My second day of classes was practical, each of us taking a quick turn in the stadium that they held the try-outs in. The exercise was simple, conjure a breath of fire from one’s mouth. It seemed like that was the perfect test in which one could gauge the power of your magic.

It was also a test to measure the difference between grade fifteen and grade five pills, so the students were understandably excited. Even more so when they heard that someone from their classes created it.

The average student’s length of flame was around ten metres if they blew it directly upward. It was now my turn, I wanted to pass it up so badly, but I felt like that would set even more eyes on me. I’d no idea what I was doing, so the instructor told me the incantations, but I simply couldn’t remember it. My way of remembering things was through first-hand experience and feelings, this logical sequence of steps left me baffled.

I closed my eyes and simply thought of two things, the pool of water I’d slept in and the actual result of the spell. I imagined that large and vast pool of power was my own and blew forth bright flames towering so tall I couldn’t measure my performance because of the blinding brightness. I used no incantation, no particular sequence to execute it. It wasn’t a ‘spell’ to me, but more of just this thing I wanted to happen. It felt natural.

“You’re something else miss Crescent. Not many people can do that without the incantation,” the head teacher teetered alongside me, hands holding onto each other behind his back, “it looks like you’re a sorceress, the type that uses unconventional methods to achieve what they want. These classes aren’t for you, I’m afraid.”

“What’s the difference?” I asked the demotivated teacher.

“The regular magic students, mages, learn through conventional means. Incantations, magic circles, rituals. It’s like a law you have to learn in order to use a spell. This isn’t the case for sorcerers. If you try to teach them like a mage, it’ll only hinder them. They’re free-spirited people, and must learn as such. In other words, they’ve got loads of magical talent that would be suppressed without following their hearts,” he tapped lightly on his chest.

After learning of that, I left, trying to find the sorcerer’s class, but was totally lost even when given directions. I grew tired and decided to skip class, heading back to my room.

I imbued the communication ring that Chiron gave me with a little magic and spoke into it. Quite a weird feeling, talking to someone who wasn’t there. “Emily?” he answered.

“Uncle! I missed you, have you been eating well?”

“I don’t have time now, Emily. Did you read the scroll or the grimoire yet?” he sounded a bit unwell, like the hoarse voice you get with a flu.

“I haven’t yet. I only just settled down. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’ll contact you, goodbye.”

He dropped the connection in a heartbeat. But he’d usually shoo me away if he was studying or meditating, so maybe he was this time? There was no way to be sure. I decided to open the black grimoire first, transmuting it back to its previous state.

The first thing it taught me, past the useless drivel, was that there were three very different types of magic. The one we used in our everyday lives, the ones I’ve seen most of thus far, was normal, neutral magic that’s often utility-based, these were the arcane arts.

The other, was a darker, more sinister magic called demonology, meant to directly attack life force with shadow energy. The only wielders of it would be demons, for humans would die when wielding it.

And the last was draconic magic, originating from dragons, this was based on the elements. The book certainly made it seem the most destructive power one could have.

But, why did Mandy think uncle Chiron had a dragon? What does it even mean anyway? I wondered, but decided to think about that another time. I opened a normal tome Chiron had packed for me, and within it were a couple of useful spells. The first was a binding magic. White chains would wrap around the target and bind them, easy enough to cast once I envisioned it. I tried it out on myself and discovered I can adjust the tightness of the wrap, quite dangerous on a feeble-enough body.

The next spell would prove quite convenient, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. It taught me teleportation, for as long as I’ve seen the place, I may teleport. However, I couldn’t create portals for transport, it would only work on me. I practiced those two spells until I grew tired of them, subsequently, the sun grew weary of watching over us and torpor pillaged through my resistance, forcing me asleep the minute I took a break on a dining chair.

Maybe it was the habit of awakening unnaturally early in an unknown place, but when I pulled the blinds of my eyes up, it was still early morning, the sun was bright, but not blindingly and I had nothing of immediate importance to do, so I decided to explore the school.

Although it was a magic academy, there wasn’t much to be fascinated about besides the largely impressive and intricate architecting. The school looked to be separated by five parts, three of which were buildings for the first, second and third years respectively. The fourth were the offices of work for the staff, lab team, Sentry head officers and the head and vice head of the school. The lab was also there mixed in there, creating a hodgepodge of buildings and bad planning. And the fifth place would be the library, in the centre of it all.

Even after walking around like the living dead, I still hadn’t found the sorcerer’s class. Perhaps the teacher was jesting about it.

Discovering the whole academy was quite useful for teleportation. I’d already seen most places, which allowed me to go anywhere in the academy with just a few seconds of casting.

What now? I asked myself, staring off into the distant sea. I thought about opening the scroll, but I felt an unnerving chill just looking at the ring. It felt like something my heart was not yet ready for, and the world of magic before me was so enthralling that my attention to it was waning. The only thing that kept part of my mind attached to its presence was Chiron’s words, he so clearly stated that it held the truth of my birth, but was I ready to know?

I exhaled.

“Miss Crescent?” I heard Winter’s voice, “Do you also like this spot?” he asked me. When did he–

“Quite a beautiful view, isn’t it?” he commented, eyes glued to the crashing waves. And indeed, it was very beautiful, but that questioned irked me.

“Yes, sir, it is. Mister Winter, forgive me for asking, but aren’t you blind?”

He chortled, walking up the last remaining steps to stand at the top of the hill with me. “Indeed, but not entirely. I have a magic I use to see periodically. I do have a lot of paperwork after all. It can be tiring.”

“Were you like that since birth?” I asked, being a little nosey.

“Quite the curious one, eh?” he smiled softly, “No, I wasn’t always like this. Venreval was attacked by a monster twenty years ago, and many soldiers and wizards fought and died against the beast. It was in that battle that I lost my sight. I was just twenty years old when that happened.”

“Oh,” I curled into myself, disappointed that I didn’t know when to stop with my questions, “I’m sorry.” For asking.

He laughed yet again, “I heard your dragon’s breath was a big hit and your pills were an even bigger hit. I’m quite happy you came to us. Be sure to visit Mandy today, she wanted to give you something. Be well now,” he waved goodbye and teleported away, probably back to his office.

I teleported back to my room too, there was always something to practice, and I’d decided to standardise my pills a little. My first thought was getting a normal person to take the highest possible grade of pill without losing control of their magic or killing themselves. The idea was to enchant the pill with a magic control reader, something that can read the threshold of control that a user has and administer the recommended strength equal to that of a certain grade. New mages should be able to take a grade one pill and have the effect of the highest grade they can control. I’d call this process grade throttling.

The next step of standardisation would be to colour code them. Red would be body enhancements like strength, durability and increasing the body’s magic tolerance, this would be especially useful to mages like Mandy.

Blue would be focused on magic itself, doing the same things as the pills I made to get me into the school. Potency, magic regeneration and expansion, range increase and spell cost reduction. This would do well for the less animated magic users.

Green would be for health, removing diseases, illnesses, poisons and anything of the like. It would put the user’s body in an optimal state of functioning so it would be fine to take it every day, as a nutrient-based pill. This pill would suit anyone, from the highest wizards to the sickly commoner.

And last, but certainly not least, was the emergency pill, a bigger, jet black pill that gave all the effects of red, blue and green at a much higher proficiency and could only be created as a grade zero pill because of its price – death. This was a last resort pill that I kept under wraps. It didn’t exactly feel like something that would constitute legal.

After spending all day creating and perfecting them, I finally decided to visit Mandy, although it was already so late. I hoped she wouldn’t be mad and made a ring for her that would summon any colour pill right into the palm of her hands when she passed her magic through it. Spending time alone really boosted my creativity.

I pressed the bell and waited a while, thankfully she opened the door, but unfortunately, I could see the sleep in her eyes. “I’m, so sorry, I didn’t want to wake you.”

She didn’t say anything back, or perhaps didn’t look like she had the strength to conjure speech. With a less than spritely gesture, she beckoned me inside and plopped right back onto her bed. Despite her hard nature, she had a lot of brightly coloured decorations and plush toys, a surprising contrast.

With a groan, she felt around the front her chest of drawers, searching for the little white knob and pulled it, pointed inside and mumbled, “That’s yours.”

A white lab coat with the academy’s logo at the back of it and the teal stripes design that the three officers had on their cloaks. I thanked her and left her to sleep, too afraid of bothering her with the explanation of my little gift.

Back to my room I went and opened the grimoire once more. I found a tale, that sounded more like a historical event than a story you’d tell around a campfire. There was a dragon, evil and sinister, but most frighteningly, unknown. It summoned a great demon that destroyed many lives. The demon’s name, Eblis. It was said that anyone who even inhaled the air it breathed out would slowly die. Draconic power was resistant to its influence hence why dragons were not affected by the demon. When the wizards discovered the dragon’s resistance, they sought to harness the dragon’s strength by creating a magic that would drain the dragons of their magic until death, and implant that magic into humans. This is how they came to defeat Eblis, the Devourer.

Quite a story, I thought, turning another page. The demon’s death in turn, killed many others, as his very essence leaked into the air and killed many people. A great magical dome was constructed to contain the poisonous air and refrain people from entering, for the demon had decayed, but his bright violet blood had remained. ‘Violet blood’? I asked myself, thinking a bit. “No way, that’s impossible!” Was I bathing in demon’s blood all this time?

I closed the grimoire shut and transmuted it back into the ring, too shaken up to continue. Then the dome around that forest… my thoughts trailed off, uncle Chiron!

I attempted to connect with him through the silver ring, but he would not answer. I was scared. Did that mean, I was a demon? Wasn’t that bad? How was I not dead? I didn’t just inhale the pungent remnants of the demon, I soaked in his blood, for hours on end! I slept in it! So, why did it feel so good? Why was it so comforting?

I slept on it, but not at all receiving a good night’s sleep. My doorbell rang, and Mandy called out to me. I tried decamping my lassitude and rose to my feet to answer. We had breakfast, some small talk and I finally remembered the ring I made for her.

I explained everything to her, the colours’ meaning, the grade throttling and the twenty-four-hour duration. She had the biggest smile I’d ever seen and hugged me so tightly I could hardly breathe.

“It can only hold a hundred pills, so let me know when you want more, okay?”

“Sure thing.”

Suddenly, a huge explosion shook the building and rampaged through my ears. I jumped, “What was that?!”

Mandy, wordless, swallowed a red pill immediately and sprinted outside, speed like a cheetah. I took my time going outside, trembling in fear. A blaring alarm sounded through the entire academy.

I stopped, exhaled to calm myself and teleported to the top of the library, the centre of the campus. My brain halted for a while, unable to properly believe what my eyes said to it.

A dragon! It’s a dragon! The thing’s sturdy, muscular body and unbelievable wing span sent vigorous winds about the place as it flew around, charging another breath of fire. The head office, where the principal worked was mostly blown away, in flames and rubble. It made its rounds, going back to the Winter’s office. It knew exactly what it was doing, it didn’t seem like a random attack.

I lifted my hand at and casted arcane bind to tie the base of its wings together, then summoned even more to completely ensnare the dragon’s mobility. My next bind would be around its mouth, clamping down and cancelling its fire breath. It landed in the park with the fountain and rolled until it stopped, creating a little fissure. I teleported over to it.

The scaly behemoth was colossal, its gargantuan eyes staring vengefully at me. What must I do now? I recoiled a little, ensuring it was safely bound and covering the entire body with chains, as tight as I possibly could without suffocating the beast. It couldn’t move a muscle.

A large ice prison suddenly encapsulated the dragon and Winter teleported right in front of me. “My thanks for restraining it. We’ll deal with the rest.”

A strange gas began descending through the holes atop the ice prison. I released my bindings after they told me to. The drowsy leviathan mustered all its might, “Enslaver!” it yelled out in rebellion, knocking and scratching against the ice, breathing fire upwards until it surrendered to the vice principal’s sleep magic.

The three officers finally reached, albeit the threat was already subdued by the head and vice head.

“Are you okay?!” Mandy asked the moment she saw me. I nodded, ensuring her I’m fine. Someone in a lab coat was the last person you’d expect in a battle after all.

Clockwork, one of the officers began documenting everything whilst the other officer – his name I could never remember – began assessing the damage. The vice principal, Derek, a shady and very quiet man, opened a portal huge enough for the passage of the whole ice prison. It took him well over thirty minutes to conjure the thing. With its disappearance, the ear-torturous alarm ceased its wailing.

It didn’t seem like anyone was hurt. Then why did that dragon attack the principal’s office? More importantly, did I just see a dragon?! My mind couldn’t wrap around it fully yet.

“Mandy…” I called her weakly.

“Hmm?” she gave me her attention, her azure eyes staring right through me.

“I, feel horrible.” But why? It felt like I knew him, that dragon. He feels familiar, but that doesn’t make any sense. Mandy’s arms wrapped around me from behind and she calmed me.

“It’s okay,” she comforted, but was it? According to her, these attacks happened on a fairly regular basis and the one-off attackers would be sent back to their homelands but kept in Winter’s ice prison for a day or two as a sort of punishment and a warning to deter them from returning. Quite a humane thing to do in light of a dragon’s power, so why did I feel so bad about helping?

Most classes were cancelled for the day in order to convene a meeting of heads about these attacks. “They’ve become really, and I mean really frequent about a year ago?” Mandy tried gauging the start of the relentless assaults. We entered the meeting room, the top floor of a rather tall tower near the staff’s quarters. The circular shape was hugged by large, slightly tinted windows, giving us a clear view and sufficient light from outside. In the middle was a round table encircled by ten chairs, looked to be made for royalty’s buttocks by the sheer height and exorbitance of the chairs and varnished glossy table.

All heads of the school sat down, of course I now took Ingrid’s place, skyrocketing my nervousness through the roof. Being the youngest, most inexperienced pup amongst veterans really smeared my confidence with self-ridicule.

“Bradly, would you please.” Derek, the vice principal gave the floor to Bradly, the indolent officer whose name I finally remembered thanks to Derek opened a file.

“There’s been approximately five dragons attacks each year for the past fifteen years. In this year alone, we’ve now documented nineteen. As for dragons flying by and scouting us, there’s been over thirty. All their attacks have been aimed at the staff’s quarters, or more accurately, the principal’s office. There have been casualties in the past fifteen years, but only of the Sentries. There have been injuries amongst staff, Sentries and students.”

“How many have died?” Winter asked, his elbows on the table and his chin on his resting on interlocked fingers.

“In total, forty Sentries, sir.” Bradly answered, giving Winter an immediate headache, or so he made it seem.

“We need a prevention,” Derek said quite calmly, “it is quite foolish on our part to allow them to attack.”

“How do you suppose we do that, Derek?” the principal looked at his right-hand man through the corner of his eyes.

“Why don’t we try barrier magic?” Clockwork suggested, “It’s stable and effective.”

“But not efficient. We’ll need at least eleven wizards of your rank, and even then, they’ll all be immobile because barrier is a channelling spell. You’ll all run out of magic in a few days. The only way a barrier would work is if we use magic tech, and even then, we’ll need a top-class enchanter to pre–” he stopped abruptly, his head finally looking up from its thinking position and his eyes burying their interests in mine.

He leaned back, releasing a surprising cachinnation and jumping the vice principal seated next to him. “I’m an idiot,” he said, “Miss Crescent, for each of the tasks I’m about to call out, there’s a hundred percent salary increase tied to it. First task, creating eight high density onyx obelisks at each cardinal and intercardinal points. Second, enchanting those obelisks with enough magic regen to withstand channelling a constant barrier. Third, to have a self-sustaining barrier that encompasses the entire campus, giving only those belonging to the school the ability to pass through it. Can you do this?” he asked.

“T-that’s a lot, I’m not su–”

“Impossible, Winter,” Derek interrupted me, “any enchanter must first be able to do whatever he may want the enchanted object to do. A magic regen high enough to maintain a barrier this large is impossible, even for you, Winter. You said it yourself, not even eleven Sentry leaders will be enough.”

“I suppose,” Winter sighed, “you’re right. It was just wishful thinking. Well, this meeting is adjourned, if someone thinks of something, no matter how stupid you think it may be, please tell me.”

Everyone teleported out, except me and Mandy. “Aren’t you leaving?” I asked?

“Aren’t you?” she replied, “Besides, I can’t use teleportation magic. I mean, I can, but I don’t always end up where I want to be.”

I giggled, and refocused my thoughts. Despite my ridiculous chemist practices, I’ve never once felt like I exhausted my magic. I paid a visit to the library and found a spell book with basic spells. I had to learn force field magic first, a lesser version of barrier magic that didn’t have the ability to apply conditions like Winter had asked. It was rather easy, quite a simple spell, even the barrier itself, I was able to fully cast it around me and expand it over the entire library without feeling like my magic dissipated. Did bathing in demon’s blood do this to me? I wondered, then dismissed the notion, after all I couldn’t be sure that it was demon blood.

I went to bed, leaving my experiments for when the sun’s radiance fully helped my vision. Excited and eager to try the new spell, I casted teleport to atop the library’s roof. I sat down, cross-legged like Chiron and thought not of where the barrier should be but pushing its range as much as I possibly could. I began channelling, and focused all my thoughts on the pool of purple water. I lost mental sight of where the barrier covered, and physical sight was of no use because my eyes were shut tight.

I kept on pushing, expanding, and a few minutes into it, I finally stopped and simply maintained the spell. My eyelids finally gave my eyes what it wanted – to feed its curiosity – but, I couldn’t see the barrier. I knew it was there because I was still channelling it, but, I’d no idea why I wasn’t seeing it.

Winter appeared, teleported right behind me. “Miss Crescent!” he yelled out in apparent shock. There were magic markings around his eyes that allowed him to see. Suddenly, Derek, the heads of the school, the staff and teachers, students, everyone who knew the teleport spell did so to my location. Even Mandy, with her troublesome teleportation managed to land on a few people and nearly rolled off the edge of the roof.

“Wait here!” Winter said to everyone and teleported away for a few minutes. I couldn’t exactly decamp my position because I was channelling the barrier. I assumed he left to check it out, but something else worried me, the strange noise the roofing made as more and more people teleported to the source of magic they felt from me.

I touched the roof and gave it a temporary enchantment to strengthen it. The thought of falling inside really scared me.

“Mister Winter?” I called out to him when he returned, wondering what he could possibly be thinking about in his silence. He calmed the crowd down first, then spoke his first words, “How is your magic reserve? Tell me in a number, what percent do you feel like it’s currently at?”

He’s worried about that? I thought to myself, his reactions seeming like quite the exaggeration for simply being worried about my magic level. “When I cast the barrier, it was about ninety-seven percent, I’d say, it filled back up when I stopped expanding it.”

He laughed, a little nervously, and that nervousness brushed onto me. “I-is something wrong?” What did you do, Emily?

A man suddenly appeared, his teleportation as smooth as ever. His robe and its intricate black and white design drew attention to his prominence. “Samael Winter,” he called, his voice heavy and dark, “king Sven Aran summons you to the royal court.”

“May I ask what this is about, archmage?” Winter questioned the man.

“You may not,” he replied simply, but not in a condescending manner. The secrecy of it must’ve been instigated by this king he spoke of.

“Miss Crescent, cancel your spell and come with me,” Winter said whilst the archmage opened a portal to the court. Me? A glacial chill severed my rein of whatever composure I had. I felt like fainting.

I did as I was told and went with them, entering a court filled with such uptight and serious officials. The king, a middle-aged man, already greying and dressed rather casual and modest for the highest possible rank in the kingdom called Winter up near the throne, wanting to keep their conversation off the books.

I stood patiently in the middle of the throne room with the archmage standing next to me. “You’re strong, aren’t you?” I asked, making conversation to put an end to the near-death anxiety that welled up in me.

“I’d like to say that depends on your opinion, but that’s not a very objective perspective. Compared to Venreval’s top mages, then yes, I would say I’m strong.”

“I’m Emily, the chemist,” I extended my hand trying to smile but horribly failing. To my relief, he smiled first and shook my hand, “Vaughn, the royal archmage.”

“You’re young,” I commented, looking forward again after our handshake.

“You’re younger,” he said, pointing out the obvious, much like I did. Our conversation stopped when the king called on us. I walked forward, mechanically so, hoping to not show my edginess.

“I’ve been told about your talent. It is impressive, for one so young,” his sharp and clear voice sounded through the room. I nodded, my words of thanks stuck in my throat. “You will bring your belongings here and work under archmage Vaughn Black. Your first task would be to cure the people infected by the recent plague.”

Huh, I have to leave to leave the school? But – “I don’t want to.” I said, thinking out loud.

“She didn’t mean that, sire! She’s ju–”

“No! I meant it. I don’t want to leave the school. I can help out if you so wish, but I won’t leave the school.” I said, making use of that window of opportunity to cancel the king’s eagerness to decide my fate. My fingers were crossed, and my eyes pressed shut in anticipation of the king’s answer. I opened them just to peek and saw Winter pass his hand down his face in disappointment. The gasps and chatter of the court told me I’d made a bad decision and the ongoing silence of the king pricked my resolve the longer it went on.

“Very well, then,” he said, removing the giant mantle of pressure off my shoulders, “but I would like that you see a patient before you leave, chemist. Follow me.”

Winter, Vaughn and I trailed behind the king and entered into a room that made the prestige of the school look like filth. A small boy laid on the bed, asleep, his skin with discolouration and bumps everywhere. “Please, I will reward you with anything you desire, if you cure my son.”