Kroywen's School of Magic Arts, the best magical arts school located on Kroywen Island. Known for having an extensive and effective education system that has produced some of the greatest mages in the land. For hundreds of years, this school has been the staple for upcoming mages wanting to prove themselves. But, it's extremely difficult to get in. Students have to go through a rigorous entrance exam that tests their wits and their skill in their specific magic type. Only after passing will they be able to attend this prestigious school. Unless you come from a royal or powerful family lineage, that is. If you do, then you can be recommended to the school in order to attend without having to take the entrance test. But, that in of itself is an extremely rare case. And somehow, for some reason, Alec got a recommendation letter.
"So, Fay, what kind of magic do you use?" he asked.
"I use water magic!" said Fay. "I come from a royal family that's used water magic for centuries," Fay was the youngest child of the Aquafreeda family at 15-years-old. The family is extremely well-known in this other world for having multiple high-class water wielding mages born every generation... and Fay was the family's most recent child. She had long silky blue hair with a shiny water droplet hairpin, seemingly made out of some kind of gemstone, placed near her right ear.
Alec's eyes lit up from the mere mention of magic and he swiftly ran up to Fay's right side.
"That's so cool!" he exclaimed. "Can you show me a spell or something?" This question Alec asked seemed to strike a chord with Fay. She slightly jumped for some reason and instantly shook her head.
"I-I can't...! There are all these people around...! What if I-" Before finishing her sentence, she cut herself off by placing her hand on her mouth. Alec's previously ecstatic face changed to one of inquiry.
"Hm? What if you what?" he questioned. Fay then moved the hand she placed on her mouth to cover the side of her face.
"U-um... I-I meant I can't use my magic here, because..." she muttered. "I don't want to use any mana that I might need for later...!" Alec blinked a few times while staring directly at Fay. His eyes were like piercing knives when he stared. Surprisingly, he could be unintentionally intimidating. But, he just smiled after a few seconds.
"Oh, I see. Sorry for trying to push you to use it," he said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Fay shook her head and smiled.
"No, don't worry about it!" she exclaimed nervously. "It's just that my spells eat up a lot of my mana, so I'd rather save them for when I need them... if that makes sense,"
"It does!" said Alec, nodding. "But, if it takes up that much mana, then your spells must be really really strong, right?" Once again, Alec's question caught Fay off guard.
"Huh?! O-oh, well, yeah..." she stuttered. "I guess they're pretty strong... I do go to Kroywen Magic, after all," Alec smiled and focused his view on the sidewalk below him. This was the first time he had looked down since leaving the home, and Fay took notice.
"Yeah, everyone at that school must be really strong..." he muttered to himself. "I can't even use magic, so why did I get a letter in the first place...?" The instant Alec finished his sentence, Fay stopped in place. Alec noticed and also stopped, turning around afterward. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"You got a recommendation letter?" asked Fay.
Alec nodded. "Mhm, but it folded out of existence a while back," he explained while making folding motions with his hands. Then, he pointed at Fay. "I called out to you because I recognized the symbol on your robe. It was the same one stamped into the wax seal,"
While Alec was speaking, Fay stared at him in disbelief. As I said before, getting a letter of recommendation to Kroywen Magic was extremely rare. And from what Fay could tell by looking at Alec, he definitely wasn't royalty.
"You said that you can't use magic, right?" she asked.
"Yep, I don't know any spells or anything," Alec replied, casually shrugging. Fay went into sudden deep thought for a few seconds before nodding and reaching into her robe. She pushed aside the robe near her waist to reveal a small satchel holding a wand. Grabbing the wand, she walked closer to Alec with a serious expression.
"Do you mind if I use a mana checking spell on you?" asked Fay while swishing her wand around. "I'm curious about your potential, even if you say you don't know any spells,"
"Sure, I don't mind. Actually, I'm a bit curious too!" he said. "But, won't it eat up your mana?"
Fay shook her head. "It's only a simple spell! It barely uses any of my mana to pull off,"
Fay gently pressed the tip of the wand on Alec's chest, where his heart would be. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, strengthening her focus. A small white light came from the tip of the wand, gradually getting larger and larger.
"Coooool..." Alec whispered to himself.
After a few seconds, the white light became bright red and Fay quickly pulled back her wand, deactivating the spell. When she pulled back, she stumbled over herself and fell over into a sitting position on the sidewalk, breathing heavily. Alec gasped and hastily knelt down in front of her, holding out his hand.
"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked. He was concerned for her, but it was obvious that she wasn't okay after whatever had just happened. Fay's eyes were widened and sweat streamed down her face. She slowly put her wand away and looked Alec straight in the eyes.
"Your mana..." she muttered. "There's an immense cluster of it that's dormant inside your very being. It burns with a bright red rage, waiting to be broken free. It's so powerful that I can't even describe it properly..." Alec didn't respond right away. He stood still and looked at Fay directly in the eyes for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and smiling tensely.
"Haha..." Alec chuckled nervously. "Y-you're joking, right?" Fay slowly shook her head, keeping eye contact with him the entire time. Alec gulped and looked down to the ground, placing his hand on his chest. "I have powerful mana inside me...? But, how...?" he whispered. Suddenly, Fay grabbed Alec's hand that he put out to her and pulled herself up. Alec followed suit and stood up along with her.
"Let's get to the school," stated Fay, still holding Alec's hand. "We should visit Professor Pyre and ask her about this. She's the headmaster, so if you got a recommendation letter, then she must know something about your power that you don't," she explained. Alec scratched the top of his head, thinking.
"I do remember seeing the name Pyre on the letter..." he whispered. Then, he lowered his arm and clenched his fist tightly. "But, yeah, let's do that... The faster I can get some answers, the better,"
Then, without much warning, Fay started sprinting down the sidewalk, dragging Alec by the hand. As they ran, she was seemingly anxious about something. In this world, immense and powerful mana like Alec's was feared when first discovered. With power like that, the person could do anything they wanted as long as they could control it. And since Fay had just met Alec, there was no telling what he was capable of.
Alec didn't know any of this in the slightest. The fact that his power could be feared by many never crossed his mind. At that time, the only thing on his mind was how much fun he was having in this new world. His dream of being able to wield powerful magic could be coming true right before his own eyes. All of those years of fantasizing were about to become reality. The one thing that people always teased and bullied him for was slowly but surely becoming...
Real.