♠Chapter 2: The Sorting ♠

The sorting did commence, and a nervous energy seemed to thrum through the air. Each new student would step on the large compass in the center of the Hall, and the needle would spin and spin, until it would suddenly stop in front of one of the five houses. Later that day, the students would have to demonstrate their ability in front of a teacher. That would be the house the student was in. For the older students, this process dragged on and on. The line of students seemed endless.

Xanithan Archer!

EARTH!

Annie Churchill!

AIR!

Connor Iscithicus!

FIRE!

The process went smoothly… until the name “Ximen Valor” came up, and a short, scared boy stepped onto the compass. For a split second, the needle kept still, then spun so fast it was almost invisible.

Everyone froze.

What was happening?

They watched with bated breath as the needle spun…and spun…and spun… until suddenly, it stopped short. Everyone looked to see what house this boy was in, just to see it was… in between? A murmur rose through the crowd, for this had never happened before. The needle was in between Water and Air. It suddenly and unexpectedly jerked between Fire and Metal, then Fire and Air, then Earth and Water, then Earth and Metal. It kept moving in this crooked fashion until it slowly spun, almost as if it were exhausted, to point at the Earth house.

Silence commenced, but it was soon broken by the roars and whoops of the Earth house residents, overjoyed to have this seemingly amazing kid join them. They did not know what this boy was able to do.

Or what he would end up doing.