The man standing in front of Valar was certainly an intimidating figure compared to the iron rank fire mage at his back, but the young life mage was tired. His arm hurt, his back hurt, his head hurt… Everything just hurt. Funnily enough, the small burn on his back was the least of his worries.
“I ask again,” The blonde man interrupted Valar’s thoughts. “What has happened here?”
“Look, I was going to lunch when this fire mage called my name,” Valar explained flatly. “I ignored him. He didn’t like that and went to grab me. I punched him and walked away.”
“That’s violence on the academy premises,” the muscular man mused. “But it doesn’t explain the alarms going off.”
Valar turned around and pointed at the burn mark on his back. “He evidently didn’t enjoy being punched, and I understand that, I really do... Going so far as to launch a Flaming Bolt at me was a bit of an overreaction, if you ask me…”
The silver rank mage, an earth mage by his aura, inspected the spot on Valar’s back. He glanced at the remains of his shirt on the floor too. “It seems that you speak the truth. Do you need healing? Are you in pain?”
Valar raised his right arm. “I think I’ll manage. Can I go to eat lunch now?”
The man let out an audible hiss. “Unfortunately, that isn’t happening. I’ll have to take you to the headmaster for a witness testimony and potential punishment for physical violence inside the academy premises.”
Normally, Valar would have panicked at the mention of punishment. The word carried emotional baggage for the boy, and he had never really dealt with that. Today, he didn’t even flinch.
The weekend had been traumatic enough for the young life mage. He had no energy left to panic. “Sure. Let’s deal with it quickly then. Where are we heading?”
“Central tower, 15th floor. Right where you just came from,” the man seemed to think for a second or two, then sighed. “Look buddy, I’m on your side here. Harald Steinmor, assistant teacher of earth magic.”
Valar shook the extended hand. “Valar.”
The walk to the headmaster’s office was spent in silence. The Wendir boy trudged on with his head lowered while Valar walked beside Harald. The gold rank mages, both teachers, were at his sides. He was obviously considered the more probable threat of the two students, and for good reason too.
Who even tosses spells at other students? That hurt, and I could’ve been actually injured! It would be interesting to see how the academy dealt with situations like this, but Valar was just so damn tired. He couldn’t gather the energy to care, and was even pretty close to using the emblem Viktor had given him just minutes ago to call the man to help. The only thing that stopped him was Viktor’s order to only use it in grave danger.
This nuisance was pretty far from grave danger.
Eventually, after a good couple of minutes of walking, they stopped in front of a large wooden door. It was much more imposing than the door of Elaine’s office, but that was to be expected. The headmaster had a more important role than a teacher. He could get as big of an office as he wanted.
One of the gold rank teachers, Lydia Relwyn, knocked on the door. Contrary to Valar’s expectation, the door opened almost instantly. Elaine is never that fast…
Gideon Folren stood in the doorway and looked at the entourage in front of his office. “The alarms rang some minutes ago. Is this related to that?”
“Yes, headmaster,” The fire magic professor apparently spoke for the group. “This student, Konrad Wendir, shot an iron rank Flaming Bolt at another student’s back in response to getting punched.”
The old man pinched the bridge of his nose and squinted his eyes. “Are you telling me that a student of this academy got punched and decided to respond with an actual spell meant for combat? Please tell me that the other student hasn’t been hospitalized… Is he alive?”
“The thing is,” Lydia seemed to have problems keeping a straight face. “The other student is right here with us. He took the spell to his back and walked away with a small burn.”
The professor of fire magic pointed at Valar, who turned around and pointed at the spot on his back. He didn’t want the headmaster to think that his right arm was the result of the spell. That would have been giving the Wendir scion way too much credit.
“I’m alright. I do apologize for punching… Konrad, was it? In my defence, he grabbed me first.”
How am I this calm? I’m talking to the onyx rank headmaster of this academy about getting attacked by another student, but I feel practically nothing. I need to rest…
“I see,” Gideon mused. “Konrad, you have been expelled. Pack your bags and sod off. Valar, don’t punch people. Here’s a new shirt.”
The headmaster pulled out a white shirt with long sleeves and tossed it to Valar. The shocked boy put it on as quickly as he could, but his movements were mechanical. Valar’s mind was elsewhere.
He got kicked out for that? I didn’t even really get hurt, but he was actually expelled? The surprising announcement broke Valar out of his tired and numb state. He felt like he had been in a swamp for the past hour, and could finally think clearly once again.
Being shocked out of the state of numbness also brought the anxiety and overthinking back with a vengeance. He instantly felt like he just wanted to get away. The quicker the better.
“What?” Konrad yelled. “That brat said that he didn’t get hurt! Isn’t getting expelled a bit too much?”
“You attacked another student of the academy with magic. We teach mages, not barbarians. You. Are. Expelled.”
“But-.”
“Go.”
Valar shivered as the headmaster’s tone shifted to a dangerous baritone. The discussion was over, and even someone like Konrad Wendir could understand that. “I understand, headmaster.”
The door of the office was slammed shut as the headmaster retreated back to his sanctuary. The matter was settled.
Valar left with Harald as the gold rank teachers escorted Konrad away. The young man gave Valar a last glance, filled with both tears and a promise of vengeance. Valar hoped that the man would understand when to stop. Maybe he is smarter than I thought? No… He probably isn’t. I think I have a new source of worry in the city…
“I’m sorry that you ended up in this situation,” Harald apologized. “I’ll let you go now. Have a good lunch and try to leave this incident behind… Are you sure you don’t need healing?”
“I’m sure. Thank you, Harald.”
“No problem. Don’t hesitate to call for help if you ever get into trouble in the academy again. We’re on watch for a reason.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Harald left Valar at the cafeteria and walked in the direction of the fire tower. It was finally time for lunch!
Lunchtime was filled with anxious thoughts, consistent pain and the worst of them all… sprouts. Whoever had decided to put them in the lunch casserole was evil to their very core. Valar would have rather taken five flaming bolts head on than eat a single of those abyss cursed vegetables again. They reminded him of the orphanage in the worst ways, and were overall the most vile plant on the face of Aldun.
In short, Valar’s day was ruined. He had woken up, dealt with the feelings related to killing a man, gotten attacked again and had to eat sprouts. That was his last straw.
Valar let out a scream and punched the table of the private dining area. It only hurt his fist, but that was good enough. The pain distracted him from all the bad things his weekend had been filled with. Just some experiments with Viktor and Elaine. Then I can go to sleep. Next week is all about studying. Learning runes, reading books and everything nice. There are no attacks on the alleyway, Konrad Wendir isn’t even in the school anymore. I can just study!
He repeated the same things in his head as he ate. The exercise worked as a kind of a mantra for Valar, and it gave him time to calm down and relax his mind. Soon, the boy felt that he was in a significantly better headspace. He was ready to go back to Elaine’s office and learn.
...
“You walked out of this office for five minutes and got attacked?” Elaine yelled. “Five minutes!”
“He didn’t even hurt me that badly,” Valar tried to calm down the life mage unsuccessfully.
“I just healed the injury he caused! It was NOT a minor burn like you said! He was expelled from the academy for gods’ sakes!”
Valar was speechless in the face of Elaine’s tirade. Her tone held actual worry for his safety and wellbeing, and he wasn’t used to people actually caring. “I… It wasn’t that bad…”
Even Valar recognized the lie in his own words. The only reason he hadn’t panicked was that he had been subjected to a much worse attack just yesterday. Being traumatized like that could of course lead to being more sensitive in face of danger, but Valar reacted differently. His way of coping with trauma was more about numbing the pain than anything else. He experienced something bad and became slightly more numb to situations like that. Getting attacked by another student didn’t feel so threatening after his life was at risk only a day ago.
“Do you even know why you managed to avoid injury?” Elaine asked flatly.
Valar shrugged. “The spell wasn’t that powerful? Konrad is a total novice.”
“That’s a part of the reason, but doesn’t explain all of it. What do you think happened to the mana in Thomas Dremen’s body when you killed him in self defence?”
At Valar’s blank look, Elaine sighed deeply. “You absorbed the energy from your kill. In addition to that, you haven’t been taught how to pick and choose what you want to enhance. If I’m guessing right, your survival instinct made you invest all that energy in durability.”
A small spark of panic entered Valar’s thoughts. “Did I accidentally make myself a worse mage? Brynn said that mages invest most of their energy on the mind!”
That got a chuckle out of Elaine. “That was a pittance of the energy you’ll gain during iron rank. As long as you invest most of what you’ll be getting from killing beasts to your mind, you should be just fine. I do have to warn you though. Even though you gained some energy from that kill, the rest of iron rank isn’t that fast. You were alone and at the very start of the rank. That’s why you got so much.”
“Thank the gods… That would have been horrible news. When are we starting the experiments?”
“As soon as Viktor comes back from his own lunch. It shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes.”
Elaine’s words rang true as Viktor arrived after only five minutes or so. He had apparently gone home to eat lunch, and was shocked to hear that Valar had been attacked. Again.
After Valar explained the situation to the man, he chuckled. “Good riddance. Students who attack each other with magic deserve to be kicked out. As for you, don’t punch people. Please.”
Valar could accept that suggestion. He didn’t plan to go punching people, even if it wasn’t as bad as casting offensive spells.
Soon, it was time for the first experiments. Both Elaine and Viktor explained that these experiments would be only initial ones and that they didn’t want Valar to push himself. Viktor just wanted to get readings on a weird device that he pulled from the evidently endless maw that was the pocket of his robe.
The device was an interesting one. The box was made of a black metal and had golden runes carved across it. Valar was to put his hand in its opening and channel the tiniest bit of fire. “Even a spark is enough,” Viktor reiterated. “Don’t push yourself.”
“Seriously,” Elaine joined in. “I’ll heal you, but don’t overexert yourself. That’s an order from a gold rank healer. Follow it.”
Valar didn’t really get why the two adults were so pressed. They had said that he should use as little fire as he could more than ten times, and he was starting to get peeved.
“I know. You said that already!”
Elaine’s tone took on a worried note. “We just don’t want you to get hurt. Please don’t.”
The tone in Elaine’s voice calmed Valar down somewhat. That’s right. They care.
“Can I do it now?”
“Ready when you are,” both mages responded in sync.
Valar breathed slowly. In and out. As little as I can get. No more than what is absolutely necessary.
He dove deep to his core and looked at his soul with his mind’s eye. He wanted to draw out the fire, but only the slightest bit of it. Control it. Only the tiniest bit.
He drew. Slowly but surely, fire flowed out of the wound in his soul. Too much! Back off! The fire didn’t want to listen. It wanted to flow. It wanted to burn. Valar needed to control it. Don’t let it do what it wants. Only the tiniest bit.
Valar’s breathing turned ragged as he focused his entire being on the task at hand. Just as he had been learning the rune for the past week, he focused on the task at hand with everything he could. It was not easy. The fire wanted to flow with all its will, so each time Valar drew, too much would emerge from his soul. He pushed it back, exhausting his own will bit by bit, but it wasn’t for naught. After the tenth attempt, he noticed a difference. Less fire came out, but it was still too much.
On the 30th attempt, Valar was close to what he had envisioned, but he didn’t stop. It was close, but not perfect. He had more to give.
He was finally satisfied on the 65th attempt. A tiny spark emerged from his soul. It was good enough, so he pushed it forwards. Just as with any amount of fire, the spark burned Valar as it travelled through his body. It hurt, but he was sure that it did way less damage than the previous times he had used his fire. He was even fairly sure that he wouldn’t need healing!
The spark finally pushed out of Valar’s hand and into the box. He let out a sigh of relief as the golden runes lit up. He wasn’t sure how much time he had spent there, but Valar was proud of his accomplishment. He had managed to control his fire.
“Excellent!” Viktor cheered. “It took quite a bit longer than expected, but you managed to control it. Good job!”
Elaine rushed to Valar’s side and cast a spell to analyze his current state. She smiled too. “The damage is negligible too! This is awesome!”
“How long did it take?” Valar asked.
Viktor cringed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know if that’s important information for now…”
Valar got a bad premonition. “How long?”
“I’m not sure if you need to know why…” Elaine’s expression matched Viktor’s.
“How. Long?”
The adults looked at each other. Eventually, Viktor muttered something inaudible.
“Sorry I didn’t hear it. Can you repeat what you said?”
“Four hours…”
“What?”
“You took four hours to do that…”
What? I took four hours? But it was under seventy attempts! Each attempt felt like it took only seconds!
“Are you playing a prank on me? Tell me you are pranking me.”
Elaine shook her head. “Nope. Four hours and six minutes. You sat there for the whole time.”
“Huh… At least it worked.”
“And that’s good,” Viktor grinned. “I’ll have to go through the results of the device in the library, but I think I’ll have results for you next weekend.”
“What? I wanted to know more about my fire now!”
“Sorry, but reading the results from this device is really difficult work. Trust me. Focus on your studies for the week and you’ll hear results about your fire on the weekend. Is that all right with you?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Nope.”
“Well that sucks.”
With that disappointment, Elaine shooed the two men away from her office. Viktor headed out from the academy and Valar went straight to his dorm room. He would be sleeping like a log for the coming night!
That night, Valar sleep was deep but filled with nightmares. He saw the face of Thomas Dremen burning in flames. His flames.
For someone in Viktor’s position, the dead of the night was the best time to work. The analysis of Valar’s fire was a lengthy and arduous process and the silver haired man would not take any shortcuts to make it easier. Those could skew the results, and Viktor did not wish to have faulty premises to build from.
If this was an ordinary night, he would have been sleeping. It was not an ordinary night. Father had given him watch instead of any of his brothers or sisters, a truly baffling decision in the wind mage’s opinion.
Apparently father had had a bad premonition about this particular night. He decided to assign this night to Viktor’s watch, as Revan and Annabelle were busy. They would have been his obvious first choices, but both were out of town.
That left his father with Viktor and the others. None of the other siblings could truly defend the area by themselves—excluding maybe Julien—but who would ever want to give Julien any responsibility whatsoever? That meant Viktor was on guard duty. At least he had something to do.
Viktor did not complain. He just hoped that whatever would be coming would be an interesting fight…
Which character should get a side story (1-3ch, Extra chapters)?
