The next morning, Adrianna arrived at the wizard academy much earlier than the start of class. She didn't want Professor Ziu to say anything again. It had been very insulting the previous day. However, to her surprise, Professor Ziu was already present when she walked into her classroom.

"Good- good morning Professor," she said. She was the only student in the classroom. Quietly, she went to sit on a chair a little further away.

​​

Ziu called her, "Adrianna, come over here! I came early especially for you. We need to increase the pace in which you have to learn the spells.

"Why is that so?" asked Adrianna. The pace at which they were going was already hectic. She didn't want to increase her workload any more.

"The ministry will be holding a competition soon for final year students. They want to see who is the best student since they will be inducting new people soon.

"Well, I have no interest in joining the ministry so I think I can be excused."

"It's not that simple Adrianna," Ziu said sternly. "If you are to be the future queen, you have to show them that you are the best. Plus, the ministry functions under the queen or the king. This means that you will have to show then your caliber. I am not interested in whether you end up first in the competition or not, but you need to show them your grit. You can't back out!"

Adrianna looked at the determination on his face but couldn't figure out why he was so determined to convince her. "The competition is clearly for wizards and witches who have been a part of this academy since the beginning. I have only been here for a few days. How can I even be compared to them? This is not justified."

Ziu didn't know how to convince Adrianna. However, what she said was true. "Adrianna, what you are saying is true, however, sometimes, life is not just about taking calculated risks. You need to plunge yourself into that unknown future to test it out. Unless you take the risk, you can never go forward," he urged. "You need to be enterprising, take risks, and learn from your experiences in order to not repeat those mistakes. A competition will be a chance to see people's true personalities," he said while thinking about Lia and Zola. He was appalled by their attitude towards Adrianna.

Adrianna hadn't chosen her parents, so why were behaving like that? Ziu didn't want Adrianna to know about her family so he became quiet after that; he didn't want Adrianna to feel hurt.

Adrianna was surprised with the way Professor Ziu was talking to her. He was behaving like her best friend... just like Niiya. She looked at him and smiled as she remembered Niiya. How was he these days…

"Why are you smiling?" asked Ziu.

Her smile broadened. "You remind me of my best friend Niiya… He was also like this…"

The way she spoke made Ziu extremely happy; he melted in front of her. All his anxieties and apprehensions regarding her joining the competition suddenly vanished as he saw her smiling face.

"Who is Niiya?" he asked enthusiastically.

"He was my friend in college…" replied Adrianna while looking into the distance.

Ziu nodded with a smile. The class started filling slowly and the next hour was spent on teaching them about toxic plants. Another professor, a lady, joined the class to help the students.

After class was over, the headmistress, Ilsa, announced the competition on the loudspeaker.

"Dear Students, the ministry will be holding a competition for final year students next week in which you will all have to participate. The competition will be held in three stages. In each stage, the weaker ones will be eliminated and the winners will pass to the next stage. Your homeroom teacher will give you all the details. Please note that you cannot get any help from your homeroom teacher in any way. If you do, you will be expelled from the academy."

When the students heard about the competition, they were all excited. It was a trend for the top ten students to be selected for ministry jobs. It was considered to be the most prestigious if one were to be selected for a ministerial job directly upon graduation from the academy.

Ziu looked at Adrianna and she looked back at him. All had to take part... she was aghast.

She shook her head and exited the class amidst all the excitement. Everyone was talking about the different components of the competition; it was as though all of them had been prepared for this competition, and she was the only one who was not ready to even face it.

Liam followed Adrianna to her next class. She walked confidently as the alleys guided her to her classroom. However, both Liam and Adrianna found themselves in a different class than the previous day. The classroom was dimly lit and all they could see was a silhouette.

"Professor Ziu?" called Adrianna from the doorway.

"That is not Professor Ziu," came a voice from behind.

Adrianna and Liam turned around to see Professor Ziu standing behind them. "That is professor Gregory. Along with me, he will teach you how to deflect a death spell and... how to cast it."

Professor Gregory stood up from his place and looked at Adrianna. He was an old man with a white beard who appeared as old as Isidorus. He smiled at Adrianna, exposing his yellow and missing teeth, and said, "I have been waiting to meet you even before you were born Adrianna."

Adrianna was shocked.