Simon

They entered the vortex, it swirled as they entered and he could literally feel his body molecules contract through the portal and expand out of the other end. He was hit with an extreme case of nausea, so extreme that the moment he came out of the other side he crashed into the sand. His hands buried deep under the sand and his head resting on the gritty grains.

"Get up"

"Woah, easy there. It was his first time" said Damian kneeling next to Simon. Pearl looked at him, he could see her face from the end of his eyes. It was clear she was trying not to laugh.

"I ought to rephrase that better. It was his first time turning into an atom on the other side of a planet and then turning back. How's that?"Damian asked him, his face grim-looking in the distance, like Superman after defeating Lex Luthor or Doomsday, in this case, his inapt sentence phrasing.

Simon pulled himself up and looked at Damian with a sarcastic smile." Thanks, that helped me a lot".He shook his body and dusted the sand off his clothes. In the distance he could see a city, it glimmered under the shine of the sun like a mirage but Simon knew that no mirage could make a structure so high and mighty. The Burj khalifa lived up to its name, a tower whose tip covered by clouds and its body shining against the morning sun. The buildings covering it were no match for its beauty and magnitude.

"So, are we going to walk all the way there?"

"Pardon me but we came here for the chamber of ascension, not for sightseeing" Rose admonished. Great, he thought, I'm already being scolded by a girl younger than me. Though he admitted that she was more mature than he was, it was kinda the case for all girls.

"So where are we supposed to go? Into the sand?"

"Precisely, Watson, "replied Pearl.

"Follow us and try not to piss her off." pleaded Rose."It will be such a hassle if you do"

Simon was about to ask who was referred to as she when the ground in front of them rose up revealing an entrance into the earth. He had not noticed the patch in the ground, he was too busy thinking that his insides just exploded. The entrance was like mine entrance. As he entered, he noticed that the walls were lined with torches glowing bright red. Once they had all entered, the mini cave dropped like a lift, he could hear the soft trickle of sand overhead the cave as it descended through the layers of rock and sand. The cave-ish depression stopped and the earth in front of them was opened. They were thrown into the light as they entered the glass dome. He looked around in amazement, he was sure they had dropped around 2-3 metres below the earth, so how was the light reaching so deep and how could he see the sky from here.

" The dome is under sun control film, so the light can pass through here but no one can see it from the top," answered Rose before he could ask what it was.

Rose walked towards him and pushed to the bench seated at one end of the dome."A woman will come and collect you for ascension. We'll, be waiting at the top."

"Who"

"An elder, when we become 23, we graduate and become elder, we are then given a choice of profession in the spirit world" Rose explained as they all returned to the entrance and they ascended leaving him waiting and anxious.

6 minutes later

Simon retold what had happened a few hours ago to the elder.

"Quite a night you had, didn't you," said the woman. They had entered a room which had a big capsule ."The capsule has electrical and heat insulators built in the wall and is firmly stuck to the ground in case of any 'windy' accidents. Please enter the chamber" She asked.

Simon entered it while the woman went over to analytics board. The opening closed and steam entered the capsule. It burned his skin but he didn't call out. It went as quickly as it came and the woman signalled to him. He read her lips saying that nothing has happened. His heart fell through a chasm, after all that, he was not chosen. As he prepared to leave his hands sparked with power. His pants burned from the sparks he was generating and his hoodie steamed. He quickly undressed his shirt and generated electricity focused on the analytics board. It short-circuited the analytics board and the woman stared at him.

She  helped Simon get up."It looks like you have the power to harness an electric spirit, but it is weak at the moment and you need training at the M.I. Who is your sponsor?"

"Sponsor?"

"The person who got you here"

"Uhhh.. their names were Damian, Pearl and Rose."

The woman pursed her lips."I see. Tell them to take you in their cohort while you register in the institute"Simon walked to the entrance and stood.

"Thank you for your time," Simon said as he ascended.

Pearl

"So, what are we going to do now," she asked as they waited for the handsome mortal, maybe a spirit user, to return form the chamber.

"Well, if he is chosen then well have to take him in as his sponsor" replied Damian lost in thought.

"What are you thinking so hard about anyways?" asked Pearl. She knew how he looked when his train of thought was like the TGV est. His eyebrows knitted and his arms folded, he stood there not responding to her question.

"HELOO" she shouted at him.

"What ?"

"I asked you what you are thinking about"

"Nothing, it's just that when I swung my scythe at Harut instead of the yellow flames it came as bluish purple."

"That must have been the pocket dimension messing with your powers, nothing else. Don't worry you are not special."

He gave her a sarcastic smile and she smiled back. The ground rumbled and the entrance lifted, revealing a very bewildered boy facing the wrong side rock.

He turned around and saw them. His pants were burned and his shirt was shredded."Hey, guys"He said sheepishly as he walked to them.

"Judging by your clothes I'd say a spirit chose you"

"Yep. An electric one, now I can charge my phone anytime I want to"He exclaimed"The woman told him me to take me to your coots or something like that while I registered t the institute. So where is the entrance to  this  so-called M.I"

Simon looked at them suspiciously."We need to float to the top using my venturi powers .to be precise."

"Nice one"Simon fake laughed"Wait, you are not serious right?"

"Are you scared of heights?

"No. I am just not fond of theeee-aam"

She didn't wait for his answer and they shot up into the sky. They flew at incredible speed towards the tower. They could see the whole city and it would have been beautiful if they weren't flying like a Bugatti. The city became smaller and smaller every metre they travelled. Even though they were moving quickly it took them 20 minutes to reach the tip of the tower. They stopped in front of the window panes and waited. One of the window panes glimmered and had a wavy like texture on it, they shot right into it. Light surrounded them, blinding him as they travelled through the hidden portal. This time Simon didn't crash into the ground, instead, they all gracefully landed on the ground. When the light went, they were standing on fresh grass, he could hear the crunch of the grass, and the air was crisp. They were on top of a hill and looking ahead Simon could see a huge city. In the centre of the city was a massive structure like a castle or fortress of sorts, he could see kids around his streaming in and out. The rest of the city was not very modern and looked more from the past, nonetheless, it was beautiful and lively. He looked at the horizon and could see the end of the land was bordered with waterfall.

"That's the M.I in the centre of heaven or what we like to call the city of angels. And the villas next to the institutes are the cohorts. One cohort is assigned to one team. Since we are your sponsor you'll be living in ours." explained Damian. She agreed with his statement.It was truly a city of angels.

"Well, then. Time's a-wasting, "Pearl said.

They walked down the hill and entered the city through the gate entrance. When they reached the massive entrance, the sentries got up. They wore almost the same armour they were wearing and were armed with spears. They allowed them to pass after seeing Damian, Rose and Pearl.

"How did the exorcism go?" one of the sentries asked.

"It went ok"pearl replied. In truth, they messed up bad. Harut escaped and they were responsible for the new mortal turned spirit user. 

"Who is the new guy?" asked another one of the sentries.

"His name is Simon. He just became a spirit user. The element of Jupiter." replied Damian

They nodded and opened the gates. They walked through the long street towards the M.I.They were many villas and shops in the streets. It would have been a normal street except for the fact that a few shops sold weapons and armoury. Other than that it was a very lively city. After walking for 20-30 minutes they reached the M.I.The institute itself was massive. It had a huge clock which pointed at colours and had an only hand. Currently, it was pointing towards the yellow section. The doors opened and they entered. Many students were streaming in and out. They all wore the same gear and carried huge cases casually as if they were musical instruments in and not weapons.

"Come on, we are going to meet Raphael," She said to Simon who was gazing all around them in amazement.

"Whos is that?" he asked while they passed to the next room.

"The headmaster of the institute and one of the remaining archangels" They entered a room with a huge fish tank, except the fish were replaced by humans. They were fighting in pairs using whips and the movement of the whips controlled the water, crashing into its opponent with terrifying speed.

They came to an elevator based structure but instead of the floor, the wind carried them upwards to the third floor. The door opened revealing vast libraries of strange and peculiar books: The Quint-Essential Ways Of Exorcising Shadow Beings, History Of The Great Ichor War. and many many many more. At the far end of the library was a huge chair that overlooked the north part of the city, where they had entered. The chair had angel wing decorations on either side of it making the person sitting on the chair look like an angel.

"Ahhh... here they are, "said a soothing voice. Hearing it made Simon want to curl and go to sleep. The voice came from the chair, it turned revealing a bald man with closed eyes. He seemed old and young at the same time and defined the term immortal. His ability to see without opening his eyes always unnerved Pearl.

"Is he sleep -talking?"Simon whispered to Pearl.

"No, there is nothing called sleep talking, doofus" she whispered back

"Im not  a doofus."

"Oh yeah? You are still wearing the card Damian gave you"

Simon flushed and quickly took it off.

The man's eyebrows went up"I see that you four have become quite acquainted with each other. I was going to let him stay here at the guest rooms in the institute because his report was .... strange. But if he wants he can stay with you all" He got down and Simon realized that it was not decorations and the man had real wings attached to his back. Simon knelt and the others stared at him confused. Rose rolled her eyes at him

"What ?"He asked looking up at her."He is the archangel right"

"Yes, I am the archangel Raphael but we don't do that around here"gestured his hands at him kneeling. Simon immediately got up and brushed his burnt hoodie feeling extremely embarrassed.

"So, what do you choose?" asked Raphael

"I'd rather stay with them but it depends if they allow me to stay at their cooties," Simon said sheepishly

"You don't need their consent, you can stay with them if you want. Also, its called cohorts not 'cooties' "

"But I want their agreement, "said Simon sternly.

"Yeah, you can, we are anyways your sponsors and I don't mind you," said Damian looking at him in his eyes"do you both have any problems, "he asked Rose and her.

"Nope"

Nigh"

"Well, then all matters settled you can go back to rest from your mission," Raphael said putting pressure on the word mission. Damian flinched ."I'll take care of registering and he can start training tomorrow. He will be training with ...... along with you three"

"Now, scurry along, little mortals. Get some rest you'll have a long day tomorrow" Said the archangel, the last sentence directed towards Simon.

They went down the elevator and out the entrance.No one even glanced at his state of clothes , so it was probably common to come injured and clothes tattered.

They turned left from the entrance going to a community filled with villas. They weaved through the maze of villas and entered one which had toilet paper around it.

"I don't think you guys know how to use toilet paper," Simon said.

"Not funny. Russel must have done this while we were out on the mission. Sorry to ask but can you help us clean it up?" she asked half knowing what the answer would be.

"Sure. Let me first change" Simon said as he looked down at his clothes.

"You can have some of mine," Damian said looking at the house in disgust, precisely the toilet paper in disgust.

"Yeah, thanks "

They entered the well-decorated house and Simon started his new life.