The Story

...Notna was the culprit; "what about you?" he asked his father; "you said you saw the entrance exam"

At the sound of this, John raised his eyebrows; "you saw my performance? I thought it was an illusion!"

"They used some powerful mind seeing magic," explained Laneid, Aliana took her eyes off of the screen at the sound of this; "this allowed me to see it, and others"

"I thought mind seeing is a gift" asked Aliana

Her mother nodded; "Mind reading is, but some high level mages are capable of replicating parts of it using elements" she smiled, her eyes creasing kindly; "or there might be someone amongst the professors with a similar gift to yours."

Aliana looked puzzled

"Ooooh!" said Notna in mock surprise; "Aliana is not the only victim!"

"Oh shut up!" snapped Aliana

"Hey! That's rude" retorted Notna; "you do it!"

"Guys, enough!" said their mother; "don't make this about you"

"I'm not!" protested Notna

Aliana went back to her phone.

"Anyway," interrupted Laneid; "I was placed in a room full of orbs and three examinees, perhaps the three you met backstage, and I've seen some promising students," he smiled at John, "I think you'll have fun in class" Laneid paused, then added; "however, still keep your Gift in check. I asked the professors to give you extra elemental lessons while the others attend classes that help them control their Gifts. I assume most, if not all, would have one since The Academy is for heroes, if the announcer wasn't exaggerating."

"Wait, we are not the only ones?" Asked Valery, surprised; the rest of the children also tensed up at the sound of this.

"Of course not" said their mother.

"Gifts are rare, but not non-existent" explained their father.

"But, what about all that criticizing you've been through?" asked Valery

"That was back in Sunny Valley" explained Notna; "society takes things differently here" he smiled; "that's why we moved"

"One of the reasons" Aliana corrected

"But Marking children is still looked down upon" reminded John

"Your right" said Notna; "so don't bring too much attention to it and you'll be fine" this was ironic coming from him

Their father nodded; "Notna is right" he looked at John; "I don't want any of you flaunting it around! It is still incredibly rare to have a Mark and I doubt many, if any, students in that Academy have it" he closed his eyes; "I don't have to remind you that the Marks--"

"Yes, yes, we know" said Aliana whilst typing on her phone; "keep us from harm and will do so better if hidden" she rehearsed.

Laneid nodded; "besides," directing his eyes on John; "the amount of time you'll be dedicating to Elemental studies, you'll forget you even have a Mark."

John seriously doubted that.

"Oh right, about that," John finished his cup; "apparently I am attuned to only one element" he crossed his arms, leaning back on the couch; "the ninth one, I haven't even heard of it! What's up with that?"

His father rubbed his forehead; "the ninth? Are you sure?"

"Yes" replied John; "you know about it?"

Their father looked at their mother; they both had disbelief in their eyes.

"Huh," chuckled Laneid; "this is trippy"