The flame by the lamp, holding by a steel structure of hand, is illuminating the whole room. It is hard to define the structure of the whole room. The flame only enlightens the table and participants.
Aeries thinks fast, "Why is only this portion being enlightened? It is very suspicious by the law."
In a flicker of the flame, Aeries finds that man sitting on a long chair. A tall man, with a presence that makes air feel heavier. His mask is made of black and polished like obsidian, hides everything – his expression, his emotion, his feelings, his face, even his face. Yet Aeries feels like those unseen eyes are piercing straight through him. Every instinct screams cautions.
His robe is dark, not merely black. It means to absorb light, leaving the sight of edges blurred, as if he was already a part of shadows. When he moves, it is silent, deliberate, each step measured like a predator circling its preys. There is authority in the way he carries with himself, not the kind that commands loudly, but the kind that bends the room to his will without an order.
When he starts to talk, the room seems to be vibrating with the aura of this man. "No need to introduce yourself."
There is a pause in the between. It likes he is monitoring the room and every participant. He is piercing everyone with his pale unseen eyes.
"Everyone should create a pseudo name."
This one line creates the room more intense. Aeries seems puzzled than before.
The man continues, "I am showing ten cards. You have to choose among them."
He then did something that blew only Aeries' mind. Every other participant seems to know all these incidents before or have knowledge on this topic.
He uplifts his right hand in the air, then clenches his fist and circles for three times in a row. Suddenly ten random cards appear in the air.
This scene shocked Aeries very much. "What did he just do?", thinking in his own mind.
He shows them the content of the cards. But there is only words written in Lathera language. It is rectangular shape, having a round edge in every corner. It is colored in red, not actually a red color – maroon like color.
The written words are NIGHTWALKER, MASKBORN, SHADOWMARK, SILENTMAN, REVENANT, TORRENT, INFERNO, AURORA, TWILIGHT and at last DRAGON.
Aeries can't understand any of these words neither other participants except one. That participant raises his hand. "What do we have to do?"
The voice is a female voice but not a human voice. It is a humanoid creature. Aeries thinks, "So it is not confined with only men. Great, Great!! This is really goin' to be interesting."
Suddenly the voice from the long chair comes to ear of Aeries, "Everyone has to call me MAESTER."
Aeries resists his fear and gathers strength to utter. At last he succeeds, "Maester, what are all these?"
Maester replies, "You have to choose names among them and you will all get power and strength based on the selected name. Remember you can choose only one name not more than one."
Aeries is plotting all these in his mind, "What are power and strength here? What is the relation of power with the name? Why can't I choose more than one?" His mind is becoming more perplexed. He is thinking Varion was right. Varion did a good job not having an interest in this kind of special meeting. "I am feeling like I am now in serious danger."
Maester replies in a heavy tone, "You have to have patience my boy. You will know all about this after choosing the names."
A voice from the right side of the table, sitting in second chair, raises his hand and starts speaking, "Why after choosing the names? Why shouldn't we know about the power and strength before choosing? If there is any problem if we choose wrong names."
Maester just stares at him with a bold looking and he stops asking questions instantly and apologizes. "So it is your time to choose."
Aeries looks around the table to figure out who is going to choose at first. This time Aeries is actually observing everyone starting from the right side of the table beside the long chair. Aeries is sitting in the fourth chair of the left side of the long chair. Aeries sees vaguely of the chair.
In the right, the first chair holds a small sized human, a man probably aged between twenty to twenty five. He is wearing mask torn apart from the middle. Lips and jaws are easily seen from Aeries. Lips are found dry like lips didn't get drenched for a long time.
Maester brings a cup of water out of nowhere from air and passes to the man, "Drink it."
The man doesn't say any word more. He takes it and drinks it in one breath. After drinking the glass just vanishes away in wind.
The man raises his hand, "I want to choose at first."
"Go on."
The room feels like vibrating with small speech.
The man stands from the chair and starts looking around the cards shuffling in the air. He can't understand what to choose. He tries to say in a trembling voice, " I choose NIGHTWALKER." He is sweating during his confession.
Maester just replies, "Next."
In front of the man, in left side of Maester, there sits a humanoid creature. He hurriedly stands like he jumps out of his chair. He says in loud and enthusiasm. "I choose TWILIGHT."
Maester replies in a calm tone, "Next one."
A dwarf stands this time. He was sitting all the time beside Aeries. But Aeries didn't notice all the time after the elevator like travel. He is particularly a dwarf. The dwarf is pushing his head upwards to look the cards. He looks the card and thinks for a while.
Maester asks him, "Hurry."
The dwarf gets frightened and horrified, "I choose SHADOWMARK."
"Okay, next one."
This time there is a person sitting in the last chair of the right side. He stands and says, "INFERNO."
He seems like he is confident no matter what will happen next. He doesn't care at all about the consequences. He is behaving as though he knew everything.
Now there only remains the lady and Aeries. They both look at their eyes. No one wants to stand. Aeries is puzzled by all these and the lady seems to be frightened or very clever to choose. It can't be told by outlook.
When Maester goes to say something, the lady stands up and looks around the room and table to figure out the event. She clears her throat and starts to say in a calm and melody voice, "Therefore I want to choose TORRENT."
Maester doesn't reply to her word and says, "The last one."
Aeries is looking at the face of the lady. He is shocked by sudden reply. He hurriedly stands up but can't understand what to select. He is just looking around the cards and trying to realize what secrets can be kept under these cards.
He finds a card looking extraordinary and eye catching. It feels like the card is calling him to choose. His consciousness agrees with that call.
After a pause for a while, Aeries tries to speak, "I want to choose DRAGON."
This time Maester doesn't reply at instant. He takes a few pause. Aeries couldn't understand what he said earlier. Suddenly Maester taps the table and speaks, "Very well."
Aeries becomes shocked and finds no words to express. He just nods down his head and thanks him.
Maester objects Aeries' word, "There is no such kind of word like THANK or THANK YOU from now on."
Aeries nods down.
Maester continues, "You are all going to be called by your selected names. You will be provided with power based on your names. So prepare yourself for next progress especially you mister."
Aeries understands Maester is mentioning him but doesn't realize why he is mentioning only him excluding other four. He finds no way and nods down his head as a symbol of acceptance.
Maester continues, "let the main meeting start."
Everyone sitting in the table cries out, "What!!! Are all these not part of the meeting yet? Is it just a testimony?"
Aeries is feeling he is now in serious trouble and doesn't know what lies in his future. He unknowingly enters into a secret unnamed group and is sitting in front of a powerful man.