The hallway of doors that Tom walked through was a little crowded, and Tom did his best to keep quiet and head to door three hundred and fourteen without conflict.

But it wasn't to be.

Tom walked through the crowded hallway, thinking hard of what was next. Surely it had to be this mysterious Gravity. He'd already chosen, but he was actually very curious about Gravity. He only had a vague notion of what it might be. Traho, he thought, Sasuvan said Traho. That odd Traho. Wonder what he's like.

He was so distracted, thinking, that he failed to notice where he was going until he bumped into something lumpy and hard. He hit the ground hard, blinking in surprise as he looked up at the one he'd ran into.

She was about 14 and was a fair 5 foot 10 inches tall. Her hair was the color of straw, and her eyes were milky blue, obviously blind. She smelled of roses.

The girl glared down in his general direction. "Oh, so you think it's funny to ram your face in a blind lady's boobs? You think it's funny to run headlong into a Master of Earth? I am SO TIRED of little shits like you!"

Tom shook his head. Cold, irrational terror jumped in his chest with every heartbeat. "No, no, sorry, I didn't mean to, I'm not laughing I was just walking and I forgot to look where I was going and if you could see you'd see I'm not laughi-ack!"

The girl had stepped on his throat. "In this tower," she whispered down at him, "there are two million students learning every day. Four hundred thousand novices not even Patron in any element. Nobody would miss a newbie like you. So maybe I should just kill you.

What the hell was going on! Whatever it was, he had to get it under control. He stove off the terror and reached for the magical barrier in his mind.

The girl stumbled as a blast of wind hit her full force. Tom scrambled to his feet. His eyes glowed slightly, but he didn't know that. "I don't know who you are or why you attacked me," Tom stated, voice echoing oddly. He didn't know what he was doing, he was just doing what he had to do. "But, truly, it was an honest mistake. I'd gladly do whatever time out or work punishment that a master can mete out to novices. But I won't be beaten up like this." He stood tall, glaring up at the girl. "Do what you will, but I will not stand and let you kill me for taking my eyes away from where I was going for just a second."

The girl looked at him for a moment, her eyes emotionless, and snorted. "This isn't worth my time." She walked on, pushing rudely past Tom as she went.

Tom shook his head, and walked through the hallway, keenly aware of the eyes that followed him. People had seen, and people were staring.

He found door 314. There seemed to be a nail driven between three and four so that it read 3.14. Shrugging off this oddity, Tom opened the door…

… to an endless yawning blackness.