Part 1

Me and Youm were running, dashing through Alamara’s streets as if there were no townspeople around. The supposed reason behind that run was to reach the others as fast as possible but in truth, we both had expressions too excited simply for that reason. Defying Gallher, escaping his trap and once again declaring our hostility, how could we not be excited about it? We were just two kids with our hearts full of spite and hands too hot to keep in our pockets. Neither of us would have bowed.

“Are we going to meet the others at Legis’ lab?” Asked my companion as we approached the academy's gates.

It was a sound question since I told everyone to gather in one of the empty rooms and set up a defense there. Though the truth was slightly different.

“Not exactly, the plan changed a bit”

“Is it because of your conversation with Hannes?”

“Right on the money, my dear Youm!” I replied with a wink.

“Please, talk like your normal self, it’s annoying! Why’d you change the location?”

“It’s a test…though I sincerely hope it fails”

“And if it succeeds?” Asked Youm with a powerful gaze in his eyes.

“...If it does…I don’t even wanna think about it. Follow me for now” I replied as I sunk my sight on the ground.

We ran some more, in complete silence. I had a feeling that Youm wanted to ask me more about this test of mine but refrained after seeing my expression. In silence, we ran through students and gardens until we reached the front of the building where Legis’ lab was.

We rushed inside, with Youm following me who already knew what room they were supposed to be hiding in. Groud floor, room number 21, at the very last row on the left corner. I chose this room for two reasons: first because it was vacant and second because it was the room easiest to siege.

“What are we here for? Aren’t the others somewhere else? What if they are atta-” Began frenetically asking Youm as soon as we entered the room.

“They will be attacked” I coldly replied as I began inspecting the room.

“What are you saying?”

“I said they will be attacked. I purposely leaked information of the second meeting point so that they’d be attacked”

As soon as I finished my phrase, a heavy punch flew right into my jaw, making my brain ache and my head spin.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU RAPHAEL?!-” Shouted Youm now standing over me with his fist charged “-You leaked their position to the enemy? You sold our friends to the enem-”

“DON’T BE AN IDIOT!-” I shouted as I pushed him away from me “- Do you think I would’ve done that without first being certain of their safety?! You have a brain, use it you fucking idiot! Do you really see me as someone who sells out his own friends!?”

“...then what? How can you be sure of their safety?” Shouted Youm with a strange expression on his face. It’s lower half was clearly expressing anger while his eyes seemed to ooze an aura of sadness.

“I trust Danthe, he had enough strength to go toe to toe against me[for the most part], then there’s Lucas and Sora. Do you think they’d go down because of a bunch of students?”

“Are you sure they’ll be just students? It would be easy to sneak some assassins, soldiers or adventurers within the borders of the academy now that the headmaster is away”

“Yeah, that didn’t go as expected but don’t worry. I have a…pact with professor Gildoor. He’s already back at the academy and is probably looking out for our friends right now”

“A pact?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Just know that our friends are safe no matter what happens, ok?”

“...I’m-” Tried to say Youm with his face now clearly expressing sadness and regret “-I’m sorry for saying such harsh things…I didn’t know”

“Don’t worry about it. Honestly, I expected much worse…though I have to say that punch hurts like hell!” I replied with a light laugh as I extended my hand towards the sitting Youm.

“So?-” Continued Youm as he accepted my hand “- What are we here for?”

“Look for signs of someone breaking in”

For around the next five minutes, we searched every nook and cranny of the room, gathering whatever information we could on whether someone attacked that place or not. The room was cleaned, more so than I expected for a vacant room. Thinking that someone broke in, it was probably cleaned after the break-in happened, but students of our age are not known for their ability to clean, especially those who are of noble lineage and are always surrounded by servants. And, as I regretfully expected, someone did break in.

“Some windows have no glass and pieces of it are stuck in the corners of the stone bricks….Little chunks of wood from what looks like the door, are all around the room…There is not a single speck of dust…” I voiced my thoughts.

“And? What does it mean?” Asked eagerly Youm.

“...means the test succeded” I grimly replied.

“What does-”

“Let’s run to the others-” I said as I began sprinting out of the room “-and please, don’t speak of this to anyone. Anyone, Youm! Not even your sister”

“...got it…”

Part 2

- SORA EVERGARD’S POV -

The view at the top of the “Bird Tower”, named after the numerous poultry that are used to send letters, was breathtaking. We could see the whole academy, from the gates to the place where the arena was built. Even the city could be seen, all the way to Halfmoon lake. It always left me in awe of that view; the city lights reflected on the clear surface of the lake, the sporadic gardens in between the houses, the huge mansions and the small and cozy houses. I could’ve spent the whole night up on that tower taking in the view if it wasn’t for the fact that we were in the middle of a fight.

“Sora!-” Shouted Danthe as a sphere of flames began forming at a few centimeters of distance from his palms “-They broke the wall, cast it again!”

“Yes, yes-” I replied as I rapidly moved to his position “- Stone wall!”

Looking down from the top of the tower I could clearly see twenty, if not even more, students covering their faces with hoods and armed with swords, knives and the sort. They were all students of our age, I could see it. Their movements, their behavior, the way they followed orders, were way too different from the adults I had seen back home. But why were they attacking the tower, the place where we tried to hide until Raphael and my brother’s return? Because we were simple pawns to use against Raphael. Even I understood that we were his weakness, the one thing that made him furious if touched. What happened to Kiara was proof of that, and if I understood it, Gallher did so too.

“Lucas!-” Shouted once again the red-haired boy by me “-Two of them slipped past the walls!”

“Got it!” Shouted Lucas from the staircase on the floor below.

Our positioning was optimal if not impressively coordinated. Four of us were on the topmost floor which only had four pillars at its corners to sustain the roof. The optimal place to shoot down spells to impede the siege. It was me, Danthe, Legis and Kiara who had the role of stalling the enemies and shooting them. Lucas and Amelie, instead, were on the lower floors and had the role of physically intercepting those who were able to slip past the walls we built.

I was wondering how long we still had to wait until the students in their dormitory heard the noises and came out to see what was happening. It was Danthe’s plan to attract as much attention as possible, he spoke about having witnesses and that it was Raphael’s suggestion, but it still was amazing how he could plan it all and give precise orders in the midst of the chaos. Finally, after more than ten minutes as Legis exhausted his mana and Danthe’s voice was becoming hoarse, a crowd of students formed close to the tower.

I could hear them speaking and shouting. “What’s happening?”, “Who are they?”, “Someone call a professor!” were the words most spoken. When our assaulters noticed the crowd behind them, was already too late to escape, one of them who had exhausted his mana had been captured by a beefy student in pajamas and had his identity revealed.

“What?! Laurence Vent?!” Shouted a girl from behind the beefy guy.

“They are all students!-” Shouted another one from the crowd “- Go call a professor, no, the headmaster!”

The hooded students started to panic as some of them ran from the scene while dropping their weapons and others ferociously tried to climb over the stone walls. Though, particularly one group of them, that seemed to have somewhat of a captain leading them, cast away every once left of common sense in them.

“Dammit all!-” Shouted the one who led them “- Shoot the fucking tower down!”

His voice was familiar. A voice that sprung a sense of annoyance in me as if I already had to deal with him. I was sure I heard that voice somewhere, but I couldn’t clearly put my finger on who was the owner of that voice.

[Who is-]

My thoughts were cut short by the sight of an enormous number of spells pointed towards the tower. Fireballs, stone bullets, stone cannons and some more destructive-looking spells I had never seen before were all fixed on a trajectory that pointed at the floor below ours.

“Shit, they are crazy! How can they even capture us like this!?” Shouted Kiara.

“Get ready for it!” Shouted Danthe as he firmly grabbed one pillar.

“FIRE!” Shouted their leader.

It was at that moment, when the wind current generated from one of their spells raised their leader’s hood, that I connected his face to his voice.

“FLOYD!” I shouted as I saw his blonde hair being waved by the wind.

Time almost seemed to slow as I helplessly stared at the spells coming towards me. I could differentiate soo many different colors, soo many different shapes. It was the first time I felt soo much mana soo close to me. I knew that the tower was sturdy, that it could sustain a couple of highly destructive spells. But that many? Impossible! I could already see it, the tower falling and burying us under it’s rubble.

My legs were trembling and my strength was leaving me. It was the first time I could feel the grim scythe of Death creeping over my neck. It was frightening. Frightening to the point where I almost gave up trying to defend when, from behind the crowd, a perfectly coordinated duo of familiar voices rose up.

“Nature’s-” They shouted “-wave!”

From the source of the voices, an horizontal current of hair rapidly traveled across the field leaving behind only the “kyaa”s of the girls in the crowd and the stinging sound of a cracking whip. When it reached the tower I was thrown on my back with my hair now robbed of the hairband and freely swinging. When I opened my eyes I saw Kiara and Legis both crawling and hiding behind one of the short stone walls while Danthe, still firmly gripped to a pillar, was looking down on the crowd with a relieved expression that seemed to tower over the stiffness he showed the whole time.

“OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!” Shouted a voice as if it was a melody.

It was Raphael. I saw him running towards the group of hooded students as I crawled towards Danthe’s side.

The spells previously fired towards us were now exploding or collapsing at tens of meters away from the tower. The current of wind was apparently strong enough to throw them off their trajectory. A sense of proudness brewed inside me as I glanced at the hooded students and the crowd’s expression of stupor and shock.

[That’s my fianceè for you!]

I thought before realizing the boldness of my claim.

Under the tower was now the complete chaos. If before, some students stayed behind because of their boss, now with the appearance of Raphael and Youm everyone was minding their own business and frenetically fleeing from the scene. Even Floyd was nowhere to be seen.

“Stone forest!” Shouted Raphael as he stopped his rush and placed both palms on the ground.

“Wha-what is that?” I thought out loud as I incredulously watched as dozens of cylindrical stone pillars rose from the ground almost instantly and covered the ground in front of the tower.

They rose at random. Some close to each other and some a couple of meters apart and because of that, from the point of view of someone from the crowd, it was a complete waste of mana. But from my point of view, who was looking at the whole scene from the top of the tower? It was brutal.

The efficiency with which the spell trapped the students inside it was only shadowed by the screams of pain of the trapped ones. I felt a cold shiver running down my spine as I saw the students stuck between the pillars. Some had their bodies raised up midair and stuck between the higher pillars, others had their arms crushed and stuck, others their legs while the rest was trapped in a cage of pillars. Only the ones close to the corners of the spell were able to escape it unharmed.

To my surprise, Raphael didn’t even try to chase the one who escaped, rather he stood still in front of his spell to make sure none of the captured students escaped while Youm climbed the tower. There was one thing I had always admired of Raphael, his ability to keep his cool during a fight. In the majority of duels he had on academy ground, he never showed the slightest hint of emotion. Always keeping an empty expression full of concentration on his face.

That night, it was different. I knew he didn’t want to show it. For some reason, he always kept his feeling for himself, ever since our first meeting. But in the brief moment I was able to get a good look at his face, the only thing I saw was fear and dismay. His eyes were heavy and out of focus as if he wasn’t even looking in front of him.

At that time I wasn’t able to figure out what that look on his face meant. I was too inexperienced, too naiveé. The only thing I was able to grasp was that that look meant nothing good.

In the following ten minutes, the chaotic situation managed to calm down thanks to the help of professor Gildoor who was taking a nightly stroll around the gardens and noticed the chaos. With the arrival of two other professors, the assailant students were taken away to be questioned and detained by the headmaster. Guards were then dispatched to search for the remaining student who escaped.

“You guys were just in time!-” Said Danthe when the professors finally stopped questioning us “-For a moment there I thought I was done for HAHAHA!”

“Ohhh and here I thought I was a reliable guy!” Answered Raphael as he lightly hit Danthe’s shoulder.

“Ehm Raphael,-” I asked trying to erase from my mind the expression he had before “- how did the dinner go?”

“Weell, long story short, Gallher wanted me to leave the academy and when I refused he got pretty mad-” Replied the black-haired boy “-As we expected, the whole place was a trap. Our table was surrounded by students and adults on Gallher’s side but at least the food wasn’t poisoned!”

“S-so you didn’t get to try my *cough* antidotes? How unfortunate!” Replied Legis with a somewhat dejected expression.

“Oi oi, you didn’t want us to get poisoned just so that you could try your antidotes did you?!” Blurted out a surprised Youm.

“No no that’s *cough* not-” Tried to answer Legis before being interrupted by professor Gildoor’s voice with a pat on his shoulder.

“It seems you all are very calm. I’m not sure whether being accustomed to this kind of situation is a good thing or not HaHaHa! You should go to your rooms now, your faces look tired-” Said the teacher as he gently pushed mine and Legis’ backs towards the dorms.

“-Oh and Raphael-” Continued Gildoor as soon as the group was far enough to be able to barely hear “-On my way here I squashed a couple of unsightly insects who tried to get into the academy. You remember our pact, right?”

[A pact?]

“Don’t worry-” Replied Raphael as showed his back to Gildoor and walked towards our group “-I won’t go back on my words”

“Ho Hooo, good to know-” Said the man with a devious smile on his face “- Then, good night everyone!”

“What was that about Raphael?” I asked trying to sound less meddlesome as possible.

“With professor Gildoor? He just wanted to know if we needed someone to accompany us to the dorms” Replied Raphael with a fake smile.

[...why won’t you trust me?...]

My emotions must have betrayed my facial muscles and decided to show themselves before I could get a hold of them. Noticing the sudden change of my expression for the worst, Raphael seemed to loosen his smile too, once again showing hints of his previous expression.

“Listen Sora..I-” He tried to say before getting his words cut off my Danthe’s powerful voice.

“Raphael!-” Said the redhead as he approached our position in the back of the group “-Listen…about the ____________”

His words were whispered soo low in Raphael’s ear that even from my close position I couldn’t be able to understand a word. Alas, from Raphael’s expression I understood it wasn’t a happy topic.

To Danthe’s words, Raphael spoke nothing. In the place of words, he simply shook his head in assent at which Danthe's reply was a loud and full of pain “fuck!”.

We kept making our way to the dorms chitchatting away. Some talking about their prowess in the battle, others making fun of their friends’ blunders and others talking about totally random topics…all except Raphael. He kept himself silent, with his hands in his pocket as he fixed his eyes on the starry night. His empty eyes now filled with the reflection of myriads of little yellow lights the size of a needle.

Part 3

- RAPHAEL BLUESCALE’S POV -

The sun rose and set many times consecutively. How many? I lost count of that. The days kept coming and going as time flowed slower each passing second.

Calm and peace. Those were the essence of our days after the dinner, after every effort to live a normal student life failed. Then why was I living my days in peace and quiet? The calm before the storm, or so they call it. That was the essence, the feeling, I got from those days. Everything around me was pulsing with the excitement of what was to come. We were all ticking bombs, both me, my friends and Gallher’s. We all knew that even the faintest spark would have triggered the explosion. The whole school was waiting for it as soon as the news of the dinner spread.

Everyone was doing their best to cope with the situation. Those who thought themselves lacking in power looked for it, just like Sora. Those who had power but neglected it’s applications trained. Danthe and Lucas were examples. Those who gathered information, those who looked for allies, techniques, strategies, weaknesses. Each of us was searching for a way to come on top, as our enemies did.

Ever since the night of the tower siege, everyone seemed to finally grasp the true weight of the situation. I in particular.

I always thought of this strife as simple bickering between kids that went a little too further. But I was naive. It was no mere bickering and certainly no child’s play. My life was on the line, but that was the least of my problems. What was really weighing on my conscience were the lives of my friends. If I were to lose they’d all have their lives ruined, at worst even taken from them. That was the power Gallher held. It frightened me.

But more frightening than that was the result of the test on the night of the tower siege. I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t accept it. It was a painful result, especially for me. For a whole month succeeding the tower siege, I hardly left my room. I was stuck in a dejavuù. A maze of memories and emotions leading me into a vicious circle of self-depravation.

I felt that if I saw them. If I saw the one responsible for the positive result of the test, the fourteen years I lived in this world, the fourteen years I spent recreating myself from scratch, the fourteen years I spent slowly breaking out of my shell…would have all been wasted.

His face tormented me as I lived and re-lived the day of the trial. Every member of the jury trying their hardest not to meet with my eyes, the disgusted expression of the spectators, the cold smiles and teary eyes of those I once defined as friends. Sleeping became a torture and the only comfort was found in magic research. The empty pages began filling with constant streams of black ink. I was a river and the book was the sea. It was obvious that I would entirely flow in between the pages.

Lucas was the only one who took notice of it. or rather, he was the only one who took action. Whether the others actually realized the spiral I was falling into or not was unknown to me.

My brother, with patience worthy of a saint and his spirit keen to understanding, slowly pulled me out of my maze. Like a fish with a hook, Lucas patiently tricked me into going out of the room. First, it was to pick books from the library that he purposely stole from me and gave back to the librarian. Next came extracurricular lessons about specific spells in which I held interest. Then finally, with training sessions together with Youm and Danthe, my brother was able to pull me out of the maze in my head.

The feeling of uncertainty and uneasiness still kept whispering future predictions in my ears but the warmth that everyone around me was able to unconsciously create, was able to keep my legs moving. By the time I was back to my old self, January had made its appearance and with it the mid-year event. The timer was nearing it’s end.

Part 4

- ALBERT MOLTHIR’S POV -

The leaves inside the pipe had almost all turned to dark grey ashes as I sat in front of my table with a pile of papers on both corners. I couldn’t bother myself with them.

[I’ll just have Veronica deal with them tomorrow. Those old bones need a hot bath and some sleep!] I thought as I prepared myself to leave my office.

It was night and, as I looked out of the window, I saw minuscule white petals of snow gracefully building a soft carpet over the roofs of the buildings surrounding my office. An ironic sight I thought it was. With all the chaos that was bound to fall over the academy now that we were closing in on the event, the sky decided to grace us with the calmest of sights.

[How ironic indeed…I just hope that this white carpet will not thirst for blood]

“ALBEERTT!” Shouted a voice coming from outside the double doors of my office.

Before I could even say a thing, the tall figure of my friend Constantine Gildoor came crushing through those doors with his usual smug grin replaced by a smirk full of anger.

“Oh my, good evening Constantine” I calmly replied as I refilled my pipe with a small bundle of leaves I kept on the internal pocket of my jacket. I already knew the reason he was here. The conversation was expected to last very long.

“Good evening a troll’s balls! Cut that crap! You know exactly why I’m here Albert!”

“I do in fact”

“Then why don’t you start fucking explain why did you agree to hold the second and third years event over three days in the woods?!”

“What makes you think it’s not an idea coming directly from me?”

“‘Cause I know how you think old man and you’d do ANYTHING to keep your students safe. You were always like that!”

“Oh, so you do remember the time when you were a student. Might that be the reason why you so promptly accepted the seat of a teacher?”

“Ahhhh cut it out, seriously….Albert, what happened?” Asked the man in a serious tone.

“*sigh* I’ve received…request, to put it gently, that pressured me to change this year’s event into what you previously said”

“Requests by who? HaHaHa, what kind of crazy noble would dare to make requ-”

“It was the first prince”

“Eh?”

“Belza kingdom’s first prince personally requested that this year's event may be a game of survival that spread across three days in an unfamiliar place for the students. The prince said that, with the future in mind, teaching the students the harsh reality of wars may prove useful”

“B-but…That’s totally insane! There are people among the second year that don’t even know how to wipe their asses! How can we expect them to survive in the forest for three days!?” Shouted my dear friend as he jumped from his seat.

“I know that well. In fact, I decided to allow the formation of teams of up to five students. This way, they’d be able to at least keep their heads high”

“...You know this is all a farce, right?” Asked saddened Constantine.

“That I do. Being the son of an influential duke seems to open way too many doors for a kid like Delvin”

“He’ll try to get rid of Bluescale”

“Yes, he’ll try”

“And? What do you plan to do?”

“Nothing”

“Nothing?” Asked surprised.

“Yes, nothing. Wasn’t you who acknowledged his strength?”

“Yeah but-”

“I heard about the duel that Bluescale and Hannes had outside of the academy. Am I right to think that it was you who pulled the strings?”

Constantine didn’t answer. Instead, he turned his eyes away from mine behind the glasses, just like he did when he was still a kid.

“So, are they worthy of being your apprentice?” I asked with a curious smile.

“*sigh* Hannes’ main weapon is a spear. I’m not very knowledgeable with spearmanship and I don’t believe he even thinks of getting rid of that spear to pick up a sword, especially after seeing with how much care he treats that spear”

“And what about Bluescale?”

“The older one seems to have a burning passion for swords but while he does have much talent with it, his style seems…empty. I think he has yet to put his life on the line in a sword battle. Raphael is a totally different story” Replied Constantine with a smug.

“What do you mean?”

“As he is right now, if I were to teach his my sword, he would only find it to be a burden. His ability with magic is astonishing, even though he does everything he can not to show it. But I figured something out. That kid is able to create his own spells”

“Magic creation?”

“Exactly. Before I stopped the duel, he used a strange spell that clad him in a thunder-like armor. Would you believe me if I told you that his speed was comparable to mine?...More or less”

“Hohoho, that kid is interesting indeed!” I replied, happy to hear that the student I had my eyes on actually turned out to be really spectacular to be praised so much by Constantine Gildoor.

“Hey, Albert…-” Said Constantine in a melancholic tone “- Will this event actually be alright?”

“...I’d hope so, but I have the feeling this year’s snow will not be white” I replied in the same tone as I lost my sight in the vast white carpet covering the academy grounds.