looked down with no skill. Those with exceptional skill looked down on those with average skill. Those of noble blood looked down on everyone else. It was tiresome, but unavoidable.”
Shaking herself from her philosophical musings, Aughraysiah dropped herself onto the red grass as the first rays of the sun’s blue light awakened the otherwise black morning. In the distance, she could hear the morning tweets of swallows, happy for the morning’s welcome. She turned over to lay on her stomach, rubbing a blade of grass between her fingers and staining her index and thumb red. That day, it didn’t matter that she was the Crown Princess who could already skillfully carry out her duties long before she was required to assume the throne. All she cared about was the fulfillment of her dream. She was finally on the path to becoming a true magician. No one, not her parents’ expectations, not the opinions of the court, not the hearts of the people, not even the competition of her sister could take that from her.
“Speaking of my sister,” she whispered gently to the grass before turning to lay on her back, stretching her arms toward the freshly lit sky, “I wonder what class she will enter?”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _
The fanfare associated with orientation of new students to Genectel’s Royal Academy made it all the more fun. Chandillia inhaled deeply, ignoring the obvious smell of detergent used in excess for the sake of making a good impression on the parents of the academy’s freshest faces. Though they came together, she and Aughraysiah had separated over 30 minutes before. Aughraysiah already knew what class she wanted to be in and was speaking to a few professors from the Faculty of Scholars. Chandillia, on the other hand, was more interested in finding a good spot in the auditorium. She kept having to repeat “Excuse me” or “Pardon me” or, occasionally, “Watch it!” as she tried to make her way to where she believed she would be in the best position to watch the show. The auditorium was meant to model the structure of a coliseum.
“You would be fine regardless of where you sat” the voice in her head said teasingly. Chandillia ignored it. All she knew was that she wanted to be able to see the upcoming ceremony clearly.
She had never seen the Class Affiliation Ceremony. It consisted of all the freshmen walking through a portal which exposed their best class affiliation, was the highlight of the orientation. Aughraysiah always ridiculed all the pomp associated with the ceremony, but Chandillia knew that, now that they were actually there themselves, Aughraysiah was just as excited and nervous as everyone else.
Soon, it was time for the CAC to begin. Chandillia’s attempts to find a good spot from which to view the ceremony had been in vain. All the new students had eventually been clumped together in a corner of the school’s auditorium on the left side of the entrance. Hanging from the brass ceiling was a roster of the students’ names and the order in which they would go through the portal. The Crown Princess’s “big reveal” was last since it would obviously be the most important one of the whole procedure. Chandillia’s, on the other hand, was fifth, making her quite nervous. “It’s just a stupid magic door,” she told herself unconvincingly as she watched the four students who went before her have their entire lives changed by walking through that “stupid magic door”.
The one before her was a boy. He looked big and strong, most likely the son of a farmer or blacksmith. When he went through the portal he came out of the other side wearing the uniform of a Warrior. Everyone clapped unenthusiastically. No one was surprised, since he already looked the part, until he began to cry hysterically and began stripping in the middle of the auditorium. The display didn’t last long. He was soon sedated by one of the magic professors. He was then carried out by security. Chandillia could have sworn she heard him muttering something about a bakery under the magic stupor.
Shaken by the boy’s outburst, but determined not to lose her own courage, she rose from her seat and walked gracefully to the entry side of the purple and blue portal. With the overseeing professor’s permission, she stepped forward. Chandillia was surprised by how not-magical the experience felt. If her eyes had been closed, she would not have even been able to see, hear, or feel the portal. Once, she reached the other side, however, it took all the self-control she had not to throw a tantrum of her own.
Chandillia stared at her hands in horror as her arms were suddenly covered in the sleeves and gloves of the academy’s official magician’s uniform. “This isn’t supposed to happen!” Chandillia thought as she searched for her sister's face among the faces of the nobles behind her waiting their turn to pass through the affiliation portal. “Magic is Sissy’s thing. Why do I have it? She’s gonna think I was secretly competing with her!”
Her chest began to hurt and her eyes started to sting as she searched. Was she in the back of the crowd? If she had even the slightest idea this would have happened, She would have skipped. She would have ridden her stallion Shellos to her favorite meadow. By the time anyone found her it would have been too late for her acceptance into the academy. Aughraysiah would have established herself at the top student of the magician’s class and Chandillia could have entered next year. Her class wouldn’t have mattered then.
A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder. It was the professor overseeing their orientation. “You’ll be fine,” he whispered knowingly before giving her a nearly indiscernible push away from the portal.
“He knows nothing!” her thoughts screamed in retaliation as Chandillia walked away calmly. “Sissy is gonna kill me! I am about to become a lost princess!” Thankfully, she was not the first student to have passed through the portal. her best friend Kiris was already standing among the four students who went before her squealing and bouncing in delight at them ending up in the same class.
As soon as she reached Kiris, Chandilia linked her arms with hers and whispered, “Look as mournful and sorry as possible.” Kiris stopped bouncing before she had even finished speaking. She furrowed her brows and pressed her lips together. She was confused. Chandillia knew a retort was coming and widened her eyes as she looked at her friend pleadingly. Her worry caused her to pull her eyes from Kiris’s for a moment to scan the crowd for Sissy. When her eyes returned to Kiris’s, She could see that realization had replaced her confusion.
“Augraysiah is going to kill us!” Kiris gasped as she clapped her hand over her mouth.
“I know,” Chandillia moaned in agreement.
“She’s going to think we stole her thing!”
“I know.”
“We are going to become lost princesses!”
“I KNOW!!” Chandillia cringed, knowing that she had spoken too loudly. Peeking around me to see who noticed, She saw only one pair of eyes looking in her direction. They shone with fur- no. Rather than racing with fear, Chandillia’s heart broke. If she could have suffocated herself in her new cloak she would have. Aughraysiah’s eyes held none of the angry resentment Chandillia was afraid of, only resignation.
© River R.
King Virmor watched proudly as his first daughter and heir to his throne knighted a deserving soldier for the first time.
“We did well with this one,” Queen Serin whispered to him from the throne on his right. He glanced at his queen to see her expression. The usually critical expression was nearly hidden by the pleasure she experienced in her daughter’s success; but Vimor knew his wife. Aughraysiah would be hearing about exactly where she went wrong not even five minutes after the event was over.
Breathing deeply, he returned his attention to Aughraysiah and the soldier about to be knighted. She did it gracefully. She held her head high, her back perfectly straight as she lightly tapped the woman’s shoulders with the decorative blade. No one but Vimor and maybe Serin saw the slight tremor in Aughraysiah’s hands as she slowly handed the blade back to him. Her face did not betray her emotions the way her hands did.
When she returned to her place on his left, her hands clenched the armrests. “An attempt to stop the shaking?” He wondered as he turned his head forward to speak. It was a good tactic to use. He’d done it himself numerous times when he was her age.
Grinning as he began his address to the court, the nobles before him probably believed he was simply in a good mood. Only one person in the entire room knew his thoughts. Aughraysiah herself. She had seen the words in his eyes as she had handed the sword back to him. “She’s just like her mother and I,” his eyes had said as they gleamed with unspoken pride. Luckily Vimor did not see Aughraysiah’s shoulders as they sagged, despite her best efforts to control them, and she whispered,
“I’m nothing like you.”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
03/02/2011
Aughraysiah grinned almost maniacally as she performed her 50th spell for the morning. She had been up long before the sun had risen, ensuring that her performance was perfect. That day, she would be officially enrolled in Genectel’s Royal Academy. As the Crown Princess, she was expected to perform exceptionally. She knew that among practicing magicians her age her natural abilities were second to none. Everyone expected her to be oriented into the Magician’s Class.
Genectel had four major vocational classes: Scholars, Warriors, Workers, and Merchants. No class was held in higher regard than the other. Many times they tended to intersect anyway. “All the mess of ranking, discrimination, and entitlement came from either one of two places,” she thought sadly. “Lineage and skill: those of average skill looked down with no skill. Those with exceptional skill looked down on those with average skill. Those of noble blood looked down on everyone else. It was tiresome, but unavoidable.”
Shaking herself from her philosophical musings, Aughraysiah dropped herself onto the red grass as the first rays of the sun’s blue light awakened the otherwise black morning. In the distance, she could hear the morning tweets of swallows, happy for the morning’s welcome. She turned over to lay on her stomach, rubbing a blade of grass between her fingers and staining her index and thumb red. That day, it didn’t matter that she was the Crown Princess who could already skillfully carry out her duties long before she was required to assume the throne. All she cared about was the fulfillment of her dream. She was finally on the path to becoming a true magician. No one, not her parents’ expectations, not the opinions of the court, not the hearts of the people, not even the competition of her sister could take that from her.
“Speaking of my sister,” she whispered gently to the grass before turning to lay on her back, stretching her arms toward the freshly lit sky, “I wonder what class she will enter?”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _
The fanfare associated with orientation of new students to Genectel’s Royal Academy made it all the more fun. Chandillia inhaled deeply, ignoring the obvious smell of detergent used in excess for the sake of making a good impression on the parents of the academy’s freshest faces. Though they came together, she and Aughraysiah had separated over 30 minutes before. Aughraysiah already knew what class she wanted to be in and was speaking to a few professors from the Faculty of Scholars. Chandillia, on the other hand, was more interested in finding a good spot in the auditorium. She kept having to repeat “Excuse me” or “Pardon me” or, occasionally, “Watch it!” as she tried to make her way to where she believed she would be in the best position to watch the show. The auditorium was meant to model the structure of a coliseum.
“You would be fine regardless of where you sat” the voice in her head said teasingly. Chandillia ignored it. All she knew was that she wanted to be able to see the upcoming ceremony clearly.
She had never seen the Class Affiliation Ceremony. It consisted of all the freshmen walking through a portal which exposed their best class affiliation, was the highlight of the orientation. Aughraysiah always ridiculed all the pomp associated with the ceremony, but Chandillia knew that, now that they were actually there themselves, Aughraysiah was just as excited and nervous as everyone else.
Soon, it was time for the CAC to begin. Chandillia’s attempts to find a good spot from which to view the ceremony had been in vain. All the new students had eventually been clumped together in a corner of the school’s auditorium on the left side of the entrance. Hanging from the brass ceiling was a roster of the students’ names and the order in which they would go through the portal. The Crown Princess’s “big reveal” was last since it would obviously be the most important one of the whole procedure. Chandillia’s, on the other hand, was fifth, making her quite nervous. “It’s just a stupid magic door,” she told herself unconvincingly as she watched the four students who went before her have their entire lives changed by walking through that “stupid magic door”.
The one before her was a boy. He looked big and strong, most likely the son of a farmer or blacksmith. When he went through the portal he came out of the other side wearing the uniform of a Warrior. Everyone clapped unenthusiastically. No one was surprised, since he already looked the part, until he began to cry hysterically and began stripping in the middle of the auditorium. The display didn’t last long. He was soon sedated by one of the magic professors. He was then carried out by security. Chandillia could have sworn she heard him muttering something about a bakery under the magic stupor.
Shaken by the boy’s outburst, but determined not to lose her own courage, she rose from her seat and walked gracefully to the entry side of the purple and blue portal. With the overseeing professor’s permission, she stepped forward. Chandillia was surprised by how not-magical the experience felt. If her eyes had been closed, she would not have even been able to see, hear, or feel the portal. Once, she reached the other side, however, it took all the self-control she had not to throw a tantrum of her own.
Chandillia stared at her hands in horror as her arms were suddenly covered in the sleeves and gloves of the academy’s official magician’s uniform. “This isn’t supposed to happen!” Chandillia thought as she searched for her sister's face among the faces of the nobles behind her waiting their turn to pass through the affiliation portal. “Magic is Sissy’s thing. Why do I have it? She’s gonna think I was secretly competing with her!”
Her chest began to hurt and her eyes started to sting as she searched. Was she in the back of the crowd? If she had even the slightest idea this would have happened, She would have skipped. She would have ridden her stallion Shellos to her favorite meadow. By the time anyone found her it would have been too late for her acceptance into the academy. Aughraysiah would have established herself at the top student of the magician’s class and Chandillia could have entered next year. Her class wouldn’t have mattered then.
A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder. It was the professor overseeing their orientation. “You’ll be fine,” he whispered knowingly before giving her a nearly indiscernible push away from the portal.
“He knows nothing!” her thoughts screamed in retaliation as Chandillia walked away calmly. “Sissy is gonna kill me! I am about to become a lost princess!” Thankfully, she was not the first student to have passed through the portal. her best friend Kiris was already standing among the four students who went before her squealing and bouncing in delight at them ending up in the same class.
As soon as she reached Kiris, Chandilia linked her arms with hers and whispered, “Look as mournful and sorry as possible.” Kiris stopped bouncing before she had even finished speaking. She furrowed her brows and pressed her lips together. She was confused. Chandillia knew a retort was coming and widened her eyes as she looked at her friend pleadingly. Her worry caused her to pull her eyes from Kiris’s for a moment to scan the crowd for Sissy. When her eyes returned to Kiris’s, She could see that realization had replaced her confusion.
“Augraysiah is going to kill us!” Kiris gasped as she clapped her hand over her mouth.
“I know,” Chandillia moaned in agreement.
“She’s going to think we stole her thing!”
“I know.”
“We are going to become lost princesses!”
“I KNOW!!” Chandillia cringed, knowing that she had spoken too loudly. Peeking around me to see who noticed, She saw only one pair of eyes looking in her direction. They shone with fur- no. Rather than racing with fear, Chandillia’s heart broke. If she could have suffocated herself in her new cloak she would have. Aughraysiah’s eyes held none of the angry resentment Chandillia was afraid of, only resignation.
© River R.
