Alissa

  The trees fly by. My prey rushed through the forest as I ran after it. The smell of the water-soaked earth getting stronger as we raced towards a nearby river. The creature realized it was in trouble as soon as it broke through the tree line. Its legs skittered and skid through the rocks, dirt, and debris as it tried to turn.

  A black muzzle snapped out. Grabbing onto the back of the creature's neck. A swift shake and the creature stopped flailing. Slowing down, I walked out into the clearing where I had herded the animal. Two wolves stood there. Just like me, they were both new to shifting.

  Unlike me, though, they both were having issues accepting their other halves. Both fought the change and the instincts that came with it. This hunt was meant to help them accept it. Seeing as the black wolf still carried the black boar in its muzzle, I would have to say it had.

  My wolf pulled back, allowing me to take control as my body snapped and popped. Standing there, I looked both over. “Good. Tomorrow you both can come out here and try hunting some prey on your own.”

  The black wolf was looking me up and down as I stood there talking. That would have been fine except for two things. I was mated already, and the wolf next to him was clearly interested in him. She started to growl, only for me to stop her with a simple gesture. Turning to him, I calmly spoke. “Don’t be a dumbass. Stop staring. Unless you want to challenge my mate when he is allowed to join me.”

  The threat was a bit flimsy at this point. I had been using it too much. It was just that I had become annoyed at the mating challenges. You would think that after proving I was the second strongest thing in the pack would have calmed things down. It hadn’t. In fact, I was now getting challenges from people outside the pack now.

  He snorted but looked away. Just as I tightened my muscles to knock some sense and respect into the little wolf, the world seemed to slow. My wolf and I both felt the same rage pouring down our connection to Eli. Power started to pour into us, and she gathered it. Pulling me along. My body crumpled as my mind raced across the void.

  Bounding through a tear in the path, we stopped next to Eli. I could see where his shield had stopped a barrage of spells. The ground was scorched and broken outside its cover. The professor that was racing toward Eli was skidding to a stop. Spells still flew from her as she intercepted spell after spell.

  Suddenly Eli wobbled, and we quickly moved to support him. We stood there for a few seconds. The professor stared at us as we stood between her and Eli. The connection started to pull us back as it ran low on mana. Fighting it, we waited for Eli.

  Finally, he patted our side. “They didn’t mean to do what they did. It won't happen again. Thank you for coming.” We turned as he pushed away from me to stand on his own. Resting our forehead against his chest for a second before licking his cheek. He laughed a bit before leaning down and kissing our nose.

  Barking once, we let the connection pull us back. Arriving in my body, I found the two wolves nearly snapping at each other. The woman standing between me and the male as the boar sat to the side.

  Getting to my feet, I ran over to the male. He didn’t have time to react as I grabbed his muzzle. “Stop,” I said, pulling on my wolf’s power. She was tired from the jump, but dealing with a pup was fairly easy. He nearly stopped breathing as I held his gaze.

  “Return to the city with the catch. After you do that, I want you to go to the training field and report to Vivian.” He started to whine, only to stop when my hand started to tighten. Releasing him, I took a deep breath as I pulled forward my wolf. Mentally she yawned at me to let me know how tired she was. Not that it stopped her from taking off toward the nearest gate. We needed to find a way to get Eli out of that place sooner rather than later.

  Eli

  Sighing, I stood in place and just rubbed my temples. While the headache had dulled after Alissa had returned to where she came from, it was still a dull throbbing sensation. The professor run past me, reminding me that my friends had been behind me. Quickly turning, I looked around for them. Not that I could do much to help. If there was one type of spell I sucked the most at, it would be healing.

  At some point, Anne had made it to them and was already casting spell after spell. Professor Olivia was next to her, checking on her work. Giving her advice as they worked. Professor Hill rushed up from the side of a building.

  Out of breath, she panted, saying, “What was that massive spell?”

  Professor Olivia just pointed at me. Professor Hill turned to me and rolled her eyes. “Of course it was you. Can you keep your spell power to something close to a first-year’s level?”

  “I didn’t mean to…” I started.

  “No, instead, you use enough mana in one spell to power a war-grade spell.” She groaned before waving over the whole class. When everyone had gathered around, she continued. “I think it is about time we go over spell grades.”

  “I agree,” said Professor Olivia as she helped up Robert.

  “Spells are all given designated levels based on how much mana they typically use. This does not mean you cannot put more or less mana into them. With enough mana, you can cast a fireball to be as strong or as weak as you want, given the proper spell modifications.” Professor Hill started to write a few things into the air with her finger. Trails of mana floated there as if she was using chalk on a blackboard.

  “First, we have low spells. For you gamers, these would be cantrips. Spells like light and create water fall under this category. These spells use nearly no mana; everyone can use them if they have any ability to manipulate mana.”

  In the air, she wrote the number five next to the word low. Under this, she listed a few spells, including create water and light ball. She wrote the word common in a new column, followed by the number fifty.

  Professor Olivia spoke next as Professor Hill continued to write. “Next, we have common spells. Spells that can be cast by nearly every mage. These include fireball and earth spike. These are the spells you have all been learning and practicing. Each spell requires at least ten times the amount of mana as a low-powered spell.”

  I raised my hand, and she nodded for me to speak. “But when we were first learning to cast magic, the light spell felt like it took just as much mana as other spells do now.”

  “That is because none of you knew how to control your mana output at the time. Recall how those same light spells fluctuated and failed.” I thought back. Sure enough, those spells had been having issues. When had they stabilized? She continued speaking, though. “Then we have high-class spells. These take ten times the mana of a common spell. Those who graduate from an academy are required to be able to cast at least this level of magic.”

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  “Can you give us any examples of these spells?” Called one of the boys in the far back of the group.

  “Flight would be a decent example. Some high-tiered summoning spells can also fall under this category.” Professor Olivia looked over at Anne, who blushed and looked down. “Then we have war-grade spells. These spells take at least ten times the mana of a previous spell, though some can take as much as one hundred times or more. Each spell is enough to change the terrain on a map.”

  She let that sink in before continuing. “Every professor and nobleman worth something can cast a spell on this level at least once without issue.” Her eyes met mine as she said, “Eli can generate the mana for such spells but doing so damages his mana conduits, body, and mind. Eventually, his body will adapt to the amount of mana needed if he doesn’t kill or cripple himself first.”

  Gulping, I silently promised myself to try not to cast such spells for a long time. Robert must have been curious after both professors had stopped talking and writing because he asked, “Is there anything above war-grade magic?”

  “There is, though I pray there is never a need for such magic.” Professor Hill said while Professor Olivia nodded. “Multi-mage grade, master grade, and grandmaster grade. Each has enormous mana requirements and effects. As a result, very few people can cast such spells. Well, except for multi-mage grade. The only ones that are hurt in such a spell is the central castor. All that mana flows through them and into the spell. As a result, they typically die.”

  “Bear in mind that just because you cannot cast a high-grade spell or stronger does not mean that you cannot defeat those that can. Most magic battles rely on a few things. Speed of casting, number of known spells, and how long one can keep fighting.”

  Professor Olivia interrupted Professor Hill, “Don’t forget physical fitness. Many high-powered mages through history forgot and died to some nobody with a well-placed punch or knife.”

  “Speaking of physical fitness and weapons.” Professor Hill said with a loud clap. “Time to get back to training. Pair up with someone and practice dueling. Everyone except Eli.”

  The class broke off into groups and spread out across the field. I stood between the two professors as the sounds of clashing weapons and spells grew. “What do you want me to do?” I asked. Annoyed to be just standing around instead of joining in.

  Professor Olivia was the one to answer my question. “I just wanted to relay what the headmaster said. As soon as the tournament is complete, you will be free to leave the academy and return to Earth.”

  “Why then and not now?” I asked. The news was stirring a number of emotions inside of me. Annoyance that I couldn’t leave now. Fear for my friends' lives once I left. Happiness that I could finally leave.

  “It is the earliest anyone is allowed to leave an academy. That is, if they can beat their entire class and show skills beyond their age. Then one can put in for self-study.” Professor Olivia said, looking me right in the eyes. “This is the only way he thinks we can get away with letting you go without pissing off the nobles and other mage families.”

  I nodded because it made sense. Not that I had much choice in the matter. “Wait, doesn’t that mean I have to beat everyone?”

  Professor Hill laughed as she said, “Yes, though I doubt that will be all that hard for you. The only thing you need to do is find a way to cast spells through your shield. After you do that, then you should be able to take on most of your seniors.”

  That caught my attention. She thought I wouldn’t be able to take on the seniors with my current skills. Just how powerful were they? Professor Olivia and her laughed as they saw my slightly shocked expression.

  “You thought that having such a shield would be enough to win you every fight?” Professor Olivia said. “The only reason you are able to take on your entire class is due to them not knowing how to deal with such a shield as they have not encountered anything like it. However, there are classes that go over how to break such spells. We have shields of one type or another over most of our cities and towns, after all.”

  “Then why was Professor Sabastian not able to break through my shield?”

  “It takes a few minutes to figure out the shield’s structure and look for any tricks and traps. Then tear it apart in one way or another.” Professor Hill said as Professor Olivia yelled at another student for just defending and not attacking. She walked to take to the student while Professor Hill continued, “I found that it is best just to keep bombarding the shield to pin the target in place and keep them from attacking back. That gives me as much time as I need to break through any shield.”

  “How long would it take for you to break through my shield?”

  “It took me fifteen minutes to analyze it. From that information, I would guess about an hour to break it apart. The major hurdle is the amount of mana flowing through it at any time. It is like working on high-voltage wiring. One wrong move and the spell will dump massive amounts of mana into the air and me. So first, I would need to cut the spell off from the solar component.” Professor Hill said.

  As she said it, my shield flared into being. Nothing was hitting it, though. Looking around, I noticed she was pointing up. The solar section was shrinking rapidly. Following the near-invisible thread of mana connecting it to the spell construct, I realized that the shield was no longer connected to it. “How did you do that?”

  “Simple,” she said as I repaired the thread. “I was able to shoot a small burst of pure mana at the thread. It doesn’t work over long distances, but because you let me get within range of the spell, I was able to use such a method.”

  “Is that also why the shield came up?”

  “Yeah, the trigger is a bit touchy when it comes to mana. The speed of the burst was the only reason it was able to hit before the spell gobbled it up. Though you should also be careful of that feature.” An odd diagram slowly formed in front of her. It looked and felt wrong to me somehow. Almost as if the mana was poisoned, though I couldn’t see any visible difference.

  My shield grabbed the spell and tore into it. As the mana started to flow into the shield, the lines twisted and changed. Sections thinned while others grew knobby. Just watching the effects had me nearly throwing up. Quickly I canceled the spell. “What the fuck was that?”

  “One of the weirder schools of magic. The spell isn’t really built with the traditional diagrams. Instead, the mana is almost imprinted with it. Anything that tries to use that mana is then twisted as the mana fights to keep doing what it was imprinted to do.”

  “How many different schools of magic are there?”

  “Too many.” Professor Olivia said as she rejoined us. “Most of which, including that one, are banned from general education for good reason.”

  “If he is going to go back to Earth, then he needs to know about the other schools.” Professor Hill snapped. “We both know that there will be tons of people on Earth who did not get into an academy or were not found. Those people will have come up with their own ways to use mana to protect themselves.”

  “I am not saying you are wrong. Just that there is a time and a place for such lessons. Doing so out here where anyone can see and report you. That is what I have an issue with.”

  She scoffed at that. “I don’t care about that.”

  “You should. How many times have you been reported to the headmaster so far this year? How many until you are kicked out?”

  “Five times.” Professor Hill mumbled. “But all of them were just because I refused to teach those snobby brats different casting styles.”

  “If you kept refusing to teach other magic methods to them, why show me?” I asked.

  Her response nearly had me gagging at how sappy it sounded. “Because I know what it feels like to be kept away from the one you love.”

  Professor Olivia rolled her eyes, “You could have eloped with your lover back then. You are the one who listened to what your parents said.”

  “You and I both know I would have faced the potential loss of magic on top of banishment.”

  “There was little chance of you being banished.”

  “Banished? Loss of magic?”

  “He was human. Not a trace of magic. She met him when he managed to escape an illegal research facility. The council cast a geas on him and sent him back to Earth. There was a chance, remote though it was, that she would have been forced to leave with him if they did anything more than just kissing or making simple promises.”

  “You think they would have let them stay here? My family would have killed him if the council allowed his stay.”

  “Do you think he is still out there? He could be waiting for you.”

  “I doubt it. It has been nearly fifty years. Even if he was out there, he is likely married.”

  “When I leave, do you want me to check?”

  “Sure, just let him know that I have always thought of him. He had two names, though.”

  “He did?” Professor Olivia sounded more confused about that than anything else.

  Professor Hill nodded. “The one you know him as, Damien Devonport. On that last day, he told me it was not his real name. He said it was Paul Thomas.” I committed the name to memory. While I knew there was little chance I would find anything about him, I would try. “Now, you should get off to your next class. I know Professor Aaron is looking forward to your showing up today.”

  I grimaced. I had promised him that I would be there days ago, only not to be able to. I would be lucky if there wasn’t a table of lights to reenchant for him. Those things hurt my back and my eyes as the enchantments were so tiny and hard to reach.