Olivia slipped her book into her ring and stood up, stretching. She, once again, had lost track of time in the library and seemed to be the only occupant still studying. She winced as she straightened her wrists over her head; they were sore from combat training. Commander Grobak had them doing grappling drills repeatedly, and Olivia’s wrists and forearms were covered in bruises from yellow to purple, some being a week old and some fresh from today. Grobak didn’t do anything in half measures, and just like they’d spent more than a week learning to fall, now they were learning to grab each other’s wrists and break the holds, over and over and over again. Sometimes it wasn’t so bad, like when Olivia was partnered with a smaller girl like Veena. Other times, she’d leave with swollen, sore skin all around her wrists from trying to break Rald’s or another strong student’s grip.

She lowered her arms and started walking out of the library, hoping that she wouldn’t be alone in the hallways, too; the school was creepy at night when half the lights were out, and the shadows grew long. She was making good progress with her Energy braiding and had been practicing making her second meta-element when she’d lost track of time. She’d been so engrossed that she really didn’t have any idea what time it was. The second meta-element she was studying was a no-brainer: earth plus fire, and it was called magma, not to be confused with naturally occurring magma, apparently. According to her text, the meta-element, magma, was far hotter and persisted in its form for a lot longer, despite external conditions. She’d made good progress, and her practice with arcfrost and braiding Energy while cultivating had made it a lot easier to pick up the pace with this new pattern.

Olivia was walking down a long hallway toward the second west-wing stairwell when she passed a junction. She almost walked right through, but a flash of light to her left caused her head to jerk, and she stared down the long, dark side corridor. “Strange that all the lights are out down there,” she muttered, goosebumps starting to crawl up the back of her neck. The light flashed again, and this time she saw the source—one of the globes that normally lit up the hallways had flickered briefly to life, then out again. While it was lit, Olivia had seen the sprawled form of a student. Starting into the dark hallway, Olivia summoned her fire orb and let it grow to the size of a softball, floating above her palm and bathing the darkened hallway in orange light.

Something tickled in the back of her mind, urging her to turn around and hustle to her dorm, but she couldn’t just leave a person lying in the middle of the hallway. What if they were hurt? She glanced up and down the dark hallway, and the light orb up above flashed again, illuminating the area briefly—nothing else was in the hallway, just her and the student on the ground. Olivia hurried up to the form, seeing that it was a girl and that she recognized her; it was Haidis, a Ghelli girl that was in Jade cohort. Olivia knelt next to her and felt for a pulse. It was there, but thready and weak. Just as she started to jostle her to see if she could wake her, a strident voice called out from behind her, “What did you do to her?” Olivia jerked around and saw, standing at the junction of hallways, Gwinna and, a moment later, a black-robed professor that Olivia didn’t recognize.

“I didn’t do anything! I just found her here!” Olivia hated how defensive she sounded. She motioned for them to come over. “She needs help; her pulse is really weak!”

“Stand back from the student,” the tall, heavyset Ardeni man said. He was clean-shaven, including his head, but his eyes were a piercingly bright shade of yellow as he stormed down the hallway. Olivia straightened up and took a step back, watching him approach. As he neared, he seemed less tall; she was getting used to the generally smaller stature of the native races she’d met. Gwinna followed him at a respectable distance, a strange expression on her face. “Well, first-year? Care to tell me the truth of what happened here?” The professor had a sneer in his voice, and he glanced at Olivia, then snorted when she didn’t respond immediately. He knelt and held a hand over Haidis, muttering to himself while an orange glow began to emit from his extended palm.

“I already said I don’t know. I was walking back from the library when I saw her lying here.” Olivia was feeling very uncomfortable by the shortness with which the professor had spoken to her and how Gwinna had a half-grin on her face.

“Hmm, she’s been electrocuted. I’ll need to take her to the infirmary...”

“Olivia has an air affinity!” Gwinna cut in. The professor stopped speaking and scowled at Olivia. He did something very quickly with his hands, and Olivia felt a coldness clamp down on her, starting at the edges of her skin and contracting until there was a ball of ice at her center, right where she envisioned her Core. She convulsed at the uncomfortable feeling, gasping out her breath and panting to regain it. It was like she’d swallowed a cube of dry ice and then been punched in the gut.

“She’s been hobbled. Gwinna, take her to solitary detention and let Professor Thain know that I’ll be there to conduct an interview soon. Olivia, is it? Do not resist Gwinna; simply walk along with her and do as you’re told. Any resistance will lead to further sanctions.” With that, the professor stooped and lifted Haidis, turned, and briskly walked away. Olivia could barely register his words, let alone his movements, though. Her eyes had gone blurry with tears, and she was simply struggling to breathe.

“Come on then, Olivia,” Gwinna said, taking her arm. She stressed and dragged out her name like O-liv-ee-ah. She began to pull her, and Olivia couldn’t muster the strength to resist. The best she could do was walk along, stooping over to try to comfort the burning, painful sensation at the center of her being.

“Wha, what did, did he do?” She managed to gasp out as she allowed Gwinna to lead her along. Gwinna looked at her and tsked, shaking her head.

“Poor thing. Someone with your affinity. It must really hurt having your Core and Energy cut off. I can’t imagine it. Luckily, I’d never do anything that would warrant such treatment.” Olivia groaned at these words, unable to push out a retort. She tried to turn her eye inward to see her Core, but while stumbling behind Gwinna, contorted with the uncomfortable pressure and the difficulty breathing, she couldn’t concentrate enough. She lurched, moaning and gasping with every step, and the journey through the dim corridors became a blur of agony and fear.

After an indeterminate amount of time, she felt the tug on her arm lessen, and she looked up from the blurry floor to see that they were standing in a small room with a desk. Two doors led out of the room, and Gwinna walked up to one of them and knocked politely but insistently. A moment later, the door opened, and another black-robed professor poked his head out. “Yes?”

“This student attacked another student with Energy. Professor ap’Gravin wants you to put her in solitary detention until he can investigate. She’s hobbled.”

“Hobbled? That won’t be necessary in the detention cell. I’ll take it from here, student.”

“I don’t think Professor ap’Gravin wants you to remove her hobble until he can inves...”

“Nonsense. Hurry along now; I’ll handle this.” Olivia thought she could feel the anger radiating out of Gwinna, but the other girl simply nodded and left, not sparing Olivia another glance.

“Alright then. Oh dear, you look like you’re suffering a great deal. First time being hobbled? Well, it certainly isn’t pleasant, especially if you have a lot of Energy affinity. Hmm, come on, then. Once we get you in your detention cell, I can take it off you.” He took Olivia by her wrist, and she limply complied, following him through the other door and into a long hallway filled with six identical wooden doors. He stopped at the first door on the right and held his palm up to a brass plate above the doorknob. A loud click sounded, and then he opened the door and led Olivia inside the small room.

Olivia limply followed him into the room and let him steer her to the side and into a small wooden chair. Gasping, she managed to look up to see the professor and noted that he was a Cadwalli, one of very few that she’d seen at the academy so far. “There now, I’m professor Thain, though the title is simply a formality with me; I don’t teach any classes. Hmm, I wonder what you did to deserve a hobbling? Well, let me warn you before I take it off: if you manifest any Energy constructions in this room, the wards will drain you of Energy to the point where you’ll be rendered insensate. Understand?” Olivia nodded weakly, and then Professor Thrain held out his black-nailed hands and concentrated. Suddenly a tremendous pressure was released from Olivia’s Core, and warmth spread through her body. She was able to breathe without resistance again, and she gasped, sobbing with relief. “Poor girl. What happened?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Olivia sobbed. “I just found a girl unconscious, and the other professor assumed I hurt her and did that hobbling thing!” Olivia felt her frustration well up, and her helplessness overwhelmed her, and she started to sob in earnest.

“Oh, hmm. Well, Professor ap’Gravin is a strict fellow, that’s for sure, but I’m sure he’s doing an investigation and will clear things up. Still, it’s the middle of the night, so you might be here for a while. Why not rest there on the cot, and I’m sure things will be better in the morning.” Professor Thain had a pleasant yet gruff warble to his voice, and he gestured to the little wooden cot that sat opposite the chair Olivia was in. Then he turned to the door and spoke again, “Don’t forget what I said about manifesting Energy. You can cultivate; just don’t push any Energy out for any reason. Trust me; you don’t want to experience the draining wards.” Then he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him.

Olivia couldn’t believe the turn of events in the last few minutes. One moment she’d been happily making progress with her studies, thinking about winning some awards in the competition, and the next, she’d been tortured and thrown into a holding cell. What kind of school was this? The shock was wearing off, and the physical relief of having her Core unblocked had subsided to the point where she was able to get a grip on her emotions, but rather than calming down, her fear and frustration had turned to anger. She’d been set up; that much was clear. Gwinna just happened to be there with a professor that would snap to judgment against her? She didn’t think so. How convenient that the fallen student was in Gwinna’s cohort and had been hurt by electricity. How convenient that Gwinna had been able to quickly point out Olivia’s affinity!

Olivia wiped her face on her sleeve and determined not to cry anymore. This wasn’t the end of the world. There was magic here, and lots of it; surely they’d have a way of proving that she wasn’t lying. She’d just be patient and wait for now. If ap’Gravin didn’t treat her fairly, she’d ask to speak with one of her other professors. They’d have to let her have an advocate, wouldn’t they? Alyss or Sange would be able to help. Yes, that was the answer. She’d bide her time for now; her cohort would notice her absence and let their professors know something was amiss. Even if ap’Gravin was biased, he must have rules that he had to follow; it wouldn’t make sense for an institution with rules about everything else not to have rules about justice.

Feeling more resolute, Olivia sat on the bed in the lotus position and took up her cultivation drill. She’d gotten so much better at drawing Energy and weaving and unweaving the various threads as she did so that it was almost second nature. She reached out, looking for differently attuned Energies but only found pure, ambient Energy at first. Then she felt a little tickle of something in the ceiling, and she explored it with her inner eye. As she pushed her senses, following the hint of strange Energy, she found within the stone little pools of all sorts of attuned Energy: fire, air, earth, water, and dozens she didn’t recognize.

Some of the different Energies felt dark and cold, some were noxious and stinging, and others felt warm and cleansing. Olivia pulled back and thought about it, considering Professor Thain’s words about wards. Were these little pools of Energies part of the wards? Could she actually draw Energy from them? It seemed like a fundamental design flaw if she could unless her ability was truly uncommon. Maybe others with lower affinity couldn’t reach into those pools. Perhaps she couldn’t, she reasoned; she hadn’t tried yet. Would it set the wards off if she did?

Tentatively, Olivia reached into the little pool that felt like fire-attuned Energy and gently pulled a little thread out of it toward her. Nothing happened, and she continued, pulling it into her pathway. Then she grabbed a thread of the water-attuned Energy and pulled it. Again, nothing happened, and she repeated the process with air and earth. Soon, she was busily working on a complicated braid of four Energy types, running it through her cultivation drill and then unwinding it to pull them all into her Core. The hours slipped away, and in her concentration, Olivia didn’t notice the passage of time, nor was she aware of the tiny sparks and flashing motes of light popping through the stone ceiling of her cell.