The bell rang, and classes were dismissed. The hallways were packed with students who were trying to leave school for the day. "Damn, this hallway is crowded!" Chad said, squeezing through the crowd in the opposite direction of the crowd. As he did, he accidentally collided with another student. It was someone with green, ruffled-up hair, with a tattered and dirty school uniform. He stared down Chad with a face of utter disgust as if he were a king being spat on by a commoner. "Did someone just bump into me?" He looked at Chad who awkwardly stood in front of him. Getting closer to Chad's face, he bumped heads with him as he eyed him down. "You're new around here, aren't you?" He said with a cold demeanor. The students walking past the both of them tried their best to ignore the tense situation as if Chad was the unlucky pick to get chosen. "Well, my name is Joseph Kern, the strongest in this entire district. Remember the name, buddy." he pushed Chad aside, knocking him to the ground. Some of the other students whispered to each other from their interaction and stared at Chad, but never bothered to even help him up. Joesph walked away, leaving most of the students to walk around Chad. As Chad stood up and brushed himself off, he looked at Joesph continuing to walk away with a large gap of space made between him and the crowd of students. "Jeez, he was weird." said Chad.
Rereading the directions on the paper, he noticed that he was on the right path. "Hmmm... the paper stated that it should be down here." Folding up the letter and putting it into his pocket, he went to the very end of the first-floor hallway. At the end of the hallway was a designated room with a sign saying, "After-School Study Club". Staring at the door, he tidied up his school uniform before entering. "Well, it's time to give them a good first impression!"
In anticipation, he opened the door, ready to introduce himself. Stepping foot inside the room, he was greeted by a jolt of flames that missed by a hair. Slamming against the wood door to the side of Chad, it left a very dark singe mark on it. "You damn bastard, thinking you can-"
It was a girl with blonde, silky hair. Her beauty stood unmatched in the room, making the other people in it appear transparent. Just like everyone else in the room, she also had elf ears. The visibly shocked face also stood out. It stared deep into Chad's view as if he were an unexpected guest.
"U-Um, Elmira, I think that's the wrong person..." said someone else in the room.
The girl in blonde started to tremble in with visible panic. Taking a closer look, they were right. This person is definitely not who she was thinking of. "I-I AM SO SORRY FOR WHAT I'VE DONE!"
Moments later, both Chad and Elmira sat at the table in the middle of the club room. The room had a multitude of things. Multiple bean bags to sit on, random posters that had a dog with glasses, telling the reader to "Study hard!" in each poster. Every shelf in the room was filled with books about each subject there is to learn in school. Elmira sat right across from Chad, beginning to introduce her club members.
"So my name is Elmira, and these are my club members." The blonde-haired woman said. She first aimed her hand at a person whose presence had held a high tone of silence. They were so silent that they were almost forgettable at one point. "This person is Niantha; she's the most studious one here!" As Niantha was being introduced, she was still deeply engaged with her studies. Her round glasses reflected the countless numbers of math equations that she is currently working on, impressing even Chad to some extent.
Elmira points at another girl cowering away in the corner. "Over there is Keisha; she's very shy, but once she gets to know you better, she'll open up to you!" Keisha looked like a timid puppy, giving Chad an extremely discomforting look. Keisha wore a black beanie alongside her school uniform, which was kind of cute in Chad's eyes. Chad gave a small wave in her direction; she didn't respond, only trembling at the attention she received.
Elmira finally got to the last club member, who was sitting in a chair on her phone with earbuds in her ear. "This is Shoka; she's a very laid-back person, but she's always understanding when you need help." Shoka wore a hoodie and a face mask. Her skin tone was darker than the others, and she had a worn-down cap on the top of her head. Chad observed her appearance very carefully and wasn't accepting of it at all. From his 10-minute speedread of the school's regulations, he was greatly disturbed. "This is clearly against the school's dress code!" Shoka wasn't even paying attention to her introduction; she was busy watching a video of puppies on her phone.
"Welcome to the After-School Study Club, new student council president!" Elmira gleefully exclaimed. Her introduction was welcoming, but something stood out for Chad when he observed the club room. "Isn't this club the After-School Study Club?" he wondered, observing all of the club members. So, Chad decided to inquire Elmira about their activities. "Um, I know this is a study club, but shouldn't everyone be studying? Why is there only one person studying right now?"
Elmira paused for a moment as if she didn't expect that question to come out of the blue. Hesitant to answer, she averted her eyes away from Chad's gaze. "E-Eh? W-Well Mr. President, we're taking a break currently!" She followed up her sentence with an awkward laugh. Squinting his eyes at Elmira, Chad says, "Well, that better be the case. Even though I'm new around here, I better hope that our school resources are going to what it's supposed to be used for." Hearing Chad, Elmira gulped and began to quiver in fear. "I promise, our funds are going to the right things!" The air was getting tight and everybody in the club room averted their attention to the current conversation. Niantha paid attention closely, adjusting her glasses to this intriguing situation.
They held onto this intense moment for a few more seconds before Chad broke the tension. "Oh, okay." he said in a casual tone. Chad then took out the letter that was sent by the After-School Study Club and placed it on the table. "Now, let's to actual business, shall we? I heard you requested my help, right?" Elmira seeing her letter, nodded. "Yes... it's a very serious situation. Recently, we've been getting attacked randomly by unknown sources."
"Can you explain how they've been attacking you exactly?" questioned Chad.
"Well, either some random person opens our club room door, shoots some dark mist at us, and then disappears right after, or, they place down a trap that leaves a dark mist that suffocates us."
The problem was blatant assault. No way something like this should slide in any school. "This sounds quite serious. Why haven't you reported this to the principal yet?" Chad asked.
Elmira quite ticked by the question, suddenly lashed out. "We did!" she yelled. Then, with realization right after, she calmed down. "Sorry... I didn't mean to yell at you like that." Chad was taken back by her anger at first but was even more confused about what she meant. "You did? There's no way the school would act blindly on this matter." Chad said. In response to the statement, Elmira let out a sigh. "But they did. After telling the principal, he said that he would get to the bottom of this. A few weeks later, nothing changed, and whenever I questioned the principal about this, I was ignored every time. We even went to the police about this matter and they've done nothing as well."
This concerned Chad. Why was nothing done for these students? Something must be going on for this unusual behavior. "I'll ask the principal about this and we can hear what he has to say. For now, I'll protect you guys." Elmira wasn't hopeful about his statement. First of all, Chad was a completely new student who was put into the position of student council president. It was even more ridiculous that there was no election process held for this position. Secondly, Elmira sensed no strength from Chad. Back then, Elmira had fought countless strong opponents. She could tell whether somebody was actually strong or not. "Well, President, if you're going to be protecting us, I'd like to know what type of magic you use. Do you use standard magic, specialized magic, or primordial magic?" Elmira was highly doubtful that it was going to be anything impressive. Giving a cheeky grin, Chad aimed his thumb at himself in a cocky demeanor. "Heh... well, I'm pretty strong so it's a surprise." Elmira wasn't impressed.
Elmira thought that she should demonstrate her abilities if they were going to be working together, so she decided to showcase what she could do. "My magic is called Firebolt. I can make and shoot firebolts from my fingers." Elmira pointed her finger at the opened window. She then concentrated a ball of fire that swirled on the tip of her finger. Right after, she shot out a firebolt that traveled at an incredible speed. It flew through the window and got smaller and smaller as it went a distance away from Elmira. "It's a standard magic that originated from fire."
Chad observed her magic closely. "Good range, speed, and casting time. I wonder why she isn't in any combat-oriented clubs."
Elmira got in the face of Chad, staring him down intensely. "You must have either a specialized or primordial magic, right? There's no way you got the president's position without even trying if you didn't have either one of those!" Both Elmira and Chad stared at each other—Elmira awaiting an answer from Chad—and Chad did not respond to her question. "You can't hide your magic forever; you need to tell us!" Elmira's demands were clear, but Chad wasn't budging in the slightest. "Eh, I'll just tell you this: I'm the strongest." He told her with a cocky grin.
"Oh yeah? If Keisha, Shoka, and I were to all attack you at once, would you lose?"
Chad chuckled at the question and turned his head to face the window. "Nah, I'd win."
//
Magic Name: Fireshot
User: Elmira Sterling
Type: Standard
Rank: Average
Description: Conjure firebolts from the user's fingertips.
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