Chapter 3

The dreaded day came.

Whill, having stayed awake all night long, stumbled into the towering dome of the Bureau. Today would decide the rest of his life. 

Whill joined the line of jittering, nervous boys, his mind too nulled to panic. Staying awake all night had dulled his brain, which he would have wondered if that was good or bad.

No one knew how roles were assigned, let alone who assigned them. Whill didn’t care. He knew that there was nothing he could do to prevent his role, and he just hoped for something more than Burdened. 

The Shaping began.

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As the line of boys grew shorter and shorter, Whill watched some react ecstatically to getting Mused or Tried, and others sulk after receiving Burdened. Nobody got Shaped, and there were only two boys who were Snapped. Both fought but failed to escape.

After a long time, it was Whill’s turn. 

As he stepped onto the platform, he suddenly became hyperaware of all the sounds around him. Frantic conversations, hurried mumbling- he heard every word at the same time. He looked up, like Jax had done so long ago.

“Name?” some unseen voice probed.

“Whi- uh… Elias,” He stuttered, the voices of tens of people thundering in his ears.

A few minutes passed.

After the longest moment of his life, Whill heard the voice again. “You have received the role of-” Whill didn’t hear anything else. All the sounds around him stopped. He opened his mouth, and asked “What?” but he didn’t hear himself talk. 

There were no more sounds. People’s mouths moved, but there were no more sounds.

He couldn’t hear anything. His brilliant sense of hearing was gone.

Whill was deaf.