Andrea walked through the halls of the Academy. The Great Morgan Academy for mages, to be precise. She wore her uniform: robes with a hood attached to it. There was even a pointed hat to complete it, but Andrea didn’t wear it.

  No student did. It looked ridiculous. It was only worn during occasions such as acceptance into the school. She remembered the day she came here. A little girl filled with hopes and dreams. Fooling herself into believing she would become the greatest witch ever. If only she knew.

  ‘I wonder what eight-year-old me would think if she saw what we’ve become,’ Andrea thought, as a tear almost rolled down her eyes. She quickly brushed it off before it had the chance to roll down her cheeks.

  ‘Stop that! You can’t cry. You’ve done enough of that throughout your stay here. Just because Caroline isn’t around doesn’t make it okay.’ Andrea frowned, trying her best not to cry. It was a difficult task, but she was determined.

  Another occasion when a witch or a warlock would wear their pointed hat was a mage’s duel. A battle where two mages test their skills against each other, with even the possibility of death.

  Before the duel began, both mages would nod their hats to each other. It was equivalent to a handshake. It was tradition. It was meant to show respect to each mage, recognizing one another as worthy opponents.

  Andrea had witnessed a few of these mage battles. Things would always get quite intense. Mages on both ends would be critically injured, but it was never life-threatening.

  The other occasion when it was required for a mage to put on their pointed hat was graduation. Andrea stopped in her tracks and clung to her books tighter than before.

  Graduation—the day Andrea couldn’t wait to experience during her earlier years, but now it was the day she dreaded the most. A look at the left side of her chest: there stuck out a miniature crystal ball pinned to her robe. It displayed a griffin. A creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.

  It was a truly magnificent creature. Yet when Andrea looked at it, she had a look of sadness and disappointment on her face. She sighed, but it wasn’t a heavy sigh. It was a short and hardly audible sigh, showing that she didn’t have the energy to even be mad anymore.

  “All these years and haven’t changed once, huh?” Andrea said in a low tone. She looked up at the stone ceilings of the academy, which had carvings of beautiful and complicated magical circles and runes interlocked with each other.

  She was looking for… she wasn’t sure what she was looking for. A sign, perhaps? Telling her everything will be okay. Hell… she’d even take a fairy grandmother. Someone who’d make all of her problems go away.

  She chuckled as she thought of the latter happening. ‘No, that’s not possible. Fairies are in the fae realm, and even if one could cross over here, I doubt they’d take an interest in my troubles.'

  Daydreaming had somewhat cheered Andrea up. A soft smile slowly formed on her face.

  In the midst of her happy thoughts, a giant golden light appeared in one of the courtyards in the academy. It started to shake while floating several feet in the air. As it did, ripples of golden waves traveled throughout the entire academy, accompanied by the sound of a bell. The sound of the bell was so loud and powerful that the students in the academy felt it in their bones. But it wasn’t distressing in any way. It felt—calming.

  After the bell had rung for a while, it transformed into a giant woman who looked to be in her early fifties. She had a mix of blond and gray hair shaped into a bun. Emerald eyes and a cold and bitter expression on her face. She wore the academy robes, but she was clearly not a student. A golden hue, produced by the bell before she appeared, now covered her entirely.

  “Students of Morgan Academy!” The giant woman spoke. As she did, her voice projected to every inch of the academy. “You have all been summoned to the main hall. Participation is mandatory. Those who are not found in the hall within an hour will be given appropriate punishments.”

  The giant golden woman finished her message and dispersed into golden lights. “A summoning. I wonder what that could be about.” Andrea rushed to the main hall as instructed. She made haste to the main hall.

  On the way, she met others doing the same, except they did it in style. Many students used the power of elements such as fire, water, and lightning to increase their speed.

  Some would use bursts of flames to fly through the halls of the academy. Others would use water to skate through the halls. The lightning wielders were able to run at great speed. There were even a few students who rode beasts to get to the main hall.

  While Andrea… Andrea ran through the halls like a normal person. No magic to aid her in any way. She huffed and panted as she did, with droplets of sweat running down her face. After what seemed like an eternity of running, and taking many short breaks, she had finally reached the main hall. Well, its entrance anyway. The large wooden doors, which looked to be made from another time, seemed to be made from rough wood and had two round metallic handles.

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  Andrea pushed the doors, but they wouldn’t budge. It almost seemed like something was blocking the door from behind. Andrea softly facepalmed herself.

  “Right… can’t do this the normal way,” Andrea said. She brought out her right hand and closed her fingers. “Gotta concentrate.” She squinted her eyes and uttered one word.

  “Pulsa.” An almost translucent wave crashed into the doors, opening them both. A basic spell. If a mage couldn’t perform such a simple spell, they didn’t deserve to be here. Doors that couldn’t be opened by physical means were spread out through the entire academy. It was done so students could constantly practice their magic.

  Andrea could do this. She couldn't do much, but she could do this. Andrea walked through the doors, entering the main hall. As she did, the doors behind her quickly shut—not due to a sudden movement of wind, but simply by the works of another spell.

  Andrea was among thousands of students, all wearing the same robes as her. They were continuously conversing with one another. Add that to the acoustics of the grand hall, and Andrea could barely hear her own thoughts.

  She felt a gentle tap on one of her shoulders. Andrea’s eyes widened, and her heart skipped a beat as she quickly turned around to see who was behind her. It was a boy with brown hair, a lean figure, and a concerned look on his face.

  Andrea took a deep breath and sighed. ‘Thank Morgan! It’s not Caroline,’ Andrea thought, her heartbeat still uneasy.

  “Hey, kid, wouldn't you prefer being with others your own age?” the stranger asked. Andrea frowned after hearing this question, and if the stranger were to observe her more, he would notice a vein popping out of her forehead.

  ‘Kid? Seriously?’ Andrea thought. ‘How many times am I going to have to explain this?’ The reason this stranger mistook Andrea—a seventeen-year-old girl—as a “kid” was because of her height.

  Andrea was about four feet and a half. Because of that, she resembled a middle schooler. It was one of the main things that Caroline would bully her for. She had remained this way since she was thirteen.

  She was hoping… no, praying for a growth spurt to happen, but it never came. She put on a fake smile and looked directly at the stranger. “Actually, I’m a final year, so I think I’m older than you,” Andrea said, still smiling.

  “Really?” the stranger asked, unconvinced. “Mhm,” Andrea nodded. The stranger’s eyes landed on the crystal ball sticking out from Andrea’s robe.

  Andrea also got to glance at the stranger’s crystal globe as well. In it was a three-headed hydra. Andrea’s fake smile quickly reverted back to a frown.

  “Why are you looking at my chest, pervert!?” Andrea spoke loudly. A few students turned their gazes to her and the stranger after hearing her accusation. The stranger turned his head left and right, hoping no one had heard Andrea.

  But people had heard her. His cheeks started to turn bright red, and his voice started to crack. “I… I… I wasn’t. I swear. I was just… just,” the stranger stuttered, unable to defend himself. He looked downwards and used one of his palms to shield himself before walking away. ‘Finally, he’s gone,’ Andrea thought. Maybe she went a little too far, but after the day she had, she needed to vent out a little anger.

  Being bullied again by Caroline, being mistaken for a child, and seeing the creature on the stranger’s crystal globe was too much stress for her to handle. She exploded, and the stranger just got caught up in her vicinity.

  “SILENCE!” a voice roared, causing the students conversing to shut up immediately. All that remained was the lingering echo of the loud voice.

  All students turned their gazes to where it originated. The same giant woman who had summoned them all here. Well, she wasn’t a giant at the moment, nor did she have the golden hue surrounding her entire body, but she still had the same intimidating presence as she stood in the center of the elevated platform, looking down on all of them with a stern facial expression.

  “Make way for the dragons!” The students all shifted to the side, creating a vertical pathway all the way to the elevated platform.

  A dozen students began walking on the pathway to the elevated platform. One of those students was Caroline. She walked through the pathway with confidence and a soft smile.

  She turned her head to gauge the other students’ reactions. It was a mix of admiration and fear. Just the way she liked it. Her soft smile turned into a noticeable grin. She flicked her hair and continued walking.

  Andrea, noticing Caroline looking at the other students, quickly turned her head away and looked at the floor. Caroline passed her by, not noticing Andrea at all.

  Andrea let out a huge sigh of relief. “Where did my confidence go?” Andrea thought. “A while ago, I was able to look her directly in the eyes, and now…” Andrea clenched her books harder. A habit she had developed whenever she was stressed. She chuckled slightly.

  “For a second, I thought I had changed. But that’s never going to happen.” Andrea quickly turned her gaze back to the platform. Now that Caroline had passed her, there was someone she was excited to see.

  The old lady called all the dragons to the platform. That meant…

  A tall, well-built boy, looking to be in his late teens, passed Andrea just like Caroline did earlier. It was only for a moment, but it felt like an eternity to Andrea. He had short dark hair, a perfect jawline, the face of a prince, and… he was tall.

  “Lucien… Tempus,” Andrea whispered. Andrea’s cheeks started to burn bright red as she watched Lucien walk up to the platform in awe. She wasn’t the only one.

  Practically every female student had a look of attraction when they were staring at Lucien. How could they not? He was Lucien Tempus. Prodigy of prodigies. One of the best students to ever attend the academy.

  He was everything Andrea was not. Everything Andrea wanted to be. And—he was quite the looker.

  Lucien took one of the many seats at the platform, and so did the rest of the students who had walked the pathway.

  They all had something in common. They all had crystal balls displaying a red dragon in them.

  “Now that the dragons are here… the best the academy has to offer. I shall now begin announcements,” the summoner said."