“You’re what?”

  She met my eyes with an expression of utter seriousness and spoke slowly, “When you go back to your planet, I’m going to come with you.”

  It still wasn’t registering properly. “Why on Earth would you want to do something like that?”

  “A portal that only opens every fifty years! I can get away from this toxic, decaying Union and all the expectations placed on me because I was unlucky enough to ascend with a high base Toughness, and no one would ever find me!”

  “I don’t know much about your life, Ressa.” I looked around the garden, and at the beautiful buildings of the academy, then back at the Duchess of Nessoran and frowned. “But I don’t think you’d like Earth.”

  “Do you have any gardens like this? Or even just the ability to grow lush plants on your planet? Because if you do, then I will be happy.”

  “I mean, yeah, sure. We have loads of beautiful gardens and plants and things. We even have these fire flies. But the people there are…” I sighed. “Most people on Earth would be… distrustful of someone who looked so different. You’ll be shunned.”

  “I do not look so different to you. Different skin tone. But we are of similar height. And…”

  She started to glow all over her body, and her appearance began to change subtly. I gasped and took a step back as skin tone turned to a very similar color to mine. She still looked like her, still had some of the unusual features, but with a hat covering the ears, maybe a little makeup, she would fit right in.

  “I can adapt if I need to. But as you have no magic there, I will most likely create a beautiful garden, lace a defensive barrier around it and be happy.”

  “Okay. I stand corrected. You’ll probably be okay. But seriously, what are you running from that you’d want to do this?”

  She tightened at my question and shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  I reckoned I would, but we were interrupted by footsteps coming along the garden path. We both looked in the direction of the sound, and Ressa nudged me and gestured to move. But it was too late.

  The same Archon woman who had escorted me to my dorm room earlier entered the clearing.

  “What are you two doing out here at this time? Curfew ended over twenty-minutes ago.”

  Ressa was quick to respond, more polite than I’d expected too. “Apologies, Aeloria. We’re heading back now, Adam here is new and had to take his class choices to reception. I was just showing him the garden on the way back, and I lost track of time.”

  “I’m not interested in your excuses, Ressa. Get back to your dorm now. I will be reporting this.”

  “It was my fault,” I said quickly. “I got lost and Ressa had to come and find me. So if you report anyone, report me. You should probably mention what an amazing job Ressa has done to help me in my ignorance. She should be commended, really.”

  “Don’t bother,” Ressa said, grabbing my arm and leading me off down a path away from the Archon.

  Once we had cleared enough distance, she spoke again. “Thanks for trying to save my honor, but she’ll still report me. They love any chance at causing trouble, and that stuck up sapling is the pride of the first years. She’ll report me anyway.”

  “Worth a try,” I grumbled. “It’s not like I can be any lower here with my mighty Level 16!”

  She snorted laughter at that. “Hopefully, if my brother comes through for us, it won’t matter.”

  “That’d be nice,” I said with rekindled hope.

  “Don’t talk about it again. There’s always ears in this place. I’ll let you know if and when he can do it.”

  Her words and the arrival of the Archon seemed to dampen the mood now, and we navigated back to the dorm in silence.

  The following morning, the room was a hive of activity that saw me waking up groggy and confused as the weeks of sleep deprivation caught up to me.

  The others moved about with practiced efficiency. Not wanting to be left behind, I quickly pulled on my uniform, rinsed my mouth out with some water as toothbrushes didn’t seem to be a thing here, then we were off together heading for the breakfast hall.

  There was an obvious sense of haste across the hall for this meal. The advent of lessons prevented a leisurely atmosphere.

  Even so, the spread for breakfast was just as exciting as for dinner, but consisted of more fruit, bread, and cold meats. I ate with less distrust, already feeling more comfortable in my new environment.

  Though, I sniffed at the fruit juices before I tried them and found a number of them were pleasant enough to risk a drink. I also copied the others in collecting a cup of a steaming black drink that smelled of black treacle but tasted like a mildly sweetened black coffee with a hint of almond.

  Ressa nudged me. “Evocation for your first lesson. We haven’t heard back from reception yet, but it’s on our way if you want to walk with me.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Sure,” I replied. “It’s not like I have any idea what else to do.”

  “Come on then, we’ll get a head start.” She jumped up, grabbing her empty tray, and I looked down forlornly at my unfinished smorgasbord. A brief glance up showed her already halfway across the hall depositing her tray at the cleaning station.

  “Best go,” Yoru said. “Our Ressa is a force of nature when she has an idea in her head.”

  She really was. If it wasn’t for her, I probably would have still been sitting in the dorm with no bed or uniform, wondering what the hell was going on. Hell, she’d even sorted a potential portal out for me! With the realization of just how much she had done for me ringing around my head, I jumped up and followed after her quickly, half-finished meal forgotten.

  “I meant what I said last night, by the way,” she said without any kind of lead in.

  We’d gotten halfway down the corridor, and there was a solid flow of traffic, so I could hardly believe she was talking so openly.

  “Thought you would probably appreciate the confirmation that it’s a plan we can go for.”

  Gobsmacked, I struggled to reply.

  She looked back over her shoulder with a serious expression. “You do want to, yes?”

  “Well… I haven’t had any better offers…”

  “Good. Then we have a deal. Ah, and we have a receptionist.”

  I looked past her, through the throng of Archon students and spotted the receptionist in question. Unfortunately, it was the same one from yesterday.

  “Great. That utter ass,” I muttered.

  “They all are,” she assured me as we came to a stop in front of the desk.

  Unaware of what we were talking about, he looked up from some paperwork. “Yes?”

  “I have Adam Henshaw of House Garazal with me.” She stood straight-backed, regal even, and she spoke with calm authority. “We left his class choices last night, but no one was here at the time. Do we have an official timetable for him yet?”

  “We do not,” he replied, curtly. “But I will see that you receive it later this morning. What is your first class?”

  “Evocation,” Ressa said. “I’m in the class, so I can guide him.”

  The receptionist did his best impression of a smile. “Perfect. I will ensure that you have a timetable delivered to you at the end of your Evocation class.”

  Ressa clapped her hands together in unnecessary delight. “Perfect. Thank you for your assistance.”

  Then we were off once more, and I suddenly had the feeling of being swept up in a whirlwind.

  “Hurry! We don’t want to be late for Master Crathinius.” She burst out of a set of doors at the back of the school entrance hall. Though as I caught up, she didn’t appear to be too concerned.

  “Outside, is it?” I said as we set off across a well-manicured lawn.

  “I can see why you don’t talk too much with observations like that,” she replied with a satisfied grin on her face.

  “There could be more buildings.” I gestured ahead of us. A hundred yards ahead was a dense tree line that hid whatever was behind it.

  “Then let me enlighten you. Evocation class is definitely held outside.”

  We broke through the trees only to be greeted by a large field. In the distance, I could see people moving around.

  As we grew closer, I recognized Yoru and Ellaazi in the crowd. Yoru waved as we approached.

  “Made it!” he said as we came close enough to speak.

  “Of course we made it!” Ressa replied, with look of fake outrage I was beginning to recognize.

  “Attention Class!” shouted a tall Archon with black robes and a mix of gold and silver hair showing his age despite his ageless face. “As I recall, we were working with Flame Blast. I take too many classes to remember who was competent and who wasn’t. So please, can we have those who mastered the skill over on the left here. And those who are yet to master it remain where you are.”

  The class began to shuffle, and for a moment, it looked as though everyone had mastered it. To my relief, two Archons remained where they were.

  “Wonderful. For today’s lesson, I will be working with those of you competent enough to follow simple instructions. The rest of you, if you want further tutelage in this area, I suggest you recount everything that I have taught already and learn how to use Flame Blast at your earliest possible convenience.”

  Standing there like a lemon, I rapidly developed an intense dislike of Mr. Crathinius Asshole. I glared at his back while he turned to the larger group of around forty students and began explaining their next assignment.

  Then I turned back to the others and watched them for a minute as they concentrated with angry expressions and tried to unleash the skill. As the other part of the class began shooting bolts of fire, blasting targets at the other end of the field, I realized that I’d been watching the wrong people.

  I watched Ressa first. Out of all of them, she seemed pretty competent. Her flame size was about average in the group, and she was more or less hitting her target with every shot.

  In contrast, the stone-faced hall monitor was producing flames twice the size, throwing two to everybody else’s one, and hurling them with merciless accuracy. And of course, that’s where the teacher was, lavishing her with praise with his tongue so far her up her arse it was hard to tell where she started and he finished.

  Not only was Aeloria the hall monitor incredibly skilled, she was also very perceptive and noticed me watching. Her face twisted into a scowl that the teacher noticed and followed.

  “What is this?” he demanded. “Why are you just standing there? Can you not follow simple instructions?”

  I saw Ressa turn, about to speak up for me, but I’d already moved to defend myself. “Apologies, Master Crathinius. I was only admitted to the academy yesterday, and incidentally, that’s also when I opened my mage class.”

  “Ah, the favor for House Garazal!” His scowl deepened as he spoke. “Hard to believe they’ve decided to just throw you in here and expect the teachers of this fine institution to expend even more of their hard-won energy trying to bring you up to a suitable standard. What if you’re not even capable of proper magic use? A far-flung plebeian from a magicless planet.” He let out a long suffering sigh.

  “Yet, here you are.” He turned to the class. “Continue to practice Flame Blast. Remember, we are looking for form before power. Accuracy first. Once every single attack hits the first two rings of the target, you can increase your speed. If you faulter, reduce your speed. Once you can throw an accurate attack every three seconds, only then can you increase the power of the attack.”

  He turned his withering glare back on me. “I will spend some time with our Level 16 Novice here.”

  Aeloria gave a delicate cough. “If you’d like, sir, I can spend some time teaching the newcomer. It’s not right that everyone else here has to suffer for one rogue element, and I feel I have already reached an acceptable level with Flame Blast.”

  “Ah, Aeloria! You really are a paragon of your house! A beacon of what an Archon should be! And most of all, a joy to teach.”

  I wanted to puke. If I didn’t miss my guess, Master Crathinius harbored much darker thoughts about Aeloria as well by the lecherous look in his eyes. I was surprised he didn’t just slap her ass there and then.

  She bowed, stiff like a robot. “It is an honor to be of assistance, Master.”

  He clapped his hands together, “Such selflessness. It will be remarked upon in your class report. Do not doubt that.”

  She smiled, and it was about the first crack of true emotion I’d seen from her in our limited interactions.

  She headed toward me, and the teacher watched her all the way until she stood in front of me. “Come, Adam Henshaw. We will get to the root of your incompetence.”

  Beyond the Master, I noticed Ressa eyeing us sourly. I smiled and waved and then hurried after the Duchess of Hall Monitors.