What A Dream Wants

Situated in the middle of the town, it was quite a resplendent sight to behold.

The grand towers at the corners spiraled to the heavens, luxuriant white clouds swirled around the top, making it hard to discern the actual height of the towers. The town itself resembled a bustling city, and amidst all that hubbub stood an awe-inspiring establishment:

"The Academy."

The gates would open at noon. A large crowd, perhaps even hundreds of people, had already gathered at the entrance.

An examiner would soon come to test the students wanting to apply for the school.

They had just made it, after running the entire way.

He looked at Olivia, who was currently playing around with the bear, her face bearing an impatient look. He glanced at Jess and Max, who were jumping up and down carefreely. He watched as they bombarded Lukas with a ton of questions.

"Whoah, why are so many people here?" Max asked loudly, his cute voice rang loud, beating at Lukas's ears.

"Because of the examination for the academy," Lukas answered, his voice... worn out and weary.

"Why do they go to this school? Why not another school?" Jess asked, also shouting.

"Because this is a prestigious institution," Lukas muffled a sigh.

"What does prestigious mean? What does an institution mean?" Jess asked yet another question.

"Prestigious means well-known, or usually reputable. A school is an institution, but an institution is like a center of some sort." Lukas answered, a pained expression on his face.

At this point, tears could be seen in his eyes. He mouthed to Olivia and Steven "Help me."

No reply.

"Please?"

Olivia shrugged and went back to playing with the bear's paws. Lifted them up. Lifted them down. Lifted them up. Lifted them down...

Steven glanced at his watch to see if he had any time to deal with two children bombarding Lukas with questions.

'12:00' the watch read.

Oh well, guess he didn't have time. The exam would start soon-

The gates, clanging and screeching, finally opened. A young man stood at the center of the gates.

"Alright, line up!" He ordered. "Parents and guardians step aside and pay the examination fee."

A bunch of little kids clamored into a line, while the parents forked out money.

Lukas walked up and gave the examiner the exam fee for two.

. . .

"Listen up," He hollered. "To test the aptitude of the children here, place your hands on this."

The man held up a magenta crystal ball containing a lilac blue flame in the center. It was smothered with wisps of indigo mist and a vibrant glow, almost blinding.

"Depending on the aptitude, the glow will strengthen or weaken. The current glow is from my aptitude." He placed it down on a wooden table. The glow dulled, the flames weakened, and the mist completely disappeared.

He beckoned for the first child to come up.

The child slowly placed his hand on the crystal ball.

A soft glow appeared.

"Alright, you may go." The young man said, a mocking smile appearing on his face.

The child, exhilarated, proceeded to head in the gates.

"I mean... go home."

The boy's face paled.

. . .

Out of the first ten children, none had passed. Although one had done significantly better, the mist even started slowly seeping out, he was still dismissed.

The dismissed children started crying in the embraces of their parents, while a few parents threatened to complain.

The only reply they received was: "Go ahead."

Furious, they only could stomp away, muttering under their breaths. No one was foolish enough to actually complain...

. . .

A hundred more children were tested and ten of them got in.

Some of them had great aptitudes, with flames roaring and coming to life, while the mist condensed into clouds floating around them.

Others had barely just passed.

It was considered a lot for one examination to yield ten students. Although... most of the people being tested could already be considered geniuses, it was still a large number.

There was still a good number of children in line, including Jess and Max.

The examiner yawned.

"Alright, the exam ends for today." The examiner concluded. "Come back tomorrow and pay the entrance fee again."

Immediately, shouts ran through the angered crowd.

"You can't do that!" A parent shouted. "We already paid! It's not even late afternoon!"

"This must be a breach of the rules!" Another parent shouted.

"Well, chances are, most of these children won't have high enough altitudes. It's not like they'll get accepted anyways." The guy smirked.

Steven frowned. This c.o.c.ky guy was quite intolerable.

Olivia's eyebrows crossed. Just as she was about to go over and teach the man a lesson, she noticed that Lukas had an awfully dark expression on his face. He was practically baring his teeth in disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e.

Inside the churning feelings reached a breaking point. He could stand the irritating questions from the kids, the long wait, but he wouldn't stand a lazy half a$$ed instructor from a school HE used to attend.

He rushed up to the instructor.

"Do... you think the instructor will be okay?" Steven whispered to Olivia.

"Honestly, who cares." Olivia snorted, flipping her hair.

"I care about everybody-" Steven started to say, before realizing he really didn't. "Okay, fine, I don't."

Meanwhile, Lukas walked up to the examiner.

"Hello, mister." He softly greeted, with barely contained anger. "I don't believe that it's fair that you don't test all the students first."

The examiner looked at him and sneered. He rested his hand on the table casually.

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"I suppose... I would..." Lukas suddenly smiled a beautiful smile. "Hand me the crystal ball."

"Hand you the crystal ball?" The examiner laughed. "What are you gonna do." He doubled over in laughter.

"You'll see," Lukas replied, and without bothering to ask the examiner, he took the ball.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, slowly, wisps soaked out as if finally released from years of slow slumber. Clouds started swirling around him, while the amethyst glow became blinding like a violet sun. A crack appeared. Then two. Then three. In the blink of an eye, the entire crystal shattered into small little fragments, and the flames, now uncontained, roared to life. Blazing on his hand, it became a hazard, towering over a story high, before Lukas released it, and it gradually disappeared into nothingness.

He looked at the examinee. Who... was now on the floor, a scared expression on his face.

"Y-You'll pay for this." The formerly rude and abrasive man stuttered. "You broke academy property. That crystal is really expensive. It-It costs a fortune. You couldn't pay that off in years!"

"I was a former student at this school." He told the man. Then he slowly whispered something into the man's ears.

The man's eye's widened.

"Please forgive me, young master. I won't ever do this again." He tried to grab Lukas's legs to do some t.h.i.g.h-hugging, who just kicked him away.

Where had the arrogant smirking lad gone? In his place was a profusely apologetic young man.

Lukas, who couldn't deal with the nonsense anymore, took out an exact replica crystal out of thin air.

"An-An interspatial ring!" The man gasped loudly.

Hushed whispers flew around the crowd of parents.

"Test the students fairly... or else." He threatened the man, before walking away.

. . .

Not surprisingly, Max and Jess did considerably better than the other children. In fact, when they were being tested, they exploded the glass... twice! As a result, Lukas had to bring out two more crystals to compensate.

The examiner was correct. The crystal balls really weren't cheap. Lukas winced in pain at the thought.

And with that, the test concluded with 16 students (and one bear).

They walked away with the students in the Academy's care. The children (and that one bear) would get settled into school dorms.

. . .

"Testing altitude..." Steven grumbled. "How is that fair? What about the people who work hard?"

"Even the people who work hard won't improve faster than the geniuses that work hard. That is the sad reality..." Olivia replied as they walked away.

[T.h.i.g.h-hugging*: S.u.c.k.i.n.g up.]