Eli

  Not a single spell flew at me as I walked to the enchanting classroom. Opening the door, I noticed a pile of lights on one table, confirming my earlier prediction. Hearing the door open, Professor Aaron looked up from his table. “Good, good. You’re here. Grab your enchanting tools and come over here.”

  As I walked over to the table to grab my box of enchanting tools, I noticed that he was looking over a small white plate. Next to it were two bottles, one white and the other a brilliant shade of gold. That either was for his experiments or for my shield enchantment. Either way, it meant I would not be working on the damn lights today. This resulted in me speeding up. However, I did still stay quiet even when standing next to his desk.

  Finally, he finished looking everything over and spoke. “This is the substrate you will be carving today. Take your time. I don’t have many of these right now due to the administration tightwads.”

  He pushed the plate across the table to me. Grabbing a chair and placing Sàga on the table. She projected the enchantment just above her as I sat in a chair and slowly started to carve the shield enchantment. My new tools cut through the material easily and, more importantly, smoothly. Every once in a while, I stood up and stretched my stiff muscles before returning to work.

  Eventually, I finished. Looking up, I noticed the professor was reading something on his device. Standing to stretch, I waited for him to finish. Finally, he did. Reaching over for the carved stone, he scanned over my work.

  “Decent work. Though your cuts here, here, and here,” he pointed to three parts near the middle. “Are a bit rough. But overall, it will work. Now apply the alchemical solution to the lines”

  Handing me the two bottles, he lifted his device off the table to return to reading. Shrugging, I grabbed one of the tiny paintbrushes and dipped it in the white liquid. This bottle was tiny. Not that you needed much for an enchantment.

  I painted each line with a thin layer. After a few seconds, the liquid soaked into the stone. While you could not remove the liquid, it wasn’t solid. Capping the bottle and putting the paintbrush into its specific disposal bin, I grabbed the tool I would need for the second, larger bottle.

  The tool screwed onto the top of the bottle. There were two holes, one on the side and one on the top. If you blocked the side hole, the top one would not let any liquid out, mostly. On top of this hole, I placed a thin nozzle. Blocking the hole before flipping the bottle, I positioned the nozzle into one of the lines.

  Carefully, I removed my finger from part of the side hole. The liquid slowly flowed out and into the line. As it came into contact with the white liquid, it set and solidified. Taking my time, I moved the nozzle down the lines. By the time I was done, the entire enchantment was done. The only thing left was to remove the remaining golden liquid.

  Quickly replacing the lid of the bottle, I grabbed a small square of white cloth. Using it dab along the entire path. Replacing the cloth as it was used up. I couldn’t risk the liquid being put where it shouldn’t be after all.

  Finally finished, I cleaned my mess up and sat down. Looking off to the side, the window was nearly pitch black. The sun apparently having set long ago. Looking down at Sàga’s display, I noticed just how late it was. Both Sàga and the piece of stone into a pocket on either side as I rushed out the door and to bed.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  When I woke up, I slept through my first class, rushed through breakfast and half listened to the professors' explanations on something about magic. Once lunch rolled around, I couldn’t hold back my curiosity. Practically sprinting to the lake.

  With the enchantment in hand, I slowly added power to it. Watching as the lines filled and the enchantment activate. A single small panel appeared high above me. Higher than when I cast the spell. That panel soon became two, then four, then eight. Doubling a few times before pulsing a large amount of mana back into the main enchantment.

  Looking at the channels in the plate, I noticed a filmy liquid flow down the lines as it coated them. Soon, covering each line. A pulse of energy pushed at me and everything around me as the first section of the protective shield formed.

  Those pulses repeated, though never with the same force, instead feeling like a soft breeze as each piece formed around me. The dome coalesced around me within ten seconds. Did the enchantment do it differently? Yes. But that was to be expected as the spell structure was more ridged than if I had formed it.

  A single bolt of lightning struck it. The mana instantly vanished from the attacking spell before the shield could take any damage. As if the single spell had been the firing of a starting gun, a number of small spells struck the shield from every angle. Only when the barrage let up was I able to see who it was that was attacking me.

  My friends were standing not twenty feet from me. Joanne was the one to speak, “With how distracted you were in class today, we figured that you had some spell on your mind. Janet here insisted we follow you and see what it was you were cooking up.”

  “I said no such thing,” Janet growled at Joanne as she turned and hit the other girl's shoulder. “Robert was…”

  “Oh no you don’t.” Robert interrupted as he held his hands up as if in surrender. “You are not going to drag me into this fight. I just wanted to go get lunch.”

  Deactivating the enchantment and draining the excess mana from it before walking over and joining them. Listening to the three of them banter back and forth for the entire lunch period. Separating from the group again, I went to the enchantment room to tell the professor the good news.

  “Professor Aaron, the enchantment works.”

  “Bring it here and let me see it.” his hand swiped down, putting his workspace away. Quickly moving to him, I held out the enchantment to him. A hand gripped my arm. Feeling like steel as I tried to wrench out of it. “What did I say about testing new enchantments?”

  “That they need to be done with care and in a controlled environment.”

  “And did you test your shield enchantment in a controlled environment, or did you just cast it as you would normally?”

  I had fucked up. He had gone over the reasons why there are rules when it comes to enchanting and every other craft. Rules that had been written in blood. In my excitement to test the enchantment, I had forgotten each and every one of those rules. Not that I would let him know that if I could. “I cast it by the lake.”

  The lake was where he had gone to test his enchantments. I figured that saying I had used it would save me. I was wrong. “Ah, but did you use any safety spells? Did you activate the enchantment from a safe distance? How about notifying any of the staff what you were doing in case something went wrong?”

  I had nothing I could say that would satisfy his questions and requirements, and we both knew it. Lowering my head, I solemnly said, “No, I did none of those things.”

  “You will fight your first round without any enchantments.” He announced, an evil grin spreading across his face as a glint entered his eyes. My body tensed in fear as soon as he looked at me with that expression. It was almost like he wanted to use me to run various experiments. Experiments that I might not survive. Thankfully, it vanished nearly as soon as I had tensed. He had no doubt felt my reaction to him. Releasing me, he continued, “Do something that stupid again, and I will make you participate using only one element each round. Randomized, of course.”

  Shivering a bit, I collapsed into the nearest chair to try and come up with some way to deal with the first round now that my initial plan was ruined.