Eli

  Professor Aaron was sitting in his usual spot as I entered the classroom. However, as soon as I walked in, he emptied his workspace. “Let’s see this set of enchantments you have come up with.”

  Laying Sàga on his desk, she displayed both spells. “We came up with the original spells to…”

  “Don’t tell me what the spells were designed to do. I like to figure it out on my own. It keeps me on my toes.” He said, cutting me off. I stood there, watching as he twisted and manipulated the spells this way and that before saying something. “If I didn’t miss my guess, this spell is what you have running inside of you?”

  “Yes sir.” I was short and to the point. Not because I was mad at his cutting me off, but because I didn’t want to explain the weirdness of that particular spell. Ok, maybe I was also a little angry.

  “It is a decent shield spell. I am guessing you had help designing it.” I shook my head but again, he continued before I could say who. “Good. Each spell looks to be decently adapted to become an enchantment. From the looks of it, you even started to change the structure and components to do so.”

  I thought I had finished the adaptations. How silly of me to think I was capable of doing such a thing on my own, even with Sàga’s help. “What did I miss?”

  “Nothing that is your fault. This spell is just complex enough that it needs a few more components in a few places. I only taught you how to adapt basic spells. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to attempt to make an enchantment this complex for another few months.” His hand flew over the spell, moving parts and sections while also adding components at a pace that was hard to keep up with.

  When he was done, the two spells had become one. “Based on the spell, I am guessing you don’t have enough mana to cast the shield spell, or maintain it, on your own. Is that why you have the weird conversion spell?”

  “Yes, I have enough to cast the solar spell, and it provides the power to the shield spell.”

  “Well, I streamlined the spell a bit. Though it will only work as an enchantment. On a positive note, no one will be able to pull mana from the enchantment and use it against you. Now, this enchantment will require a few special materials. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough to allow you to practice on them. Instead, let’s get you a few of the basic substrates that you can destroy to your heart’s content. Tomorrow we can go over the special materials that this enchantment will need.”

  Following him to the shelving, he started to hand me slab after slab of the substrate I had been using up until now. On top of the stack, he placed a single small piece of broken stone. It was white with various colored streaks through it. “What material is that professor?”

  “That is the substrate we will be using. It is almost the same hardness as the stone you have been practicing on. This substrate is a bit special, though. It is capable of transferring enchantments to other items. It is only able to do so one time. After that, it falls apart. This piece was from one such enchantment. After practicing a bit, try carving into it and feel for any differences.”

  Taking that in, I nodded my thanks before asking, “Can I use this room while I practice?”

  “No, technically, I shouldn’t even have allowed you in now. Something about forcing students to take a break. Meh.” He shrugged as he placed the carving tools on top of my stack. The stack went from my waist to the middle of my chest. Given that each plate was maybe a centimeter thick, there were quite a few plates to practice on. “Go enjoy the sun while you practice.”

  He was nice enough to hold open the door for me. I did notice that he didn’t follow me out, though. Likely as not, I had been right in my guess at the start of break. Starting down the path, I stopped when he called out. “You forgot your device.” Turning to face him, I watched as he tossed her underhand.

  She flew in a neat arc before landing gently on top of the pile. A soft burst of wind slowing her down. Again, he shut the door. Shaking my head, I just resumed my trek to the lake. I had a lot of practice to get through before tomorrow.

  Groups of my classmates were busy exercising as I passed the field next to the dorm. Many of whom waved at me as I passed. I just nodded my head to be polite. While I had seen them in class and around the academy, none of their names came to me as I walked.

  Reaching the lake, I carefully put the substrates down on the table. Ok, so they are nothing more than refined pieces of stone. But I wasn’t going to chance to say that where anyone could hear me. Splitting the pile into shorter stacks that would not fall, I picked one up and started practicing my carving.

  It snapped in half before I finished the first line. The lack of practice while on break was showing its effects. Pushing it to the side, I tried again. While I was able to carve the first set of lines and components, it was nowhere near deep enough. I could go over the entire thing again. The problem was that not only would the enchantment be weaker, but I would be more likely to make a mistake.

  Taking a few minutes, I used the shallow plate to practice how much pressure was enough to cut deep enough into the material. Picking up a third stone, I took my time and carved most of the inner layer. Only pausing my strokes where the line was crossed to reposition for the next cut.

  If I stopped and started in any other place, there would be small nicks and bumps left in the carving that would interfere with the enchantment. Pretty much doing anything would interfere with the enchantment in one way or another. I was just happy that I could use this tool. The professor had shown me how to carve with magic, but the spell was complex and finicky.

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  While he had been demonstrating the spell, his concentration lapsed for a microsecond, and the spell ate through the plate and partway into the table. Thank you, but no thank you. The sharpened and enchanted titanium cutter was fine with me. I just had to remember never to touch the edge as it would slice through me like I was butter.

  So, I sat there, carving and screwing up the enchantment for hours. It was only on the last part that I finally succeeded in carving the entire enchantment out. Said enchantment contained a number of minor issues, but it would work, probably.

  Taking a second to look over it, I pushed a tiny bit of power into the enchantment. I knew the substrate would break if I even attempted to activate it. However, I could still push mana into it to make sure it was able to flow along the paths without issue. Of course, that was with air acting as the conduction medium. With the alchemical silver stuff, it would flow even easier.

  It was like copper wiring for electricity versus, well air. The amount of power needed to get some electricity through the air was substantially more than across a copper wire. Enough that it resembled lightning. Pushing a bit more mana into the enchantment, I watched as the channels faintly glowed. The area that glowed grew upward until finally cresting at the top. Once it did that, the entire stone cracked and shattered with a flurry of snapping as the mana jumped around.

  The entire thing was interesting to watch. Pulling the piece of the white substrate over to me, I carefully tried to carve into it. It was different. The carving tool cut in easily, but the material somehow kept me from cutting very fast. Almost as if I was carving through molasses. That fact was going to make carving my enchantment that much easier.

  Looking up, I noticed the time. The sun had made its way from the horizon to just past its apex. Realizing I needed to go eat, I looked over the table. Covered in shards and failures, I would be unable to carry it back as I had brought it. Hoping I wasn’t breaking some rule, I just got up and went to the cafeteria to eat and ask for a bag. Something that would be able to handle all the sharp pieces of stone without ripping open.

  Alissa

  Grabbing a towel from the bench, I wiped off the sweat. Paul insisted on being my workout partner ever since I took the Beta position. He didn’t taunt me or take me to the ground in an instant, even though we both knew he could. No, instead, he fought at my level. Pushing me to get better while not letting up.

  “So, what do you have planned for me today?” I asked him. While that had been a workout for me, he looked like it had just been a simple warm-up.

  “I need you to audit the fishery. They haven’t been producing many fish in the last week.” He handed me a map. “With the food coming in from nearby settlements slowing down, we need the fish they produce.”

  Nodding, I said, “Ok, I can go see what is going on. Is Gordon still out with the newbies on their first hunt?”

  “You are still a newbie yourself.” He chuckled. “I don’t think you have even had your first hunt.”

  I stopped, thinking back over my entire time here. He was right, of course. “I should probably fix that.”

  “The first hunt is only to force the human and the beast to work together. To get used to each other, maybe even build some trust. With how much you and your wolf trust each other, I doubt you need to go on a hunt. But if you insist, I can get you in on one of the next trading convoys.”

  “Sure, but why a convoy?” I started for the door. Dropping the towel off in a hamper on my way. Even though the thing was cleaned daily, it still reeked of sweat.

  “It will give you experience in how to defend a group and introduce you to a couple of our contacts in a couple of places.” Out in the hall, we separated. He went for his office while I walked out a side door and into the sun. While the building had a view of the lake, it was nowhere near the fishery.

  The buildings nearest to this one were the medical center, the main storage building, and the armory. All of which were heavily guarded at all times. All of the guards nodded to me in way of greeting as I passed. As soon as I left the cluster of buildings, the street became livelier.

  Kids of all sorts ran up and down the road and through parks. Some looked human, not a single trace of beast on them. Most, however, had traces of their beast on them. Parents watched over all of them, not freaking out when a pair ran right into me. Both had been looking over their shoulders at their playmate.

  Hurriedly backing up, the two looked worried until they saw who it was they had run into. Bowing at the waist, they both said, “Sorry, Beta.” Before running off. I just smiled at their backs. Seeing how they reacted to me now made me happy. The first few times people had bumped into me, their faces had turned ashen. Apparently, they thought I would attack them for having the audacity of approaching. That fear had taken me quite a bit of work to fix, but even now, I saw it randomly crop up.

  Reaching the docks, I asked around for the person in charge. After being led in what felt like circles, I reached an office. Through the door, I heard a man yelling, “God damn it! Do you have any fucking clue what you lug-heads have done?” Knocking on the door, I waited. “Who the fuck is it! Do you want to clean the side of the…”

  His voice cut off as soon as he opened the door. He was a bit short. Probably only five feet. “Is this a good time?” I asked.

  “Beta,” He stammered. “For you, always. Come in, come in. What can we do for you?” Opening the door, he gestured me in.

  “Paul sent me to inquire about the number of fish.” As soon as I said it, I could tell there was a problem. His heartbeat started to race, and he started to fidget. “Out with it.”

  “We seemed to have, ahhh, overfished the lake.” He said, his eyes flitting around the room. Refusing to meet my gaze.

  “What does that mean?” I asked. While I could make an educated guess, I wouldn’t. Not when he could, and would, tell me.

  “We were told to fish as much as we could to keep our food stores at capacity.” Said a guy I hadn’t noticed when I came in. Standing next to the window, he leaned against the wall as he watched me. He was tall and looked as thin as a toothpick. “Problem is no one thought about the consequences of doing so for a long period of time.”

  “The problem is that the fish population is now scarce. Scarce enough that they may not be able to repopulate in any reasonable amount of time, if ever.” The short guy said. With a sigh, he closed the door and leaned against it. “To sum it up, we need to stop fishing altogether and leave nature to do its job.”

  “For how long?”

  “None of us know. It may be a year; it may be a decade or more. There is no way to tell. Before the illness, we could have just ordered a bunch of fish to restock the lake. Now though, we don’t have that option.”

  Rubbing my temples at the sheer shortsightedness of the group, I groaned. “Paul is not going to like this. Do you happen to know who gave the order to fish so much?”

  “That’s just it. No one can trace where the order came from. The paperwork goes all over the place only to loop back on itself.” Said the tall guy. “What gets me is that no one bothered to question it. It was like everyone just forgot about husbandry and resource management.”

  “I guess I will go let Paul know. He will likely need to speak to the both of you later as well as figure out where we can get enough food to sustain us now that fish is off the table.” A headache had started just behind my eyes. I was not looking forward to telling him about this.