The Second Halo of Ciazel,
City of Wyn,
Vexal Preparatory School
In the boundless white of Vexal Prep's standard EC-room, Val witnessed the gleam in her opponent's gaze and turned tail.
Strength bled from her calves as she vaulted over a rectangular blockade and hunched behind it. A firespade—the enhanced version of a fireball, stretched and sharpened at its front to cause nothing but trouble—blew past her in a deafening roar. Lapis-blue runes flared across the EC-room's ivory reinforced glass where the wayward spell met its end.
"By the saints, Caro." Val wiped off the veneer of sweat gathering on her brow at the heat, ignoring the metallic ring of the spell-cuffs on her wrists. Her eyes could hardly move from the magical protections inscribed onto the surrounding walls, the enchantments dimming as they returned to their dormant state. 'I'm your best friend, not some random aether creature for heaven's sake.'
A heap of rapid breaths and twitching tendons, the obstructions littered throughout the sparring area gave Val little comfort.
Fatigue dulled her focus at the single spell she casted the entire battle—the meager aether strands residing in her Aetherial Vessel limiting her to one more. 'And Caro's got more manpower than a quarter of the class combined.'
Val shook her head. She couldn't focus on those facts. Tuning out her storm of thoughts, she zoned in on the battle at hand.
Decisiveness put the dullest of weapons into battle, foolish or not, and she had little choice with victory hanging in the balance.
Resolve formed and a decision made, Val dashed out of her place of cover and made a bee-line for the towering girl thirty paces away. She was able to ignore the sting of her toes squeezing together while wearing boots a size or two too small.
It was immensely difficult to do the same, however, to the sharp pang echoing throughout her bones, as if a geo mage blasted her body with rocks.
That feeling, that pain of which held no sane nor obvious origins meant only one thing to Val.
The congregation of energy.
Danger.
"Cast!" Caro shouted, the script lining her spell-cuffs glowing a deep crimson.
"Cast!" Val yelled almost simultaneously, hers taking on an azure hue.
An umbrella of water materialized above Val just as tens of firespades zipped towards her, meeting the liquid barrier in the middle.
A burst of steam exploded and Val lifted her arms to shield herself from the hot gas.
"Mock Elemental Exchange Emergency Termination."
Miss Pepper's activation of emergency protocols sent a notification to the two combatants within the EC-room. The radiance discharged by Val's spell-cuff vanished in a wink and the sweltering haze faded into inexistence.
Val let out a relieved breath as her arms found their way to her sides, death by a painful, boiling mist avoided.
As Caro walked over, Val craned her neck to make up for the five-inch difference in height. "Was casting that many firespades necessary?"
Caro grinned, broad and wide, eyes electric, the rush of an Elemental Exchange clearly still lingering in her system. "Why call it an Experimental Combat room if you don't, y'know, experiment?"
Val could only shake her head, fighting off a smile at the ends of her lips. "I feel bad for those who have to deal with you having the real thing."
"Kindly return the spell-cuffs to its case safely, those things are worth more than your tuition." Miss Peppers took to the PA systems, cutting across their budding conversation.
At her words, a circle etched itself onto the wooden floor. A distinct click echoed as a pillar rose from the shape, stopping at waist level with two strips of empty space at its center. Unclipping her spell-cuffs, she fit them snugly into its repository.
Caro followed Val's actions, the pillar snapping back into the ground, taking Val's last semblance of magic along with it.
Spell-cuffs were auxiliary tools that gave growing students a feel for magic. It was a long way away from the real deal—false elements, absence of incantation, fatigue in place of aether drainage.
Rip-off or not though, she was at least somewhat glad she tasted a little of what her life could be, had Deduction Day turned out different.
Shaking off the nausea that arose at the recent thought, Val muttered, "I wonder how our debrief will go this time."
Caro rolled her eyes. "Does it ever change?"
"Hardly." Val stretched her stiff wrist and the two made their way towards one of the EC-room's glass walls. "Better to deal with it sooner than later, though."
As if timed, one of the reflective panels glinting in the light transformed into transparent glass, revealing students lounging around behind its walls and Miss Peppers' permanent frown. She leaned closer to the mic sprouting out of the wooden lectern, her voice blaring through the various glowing crystals set up throughout the room.
"Any day, you two."
The clacking of their boots waned as they entered the carpeted room. Cheap deodorant perfumed the area, a hidden air enchantment at work in circulating the scent so well. Not to talk of the slight, barely felt chilled breeze sifting through Val's cedar hair. 'By the saints—air conditioning? In the middle of winter?'
A shiver wracked Val's body despite herself, not an inch of discomfort visible on the other students slouching on bean bag chairs.
Fifty pairs of eyes fled her stare, and most wore sneers instead of smiles if they bothered to look her way more than the generous second.
Val, as she always did, ignored it at the turn of her head. What you don't give attention to, you don't give power. 'For the most part, anyway.'
"So?" Caro prodded, sifting a hand amidst the fiery tangles of her braided hair, caramel skin afresh despite the recent scuffle. Attention filtered towards her, less so due to her question, alluding to the cause of the gifts mysteriously placed in the girl's locker.
Ironically, most ended up in Val's lap. Especially the sweets.
The teacher ceased her flipping, giving both girls a look. "Heaven forbid there be a match between you two that doesn't end in termination. Each fight costs thousands of credits, and for you to just throw it all away without an ounce of respect—" Miss Peppers took a deep breath, pausing her flood of complaints. "And here I am wasting my time when you two wouldn't listen anyways."
Caro leaned into Val, whispering, "Hey, she's finally getting it."
"I can hear you." Miss Peppers pushed back her glasses. "Let's start with you then Miss Hayes, shall we? You were incredibly reckless in casting more than what's needed. It may be easy now with the spell-cuffs carrying most of the strain for you; however, if you manage to pass the Tripartite Trial, you'll find that each spell uses more than just aether strands."
'Hmm?' Val raised an eyebrow. That fact wasn't found in any of the available textbooks. Val would know, spending hours she seldom had on combing through what information was allowed to non-mages. Aether strands, mana points, qi, neutral essence—no matter which name it bore throughout the world, it was the universal expense for any magical, mystical, or martial arts learned in Spiravale.
Moreover, it was the crux of her mother's fatal condition.
The key to understanding why her mother remained asleep in her hospital cot was understanding aether—at least, what she could as a borderline typic. "Care to specify?"
"You know I can't."
Val sighed. "Laws of Secrecy, again?"
Miss Peppers merely nodded.
"Hell," Caro cursed, "at this rate you're gonna have to be a mage to search up how to tie up your own damn shoe. Absolutely useless."
Miss Peppers fixed her a mean glare, vestiges of years spent diving rifts breaching her irises as they glowed brown in the dimly lit room.
"She meant the internet," Val placated. "The internet's useless, not you."
Miss Peppers held eye contact for a second more, breaking away to glance at her trusty notebook. "As for you, Miss Efron."
Val gulped.
"No complaints."
Sharing a look with her friend, Val found the disbelief in Caro's eyes similar to hers.
It turned out, though, Miss Peppers wasn't finished with Val.
"I do have one question, however. Are you perhaps carrying some type of charm or enhancing equipment? It's almost as if… you're predicting Caro's spell instead of reacting to it."
"Uh…" Val's gaze found the floor, as if the carpet could offer her an excuse. What was she to say? That aether—the most crucial thing to living beings—was the cause of the abject pain assailing her for years? That, by merely standing in a room full of people who emitted aura out of their Aetherial Vessels mindlessly, a throbbing headache made it a struggle to stand?
The first person she told besides Caro barely took her seriously and she ended up in the guidance counsellor's office the next day due to it, calling it a coping mechanism. She'd like to believe she learned her lesson since then.
So, Val shrugged. "Luck?"
Miss Peppers snapped her book shut. "Another case of wasting my time, it seems. Misters Harrington and Street—" Miss Peppers gestured to a pair of talking guys "—you're next up."
With the sign of dismissal ringing loud and clear, Val and Caro turned away and started the journey to the locker rooms.
"And Miss Efron."
Val glanced over her shoulder to survey an almost pensive melancholy taking form on Miss Peppers' frown.
"It's a shame you won't be attending the trials tomorrow. Truly. Would've at least helped cool off your redheaded friend over there, if nothing else.
"It's dyed, Miss," Caro corrected, not bothering to look back. "None of the stereotypes, all of the benefits."
"Yeah right."