It was now Eirin's turn to stare at Cali. 'I never thought of Coleen McGuffin as a bad person. She only looked wary of me. That's normal since we're total strangers before being roommates,' she thought and smiled. "Don't worry. I don't hate her at all." Soon, it made Eirin wonder, why would the cold and expressionless girl, Cali, ask her something like that.
Eirin continued eating. Despite the silence that followed what she said and Cali's coldness, her appetite wasn't affected at all. "Thank you so much for coming with me." Cali did not respond with Eirin's gratitude, she left as soon as possible after accompanying the teenage girl to her room.
When Eirin entered her room, it was already nearing 3 a.m., and her class would start at 8 in the morning. 'It feels like my stomach's about to burst,' she thought while looking out of the window. The backyard where a huge and sturdy oak tree stood still made Eirin squint. It was vast and looked oddly familiar.
'If only Ava could see this,' Eirin cupped her chin while thinking of her best friend. The moonlight shone through the window, and Eirin knew that it was time for her to go to sleep, or else she'd soon hear birds chirping outside. Eirin felt the comfort of her soft bed as she lay on her back and stared at the ceiling, feeling wide awake. Everything still felt like a nightmare she could not escape.
'It's like I died and woke up in a different world,' she thought as she closed her eyes. Eirin fell into a deep slumber, as if falling into an endless abyss, she could feel her body floating in the thin air, but she could also not feel anything at all.
The sweet sound of someone humming made Eirin wake from her sleep and the first thing she saw was the lampshade on her bedside table floating away into the air. 'What the heck?' Eirin slowly got up while squinting. It was not only the lampshade, but lots of different objects were also oddly floating in the air, defying gravity. Her eyes landed on the other side of the room where her roommate, Coleen, was sitting on her bed while brushing her long purple hair and letting out a humming sound.
'She looks like she's in a good mood,' Eirin thought, avoiding making a sound to not annoy Coleen, but the moment she placed her feet on the floor, Coleen stopped humming and quickly faced the teenage girl. All the floating objects started falling to the ground creating loud smashing noises.
"I—"
Coleen got up from her bed and rushed out of the room, leaving the broken shards of the lampshade and all the other things on the floor. "Am I supposed to clean all these up?" Eirin muttered while searching for a broom to use and a dustpan. She didn't bother to say anything and started sweeping the shards on the floor. It was just her, and the old broom.
"It would surely make her uncomfortable if I asked how she did that," Eirin said to herself. After cleaning, she picked up the paper on the bedside table which was her class's schedule. "I need to move quickly," she told herself and started her morning routine before going to the cafeteria.
'Thanks to Cali, I can eat properly this time,' Eirin thought while on her way to the classroom after having breakfast in the cafeteria.
"Hello, Eirin." Her classmate, Kara, greeted her before she could enter the classroom. "You look really pretty today," she added.
Eirin just nodded as she did not know what to say, wondering how to even interact with other people at this point. She's also not used to responding to compliments as she deemed them as something 'not true'.
Kara scoffed. "Aren't you going to say something?"
The other students were already entering the classroom, but Eirin couldn't because Kara was standing in front of her, on the first floor of the stairs.
'Am I supposed to say something back? Like what? What do I have to say then?'
"Fine." Kara rolled her eyes and clung to Eirin's right arm. "I'll forgive you this time."
Although confused, Eirin entered the classroom with Kara clinging to her arm. "Let's eat lunch together later, okay?" Kara sat on her seat, and Eirin walked to the back at the highest seat.
"Good morning," Link and his fluffy pink hair greeted Eirin. "Did you two have a good night's sleep? Got any closer than before? It would be fun to hear about it." His smiling face and soft demeanor calmed Eirin as she also smiled without answering his question since it was not only for her to answer. Coleen did not say anything and even ignored her friend, Link.
"Someone woke up all groggy, sheesh," Link shook his head. It was the first time Eirin saw him tease Coleen like that. "Anyway, you already got your class schedule printed for you, right?" The kind and soft boy continued talking to Eirin.
Eirin showed the printed paper she received. "Today's subject is the history of magic and crafts," she said making Link smile even further.
"It is quite fun. I think you'll love it. It's like art class, but instead of art, we learn about magic— but magic is also a form of art so maybe it is also an art class, isn't that right, Shade?" Link turned to the sleeping guy behind them but received no answer.
'Is he seriously sleeping? Did he come here just to sleep?' Eirin could not control her expression as she gave the man a side-eye.
"Good morning."
But soon enough, her attention went to the person who had just entered the room and greeted them with a dignified and full voice. It was Ms. Hockenbury with her hawk-like eyes piercing right through Eirin.
"I believe the students here are already aware of who I am, but I shall still introduce myself. I am Adelyn Hockenbury, call me Ms. Hockenbury, and I shall be your professor for History of Magic and Crafts this semester," the teacher said. "All of you are aware that we have learned the history of magic and crafts since we were younger, and for the people your age, we must dive deeper— but this is a special case." Ms. Hockenbury's eyes wouldn't leave Eirin.
"Since we will be catering to someone who does not have any background in what magic is, we must start from the very beginning."
Eirin gulped. 'Why do I feel like she's staring at me too much?' she thought.
"What is magic and how is it formed?" Ms. Hockenbury started writing on the huge and wide whiteboard in front. "Magic is formed through the mana surrounding our world. Mana is the energy and particles that float everywhere. Usually, our bodies have storage that could store mana, and when we use that mana, we create magic," the teacher formed a small whirlwind on her palm.
"All magical beings are innate to magic, meaning, mana goes in and out of their bodies without limitation. But humans are different. Most humans are not capable of storing mana, but often are born with unique abilities."
Eirin pulled out her notebook to start taking notes. Who knows? It might appear in their examination or something. Despite it all sounding unbelievable, it also reminds her of the story she read as a child. A world where everything is possible.
"That unique ability is called flair," Ms. Hockenbury said. "80% of the human population of Proprius possess a flair. When children with huge storage are born, they cannot control the mana they absorb, which then causes a mutation of the mana constricting and forming an ability which was the flairs."
Eirin's forehead creased as she wrote down everything she could.
"The remaining 10% of humans are deemed to be far special who can store mana in their bodies and wield magic."
Ms. Hockenbury showed how the whirlwind from her hand grew. "I am part of the minority, and we are called wizards. However, we can only store a small amount of mana in our bodies." The whirlwind disappeared. "There are far more powerful human beings that could wield magic at will. On par with the ligmas. They are called the sorcerers."
A student raised their hand which caught everyone's attention. "I heard that sorcerers and wizards are of the same type but only at different levels," the girl wearing thick round glasses said.
"That is correct, Ms. Blouin." Ms. Hockenbury sat on her chair. "Wizards are inferior to sorcerers."
Too much information was being told and Eirin could not keep up at all with all the terms she was hearing for the very first time.
'Flair? Mana? Sorcerers? Ligmas? My head's about to burst!'
"The flair users, wizards, and ligmas made up the population of Proprius," Ms. Hockenbury said. "But there are other humans that do not fit into any of the said classifications." Ms. Hockenbury's gaze landed on Eirin.
"The inops can neither wield magic nor have flairs. This is why they are deemed to be the lowest of humans and why they are separated in a world called Infirmus. They are inferior to us."
'Why do I feel like I heard that word somewhere already?' Eirin thought with her head floating due to the info-dumping Ms. Hockenbury was doing.
"Who would have thought that one of our students here came from the said world." All eyes went to Eirin after Ms. Hockenbury said that. "Ms. Luxfield was said to own a flair due to her bloodline, but the divulgence rite could not even tell what kind of flair she has. We cannot let an inops roam the academy ground now, can't we?"
Eirin could feel discomfort the longer her classmates looked at her.
"That is right, we cannot let that happen." A smile formed on Ms. Hockenbury's wrinkled face as she stood up. "Now, to the training grounds."
All the students inside the classroom stood up, leaving Eirin dumbfounded about what was about to happen. She followed them outside, while Ms. Hockenbury led the class to the training grounds near the dormitory where the huge oak tree stood in the middle, giving shade to those sick of the flaring sun.
"Since we have learned again about the history of flairs, why don't we test our new student's ability? There was a saying that if the divulgence rite would not work, the danger would come and everything would be dandy." Ms. Hockenbury's smile gave fright to the teenage girl.
'What kind of saying is that?' Eirin thought.
"Shade Cromwell and Eirin Luxfield, to the center."
Everyone gasped upon hearing the names mentioned. Silence quickly followed as the tension in the air started rising and the classmates present there felt like they were walking on a tightrope.
With an eyebrow raised, Ms. Hockenbury raised her voice and said, "Did you not hear what I have said?"
Kara raised her hand. "Would it be alright for them to spar, madam?" she asked while suppressing her laughter and trying to keep a straight face. "She might end up dying."
It was indeed the worst match-up. Eirin, who does not even know how magic, and mana work, faces the strongest flair user of his time, Shade Cromwell.
"The academy nurtures the strongest of the strong. It is survival of the fittest, have you not learned of that? If one's too weak to protect oneself, how will they protect the Proprius?"
Eirin was pulled to the center while Shade walked with no expression. 'Am I seriously going to fight this psycho?' the teenage girl thought while looking at her teacher. 'Does this teacher hate me? She does! If not, no sane person would do this.'
"I don't think this is right, Ms. Hockenbury," Link said.
'That's right! Tell her how crazy this idea is,' Eirin thought while looking at Link.
"Eirin is still new to the academy. She might end up getting injured badly, and sorry for the word, but this is unreasonable," Link added. All their other classmates were anxious and on edge, even Coleen who was only watching could not stop fiddling with her fingers.
Despite all the other students trying to stop Ms. Hockenbury, she was blinded by something. Was it hatred? Indifference? No one but her knows.
"What are you waiting for? Begin."
Shade clicked his tongue. "Tell her that you give up," he said while scratching the back of his head. "Before I burn you alive."
"Are you seriously planning to kill me in front of these people?"
Shade chuckled, it sounded dangerous to Eirin's ears. "I don't control my strength to match weaklings like you," he said with a fire forming on the top of his palm causing Eirin to back away. She roamed her vision, searching for someone who could help her get away from this situation, but her classmates were already mesmerized by the fire Shade Cromwell created and no one was putting an effort to stop their battle.
"Begin!"
The fire on Shade's hand vanished the moment Ms. Hockenbury shouted. With no time for hesitation, Shade charged towards Eirin. He was so fast that it didn't take 5 seconds for him to appear in front of Eirin, trying to burn her face with the heat coming from his hand.
"Shit!" Eirin said after dodging by doing a backflip. Saved by her reflex and flexibility, their classmates cheered for her. "Are you serious!?" she screamed.
Shade scoffed. "You're flexible, but that's it." He stood still, and the ominous aura coming from him caused shivers down Eirin's spine. She knew that something was about to go south, and so she dashed away. The young man started throwing a ball of flames at her, not caring if he'd hit any of his classmates.
"You're crazy!" Eirin shouted as she ran as fast as she could to get away from being burned alive.
"Something you're finally right about."
Shade appeared behind Eirin with his right eye glowing red. He threw a fiery right at Eirin's back, which she quickly dodged, but her uniform caught fire causing her to remove her shirt, leaving her wearing only her camisole.
"Oohh!"
This garnered attention from the men in their class and caught the attention of passersby. Her fair white skin almost burned if she was not quick enough to remove her clothes.
"Are you planning to kill me!?" Even her hair almost got burned, causing her to lash out in anger.
However, her words did not bother Shade. Instead, he created flames in the air.
"Shit."
All Eirin could do was cuss aloud as she heard everyone screaming the moment Shade threw the flames at her. If she was not quick enough to lie on the ground, half of her body would have been burned by now.
Eirin looked at Ms. Hockenbury, almost begging her to stop this nonsense, but there was no ounce of worry in the teacher's eyes. It was almost like she was watching something irrelevant.
'Does that teacher want me to die? Because if she does, I WILL REALLY DIE!'
"Use your flair, stupid."
"How am I going to use something I don't know!?"
The immense frustration Eirin felt made her scream. She does not even know why they brought her here, yet she is already being thrown into flames as if she were in a circus. All she could do was run, jump, and dodge everything but there was a limit to how fast she could escape in that constricted place. The heat in the air caused by the flames also made breathing hard for the teenage girl.
"Got you."
When Shade finally got a hold of her, Eirin fell flat to the ground and Shade saddled her, causing the teenage girl unable to move.
"Get off!"
Shade was quick to defend himself from Eirin's attempt to punch his face. A dangerous smile formed on his face causing shivers down Eirin's spine and she gulped. "Fuck," she muttered.
"Die."
Shade raised his fist covered with blazing flames and punched it right through Eirin.