Pass or Fail

The teacher walked in with tall ranger black boots and a trailing dark grey long coat that flailed at the end. He had a crew cut with all grey hair including his long pale grey beard and bushy eyebrows. He was a giant towering over the students in the room.

He waved his whole arm in a circle, the strong gust of air whirled around. All the chattering stopped; the room was in complete silence. The upper and lower lips of each student met with such great force, sealing them tightly. No student was able to open their mouths. Even if they tried to free their lips, they did not budge. It felt as if they were glued shut. Their eyes turned to the center of the room and focused on the teacher.

He cleared his throat, "Finally some peace and quiet. I am Professor West."

He wagged his finger intimidatingly. "What I dislike most are slackers. So, you better give me your 200%!" He pounded his fist down into his cupped hand fiercely.

He scoffed and walked back to the podium. Each step he took emitted a thunderous sound and the student’s desk moved accordingly to each vibration.

"Now do as I say, move the palm of your hand to face upwards." He demonstrated by motioning his hands. The students then followed through with his guidance.

Scarlet was amazed by how authoritative he was, even the student who picked on her, Kina, was complying.

Professor West then took his right hand and pushed forward in the air, with only his index and middle finger sticking up in the air while the other two fingers were closed. His eyes were closed, concentrating.

Then, he opened his eyes, he blurted out a “HA”

Streams of light flew from his body over to each student.

Scarlet noticed a white opaque flowy energy ball floating above her hands. It had two gleaming eyes and a tiny hollow mouth. It giggled as she stared at its face.

“Ooooh” Ooooos were heard all around the room. The sounds were enthusiastically coming from the energy balls.

"I want you to think of nothingness, now make it into pure energy with your mind."

The students were struggling and having a difficult time carrying out this action. One male student with glasses released his energy with a great amount of force. His glasses cracked in the process. The glass shards cut his cheek causing some blood to trickle out. The energy, however, turned black, not what he intended to do. He panicked and tried to move his hands in different directions. The blackness eventually swallowed all the energy, leaving him with nothing. He slumped in his chair with a discouraged face.

After noticing the student’s wounded face, Professor West pointed at him to head over to the nurse’s office.

“Points will be deducted for any injuries.” His facial expression changed into a serious appearance.

Anyone who could not remotely follow his instructions were immediately removed from the classroom. More were injured and sent straight to the nurse’s office. The nurse’s name was Alena. She was mellow and the friendliest of the staff in the school. She peeked her head out of her door. She was overwhelmed by the long line of students who needed to see her.

“By golly, you kids sure know how to hurt yourself.”

She told the first two students to come in. One of them had a deep cut on their left arm, the injury was all the way through the sleeve. The other had a small burn on the side of the neck, it was swollen red.

“Poor kids, she smiled, I’ll fix you right up.” She rolled both of her sleeves up and took out a purple perfume looking bottle and then, she pushed down the nozzle. Sparkling powder spewed all over the students. They were upset about their ruined clothes, and it was getting everywhere.

“Now, now, I’m not done yet.” She closed one of her eyes and moved her hands as if she was shooting an arrow. She shot her invisible arrows gracefully which struck both of their injured areas at the same time. Their wounds quickly vanished as if they were never there in the first place.

Back to the classroom, Professor West mentioned.

"As you can see this is a test, to see how skilled you are. Those of you who cannot follow my instructions will not stay in my class. Now concentrate, the changes in the energy ball are reflections of you and how well you can control your magic."

Kina stood up from her chair and focused her spiritual energy. She moved both of her index fingers and thumbs to form a triangle. She placed that formation on her forehead and the energy ball burst into sizzling flames. The energy ball shrieked as if it was in pain. It flickered as she boasted that her other classmates were unable to produce a powerful surge of energy like hers.

"You wimps can't even get yours to cooperate." She smirked.

Professor West was impressed. “Now that’s what I want to see, everyone, look this way at Kina’s.”

Scarlet stared at the rising flames; she was fascinated by them. She shifted her gaze to her own energy ball that was unchanging. It was stubborn, refusing to budge. She was frustrated, because unlike the other students, she was not born into a magical family, and she did not know what to do exactly. The eyes from the energy ball stared at her curiously.

He said use your mind, how am I supposed to do that?

She looked over at some of the other students who were able to transform their energy ball into a different form. She was flustered and anxious since she did not want to let Theo down. The professor began to praise those students.

I’m falling behind, I don’t know what to do.

Kina's fire energy ball grew tall and spread. The sudden heat engulfed her table with a fiery embrace. The smell of burnt wood entered everyone’s nostrils.

"No, no, I said, stop with the flames. Stop!" Kina yelled.

The energy ball burst into a small explosion. It screamed until its demise.

The portion of the table was blackened. Kina's hair was fried, it was dry and brittle, and she had soot all over her face.

Professor West burst into a heavy laugh that shook the room.

"I have an interesting bunch of students this year."

Kina’s eyes narrowed into slits, giving the Professor a furious look.

Scarlet, Scarlet can you hear me?

“Theo?” Scarlet whispered.

How’s it going in that class?

“Not very good unfortunately,” She sighed. “I don’t know how to turn this energy ball into something else. Apparently, you have to use your mind..”

No worries, he let out a chuckle. You just need to focus. Close your eyes, think of your happiest memory.

Scarlet closed her eyes with her hands folded to her heart.

Happiest memories, happy memories..

She slowly wandered into a realm of her memories where she could see her father. He lifted her up and spun her around in the air when she was little. They were having a picnic.

She was laying a sheet of seaweed on the plate. Her dad scooped some cooked rice into her hands. He was showing her how to make a rice ball. She was impatient and while forming her rice balls, it collapsed. She began to cry, throwing a tantrum, kicking her feet in the air. Her father smiled and moved his hands over to hers, so they could make a rice ball together. He guided her through the whole process.

The rice ball was intact and immaculate.

“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

She was her cheerful self again, “No, papa. We do it together again! Again!”

Her father grinned. “Well alright.”

Scarlet slowly opened her eyes to see her Professor standing before her.

She looked at her energy ball and it was still the same.

Her face had a nervous look, wondering if he was going to scold her.

On the contrary, Professor West was confused, he had never found anyone to keep the energy ball consistently the same. It was typically transformed into either its best or worst form.

“Ooooh Ooooos” resonated the entire classroom.

Not only did the energy ball not change form, but she also multiplied them, and thousands of identical orbs filled every corner of the room.

She was surprised by the amount of them.

Did you see it? Did it work Scarlet?

“It did!” Scarlet exclaimed.

Professor West was impressed by the overwhelming number of energy balls in the room. He laughed heavily and wheezed, “You pass.”