The morning sun rose over the Xymaris School of Magic as the clocktower chimed, telling all of its students it was time to start the day. Nobles and commoners alike woke up and dressed in their uniforms to start the school day. The school was the only one of the three capital magic academies that accepted commoners, which the other two schools disapproved of, and one of them looked down on them for such an act. There was a distinct interest amongst the nobility regarding commoners learning magic; some believed that they should hone their skills to better the country itself, while others believed magic was reserved for the nobility and the commoners should never learn how to utilize such gifts, even if commoner magic was rare in itself.
The Xymaris School of Magic, however, did not care for such views; one of the goddess Xymaris's core tenants was equality, which the school put into practice.
And inside one of the second-year dorm rooms was a girl with long black hair reaching the center of her back and bright purple eyes.
"Hmm..."
"Raven! We got to get going. Professor Xeno's class begins in twenty minutes!"
Raven rubbed her eyes; she had experienced a very weird dream the previous night. She was in a dark room with no light around her except she wasn't alone; a figure with dark black hair and purple eyes like her was sitting in the middle. Her first thought was how he resembled her brother Alex; she tried speaking to him but to no success; none of her words were heard, but she could feel emotions surround her—dark, painful emotions.
"You okay, Raven?"
Raven finally opened her eyes and saw her roommate Freya looking at her. Freya had long silver hair with matching eyes. She had met Freya during her first year at the school. The two were assigned roommates but became thick as thieves over the year of studying and training together. Freya, like Raven, came from a noble family in the capital. The Crawford Family were some of the best magic doctors in the world; however, unlike her mother and father, she did not inherit the healing magic that had been passed down through her family; her older sister did. Freya instead inherited the same magic as her aunt, white-fire magic. As a result, she had joined the Xymaris School of Magic, much to her parents dismay, who wanted her to join the Iris Girls Academy, a school for the nobility that only accepted girls.
"Sorry, I'm fine, Freya, just a weird dream." Raven said as she got out of bed.
"Weird dream? Nevermind, we can talk about it later, but we have to get going now if we want to make it in time." Freya said as she buttoned up her uniform.
Raven quickly got up and washed herself before getting ready herself; like Freya, she was wearing a white button-up shirt, the school skirt, along with black thigh-high socks. Freya was dressed the same, but instead of thigh highs, she wore white knee-high socks. This was the standard for the female uniforms of the school, while the males wore a dress shirt with a tie and the optional school jacket along with dress pants and dress shoes.
"Hey, isn't the entrance ceremony later today?" Raven asked.
"Yeah, heard about fifty newbies made it to the next stage of the test." Freya said.
The Xymaris School of Magic entrance exam would usually have two hundred candidates to begin the testing, then the school used three tests: magical ability, magical potential, and lastly, combat expertise. Usually around one hundred and twenty candidates would make it past that stage, then it would go down further after a battle royale-style event would take place and the top seventy-five would move on.
"Fifty? That's a lot less than last year." Raven commented.
Freya nodded "Heard a rumor that two of the candidates completely wiped out most of the candidates in the second stage. Apparently they are the top two candidates this year."
"Have you decided on who you're mentoring?" Raven asked.
"Depends. I'll only mentor someone that has great potential; otherwise, I'll just go without one." Freya said.
"I see," Raven said. "That little nickname of yours still fits."
"I hate that. It doesn't even make sense..." Freya said, sighing.
The two continued to banter as they got fully ready and headed to class. Classes went by as usual before the two headed to the area where the tests would take place. Thousands of students filled the seats; however, ten specific seats were blocked off by a barrier.
These ten seats belonged to the top 10 students of the school, and along with their reserved seats and status, they also got first pick amongst the recruits to mentor. The mentorship works as second-year students mentor the incoming first-years by seeing their talents and raising their hands. The highest-ranking student always gets priority.
And it just so happens the top two seats were already taken.
Freya Crawford, the number one ranked student, and Raven Blackwood, the number two ranked student, together they were known as the Fire and Lightning Empresses. Both of them seemed untouchable; any match they were in, they won; every test, they aced. It didn't matter what they did; they succeeded. Which may them revered even more so than some of the third years.
However, there was one brave...or stupid bastard that took the challenge.
"Hello girls. Nice seeing you two here."
Isaac Saville, son of a high-ranking noble and currently the third-ranked seat. He was a third-year student who had everything he could've wanted. Except for the thing he couldn't have, Freya or Raven. Every time he saw them, he tried to work his magic to get them to be his; however, he was rejected at every turn.
"And now I want to leave." Freya said, sighing.
"Awe, don't be like that. Not every day we get to be this close to each other." Isaac said as he took his seat.
"And thank the goddesses for that." Raven said with a sigh.
"So you two going to take any of the new candidates?" Isaac asked with neither of them answering.
They completely ignored Isaac at every turn instead talking amongst themselves, which infuriated Isaac.
Soon enough, the bell above school chimed, and the staff had entered their own reserved seats.
"Headmistress Aurier is here..." one of the students said in shock.
The headmistress was a middle-aged woman with long white hair and bright blue eyes. Despite being older, she looked as if she were in the middle of her twenties. She had the grace and etiquette to make any man swoon.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Today is a day many of you know well; today fifty young, bright-eyed student candidates will face off in one-on-one matches. Now winning or losing in the end doesn't matter; what does matter is impressing our second years enough to take them under their wing; however, as I did tell the candidates, winning does improve their chances, so they will be giving it their all. If a candidate is not selected by any second year, they will not be accepted to the academy, although they will have the opportunity to join their region's magical academies next month during their entrance exams. Now, the first matchup today will be Kurt Conwood against Emma Nornell. Good luck to all the candidates here."
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