Tythas sighed. Never in his life did he expect to be the impromptu tutor of a prince, let alone a prince of one of the twin empires, the greatest kingdoms in all the lands of men. Even more, how ignorant the man was. Tyr wasn't dumb, not in his opinion. He was quick witted, but the huge gap in his knowledge was absurd, even common sense seemed alien to him. Like he'd been sheltered and willfully prevented from learning.

“I get that, but it's still problematic. I don't know what to do...” That same prince sighed. One month remained before the start of classes and all he ever did was meditate silently. Every single day, leaving Tythas and the others bewildered and confused. Sometimes, Tyr wouldn't eat or sleep for days, seated on a windowsill or roof until he was shaken out of it by one person or another.

“It's your first year...” Tythas' shoulders sunk. “Pick a specialization or two. If you don't like them, you can always try again. School years are divided into quarters, it's really not that hard and you can change once a year, with four years to decide a graduate program.”

“I don't have that long, man.”

Tyr was befuddled by the mass injection of information. Forced out of his normal routine by the girls and Tythas as attendants harassed them to convince him to 'choose a school'. Not a school in the sense of the institution, of which they'd all be attending the same, but the school of magic. Of which, there were eight 'major' schools and hundreds of lesser schools that paired off of each.

Even having been 'educated', it was far more complicated than he'd expected, it went something like this:

Evocation: The manipulation and projection of elemental mana. This was the only field Tyr had demonstrated a natural talent in and was still fairly basic compared to the others. Elemental magic. All pure elemental mages were evokers, and this was by far the most common course of study among the many mages in the academy. People liked flashy things, and evokers weren't just for battle – they had a vast array of tools at their disposal that applied to a great many things. To simplify it, evocation was the ability to summon or manipulate matter or energy out of nothing more than ones own mana reserves.

Enchantment: This was both a crafting discipline and a field of study for those that found themselves interested in the concept of 'buffing' others. It was similar to evocation, but instead of manipulating raw energy, one would imbue it in objects, or even other people. Although it was illegal to do so in the empires, enchanters could even give themselves authority over a persons free will. Causing the target to sleep, or... Less savory things. Even mind control was in their wheelhouse, but that was illegal everywhere.

Arcane: Sort of the bread and butter of all common mages. Arcane studies, at least in the beginning, focused on talents all mages could learn. Most of these mana induced phenomena were simple, but this school was heavily favored due to its versatility. Magic circles, wards, and other lesser things that couldn't be pinned to more than one school were included. Beyond that, it was the manipulation of 'raw' mana without elemental or physical form. Dimensional magic as well, was part of the arcane study, but only a small part of it. From Tyr's perspective, the 'arcane' seemed like a conglomerate of 'fuck if we know', things that simply couldn't be sorted. All of the sub-schools included.

Divination: An inconsistent school that performed such feats as to be clearly theoretical. IE: Reading the future, or even the mind of another, using magical means to hunt a creatures or track objects. Divination was the lesser of all other schools, but some of the knowledge was certainly useful. Diviners could sense magic, reverse engineer mana circles, and detect mana phenomena with a word. Although the concept was interesting, Tyr had no use for it. He could sense mana naturally as all sorcerers could, he literally smelled it. Sometimes, he could see it. Even at the most advanced level, he had no interest at all in reading his future. Astrid's mother was apparently a well regarded diviner, but even she could only read intention, not thoughts. Tyr considered the fact that he could already do this passively via world energy, so he had little interest in it.

Illusion: A school that altered the perception of others. Perhaps it was the most simple. Another school that Tyr had little interest in. It wasn't worthless, but the idea of wielding illusions didn't fit his personality, nor his aesthetics. If it had anything good about it, it was the direct nature of the specialization. Not so jumbled as the others. It changed how things could be sensed on a micro or macro scale, very simple, much less confusing than the other 'paths'.

Transmutation: It was somewhat similar to enchantment, except it bore physical change. Reinforcement magic was a branch of this school. Otherwise, it was another support and buffing vocation, usually for the 'self', though. Tyr's inborn element, fire, was relatively incompatible with this school. There was a note at the bottom indicating that those carrying his specific prime element should prepare themselves for a high comparative difficulty versus their peers. In a way, it could be simplified as 'shape shifting', but apparently that was an extremely difficult path to take. People could make themselves stronger, faster, etc. Even smarter, apparently, influencing biological phenomena was well within the capability of this school. Tyr could use that, but not much else. In summary, it was too complicated for him, even with the obvious advantages.

Anima: A very poorly understood, and relatively new school. Animists manipulated the energies of life, death, or pseudo-biological energy sources in general. They, as the name might allude – 'animated' things, although the field extended far beyond that. It was the study of the energy that would ebb and flow between the paradoxical concepts of life and death. Or more simply, cellular energy was anima, and this was the study of it. Necromancy for example, was a field of Anima, banned in Haran and Varia alike. Any practitioners would be executed on sight. It was taught in the academy, and not just as a theoretical course. Golems, animated constructs or the remains of dead things, and more besides. Like most schools of magic, there was a large overlap with the others – just enough of a uniqueness to it to require a separate school.

Animists were the broadest category of mages. They could be healers, wielders of alchemical golems, blood mages, necromancers, and then some. The concepts behind life and death were poorly understood, but humanity had probably considering them longer, presumably, than magic had even existed. As ever, no matter how far they progressed as a race, universal phenomena like this seemed out of reach.

Conjuration: The manipulation of energy to 'summon' something. Tyr understood this school very little. The concepts behind it were diverse, and the most complicated – academically – of all the various schools of magic. The explanation present on the information he was given was not tremendously helpful. Conjurers could summon elementals, or call upon the abilities of specific deities to generate a reaction. Or so it said. Tyr doubted that any of the gods were truly listening to anyone, waiting for the right moment to act, but who was he to say?

Beyond the schools, there were specializations or paths. Without them, perhaps it wouldn't have been confusing. The problem in his mind was, everything had an overlap. Magic was an incredibly varied field of study where men over one hundred years old wouldn't have managed to master ten percent of it let alone the whole discipline. It was a science in and of itself, with vast complications in determining which path to take.

As far as classes chosen, schools seemed almost entirely irrelevant. One could enter the school of evocation, and take the same classes an animist would take from start to finish. Whoever had designed this system had clearly lost their marbles, at least in Tyr's opinion.

Battlemage, necromancer, warden, summoner, magic knight, reaver, riftwalker, etc... It went on. And on. And on... It made Tyr's head spin, doubting Tythas' sanity when he said it'd be 'easy'.

These were just classifications, or classes. Wizard, warlock, occultist, cabalist, vitalist, allomancer, dimensional mages... The list went on and on, again. Eight schools, dozens of specializations, and hundreds of classifications beyond the generic 'mage' tag. Each and every one of them was different in there own way. For example, a master animist could spend fifty years at the discipline and be a poor healer despite all the time spent – should they choose to focus on that part of it dedicated to animating mana constructs such as golems. Magic wasn't just the wielding of elements, that was only a small sliver of it.

“Alright, so...” Tythas sighed yet again. “You don't choose your own classification, you choose your school and specialization. An evoker can heal just as well as an animist, they just do it in a different way. They each have their upsides, the main difference lies in how the discipline is approached. For example, you can evoke a fire elemental – or you can conjure it – or animate a golem with the same properties. That's just an example. We have, what... At least two thousand years of magic study with the odd mishap between diluting our understanding – of course it's not going to be easy to learn it all.”

“What would you suggest?” Tyr turned toward Alex who had bizarrely remained in the room even after the others had left. She had hung around a lot recently, and he had no idea why. He respected Tythas, but Alex was a true mage. A college mage with real experience, at least.

“Me?” Alex asked, befuddled by how much of a mess the system in the successor states was. “Why me?”

“Because I respect your opinion...?” Tyr replied. “What a stupid question. You know more than any of us, no offense Tythas.”

“None taken. She is the superior mage, using the blanket term. A sorcerer too, just like us.”

“Really?”

Tythas nodded. Sorcerer. The term for a mage born with a true prime element that could be wielded naturally without the use of ritual or obvious spell. His was something he hadn't shared – probably water, Tyr's was fire, and Alex's was air – or at least he thought. They didn't speak much. But Alex was capable of using lightning, which was very rare, considered part of the wind element. Storm magic, they called it.

“Well...”

“Are you blushing?” Tyr stared at her, unable to hold in the question. He'd never seen her act this way in recent memory, but she was most certainly blushing under the attention given to her. “Are you mad at me? I haven't done anything wrong. Uh... Today...”

It had taken a while for her to speak to him again, and when she had... What he'd expected to be a curt apology of some sort had turned into a near two hour long lecture about duty, pertinence and 'using his brain'. Being responsible. Not a single one of the few things he'd ever had any interest in, so he'd ignored most of it. Still, he could tell she was angry with him, though he had no idea why. Tyr felt like he didn't know much lately. Not much at all, the more time he spend thinking about things, the less he knew. And he didn't like that.

“I can't tell you what to do.” She replied. “Sorry.”

That was odd... For Alex to apologize. Perhaps less common than Tyr himself.

“Then what are you doing?” Tyr asked. “Have you already figured it all out?”

She nodded, as he expected she would. Alex, for all her faults, was the perfect... Something. Not wife, though. “Evocation has always been my school – so I'm sticking with that and adding conjuration and enchantment. Maybe anima, I haven't decided.”

“Okay, I'll do that. Evocation, conjuration, and enchantment. Maybe anima, I haven't decided yet.” Tyr repeated her in verbatim.

“...R-really?” Alex asked, stuttering.

“Hold your horses, man.” Tythas shook his head. “She's already college educated. Since she was a child, she's been using magic. Three specializations is impressive, even for someone like her. Start with one or two, seriously. If you're going to pick up a third path, namely enchantment, it's not the worst path to walk but you'll have to specialize. Enchanters all specialize on day one unlike any other school.”

Perhaps after experiencing what the auronite was capable of, Tyr had become near obsessed with the concept of magical artifacts. If he chose any path at all, it'd be that one. He wanted to make something even better than the Orik had. As impossible as it might be.

“I'll just cheat off Alex if it gets difficult.” Tyr shrugged. Three specializations already seemed too little, what with how much was on the table regarding magic, but he wouldn't relent. “How hard can it be?”

Translated, his inner monologue would go something like this: 'If normal people could do it, how hard could it be for me?' As in a primus. Arrogance. Of course, one had to consider the fact that while he was arrogant, Tyr was incredibly insecure, though he felt some competitiveness with Alex overwhelming his greater sense of self. He was aware, but didn't want to 'lose' at anything. Especially not after tasting the triumph of facing his fathers challenge and stomping it beneath his boot.

Tythas could only sigh after the repeated refusals to listen to reason, registering Tyr in those paths, though keenly aware that he was destined for failure. It must be nice, being a prince. Having that level of self confidence.

It wasn't long before they were assessed and rated at the academy facilities. Everything here ran by letters and numbers, with an infinite series of classifications that would boggle the mind. No sense to it, not in Tyr's opinion. All of them had chosen the same approach to things. It would be better not to flex their positions, an idea suggested by Tyr before Astal explained that this had been the plan all along – laughing at the 'like father like son' comment that had nearly gotten him punched in the throat.

Tythas Slakt

Rating: B

School: Anima, Evocation, Conjuration

Specialization: Undeclared

Astrid Stalvarg

Rating: A

School: Conjuration, Evocation, Divination

Specialization: Oracle

Sigi Stalvarg

Rating: B-

School: Transmutation, Arcane

Specialization: Magic Knight / Battlemage

Alexis Goldmane

Rating: A+

School: Evocation, Enchantment, Anima

Specialization: Undeclared

“Wow...” Tythas mused. “I can't believe it. Two A's is impressive. I knew you were stronger than me in the ways of magic, Alex – but Astrid, too? Incredible. You are both very talented, I'm proud just to know you. It's really not that easy, there is a huge cliff between B and A.”

“It's only natural.” Alex shrugged it off, pretending to brush an invisible speck of dirt from her shoulder. Astrid could only blush. She hadn't seen the rating coming, having only an elementary understanding of magic, but it was indeed very high. Among first years, rating lay from A to E – with F being a 'failing score' or one who didn't possess enough mana to properly cast spells. Of the class A mages, there would be maybe twenty or thirty out of one thousand students in their year. Or less.

Just to put into perspective how rare an A-rank was, often – B rank mages would receive job offers in their first year to work for important nobles. The vast majority of magicians and their ilk would fall somewhere within the mid C's at first, even D wasn't that bad.

They were all so impressive, two rank A mages within the same 'clique', and in year 1 to boot! And then there was Tyr... As expected, he was the best.

Tyr Ebonfist

Rating: E

School: Evocation, Enchantment, Anima

Specialization: Undeclared.

The best at being the worst, that is.

“...”

“An E...” Tythas paled at that, but he'd never understand it. Ratings measured mana capacity, not talent. You couldn't fake or talk your way out of a low rating, it was purely based on the size and quality of ones mana reservoir. Nothing else. It could improve, with time – but typically a mage would stop developing in their mid to early 20's. A C was average, and a D was seen as average in all kingdoms, but an E...? These academies were competitive. If Tyr hadn't been a prince...

Forgetting that, Tythas had taken one look at him and known he wasn't an 'E'. Something had gone wrong here, or perhaps this was some sort of imperial plot.

Ah, shit... He could see the early arrivals around him chuckling at his incredibly low rating. One that had no place at this particular institution. Unlike the assessors, they had no idea who he was besides an 'Oresundian noble'...

“See?” Alex sounded a bit more than vindicated by the result, trying yet again to push at his buttons. “Now drop a specialization... Or two. Just stick with evocation, it's more suited to you. If you don't wise up, Tyr, you're going to fail. Prince or not, they'll kick you out of the academy if you can't pass the exams.”

“Maybe.” Tyr shrugged. “It took me a while, but I realized you were right. Back then, you know? I've failed at practically everything I've ever tried to do in my life. Even simple things. Even the wins turn into losses because of my inability to think ahead. What's one more loss?” One would expect these words to be carried on in a mopey, depressed voice, but to all those listening – Tyr was communicating calmly. It was self acceptance. He'd never stopped moving or scheming, for over four years. “I was born to fail, Alex. I have never been good for anything, and I know that now.”

Now that he was forced to do so, to keep himself alive? All he could do was try. Given all the time necessary to ponder his past decisions. All of which had ended in some sort of failure, some that might in the future, it was unclear. The Regis demesne, as warped and demented as the man was, had been safe once. Tyr had killed the man and many other nobles besides and not thought of the people he was supposed to be protecting for a second. Likely turned the whole countryside toward chaos for his revenge. Was it worth more than someone's life? Or hundreds of lives? Probably not.

Again he'd done something of significance beneath the mountain. Had he made the right choice? No, he simply could've left them to their balance. There was no real purpose to his actions and it had resulted in the possible genocide of an entire race.

He wasn't hung up over these things. They didn't torment him overly, but... There was a truth in fact to separate it from the fiction in his head. Tyr was a literal plague, only moving in his self interest and making random decisions with no thought to conscience or future ramifications. His constant meditation brought this all into clearer focus, he was not a hero. Tyr was the villain, no matter what way he looked at it. A horde of locusts had more purpose on this earth than he did, despite acting in a similar way.

“I didn't--”

“It's fine.” Tyr cut her off before she could finish, waving them away as he departed down the road that led to the academy. He'd been doing that a lot lately... Refusing to argue, but also refusing to listen. He saw no point to it, dragging himself down into a mixture of anxiety over all things new, and an unhealthy dose of self deprecation.

“Has he always been like this?” Tythas asked the others, people who had known him for a long time – at least in his opinion. Astrid and Sigi who had only been around for approximately two years had little idea what was eating the man, if anything. As for Alex, she had reportedly known Tyr since their youth, practically growing up together.

“No.” Alex shook her head, staring at the back of the prince's with a complicated look on her face. “He has not.”