The Master gave him an unimpressed stare. “Correction: mediocre initiates learn shielding at the age of eight. You should push yourself harder if you want to be better than just mediocre.”
Eridan opened his mouth and then closed it, uncertain. “Who are you? Why are you here?”
The man gave him a look that was actually rather unreadable, but Eridan could feel a spike of irritation coming off him. “I am Castien Idhron. I would not be here if you had not ended up in the infirmary.”
Eridan’s heart lurched. “You’re my Master?”
Master Idhron’s lips thinned slightly. “Not yet. But I did claim you preliminarily, so I am the one the healers contact if something happens to you, so do try not to faint again. My time is of value. I have neither the time nor patience to coddle children.”
Eridan’s heart dropped. When he’d imagined being chosen as a Master’s apprentice, he’d always imagined his Master to be someone… kind and warm, the opposite of this cold-eyed young man.
“Why did you choose me, then?” he said, trying not sound petulant and hurt, and probably failing, judging by Idhron’s pinched look.
It took the man a moment to reply.
“You show promise,” he said at last. “If you apply yourself, you will be a good mind adept one day. If you apply yourself, which I am not sure you are capable of.”
And with that, Master Idhron stood and strode out of the room.
Eridan stared at his retreating back, annoyance, anger, and hope warring inside his chest.
But above all, there was determination. Determination to be better, to be the best.
He would show him.
Chapter Two: Unwanted
Eleven years later
“Concentration, determination, will: those are the key factors for mastery of telekinesis,” Master Acolyte Ferev said. “Not all of you will succeed in my class. In fact, most of you will not succeed. The majority of telepaths have no talent for this field. Manipulating physical objects is one of the most difficult abilities to master for a mind adept. In fact, if you do not possess some natural aptitude for it, telekinesis is not something one can simply learn by studying.”
Eridan let the instructor’s voice fade into the background as he eyed, with great trepidation, the rock on the table he shared with Initiate Xhen. He tried to ignore the smug smirk on the other boy’s face.
“You look scared, Eridan. But then again, I would be, too, if I were as pathetic as you.”
Eridan clenched his jaw and said nothing. Xhen was a giant prick who loved the sound of his own voice a little too much. Ignoring him would be the best response.
But he’s right, isn’t he?
Eridan tried to push the thought away, but he couldn’t quite do it. Over the past eleven years, he had tried to do better in his studies, he had tried so hard, but he stood out among his peers for all the wrong reasons: he was too emotional, too temperamental, too undisciplined. While he had learned shielding, he was still susceptible to other people’s strong emotions. He was also terrible at meditating and clearing his mind, the main reason he was painfully mediocre in every subject they had learned at the Initiates’ Hall so far.
He knew he was a disappointment. All his instructors had implied it countless times. Even when they didn’t say anything, Eridan could often pick up their general emotions and thoughts.
Wasted potential.
It’s no use being a Class 5 telepath if you can’t be disciplined enough to actually apply yourself.
They all were wrong. Eridan did apply himself. The problem was, it didn’t work. His telepathy was too erratic, difficult to control, and prone to reflecting his emotional state rather than his rational thoughts. Eridan knew the problem stemmed from his inability to properly meditate and order his mind. It was one of the first postulates that they learned as initiates: a calm, orderly mind was a requirement for mastering mind arts. But there was just too much noise in Eridan’s head. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get rid of the noise, so he remained painfully mediocre in all his classes, if not worse.
Eridan had no reason to think telekinesis would be any different.
“It is not enough to imagine grasping that rock in front of you,” Master Ferev continued. “Telekinesis does not work like that. You must be able to sense it, to sense the air around it, the same way you were taught to stretch your senses to sense other people. You must