Arthur stood hesitantly in front of the class of fifteen students. They had all grown to know each other pretty well over the past semester and yet, he was still nervous. Sweat was slowly becoming visible underneath his arms and down his back. The teacher, Professor Swisham, was very strict about neither using magic nor note cards to help with the speech. In her words, “They are a crutch that once used are very difficult to set down.” So here he stood, swaying side to side attempting to speak about the negative ramifications a centralized banking system could have on the magical community.

“So….as we all know, banking is currently a privatized and complex system that differs not only between countries but even within some larger cities. Like..” and his voice trailed off as he lost his place. Although overwhelming before, the gazes of both the students and professor Swisham now bore into him like sharp, steel poles rooting him in place. Realizing he couldn’t continue, professor Swisham sighed and slowly stood up from her small desk at the front of the classroom. “You can sit down Arthur.” Arthur didn’t even look over at her and just silently walked back to his desk in the back of the classroom.

Once he sat down a wave of relief washed over him. It was the relief one might feel after avoiding a deadly spell by centimeters. To Arthur, public speaking was his warzone. “This was your third try Arthur, I can’t give you another.” Hearing this Arthur just nodded. This wasn’t the first time he had failed to give a speech. “I understand professor. I’ll be happy with the grade you choose to give me.” The professor just glanced his way one more time before simply nodding and calling up the next person to give their speech. Everyone before and after Arthur successfully finished their speeches. Whether they were great or not, Arthur had no room to judge. He couldn’t give a speech at all. At the end of the class, right before Arthur was about to leave professor Swisham called him over.

“Arthur, could you come up here for a few minutes?” Arthur was expecting this as he begrudgingly walked up to the front of the class.

“Yes, professor?”

“You know what I’m going to say, Arthur, you can’t pass this class without finishing that speech. I know you aren’t a bad student. The other assignments you’ve turned in over the years have been great, but I’ve given you as much leeway as I possibly can. I just can’t let you graduate without passing this class. I’m sorry.” Her stern face softened slightly after passing on the news. Similar to many teachers in the university she had grown fond of Arthur.

Arthur knew it was coming, but it was still hard to hear. He was the only fourth year in this first year class. His continued failures in public speaking were well known by the teachers at this point and many had tried to help him over the years. Supplementary lessons, practicing speeches over and over, along with anything else the teachers could imaging. Nothing helped. His crippling anxiety wasn’t easily cured.

Arthur was surprisingly one of the most promising students of his year otherwise. He was extremely advanced in many of the theoretical classes including physics, mathematics, spell creation, and spell casting. The rules of the university were strict, however, and the age for the final year of graduation was twenty. At the age of twenty, you were either expected to graduate or move on to a career outside of magic.

His disappointment was clear on his face. “I guess rules are rules after all. My parents will be happy though.” He gave a weak grin. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done professor. I’m sorry I couldn’t have done better. I would have liked to stay working in the school if possible.

It was then that professor Swisham slid over multiple envelopes, each with the name of a different professor on them. “I know you don’t think you deserve it and convincing you isn’t worth our time, but please at least look these over. They are job offers from each of the professors. Everyone would like to have you helping with their research.

Arthur knew it was coming but was still surprised at the number of the envelopes in front of him. He looked at them hesitantly but pushed them back without opening a single one. “I can’t. I promised my parents and myself in a way. I can’t back away from that now.”

The professor nodded and took back the pile of envelopes while Arthur stood up to leave. “I hope we’ll see each other again.” Arthur said as he was heading towards the door. “I’m sure we will professor Swisham said with a smile. “Good luck.”

With that Arthur left the classroom only to be bombarded by his two friends.

“What the fuck, Arthur! That was your last chance!” Brennan, Arthur’s good friend since freshman year stood to his right angrily glaring at him. Brennan was a few inches taller than Arthur and was much lankier. He had a body of a fully-fledged spellcaster. One who solely focused on spells.

Laughter came from his left side. “I can’t believe you failed again! And on a topic you wrote an entire research paper on!” Emily stood on his left. They met partway through the second year when Brennan and her dated for a short, and explosive, period of time. She was on the shorter side, but much more athletic than the other two. Although it wasn’t by much, she was the least cynical out of the three of them.

“Thanks for the comforting words,” Arthur responded walking past the two of them. They rushed to catch up. “Oh come on, we’ll still visit you. It isn’t too far of a trip.”

Emily nodded in agreement. “Exactly! We couldn’t leave you alone. I’d be scared to see what you end up destroying when left to your own devices.”

Arthur grimaced slightly. She was referencing his single class in alchemy. One of the few subjects he just couldn’t figure out.

“Oh shit, I have to get going.” Brennan had just noticed the time. “I’m meeting up with Rachel in a few minutes. I’ll see you two tomorrow!” With that, he vanished. He never got tired of showing off his long-range teleportation. Or that he was seemingly meeting up with a different girl every other week.

Arthur stared at the empty spot next to him. “That spell would make life so much easier.” He said with a sigh turning back to Emily.

“Right!? It almost makes me wish I hadn’t focused solely on combat.” She twirled her golden hair nervously. A habit she’s had since before Arthur met her. “Seriously though Arthur, Are you going to be okay?” She looked up at him with concern.

It was a difficult question to answer. “I…don’t know. I’m not sure I can return to my parents. Not since our last fight. I couldn’t stay at school either. They would make sure I’m fired within an hour. They practically run the place. I have a couple other ideas that might work out.” He paused noticing the look on Emily’s face. It was the face she always made when she was about to offer an idea she knew was a bad one. Her forehead was slightly scrunched up making a number of small creases.

“You could come stay with my family for a while.” Arthur knew she would offer, but he also knew the complications it would bring to her family. He shook his head.

“Thanks, Emily. That would just end poorly for both of us. I couldn’t do that to you.”

“I figured I might as well offer.” She gave a melancholic smile. Arthur knew there was a deeper meaning to the offer, but he and Emily had tried multiple times before. They made for a horribly toxic couple.

They eventually came to the center grounds of the university campus. A beautifully arranged garden of trees, flower, and other plant life. Some flowers loomed over the others dropping petals the size of a human. Other plants ranged in size and color making a rainbow of vegetation that stretched out between the four large buildings encircling it. To a newcomer the sight was entrancing, but Arthur and Emily simply ignored the view after having walked through it so often.

”I’m heading to my next class. With practicals coming up I can’t afford to skip anymore. Where are you off to?” Emily said having stopped opposite of Arthur.

Arthur scratched his head in thought. “I might use one of the training rooms one last time. Work off a little steam while I still can.”

Emily suddenly looked really serious and grabbed Arthur on his right sleeve. “I know you like going off and doing things on your own.” She paused gathering her thoughts. “Just please let me know where you’re off to before you do. I don’t want you to completely disappear from my life.”

Arthur pulled her into a quick hug. After parting, he said, “I promise. You…and Brennan … are important to me. I wouldn’t just leave you two behind.” He then readjusted his backpack started heading the opposite direction. “I’ll see you later” Arthur and Emily parted ways with a wave and Arthur began heading through the thick foliage to reach the towering gothic building on the other side. He entered through the thick wooden double doors and made his way through the winding marble corridors before stopping at a steel door on the basement level.

He placed his hand on the cold steel allowing magical energy to flow through and with a loud clunk the door swung open. Everyone’s magical energy was unique to their person allowing for the magic to work for identification purposes. It’s very similar to a fingerprint in that regard.

The room Arthur entered was small and blindingly white. Runes were etched into the walls and floor used to nullify magic. This was a state of the art training room. One that could handle immense amounts of magical energy and a unique room only students at Falstrom Academy had access to. Only the rich and influential made it into Falstrom and the money given to the school was often used in exorbitant ways. These practice rooms being one of them.

Arthur started off slowly with a few fireballs thrown at the wall. Each increasing in size and power. These quickly turned into fire blades flung haphazardly around the room and ended with a ring of fire forming around Arthur slowly expanding out before exploding into a blast of pure energy. Anyone seeing this would have been scared senseless. This wasn’t the kind of power many magicians could hope to have and Arthur wasn’t finished. As the flames died out he sat down in deep concentration. A crackle of electricity resounded through the room as lightning soon surrounded Arthur flowing between his hands and causing his eyes to turn a luminescent shade of blue. With a scream, he hurled the lightning at the wall causing the lightning to hit the center and spread out crawling across the ceiling and floor. A little calmer now Arthur sat back down onto the floor and said one word, “Status.” Yet nothing showed up. He slammed his fist into the ground in frustration before speaking out loud. “Why am I the only one it won’t appear for?”