The first question I had was, “What is the academy called?”

Mortimer walked around the conference table inspecting every chair as he went, “I always find it interesting watching students to see how they select a chair at the round table. Personally, I look for a seat in the shade. The sun glares in the window sometimes. The academy is called The Academy because we are the academy.”

“Aren’t there other academies?”, I questioned the headmaster.

He gingerly sat in one of the chairs and answered, “Other academies there may be, but none share the rich history of The Academy. Tell me. When did the two of you awaken.”

Kalliphae answered first, “I first awakened three years ago. I discovered I had an affinity for fire when I accidentally touched a flame and it stuck to my hand.”

The old man nodded, “And you Melvin?”

I sighed, “A couple weeks ago.”

“Late bloomer eh?”, his lip twitched as he made the comment.

I asked, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Kalli filled me in with a giggle. Most people who awaken from non-magical families usually show the first signs with the onset of puberty.

I turned red as Mortimer said, “Very well. What was the first clue that you had awakened?”

I thought back to the day I had awakened in the mental hospital. I replied, “There was a menu that I just couldn’t see. I had to trick my eyes to actually see it. Then I guess you could say I unlocked magic.”

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, “Interesting. What is the extent of your ability to scan? Different people can see different amounts of information. I am curious. Inspect me and tell me what you see.”

Name

Mortimer Ramsey

Class

Illusionist

Level

???

Affection Level

Intrigued

I looked over the information. I knew that I could try to look deeper, but I wasn’t sure how much I should let on. I offered, “I can see your name and that you are an illusionist. I don’t know what level you are. That happens sometimes.”

He shook his head, “Look deeper.”

Name

Mortimer Ramsey

Class

Illusionist

Level

???

Hitpoints

17,500

Mana

17,500

Stamina

17,500

Strength

125

Dexterity

125

Agility

125

Constitution

125

Intelligence

150

Wisdom

200

Charisma

80

Luck

65

I frowned at the menu, “I don’t really understand stats. Did you raise them, or were you born with high stats? No matter how many times I level up, my stats never go up.”

The old man smiled, “So you can see them. That’s a good thing. Not many awakened can. Eyes that can see deep into the inner workings of the world are quite rare. To answer your question, your stats are like a pool. You have to fill it. Let’s look at your highest current stat, intelligence. You possess a score of 85. That alone doesn’t mean you are smart. It means that you have the capacity to be smart. From your past actions, I’d rate your current intellect at 25, if that.”

Kalli snickered, “Lower.”

Not you too.

She stuck her tongue out at me. You are kind of a bonehead. You tend to bite off more than you can chew an awful lot.

That hurts you know.

Mortimer let our mental banter play out before continuing, “To raise your stat cap, you must first fill it to capacity. In your case, that means you need training. That’s where The Academy comes in.”

I scratched the back of my head as I tried to process what he was telling me, “So how do I raise my stats once I max them out?”

Mortimer corrected me, “You raise stat caps, not stats. To break through your current limits, you will need to recreate the vessel. I am talking about your physical body and mind. Some of your stats will naturally grow with time as your body matures into that of an adult. However, if you wish to break the chains of limitations, you will have to redefine what it means to be human.”

I gaped at the man, “What does that mean?”

He stood up and announced, “Come to school and find out. Now, Miss Kalliphae. How about you show me that flame of yours once more.”

Kalli, for her part, hadn’t completely extinguished her flames. She emitted a light orange glow as the fire flickered up and down her body. She closed her eyes and an aurora of flame radiated around her. She asked, “Would you like me to burn something?”

Mortimer stepped over to Kalli and touched the flame. She shuddered and retreated. The man said, “Very well, attack me with your flame.”

Kalliphae tentatively pointed her hand at the administrator. The flame obeyed and arced out toward him, never losing its connection to the girl. The man stood stock still as the flames raced over him, looking for purchase.

I could see a blue barrier surrounding the man’s body that was preventing Kalli’s attack from finding purchase. It wasn’t attached to his skin like Kalliphae’s fire was. There was a one-foot gap between his body and the shield. I wanted to help her, so I examined it.

Item:

Shell

Components

Mana

Item Rank:

C

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Ramsey

He has some kind of a magical shield surrounding him.

Kalli was starting to sweat. I already know that. My fire can’t get through.

I nodded my head toward Mortimer.

Put your hand through the shield then use your fire. It only blocks magic.

The redhead gaped at me. How do you want me to do that?

Just touch him.

She mouthed the words. I can’t.

I sighed and moved toward the old man. He looked at me but didn’t do anything. I took a deep breath and reached out to touch his arm.

I think this should work.

The hard part was remembering how Kalli used the fire spell. I’d never really used it before. However, she had used it on me more times than I cared to remember. That particular magic had even been inside of me cleansing my blood. My mana passageways were intimately familiar with the gentle heat of Kalli’s warm fire.

I closed my eyes and imagined the spark I felt when Kalli’s fire first ignited my white from deep within her core. I felt her gasp in my mind as I made my mana explode once again. It raced through my body, changing the texture of my core. I pushed it back through my body to my hands. Then I felt the way she mentally transformed it into a flame and willed my mana to do the same. I allowed the flame to erupt from my hand that was gripping the old man’s arm.

His eyes widened for a moment as he watched the flame erupt from my hand. My mistake was when I attempted to take it a step further. I tried to push the flame inside the man. I was barely through the skin when I knew something had gone horribly wrong. I felt rainbow-colored mana rush to push me back out.

The next thing I knew I was flying across the room and crashing into a wall. Kalli cried out, “Melvin.”

Kalli attempted to rouse me from the inside of my head. Her voice echoed through the darkness that fogged my thoughts. Mel, are you okay? Wake up.

I groaned. The fog was already starting to lift, but I wanted to milk it for the attention. Kalliphae noticed this as well and punched me in the shoulder. Fine. Wake up when you want. I don’t care anymore.

I felt her weight lift off of me and heard the administrator laughing from across the room. I reached up to rub my head and felt a lump. It was quickly shrinking. I groaned again and pulled myself upright. Mortimer had sat back down at the conference table and Kalli stood near me with an expression mixed with concern and anger on her face.

Mortimer smiled and said, “That was impressive. Reckless but impressive nonetheless. First off, Miss Kalliphae. Your framework is very developed and your mana is well regulated. I can tell that you have developed that spell quite nicely.”

He took a deep breath, “Melvin. You are definitely impressive in how you innately understood the weakness of the shell spell. Your ability to cast magic wordlessly is also a rare skill. While your fire is less developed than Kalli’s you managed to slip it past my primary defenses. However, trying to invade my body with such feeble magic could get you killed. Our bodies have a built-in defense mechanism that prevents unwanted invasions such as what you just attempted to do. That feedback you felt is a natural reaction that I cannot control. You are fortunate that you didn’t go sailing right out of the window.”

That didn’t make sense. Kalli didn’t reject me like that when I pushed my mana through her. I blurted out, “That didn’t happen when I did it the last time.”

He eyed me suspiciously, “You tried to burn someone from the inside out?”

I laughed nervously, “Flames don’t always have to burn. Kalli taught me that flames can be used to clean and wipe your…”

Kalli cut me off with a snort, “Ahem, I’m sure Mr. Ramsey knows all about the many properties of fire.”

Mortimer chuckled and informed the girl, “I’m very interested in hearing all about the many uses of fire that young Melvin here has discovered.”

Kalli glared at me. Don’t you dare.

I grinned at her mischievously but said nothing. Realizing that I wasn’t going to answer, he continued, “It is considered an advanced technique to push your mana into another person’s body. You will have to tell me about the experience sometime. We occasionally get monks from the Far East as guest teachers at the school who do something similar. They teach advanced mana seminars and help students make better use of their mana. This year we were not able to secure one.”

I realized he was lecturing us again so I asked, “Did we pass the test?”

Mortimer laughed, “Hah. The two of you passed the moment you dealt with my construct. With your recommendation, the only real question was where to place you.”

Kalli and I looked at one another. I asked, “Place us? Do you mean like the sorting hat from Harry Potter?”

The old man groaned, “We always get that comparison. The next thing I know, you’ll be calling me Dumbledore. Your placement has to do with choosing which classes you are qualified for. It wouldn’t do to place a beginning mage in an advanced course. While more evaluation will be needed, I now have a good idea of what we can expect from you two. However, you must both be tired. Did they tell you about the dorms?”

“It’s in a hotel, right?”, I asked, still curious about the arrangement.

He nodded and pulled an envelope containing two key cards from his pocket. He instructed us, “Report to the front desk tomorrow at 8 A.M. and ask for a counselor to get you properly enrolled.”

Kalliphae stood and curtsied before the old man whose face lit up as he bowed in return. I quickly jumped to my feet and awkwardly bowed as well. Kalli and Mortimer both supressed a laugh as he returned the bow once again.

As we walked to the hotel, Kalli stopped to look in the window of every shop we passed on the way. Mel, this place smells so good.

We can eat once we get to the hotel. We have the BUFF for free food. Just remember the name of the restaurant and we can summon some.

We were greeted when we arrived at the Marriot by a woman in a blue vest, “Good evening. Are you two here with your parents?”

I took out the room keys and showed them to the woman. Her face darkened and she let out a heavy sigh, “More students. Ugh. Use the service elevator down the hall. Please refrain from entering any common areas or public elevators. Also, the complimentary breakfast buffet is not for students.”

Kalliphae gave me a worried look. I asked the lady, “Is there anywhere we are allowed to go?”

She nodded emphatically, “Please confine yourselves to the dormitory floors at all times.”

As we walked down the hall to the elevator I sent a thought to Kalli.

I hope I get to share a room with you.

I could immediately tell that she didn’t like the idea nearly as much as I did. No way.

It got even worse when we found our way down to the dorm floors. Boys and girls didn’t even share the same floor. Kalli’s stop was first. I decided to walk with her to her room. The dormitory floors were unlike anything I had ever seen before. I hadn’t been to many hotels in my life, but I had seen them on television.

The elevator let us out into an open area filled with lounges made up of comfortable-looking couches. In another section, long tables were laid out and we could see a few girls eating meals. They all watched us curiously as Kalliphae looked around for her room number.

The entrances to the rooms were shaped like tiny cabins that lined the outer walls of the large chamber. Kalli looked at her key card. This one says I’m in room 117. It should be…that one.

I followed the girl over to the door. She held the card in her hand and looked at the door. How does this work?

Kalliphae tried to wave the card in front of the door and frowned when nothing happened. I pointed her to the card swiper above the handle.

Slide the card down that slot there.

Just as Kalli was about to try the card, a shrill voice behind us said, “What kind of a country bumpkin doesn’t know how to use a key card at a hotel?”