Chapter 16:

The goblin and drow ate and drank the evening away. After several shots of Fire Breath, the tavern’s most notorious drink, Rorik had been forced to admit defeat. He would have never guessed a goblin could out drink him. Stryg on the other hand had never guessed what it meant to be drunk. His vision swam throughout the room. He vomited in the alleyway behind the tavern. It was a good time. A wasted Rorik barely managed to help him back onto the carriage. He dropped a drunk Stryg off at the academy dorms.

Stryg stumbled his way to room 11 on the second floor. It took him a few moments to fish out his key and fiddle with the lock. After what seemed like an hour, he finally managed to open the door. For his first time opening a locked door, Stryg considered it a resounding success. The room was quite small, large enough only to fit a bed and a petite storage chest.

His mind faintly noticed the stack of folded clothes that sat in the open chest. He closed his door and fell into the bed. Beds had to be one of the greatest discoveries Stryg had found in Hollow Shade. He sighed in sweet bliss and fell into a deep sleep.

Stryg woke up the next morning to the sound of bells ringing. His mind tried to understand what he was hearing. His head felt like it had been split open with an axe. He groaned in pain from the battering sound. What on earth was making that horrible noise? His eyes opened in alarm as he realized the significance of the bell, the sound of classes starting. He lurched to his feet as his bleary eyes searched for clothes in the wooden chest. His pupils dilated and contracted repeatedly in a sporadic cycle. Mornings usually came easy for him, but today he felt like had just been beaten up and thrown off a cliff.

“Gods above, I hate alcohol,” he mumbled.

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Kithina tried suppressing the butterflies in her stomach. It was the first day of class and she wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The classroom was already full of chattering first years, but the professor had yet to arrive. She couldn’t believe she was actually here, it was like she was living in a fairy tale.

Kithina had turned eighteen in late spring. She recalled the day she visited her dad at work. When the papers in her father’s office had gone flying everywhere, they had both held suspicions. When her parents had her tested, their suspicions had become fact, and eventually hope. Kithina was a mageborn, a being blessed with the power of magic. The prospects of her commoner family had just soared.

Hollow Shade would pay for her education to study and become a mage. As a mage she’d be able to make enough money to help her family live more comfortably and not have to worry about the yearly nameplate tax.

Like the majority of people in Hollow Shade, her family arrived at the city in the hopes of avoiding the raids that had claimed the lives of so many others in Dusk Valley. The family had spent all their savings to buy iron nameplates. Kithina had just been a little girl at the time, but she remembered seeing her father toil away at work, trying to make ends meet for his wife and two children. But, above all, like all commoners, making sure he had enough coin to pay the nameplate tax.

Kithina supposed they had been lucky to be dwarves, humans had a difficult time finding decent work in the city, goblins even more so. Of course, had they been orcs their father probably could have enlisted in one of the garrisons and worked as a low ranked guard. If they had been drow or vampires, they probably would have had connections in the city and gotten by just fine. But, no, instead they struggled to get by.

Kithina had plenty of memories of cold nights and empty stomachs. They only managed to survive in the callous city thanks to their father being a trained scribe fortunately.

But now, things would change for the better. Kithina felt the comfortable weight of the nameplate resting in her pocket. It was incredible, just by being a mageborn she had been granted a silver nameplate. By the time she was a mage, she would be able to make enough money to change everything.

What’s more she would know magic. Actual magic, not some party tricks or sleight of hand. Kithina would join the ranks of the heroes in the stories she grew up hearing. She had spent the summer daydreaming about casting bolts of flame, flying through the sky, healing mortal wounds, and driving off invaders from other Null Realms, like the ebon lords of old.

First, she would have to do well in class. Kithina had three simple yet clear goals that she was determined to achieve in her time at the magic academy.

Number one, she needed to excel in all of her classes. She couldn’t afford to fail and be kicked out of the academy, it would be the end of all her dreams.

Number two, she would become a powerful mage. With magic on her side nothing would be impossible.

Lastly, she had to make strong connections with the elites that attended the school. Having friends in high places would open so many doors for her. Kithina wasn’t confused about the hierarchy of Hollow Shade. The city like the rest of the Ebon Realm was ruled by oligarchies. Making friends with the powerful named houses that ruled that city was the best option, no, the only option for Kithina if she wished to survive academy life.

She just hoped that they would be good friends, not snobbish nor rude. Who knows, she might even find a handsome mage among the academy. Someone that would become more than just friends. She could just imagine it so clearly. She could go on adventures with him, and they’d fall in love after experiencing difficult trials in the wilds together. They would be by each other’s side forever.

Kithina glanced around the classroom, trying to gauge her fellow classmates. While they all wore the school issued grey tunics, and black pants or skirts, Kithina could still tell who came from a commoner or elite background. The trick was in the small things. Some people wore golden earrings or rings. Others had silver beads interwoven in their hair, a trait of beauty in dwarven culture, not that Kithina could afford it. She had to settle for small wooden beads.

The biggest clue was how the students carried themselves. The elites laughed and chatted with their friends, no doubt other rich kids. The few commoners stood quiet in their seats, worried that they might make some mistake and accidentally get kicked out from school before they even had the chance to begin.

Kithina empathized with the commoners, after all, she was one of them. A loose strand of red hair drifted to her face, she pulled it back. Kithina smiled to herself, but she had one thing that the other commoners did not. She was proficient at reading and writing, more so than probably half the elites in the class. Since little, her father had drilled into her the skills of a scribe.

The classroom door opened. The chatter died down as a drow in black mage robes entered. A silver necklace embedded with an emerald hung from his neck. His white hair was cropped short. A solemn expression shrouded his face.

“Good morning first years. Welcome to your first day of your next three years of misery,” he said.

Whispers of uncertainty ran among the students.

The drow continued in a grave pitch, “Make no mistake, that is exactly what you will be facing here at the academy. Magic is not something that is learned on a whim. It is not a toy to impress your friends with. It is a dedicated craft wrought through sweat and blood. You will suffer in the pursuit of its mastery. Many of you will fail and break. Few will achieve a semblance of skill. But, if you devote all of your being to magic and its mysteries, with the proper guidance, and a significant measure of talent, I’ll make you magi yet. You may call me Professor Rime and this is Magic Fundamentals.”

Kithina could hardly contain her excitement. This was a real mage. A being who exuded power. She would learn magic from him.

“Now-” Rime began.

The door slammed open. Everyone’s eyes turned to stare at the fool who dared to interrupt the master mage. A small goblin stepped in. A goblin? Kithina had never heard of a goblin mage before, but sure enough he was wearing the grey tunic and black pants like the rest of the male students.

Stryg eyed the class and glanced at his curriculum paper. This seemed to be the right place and clearly he had arrived late. Everyone was watching him and judging by their stares, not with any good intentions. Stryg looked at the drow who stood in the front, he guessed he was the teacher. Stryg bowed his head to Rime and made his way to one of the front seats. He wished he could have hidden in the back, but he wouldn’t have been able to see past everyone’s shoulders and heads.

Rime presented Stryg with a magnificent death stare throughout the entire walk. Kithina observed in horror as the goblin sat next to her. He smelled. A rancid scent, mixed with alcohol. Did something die and had the goblin decided to bathe in its guts? Kithina cursed her luck, she didn’t want to sit next to him, didn’t want to be associated with him. Goal number three, make friends with the elite. Elite. Not a back-alley hobo goblin. She needed to put as much distance between herself and the potential threat to her future dreams. But she couldn’t quite well get up and risk angering Rime.

Stryg’s sensitive ears picked up on his other classmates’ whispers of how he smelled. Stryg cursed in his mind. He had forgotten to bathe. Great, second failure of the day. In record time I might add, Stryg thought to himself glumly.

“Any other interruptions?” Rime asked with a brow raised.

After a few agonizing long seconds Stryg realized he was talking to him. “Oh, uh, no.”

“You should hope so, otherwise I’ll have you out of my class,” Rime admonished.

Most of the class snickered at Stryg’s predicament. Kithina really hated being next to the laughing stock, it was one step away from being his partner in crime. She tried her best to ignore his existence.

“Silence!” Rime declared. “What is this? I thought I was teaching a class of adults, not children!”

And there it is, partner in crime, Kithina lamented.

Rime’s domineering voice silenced the class. He adjusted his robes. “Now, today is simply supposed to be an introduction to the academy for you first years, hence why it is the only class you have listed for the day. But, clearly, you all have enough energy and idiocy to require a change of plans. Listen well, you will later be quizzed on what I say next. Your first lecture begins now.”