When the first rays of sunlight touched the clouds, most students were still sleeping soundly. Though a few of them had started to rise, one of them had woken up a long time ago.
Standing at the centre of the northern courtyard, Ren squinted as the sunlight burned his eyes. He forced himself to move, forcing his body into adapting to a fluid, yet unusual rhythm. His muscles burned with pain as his dance-like motions carried him across the courtyard.
For the first time since he came to the academy, he released his mana. As it swept across the courtyard, his senses sharpened, and his breathing quickened. Carefully, following the rhythm of his motions, Ren shifted his mana, gathering it around himself. It was difficult to control, like a dam trying to hold a raging ocean.
With a fluid motion, he unsheathed his tachi. At the same moment, he ran his finger along the blade. As the it reddened with blood, he channelled his mana into the blade. A wind, originating from his mana tugged his long hair and robes, threatening to disrupt his balance.
"Come on," He whispered. He needed to attune to his tachi. Without that, he could never catch up to Yu.
The winds raged around him as his mana rejected the blade. His mana, now out of his control, raged like a stormy ocean as the rebound sent him flying. He groaned in pain and just barely landed on his feet and hands.
"Damn it!" He motioned to punch the ground but stopped himself just before his fist touched the weathered stones. "Why?" He whispered. He watched the blood dripping from his finger for a few moments, then slowly got up and looked around. His tachi was laying on the ground, almost as if mocking him.
Ren took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Once he calmed down, he took the sword, sheathed it, and headed back to the dorms. Panting and sweaty, he quickly showered and washed his dirty robes. By the time he had gotten dressed for class and headed to the mess hall, the sun had already risen.
He took a simple, bland meal and grabbed himself an empty seat near the windows. Most students were up by now. The mess hall was slowly filling up. He spotted some of the girls in his class eating together. Lena and Serana were waiting in line together. Serana still seemed unhappy while Lena was smiling and laughing.
"Good morning Ren!" Aiden said with a cheerful voice. "I went to your room to wake your up, but I guess I didn't have to." He smiled and placed his food tray on the table. "You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"
Startled, Ren shook his head. He hadn't noticed Aiden come. "No, not at all." He took a bite out of his bread and sipped his water. He didn't really feel like talking or interacting with anyone. He just couldn't think of a polite way to let Aiden know of that.
"Oh, our first class is in about half an hour." Aiden said as he sat down. "I believe it's Magic Theory. Honestly, I don't know much on the subject. What about you?"
"I know a little." Ren mumbled. He finished his meal and stood up. "I'll head to class,"
"Oh! Wait for me." Aiden stuffed the last piece of his breakfast in his mouth and hurried after Ren. "Come on, you can't just run off like that and leave me behind!" He grinned.
Ren mumbled an apology. He wasn't quite sure of what he thought of Aiden. The young noble seemed to be a good person. He had helped Ren yesterday and he was masking his mana when he was with him. Responsible and thoughtful were the words that came to mind. But then, why did Ren feel so uneasy about him?
"Oh, so this is the place…" Aiden mumbled as they entered the large classroom. It was a circular room, divided into thirteen equal slices with white lines drawn on the dark stone floor. The walls and high ceiling were lined with intricate runic scripts. At the very centre of the room, the white lines formed a rather large circle.
Ren could sense the mana within the inscriptions as well as in the white lines on the floor. Uneasy, he squinted, trying to make out the individual runes. Why were there so many inscriptions?
"Quite the setup." Aiden walked to the centre of the room. "I wonder…" He looked at Ren, who was still staring at the inscriptions. "Hey, Ren." His voice pulled Ren's attention.
"Hm?" Ren finally looked at Aiden. "Sorry, I was looking at the inscriptions." He quickly made his way over to Aiden.
"Oh no, it's fine." Aiden smiled. "I wonder," he mumbled, "How long do you think it'll take before we can read all these?" He gestured towards the walls and ceilings.
Ren bitterly smiled. "Not too long, I don't think." He gestured towards the lines on the floor. "These might take a bit longer, but the others shouldn't be too difficult." He let his gaze wonder around the room as he finished his words. The white lines consisted of several, layered inscriptions. He couldn't really read much of it. The inscriptions on the walls and ceilings were mostly protective writings. Though simple, they were well inscribed and effective.
As he looked around, he spotted the other students by the windows. Only four of them were here. One of them was Lena. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail. She was leaning on the wall, holding her quarterstaff lightly.
The other three had their backs turned to Ren, so he could only see their basic features. Two of them had short, brown hair, were of average height. Both of them had short swords dangling from their hips. Sisters perhaps, Ren thought.
The other one had long, black hair. She was very tall, had a slender build and carried no visible weapons.
"I think they are our other classmates." Aiden softly said. He wasn't looking straight at them. Instead, he was looking towards the side, at the inscriptions on the walls. "Though, aren't we missing a few?"
"One." Ren said. "And she's on her way." He turned towards the door as it slowly creaked open.
"How did you...?" Aiden asked in surprise.
"She's not hiding her mana." Ren massaged his temples. Her mana was chaotic, like a bunch of colours mixed together, creating no sensible form. He remembered her from yesterday, he had noticed how different her mana was even then. But unlike now, he had Battlemage Fiora's protection then, so he hadn't realised how overwhelming her mana was.
"Does it…. Hurt?" Aiden asked hesitantly.
Ren nodded as he watched the door. A short, dark purple haired girl entered the room and quickly closed the door behind her. After a looking around the room in a panic, she breathed out in relief. She was panting, like she had recently run.
"A lot, actually." Ren took a few steps back as her chaotic mana filled his senses. He retreated to the farthest side of the room and leaned on the wall.
"Ren?" Aiden worryingly followed him. "Hey, you weren't like this yesterday. What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure." Ren pressed his palms against his temples. He hadn't felt this kind of pain in ages. It took every piece of self control he had to not scream in pain. Her mana wasn't just chaotic, it was violent too. Surely, she wasn't doing this on purpose, but her mana had spread through the whole room and it was attacking Ren's senses. It was as if he was being stabbed with a glass shard. "I don't-" He groaned with pain and collapsed on his knees. "Aiden, please ask her to mask her mana."
"S-sure." Aiden ran off. Before long, the mana assaulting him was gone and Ren could feel the pain slowly fade away. Soon, he heard several footsteps coming closer. They belonged to Aiden and the girl.
"I'm so sorry!" The girl shouted as Aiden helped Ren back up. "I didn't know I was hurting you, I'm so sorry." Her eyes were red, and she looked as if she were about to cry.
"Don't worry about it." Ren said, forcing a weak smile. "I'm fine now, no harm done."
"Are you sure you're okay Ren?" Aiden hesitantly asked. "You're still really pale."
"Yes, I'm sure." Ren leaned to the wall and sighed. "Anyways, uhh…" He glanced at the girl. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"Oh, it's Mirielle. Mirielle Farshow." She finally smiled.
Now that the assault on his senses was gone, Ren could actually see her properly. She was short. In fact, she only barely reached his eye level. Her hair had a purple hue to it, no doubt caused by her unusual mana. Her eyes were a bright blue, though they were partially hidden behind her hair.
"Good to meet you, Mirielle." Aiden said, then introduced himself and Ren. Ren stayed silent during the exchange. The worst pain was gone, but he was still sensing everyone else's mana and while it wasn't as painful, it was still overwhelming.
"Say, Mirielle, what's up with your mana?" He finally asked.
She avoided his gaze as she fiddled with a few strands of her hair. "I'm not entirely sure, I'm told that it runs in my family."
Ren raised his eyebrows. "You inherited it?" He mumbled in surprise. Magic ability and by extension, mana, wasn't blood-related in any way. As far as he knew, it wasn't really possible for it to be inherited. Unless…
He suddenly felt a new source of mana, nearing the classroom. "I think the Instructor is here." He straightened himself and took a few steps towards the door. As Aiden and Mirielle followed him, the door slowly opened and instructor Eron Gordin came in.
Instructor Eron seemed to be at his early forties. He was of average height and didn't seem to be particularly strong either. His black hair was at shoulder length, with some white strands mixed in between. He was wearing simple black robes and carried no visible weapons except for a long, thin walking cane that was seeming made of ebony wood.
"Good morning class!" He said cheerfully. "Now then, everyone gather at the centre of the room please. Do not step into the circle." He added as he pointed towards the white circle at the very centre of the room.
Everyone gathered at the edge of the circle. Finally having a chance to see the other three students, Ren quickly glanced at them.
The two brown haired girls looked almost identical. They had the same facial features, even their gestures and poses were identical. They had to be twins, Ren thought. The black-haired girl wasn't anything like them. She was beautiful and had a harsh expression on her face. She carried herself with dignity and confidence.
"Well then," Instructor Eron entered the circle. "I will be teaching you the runic script of the Ancients. As students of Class I, you're expected to be able to fluently read up to two layered scripts by the end of the year. Or," He grinned. "You fail."
"What?" Lena cried out. "You expect us to read layered scripts? Even most of the wizards in the military can't do that!"
"They didn't graduate from Class I, did they?" Instructor Eron twirled his cane around his finger. "You're part of the most elite class in the most elite academy in Arkon. If you don't think you're up to it, I can arrange your transfer to classes II and III." He glared at each of them, waiting for any more objections.
"Sir," Ren hesitantly said. "I don't think reading these inscriptions is all there is to this course. Am I right?" Reading inscriptions was basically learning a new language. While challenging, it wasn't impossible and on its own, had nothing to do with magic theory.
"Right you are, Ren." Instructor Eron grinned. "You'll learn how to construct and deconstruct ritual circles."
"Already?" The black-haired girl asked. "If I'm not mistaken, ritual magic is fairly advanced and quite dangerous as well. I was under the assumption that we'd be learning it on our second year, if ever."
Instructor Eron sighed. "You're well informed, but what you said is true for classes II and III. Like I've said before, Class I exists to raise exceptional wizards and battlemages. Your curriculum is much more intense than the other classes." He looked at her. "Any other questions?"
"No, sir." She shook her head.
"Well then, let's begin." Instructor Eron gestured them to follow him. At the farthest side of the room there were several large boxes. "You two, open these." He pointed at Ren and Aiden.
"All of them?" Asked Aiden in surprise as Ren immediately got to work. The boxes were quite heavy.
"Yes. Come on, hurry now."
With Aiden's help, the contents of the boxes were quickly laid on the floor. "Books and… Sheets?" Ren asked. "Our class materials?"
"Exactly. Now, I'll start with explaining the basic rules of runic script. Remember to take your books with you when class ends."
While Instructor Eron Gordin was at first glance, intimidating, he proved to be an excellent teacher. As he carefully explained the basic structure of the Ancients' language, Ren could see how everyone had already started to grasp the basic concepts. He listened intently, even if only to confirm his own knowledge.
The ringing of the bell took everyone by surprise. Had an hour and a half passed already?
"That'll be it for today. Be sure to memorise the all basic runes for tomorrows class. Ren, a word." Instructor Eron left the class, clearly expecting Ren to follow.
"What's that about?" Aiden asked. "Have you met him before, Ren?"
"No. The next class is in ten minutes, right? You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." He sprinted after the instructor. Aiden and Mirielle could only nod and head to the next class.
Waiting in the hallway, Instructor Eron started walking down the hall. "Walk with me. I believe there are some things we should talk about."
Ren quickly matched the Instructor's speed. "May I ask what you mean, sir?"
Instructor Eron sighed. "I, and the other instructors were told about your… situation." He said, choosing his words carefully.
"I see." Ren lowered his gaze. "I assume you'd like to know more?"
"Well, I want to, yes. But there is a more pressing issue. Your… block. Or, inability to attune to your weapon and create a conduit. We were tasked to attempt to help you overcome that."
"You were… tasked?" Ren asked. "I don't understand."
"The council." He twirled his cane around his finger, then hit the ground with it. "My point is, we don't have a choice and neither do you." He seemed on edge and, rather impatient. Like he wanted to leave quickly.
Ren quietly nodded. He clenched his fist, hidden beneath his robe. "I understand."
Instructor Eron sighed. "Just… know that you'll have to work harder than the others. Now, go to your next class. We'll talk again later." He shooed Ren away with his cane. "Hurry up."
"Yes, sir." Ren bowed slightly, then sprinted away. The next class was basically just combat training. It was going to be done in the northern courtyard, so Ren still had quite a ways to go. He left through one of the northern exits and ran past the main building. He only slowed down when he reached the woods between the courtyard and the main building.
"Damn it." He softly whispered. He hadn't expected the Council to notify the academy. It made sense, of course. After all, he wasn't… No, he thought, interrupting himself. This was for his good too.
But first, he had to get to class. He picked up the pace again, rushing through the woods. As the tree line thinned, he spotted the rest of the class there. He slowed down and approached Aiden and Mirielle.
"Sorry it took so long." He said, slightly out of breath.
"Don't worry about it but, what was that about anyways?" Aiden curiously asked.
"Nothing important." Ren forced a smile. "Where is the instructor?"
"I'm right here!" A powerful voice echoed. As Warthorn stepped out of the woods, everyone instinctively took a step back. He was wearing his armour, carrying his sword and shield.
"You didn't sense him?" Aiden whispered.
Ren just shook his head. Warthorn knew how his ability worked, of course he knew what he had to do to hide from it.
"Alright, we'll do some combat practice now!" Warthorn pointed at Ren. "Come here kid. You're late, so you get to show me what you've got!"