Students returned to the Academy, refreshed from their breaks. Squad mates gossiped and shared stories of activities they did during the break. Friends once separated were catching up on what was currently happening. The cafeteria was opened to serve them once again.

  Avryn and Harver did some light stretching as they finished crossing over the great bridge that connected to the Academy.

  “Man it feels good to be on this side of the grass again,” Avryn exuded eagerness.

  The Academy stood proud, and wide, almost as if it’s welcoming the students back. Bells chimed in the distance, first class was in session. An older shinkitsuri entered the lecture room. His fox ears stood straight as he adjusted his glasses. His belongings levitated right behind him. His chalk began to write by itself. It wrote the letters elegantly and set itself down.

  He welcomed them all to magic class, and introduced himself as Instructor Yeizura Divellian. He wore distinct clothing which looked similar to that of the kimono, but in the same black and pink colors of the Academy’s uniform. He also bore a small, golden pin with the symbol of a mountain. It revealed to be the insignia from the distant land of Ryojibanokawa. Only he had that distinction among the other instructors.

  He also revealed he was the official ambassador of Ryojobanokawa.

  “But enough about me,” he waved his hand.

  Crystals flew over into his grasp,

  “Today I’m going to show you what you need to know about magic.”

  The first half of his class was a deep into into the history of magic. It was a revelation to a good few that magic was always present in all of Eyur. Yeizura demonstrated by manipulating one of the crystal lights. He pulled the light energy and dispersed it into the air. He made a few gesture with his hand and the light lingered and faded after it hit the ground.

  “All of you, in the front, help me distribute these to your classmates,” he gestured to a box of crystals.

  An aptitude test, he called it. These crystals were specially crafted to gauge how “in tune” a person is to magic. He instructed them to have both hands hold onto the crystal, its light will determine their abilities.

  Avryn did as he instructed,

  “Well, here goes nothing.”

  His hands felt the warm crystal. Vibrations and faint hums reverberated throughout it. There was a small spark of light and then died out. The crystal was less dim than before. He looked around to see what results his friends had. It seemed only Valoche had a stronger light in the group. His crystal was lit, but not a strong light. Tvira’s case was stranger. Her crystal glowed bright for a moment, and then died down.

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  “So what’s the point of this aptitude test, instructor?” Harver raised his hand.

  Yeizura replied that mages can be late bloomers, and the Academy is willing to accommodate transfer to the Mages Academy. He speculated at least a couple could be in their batch. He went on a tangent on how old Eyurians were all born with innate magical abilities. He moved on to teaching the basics of magic.

  He introduced a regular magic crystal and demonstrated. He channeled its powers and it casted a simple fire spell. Each crystals were different, and can be determined by its color. Usually, its color determined its element. Red was fire, blue was water, and so on. The version that was given to them had minimal firepower, to prevent accidents.

  Avryn examined his crystal. Magic power condensed in such a small thing. His crystal was light blue, and particularly cold to the touch. He channeled its power and accidentally froze his hand onto the crystal. Yeizura noticed and gave some advice,

  “Visualize the power’s purpose and then concentrate.”

  He broke his hand free from the ice. He closed his eyes and imagined a ball of ice orbiting around him. He held onto that thought and focused it onto the crystal. He raised it above him. The crystal hummed with magic and produced a ball of ice.

  “This is amazing,” the ice ball revolved around him.

  Rinna played around with a floating pool of water from her crystal. Valoche easily manipulated miniscule air cyclones handled his crystal. Audible ooh’s and ah’s filled the lecture hall as the students played with magic for the first time in their lives. The sight of it all made the instructor proud.

  A week later, they were given a test. An obstacle course was especially constructed in the simulation rooms. Yeizura gave them the briefing. The Lost Lands had volatile magics that were still present. This test would help them form the habits and know-how on avoiding and countering magical traps. They were to be given one crystal called a Lifeline Crystal. It had three charges that will counter the magical traps. They must use it wisely.

  Yeizura looked up at the stopwatch. He said the calculated time to clear the course was three minutes on average. He reckoned giving them thirty seconds as leeway would be more than enough.

  “Three minutes and thirty seconds, clear that time and you pass,” he announced. “Use whatever you have to survive.”

  He gestured for the first volunteer. They managed to clear the obstacle course but just under the time needed. A few runs later, it was Avryn’s turn. He was dropped into this gauntlet. He looked to the first obstacles. It was easy enough, he reckoned. Sigil traps laid across five hundred meters of ground. He made sure to avoid stepping onto them. A near impassable wall met him. Easy solution. He purposely triggered the last trap and a pillar of ice shot up from beneath him. He jumped as soon as the ice stopped ascending and made it up top. He saw a glimpse of more sigil traps but now they were being slowly obscured by a magical fog.

  A deep breath and a mad dash later, he triggered all of the traps and slid down into the next area. Moving roots and flame pillar traps greeted him. He instinctively reached for his weapon but realized for the purposes of this test, it wasn’t allowed.

  “Damn, gotta think again,” he looked up at the virtual clock.

  He still had two and a half minutes left to complete the course. He ran, rolled, and duck through the obstacles but was caught at the end by one of the roots. His face hit the dirt with a loud thud. He pulled away his foot from the root and continued forward.

  A hanging log bridge loomed over a canyon. He took his time and balanced himself. He lost his step on the last portion of the bridge but a jump quickly remedied that. He caught his breath as fatigue caught up with him.

  The next segment would prove to be his downfall. He needed to determine the pattern of the projectiles and go between the gaps between them. He was overwhelmed visually, and his body felt lagging behind. He gave it a try nonetheless.

  He kept accidentally walking into the projectiles, his body twisting and turning uncontrollably. He was sent to the start every time. His time started to rack up, he has passed the four minute mark. He managed to finish the obstacle course eventually but ended up with an eight minute completion time.

  He exited the simulation room, his head was down. Harver was the first one to comfort him,

  “It’s alright, Avryn, as long as we learn and adapt for next time, right?” he attempted to cheer him up.

  Avryn was staring a thousand miles away and nodded, barely hearing what he said. Sweat dripped down his chin as he disregarded it. There was a thousand thoughts in his mind. Doubt started to creep in.

  “Still far away, huh,” he was heaving.