Professor Elowen Voss said, smiling cockily, "But before we start our mana evaluation, we have something prepared for you."
Both Elowen and Mira raised their hands in unison and—
Stone tiles melted into darkness beneath their feet, yet they did not fall. The sky above cracked like glass and peeled away, revealing a vast, endless night stretching in every direction. Stars shimmered unnaturally close—too bright, too large—constellations shifting slowly as if alive. Silver rivers of light flowed between them like veins across the heavens. Then the air stirred.
Fireworks bloomed without sound.
Not ordinary sparks—but spirals of arcane flame twisting into sigils midair, runes igniting in layered geometries before collapsing into drifting motes. Nebula-like clouds rolled across the horizon in luminous blues and violent purples. From somewhere unseen, distant bells chimed.
A ripple passed through space.
