Arch Lord Aerolyso explains, “The first test is simple. All you two have to do is keep up with me as I go out into the fields.”

I place my hands over my cheeks to feign panic. “Keep up with a 92-year-old? Oh no! What will we do Silvia?”

He narrows his eyes at me. “Never underestimate the Arch Lord of Winterspring.”

I shrug my shoulders. That’s a nice line, but what’s he going to do? He’s an old man. His magic doesn’t work the way it used to.

Nonetheless, he goes for it. He holds out both hands in front of himself and creates a blue cloud of dense mana energy. That’s the Flying Mana Cloud spell. It’s a Quick Travel spell that only grandmaster-level script mages can do. It’s a spell that’s as much for prestige as it is for mobility. Basically, everyone knows that if you see someone riding on top of a cloud of pure mana energy, then that person is a bona fide elite mage.

Arch Lord Aerolyso leaps onto his cloud. Similarly, Silvia’s body becomes weightless and she rises into the air. She knows how to fly. I, however, know nothing. I raise my hand in objection.

“Yes Souladonis?” asks the Arch Lord.

“Umm Master, I don’t know any Quick Travel spells.”

He smiles shrewdly. “Then I suggest you run really fast.”

And they’re off. They zip into the distance so fast that it takes my breath away. I have mere seconds to do something before I lose them. So not knowing what else to do, I charge my body with Soul Magic and start running.

Charging full speed ahead, I blow out of the school gates, jump over the heads of slow-moving students, fly down the streets of Winterspring at 20 miles per hour, and continue running forward like a madman as I vacate the front gate of Winterspring Town. In the distance ahead, I can see the wakes of mana energy that trail behind Silvia and Master Aerolyso, yet they’re both so far ahead of me that I can’t see their actual bodies. All I can do is follow their trails and hope that I don’t lose them in the snowy white sky.

Yet lose them I do. Their trails disappear and all I can do is keep running straight and hope that they didn’t make any sudden turns. I power ahead for another 30 seconds until I accidentally pass by them. It turns out that the reason I stopped seeing their trails wasn’t because I lost them but because they stopped moving. Now I have to stop before I get too far ahead, but I don’t exactly know how. Legs don’t come with brakes like a train.

Figuring that at this point I couldn’t possibly look any worse, I simply take a dive and become a human snow plow. I burn through 100 feet of snow before my inertia finally grinds to a halt. I rise to my feet brushing snow off my clothes. I then sashay back to Silvia and Master Aerolyso as if everything were perfectly normal.

“Soooo,” I hum when I reach my teacher, “Did I pass?”

He shakes his head. “No Souladonis. Not even close.”

I lower my eyes to the snow. “Rassum frassum.”

“But,” the Arch Lord continues, “you can try to redeem yourself in the second test.”

I pound the knuckles of my right hand into my left palm. “Alright Master. What’s the second test?”

He crosses his arms and his demeanor becomes uncharacteristically serious. “The next test is to defeat your rival pupil in a full contact fight.”

I glance over at Silvia. “What?”

“You two are to fight full force. There are no rules. The fight ends when one of you is unconscious or surrenders.”

I frown and gaze off to the side. He doesn’t know what he’s asking of me. Yet at the same time, I don’t want Silvia to feel cheated. I want her to feel like she earned her position when Master finally declares her as his official successor. Besides, Silvia received her credentials as an ultimate class mage just last month. She’s gone from being a Falconer, to a Master Falconer, to a Human Raptor. I’m sure she’s eager to test her skills, and I wouldn’t mind seeing them myself. However, hurting a friend is absolutely out of the question. I would never do that for anyone or anything.

I look at Silvia. “What do you think?”

She turns to the Arch Lord. “Isn’t that dangerous Master? Somebody will get hurt.”

He keeps his arms crossed and doesn’t soften the mood. “When the fight is over, I’ll cast my Life Magic if need be, but that’s not your concern Silvia. Unless you plan on losing.”

“Of course not!” she retorts. She looks at me nervously. “It’s just that Soulbanana and I have never fought for real.”

He doesn’t relent. “You will today.”

I look over the Arch Lord to read his body language. He runs the world’s leading mage academy, but he’s never been the strict or severe type. The strength of our academy comes from the wisdom and foresight of our headmaster. Some of the other Arch Lords try to get ahead with strictness and severity, but the flaw of their method shows in the impaired performance of their students. In contrast, Winterspring is a lighthearted and fun academy, and yet our students are the world’s elites. So why would Arch Lord Aerolyso deviate from his ways now? There must be something that he’s not telling us. Besides the fact that he’s planning on choosing a successor, that is. Silvia and I have surmised that much already.

I turn again towards my “rival” pupil and summon my golden magic staff, Sophia. It’s the staff that makes me learn everything three times faster. Twirling it, I make a fanciful display and pose in a fighting stance. “Come on Silvia. Show me what an ultimate class Human Raptor can do.”

She shrugs and summons her weapon – the Tempestuous Venetian Fan of the Clouds. As if Silvia weren’t dangerous enough already, Arch Lord Aerolyso’s present to her to celebrate her promotion to ultimate class was a super rare fan that cost the Arch Lord 65 million âmes. The fan triples the power of Silvia’s wind magic. I helped him pick it out. Little did I know that a month later she’d be using it on me. But whatever, I have Soul Magic, which nobody is even supposed to know, so I can’t exactly cry “unfair.ˮ

Arch Lord Aerolyso steps away to give us space. While I let him move to a distance, Silvia takes advantage of the hiatus and summons her two pets – a falcon named Michelangelo and a golden eagle named Johanna. To win this so-called test of Master Aerolyso, I would have to defeat the lead apprentice of the world’s premier magic academy while she’s equipped with a super powerful weapon and while she’s assisted by two highly trained birds of prey. Frankly, I don’t think the Arch Lord himself could beat Silvia in a fight. Not the way he is now at least. But such is life. I might as well be proactive about the situation.

“Ladies first Silvia."

“Huh?”

“Ladies first. You can have the first shot.”

“Are you sure Soulbanana?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Give me all you got.”

She floats her eyes to the Arch Lord. He’s still doing his somber and serious thing, so it seems like he’s really going to let this happen. She turns her eyes back to me. “Okay Souladonis, but don’t hate me after this.” She pulls back her right arm, holding her Venetian fan to the wind. Then, with a quick swoosh of her arm, she launches her attack. Instantly, a shockwave of three columns of tornadoes ripples at me. The wind of her attack propels itself with such spontaneous force that it sounds like an explosion.

Reacting quickly, I charge my body with Soul Magic and spring up 20 feet into the air. It was necessary to jump this high to avoid the tornadoes, but now I’m vulnerable to her pets since I can scarcely dodge in the air. Yet it’s amazing what a man can do when he must. As Michelangelo rockets at me, I twist my body flat to the side and he flies right past me. I smile cockily, but then Johanna swoops down at a diagonal and smacks me in the side of my face. As a result my body twists sideways in the air head over feet until I crash into the ground. Most men would be dead from a fall like that, but not me. I’m practically a human rag doll.

I pull myself out of the snow and look ahead. Silvia’s not there. She’s in the air now. Like her pets she can fly and see with raptor vision. It’d be really difficult to hit her while she’s in the sky if not impossible. However, I might be able to get her to come down.

“Silvia!” I shout.

“What?” she shouts back down to me.

“You shouldn’t be flying right now.”

“And why not?”

“Because Master Aerolyso peeks up your skirt when you fly!”

“Souladonis!” the Arch Lord howls. I look at him and grin. I can’t tell whether his face is red from blushing or anger, but it’s funny either way. I totally just blew his cover. But even better, Silvia drops from the sky and lands to her feet. She glares at the Arch Lord and, in turn, he gazes out the corners of his eyes, rocks his feet back and forth, and whistles innocently. Of course, neither of us buys his act. He’s busted. Silvia shakes her head at him contemptuously. “Men,ˮ she scoffs.

While she’s distracted, I rush at her to close the distance for hand to hand combat. Strictly speaking, her fan is a melee weapon as opposed to a staff or wand which are the two categorical magic-only weapons. However, Silvia herself is a pure mage. At least as far as I know. I’m not sure how well she can perform in a hand to hand combat situation, but seeing as we’re already fighting, I might as well find out. Carpe diem as it were.

I reach her and throw a jab for her face with my left fist. She reacts well and ducks my punch. Yet her natural instinct is to retaliate with a swing of her fan to launch wind magic at me. That’s not the correct technique for the situation. All I have to do is side kick her forearm to stop her attack. Once I kick her arm, she stands erect, momentarily stunned. She leaves her chin up and wide open. I could easily clock her with a knockout punch, but I don’t. Instead, I let her jut her left hand to my chest and blow me back with the Wind Push spell. Once again, I’m relinquished to projectile range. But no matter. I can play the projectile game too. Perhaps not as well as her, but today’s a fine day for pushing the limits, so we’ll see.

I cast my favorite Comet spell. Seeing it melt the snow below as it barrels towards Silvia is a thing of beauty. Yet said beauty doesn’t last long. She drowns out my fireball with the Water Shark spell. In response, I put my staff to my hip in preparation for another spell. I start to go for a Lightning Strike, but Michelangelo screeches at me from above. His noisy battle cry allows me to see him coming, so I hit the deck and he passes right over me. Unfortunately, however, this time I’m the one who made the mistake.

While I’m lying flat on the ground, Silvia throws my body into the air with the Tornado spell. If that were all, then I’d be fine. However, Johanna immediately swoops into me with bone-breaking force. I never really gave it much thought before, but getting rammed at high speed by a frickin’ eagle hurts. Yet that’s not all. Michelangelo, the falcon, decides to play a game of monkey see, monkey do, so to speak. He also rams me and I’m left twisting in the air. Yet the coup de grace comes when Silvia alters her body into her Human Raptor form. Carried by magical falcon wings, she darts straight into me at 60 miles per hour and gouges her fists into my stomach. Had she hit me in the chest, she could have stopped my heart. But she didn’t, so I don’t die. However, I do expel a loud fart thanks to the impact to my stomach. More importantly though, I sail into the horizon like a cartoon villain and crash into the soft snow somewhere in the distance.

Moments later Silvia and Arch Lord Aerolyso come to find me. By the time they arrive, I've already made them a snow angel. Yet sadly, the Arch Lord isn’t impressed. He looks down at me and shakes his head with disdain. “The test is over. You fail Souladonis.”

I cast the Miracle Heal spell on myself to heal my bruises and stand to my feet. “Well then I’m 0 for 2 at this point, but I can change that real fast. Silvia! I challenge you to a game of rock, paper, scissors!”

Making light of the situation probably wasn’t the most tactful thing to do. Master’s nostrils flare and I can tell that he’s about to blow his lid. “Silvia, leave us,” he commands. “I want to talk to Souladonis in private.”

“Okay,” she says, half-turning to walk away. “I’ll wait for you Soul.”

She leaves me alone with the Arch Lord. He starts by giving me the condemning eyes, but they’re no more harsh than the way that I used to look at myself in the mirror. As a consequence, I’m less startled than one might expect. Nonetheless, he still gives me the business.

“That was a disappointing display Souladonis. I expected more from you. Why did you hold back?”

The last part of his critique catches me off guard. “Huh?”

“What, did you think I wouldn’t notice? You didn’t use Triple Casting, Summoning Magic, or even Soul Magic to boost your power. Nor did you even once attempt to attack her pets. Were you even trying to win?”

Right, so seeing as he saw through me like glass, I might as well come clean. “Listen Master, the test for me was never to defeat Silvia; it was to keep the promise that I made to my own heart to never hurt a friend again. You saw the scene at the academy with Nadine. That was the result of having hurt her in the past. I’ll never do anything like that ever again. Never.”

He nods his head three times and looks off to the side. “I see. I should have thought of that.”

I continue, “Master, if you’re considering choosing a successor, then there’s nobody better for the job than Silvia.”

He looks at me with serious and silent eyes. Then after a moment’s pause, he finally says, “It’s not that simple Souladonis. There are many factors to consider. An Arch Lord must be intelligent, good with people, able to instruct youths, spot potential, plan for the future, and supervise a complex administration. In these areas, yes, Silvia is an ideal candidate. Yet an Arch Lord must also be courageous, strong, resilient, powerful with magic, skilled in combat, and willing to fight through any circumstance no matter how difficult without giving up. In these areas you’ve already proven yourself through your quest to rescue Nadine. Furthermore, being an Arch Lord is stressful. It’s a never-ending sea of responsibilities and challenges. I’m not sure that that’s the right kind of life for Silvia. However, your incomplete education, aloof attitude, and poor social reputation would make it difficult for you as well. So you see Souladonis, it is anything but an easy decision.”

I smile and place my hand on his shoulder. “Well then it’s a good thing you’ll be around for a long time to come, isn’t it Master?”

He doesn’t return my smile. “No Souladonis. Everyday I feel my time drawing near. Besides,” he pauses, and I see a deeper sorrow in his eyes than I’ve ever seen him show before. “I miss my wife.”

I remove my hand from his shoulder. I only have to think of Katherine for a millisecond to understand how he must feel. To lose one’s lover must be an indescribable horror. Sixty plus years of marriage wouldn’t change that. “I’m sorry Master.”

My condolence causes him to become self-aware. He realizes that he’s being morose and immediately sorts himself out. He smiles his jolly-old-man smile and points his thumb over his shoulder. “Silvia’s waiting for you. You kids run along and I’ll think on the situation some more.”

“Alright Master,” I agree. “But take it easy. You’re no spring chicken. Don’t go for a joyride on your magic cloud and then run out of mana in the middle of a snowy field somewhere.”

He shakes his head and wags his finger. “Must I tell you again Souladonis? Never underestimate the Arch Lord of Winterspring. I’ll be back at town before you.”

Out of the blue, he summons his magic cloud, hops on it, and shoots off in the direction of the town while swaying his arms like a surfer. “Woo hoo hoo!” he exclaims as he goes.

I walk to Silvia scratching my head at his curious burst of imitated youth. “Our Master’s a bit crazy.”

“Yeah,” she agrees with a smile. “But he’s a good man.”

“Yeah.”

Suddenly, Silvia prods me in the shoulder with her fist. “Let’s go back to my place and relax for a bit Soulbanana. When my apprentice Heather gets out of class, I’ll have her cook us something nice.”

“Sure,” I agree. Why not? Katherine will still be in class for a few more hours anyway. Besides, I’m in no rush to see her. I can always put off until tomorrow what I’m too afraid to do today.