The first official day of the Academy began.
Arion walked from the dorms to the main campus, surrounded by a sea of students. Most arrived in carriages that cost more than a small village, dropping off students who looked like they had never carried a suitcase in their lives.
Arion walked.
As he moved through the crowd, he noticed something different about the uniforms. While everyone wore the standard black blazer, many students had strange insignias stitched onto their chests. Some had shimmering silver moons. Others had golden stars. Some had both.
Arion looked down at his own blazer. Nothing. Just plain, cheap black fabric.
Curious, he thought. But I'll probably find out in class.
Arion arrived at the main hall, where massive bulletin boards displayed the class schedules and teacher assignments. A crush of students fought to see their names.
Arion stood at the back, using his height advantage to scan the list. He looked for Sophia Irene.
He looked at the First Floor list. Nothing. He looked at the Second, Third, Fourth… Nothing.
The crowd eventually thinned out as classes began, leaving Arion alone in the hallway, staring at a board that didn't want him.
"Excuse me," Arion tapped a passing student on the shoulder. "I'm looking for Sophia Irene's classroom?"
The student looked at him like he had asked for directions to a graveyard. "Sophia Irene? You're a student of hers?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"She doesn't have a classroom," the student snickered. "She doesn't teach classes. But if you're hers, you might find her in her office."
"Where is it?"
"Top floor. Seventh floor. Turn right, go to the very end of the hall. Good luck."
The Seventh Floor
Arion climbed seven flights of stairs. By the time he reached the top, his knees were complaining.
The Seventh Floor was… abandoned. The air was stale. Dust motes danced in the dim light. The floorboards creaked like dying animals.
"Great," Arion muttered, swiping a cobweb out of his face. "I enrolled in a magic academy and got assigned to a haunted house."
He walked to the end of the dark hallway. The further he went, the dirtier it got. Spiderwebs draped from the ceiling like curtains. Finally, he reached a door at the very corner. It was rotting, hanging slightly off its hinges.
Arion sighed. "Well, here goes nothing."
He pushed the door open.
And immediately slammed it shut.
He stood in the dusty hallway, blinking. He opened the door again. He slammed it shut again.
"What the hell?"
He opened it a third time. Inside wasn't a dusty closet. It was a palace. Marble floors. A crystal chandelier. A roaring fireplace. A velvet couch that looked softer than a cloud. The smell of lavender and expensive tea wafted out, fighting the smell of mold from the hallway.
Slam. He closed the door. Moldy hallway. Open. Luxury hotel suite.
"Are you trying to let all the cooling spells escape?" a voice called from inside. "Get in here."
A hand grabbed his collar and yanked him inside. The door clicked shut, locking out the grime of the academy.
"Can you tell me what is going on here?" Arion asked, looking around the opulent room. "How does a rotting door lead to… this?"
"Listen, kid," Sophia Irene yawned, flopping back onto the velvet couch. "First rule of being my student: You don't tell anyone about this room. If the Principal finds out I'm using the budget for interior decorating instead of research, I'm fired."
"I don't care about the budget," Arion said, walking over to the fireplace. "I care that outside looks like a dungeon and inside looks like a royal suite. It smells fishy."
"It's called 'Spatial Expansion' and 'Priorities'," Sophia muttered, closing her eyes. "Just relax. Take a seat. Since you're my only student, I have to take responsibility for you. Ugh."
Arion sighed and sat on the opposite end of the couch. It was annoyingly comfortable.
"We should introduce ourselves properly," Sophia said, lying on her back and staring at the crystal chandelier. "I am Sophia Irene. You can call me Irene. Or Master. Or Goddess. I don't really care."
"My name is Arion."
"Arion, huh? What's the other?"
"The other?"
"Your family name. Like me, from the Irene Dynasty. Or Sebastian from the Ambrose family. Who owns you?"
"I don't have one."
Sophia's eyes snapped open. She sat up, leaning her face uncomfortably close to his. "You… only have one name?"
"Yes. Just Arion."
She pulled back, looking him up and down with renewed confusion. "How the hell did you pass the exam? The admission board usually shreds commoner applications."
"Well… I tried a few times. Persistence, I guess."
"A few times?" She narrowed her eyes. "How many?"
"Including this year? Six."
Sophia froze. "SIX?!" She shouted, her voice cracking. "DOES THAT MEAN YOU TOOK THE EXAM FOR SIX YEARS?!"
"Yeah."
"Wait…" She squinted at him. "How old are you?"
"I'm twenty-two."
The silence that followed was louder than any explosion. Sophia stared at him. Her mouth opened, then closed.
"YOU ARE TWENTY-TWO?!" She scrambled backward on the couch, hugging a pillow defensively. "WHY DID I CALL YOU KID?!"
"You're the one who started it," Arion shrugged. He looked at her closely. Without the sleepy expression, and up close, she looked young. Very young.
"Hey, Teach," Arion asked. "How old are you?"
Sophia looked away, her cheeks turning pink. "Twenty-one."
Arion stared at the ceiling. "So," he deadpanned. "I'm calling a twenty-one-year-old 'Master'."
"I graduated early! I'm a prodigy!" she snapped, throwing a pillow at him. "Respect your elders! Even if… I'm younger… shut up!"
After an awkward five minutes of silence, Sophia cleared her throat.
"Anyway. Since you are my student, I need to measure your Magic Essence (ME). Standard procedure."
She rummaged through a drawer full of candy wrappers and makeup before finally pulling out a clear glass orb. She slammed it onto the coffee table.
"Put your hand on it."
Arion obeyed. Immediately, the orb lit up. Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. Purple. It flashed like a disco ball having a panic attack.
They waited for it to settle on a color. Ten minutes passed. Thirty minutes passed. An hour passed.
Sophia was eating a cookie, watching the orb with bored eyes. It was still cycling through colors.
"This is weird," she mumbled, crumbs falling on her robe.
"What is this thing?" Arion asked, his hand starting to cramp.
"It's an ME Orb. It measures capacity and affinity. Usually, it settles in five seconds."
"Mine is confused."
"Maybe it's broken," Sophia sighed. "Let me try."
She placed her hand on the orb. Instantly, it turned a deep, solid Red. "See? Not broken. My affinity is Fire, and my capacity is high. Yours… yours is broken."
"So what now?"
Sophia stood up, a glint of curiosity replacing her laziness. "We need a bigger orb."
She grabbed his wrist. "Come on. We're going to the Principal."
Sophia dragged Arion back down to the first floor, bursting into the Principal's office without knocking.
The Principal and his beautiful Secretary were having tea. They both choked.
"Miss Sophia!" The Secretary wiped tea off her chin. "Is there a reason you are barging in here?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Sophia pushed Arion forward. "This person."
"You mean Arion."
"He's weird," Sophia stated bluntly. "My orb is having a seizure. I need the Big One."
The Principal frowned. "Is your orb broken?"
"No. It just can't read him."
"Bring the Grand Orb," the Principal commanded.
The Secretary went to a safe and pulled out a massive crystal sphere, the size of a watermelon. She placed it on the heavy oak desk.
"Place your hand, Arion," the Principal ordered.
Arion placed his hand on the cold crystal. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the light began to swirl. It didn't flash colors like the small one. Instead, it grew dark. Darker. Until the orb wasn't glowing—it was sucking the light out of the room.
It turned Pitch Black.
Not the black of a shadow, but the black of a void.
The Principal gasped. The Secretary dropped her notepad. They looked at the black orb, then at each other. They nodded silently, a look of pure terror communicating a thousand words.
"Now, Miss Sophia," the Secretary said, her smile twitching. "He is now under your responsibility. So please take care of him."
"BUT!" Sophia shouted, pointing at the void in the glass. "I still don't know what the meaning of that color is!"
"He is now under your responsibility," the Secretary repeated, her voice rising in pitch. "So please take care of him. And... may you leave the room?"
"BUT—!"
"MAY YOU LEAVE THE ROOM?!" the Secretary screeched, her eyes wide with panic.
Sophia and Arion found themselves shoved out into the hallway. The door slammed shut behind them. Click. Lock. Magic Lock.
They stood in silence for a moment.
"So," Arion looked at his teacher, who looked like she had just seen a ghost. "What's now?"