At the end of each class, the novices and apprentices are evaluated by a panel of abecedarians and masters based on their knowledge and, if applicable, their practical skills learned. The teachers will then make recommendations to the students as to what actions they should take next based on their potential. This could include retaking the class, moving along that path of study, moving to a different path of study, or even leaving the Academy. However, it always falls to the students to make the final decision.

One day left. One day left and Chad would have completed his first quarter as an apprentice of the Academy. When he thought back on what he had learned this quarter, he was surprised by how much and how little he had learned. His magical staff skills had improved by leaps and bounds and his knowledge of Landrea and magic theory was practically infinitely greater than what it used to be. However, he had only learned a single spell in each of his apprentice classes and no magic had been done in his novice class.

Today he had evaluations for two of his classes and then he would be done. Chad was almost to the Tower when he heard someone behind him say his name. He turned to face them and suddenly there was a loud explosion and he found himself hurtling through the air. He crashed through the stone wall of the Tower behind him and found himself in the middle of a second floor classroom of the shifting tower, the very room his first evaluation was supposed to be in today. Amazingly, he hadn't broken any bones in the crash and was only slightly bruised. His assailant effortlessly leaped through the hole. They were dressed in heavy, bright orange Academy robes, with their hood up and their eyes alight with fury.

“How dare you embarrass me like that!” the person yelled in a voice that Chad could not identify as either male or female. They swung their arm towards Chad. As the light around them hazed, a table from across the room flew at Chad and hit him in the forehead. Chad barely managed to stand his ground.

“What did I do?!” he yelled back as the person sent a chair flying at him. Chad tried to dodge, but was not able to get out of the way completely and the chair slammed into his right cheek, knocking him slightly off balance.

“You call yourself a mage?” the assailant continued, ignoring Chad's question and hurling a ceramic vase at Chad that shattered on his left cheek. “You are a foolish, ignorant peasant. I will have you banished from this academy and see that you never study magic again!” The assailant spread their arms wide and brought them together in a powerful clap in front of their chest. The walls of the room burst outward as if blown by a powerful wind. Chad's perception of time froze as he realized what had just happened. All of the walls were gone and he could see out into the Academy grounds in all directions. He looked back towards the assailant. Their hood had been knocked off by the spell and Chad finally recognized him. It was Master Shifter Carver, the man who had taught him shifting all quarter. As the recognition sunk in, time started to flow normally again and the tower above them fell.

Chad woke with a start, sitting up and banging his head into Quartz's, who was hovering over him.

“Ooouch! Give a guy a little warning that you are awake before you go off and sit up like that!” Quartz said as he quickly hid his hands behind his back.

Had it been a dream, or had he somehow survived the collapse? It had seemed so real. His forehead and cheeks still felt tingly where the furniture had smashed into him. He put his hand to his cheek and it didn't feel right. He pulled his hand away and it was covered...in charcoal. He glanced back at Quartz and saw him throwing a piece of charcoal back into the grate. That woke him up. Of course he couldn't fly through stone walls and be okay, or have a table smash into his head and remain standing. However, it was very possible for a certain mischievous little roommate to doodle on his face with charcoal while he slept. “You little fiend!” Chad jumped out of bed and faced Quartz.

“Come on,” Quartz said with a grin on his face, “classes are over. I had to have a little fun.”

Jet was sitting with Selena in the dining commons waiting for Chad and Quartz. They were supposed to meet half an hour ago, but Jet wasn't going to complain. With classes being over for the quarter and the solstice being three days away, Jet didn't mind having the time to sit and chat with Selena. Who knew that she could meet such a great friend at the academy, especially someone as important as Selena? She was also thankful that Quartz had met Chad. She didn't feel such a strong need to keep up with Quartz as she once had because she knew if she failed out of the Academy, Selena and Chad would be there for him, not that she thought that would happen at this point. She was by no means the best in her classes, but she was also not the worst.

When Chad and Quartz finally did arrive, there seemed to be tension between the two. Jet guessed it was Quartz's fault based on the mischievous grin on his face. Chad's face on the other hand was bright red with the cold and looked like he had washed it this morning despite the chilly weather.

“Quartz, what did you do to Chad?” Jet asked.

“Drew with charcoal on his face,” Selena put in calmly before Quartz could reply.

That caused Quartz's smile to break slightly. “Wha...How did you know?” He asked.

“There has to be some reason for Chad to have frozen his face off. And, while he had the insight to clean the charcoal off, you did not,” Selena replied and pointed at Quartz's hands. Jet followed the gesture and, sure enough, Quartz's fingers were covered in soot.

“His thoughts must have been really evil while doing it,” Chad added. “So evil, in fact, that they invaded my dreams and gave me nightmares about the evaluations. I can think of no other reason for them than being caused by his fiendish little mind.”

“That makes perfect sense to me,” Jet said.

“Definitely!” added Selena.

“Really, guys? Why do you guys always make everything my fault?” Quartz asked.

“Well, who's fault is it then?” Jet asked him.

“Mine...I guess. But that's not the point!” Quartz replied. This of course caused everyone else to laugh, which annoyed Quartz more, prompting even more laughter..

They stopped laughing as Mallory walked over. “What did you do this time?” she immediately asked Quartz.

“Not you too!” Quartz said as if he had been betrayed. This brought on another course of laughter.

“Oh, so you actually did do something?” Mallory said. “I just asked that to get a reaction out of you. You are kinda predictable. Anyways, most of my friends are taking the break week off to visit their families. I was wondering if I could tag along with you guys for the next couple of days?”

That is how three days later, the five of them found themselves on the bridge to Candra enjoying the Winter Solstice festival together on the darkest day of the year. The festivities were much calmer than what took place during the Summer Solstice or either of the equinoxes. The thought of being on a cold stone bridge over a frozen river was not very welcoming, it would seem. Those who had come out made the best of it, selling and buying hot food and beverages, sitting with friends around fires and telling stories of days gone by, and some even went down to skate on the river.

They hadn't been long out of the gates of the Academy before Quartz found a stall selling hot meat pasties. They all got one to eat while they walked. Jet pitied Selena, Chad, and Mallory having to manage the pasties and their bulky staffs while they walked. Quartz was in a better position with his bulky axe across his back. They probably didn't think of their weapons as bulky, but to Jet, anything larger than a dagger was bulky. She had had to replace the two that were taken from her during the Fall Equinox, and while she was at it, she had gotten a couple more knives. You could never have enough knives.

While thinking, Jet had put a little distance between her and the rest of the group, probably because of her lack of bulky weapons. She turned to wait for them, but they were held up by a group of six or seven people crossing between them. When the group was directly between Jet and the others, one of them stopped to tie their boot.

As Jet stood waiting, someone grabbed her shoulder from behind and clamped a hand over her mouth and tried to pull her off her feet. At the same time, the air all around her hazed into shadow. Her first thought was of the shadow men and her second was not far behind: attack! She didn't struggle against the hand pulling her; instead she lunged in that direction and plowed into the man who had grabbed her, using the force of his own pull against him.

The man took a step back slightly dazed, which gave Jet a brief opportunity to observe her surroundings. She was surrounded by six people: the man who had just grabbed her, two men and a woman from the group who had come between her and the others, and another man and woman who had come out of the crowds on her sides. The crowds weren't going to be crowds for much longer as they were all scattering. Her friends weren't in much better shape than she was, with the rest of the boot tying group and several others surrounding them, but they had the advantage of being able to watch each other's backs.

Jet focused on the three people between her and her friends. All three were holding swords and were in defensive stances. Jet had never faced six armed people before and didn't like her chances, but she figured the only way she was getting out of this was by getting back to her friends as fast as possible. So, drawing a dagger in her right hand and a couple of throwing knives in her left, she charged.

After only a couple of steps, she was knocked off balance as a staff slammed into her back, throwing her forward. Her reflexes from all of her practicing kicked in and she was able to turn the fall into a roll. Coming out of the roll, she was able to throw two of the knives, taking one of the men in the thigh and another in the forearm. Not really what she was aiming for, but given the circumstances, not bad. Before she could fully get her balance, she was hit by two staff blows, the first on her left upper arm. She heard a snap. The second hit her right ankle and might have broken it had her balance not already been off. Instead she spun to the ground, hitting hard.

Dazed, she heard one of the men say something about it being easier than he thought it would be. One of them grabbed her arms and started to drag her towards the side of the bridge. As the daze wore off, she decided it would be wiser not to struggle until she could surprise them and make a break for it. The man who was dragging her suddenly dropped and in his place stood a woman in Academy robes, colored yellow and violet. The woman was an Enhanced Drifter Wizard. She grabbed Jet's hand and started pulling her up. As she said, “eye, explode,” all of the shadowmen were knocked backwards radially from the wizard. Pulling Jet up, she yelled, “Run, you foolish girl!” Jet ran with the wizard hard on her heels.

As soon as they were clear of the shadow men's shadow, the wizard again said two spell words, this time “fly” and “carry.” Jet realized that her feet were no longer touching the ground and she was slowly rising and quickly heading towards Candra. Looking back she saw a group of Academy mages chasing off the shadowmen who had attacked the others.

Turning to the wizard she asked, “Where are you taking me?”

“You will find out soon enough,” she replied. “You have no idea what you have gotten yourself into.”

END OF PART I