The week finally drew to a close. On the morning of the day after, Henry awoke Damien with a warning that Greg was waiting for him outside. Damien rushed out of bed, throwing his clothes on and jogging outside to meet the teacher.

“Hello,” Damien said. “I’m not late, am I?”

“You’re right on time, actually,” Greg replied, giving him a small smile. “And even if you were, it’s not a big deal. Our class will be a little different today.”

“How so?” Damien asked curiously.

“I’ll be explaining in class. Think of it as our first exam,” Greg said, giving Damien a wry grin. “Come along.”

He reached out, placing a wrinkled hand on Damien’s shoulder. The boy felt the ground vanish beneath him as a powerful force sucked him into a void of gray light. Damien was spat out on the ground in the classroom. He staggered, catching himself on a desk before he tripped over his own feet.

As usual, Greg was already standing at the front of the classroom. A stick of chalk floated beside his head, making slow, bored circles. Over the course of several minutes, the rest of the class popped up one by one, appearing in or beside their seats.

“I believe that’s everyone,” Greg said, grabbing the piece of chalk on the air. “As my clones have informed you, we’ll be having an exam.”

“Right after a break?” one student complained.

“I’m afraid so,” Greg said. “You’ve already learned a healthy amount of magic theory and you should have a good grasp of controlling your Ether by now. Practical application is vital to learning, so this will benefit all of you.”

“What’s the test?” Reena asked.

“I will be evaluating all of your potential,” Greg said. “Individually, of course. The evaluation will consist of both a theoretical and a physical portion. It should take around an hour for each student.”

The air popped as boy popped into his desk, his hair messy. It looked like he’d just woken up.

“Ah, I see we’ve all arrived,” Greg said. “Does anyone have any questions before we begin?”

“You haven’t told us much about the exam yet – how can we have questions?” Reena asked.

“A good point, Ms. Gray,” Greg said. “I’ll keep that in mind for future classes. Best of luck, everyone! I’ll see those of you that pass in our next class.”

Before anyone could respond, a dozen copies of Greg seemed to slide out of him like he was surrounded by mirrors. They shot out, each grabbing a student and vanishing. Damien held back his panic as one of the gray haired professors tapped him on the forehead and the world fell out from under him for the second time in minutes.

When his senses returned, Damien found himself standing in a large field. Greg sat on a chair before him.

“Damien, is it?” Greg asked.

Damien nodded. “Yes sir.”

“Very good. Are you prepared to begin the theoretical portion of the exam?”

“Is no an answer?”

Greg let out a dry laugh. “Do you want to find out?”

“Not really,” Damien admitted. Everything had happened so fast that he’d barely had a chance to even feel jitters, but they were finally starting to come on. If it wasn’t for Henry’s comforting presence at the back of his head, he would have panicked.

“Then we shall begin. What is the Ether?”

“It’s a form of energy,” Damien replied. “It wants to return to its natural state. By drawing it into ourselves, we create potential energy. When we cast a spell, that energy is expended as it returns to its natural state.”

Greg gave no indication on if Damien had answered the question correctly. “How many planes of existence are there?”

“There are seven universally known planes.”

“And is that all of them?” Greg asked, cocking his head.

Damien’s skin prickled. Had Whisp set the professor up to something? It was impossible to read the old man. “Yes.”

Greg moved on without acknowledging the answer. “What is the purpose of a cultivation technique?”

“It infuses Ether throughout our body. When we train, our core slowly grows stronger. Cultivation helps distribute the Ether throughout our body so that everything improves.”

The slew of questions continued for nearly half an hour. Damien was able to answer almost all of them on his own, although he had to mentally prod Henry several times when Greg tossed him something that he didn’t know.

Eventually, Greg rose up from his chair and gave Damien a nod. “The theoretical portion of this exam is complete.”

“Did I pass?”

“That is yet to be determined. We will now begin the physical portion,” Greg said. “Are you prepared?”

“I suppose so.”

“Good. Please form a blade of destructive energy in your hand.”

Damien followed the man’s instructions. It had been some time since that particular homework had been assigned to him, and it wasn’t particularly hard for him to shape the Ether to his desires in such a basic spell.

Greg observed the spell for a few moments. He put a metal bracelet onto his hand and reached out, tapping it against the one on Damien’s wrist. A sharp chill ran down his arm. Greg’s eyebrow’s rose slightly for an instant before he lowered his hand.

“Interesting. Have you yet to discover the identity of your companion?” Greg asked.

“I believe it’s from the Plane of Darkness,” Damien replied, keeping a straight face.

“Your bracelet isn’t convinced,” Gregory observed. “Interesting. Could be worth looking into, but I suspect you’ll find the answer soon enough. Maybe as soon as the end of this year – but that’s not relevant to this test. Please change the blade to a hammer.”

Damien blinked at the sudden change of topic, but he formed the Ether into Greg’s new request. It took a moment and a little more effort since he hadn’t created this particular shape before, but he was soon holding a small warhammer in his hand.

Greg had him change the spell’s form several more times before finally deciding that he was satisfied.

“There is one more part to the exam,” Greg said. “However, it is optional.”

“Can you tell me what it is?” Damien asked.

“An exchange of sorts. I will give you a target to strike with your most powerful spell. If you can damage it enough, you will receive extra credit.”

“That seems straightforward enough,” Damien said, thinking over it. “What’s the drawback? What happens if I can’t damage it enough?”

“You will be subject to more training from Delph.”

Damien grimaced. “Ah. Well, I think I’d like to give it a shot.”

“I thought as much,” Greg said, snapping his fingers. A white disk popped out of the air beside the man. A translucent blue barrier shimmered around it. “If you can break through this barrier and shatter the plate, you will have passed.”

“That’s it?” Damien asked.

“That’s it,” Greg confirmed. “You have five minutes, starting now. I will repair the barrier after every strike you make.”

Damien nodded his understanding. He approached the plate, examining it. He plucked a strand of grass and carefully poked the barrier. It didn’t budge, but the grass didn’t get fried or otherwise damaged either.

Is this really that straightforward?

“It appears to be an air magic spell,” Henry said. “Mid-level. It’s just a barrier, but a strong one.”

Damien channeled Ether through his palm, forming a gravity sphere. He tossed it at the barrier. The spell detonated with a crack, tearing up clumps of grass and slightly shifting the professor to the side.

The barrier flickered, but it didn’t break. Greg snapped his fingers and it lit back up to full intensity. Damien next formed a blade out of destructive energy and thrust it into the barrier. Ripples ran out across the faint blue energy, but it failed to penetrate it.

Damien pressed his lips together. If anything, the barrier felt harder than it had before. There was no point trying out either of the attacks again – he knew his own strength well enough to feel his limits. At his current strength, neither of his offensive spells would break the barrier.

He considered using Devour, but the instructions had been to break the barrier, not suck it up. The boy mulled over his options for a minute before a thought struck him. The professor’s classes – as boring as they often were – had been entirely focused on reshaping how they used Ether.

Just because he’d only applied it to destructive energy didn’t mean his other spells couldn’t be modified. Damien brought everything he knew about the gravity sphere to the front of his mind.

He mentally reshaped the spell, shifting components and modifying small parts of it. Slowly, a new form of the spell started to take form in his mind. Henry said nothing, which Damien took as approval.

Motes of Ether twisted together as Damien forced it through a new pattern and down his arm. The air around his hand seemed to warp and twist as he envisioned his desired result and thrust his hand forward.

Two thin streams of dark energy shot out from his palm, twisting around each other and forming into a point. The spell slammed into the barrier with a screech. It warped, the blue light flickering and twisting as it desperately tried to hold its form.

The spell drilled deeper into it, twisting and making the air around it contort and flicker. With a final shriek, the barrier shattered. The twin bolts of energy punched through the plate and detonated a short distance away from it, yanking fragments of the plate through the air.

“Very good,” Greg said, a small smile flickering across his face. “You had fifteen seconds to spare. That is a new spell, correct?”

“I modified my gravity sphere,” Damien said, nodding. “I needed something that lasted longer than the sphere did.”

“Clever,” Greg said, giving Damien a smile. “You will receive your extra credit.”

“Actually, could I swap it for something else?”

“Oh?” Greg asked. “What would that be?”

“Information,” Damien said. “In particular, I want to know when the next few tests are and, if possible, what they’ll entail.”

Greg rubbed his chin. “I haven’t had that one before. This class is all about innovation, so I suppose I’ll accept. Not many students have the foresight to ask about the future tests before it’s too late and they have nothing to bargain with. There are two more tests in this class, not counting any homework. The first is in about a month, and the last is at the end of the year. The closest test will be similar to this one, while the last will be your demonstration of everything you’ve learned this year. If half of the class passes the final test, I will be surprised. It will be almost entirely physical. Does that answer your question?”

Damien mulled over the man’s words for a few moments before giving him a nod. “It does. Thank you. Did I pass?”

“Yes,” Greg replied. “You excelled in both portions of the exam. Well done. Just don’t let this get to your head – the first test is the easiest one in the course. Continue applying yourself and pushing your limits if you want to graduate. Now, I also have a question for you. Was it worth trading the extra credit for the knowledge you gained?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Damien said with a small grin. “Will there be class today?”

“No. Nobody will be able to pay attention after an exam,” Greg said, rolling his eyes. He extended his hand towards Damien. “I’ll be returning you to your room.”

Damien took the professor’s hand. The world lurched, flashes of grey and white flying across his vision. When it faded, he was standing inside his room. He shook his head with a grimace. Sylph was nowhere to be found.

I made a new spell! What do you think about that?

“Mildly amusing,” Henry allowed. “A gravity drill, essentially. Not the most efficient way to use your Ether, but efficiency is far from one of your concerns. Experimenting with magic you don’t understand isn’t usually advisable, but you’ve got enough of a grasp over basic gravity magic that you’re making the right decisions.”

That’s a roundabout way to say ‘wow, Damien. That’s cool!’.

Henry just snorted.

Hey, did it feel like Greg was trying to pry about you?

“It did, to a degree,” Henry replied. “More like he has a suspicion than any real idea, but that planes question was out of place. Mortals almost entirely believe that there are just seven planes. Perhaps Whisp has instructed him to gather information about you.”

Wonderful. Another person I need to watch out for.

“You need to watch out for everyone other than Sylph,” Henry said. “Don’t let the tenuous friendships you have with any of the other students or instructors trick you into believing they’d stand by you if the truth was revealed.”

That’s depressing to think about. Say, weren’t you supposed to look into Mark? I still want to know what in the seven planes he is.

“Eight,” Henry corrected. “Really, we were just talking about this. Come on. As for the wild boy – I’ll look into him today. Just go train or something and I’ll handle the rest.”

Funny. I was just about to say the same thing.

Damien headed into one of the training rooms. He lowered into a fighting stance and started going through the motions that Delph and Sylph had drilled into him. While he worked, his shadow detached from his feet and danced across the walls, slipping out of the room.

Henry slipped out from under the door and into Mark’s room in the blink of an eye. It was dim, lit only by the muted sun and the fading runes that Damien had drawn on the walls several weeks ago.

The entrance to the room was largely boring. Aside from the fluffy rug on the ground and the swords hanging from the walls, the room looked completely plain. Mark was nowhere to be seen.

Henry slipped deeper, sliding under the curtain hiding the bathroom. The stone walls in the smaller room were covered with thick gouges. Broken stone littered the ground, and splotches of dried blood covered the walls.

A thin tunnel in the back of the room behind the shower descended deeper into the mountain. It was pitch black, but that did nothing to stop Henry from seeing everything in perfect color.

“Well isn’t that interesting,” Henry mused to himself, slipping into the tunnel and disappearing into the darkness.