Today was the day! December 31st had finally arrived and the day was a bit colder than I expected. It was morning and we gathered our things as yesterday was our last night staying in Hawthorn. A little frost clung to the shaded edges of the buildings and rooftops. The festival was mostly wrapped up last night, but the city was bustling already because all the twelve year olds participating in the Integration Ceremony were expected at the Ceremony Grounds right after breakfast.

  The entire city center had been transformed into a large waiting area and a pool in the middle that must have been created last night or early this morning. Surrounding it were platforms that had tiers like bleachers to be able to seat thousands of spectators.

  The Integration Ceremony had been done this way for as long as my parents could remember. Little was known about the exact method the Architect originally gave to awaken the Interface. The legend said it involved water, runes, and breath. Over the centuries, those details were lost in wars between kingdoms and many of the old writings were either hoarded away or gone for good. What remained was the tradition people used now, that had been used for centuries that still triggered Integration. The mindset of most people was that since this worked, why try to change it?

  A giant stone pool was filled with freezing water as it stood in the center of the ceremony grounds. The water was added by a couple mages with abilities focused in water. They must have pulled water from the air or ground to fill it so quickly. Chunks of ice were floating on the surface. For some reason, it was important that the water be freezing cold. Ten children went in at a time. The volunteers placed a heavy metal lid on top of the small pool once the children climbed in, covering them in darkness and forcing them to stay under the water.

  They had to hold their breath under the freezing water for thirty full seconds. It was theorized that something about the body being deprived of oxygen and lowering the body temperature began the Integration process. When you come up for that first breath, that is when the Interface is visible and you have been officially Integrated.

  I had practiced in the river behind our farm over the last few weeks, but the river was nothing compared to this. I did not want the embarrassment of coughing or crying when I came out of the pool. There were healers standing by in case anyone panicked or inhaled water. It happened sometimes, but not often.

  John and I were in line and the queue of kids in front of us was moving pretty fast. John nudged me with his elbow. “Ready to jump in and freeze to death?”

  I gave him a sadistic smile, “If I turn into a popsicle, you can have my books.”

  “What would a great future warrior like me need books for?” he said with a grin.

  They called the next ten kids and then it was our turn to be called next. A clerk went to each of us and asked for our names. There were ten of us, ten different futures about to change.

  Families were gathered outside the the pool area to receive their kids afterwards cheering and congratulating them. Some children cried. Some laughed. Some just looked numb.

  We stepped forward and climbed down small stone steps towards the pool. The water rippled with the steps of those in front of us. Another clerk nodded for us to enter.

  I placed one foot in and lost my breath instantly.

  It was colder than ice.

  John hissed in a breath beside me. “That is cold.”

  We lowered ourselves until the water was up to our shoulders.

  A man with a booming voice shouted, “Prepare yourselves. When the lid closes, hold your breath. You will be under for thirty seconds. When it lifts, breathe deeply. That breath will bring a lot of change. Don’t panic, count to thirty and we’ll be here to help if you need it.”

  A few volunteers took the large metal lid and lowered slowly until the outside world disappeared and everything inside became darkness and soundless cold. It was setup to not have any gap to breathe, every part of you was underwater.

  My body shook. My teeth wanted to chatter. I forced myself to stay still.

  “One,” I counted in the my head.

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  “Two,”

  “Three, I can do this. It isn’t too bad”.

  At ten seconds, my chest started to ache.

  At twenty, my lungs screamed.

  I lost count and felt a burning feeling around my ribs. My arms, legs and head felt tingly.

  I was starting to panic and I went to push at the lid above me when suddenly it lifted.

  Light rushed in. Air exploded into my chest and I inhaled.

  And something inside me shifted.

  It did not hurt, but that tingling I thought was from the cold in the pool pulsed from my toes to the top of my head. Then I saw it. The Interface was right in front of me. I moved my head around, but it followed wherever I looked.

  “Jude Summers, age 12… Mage! I am a mage, holy cow, I did not expect that. I thought for sure I’d be a warrior. Whoa, I wonder what Mom and Dad will think? I wonder what John got!?” This thick window was everywhere I looked. I kept trying to find where my parents were or where John was, but I couldn’t see anything in front of me.

  Someone grabbed me by the arm and said, “if you are having trouble seeing, just try to focus on seeing through it or think of the Interface being more translucent.”

  I tried to focus on it being more see through and sure enough, it became almost invisible. Mom and Dad were standing a little ways in front of me and I ran to them. They had huge smiles on their faces.

  “I guess I am a mage!?” I said a little shyly, not sure how they would react. They threw their arms around me and hugged me tight.

  “We are so proud of you Jude! Congratulations son, you are on the road to having real power. This is just the beginning and we cannot wait to see how you use this power from the Architect to help humanity.” Mom said.

  “So… we see that you’re a mage, that is great, but what ability did you get.” Dad asked as he elbowed me playfully

  “I don’t know if I want to tell you, maybe I’ll leave it as a surprise.” I said feeling mischievous.

  Right as I was starting to tease my Dad, a clerk came up and asked for my name, class and ability. That figures, right when I finally had a good secret. I was hoping to extort a few extra snacks out of Dad before we left town for that information, but I guess the gig is up already.

  “Jude Summers, Mage, and my ability is Barrier.” I said as the clerk jotted down the information into a ledger.

  “If you would, please focus on your ability on the Interface and it should give you a brief description.”

  I looked at the layout of my Interface and focused my thoughts on “Barrier”. Sure enough, a description expanded out beneath it.

  “It says is creates a small single sided barrier” I told the clerk and my parents. The clerk nodded, took down the information and thanked us and went to find other newly Integrated people that hadn’t yet been registered.

  Mom, Dad and I headed back towards the Inn because we had planned to meet up with John’s family there, grab a little food and then head back home.

  As we were walking, Dad said, “The Kingdom requires all newly Integrated to register and then it helps them also plan out the right initial groupings and instructors at the academy to have the best setup they can going into the first year. It also allows them to make sure everyone Integrated comes to the Academy. Like I said before, you are required to attend the Capital Academy for at least one year. Sometimes they can be a little flexible when you enroll due to family issues, but that is pretty rare.”