Chapter 56

          Chapter fifty-six— Training for War

“Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up!” Nikki’s voice loomed over me, sounding completely freaked and exasperated. “We’re late! Wolf is pissed at us and we woke up late. Get up now!”

I groaned, and jumped as Nikki through a pair of clothes with metal stitched into them upon my body, sending cold chills when the metal touched my bare skin. I threw it off me and opened my eyes, squinting through the light shining through the cracks of the roof.

Seeing how bright the light was, my eyes widened in shock and I jumped out of bed, brushing off the dust that had covered me. “Crap. How much time do we have?”

“Fifteen minutes.” Nikki screeched through the brush in her mouth, almost foaming the hurried brushing of the toothpaste. She was already dressed with maroon and black plating on the knees, elbows, and chest areas. Basically, it was a short, tight dress with long sleeves and leggings underneath that matched rather perfectly with the whole outfit itself.

I picked up the clothes she had thrown at me, and saw that they were pitch black. Black armored shirt, with tight black pants and combat boots. I clumsily put them on as I brushed my hair with one hand, swearing when I pulled my hair too hard. Nikki handed me a spare toothbrush and I began to brush my teeth, packing things in my satchel that I might need later.

“Mary- now!” Nikki grabbed my wrist, and I managed to swing the satchel over myself as Nikki forced my down the stairs, causing dust to rain upon us.

Five people were waiting near the front door, while Ellie’s parents were in the kitchen. Our sisters were waiting rather patiently, but looked rather nervous. Wolf was standing stiffly, closest to the door, looking like the world was in chaos.

Gee, it’s just a little late, isn’t it?

“Why were you late?” Wolf’s voice sounded brittle, and absolutely agitated.

“Hell, who pissed in your cheerios this morning?” I grumbled, shifting my satchel awkwardly. “We’re only five minutes late.”

“That’s five minutes off of learning to survive, if you must know.” Wolf replied. “What a disturbing reputation you’ve already gained for being late for the first day of training. Think of how hard people are working to get you to survive, and you’re late without care.”

“Well, we can’t be killed by a mortal blow- and I can’t be killed by magic. So there you have it, five minutes lost doesn’t really matter to me.”

“It does when Malistaire is powerful enough to create such an object that will be capable of killing you, doesn’t it?” Wolf answered quickly. “And I suppose there already is one, am I right? I’ve heard you’ve died before.”

I took a quick breath, feeling irritated. Lina, Ellie’s mother, poked her head out from the kitchen. “If you want to kill each other, don’t do it in here. I just cleaned.”

I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. “Let’s go, before one of us explodes from overreacting.” I pushed past the others, and walked outside, feeling a humid breeze of hot air reach my face.

Abby walked up to me and whispered in my ear as Wolf began to hand us parchment. “I thought you were the one who said no fighting.”

I glanced at Wolf. “I hate being treated like an ignorant child, that’s all.”

Abby sighed and took the parchment Wolf gave us, and I received mine quietly. Upon the parchment was writing in perfect ink, a schedule. 

“This is all of your schedules. No, you will not all have the same classes at the same times. Yes, there really is thirteen hours. On the back of the parchment is a map, of which you will be able to find these classes. If you need any help, call me. However, I will be teaching my classes, Umbrata Venustus, from four to seven.” Wolf turned to me. “Oh, and Mary, your little pet is here for you.”

“My what?” I heard a squawking sound, and looked up. Xena, larger than I had seen her before, was flying over us, her little wings flapping ecstatically. “Holy crap. I forgot about Xena! I thought she left or something.” I held my arm out as she sat upon it, claws digging into my skin. Xena nibbled at my hair and I petted her head softly, gazing upon her. I’ve never really thought of her as a pet, but just a temporary friend- she seemed to disappear and come back at the most random times.

“Very cute.” Wolf spoke sarcastically, eyeing the dragon warily. “Now get to class before you get killed.”

“Thanks, Mr. Optimistic.” Abby did a little wave at Wolf, and he turned his heels and walked away, doing his little strut.

“Could he be anymore serious?” Nikki raised her eyebrow, watching Wolf walk away. “I know there’s a war going on, but that doesn’t mean it always has to feel gloomy.”

“Well, remember this- his father is dead.”

“Mary lost mother and her sister, and yet, she isn’t this grumpy…” Ellie looked at me. “Are you?”

“No…” I swallowed, glancing at my schedule. “I mean, I was depressed at first, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. However, as of now, I’ve been better. But I’ve also had you guys to comfort me, while Wolf possibly may have been alone…”

“It’s tough to go through something so painful alone.” Abby whispered. “If I didn’t have you guys, Caspian’s death would have taken a larger toll on me than it already has…”

“Alright, guys, stop being so broody. We don’t want to feel like Wolf, with his mind darkened and depressed state.” Nikki smirked. “Let’s just try to be as skilled as he is, because evidently he knows a lot. Since he’s a teacher, I’m guessing we’re going to be taught by him.”

Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.

“Just imagine,” Abby grinned, walking forward. “Pretending to be Wolf.”

 “Okay, this is it,” Sophia winked and put her hands on her hips, attempting to act like him. “Time to show 'em your man walk. Shoulders back, chest high, feet apart, head up, and... Strut!”

We burst out laughing as Sophia strutted forward, looking superior and impressive. I coughed, and calmed myself. “You guys, we need to get to class. We shouldn’t be this…” I looked at Sophia and contained my smile. “Ridiculous. Let’s get our schedules in order and go to class. It’s the best we could do.”

We silenced ourselves and actually decided to be responsible. Looking at the back of my schedule, there was indeed, a map. It looked complicated and overlapped, but if other students could understand it, then I suppose we could.

The front of my schedule held my classes. Thirteen. They were all one hour, starting from seven in the morning and ending at eight at night.

Mary Ravengem

Balance- 7:00 AM

Life- 8:00

Myth- 9:00

Death- 10:00

Fire- 11:00

Ice- 12:00 PM

Storm- 1:00

Swords- 2:00

Archery- 3:00

Horseback Riding- 4:00

Umbrata Venustus- 5:00

Astrology- 6:00

Defense- 7:00

     Nikki was looking over my shoulder and she smiled. “We have Myth, Astrology, and some class called Umbrata Venustus together. That’s three periods.” Her smile faded. “Aww man, that’s only three out of thirteen.”

“Relax, we have other classes with each other, I bet.” Ellie assured us, as we exchanged our schedules. “We seem to have all of our main classes as first period.”

“I noticed that.” Bell squinted at her schedule. “I have balance first, along with Mary.”

“You’re balance?”

Bell looked up, startled. “Yeah. I guess I forgot to tell you that…”

I shrugged. “If we spend another five minutes out here, we’re going to be late. I’m leaving.”

“I’ll follow, because we have first period together.” Bell linked arms with me, and turned her head to the others. “Sorry guys! Bye!”

We departed, and I became more anxious when I saw that there were less and less people on the campus. What if everybody was in class? What if we walked into a class of hundreds of people late and became the Dragonspyre Academy laughing stock?

At least I had Bell with me. Some others had first periods alone, and had to find their class solo. Ellie was the lucky one, however, because she knew her way around.

“I think we have to go this way.” I pointed to a part of the map, which showed passages of tunnels and corridors. “Up the right one- see this- and under whatever that is, probably an arch or something. Do they show doorways on maps?”

“I don’t know,” Bell answered, sounding uneasy. “But if you look around, there are some creepy-ass dudes around here. I just want to get to class.”

I glanced around the premises, and saw that there were two men, smoking cigars, staring right at us. They had a kind of mean, disturbing look in their eyes that made me grab Bell’s arm tightly, and we hurried forward into the tunnel of which I pointed out. “Rapists, much?” I whispered when we were out of sight.

“Well, what do you expect? We’re angels. We’re supposed to be gorgeous.”

“It’s like men can’t be mature for once. Are all males in the world hopeless?”

“Oh please,” Bell snickered. “We just attract the worst. However, if a guy ever jokes around and tells you to suck his popsicle, I’d just write him a very strong-worded letter.”

I blinked, turning left. “You got to be kidding me, right?”

“Nope,” Bell grinned, charging forward. “It’d go like this: ‘Dear Perverts, I don't suck on popsicles, I viciously bite them… Sincerely, how's that for a mental image.’”

“By the Fates, Bell.”

“What? It’s true!”

I stared at her strangely, and then looked back at a huge door that loomed over us. “No, not what you just said- but gross, Bell, gross- I’m talking about this.” I pointed at the entrance. “I think we’re here. It took a good fifteen minutes, but I believe we got here on time.”

“I am so happy. I thought we’d all be teacher food, like they were piranhas.”

“Teacher’s are not fish, Bell. They’re people. Most of them are, anyways.” I remembered Professor Wu, the cow who had taught me life magic in Ravenwood in my younger years. Bell looked at me weirdly, but shrugged and opened the doors, as we shuffled inside with our things.

We stopped suddenly, however, when we saw what was inside. There were about two hundred to five hundred people in the room, of all diversity and differences. Many were seated upon desks, or floors, or crowded around the podium and blackboard of which a professor may speak and teach from. It was like a coliseum, large and intense and a little frightening. “My oh my…” Bell’s face was in awe, as we exchanged glances and nodded. “Where are we going to sit?”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” I murmured, gazing around our new classroom. “How are we going to learn anything, or even ask basic questions with hundreds of other people trying to compete with us for attention from the teacher? With this many people, the teacher couldn’t possibly assign papers to people, either. Too much stuff to grade!”

“Just be lucky that we made it in here, Mary.” Bell whispered. “A lot of people didn’t get this chance. Now, let’s see if we can find a seat or two…”

“There!” I spotted two chairs, very far away. “Go! Run! Before somebody takes it!”

“Does it really have to be a race?” Bell asked, sounding irritated. “I don’t like running.”

“Unless you don’t want to sit by me and sit by some weird people you don’t know, I suggest you hurry your butt up and run with me.” I shuffled through the crowd, slightly pushing and many ‘excuse me’s’. Luckily, I managed to get to the seats first before anybody else, and we sat down in relief. However, unfortunately, it wasn’t a very good view of the teacher.

“Well, at least we can hear him?” Bell shrugged, sounding optimistic, also fixing her platinum hair. “I mean, we can’t see anything, but I don’t take it as a bad thing…”

I rolled my eyes and took out my notebook. My eyes widened, suddenly realizing something, and I felt my hand go up to my amulet. “Oh no.”

“What?”

I looked at Bell. “I… Don’t have a wand.”

Bell raised her eyebrow. “What kind of witch doesn’t have a wand?”

“I stopped using a wand when I realized I could use my sword…” I sighed, and took out my quill and ink. “At least we are out of view, so the teacher can’t get angry at us. I don’t know what I will do for the rest of the day, though.”

“Why don’t you use your sword?” Bell asked quietly. “There’s no violation against it.”

“Yes, but look around, Bell.” I insisted dreadfully. “Nobody has their swords out unless they wish to really fight. Wands are for magic purposes, swords are for war. A classroom is not war, Bell.”

“Yes, but we are training for war?”

I leaned back in my seat as the teacher walked out onto the stage. The teacher was a tall, blonde guy with a white long coat on and glasses. His voice was magnified for everybody to hear him, but Bell and I could barely see him, unless he got very close to the front of the stage, or to the far left of it.

“The Magic of Balance is harmony and finding equality in all things. It draws on elements from each of the other schools, incorporating bits and pieces of those other energies to fill in the spaces between the Schools. Wizards who focus on Balance Magic, known as Sorcerers, are broad-minded. In their minds, all things deserve consideration, and there may be many answers to a single question. The drawback to this point of view is a tendency to seem impassive or indecisive and never willing to embrace a side or position. Sorcerers use Transmutation to blend the forces of the other schools for their spells.”

“Geez, will he talk any slower?” Bell grumbled as we scribbled into our notebooks.

“Lets just get through the day, okay?” I did a quick smile, and continued writing.

“Sorcery does not draw upon internal aspects of the caster, nor does it rely on external forces. Instead, it is the creation of something new by combining elements in unique and powerful ways.”

I looked at Bell awkwardly. “Do you understand a thing he’s saying?”

“No… Well, a little.”

“The Art of Balance in Magic is harmony, finding equality in all things. It draws on elements from each of the four schools, incorporating bits and pieces of those energies to achieve greater power. Imagine building a fire, then fanning the flames to make it hotter, and then using the fire to create steam to drive an engine. This is similar to how a Sorcerer or Sorceress uses their skills to harness other schools. Learning Balance takes longer, but its power compared to the other schools is immeasurable. Balance is also called Equilibrium in Wysterian language, which is almost ironic, because Balance also means equality.” A few students chuckled at this, while Bell and I exchanged glances and shrugged, wondering if that was supposed to be funny.

Wysterian language? I suddenly felt as if everybody around us were intensely advanced and that we were the new students who didn’t understand anything. What the hell is Wysterian language? Harnessing other schools? See, I understand Balance spells, but the way this professor explained it was rather… Complex.

The rest of the hour droned on like this, and it was much different than I imagined. Honestly, I thought training would be fast-paced and harsh, not sitting in a chair, listening to a teacher talk about Balance like a college professor explaining geography.

Bell and I had figured out that we actually had quite a few periods together after comparing our schedules. Perhaps it was because we were both Balance students.

We had first, second, third, fourth, tenth, and eleventh periods together. Six out of thirteen, which was almost half the day. Unfortunately, we weren’t really given a lunch break. It was said that after training, however, food would be brought to the dorms or housing of the people who attended Dragonspyre Academy. There weren’t many resources out here, but they tried. Dragonspyre had apparently been getting a lot of food and supplies from Mooshu and Wizard City, but since Mooshu has been attacked and more dark forces have been stirring in Wizard City, it honestly wasn’t safe to send things back and forth anymore.

I learned all this after the big history lesson of Balance, when the students were allowed to ask questions.

Bell and I managed to find the Life classroom, which was very much like the Balance classroom. The same size of room, the same amount of people, and even the same architecture. There was no sign that the classroom itself was based off of life, because there were no plants or greenery. It was only the map and the plaque of a leaf on the door that let us know that this was a classroom of Life.

The Life teacher was a black man with dreadlocks. He wore a dark green suit, and stood at the stage quietly as the students shuffled inside. Bell and I couldn’t find a desk this time, but we found a place on the floor. This time, however, the teacher was in good sight of us, which made Bell uncomfortable.

“Life is spirit, the force of awareness and existence. It is about constant growth and movement. Practitioners of Life Magic, known as Theurgists, are positive, cheerful, enthusiastic people who seek to appreciate the simple pleasures in living. At times, however, they can be too flighty or frivolous when circumstances demand otherwise. Theurgists use Songs to breathe life and spirit into a vessel. Unlike other magic, which relies on summoning, coercing or beseeching, Life Magic harnesses the power of the Song of Creation to create something new. Scholars believe that the inner Theurgist channels the tapestry of music from which the Spiral was created, and that in echoing portions of the great symphony, a Wizard can bring forth and create Life where none previously existed.” Bell and I scrambled to get this all written down, but I could only manage to get half of it down. The professor, thankfully, spoke a bit slower than the last one. His voice was deep and echoing.

“Life Magic rests between Fire and Storms, for the spark of Life comes from those two forces. The Life School will train its student wizards to heal themselves and others. Some people claim that Life magic came from powerful wizards called Clerics, who were healers of the great Merlin.”

The professor had assigned us to practice healing each other. He explained that he will not be able to hand out any assignments because of the amount of people, but if you didn’t practice, you wouldn’t become good at what you’re learning and you will both fail and possibly die.

Bell and I had Myth class next. I remember Nikki saying that she had Myth with me as well, but I couldn’t recall anybody else having it. I hadn’t seen many other schedules, though. I pointed this out to Bell and she seemed more eager to find Myth. I was eager as well, because the more people we knew, the better.

The Myth classroom was in a tower, of which we met up with Nikki walking up the long flight of stairs. It turned out that nobody else had Myth class but Nikki and Bell. I swallowed as we sat down on the ground, suddenly realizing that this will be the first class I ever had that wasn’t Life or Balance. Besides learning Latin and such, but that was totally different.

At least it was taught by somebody I knew- Professor Drake. My uncle, but I never really thought of him that way. Actually, it was utterly strange to think of him as family at all. I barely knew the man. He was, however, a brother of my father and therefore that intrigued me.

He was still the cold, stone-hearted self with his baldness and stiffness that I knew so long, but this time, he was teaching a mass classroom of hundreds of students in a totally different environment. I almost felt bad for him, as he rambled on about mythology.

“Myth is story telling. The power of the mind, and everything it can create, drives Myth Magic. It is illusion and dreams made real. If the Wizard can conceive it, it can be brought forth and even brought to life. Beware, though, for when imagination becomes too fanciful and whimsical, dreams can escape control and run wild. Wizards of the Myth School, known as Conjurers, use Naming to summon beasts of legend by memorizing and calling out their True Name.”

I glanced at Nikki, and saw that she was writing nothing down. I was going to say something, but then I remembered that she couldn’t forget anything. She was memorizing every word of this teaching, which made me extremely jealous, because my hand was cramping up.

“Ms. Sandstone, will you tell me where Myth lies in our schools of Nature, the basic schools of Ravenwood?” Cyrus asked Bell, who’s eyes widened and she suddenly froze. I saw her swallow.

“Myth dwells between Fire and Ice, for that is where the shadows lie, and Myths are the shadowy forms of thoughts made real.”

“Very good, Ms. Sandstone.” He continued on, waving his hands around periodically, while Bell slumped into her chair in relief.

“Good job, Bell.” I smiled. “You just faced your worst fear.”

“Shut up.”

“Now, you must know that Mythical creatures may be real,” Professor Drake spoke louder than usual, catching our attention. “The Minotaur, Vampires, Werewolves, the Oracle…”

At the mention of the Oracle, people seemed to move forward and became suddenly very interested. Nikki and I exchanged glances, as I wondered if she remembered anything about an ‘Oracle’. Nikki shook her head.

What was it, then?

“Ah, I see the Oracle sparks your interest, eh?” Professor Drake did a creepy smile- although all his smiles are probably thought of as creepy. “The Oracle, my students, is like a crystal ball. She was a woman, daughter of a dragon and a human, chosen by the Fates. And no, I will not answer how she managed to be born from a human who had interacted with a dragon.” Some students sat back into their seats, disappointed. I raised my eyebrow, wondering how something like a dragon and a human could even have… Intersected? Was that the right word for it?

“The Oracle was chosen by the Fates to have very special powers. The powers made her see into the past, present, and future. At this day, she is three hundred and seventy-two years old. She has the body of a forty year old, however. At the moment, she resides in the Temple of Eons on the very top of Dragonspyre Academy, heavily guarded and protected. What I am trying to get at, however, is that magical creatures do exist-”

Nikki grabbed our hands, her eyes wide. I looked at her weirdly. “What?”

“Don’t you know what he’s saying?” Nikki’s eyes moved from mine to Bell’s frantically. “This is important!’

“The Oracle?”

“No, Bell. I’m talking about Cyrus’s lack of hair.” Nikki replied sarcastically. “If we could get to the Oracle, she could tell us about the war. She could tell us stuff we need to know!”

I frowned. “I don’t know… She’s heavily guarded.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Nikki smiled. “This could be a huge advantage, to know whats in the future. We’ll talk to the Headmaster about it, Professor Drake, and maybe even Wolf. Anybody who can help us.”

“Alright. I’m in.” Bell did a thumbs up and continued to write notes in her notebook. I nodded to Nikki and did the same.

“We’ll talk to him tonight.” Nikki whispered, watching Cyrus. She checked her watch on her wrist. “It’s almost ten o’clock, which will be fourth period. When we have the chance, after all the training, we will talk to the Headmaster.”

“Do we tell the others?”

“No. The more people there are, the more nervous they will be when taking us to her.”

“Alright.” I continued writing.

After third period, Nikki left to go to her Storm class as Bell and I made our way to Death class. This was going to be our last period together- then fifth period, sixth, and maybe even more periods would be just me being alone. Finding classes solo was what I was scared of- being late was the last thing I wanted to happen. Well, besides a random attack from my father, of course.

Death class was in the dungeons, which was quite a trek from a very high tower to down underground. We managed to get there on time, but in a sweat. We had seated ourselves in the way back, because everywhere else was taken.

The professor was a gothic looking woman, with a long black dress and massive, curly black hair. Her lips were black, her eyes were black, and her skin was a pasty white. She held a kind of beauty within her, however, that made everything seem alright. She spoke slow, smoothly, and gentle. Her voice was magnified like the other professors, so we could hear her. I almost wanted to fall asleep to her voice.

Death School trains its student wizards to steal, support and survive. Death Wizards belong to an advanced school, simply because most of their spells take multiple step combinations to use effectively.

“Death students are mainly known for either their intelligence and courage, or their bad reputation. Given the fact that the two main antagonists are of the death school, they have to live under the shadow of the fact that they can become evil at any moment…” I wrote this down, but I couldn’t help thinking of my father as I was in this class. There was a mysterious aura of him in here, as if he never left teaching. It wasn’t this classroom he taught in, of course, because that building was lost long ago. It was just the fact that he was a teacher, and I was learning his element.

“Death spells aren’t the strongest, but some have the ability to absorb health from the enemy, which serves as a way for them to heal themselves. They have many preparatory spells that allow them to build up damaging spells.”

She then demonstrated some summoning of undead animals, which were rather foul, and then taking its energy and killing it again. She demonstrated some other models of Death, and explained about creatures related to Death.

“In the end, Death is about ending and closure. All things pass eventually, and time cannot be held back forever. Wizards devoted to Death Magic, known as Necromancers, understand this limitation and strive to face it unafraid. They try to make the most of their time, but after a while, Death wizards can become morbid. Some have been believed to try cheating death through undeath if they wanted to, but this has yet to be proven. Necromancers draw on the power of courage to channel their own fears out of themselves and at their adversaries. In the wizard world, Death stands between Ice and Storm, for the cold energy of undeath draws on those two forces.”

The clock struck eleven and Bell and I said our goodbyes and wished ourselves good luck. I took my schedule, and made my way to the Fire classroom. It was through a few tunnels and under a couple bridges and a flight of stairs when I finally found it. I actually was able to find a desk, and seated myself as other students shuffled inside. The professor was a black haired man, with dark red robes and an after-shave.

 I took out my notebook and began to write, as usual. The man talked about Dragons and the history of Fire, the basics with a little more details. Nothing new, really, with all the reading I’ve been doing.

“Fire is passion, the bright, burning flame of raw emotion sweeping over everything. Those who follow the School of Fire, known as Pyromancers, are tempestuous, quick to anger, and consumed by whatever drives them at that moment. They tend to walk a fine line, having great passion and enthusiasm for one’s loves in life is good, but watch out! Passion can burn you up and consume you, leaving nothing but a charred husk of your former self. Pyromancers use Incantations to dominate and convince Fire creatures to do their bidding.”

“The magic of Fire traces its origins back to the fierce Fire Dragons, one of the races of Titans that ruled the land in the Days Before.” Being in Fire class vaguely reminded me of Richard, who I hadn’t thought of in a long time. I wondered how he was doing, or if he was even still alive.

Fire class went by quickly, fortunately for me. I only had two more periods of Ravenwood classes left, and then the hard stuff comes in.

I had Ice class after Fire, which mainly talked about persistence, slow but steady progression and advancement, like the great glaciers forever sliding across the landscape. Apparently, those who embrace the power of Ice, known as Thaumaturges, exhibit great patience and strength, but as a result they sometimes become rigid and inflexible.

Storm was my last nature class. Storm Magic is very effective. It represents that flash of insight, or the spark of inspiration that sends shivers down your spine. It is about the pleasure of catching lightning in a bottle. Wizards that embrace the School of Storm, known as Diviners, are impulsive, creative, educated and independent… Or so the professor told us.

I was hoping to find my sisters for next period, which was not magic for once. It was Swords. Fortunately, I had a sword, and I could fight rather well with it. I remembered fighting Juan, and even though I died, (because of a deadly knife!) he was an expert swordsman and I almost beat him.

It’s so strange to think that I died, and that I’m now immune to magic because of it- if only I could give that gift to everybody.

Unfortunately, when I got to the classroom of Swords (which looked very much alike to a tennis court), I recognized nobody. The teacher looked like a pompous artist, with his brown hair pulled back tight into a ponytail and his eyes all squinty and judgmental. He seemed rather impressed with my sword, but not impressed with my moves. He paid little attention to me, anyhow, because of the amount of students also there, which irritated me.

He taught us how to swing, sidestep, and to never get tired moving your arms. Proper position was key. 

Archery, my next period, was right next to Swords. I was relieved when I found Sophia there, although she looked more happy about Archery than anybody in the room. And there were hundreds of people.

The professor, a short, stout woman taught us perfect posture for shooting an arrow. Hand near your eye, fingers placed, elbow all the way back… And shoot. I got a few good shots, but looked like a total failure when Sophia was getting perfect shots in a matter of a few seconds.  She was the Angel of the Hunt, after all, and her favorite weapon was a bow and arrow.

I even saw a few people admiring her, including a rather handsome boy who could shoot very well. She didn’t notice him, however. I smiled, as I shot some more arrows. If somebody ever meets the man who could take advantage of Sophia, they’ll have to let me know. I’d like to shake his hand. Or run away from him very fast before Sophia comes with a knife. I’m not sure which.

I had horseback riding next. It was only four o’clock in the afternoon, and I was both exhausted and hungry. I made my way to the stables, made out of stone, and had met Ellie and Bell walking up to the barn. It was kind of a gloomy place, with all stone and little wood, and not even a forest or grass. We were not learning to ride a horse like a pony, though. We were going to learn how to fight on one. I was honestly a bit nervous, for I’ve never really ridden a horse before.

This class had less people in it- around a hundred and fifty to two hundred people. Perhaps it was because there weren’t enough horses for five hundred people.

Today, we were given a horse each, of which we would groom, saddle, and attempt to get on the horse. The hour went pretty fast, and it was a lot difficult than I thought. We weren’t given a clue on how to saddle a horse, but I think I did it pretty well. I was given a black horse, a male- it was stubborn and didn’t seem to like being saddled, but at least it was a strong horse. Bell got a pinto horse and Ellie was given a very tall brown horse, which made her tower over us- especially Bell, with her short height.

Grooming the horse was quite nice, actually. It was calming and gentle, and peaceful. The period went by fast, unfortunately, and we were off to our next period- the mysterious Umbrata Venustus class. We didn’t know what that meant, nor what we would experience.

“We all have the same class together at the same time- five o’clock.” Ellie explained, pointing at her schedule. “I realized that when I was talking to Sophia and Abby earlier. I think it’s the class Wolf is teaching, but I honestly don’t remember. I never listen to a word he says, I swear.”

I swallowed as I walked on. I had forgotten about Wolf teaching us a class. Man, was this going to be awkward. “So nobody knows what its about?”

“I don’t know… I think it might be a new class, much like the others.”

“It’s in the dungeons, near the Death class, see?” Bell pointed at her map.

“Ugh, I hate the dungeons. They’re so creepy.” Ellie complained as we continued to the class. We walked down a corridor and turned left, and then walked down a flight of stairs, into the dungeons. We turned left and trekked a bit more, until we saw a huge, silver door that people who entering.

As we walked in, I froze. There was a huge difference on the amount of people compared to other classes. The normal average was two hundred to five hundred people- this class had about one hundred. It was the same size as any other classroom, but with many mirrors and much darker stone.

I saw Nikki, Sophia, and Abby make their way to us. It must be true that we had this class at the same time… They sat next to us, and I felt a bit better that we were together again.

Fortunately, it seemed as though there were enough desks for everybody. The exact amount, actually, as we sat down next to each other in one of back rows. When the bell rang, I saw that there was not one desk empty or one person who didn’t have one.

Wolf was in the front, in his usual cocky self. However, this time, he was wearing a bit more armor. Black and almost intimidating. He wore a gauntlet on his left hand, which looked like a metal glove at the moment, but I didn’t doubt it that there could be mini knives or something that could stick out of the gauntlet.

“Class.” Wolf made his eyes survey over us, acknowledging everybody in the room silently. “Do you know what the art of Umbrata Venustus is?”

Somebody raised their hand, and Wolf shook his head. “No, you don’t, because it’s never been taught here before, and the Umbrata Venustus are almost extinct.”

That person put down their hand, red-faced.

“Why’d he ask a trick question?” Abby asked, sounding nervous. “I feel bad for that person.”

“He’s Wolf.” I replied simply. I took out my notebook and quill, dipping it in ink.

“To be an Umbrata Venustus, you will be immune to all magical manipulation of the emotion. You will have the ability to see dark elements invisible to others, even when they are trying to be invisible. You will have to know and become familiar with the darkness of this world to fully communicate and understand it.” Wolf paced the room as people watched silently. “This is not an easy class, I assure you. You have all been chosen out of the eight thousand people who attend this Academy to be in this class. There are only about a hundred of you. Do you understand that?”  

I bit my lip. We were in a special class? I exchanged glances with the others, wondering if it was because we were Angels. Who chose us, exactly?

“But just because you’ve been chosen, doesn’t mean that you can master the power of Umbrata Venustus. This is a dangerous, complex kind of magic that people usually cannot handle.” Wolf stopped his pacing and stared us down, making us feel like tiny little insects. “We will have a ritual of some sort, for to master the magic of Umbrata Venustus, you must become one. To become one is to embrace the darkness and to not fight it, to withhold that power that it gives you and use it for good.”

I took a deep breath. Embracing darkness? Angels, like us? I’m sorry, but I’ve been fighting ‘darkness’ my whole life and I can assure everybody in this room that I am not able to embrace it.

“If you do not become one of the Umbrata Venustus, or U.V. for short, and fail in the ritual, then you will not be able to use any of the powers that will very much help you in this war. You will be able to become people’s shadows, to be invisible, and to control and communicate with darker forces to make them on your side. Malistaire, himself, has mastered this act and therefore he can control the dead and unfortunately, many other things.”

Crap. If I fail, I’m doomed.

“I am not teaching you on how to survive, like the other teachers may be doing. I am merely giving you powers that you can either use for good, or for evil.” He smiled wickedly. “Hopefully you’d be using it for good, of course…”

“Creepy much?” Ellie whispered to me. “What if we fail? Embracing darkness, really?”

“Oh, it can’t be that hard.” I lied quietly. “He might be exaggerating…”

“We will be learning about the history of the Umbrata Venustus, of course, but all of you still seem a bit doubtful.” Wolf grinned, looking around. “But here, I’ll demonstrate what you can really do.”

“Uh, whats he doing?”

“Crap.”

“I think he’s a terrorist.”

“Shut up, Bell.”

The room suddenly dimmed, and the temperature got very cold. We could see our own breath, and we looked at each other in remarkable amazement.

Students gasped and covered their mouths, and many moved back in their seats.

Wolf stepped into the shadows of the room, and became completely invisible. It was as if he was a shadow himself, not solid at all. 

“Abby,” I whispered, punching her in the arm for her attention. “Can you see his aura?”

“Ouch,” Abby growled, rubbing her arm. “And no, I’ve been turning my powers off lately. There have been too many people and it hurts my head.”

“Oh…” I wondered what color aura Wolf would have. Probably some dominant color of intensity.

“That,” Wolf came out of the shadows, fully solid. The temperature went up again, and the room’s dimness left. “Was controlling shadows and making myself one. I also was able to control the temperature, if you noticed.”

“So he’s really an Umbrata Venustus…” Sophia whispered in awe. “Maybe we shouldn’t fight with so much.”

“Oh please, like we couldn’t take him.” I did a little smile. “He could try sending a demon at us with his little connection with the dark, but we already have five of those after our heads, so one more wouldn’t make a difference.”

“True…”

Wolf later then talked about the history of the Umbrata Venustus, on how people hunted them down because they were so dangerous and were thought of as evil because of their connection to the dark side. However, the Headmaster thought it was a good idea to bring the class into this school so they could fight against Malistaire, Umbrata Venustus against Umbrata Venustus.

The period ended after an hour, and Ellie and Abby were to have Astrology with me. I never exactly knew much about Astrology, but it out to be interesting, right? It was six o’clock, and the outside world was becoming dimmer and the sun was at its peak of setting. We found the Astronomy tower, and we made ourselves up to the roof where there were too many telescopes to count.

The professor had us sit down and watch her explain things about Astronomy. Soon, I realized that this wasn’t just about charting stars- this was about learning magic from the sky.

“There are three schools that we will learn in this class. Star, Sun, and Moon. You may have not heard about Astral magic, but after this period, you will be studying it constantly.” The professor drew a star on the blackboard. “The Star school is made up of Auras that affect one wizard for a certain amount of time. Auras range from giving you more power when in use, or blocking powerful spells and increasing your accuracy or healing.”

I wrote this down on my notebook, feeling perplexed. I’ve never heard of this kind of magic.

“The Moon school,” The professor drew a moon. “Is all about Polymorphs, or Transformations, that affect a wizard’s appearance, damage within the spells, and health. Polymorphing takes a lot of energy and is rarely used, because once you become a different creature, you don’t have much energy to fight and you become weaker. Its helpful, however, when you’re trying to hide from somebody.”

The professor drew a sun on the blackboard. “The Sun school consists of Enchantments. Enchanting a spell by using a Sun spell can sometimes increase a spell's accuracy or make it more powerful.” The professor walked over to the telescopes. “However, before we understand this difficult magic, we must understand the sky. To know where stars and moons and suns are and to take energy from them. So please, take your notebooks and record any moons or suns that you may see, and try to estimate on how many stars are in the sky. This is basic, but we will be working harder as the year goes on.”

 It was extremely crowded, and we had to take turns using the telescopes. I recorded one sun that was setting, a moon, and a lot of stars. I thought of Earth as I looked at the sun, and I knew that Earth was on the other side of the sun, being circled by it constantly.

Suddenly, I was pushed from the back and my notebook flew out of my hand, ending up getting stepped on by a passerby. “Damn it,” I growled.

“Sorry ‘bout that.” A boy came up from behind me and I jumped, expecting a girl’s voice. “I tripped.”

The boy, tall with bronze hair and light brown eyes, picked up the journal. Out of my irritation, he began to flip through it, looking at what I’ve written down. I shook my head, agitated. “Really, dude? Give it back.”

“It’s fascinating, isn’t it?” The boy gave me back my journal. “I mean, I’ve learned this stuff already, but it never gets old.”

“Yeah, it is.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “Oh, you’re Mary! Wolf’s talked about you. You’re that girl with the attitude. Is Ellie here, too?” The boy looked around curiously.  

“Do you know Wolf?”

The boy laughed. “He’s my best friend.”

I raised my eyebrow. “You are? Whats your name?”

“Austin Swifthorn. Am I to be interrogated?”

“Just a little bit.” I looked over at my sisters. “Hey guys, come over here. I met somebody.”

“Who?” Sophia skipped over to us, followed by the others. “Oh, he’s cute!”

“I know I am.” Austin smiled and I rolled my eyes. I almost wanted to apologize for my sisters having hormone difficulties.

“He’s a friend of Wolf’s.” I told the others, and they smiled at each other mischievously.

Ellie came out of the crowd to join us as well, and when she saw Austin, her face lit up. “Oh hey, Austin! I haven’t seen you in forever.” She gave him a little hug and Austin’s face looked boyishly happy. “Haha, I bet you’re not used being talked to by multiple girls at the same time.”

“No, I usually only talk to Wolf.” Austin flipped his hair back dramatically, and spoke in a deeper, more intense voice. “But I can’t say the girls don’t love me.”

“Pshh.” Ellie smirked. “Good to see you again.”

“You too.”

Nikki checked her watch. “We have about five minutes until this period ends. What class do you guys have next?”

“I have Defense.” I sighed. “I’m already exhausted. Its almost seven, right? I’m starving.”

“Well, we only have one more class.” Ellie encouraged me, and smiled. “I have Defense, too. So does Bell and Abby.”

“Okay.” I turned to Nikki and Sophia. “I’ll see you guys around eight?”

They nodded. “Around eight.”

“Catch you later.” Austin waved and rushed down stairs, trying to make it before the other people.

“We should wait until people clear out.” I decided, looking at the exit. You couldn’t even see it because there were too many people trying to squeeze through.

“I agree.”

When the exit cleared out, we began to walk down the long staircase to the main hall, where we would go find the Defense class.

While walking downstairs, however, Nikki lost her footing. She was ahead and too far away to catch, and I saw her fiery hair whip away from our view, around the corner. I heard her scream and heard a loud yell, “Careful!”

There was a sharp smacking sound of skin against skin.

“Nikki!” I shouted, charging forward with the others. “Are you alright?!”

We turned the corner to see a man holding her by her arm, as if he had grabbed her so she wouldn’t continue falling. She was looking straight into his face, her expression a mix of awe, surprise, and a little fear. She brushed her red hair away from her face, her hand shaking slightly. “T-thank you.”

“Good thing I’m a doctor.” The man smiled at her, and her eyes widened a bit more. “You didn’t get hurt, but if you did…”

We stared at the doctor as he looked up at us, and Bell’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “Holy…”

The man’s face was immensely handsome. No wonder Nikki looked like she couldn’t breathe. He straightened up as Nikki held on to the railing, standing, as if she needed it for support. I glanced at her knees, almost expecting them to be shaking. The doctor was tall with dirty blonde hair, deep blue eyes, dimples, and a tan.

“O-kay…” Ellie was holding back a huge smile. “Nice to meet you, don’t want to be late, let’s go, okay bye.” She stated this very fast, and took Nikki’s arm and dragged her out into the main hall. We followed them.

“Do we agree we talk about this later?” I asked them, smiling.

“Deal.” Sophia nodded. “Let’s go, Nikki.” She took Nikki’s arm as they went off to their next class.

I looked at the map. “The Defense class is close by. I don’t know how much time we have.”

“Uh, Mary…” Ellie gulped, and pointed at the bell just as it rang.

I cursed, and checked my watch just in case.

“Guys, we’re doomed.”

“Is it for the reason I think it is?” Abby groaned.

“Yes. We’re late.”

“Piranha food…” Bell whimpered.