Mark led them up to a mountain on the far side of the school. Damien knew there were other caves where the students lived, but he’d never actually been to one of them before. Instead of heading up the path, they walked into a large pavilion at the mountain’s base.

“What’s this place?” Damien asked.

“It’s a training area,” Mark replied as they climbed the stairs leading up to the big, open doorway at the front of the pavilion. “Only for visiting schools to use.”

They reached the top of the stairwell and headed inside. The pavilion was two stories. On the bottom floor was a thick bed of sand and several training dummies on the far end, all scorched and smashed to pieces.

Above it, a balcony hung over half of the arena. It was set with tables, lounge chairs, and large crates full of weapons and armor. Yui and her encourage sat on the top floor across from Eve. In the arena below, Elania and Viv sparred. A tall, girl that Damien didn’t recognize was laid out flat on the sand on the other side of the arena, her brilliant orange hair splayed out like a halo around her.

They walked up the staircase leading to the second floor and Damien spotted two more students that he didn’t recognize. A large boy, almost as large as Bartholomew had been, sat at a table alone, watching the arena with an unreadable expression. At the edge of the balcony, a hunched form was bent over a pile of scrap.

Yui raised her hand in greeting as they approached. “How has your training been going?”

“Well enough,” Damien replied. “We just wanted to see what all of you were doing. I had no idea Blackmist had a location for visiting students to stay and practice at.”

“All the colleges do,” Yui replied. “It’s not that uncommon to have transfer students for a month or two. Many students want to specialize in something that the teachers in their college just aren’t that practiced with, so they swap over to get some instruction from someone else for a little while.”

“I don’t think that happens at Blackmist much,” Eve said, her voice a soft whisper. “Our rooms looked like they hadn’t been touched in years. They’re nice, though.”

“C’mon,” Mark said, nodding down at the arena. “You’ve seen them. Let’s spar.”

“We haven’t even figured out who everyone is yet,” Sylph said. “Yui, do you happen to know already?”

“I do. The large boy is from Greenvalley. His name is Teddy. The person in the cloak near the balcony is representing Flamewheel, and I’ve got no idea what their name is, nor do I know if they’re even a boy or a girl. And the girl lying down in the sand is Mountain Hall’s. Her name is Quinlan.”

“How do you know where they’re from but not who they are?” Damien asked, sending a glance at the hooded figure out of the corner of his eye.

Yui shrugged. “I couldn’t find any information on them. I only know they’re from Flamewheel because my mother told me. I don’t even know what year they’re in.”

“Isn’t that a little concerning?” Sylph asked. “This is an important mission, should some random person really be allowed in it?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Yui said, waving her hand. “I don’t know who that person is because my mother didn’t tell me, not because I can’t find out. I’ll know soon enough. This is just a test for me. She wouldn’t actually put me at serious risk from an unknown like that.”

Damien grunted and Mark shot him a pointed look as Elania and Viv finished their sparring match. They were both breathing heavily and covered in scratches, but from the expression on Elania’s face, it was clear that Viv had won.

A man materialized in the air beside them, washing both girls with healing magic before vanishing once more. Damien’s eyebrows rose.

“You have a personal healer?”

“Just on certain days,” Yui replied. “It’s to encourage sparring sessions between us so we can learn from each other. It’s unfortunately not working as well as I’d hoped, though.”

“What? Why not?” Sylph asked.

“Well, aside from my group and the girls from Goldsilk, nobody will spar,” Yui said, rolling her eyes. “They won’t fight me because I’m the princess, and they keep coming up with new reasons why they won’t fight everyone else.”

“Well, that’s lame,” Damien said. “But it doesn’t seem that bad. Maybe they just aren’t the combative types?”

“More like they don’t want to show their strength,” Sylph replied softly. “It might not be a good idea for any of us to spar, either. We don’t want to give anything away if they’re planning something when we enter Forsad.”

Damien mulled over his words, then grunted. “Nah. I’m here to get stronger, and I already promised Mark a fight. If they want to play this like cowards, that’s fine by me. Besides, I doubt I’ll even have to show anything too important. Mark is going to have to put in a lot of work if he even wants to make me sweat.”

“Hey!” Mark exclaimed, but the only emotion in his eyes was excitement. “You’ve gotten real cocky since the last time we fought. If I recall, it didn’t go so well for you.”

“Time and practice change a lot of things. Let’s see if that sword of yours is good for anything other than cutting vegetables,” Damien said, Warp Stepping and appearing on the sand. Mark leapt over the railing, landing nimbly beside him.

“Oh, hi Mark!” Elania said, stopping at the edge of the stairs. “I didn’t realize you were here. Hi to you as well, Damien.”

Viv raised her hand in greeting. Damien returned it with a nod.

“We’re just sparring,” Mark replied. “Come on. Let’s get this started. You can’t taunt me and then just chat.”

“We’ll talk in a few seconds,” Damien said, turning back to Mark with a grin.

Stay out of this for now, Henry. Sylph is right – we shouldn’t give everything away. Delph said to put on a show, but we’ll keep your strength as our trump card.

“Just don’t lose,” Henry said. “That would be pathetic.”

Damien rolled his eyes and pushed his companion back.

“Ready?” Mark asked, his skin starting to take on a faint red hue. Mist rose up from his body and puffed out from his nose with every breath. Damien clearly hadn’t been the only one practicing.

“Let’s do this,” Damien said. The sand surged, gathering around Mark’s legs and launching him forward like he was surfing a wave. Damien teleported, channeling Ether and flinging two Gravity Spheres at the other boy.

He detonated the spells in quick succession, but Mark managed to launch himself into the air and out of the range of the spells. Damien grinned, grabbing Mark’s clothing with telekinesis and slamming him into the ground.

He started to raise Mark again, but his connection snapped as a dozen lines of red light flashed around Mark. Sand erupted around him in a huge cloud. Damien teleported to safety instants before a brilliant flash carved through the sand where he’d been standing, turning a portion of it to glass.

Mark stepped out from the cloud, his body hissing with red energy. The glowing visage of an armored warrior overlaid his features, making it difficult to make out where one started and the other ended.

Damien reached out with his mental energy to try to cast telekinesis on Mark’s clothing again, but his magic slipped off the other boy’s red shell. Attempting to grab his sword gave him the same result.

With a roar, Mark bounded forward. Damien teleported to the other side of the arena, right into the path of a blast of red energy. His eyes widened and he teleported once more, narrowly avoiding getting bisected.

“How’d you know where I was going?” Damien asked, flinging a Gravity Lance at Mark. A wall of sand erupted between them, blocking the spell.

“Tremor sense,” Mark replied with a smug grin. “You’re still on the ground, and I’m faster than you.”

Three more arcs of red light flashed toward Damien. He gathered his Ether and teleported once more, bringing two Gravity Spheres to his palms and flinging them as quickly as they formed. Mark’s sword flashed, carving the spells apart before they could detonate.

Damien didn’t relent, pushing closer as he peppered his opponent with a barrage of magic that would have been foolishly wasteful if it had been done by anyone else. The sheer amount of magic hurtling at Mark forced him to fight defensively, unable to find an opportunity to break away.

Gravity Spheres detonated all around Mark, but whatever the red warrior was, it protected him from the majority of the damage Damien’s magic could do. The ones that hit Mark directly only dented or cracked the armor, while the ones that went off beside him didn’t even manage to pull him off his feet.

As ineffective as the barrage of spells was against Mark, he only had so much Ether to work with. The cracks in his armor spread with every second, and they both knew that the fight would be over the second a single spell managed to break through it.

Mark and Damien came to the same conclusion. The red energy around Mark surged and he darted forward, sweeping his sword out before him and sending a wave of red energy burning toward Damien.

Damien cast Devour in front of himself, absorbing the magic before it could touch him. He dismissed the dark circle, already knowing what he would find on the other side and hardening his mage armor.

Mark’s sword slammed into Damien’s arm, sending vibrations coursing down into his body. Damien flicked his hand, sending the prepared Tear spell straight into Mark’s chest with a purple flash.

He teleported back and Mark made to step after him. Blood trickled down the boy’s chest and he glanced down in shock as the trickle turned to a river. A healer appeared beside Mark, golden strands of energy reaching out and dismissing his magic while the healer sealed the wound shut. Once he was done, the man vanished as quickly as he’d arrived.

“What was that?” Mark exclaimed, touching his shirt. A long slash ran down the material from the top of his shoulder to right above his hip, so thin that it was invisible until he moved it.

“A new spell,” Damien replied. “It was a good fight, though.”

Mark grunted. “I didn’t even get to try out everything I wanted to. I didn’t think you’d have such a fast spell. How deep was that cut? I didn’t even feel it.”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Damien admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “If there hadn’t been a healer here, I wouldn’t have risked it.”

“Damn. Next time, I’m just summoning my full manifestation right from the start,” Mark grumbled. “My performance was pathetic.”

“He is the second strongest student at Blackmist,” Yui said, peering over the edge of the balcony. “You did underestimate him, though. That’s on you. If you treated your opponents as equals, you’d do better.”

Mark nodded, not looking even slightly offended at her unrequested advice. “It’ll go different next time.”

“You still did really good,” Elania offered. She headed down the stairs and gave Mark a thumbs up. “I can’t believe you managed to withstand that barrage of spells.”

“Yeah, well,” Mark paused, reconsidering his words. “Thanks. I’m sure you would have lasted at least a bit.”

Damien fought to keep the surprise from his face. That was as much of a compliment as he’d ever seen Mark give someone weaker than him. Sylph caught his eye and waggled an eyebrow, nearly causing him to burst out in laughter.

“Your last attack almost got me,” Damien said. “Even with my mage armor, my hand is still tingling. If you’d gone for my head instead of my side, I don’t know if I would have been able to block it.”

“It was a sparring match,” Mark replied with a shrug. “We weren’t trying to kill each other.”

The cloaked figure at the edge of the balcony caught Damien’s eye. There was a tiny flash of green from beneath their hood as they realized that Damien had spotted them, and they turned away.

“Are you going to spar as well?” Mark asked Sylph.

“You just got squashed by Damien and now you want to try your hand against Sylph?” Yui asked.

“How else do you think you get stronger?” Mark asked.

“I wouldn’t waste the breath on him,” Gaves advised Yui. “That one’s a maniac. I don’t think his brain even functions if he isn’t fighting.”

Mark didn’t even bother refuting that statement. He just glanced around, checking if anyone would take him up on his request.

“I’ll spar you,” Elania offered meekly.

“Perfect,” Mark said, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her toward the far end of the arena. Damien turned to start heading back up to the second floor. Quinlan, the girl from Mountain Hall, stood as he passed her.

“You’ve got a lot of magical energy,” she said, pulling her vibrant hair back out of her face. “What level is it at?”

“I’ve got some,” Damien agreed. “And I don’t think I’m particularly inclined to answer that. You haven’t even told me your name.”

“Princess Yui already told you it.”

“Yup. You don’t look like Princess Yui to me. If you’re going to go around asking people for personal information, the least you could do is be a little cordial.”

Quinlan’s lip twitched up in the slightest hint of a grin, but there was something else on her face that Damien couldn’t read. “My name is Quinlan. I’m a fourth year student at Mountain Hall, and I specialize in Magma magic. How’s that?”

“Better,” Damien said. “I’m Damien, and I’m a second year student at Blackmist. I specialize in Space magic.”

“So, about that magical energy level…”

“Nope,” Damien replied with a grin. “I’ll be keeping that to myself for now, but it’s nice to meet you.”

Sylph hopped over the ledge, landing beside them and barely displacing the sand in the process. Quinlan’s expression shifted slightly, but Damien still couldn’t get a read on it.

“This is Sylph,” Damien said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “The first ranked student in the second year of Blackmist.”

Sylph snorted. “For now.”

“I – it’s nice to meet you,” Quinlan said, clearing her throat. “I, uh, have to go now.”

She turned and headed out of the pavilion at a brisk pace. Damien and Sylph exchanged a glance.

“What’s her deal?” Damien asked quietly.

“No idea,” Sylph said with a small frown. “Her expressions didn’t make sense. I’m missing something.”

Henry?

“Already on it,” Henry said with a cackle. “Check this out.”

A tiny portion of Damien’s shadow, only the size of a sliver, broke away from his feet and shot off toward the wall, vanishing in instants.

“That’ll let me trail her,” Henry said. “Since my senses are ruined by your human soul, I had to figure out another way to track things down. I’ll take a peek at her later, when nobody is staring at your shadow.”