"Woah Jay, are you okay?" asked Mia as she ran up behind me. The bright sun was brimming with energy, the entire city filled with solar rays that lit up the already vibrant capital. I turned around slowly, every muscle of mine refusing to respond.
"Oh, yea," I said hesitantly, realizing how ridiculous it was.
"What did you do?" asked Mia, eyeing me suspiciously. The girl was clearly feeling better after yesterday's class, her expressions and body language seemed more lively than usual.
"Uh, I sparred with Amelia?" I said, my voice sounding so guilty that my answer resembled a question.
"How did that go?"
"Absolutely great..." I grumbled, continuing my stroll as the girl followed me. I recalled the events of the prior night, my mind still trying to process what I had witnessed.
Amelia had brutally reminded me about the gap between an AA-rank and an S-rank. Her movements were ridiculously fast, my eyes barely managing to keep track of her, even with the added speed from the lightning. She was able to flawlessly hit me from all angles simultaneously, using her overwhelming precision to target key joints and muscles that crippled me.
It was a beautiful performance, and I couldn't wait until our next class. I'd beat her one day. Mia smiled at my sarcasm.
"Let's go to class," she said. I nodded, following her into the main science building and into our designated class. Mia and I shared pretty much all of our classes, which made it extremely easy to keep track of where I was supposed to go. All I had to do was follow the girl, and I was sure to end up in the correct classroom.
The people of Auroria were starting to uncover certain theories through the use of science, but the existence of bind made it much more complicated for scientific ideas to advance. If you could explain every natural phenomenon occurring in front of you with bind, then there was no need to search for fundamental principles that defined our surroundings.
Our professor for the subject, Mr. Sylas, was by no means an idiot. He was just someone who, like every other 'scientist' on Auroria, was held back by the very energy that they considered miraculous: bind.
The thought of giving revolutionary technology to the people of Auroria had already crossed my mind. That being said, that kind of machinery had caused massive revolutions back on Earth, and I wasn't sure that changes as significant as those would benefit the population here.
If Auroria were to advance technologically, they'd have to do it through the extensive years of research that were required. Giving them the machines and the know-how would be pointless if they didn't build-up to the discovery first.
I respected Mr. Sylas for trying to tackle the sciences in a world filled with magic, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay attention to a class that was spreading misinformation. Gravity and forces were concepts unknown to the people of Auroria, and what the students were being taught was simply wrong. There was, of course, no guarantee that Auroria followed the same principles as Earth, but I had yet to see anything that proved against their resemblance.
"And to further explain this newly-theorized concept, I'd like to welcome a very special guest in today's class," announced Mr. Sylas. I looked up, his final sentence catching my attention as I watched the door opened slowly.
A girl with shortish blond hair entered the room, two longer brands of hair streaking down her sides and reaching her lower shoulders. A pair of lilac-purple flowers were delicately placed on her head, acting as decoration and a way to keep her hair steady. Her white battle dress ornated with gold linings appeared to be extremely luxurious, almost divine. A single broadsword hung from her side, the marine blue sheath contrasting with her golden eyes.
"Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you all, my name is Jean Lymine, but please call me Jean," said the girl, her soft voice spreading across the room like a hot liquid spreading through one's body in the middle of the cold winter.
I could hear a small sigh from the rest of the boys in the class, and I understood where it was coming from. Jean was absolutely stunning, and it was actually hard to tell how much older than us she was.
"I've been on Auroria for almost twenty years now, and there are some things I've discovered that I'd like to share with the newer generations," she continued.
A small irregularity in the air ticked me off, my eyes identifying the source of the disturbance. It was Jean. My eyes widened as I slowly realized who was standing in front of me, and I could tell the rest of the students were beginning to recognize her as well.
This girl standing right before us, about to give us a lecture about a small scientific notion, was the most powerful individual in all of Auroria.
Jean Lymine, ranked first amongst the S-rank adventurers... the girl of light.
People called her the Battle Goddess. She was a master of holy bind and was more than capable of taking down Amelia in an all-out brawl. Considering I had just bear witness to the immense power that Amelia possessed, I could only imagine what Jean could do.
"So, let's get on with the theory," she said, trying to move on as to calm down the ever-growing excitement and awe building inside the room. The eyes of every student in the room were glistening with interest, all of them absorbed in what Jean was teaching.
Something about the girl seemed vaguely familiar. Had I met her when I was younger?
"You see, we are all living on a landmass that we've named the continent of Auroria, correct?"
Everyone nodded. I raised my eyebrows, intrigued.
"And there is something that binds us to this landmass. An invisible kind of energy that keeps our feet on the ground, a force."
What? I found it hard to believe what was coming out of Jean's mouth, her words echoing the thoughts I had just wondered about.
"This force is the reason something will fall when you drop it, as it acts downwards into the center of the ground far below us. I call it...
Gravity."
My eyes widened in shock. I could feel my hands trembling ever so slightly, the sounds around me dwindling down to silence as my heartbeat filled my ears. Applause rose around me, Mr. Sylas praised Jean for her ingenuity, but I could hear none of it. There was always a slight chance that this girl was just a genius who was the Isaac Newton of Auroria, but this was different.
To echo the exact notion perfectly... and to name it the exact same thing...
This girl... was she from Earth?