The Testing Tower

This is it. All those months of torture from the other students and even the teachers, and it’s all led to this. I stare up at the Testing Tower, but even craning my neck all the way back, I can’t see the top. The sides go on for miles so there’s no way to see around it.

I glance over at the best thing this university gave me, my first real friends. Ava is anxiously pushing her curls behind her ear while Felix is muttering to himself. We’d be idiots not to be nervous. Our classmate shift around us, the air crackling with anticipation. What started as a class of over 100 has now filtered down to barely 25. We all go still as the daunting double doors creak open and Professor Quinn steps out.

“Good morning, students,” she says in her usual no nonsense tone. “You are about embark on your final exam. There are seven levels within, each with a different task to be completed. If you do not complete the task or answer incorrectly, you are expelled and must exit immediately. If you successfully complete your task, you may move to the stairwell and up to the next level. Some exercise are individual and others may be completed as a team. These exams are to prepare you for enlistment after graduation. Use what you have learned but also,” she looks straight at us, “trust your instincts.” She pauses and scans the class. “Now. We begin.” She turns and walks into the dim hallway.

Training kicks in and we immediately form a single line, climbing the stairs in silence. In the darkness of the Tower, we come to single door at the end of a short hallway. The light is overly bright as we walk into a large classroom, the three of us taking seats in the back. Once everyone is seated, Professor Oron stands up from behind a large oak desk at the front of the room.

“You have one hour to complete the exam in front of you. You must score a 90 or above to pass. If you do not complete on time or score less than 90, you will fail. Begin.” And with that, he sat down. We flip our papers over and begin. I’m relieved to recognize most of these questions since my Action won’t help me on this level. I glance over at Ava, her Think symbol lighting up. She’ll rock this level but Felix, myself, and clearly the Action jocks have to rely on what we actually learned. Swim won’t help Preston here and Ace is screwed with Speed.

Ava, of course, finishes first and hands her test in. Professor Oron grades it quickly and announces, “100% correct. Proceed to the door on the left.” Ava nods and exits, but I’m certain she’s waiting for us on the other side. Slowly everyone else finishes, with Felix and I somewhere in the middle of the pack. Only a handful of students had to exit through the right side door. I join Felix and Ava on the other side and we climb up two flights to the next level.

We open the plain door to see tables set up in a large horseshoe shape, a professor behind each one. There’s a few tables with small groups of 3 or 4 people so I assume we can work together on this one. We make our way to an open table. A professor I don’t know asks, “Is this a team effort or individual?”

Felix answers, “Team.”

They nod. “Very well. Before you are different types of plants. You must each pick the one that is not poisonous. If you pick incorrectly, you fail. Pick correctly and you move forward. You have ten minutes.” And they flip over a large glass timer.

Ava asks, “How poisonous? Are we going to get ill or die?” The professor doesn’t say anything but arches an eyebrow and smirks.

I sigh, “After all the shit we’ve been through, I’d guess death.”

“So, let’s not risk it,” Felix puts his hands over the plants and his Action symbol glows. He uses Change to change all the plants to mint leaves and we each grab one and chew. There’s a beat of silence as the professor just stares at us. Then they burst out into laughter, the sound bouncing off the cavernous walls.

“Well, alright. Go ahead,” they wave us toward the door towards the back of the room.

As we walk over, I whisper, “These first two were almost too easy. There’s no way the rumors are true.” Of course, that’s when we pass a table of students projectile vomiting on their professor.

Ava shudders. “If this is easy, then I hope it stays that way.”

No such luck.

We climb the two staircases to the next door. The wailing can be heard from the stairwell and when Felix slowly opened the door, the coppery scent of blood washed over us. The arena in front of us is the aftermath of a great battle. Bodies of dead and wounded soldiers lay everywhere. My stomach rolls and I have to will myself not the throw up. Felix didn’t will hard enough and leans to the side, spewing his breakfast against the wall. Ava rubs his back as the professor by the door says, “This university’s main goal is to train you for the king’s regime. We may experience battle at any time so you must be ready. Combat is how to complete a battle, saving lives is why we battle. You must save one life each. You may work together or separately. You have one hour. Begin.”

An hour to save three lives? “Jesus Christ,” I mutter as we sprint through the gory scene. Every soldier has different wounds and it’s starting to feel overwhelming. I pull us to a stop. “We have to come up with a plan. We don’t have time to run blindly.”

Felix nods, “We need to find someone with wounds we can actually help with.” His eyes dart from person to person. “I feel so shitty saying that.”

“Do you have enough energy left to change someone?” Ava asks.

Felix shakes his head. “That’s a high level Action and I need to save it for the last task. And I definitely couldn’t do it to three people.”

They look at me. Aaron told me I need to be creative with my Action. I can’t think in black and white all the time. I look around.

“Ok. This one is on me.” I nod as I think. “Oh! We need to find anything we can use for tourniquets or bandages. It doesn’t look like there’s too many other people here yet so there’s got to be supplies left somewhere.” We scan the room until Ava points.

“There! There’s a crate over by those…um, moaning people,” she winces. “Yeah, I know how I sound. Shut up.”

“Ava, can you use Think to tell us how to spot someone with blood loss?” I ask as we maneuver over to the crate. It dawns on them what I’m thinking of doing and Ava smiles as her symbol lights up. By the time we get to the crate and open it, Ava is listing all the signs and symptoms of blood loss. The crate is most full of straw but a strip of silver catches the light. With a shout of excitement, I pull out a roll of bandages sealed in a metal canister. If someone was in a hurry, they never would have seen it.

“Alright, guys. Three blood loss victims.” I barely got the sentence out before Felix yells from our right.

“Over here!” He’s standing over a man with a gaping wound in his leg. The arteries are torn and there’s blood everywhere. We can see his chest rising quickly but his face is so pale and clammy, you’d think he was already dead. Ava begins wrapping his leg wound while Felix looks for the next person. I put my hand over his chest, unsure where to start. Practice was never like this.

“Fill,” The thought stirs my Action. It feels like the magic is waking up and stretching. “What do you want to fill?” she answers back. “He needs blood. Fill him back up with his blood.” My sassy Action shrugs. “Easy.” And before I can scoff at her, I feel the deep pull from within, like water filling a well that has no bottom. The tingle of magic went down my arm into the wounded on the ground. I feel his body respond to the magic immediately, as if he’s been waiting for us this whole time. The color slowly comes back to his face and his eyes flutter open. Before he can say anything, we hear Felix from across the room. “I’ve got our next one!”

I pat the man’s shoulder and then Ava and I run over to Felix. After doing it two more times, a professor shows up next to us. “Completed. You may continue.” They point to a door at the far end. As they point, I see the Action symbol on their arm. Mirage. The room shimmers in response, but we don’t have time to appreciate the level of magic we just experienced. We sprint through the door and put as much space between us and the images of death as possible.

Swinging open door number four, all three of us sigh in relief, which is a pretty weird response to an obstacle course. But Professor Ryan’s drills have been ingrained in us so we take off, jumping and swinging and letting muscle memory take over. Every now and then Felix will Change a gap so we don’t have to jump as far or I’ll Fill in some grips to climb on. Before we know it, we’re at the top and facing our exit door. Sweating and panting, we climb more stairs to our fifth door.

There’s a small line to get in. What the hell? There’s three people in front of us. I recognize the girl in front of us from one of my classes so I tap her shoulder and ask, “What is this line for? Other than, obviously, the next exam.”

“I don’t know. But every time the door opens, a Professor steps out and says we can only go in one at a time. Then they take the next person.” She shrugs and turns back around as the door opens and, just like she said, Professor Sharpe emerges.

“This next section is done individually. You, sir, are next.” He ushers the guy closest to him through the door. Tensions rise with every person that goes through and the line behind us gets longer. Some times the next person is called quickly and some times there’s a fairly long wait. Finally, it’s my turn. I nod back to Felix and Ava, who give me thumbs up.

Once through the door, I see another impossibly large room with a long table facing me. There are seven professors there. Professor Cora stands and smiles at me, settling some of the nerves that have risen up in me.

“You have 15 minutes to demonstrate your Action. If you fail to impress the majority here, you will not continue upward. Begin.”

Shit. I don’t have anything prepared. Before I can overthink and scramble, I take a deep breath and pull from the well inside me. My Action magic flares to life as I whisper ‘Fill,”

“Fill what?” the voice whispers back. I draw a blank. Opening my eyes, I look around the room. There’s a tank that’s already full of water, some wooden planks, a supply crate we would see if we were in the regime, but nothing I can use.

“I-I don’t know,” I whisper back, panicking. I can feel the magic smirk, if that’s even a thing for magic.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” she says. The magic tingles up my arms as my symbol glows. I can barely hear the mutters of the professors, some making notes and another shaking his head. He says something about wasting time that makes my magic jerk towards him. I snap my eyes open and throw my hands out towards the table.

“Fill.”

Every judge’s bladder fills immediately. There’s shouts and jolts from the judges as they bolt for the door. Cora is laughing so hard she may be peeing herself. The judge who shook his head at me is grabbing his butt and running. I decided his bowels needed filling too. Soon the room is empty and quiet. I look around, unsure what to do. The professor who ushers us in goes to check on the others in the restroom, returning with a smile as he says, “They said you pass and you’re free to move forward.”

I smile back as I exit. I don’t have to wait too long for Ava and Felix and then we’re climbing to our sixth door. We laugh as we discuss how we got through our judges until we open the door and come face to face with a room full of fighting rings. There are pairs throughout the room, each one showing what our training has taught us. A professor comes over to us. Pointing to each one of us, she says, “Two, six, and twelve. Winners proceed forward. The fight lasts ten minutes. Go.”

The rings each have a number on them so we wave as we go to our designated places. The fighter in mine, because I have the worst luck, is Michael. Fucking Michael. He grins as I approach.

“Oh, good. I won’t even have to try.” he scoffs.

I just roll my eyes, past the point of snappy comebacks. He has made this the longest year of my life so it feels right to cap off my exam with him. We each take our stances and I barely hear the presiding professor yell begin before he’s lunging toward me, using his Action as quickly as he can. His Strength symbol glows as he swings his fists. I dodge most of them but the ones that connect rattle me. I get into a few of my own but they barely make him stumble.

“Use me,” the magic whispers.

“How? You know kung fu?” I tumble around the ring.

“Use me!” she demands harder. I trip and suddenly Michael’s on top of me.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” he rears his fist back, his symbol glowing on his knuckles.

“USE ME NOW!”

I throw open the well and force the magic out my hand as quickly as I can. At the last second I realize what its doing but it’s too late. Michael screams and grabs his head, throwing himself off me and rolling on the ground. He’s thrashing and ripping at his hair as the voice in me says “Fill his head with nightmares. Fill his heart with dread. Fill his mind with images.” Michael is crying and curling into the fetal position as the judge runs to him, checking his vitals. I pull the magic back as the professor yells, “It’s finished! You’ve won. Go, go now!”

Michael falls limp and unconscious as I run out of the ring and to the door. I see Ava and Felix staring at me in horror. They’ve got cuts and bruises but we don’t say a word to each other as we fly through the door and up the last set of stairs. Our final level. The rumors prove to be true as we find ourselves on the roof of the Testing Tower.

Two professors are by the edge. One says, “Jump or fail. Begin.”

“There,” Ava leads us over to a row of barrels. The first one is full of water, the second has dirt. The third has random supplies. I unbutton my shirt and grab the first aid kit. This part is what Aaron was hinting at and I’m ready. I grab the sewing kit from the First Aid box and sew up the collar. Then I grab my shirt by the sleeves and snap it a few times, testing it. Seeing its secure, I nod to Ava and Felix.

“You guys good?”

Ava smiles back. “Yup, good thing we practiced this part. See you at the bottom!”

Felix looks a bit more worried but nods. “Yeah, I’ll see you down there.”

“You sure you’re ok? I ask him. “Do you have enough left to change?”

“I think so.” he trails off. Seeing our worried expressions, he smiles weakly. “Yes. I do, of course I do. Now go. You’re first.” He waves me off. I give them both a quick hug and turn towards the professors. We’re meant to jump off the ledge between them.

“Now or never. Let’s fucking go.” I mutter as I run. My magic laughs gleefully as I jump without anymore hesitation. “Fill!” I yell as air rushes around me, filling my shirt that is now doubling as my parachute. The shirt snaps open and my legs swing out as the shirt slows my descent to a lazy pace. I start giggling as I land in my sports bra and shorts, turning and looking up just in time to see Ava jump. She’s holding a rope that she’s attached to the side of the Tower and expertly repels down. We high five as she lands and runs up to me, both of us feeling relief wash over us. We look up in time to see Felix jump.

But he doesn’t change. He’s just falling and suddenly Ava and I are both screaming his name. He’s tumbling and turn, coming closer and closer to the ground.

“Change! Felix, come on! Change!” Ava screams, as if that will help.

Oh God, I think.

“FELIX!”