"Gaaaaaaa! Come on! Why is this so hard?!" Alvis shouted as he tightly gripped his right wrist with his left hand while trying to cast the spell. Sweat was starting to slide down his cheeks and his face was red from a mixture of heat, exhaustion, and the amount of effort he had been putting into his spell casting attempts.
Kathrina watching Alvis' struggle was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed and looking at him with a hint of pity in her eyes. She watched him fail another cast, making her hang her head with a quiet but frustrated sigh. She glanced at Flare for a quick moment, then turned her attention to Alvis and approached him saying, "For the hundredth time, Alvis, you're trying to force your magic to work! The more you try to force it, the more it will resist you. You have to let it flow through you as if it's already a part of you."
"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?!" Alvis snapped back at Kathrina, "You make it sound so simple, but it's not! This is harder than I thought it would be!"
Floris, who was sitting on a desk behind Alvis, shifted his attention from Alvis to Kathrina, then from Kathrina to Alvis, and finally settled his attention on Kathrina as he asked, "Maybe there's something else he could do? Maybe you could physically help him?"
Kathrina looked at Floris with a look that suggested she had an idea, and then looked at Flare.
Flare, who was still leaning against the wall, peered at Kathrina with a look in his eyes that suggested he knew what she was going to ask, and nodded at her.
Kathrina nodded, then stepped over to Alvis and stood behind him. "Okay, Alvis, let's try something different. I'm going to lend you some of my power to help you out and potentially give your own magic a bit of a... I guess a bit of a jump start."
"Okay, what do you need me to do?" Alvis asked, looking at Kathrina over his shoulder.
Kathrina rested her left hand on Alvis' shoulder and held her right pointer and middle fingers in front of her face as she closed her eyes, "Just relax for a moment. I'm going to build up my own magical energy and transfer it to you."
Alvis turned his attention straight ahead of him and closed his eyes, patiently waiting for Kathrina to tell him to start again.
Floris kept his attention on Kathrina and watched her curiously and intently. His eyes widened a little when he saw a faint blueish-greenish aura fill the air around her, showing how intensely she was concentrating on her magic. The aura formed all around her body and her eyes slightly changed color from emerald green. One eye became a much brighter and fiery green while the other became a bright fiery yellow. Once she started transferring her own magic power to Alvis, and the aura started to surround him as well.
After a few minutes, Kathrina's eyes returned to normal and she lowered her hand from Alvis' shoulder saying, "Try it now."
Alvis opened his eyes and returned to his previous stance and started trying to cast the spell while Kathrina took a few steps back.
Flare watched as Alvis resumed then looked at Kathrtina and said, "I'm going to step out for a moment. Nature calls."
Kathrina nodded at Flare, then returned her attention to Alvis once Flare had disappeared from the room. After a few minutes, a spark ignited in the palm of Alvis' hand, drawing the attention of the three mages. A grin appeared on Alvis' face as he saw the fire start to take form into a round shape. However, his nerves were being tested by literally holding fire in his hand.
There was heat coming from the spell, but his hand remained unharmed, just as Flare said it would. Alvis' lips curled into a smile and he closed his eyes and tried to imagine it the way he wanted it to look, making the fire form into a much smoother ball.
Kathrina and Floris looked at each other from a brief moment, then returned their attention to Alvis as he started releasing energy into the fire, allowing it to grow in size.
"Good, Alvis! Keep it up!" Kathrina said eagerly. She looked at Floris and continued, "He caught on pretty quick once I lent him some magic, but I'm curious to know what kind of magic you're going to use."
Floris shrugged his shoulders and stood up from where he was sitting, "I'm kind of curious about that myself, but I was hoping for lightning."
Kathrina shook her head and smiled at Floris as she said, "Nah. You don't look the type. I'm guessing either wind or ice, but wind is a long shot."
"What makes you say that?" Floris asked.
"Wind mages are few and far between, unfortunately." Kathrina answered, "This is due to the lack of water mages. Wind magic can be among the most powerful elemental magics one can master, but learning it became extremely difficult once we lost the ability to manipulate the moisture in the air. It was an unforeseen consequence at the time of making the decision to ban water magic. With few - if any water mages remaining, wind mages have had to rely on new means to cast their spells."
"Hmmm... I can see why that would be a problem. But out of curiosity, how do wind mages still cast their spells?" Floris asked.
Kathrina looked at Floris blankly for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders as she looked down at the ground as she replied, "I'm actually not sure. I've never met a wind mage before, so I can't say."
"Then how do you know I look like a wind mage?" Floris asked curiously.
Kathrina looked at Floris and gave him an innocent smile as she replied, "I've seen them in pictures in books I've read. I honestly can't say, but I think we can rule you out as being a water mage for sure."
"Uh... guys..." Alvis said in a panicky tone.
Kathrina and Floris turned to look at Alvis, and their eyes immediately widened in fear and surprise at the sight of how big Alvis' fireball had grown. While they had their backs turned, the fireball had grown to such a size that it now rivaled a watermelon.
In a panicked tone, Alvis looked at Kathrina and started shouting, "What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!"
Kathrina watched in terror as the fireball continued to grow, then yell back at Alvis, "Try closing your fist! That should cut off the magical energy you're feeding it!"
Alvis did as instructed and closed his fist, cutting off the magical energy he was feeding it. However, before the fireball completely disappeared, he motioned his fist forward a little, sending the ball on a destructive rampage through the room.
With the physics of a bouncy ball, the fireball bounced and ricocheted off the walls, floor, and ceiling. Forcing the three mages to duck, dive, jump, and dodge the fireball until it went flying through the doorway and into the rest of the guild, making students scream throughout the building as it crashed into multiple sections of the first floor.
"WHOA!"
"WHAT THE HECK!"
"HOW DID SOMEBODY SET WATER ON FIRE?!"
"THAT WAS MY HOMEWORK!"
"MY ROBE!"
"GET A RESTORATION MAGE!"
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
"SOMEBODY SHOT A FIREBALL FROM SOMEWHERE!"
"MY SHOWER CURTAIN!"
"THIS IS MY FIRST DAY!!!"
The fireball continued on a destructive rampage throughout the guild, destroying small structures and breaking multiple fragile items until it finally broke through a window and flew out into the open world.
Alvis, Floris, and Kathrina stared at the doorway the fireball had escaped from, their eyes as wide and open as they could physically be. They remained dead silent for several long, almost never-ending moments until Alvis slowly looked at the other two and said, "Everything will be fine, right?"
Without saying a word, Kathrina slowly approached the door and slowly pushed it shut with one finger, then turned to Alvis and hesitantly said, "I'm sure we can all imagine the destruction that thing just caused."
The fireball flew at blinding speed through the air towards the harbor where a large 2nd rate ship of the line was preparing to set sail. It collided with the ships' sail, turning it into a raging fiery inferno. The sailors and marines on board the vessel watched in shock and confusion as the main mast caught aflame. The fire eventually engulfed the entire mast, weakening the structure and base so much that the mast snapped and started to fall over.
With a loud crashing noise, the mast fell onto the dock the ship was anchored at, ripping through the wooden walkway before it sank to the ocean floor.