Karis wasn't sure how much time passed before she found the strength to sit up. Her entire body felt as though she had fallen out of a tree and hit every branch on the way down. To top it off, the nausea had yet to fade entirely.

Come on, Karis, you're stronger than this.

She took a deep breath and held it until her feet touched the floor. Likewise, she didn't release her hold on the examination chair until she was certain her legs were going to hold her up. She didn't know who might be watching and the idea that someone important might witness her toppling over like a rag doll was mortifying.

Karis waited another minute or so, letting her body adjust to the idea of standing before she demanded forward motion. The first step was the hardest, her legs felt heavy, as though the gravity in the room had increased tenfold since she had stood up.

She knew it was nothing more than fear at a subconscious level and so she pushed through it, forcing the next step and then the next until she was no longer using the chair as support. Once her body seemed to catch up with what her brain already knew -- that everything was fine -- she managed to reach the door the technician had pointed out without further incident.

Easing the door open she felt a cool rush of air sweep over her, savoring the sensation. After the near blinding white of the room, the dimly lit hall beyond was a blessing on her eyes.

She had barely crossed the threshold when the door behind her wooshed closed stranding her in near darkness. She couldn't help the feeling of unease that crept over her as the lights lining the walls began to flicker and then go out entirely.

A moment later a red, flashing light flooded the corridor with crimson before plunging it back into darkness again, the cycle repeating every ten seconds or so.

Every muscle in her body went painfully tense and the fatigue that had been plaguing her up to that moment vanished as every sense went on high alert. Karis didn't know why, but she suddenly had a feeling she was no longer alone.

"Hello?" she called out, her voice echoing down the length of the hall.

She received no response.

"Is someone there?" She called out again, not all that surprised when she was greeted by nothing more than her own voice ricocheting back at her.

She considered leaving the way she had come, confident this was some sort of error, but when she turned back to where the door had been she was met with nothing but smooth metal. There wasn't even a seam to indicate a door had been there at all.

Realizing that her only option was to keep moving forward, Karis did just that, each step far easier than the last. Her brain was no longer occupied by the throbbing, burning sensation that plagued her joints and muscles.

Instead it was focused purely on survival.

Karis was about halfway down the hall when the red light stopped flashing and the crimson glow permeated every nook and cranny. It was then that she saw it, a hulking shadow lurking fifteen or so yards ahead of her, eerie in its stillness.

Beyond it was a door -- the door -- that Karis was confident led to her freedom.

"Who are you?" She asked.

Once again, she found herself met with silence.

"I asked you-"

Before she could finish she felt a heavy weight slam into her from the left and out of the corner of her eye saw the dark mass of a figure readjusting itself for a better hold.

Karis wasn't going to give it a chance.

With her back pressed to the floor she decided to use her short stature to her advantage. She brought her knees to her chest and managed to get her feet planted firmly against her attacker's pelvis. Using the floor as leverage she kicked out hard and managed to throw her assailant off balance.

Feeling the weight lifting away, Karis rolled to the right and got back to her feet in time to avoid another attempt at a tackle.

"What hell!" She shouted as the figure hunched low, rocking back and forth on the balls of its feet. Her heart hammered in my chest and breathing became a task that required too much focus.

She heard the scuffle of footsteps too late and got hit from behind, arms locking around her torso as the second attacker lifted her clean off her feet. The first attacker sprang forward, arms outstretched as though to grab hold of her legs but she never gave it the chance. She lashed out with her left foot and made contact with flesh and bone. A screeching yowl filled the room and the figure retreated leaving her to contend with her other captor one on one.

Lin, Karis. Age sixteen. Manifestation - Pyrokinesis. Common name: Blazer.

The words of the technician echoed through her head.

Blazer.

She was a Blazer.

She had asked her brother once how it had felt when he had first used his ability, how he had known what to do. He'd had a difficult time explaining exactly how it felt and in the end had simply told her:.

You just know, Karis.

You just know.

Turning her thoughts inward, she searched for it, for that feeling, for the moment that it all just seemed to make sense, and she latched onto it -- the burning in her arms and legs, the heat of her anger and her wounded pride, the fire of her passion and will to survive. It coalesced at her core and she pushed it outwards, felt it crawling up her arms towards the very tips of her fingers.

A new light flooded the space as fire leaped to life, blazing up the length of her arms to her palms where it began to gather into a swirling ball of flaming fury.

Karis grabbed hold of her captor and the fire bled from her hands to the attacker who released her the moment it realized what was happening. By then it was too late and as she picked herself up off the floor she saw the flames had engulfed the flailing figure entirely.

She staggered back, the floor of the room pitching unexpectedly beneath her feet and forcing her to her hands and knees. The thick, acrid smell of charred cloth filled the room, invading her senses and she leaned forward to vomit before her brain had time to register what her stomach was doing..

She barely noticed the red light had gone off, that the room was once again illuminated by a soft, white glow. Karis was too caught up in what had happened, in what she had done, to notice that the door at the far end of the corridor had opened, that the technician from earlier was rushing towards her.

Not until she felt his hand on her shoulder.

Her reaction was pure instinct, fueled by adrenaline, but he seemed to expect it because he leaned back just far enough to avoid her fist as it flew through the space where his face had been moments before.

"Karis," he said rather forcefully and she wondered how many times he had called her name and she just hadn't heard.

"What?" she gasped.

"It's over," he said. "It's okay, it's over."

"What's over? What the hell was that?"

"It was the final test," another voice replied and she looked up to see an austere looking woman strolling towards us, the click-clack of her heels echoing through the room.

In Karis' current state the sound was borderline earsplitting.

"Did I fail?" she whispered, looking towards the technician while simultaneously fighting the urge to vomit again.

"Quite the contrary, Karis, you were exceptional," the woman replied prompting me to look towards her again. She was smiling brightly but Karis was too shaken by the whole experience to consider the full weight of the woman's words.

Exceptional.

"Who are you?"

"I am the program coordinator here at the academy," she said, "My name is Zelda Wescott and I'll be assisting in your enrollment process."

Now that she was closer, Karis could see she was young and quite pretty. Her dark hair was drawn back in a bun that rested at the base of her neck. Her black slacks and flowing green blouse seemed better suited for a runway than a school, but who was Karis to question her choice in clothing?

"Do you think you can stand up?" she asked.

Karis nodded, unwilling to admit that her legs felt like warm jello. With the technician's help she managed to get to her feet.

"What did you mean by final test? What was all that?" she asked once she was confident she could stand without further assistance.

"As you well know, the Empyrean Academy requires students to meet a list of criteria in order to be accepted for enrollment," Zelda said, motioning for Karis to follow. She hesitated but when Zelda looked back towards her with a pointed, questioning stare she forced her body into motion.

That seemed to satisfy her because she turned and proceeded towards the door. "Getting accepted is only the first step, especially for someone with your ambitions. On your application you said you wanted to be an Arbiter."

"Yes ma'am," Karis replied, a feeling of pride swelling in her chest. "My mother was an Arbiter, and so was my grandfather."

"Yes, the Lin family is something of a legacy around here, or so I am told," Zelda replied. "You are the first Blazer in your family, is that correct?"

"I guess, yes," she replied. The truth was, Karis hadn't really thought about that until Zelda mentioned it mentioned it.

"Quite a formidable ability, or so I am told," she replied. "This way."

They had passed through the doorway Karis had been fighting to reach. It had barely been ten minutes but the whole thing seemed like a distant memory. If it hadn't been for the ache that seemed to permeate every inch of her body, Karis would have thought the whole thing to be some strange dream.

Zelda guided her through another set of doors and into what appeared to be a small lobby. Like the other rooms she had been in, save for the corridor where the fight had taken place, the room was stark white and devoid of any decor except for a single row of chairs along one wall.

The space opposite the seats had a wide set of double doors on either end and the floor dipped down a good three feet.

"How did you trigger it?"

"Excuse me?" she asked, her foggy brain not quite processing the question.

"Your ability, the fire, how did you trigger it? I've only seen it done a handful of times, it was quite impressive," Zelda said, pressing her hand to the wall beside one set of double doors. The wall glowed green beneath her palm and the doors hissed open to allow a railcar to fill the space in front of them.

"I just knew," Karis replied with a shrug. "I don't know how else to explain it. Sorry."

Zelda smiled and nodded. "Of course, it's a very personal experience. After you, Karis," she said when the side of the car rose upwards to allow them access.

Karis leaned in for a peek before eventually stepping inside. The interior of the car was much homier than any place she had been since she'd first arrived. There was color, for one thing, various shades of green and blue, and quiet music playing from unseen speakers that had an immediate effect on her frazzled nerves. On either side of the car were large, plush chairs able to pivot around freely in order to give the person seated there a three-hundred-and-sixty view of the space.

"Where are we going?" She asked as Zelda sat in the first available seat.

"We're going to campus," she replied. "Please sit, I know you must be tired."

Tired barely scratched the surface. Exhausted came closer, but still didn't quite describe how utterly debilitated Karis felt in that moment.

She nodded and sat heavily in the chair, sinking into the cushion with an audible sigh.

"Take a moment to relax, Karis, you've earned it," Zelda said as she slid a semi-transparent panel out from its home in the wall of the car. Karis could only barely make out the projected images decorating the surface. "I've got some paperwork to do and it will be a little while before we arrive."

Karis nodded and turned towards the window, surprised to see that the rail-car was already in motion, climbing upwards along a suspended track that gave a breathtaking view of Correl City, whose glass and metal structures glittered like jewels in the late afternoon sun.

Tempting as it was to keep watching, Karis finally closed her eyes, her body refusing to be further denied a chance to rest and recover from the stress of the day.