Terra waved Atzi away. "Oh, and in your future dealings with me, please do try to bathe more regularly."

  "I bathed a few days ago!" Atzi whined. "It's just been rough since then!"

  "The academy has a bathhouse." Terra pointed to the map.

  "Alright, alright! I get the message."

  -

  A younger woman, wearing a leather mage hat and heavy coat, sprinted through the hall. Atzi stepped back, narrowly avoiding a collision.

  Atzi called after her, "You lost or something?"

  "No time!" the woman cried. She rushed down the stairs, orange hair flying behind her.

  "... Alright." Atzi shrugged and looked down at her map, navigating her way to the baths. They were on the bottom floor, near the back of the massive building.

  Atzi first passed through an empty changing room. She put her clothes in a basket before putting on a provided bathing robe. A sign on the wall said, "Sexual misconduct will result in a permanent ban from use of the open baths." Wonder what the story behind that is.

  Atzi stepped through into the baths. A wave of relaxing heat washed over her. The room was one of the largest she'd ever been in. It was luxurious, with a large open stone pool filled with bubbling water.

  She was the only one there. Sweet, the entire place to myself! She dove into the water. Grime she didn't know she had glided right off her scales.

  Magic baths, huh? Makes sense. Mages sure have it easy…

  Atzi soaked for hours, entirely uninterrupted. She didn't think it odd at all, locked in a luxurious stupor. The longer she stayed, the hotter it seemed to get. It was nice at first, but eventually it became too hot, even for her.

  Atzi crawled out when it became unbearable.

  Is this to stop people soaking in it for too long? Rotten mages...

  Atzi noticed a section with a length of mirrors, next to a second, smaller pool. She wandered over and dipped a finger into the water.

  A chill traveled all the way down her tail. Cold! She swiftly withdrew her finger.

  She turned towards the mirrors, noticing her dark blue scales were practically shining. She adjusted her red hair, then stood there for a while pulling faces trying to make herself look cooler.

  When she was finally done, she made her way back to the changing room.

  As she was getting dressed, a group of three women entered. One of them, a human wearing white robes and a pointed hat, sneered at Atzi.

  Stuck up bitch. Atzi stuck out her tail, intent on having the woman trip over it.

  She merely stepped over. "Watch it, fat tail!" she shouted. The two other women giggled.

  "What, you jealous or something?" Atzi replied.

  "Who'd be jealous of a lazy lizard like you? Really? Bathing during lectures? You'll never be a mage."

  "And you will? You got in cause your parents paid a bunch, right?" Atzi smirked.

  The woman looked proud, adjusting her robe. "And because I am naturally talented, of course."

  Atzi snickered a little. "They just use you guys to keep the place funded and train the real mages."

  "You!" The woman looked furious. Then she calmed down just as quickly. "Hmph, I don't have time to waste on you. Come on girls, we have a party to prepare for, unlike miss loser here."

  "Suit yourself." Atzi shrugged. "Won't matter in a few days anyway." She wandered off after that. None of them even know what's gonna happen. Not that they'd believe me anyway. Besides, why waste my time on the jerks I don't even like?

  "I sensed a lot of hostility. Why?" the goddess in Atzi's head asked.

  "Just typical spoiled rich kids. Never had to worry about anything, but they still go out of their way to be assholes."

  "What's an asshole?"

  "It's- wait, you don't even know that?"

  Atzi felt the goddess shake her head inside of her. It was an extremely weird sensation.

  "It's like, the bit under your tail where... right, you don't have one. It's just a thing to call people that are... you know, nasty and dumb."

  "I see. Thank you."

  "You don't know any rude words? Am I teaching you them?" Atzi asked.

  "I think I know a few rude words?"

  "Well you're gonna learn a few more before this is over, sorry."

  Having heard about the party, Atzi decided it was a good place to spend her time, wherever it was. Unfortunately, the map had no place labeled 'party'. So Atzi made her way to the cafeteria. She grabbed a meal - grilled chicken, nothing could ever be wrong with eating chicken - and listened in on the students for the ones talking about the party.

  She overheard it was in the amphitheatre, then checked the map. It was a separate building, though still on the campus.

  Atzi finished her meal and slinked outside. The evening sun dipped in the sky. She looked around, paranoid. She felt it was unlikely for V to send people into the academy, but was worried anyway.

  She crossed the campus, soon arriving at the building. The amphitheatre's giant marble doors stood wide open, with some of the party-goers spilling out of the building onto the grass just outside. They wore an assortment of colorful robes and carried mugs.

  Atzi headed in. Maybe there'll be free drinks. She crept her way through the crowds of students.

  One of the first things she saw inside was a big banner that read, "No magic, violators will be banned."

  No problem here, then.

  There were, in fact, free drinks, in the form of what appeared to be a literal fountain of booze. A table of mugs sat next to it. Atzi's eyes lit up. She grabbed two mugs and ran them under the fountain. She brought one to her face and drained it, intent on drinking enough to forget recent events.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Atzi coughed, lowering her glass. "Blugeh." It didn't taste like alcohol at all, more like sour water.

  She turned and asked the nearest student, "Is there any real booze here, or just this?"

  "Whaaa?" The robed man asked in reply, totally wasted.

  "How are you drunk on this?" Atzi yelled the word 'drunk'. "Have you never had any before?"

  He hiccupped, then laughed. "You must be bad…" He stopped for a moment, clearly trying to figure out the next word in the sentence. "Magic."

  "It said no magic," Atzi replied, annoyed.

  "No magic!" He turned to another guy, and pointed at Atzi. "No magic!" They both laughed.

  "What in the hells is so funny?"

  The guy tried to sling an arm over Atzi's shoulder. She ducked away. He fell over, his drink spilling on the ground.

  His friend started laughing at him. A few others joined in.

  Atzi sighed. "Alright, so what's with the beer then? Cmon, just say."

  The second guy took a second to focus on Atzi. "Iz stronger the higher rank you are. Asp-ants are shit out of luck!"

  "So... it's that weak cause... urgh." I can't do magic yet! "It's my first day here!"

  "You could ask the Goddess of Partying… if she didn't lose all her power!" He laughed again.

  Goddess of what? "Never heard of her."

  "Right… right… first day. She's sulking somewhere over there I think?" He pointed. "Not like anyone gives a shit about her now."

  Atzi looked, but couldn't see anyone through the crowds of people. So she pushed her way through until she found a woman sulking on the ground. She just looked like a normal student, wearing teal robes the same color as her hair. The 'goddess' glared at Atzi.

  "What? Something on my face?" Atzi asked.

  "What, you're not going to make fun of me?" The woman replied bitterly.

  "Am I meant to?"

  The 'goddess' threw up her hands. "I'd appreciate if you didn't!"

  "I don't even know you and you're assuming I do, relax." Atzi sat on the ground next to her. "What's up, then? I can't even drink at this place, 'cause I'm not a mage..."

  The 'goddess' looked at Atzi, blue eyes sparkling. "Wait, you don't know me. And you're being nice?!"

  Great, a weirdo. "Uh, yeah. Why's that so strange?"

  "...This isn't a prank, is it?" she flinched back, rubbing her arm.

  "Seriously, what's up here that I'm missing?"

  She sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you. Before this week I was just a normal aspirant. I couldn't do any magic, just like the rest." She waved her hand over the students. "Then, suddenly, the party starts and I can! I can make the party better! People love me! I make the booze stronger for the other aspirants! They call me, 'The Goddess of Partying'!"

  "Then it turns out it's a one-off, and now you're getting made fun of? That's it?"

  "Yeah. It was nice while it lasted for a few days. Then I stopped being able to and everyone ignored me. I tried to get their attention again but then they just made fun of me..." She looked down. "Now nobody will even talk to me, unless they're trying to make fun of me…"

  Atzi tapped the floor. "Probably a real mage fucking with you from the start."

  The 'goddess' frowned. "You're probably right."

  "I don't know magic but I know scams. Build 'em up, knock 'em down. Not like any dumbass aspirant can tell the difference."

  "Hey!"

  "I mean you and the others. I wouldn't know either. I'm not even a mage, and I just got here today."

  "If you're not even an initiate, how'd you get here mid year?" The 'goddess' looked confused.

  Atzi looked her dead in the eyes and said, "I found Terra's book."

  The woman spluttered. "W-w-what?! You're fucking with me. This is definitely the prank part!"

  "Believe what you want. You know, actually, I could just tell you everything." Atzi gave a short laugh. "Hey, did you know I can't die? Can't. At all."

  The 'goddess' stared at Atzi for a second, then muttered, "Oh great, a crazy one..."

  "Every time I die, I go back to the same moment, waking up in the street. This is my... fourth or fifth time? So I learned where the book was before, and this time, I thought I'd tell her about it. Terrible idea. The moment I walk out of this stupid academy I'm gonna get killed." Atzi clenched her sharp teeth. "Not a permanent problem but oh Water it hurts."

  The woman was silent for a few seconds. "Crazy dream."

  "Oh, yeah, that's what I thought the first time. Must be a dream! Even the second time, I was like - this has gotta be a vision. But it's real." Atzi waved a claw. "Oh, yeah, don't leave the academy this week. City's gonna blow up."

  Suddenly the minstrels stopped, silence reigning over the amphitheater.

  Atzi looked around. Who in the hells cut out at that point?

  "Clean up, clean up! Important announcement, all students are coming to the amphitheatre! Clean up, right now!" shouted Someone. Someone with authority, Atzi guessed, since people were actually doing as they'd been told.

  "This normal?" Atzi asked the 'goddess'.

  "No?" The woman stood up. "I wonder what it's about."

  Atzi shrugged and stood, too. "By the way, don't ask me about any other details. By this time I was either dead or I'd run away back to Pomaria, before. This is my first time even walking around this place."

  The 'goddess' sighed and shook her head. "Sure."

  The next few minutes were a flurry of activity as everyone either cleaned or took seats. Nobody lit themselves on fire to stop being drunk. Atzi wondered if it was a trick only Terra knew, being a powerful Sage and all.

  Atzi and the 'goddess' sat together, though didn't have anything else to talk about as they waited for people to filter in. Atzi tapped a clawed foot impatiently.

  Eventually, three people lined up on the central stage.

  Atzi recognized one of them. The worried woman who had nearly run into Atzi in the hall.

  Next to her was a regal looking woman, beautiful and poised. She was tall and blonde, wearing thick fuzzy robes. Atzi's tail twitched.

  The third was a man, the oldest of the three, with bloody marks over his face and a serious air about him. His brown robes were half torn, like he'd lost a fight.

  Atzi didn't know why, but seeing them standing there, it had the air of an execution.

  Then a cage, containing a chicken, was wheeled onto the stage by a man wearing velvet robes. He set the cage in place before walking forward on the stage. The man had wide eyes with small red pupils which slowly scanned over the crowd.

  Just his eyes passing over Atzi was enough to make her feel like she'd done something wrong. She shrank in her seat.

  "Thank you, precious student body, for assembling here during your… leisure time." He said, the word 'precious' oozing with contempt.

  The party was already here, idiot! They were already here!

  "This matter was not publicly announced prior to prevent any idiotic mercenary behavior," the man continued.

  Atzi tilted her head, listening.

  "As most of you know, a cache of many magical gems was discovered not long ago, and brought to our academy for storage."

  Atzi got a lot more interested. Gems were super valuable.

  "What you do not know is this cache was stolen from. On its way here. And here on this stage with me, is the culprit."

  He walked past the nervous woman.

  He walked past the beautiful woman.

  He walked past the bloody man, and grabbed the chicken cage, lifting it up high.

  The chicken bawked, frantically flapping its wings.

  "Our thief."

  Atzi stared in confusion.

  From the crowd came a few uncertain chuckles. However, the man's glare silenced them.

  "Yes, it is funny, isn't it? That the three students assigned to this task somehow failed, and had gems stolen by a chicken." He sneered. "A common animal is somehow smarter than these three."

  Atzi whispered to the 'goddess'. "How does a chicken steal gems?"

  As if to answer Atzi's question, the chicken opened its beak and breathed out a jet of fire. The flames stopped at the bars of the cage as though by an invisible force.

  The 'goddess' whispered back. "It must have eaten them. Eating enough gems is a shortcut for gaining magic ranks. Though nobody does it because they're so much more valuable for other stuff."

  If I had gems, I could use magic! Atzi was excited by the possibility. This stuff is so hard I bet half the mages were born rich and just ate a bunch of them.

  The man on stage continued his speech. "Although these three were tasked with retrieving the stolen gems, ultimately it was up to Head Councilor Justina. She managed to resolve a tricky situation involving a potential diplomatic incident. In no small part due to the idiocy of the three behind me." He set the cage back down on its wheeled stand. "First, although it will be just a fraction of what was stolen, allow me to retrieve our academy's gems."

  He reached a gloved hand inside the cage. The chicken opened its beak, but he swiftly gripped it around the neck. Its claws scrambled against the bottom of the cage, the scratching noise echoing through the space.

  Snap.

  Then he reached his hand out, took out a knife from his robes, and brought it back into the cage.

  The knife slid across the chicken's stomach. Out spilled blood, guts, and three large red rubies.

  The blood dripped onto the stage.