"Froyd, are you ready?" Froyd watched as his mother applied the lipstick. It was brighter by a shade then her skin, but it suited her. He remembered when she wouldn't wear makeup. The promotion had changed her, and she seemed happier all around.

"Yeah, I am."

Froyd remembered everything he'd done to get to this point. An elite prospect forhis home, August. The training by himself, while everyone that he knew hanged out. Those had been hard days. The running, the weight training, and the magical training, almost all done alone.

He and his mother had spent half of the day together. Stopping for fast food at the end of it, they'd sat on the dock, now, waiting. He'd be leaving for a year. So they'd spent this last moment chatting, and absint mindedly, watching on the as a forklift brought parcels off  a freighter onto the pier. 

The coldfront outside made his skin pop with goosebumps. It wouldn't snow in Lione. At it's lowest temperatures, it would only be in the fifties. He rubbed the bumps, trying to get the cold off of his arms. He'd brought clothing for the weather, he just hadn't expected the need to arrive so soon. 

"I'm done." His mother smiled at her reflection. "How do I look?"

He squinted. "Seven out of ten. I'd recommend you to my father, but he's too busy." They shared a smile. The windshield had fogged a little. His mother then turned up the heater.

She sighed. "Can't believe he couldn't make it for you. Today, of all days."

 "It won't make much of a difference to me. I'll pass the assessment, with the highest grade, that I can, then the world is mine for the taking. Or at least Lione, is."

"Plan more tightly, I know you're smart, but you won't reach you're potential like that." 

Their was a shed to their left, occasionally their were flashes, that were very familiar to them both. "The Maypole ceremony is too dangerous for Charlenne. You were gonna join the Special Forces, right? Pretend that idiot, is your first mission, and protect her for me."

He did his best to defended his cousin. "Charlenne, isn't an idiot, she's just unique."

"She's special?"

"Yes."

Debra shook her head. "She's exactly why you should plan." She looked him in his eyes "She smarter than you. Has higher mana affinity. But, you have higher grades, and you're stronger. Despite her all her talents, she's not a fighter."

"I would've protected her anyway." He smiled, hugged his mother, and hopped out.

"We'll be fine." 

He took his bags from the trunk, tapped it, and his mother drove off.

Froyd hefted his luggage and made his way beneath the shed. He saw that John had sat in the first row of benches. His luggage took up half of it. There was a small crowd at the back laughing and having fun. Froyd smiled and waved at a few of them.

"I've got some plans for an adventure, you up for it, or what?"

He took out a black sweater, he'd brought for the island and wore directly over his blue t-shirt. John reached out a fist and gave him a bump. John was six foot. An inch or, two shorter than Froyd himself. His complexion was also about two tones brighter. He was stoutly built. Froyd, after righting himself, tapped his ear. John got the message and took out his earpiece. He left the music playing since it was loud enough to hear even while out.

"Dude, I got a few things I want to get from that island. I'm gonna need your help."

He said, tapping his fingers on the bench, to the music. "Was going to ask you to help me out. This way we both get what we want"

"Alright, then. Let me tell you what I'm into. A couple of years ago, my mom told me about this beach. Her group made it with some unique spells. They left a book, in a little hut, with the spells. That, and some bush medicine, to take home, is all I want."

"So, we're going to checkout a spell formation, and some body enhancing medicine?" He nodded. "I want some herbs too. More specifically for cooking." 

"You're really taking that cooking thing seriously, then?"

"Yeah. Got to take what you put in you seriously, ya know? The church members are all into health, so they've got some rare stuff." He said. "And the climate is weird over there. I hear plants can grow up to three times their regular sizes, maybe their mutated by now? I want some seeds,too, bro." 

They'd left business alone and just discussed future goals from that point on. They'd been friends since childhood so there wasn't much they couldn't say to the other. Time flew by and, eventually, boat lights showed on the horizon.

.....................

The catamaran came in smoothly. The stern approached them; white, a hundred feet long, and fifty feet across. Someone jumped off the first, of the three, floors and fastened the ship, then did it two more times. The boat's mechanical ramp fell in front of the group. They all held their luggage nearby.

A double door was exposed, its parts were five feet across each. Gold on its borders secured glasswork. Purple, blues, oranges, and reds. It was a moral of Lione's Gem, a great reef that spanned over a hundred miles on Nada, Lione's largest island.

Two men walked out and held each side of the door. They were light-skinned young men, dressed in white robes. They revealed a long hallway that ended at a single door. A man in blue walked out, immediately followed by others, dressed in white. As he walked, he placed his hands within his cuffs.

"Come up, one by one." He spoke as he stood right in front of the exit.

There was a light above him. They'd finally been able to examine the man's face. He was old, at least in his seventies.

Froyd held both duffle bags in his right and removed his phone from his pocket. The boat's ramp was made of metal. On the back of which was rubber. He made it up and handed it over his phone. 

"Meet our minister." The receiver said. He walked up to the minister and introduced himself.

"Froyd Rolle."

"Jake Dorsette."

They shook hands. Froyd's folded up in his. Froyd smiled, the old man smiled, too, and then let go. 

His hair was cut short, with signs of white growth in the bald spot. 

"I know your mother and father. How are they?" 

"They're both good, sir."

"I expect your dad to be rich by now?" 

"He tries his best, sir." 

The old man chortled and handed him a key.

"Room 210, on the second floor. Your roommate will be up shortly."

He retrieved his bag from the whites, the name they'd call the new inductees, and left.