Initiation

Initiation is the stage that almost any aspirant in the academy has to experience, yet, in contrast to almost all initiations which are taken in a single moment, this initiation process takes a long period of time. It is a period of harsh, hard, hopeless and endless havoc where many applicants have to renounce to a part of who they are to become a brand new being, in this case, a human with perceptions and senses beyond the average that most people are not aware of possessing. In this process, learners are not only required to become mature enough to handle such great responsibility, but also to change the mentality of how they see life. The only problem with the initiation process is that it cannot neither be understood nor measured as it is nature which finally decides if a human is capable or not to handle it; men and women equally. However, in contrast to eastern religions, everything related to the material world is not something that has to be left aside, but it is a complement to understand an experience.

Even the great majority of wizards spend years to master their own power that in the end they may either control it or simply ignore it, yet due to the varieties of magic, all wizards privilege one type over the other. Young Dorsh had passed the two first steps previously, but this step would be the one that would change his life completely. In these days, Dorsh could not wait to learn magic, however, he was assigned the most rigorous and hideous instructor in the academy, at least according to what the rumours said about that teacher. Due to the fact that learners had to initiate magic by themselves, the instructor was only there to supervise and give the students some advice about what should more convenient when the power within them arouse. His instructor's name was Amrov Heltach, but due to the pronunciation of his name, many called him "Hell touch" as he had the reputation of hitting students so hard so that they would not come back in case the first two steps were done with little achievement. As Dorsh was the case, he had to submit to his inhuman treatment.
First of all, instructors had to isolate all learners and take them to different parts across the land to make sure the learners who had had passed did not tell others about how he did it as all individuals will wake their inner magic in a variety of different ways. Dorsh was first taken to the forest where he had been told to spend the most time meditating and watching carefully to all his surroundings. Sometimes, he had to be so concentrated as Mr Heltach asked him what were the exact words that a person used near him. After a week of meditation and many readings about the theory of magic, they marched together to the cold mountains, where Dorsh had to practice meditation in a very cold weather at the same time he had to climb the mountains since Mr. Heltach have warned him he could leave him at any moment and he would have to find him. That happened on many occassions and Dorsh spent days, even weeks looking for him until he realised he may have come back. Sometimes Heltach told him that he had never left the area in the first place, but he had remained hidden, which meant Dorsh did not put enough attention to find him. As a result, Dorsh had to undergo the same test all over again until he could find Mr. Heltach. Days went by, and as they went, Dorsh began to feel frustrated for the first time. As he was not used to feel deep emotions, he had broken a plant without even realising. Starvation also began to have its effects on him, even though he did not eat much, his mouth watered whenever he felt meat being cooked on the surroundings. That was one of Heltach's tricks to make the student even more desperate because he had a fried turkey on his hands and he moved while Dorsh tried to follow that smell. Eventually, Dorsh began to smell other things apart from the turkey, he began to smell something different, not a plant, but a fruit which was very far from him. After hours of looking, he found a tree with apples, where Heltach was waiting him. "You can eat now" he said, "but from now on, if you want to eat, you will not guide yourself neither by your eyes, nor your smell. If you want food, you will have to use your ears only". That really sounded ridiculous. How was he supposed to get food using his ears only? He could not cheat as Heltach had very strong punishments for the ones who did not play by the rules. Usually, he tied them, put a blanket so they could not see and dropped them into a river.
Dorsh underwent that punishment many times, but still overcame the tests since he was extremely perseverant. Gradually, Heltach and him began to share some little secrets about their past lives. Although Dorsh did not have much to say, Heltach passed him tips of many books to read. Since he stopped reading a long time ago, Dorsh find it boring to read, unless the books' content had something to do with magic. Despite the prohibition to allow students get tips of how to pass this exam, Dorsh continued reading about the importance of enhancing vision and smell in order to determine particular gases, blood smell and other smells miles from distance. Yet, the book mentioned that hearing was perhaps the most important among those three. Dorsh felt curious about this, but as he was about to change page, Heltach took the book from his handsand told him. "It's time" he said. Dorsh replied: "Time? for what?". "Time for you to hear the voice of another reality, that's all. Hope you enjoy it."
Dorsh stood motionless.