"Don't move!" Aster's voice silenced the boisterous class. He had initially tasked them with trying to develop their personal Mana into a visible state, much-like his own blue flames. It was proving to be far more difficult than he'd anticipated, especially given that this was his Advanced Study Class. Like him, this collective of students had all been enthralled by the idea of studying Mana. A fact that had excited him to no end, given that more than a few of his colleagues had long grown tired of Aster's numerous and frenzied outbursts about some new theory regarding the properties of Mana and how it could be applied. With these kids he was able to discuss and expand upon his passion; Mana.

His furor expelled within these classes, however, often gave rise to a certain level of competition amongst his students, especially those from this particular 201 class. Which, more often than not, resulted in many a heated debate and certainly more than one fireball launched across the class room in anger or jealousy. This happened to be one of those instances. But rather than scolding the two students who had, mere moments ago, been exchanging spiteful expletives followed by spells, Aster stood behind his desk, eyes wide with bewilderment and an expression of elation.

Amongst the spat between two of his students, Aster had, by pure coincidence, stumbled across the perfect testing conditions for his theory regarding the withdrawal of Mana from an existing spell. Where one student had launched a medium-sized fireball across the room toward the target of his anger, another student in her defense of the target had managed to stop the ball of flames in mid-air. Had he not momentarily glanced up from his latest Pocket Monster game to witness the erupting argument, the scene in front of him may have passed as quickly as it had begun.

"This. Is. Perfect." He whispered, holding his hands out as if to freeze everyone in their place. The students suddenly realized the look of excitement on his face, rather than anger, and decided to roll with it. Aster regarded the girl, who was still maintaining her force-field around the fireball that had stopped it initially. "Keep it going for as long as you can." He said, nodding with approval. She struggled to answer with a hampered nod of her own. Clearly the act of stopping the spell in the first place had taken a lot out of her and maintaining her field was continuing to drain her Mana reserves at an alarmingly fast rate. He would not have long to act.

He reached towards the floating embers with his right hand and began to extend his own Mana towards it, invisible at first but he soon decided to raise the density to allow his students to witness what he was attempting to do. This would be a learning opportunity for them all. His Mana flickered and lashed out at the orange flames suspended in mid-air. He could sense the two separate types of Mana that were already present in the air; the force-field's and the fireball's. Aster attempted to envelope his Mana around the ball of fire and, as he did so, he could feel the blue and orange flames start to reach out towards each other as if attracted like magnets. It was only brief and the feeling soon drifted away before his Mana began pouring itself into the fireball, strengthening it.

"No, no, no!" He growled. Before he could retract his Mana, however, the force-field gave out and the girl fainted. Horror quickly became Aster's expression as the enhanced fireball flashed across the room. He tried to release his Mana in order to cast a shield but he wouldn't make it in time. "GET DOWN!" He yelled, diving towards his students to protect them in a last-ditch effort.

If not for the caster directing it upward into the ceiling at the last moment, Aster was certain someone would have died. He had been fortunate that the explosion of ceiling and the resulting collapse of the floor above had not caused any serious injuries. Even so, he was about to be in for the ass-chewing of his life. 'Dammit!'

It was the perfect day. The sun shone overhead, filtering softly through the branches of her willow tree as Alice put the finishing touches on her drawing. The fresh country air did more for her body now than any number of supplements and drugs back in the city. Taking another deep breath, Alice closed her eyes and enjoyed the soothing sounds of nature until she heard a voice calling her name.

"Alice! It's time to eat lunch!" Her mother yelled from the house. Smiling, Alice packed away her supplies and stood up carefully. Then, as she turned to head inside, a menacing shadow fell over her, and the world was darkness and screams.

----

Alice woke with a start, confusion and fear overriding her mind for a few seconds as she scrabbled to get a hand on something solid. Managing to clutch the arm of her seat, she raised one hand to shield her eyes from the sunlight streaming through the window as she fought to control her breathing. "That dream again," She muttered under her breath, reaching over to pull the curtains over the offending sheet of glass. She got a look of the countryside as she did, and saw shops and billboards flanking the highway running parallel to her. Stopping a conductor passing her room, she asked "How long until we arrive, sir?"

"The train will arrive in roughly one hour miss." The man responded, "Is there anything I can do to assist you?"

"No, thank you very much," She replied, smiling at the man as he continued his duties. One hour until she got to her new home. A place where she might be able to put a stop to those dreams, if nothing else.

I don't really have much to do in my spare time, so I tend to coop inside the chilly air-conditioned library, reading as many novels I can get my hands on until the sun drops. Right now, I'm reading a novel about an old man who's read so many stories of knightly romance that he went crazy and traveled the country aimlessly under the delusion that he's an actual knight! It's a really good read, and according to the librarian, the book represents a very important advance in the literary world at the time.

I let out a loud sigh and slump down in my chair. "It's no use," I tell myself, closing the book with an audible thud. "I am so not in the mood today." Without speaking a word, I placed the novel back to the section I had removed it from and somberly walk out of the library with my head hanging low.

I am assaulted by negative thoughts as soon as I step out. I pull out my cellphone and plug my pink earbuds into it. "I need some tunes," I conclude before shuffling my playlist.

As I aimlessly stroll around the campus, I stumble upon the bulletin board with dozens of requests from all over the land. I stop and skim through these requests until I find one that catches my eye. "Recruiting able-bodied students to find and slay a rogue dragon." A playful smirk creeps onto my face as I pull out a pen and write down my name on the last empty spot on the sheet.

"A dragon, huh?" I ask. "I hope this is as entertaining as it sounds..."

Mako was sitting in the staff room, marking the History exam papers of the class that was to be graduating this year.
With her right hand, she was holding the pen with which she was ticking the correct answers and crossing out the wrong ones, or grading the essay question answers out of 10. With her left, she was drawing a chalk pentagram onto a special mat (as she couldn't draw on the staff table anymore. She'd gotten in trouble for that in the past). She wasn't right-handed, in fact, she was ambidextrous, yet the pentagram had to be drawn with the left hand.

When the pentagram as done, she placed her thermos of now cold coffee (Irish coffee, though she kept that a secret) in the middle and muttered an incantation. A few seconds later, the coffee was piping hot. She always had to be careful using pentagrams indoors, as you couldn't see the sun, and the pentagram had to point East, towards the rising sun. if it pointed West, it became a symbol of Satanism instead of Witchcraft and cast the spell, useful to Demons living in the Inferno, of making hot drinks cold, and more than once Mako had misjudged which direction was East and accidentally created iced coffee. Mako hated iced coffee.

Looking over at the answers again, she felt a slight pang in her chest, that she felt every year teaching here.
You grew attached to students and it was always sad to see more go. It was a feeling you never truly got used to. She thought back to her own time at school too, as a short haired troublemaker who at that point knew she was a witch but didn't know the connotations until her own History class. Her mother had told her to just pretend to be a mage. She grew to resent it, but her mother always kept her in check, for if she snapped, she'd just be proving everybody right about witches. That's why she was here, after all. To change things with kindness and teaching instead. It was scandalous at first for this school to have a witch teaching students but Mako worked very hard to prove herself before too much damage to the school's reputation was done.

With the marking done, Mako stretched, and headed out the staffroom, passing by all the stragglers of this term.
It wasn't long now before the new school year started and a new batch of first years arrived. She wondered what they'd be like. Would they be hard to teach? Will their parents have warned them about learning from a witch? Would they be fine with it? Would they be quick learners or thick as mud? Only time would tell. They couldn't be much worse than the first years from fourteen years ago, though. That class was the worst. The. Worst. She chuckled as she remembered the shenanigans. That class would always be her favourite.

Havish woke up this morning, sun shining in his eyes, the smell of breakfast was... absent. Havish got up and put on a pair of his sweatpants he had set out the night previous and moved to the door, usually by this time of day his mother had already started to cook and he would come down to help her out, but there was nothing, no one was in the kitchen, no food was being cooked, nothing. "Mom. Mom!" There was no response, and Havish began to panic. Up the stairs he ran, and burst through the door of his mothers bedroom, and there she was, lying in bed, the panic subsided, he ran over to her and tried to shake her awake. "Mom, come on get up, we need to make breakfast, I have school today." No response was given, the woman lay there still, eyes remained closed. "Mom....mom...." The panic returned and collapsed the young boy, he was twelve this year, and now he wondered what future was set in place for him.
The funeral was quaint, and was surprisingly enough, paid for entirely by his father, with whom he was to stay with now. Havish hadn't seen his father in several years, they had divorced when he was a child and his mother never explained why, only that his father loved him but the two of them felt it was better for Havish to not be around him. "Havish, I want you to know something." his father was looking down at him now, a tear of his own running down his cheek, "The life your mother wanted for you, I can't give, but I can give you another, one that will be hard, it will be scary, and it will be dangerous, but I swear that if you take the chance, you could be more than you can imagine." His father was smiling, but there was genuine fear in his eyes, but Havish couldn't say no, he had no other family, so all he could do was nod.
The next three years were spent with his father training with magic, magic he had never known he had. There were days when his father would show him offensive magic and he would wonder, if I had had this magic when I was younger I could fought back against the bullies I dealt with. Havish knew that was a lie though, he wouldn't have fought them, he never fought, he was always beaten and beaten, never once did he stand up. "Havish, come on now, you have to try harder, the academy won't accept you if you don't give them something to work with." The man flung spell after spell at the boy, but Havish continued to dodge and weakly deflect, "No, no, you need to stand strong, you are a Greyson, we always stand." As the man finished speaking, Havish felt his feet stop, the ground seemingly mounding up over them, "Stand and show me who you are." The man flung spell after spell, Havish fearfully doing his best to not be hit, but soon he was caught directly in the line of fire, literally, the flames sprang from his fathers hand and struck dead center of Havish's chest, Havish could only think of one thing, if only he could just curl up and hide, not let any of this hurt him. The flames curled and hissed, but there was no pain, it was hot, but not painful, when Havish opened his eyes, he looked down to see a plate of armor, it covered his chest and stomach, he laughed nervously and looked at his father, the man was smiling wide, "You did it, a spell to be proud of, a living armament is a powerful..." mid sentence the armor dissolved and Havish collapsed unable to handle the strain of the spell yet, but, at least promise was there.

A laptop whirred and burned across a pleated skirt, yet Tholl paid it no mind as her fingers danced across the keys at speeds her secretary could only envy. Her eyes flickered from the steadily decreasing mountain of emails sent in regards to her roles as an educator and as a entrepreneur as the teacher's lounge was awash with harsh light in the wake of a casual act of witchcraft for the purpose of heating coffee. Perhaps it was her deep entrenchment in the matters of the mundane world but she found it odd how flagrant such oddities occurred in Hikari when a microwave would have sufficed. Maybe I should get the lounge a proper coffee maker?

With a click of her tongue she dismissed both the Irish coffee and the thoughts of consumerism and returned to her computer, only to find her inbox was cleared with mechanical precision. She let out a huff of disappointment and settled her device upon the desk, content the world outside was still spinning even without her at the helm. She'd like to have entertained the tiny hope her business partner would come crying for help, but it was too much to hope for a mute to raise a fuss when they were capable in their own right.

"Well I've got nothing better to do at the moment." The Spider declared as she scooped up her teacher's edition text book and a folder thicker then a fingers-breadth and rife with the print outs she'd made for this semesters opening. Compared to other teachers it could be said to be on the lean side in terms of class load, and that would be a fair assessment, as there were dreadfully few of the sort who came to Hikari who wanted to go out and integrate so openly with the mundane as to open up a store of some sort. Either the idea of a magical world full of wonders and eldritch horrors was too exciting, or the idea of forgoing overwhelming arcane power in favor of filing for licenses and hurling money into the bureaucratic machine was too boring for most to bother with. She thought it a pity, but it wasn't so disheartening as to overshadow the joy of those few who did take to her course with certain enthusiasm.

"I'm going to head to my class. I'd have liked to offer to herd the freshmen, but they'd as soon assume I was a teacher as they would the Head Mistress. Tholl chuckled and left her contemporaries who weren't already out and about to their preparations as she plunged into the tide of bodies pressed tight in the halls. Tholl was but a drop in this river, distinction only found in which direction one moved along the sides as everyone struggled against the confusion, excitement, and apprehension that turned the commute into a sluggish affair.

Yet she didn't mind this pace, occupying herself with eyeing students new and old with the anonymity of being indistinct from those around her. Dressing as a school girl may not have projected the air of authority she should command, and there had been a few occasions students outright didn't believe the youth sitting behind the desk was anymore then a daring prankster looking to get disciplined on the first day. Such mistakes made correcting them all the sweeter, a trap they walked to with all the blind eagerness of Tholl's favored meals.

As easily as she entered the current Tholl slipped free and entered a darkened room unquestioned, a flick of the finger casting light upon the rows of desks soon to be filled. "Hmm, well, partially at least. Oh well, they just makes spacing them out for testing all the easier."

Settling her teaching material upon the waiting desk, she alighted in her whirling chair and directed her gaze out the windows, breathing in the rising sun for a moment of calm before the rush fell upon her.

The game of football at the park had been a total mess. Fun, but a mess. It had been arranged online for weeks beforehand, that several teenage non-humans from various cities across the country would meet at this particular disused playing field in the early hours of the morning and do things that ordinary kids do, like play games, chase members of the opposite sex, and just...have a teenage social life. Every single teenager at this gathering was home-schooled, and there were many species among them; Minotaurs, Satyrs, Unicorns, Lamias and Nagas, there was even a Demon, though even the rest of the creatures were a little fearful of him.

It was what happened after the football game on the damp pitch, after it was announced as a tie by the crumpled, prone bodies lying in the mud laughing and hollering, in good sprits despite slipping and falling more often than staying upright. It was at this Jovial junction where a female faun who had been talking to the Demon screamed and started kicking up a fuss that the Demon was being forceful with her,
despite the Demon's protests to the contrary. Everyone who had actually seen what had happened was on the Demon's side, telling the story that she had been trying to chat him up but due to either being uninterested or just shy, wasn't giving her the responses she wanted.

The monsters who had been playing football, besides Duncan, took the girl's side, however. They were naturally predisposed to distrust Demons and take the word of a fellow Earthly creature over them. The two sides were gearing up for a full on fight. That's when the Minotaur took matters into his own hands and started to beat up the Demon. Despite the tempers on both sides that were flaring, everybody suddenly turned very sombre and just stood on, fearing to get in the Mintaur's way. Duncan couldn't stand this, and galloped over to his duffel bag, grabbing his bow and safe arrows, and taking aim, hit the Minotaur square in the head. Having got the now peeved brute's attention, Duncan shouted to him. "What the hell is wrong with you?! He's one of us!" Slowly but surely, the other teens started to nod and vocally agree with him, which led to the Minotaur backing off and leaving the Demon along to be checked up on by a different group of girls.

Duncan had been unaware that anybody had been spying on them during that morning, but several days later, Duncan received a letter, which was opened by his mother. When Duncan reluctantly decided to get up and head downstairs, hair a total mess and wearing the same clothes as yesterday, that he noticed the grave, whistful ad sad eyes of his parents. He also noticed the open letter on the table, and trotted closer to read it;

Dear Master Chiron,

You have been accepted into Hikari Ryoden Academy, the semester starts soon,
so please notify us with an answer of your intention of coming. We truly hope to see you here!

Headmaster.

Blades clashed against shields as the two Nightbreaker brothers fought in the backyard of their family home. Back and forth they seamlessly blocked and parried each others attacks almost like they had rehearsed this dance before. The match came to an end when one combatant knocked the other’s shield away and used the opening to thrust forward slicing a nasty gash into his opponent's shoulder.

”GAH! TIME OUT TIME OUT!” Roland cried as he fell to his knees. Dropping his gear his hand quickly clasped over the fresh wound as blood ran down his arm. After taking a few deep breaths, the young paladin was able to fight through the pain and began focusing his power. A glow began emitting from his hand slowly healing the wound and providing much needed relief from the pain. ”You know, most people like to spare with training gear.”

“Most people aren’t able to cast healing spells.” His older brother Marcus replied. ”Besides, if you ever want to be a Dawn Slayer like me, you’ll need to learn what it’s like to be in a real fight. I can assure you’ll find the same views at Hikari.”

The Academy, Roland had just gotten his acceptance letter earlier this week, it was why his brother was visiting in the first place. He and the rest of the family were overjoyed of course, but Roland was more worried than anything to say the least. The Nightbreaker name had been synonymous with some of the greatest paladins in history and he had always hoped to live up to that legacy. Yet, even after all is training, he still wasn’t sure he was worthy of the name.

“Hey, Marcus. Do you… Do you think I’m ready for the academy?” Roland asked not hiding the concern in his face.

“Of course not.” Marcus answered bluntly. His words shocked Roland. He might have doubted himself, but he hoped if anyone had faith in him it would be his brother. As he looked to the ground in defeat, Marcus continued. ”No one goes to the academy ready for it. Otherwise what would be the point? What would you be learning if you already had the skills? Hikari Academy doesn’t take the best, they make the best. Don’t worry about where you are now, work towards where you want to be. Listen to your teachers, heed their guidance, and always look to improve yourself. Do that, and you’ll be a Dawn Slayer yet.”

And just like that, Roland’s fears began to melt away. He had been looking at this all wrong. The academy wasn’t some final test to prove his skills, it was the last step needed to learn them. Of course he was still nervous about going, but now, things didn’t seem that bad. Pulling his hand away from his shoulder, Roland examined the spot where he was hit and found no trace of the wound. ”Thanks, Marcus. Now, how about we go for round two?”

"Hey Bel, why don't you play something for us?" Belias's grandfather, the human one, asked. "I here you've gotten pretty good since I last visited."

The entire family was over, ready to see him off the next day when he departed for Hikari Academy, and if he was lucky, somehow not fail badly enough to get sent home within the month. Yeah, that was mostly just his nerves talking, but just because he was paranoid, it didn't mean he was wrong, damn it!

"Yeah, alright..." He said, picking his Bodhrán up and giving it a small knock.

However, it seemed like that was all he needed, and within moments he was lost completely in the sound coming from the drum. A couple of minutes later, he opened his eyes, seeing the whole group looking just that little bit calmer.

"Are you better now?" His grandfather asked him, an amused grin on his face, and if Bel had had skin on his, it would be blushing.

"Oh, yeah." He said, almost a little embarrassed at how quickly he'd given into the drums beat. "I guess I am."

"Don't worry." His father said, patting him on the shoulder and, if his face had not also been a skull, Bel thought he'd probably be smiling. "You're a friendly boy, once you get over your shyness enough to talk to people. You won't be alone for very long, and then you'll always have someone at your back!"

Looking around the room, Bel felt a lot better. His dad was right. It might take a little while to make friends, considering his unnerving appearance, but once he did, he'd likely be able to turn to them whenever he was freaking out.

"Now..." His father continued. "I believe it's about time for you to get to bed."

"Wait, what?" He asked incredulously. "It's not even five o'clock yet! The sun is still up!"

"Trust me, you're going to need as much sleep as you can get before we leave tomorrow. It's a long way to the academy, and even my magic won't get us there in an instant! Now bed. Go."

Grumbling, Bel went to his room.

And promptly lay awake the entire night in a terrible combination of excitement and nerves.

A knock was heard on the door where Lumen stayed the night. The orphanage felt lonelier as the days went by. The youth's friends were slowly being adopted while at the same time new kids arrived at the home who were too young for Lumen to interact with. Perhaps this is because of his shyness... The thought crawled on his mind like a spider to its prey. Slowly creeping into his thoughts and evoking the memory of a friend. A friend that visits sporadically and without warning. One that could be here one day and be gone for next month or so without saying good-bye. This time, however, it's been nearly six months since Lumen last saw him. And each time there was a knock on the door it indicated to him one of two things: The daughter of the owner was preparing me for a family to come in. Or that he arrived with gifts bared in hands. Excitement rushed over Lumen body, he could feel his cheeks pull through the force of his smile. He was sure is was his friends because if it were any other person, the daughter would've told him prior to her arrival to his room.

Lumen had to hurry! He would act disinterested at first. He would look out the window bored, hand holding the weight of his head as he ignored his friend's grand entrance. "Oh, you're back already..." Lumen would say in an attempt to devalue his friend's long disappearance. As if he was gone merely an hour or two. Lumen didn't miss him at all, or at least this is the thought the youth of silver hair wanted to portray. Lumen rushed to position, looking out the window while making the most convincing grimace he could muster. Yes, he didn’t like to admit it, but he practiced this very face just for this occasion. Something about seeing his friend offended and quickly recoiling with a “Just kidding!” brought a sense of joy that this boy really couldn’t put his finger on. Of course, children who aren’t even eight years old seldom understand the mechanics of how they feel. The door opened, but the voice that rang on his ears was not of the man Lumen expected. It was of the daughter of the owner of the orphanage. Lumen’s face slumped and his previous energy had drained entirely, a sigh escaped him. He threw himself on the bed suddenly feeling too tired to do anything else. “You were waiting for him again, Lumen?” her voice was tender, it softened the blow of what his expectation previously had crushed.

"Yeah…” Lumen said burying his face into his pillow. “Priscilla, you talk to him a lot. What’s taking him so long?” Her name was uttered, she didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or suspicious of what was implied in-between the lines of that sentence. Considering the situation that what just at hand, she decided to let it slip. Priscilla walked towards Lumen, sat on the side of his bed and began to run her fingers through those beautiful silver locks of his. Quietly admiring such. “Aren't you hungry? It’s gonna be late soon and you haven’t eaten anything.” Lumen peered out of his pillow, locking eyes with this bigger sister of sorts. Capturing every individual feature on her mien. From the rose of her cheek, to the green of her eyes. A smile which merely propelled what was already a strong motherly aura. And his eyes parted from hers. Focusing on the thought that continued to run across his mind.

“Priscilla?” she replied with a simple, hm? As confirmation that Lumen had her full attention. “If I ever get adopted… Will I be able to see you and Kresnik again?” Kresnik, the name of the man who takes the title of Lumen’s best friend. And of Priscilla’s ‘special’ one. Priscilla face sunk into a frown. Lumen didn’t understand… Did he say something odd? Maybe this was haunting Priscilla as much as it was haunting him. Lumen quickly brought himself up and comforted Priscilla. Doing the same as she did, with fingers running through her hair, combing it with gentle strokes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad. It doesn’t matter if I get adopted. I’ll always try to come and see you, okay! So please, don’t be sad.” Priscilla felt his warmth, he was a nice boy. She stood and ushered him to another room, the owner’s office. Where he was met with a card and a small box. As he opened both… Tears began to flow from his eyes…

Denial was the first step, trying to search for a definite answer he begged for the truth to be spoken. He searched for confirmation of the latter, to be told that his friend was still alive. But nothing came to his aid, he had to face this reality alone. His friend, Kresnik was gone. Someone who was like an older brother to him, someone who he could confide in when things seemed grim. Someone who always returned when the others were adopted. Now, he’s gone… And this pained him. Within the box laid a small pearl that rose into the air, floating before Lumen’s very eyes.

“Hi, kiddo. I’m sure you got the bad news. I’m sorry… I wish I could tell you more stories of my adventures. It’s unfortunate, but these things happen.” Kresnik’s voice… it flowed through the magical energy of this pearl. “Though I’ve passed, I can still talk to you like this. Even if it's for a bit. This is a little secret of mines. I’m actually a poltergeist, a being that exist to haunt. Or so the stories tell. The body before me was of a friend too, he said that I could use it. To give me the life that I desired to have. He was sick… and at his deathbed, he allowed me to take control of the body. I lived my life already, but you… You still have much to explore. So this is my last gift to you, Lumen. Make sure you use it well.” The pearl floated to his chest and submerged into his soul, soon flames began to dance at the tip of Lumen's fingers. His eyes shimmered in a different hue, and his magic awoken. "Don't let anyone kill your sense of adventure, kid!"

Familiar - This spell lets Sonia summon a magical animal called a familiar who she can telepathically interact with. Her familiar is an Owl called Owldin. If Owldin is within a hundred feet of Sonia, he can cast close-range spells through her. If Owldin dies or gone Sonia can summon him again but only once per day and it is a one hour ritual. When she does this ritual she can choose a new animal to be her familiar, and they will gain all the memories and personality as Owldin.

Portents - Sonia can instantly perceive a thirty seconds into the future. In this instance she can see different time lines based off what she wants to do and what might happen if she follows through with them. She can only cast this spell twice a day.

Tongues - This spell lets Sonia understand, speak, and write any language naturally for one hour. This includes secret languages, animal languages, and magical languages. She can cast this spell twice a day.

Feather Fall - This spell lets Sonia safely fall from great heights without hurting herself. She can either fall slowly or fall normally without taking any damage. When she casts this spell she can target up to four other people, including herself. This spell lasts until she stands on something solid for at least five whole seconds. She can cast this spell twice a day.

Detect Magic - This spell allows Sonia to sense magical presences around her and learn what they are and what they do for up to ten minutes. Sonia can use this spell three times a day.

Obscure Mind - When Sonia touches someone with this spell, they are protected from mental intrusion such as mind control, telepathy, or dream invasions. Last for ten minutes but if used on a sleeping person it will last until they wake up. Sonia can cast this spell three times a day.

Silence - An illusion spell that causes a ten-feet diameter area or a specific object/person to make no noise. They don't make any noise even if they interact with an object, like if someone picks up an instrument and tries to play it while under the effect of this spell. Lasts for ten minutes. Sonia can cast this spell three times a day.

Shocking Grasp - Sonia can touch someone and delivery a powerful electrical shock through their bodies. More effective on people wearing metal or things made of metal. This spell can be used to stun and paralyze someone instead of electrocute them. She can only cast this spell five times a day.

Scratch scratch. Scratch scratch.

"Owldin, stop that."

Yawning loudly a large six-eyed girl stretched her arms over her head, rubbing her tired eyes. She looked at her cellphone and saw that she had three more minutes before her alarm would go off. Not too far away her familiar was scratching his roasting post, as he always did whenever he was hungry. It was loud and annoying but it made Sonia wake up. As she got out of bed she had to be careful not to trip over her own legs as she often did when she was drowsy. Her large lower body bumped into the boxes of books she never bothered to put away or baskets of clothes she never folded up. Her table was a mess of papers, letters, half-opened books, and a cups full of coffee stains. She knew there was a spell that could easily clean this place up, but she has yet to find it. It seemed like everyone took any scroll or spell book that had it and didn’t want to share it with Sonia. It made her angry, but as long as it didn’t stink up her room she didn’t worry about it.

Sonia’s bathroom was cramp even for an Arachne. She had sought specific accommodations for her but this was the best she could do within her budget. It was usable, but she wished she could have something even better. After doing her business in the bathroom Sonia changed into her usual outfit. She favored dresses for practical reasons. Even though she had to pay an extra premium to make them fit her she could appreciate the workmanship that goes into them. After getting dressed Sonia grabbed the monocle on her dresser and did her hair. Once that was finished she was ready for the start of her day.

”Come along Owldin, let’s go get some breakfast.”

He was sitting at his cluttered desk, face rigid with concentration. A small grey-blue ball was orbiting him. The world seemed to be as quiet as a rock. Or, at least, this section of it. The ball paused in front of his face, and he reached out to grab it. His hand contacted the silky smooth, but strangely hot ball. He held it for a while, before throwing it at a wall. It sailed through the air like a glass ball might, and crumpled like paper when it hit the wall.

He looked out the window, and was rather frightened to see it was dark so suddenly. He decided that sleeping was probably a good idea. He had noticed his control start to slip as he used more energy. He stood up and left, coat trailing behind him.

His bedroom was adorned with the basics: A bed, a wardrobe, and a dirty clothes pile. Naturally, all his clothes were thrown in the dirty washing pile; apart from his coat, which was lovingly hung in the wardrobe. He crawled into bed after turning the oil lamp off, and slid into a sleep. He dreamed of the Sad Prince, who lived in The Sigh, and had his betrothed commit suicide. Apparently The Sigh was a breach upon the Earth, but he knew nothing else about it.

He woke with a poem ringing in his head. He forgot this as soon as he knew it was there. He glanced about the dark room. Something felt wrong. He wasn't still sleeping, but he wasn't entirely awake, either. The wrongness grew like a tumor. Slowly, but with many malignant intentions. The wrongness was surely feeling for him... scouring the room. As it grew nearer, he became more terrified. It was out to kill him. He was going to die. No... It was out to destroy everything he cared about! He was to be left a wretched, paralysed mess.

An ivory mask on a terribly tendrily pitch body. It depicted a face that was somehow both a smile and a frown at the same time. It gazed into his brain, and these words were heard; "I would like to play a game for the rest of your life. I will become part of you, and we will wrestle for control of your body. I will access you, and you will access me."

I don't want to. This sounds delightful! I have no control. I'll always have company! This will cause immeasurable suffering for those around me... Bonus after bonus! Who'll be able to resist me? I won't. What fun! Okay.

The workshop of Hikari was graced with a still silence as the machines were powered down for lunch. In the office connected to the shop, Kromric sat at his desk scribbling away at some schematics only pausing to take a bite of his sub sandwich. The other teachers were probably conversing in the teacher's lounge by now, but Krom wasn’t one to sit around and chit chat. There was always work to be done, and after spending his entire morning chaperoning kids around the school on top of teaching a class, it was nice to finally have free time.

Of course, such a luxury did not last long. Completely consumed with his work, Krom didn't notice the student walk in clutching a plain looking longsword. “Excuse me. Are you Mr. Battlebrow?” she asked knocking on the office door.

Almost unsurprised by the interruption, Krom answered without looking up from his papers. “Aye. What ye be needing, lass?”

“Um.” She stammered walking through the doorway. “I think there's something wrong with my sword. It felt fine last time I used it, but since I got here it’s felt a little off. I was told I should see if you could fix it?”

“Were you also told to break the rules you were given by coming here without an escort?” Krom asked. He set his pencil down and looked at the student now petrified by his words.

“I. Um. I didn't mean-”

“Didn’t mean to what? Disrespect this institution and me by disobeying the first rules given to you and then having the stones to barge into my office and ask me for a favor?” His voice raised as he spoke striking fear into the young girl. Her lip began to quiver and water filled her eyes as she realized the trouble she had gotten herself into. Krom sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was letting his frustration get the better of him again. Obviously this girl wasn't trying to cause problems, she just had a memory laps. Nothing serious. Calmly he ushered the girl over. ”Alright, bring it here.”

She stayed still for a moment before wiping her eyes and walking over. She handed Krom the blade and almost immediately he knew the problem. “You packed yer blade wrong, lass. This thing is more warped than the mind of the great witch. Not even the best swordsman could swing this straight. I could fix it, but I'm afraid my workload is a little heavy right now. When do ye need it by?”

“Uh, tomorrow. I have Yurius.” She said shyly keeping her eyes to the ground worried she was still in trouble. “If it’s too much I could just use the training weapons.”

“Nah. With what happened yesterday I’d rather ye not be without a weapon.” Krom pushed on his desk and let the wheels on his chair carry him to a large cabinet behind him. Reaching into his apron he pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the padlock holding the doors closed. Upon opening them he revealed a large selection of weapons. He moved his finger across them as he looked for the one he had in mind. “Here we are, 38 inch blade with an 8 inch hilt. The cross guard might be a wee bit heavier than yer used to, but it should suffice for now.”

He jumped off his chair and handed it to the wide eyed girl who took it in her hands. ”Th-thank you Mr. Battlebrow. I really appreciate this.”

“Think nothing of it. Now then,” he shut and locked the cabinet before turning back and walking to the office door, “Let’s get you to the cafeteria.”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to take you away from your work.” She stated hooking her new sword to her belt.

“Tis alright.” He assured. “Just working on some ideas for wolf armor, nothing too important. Besides, can’t have you breaking the rules a second time now can I?”

“Uh, wolf armor, sir?” She asked as she followed him into the hall.

“Haven’t had Tholl’s class yet have you?” He eyed the student who shook her head even more bewildered by the dwarfs question. “Hehe, you’ll understand soon enough.”