ã€ŠThe Strongest of Them Allã€‹


 The True Beginning

    Hurt. That was all I had ever known. Pain. The product of being hurt. I became immune to it. When they burned me I did not scream. When they kicked me, I did not yell. I knew it would do nothing, so I stopped feeling. It was hard though. My parents, hated me.

    That wasn¡¯t the hard part. Knowing I could do nothing about it was hard. I had to suffer through their beatings. And as much as I tried, I could not prevent myself from not feeling. True I did not scream, but can one not cry in silence. So I did. Not out of pity or some other silly emotion. But out of pain. Pain because I was so weak. Too weak. But I could not change that.

    They named me Malum. My parents that is. They were angels. Beautiful red hair and a bright, shiny halo gleaming over each of their heads. As beautiful as they were, they were also angry. They were angry at everything. Both of them. They were upset they had no magic. No wings. People looked down on them. At least they believed that. And it only made them more angry when I was born.

    White hair. Stark white hair similar to that of an old man¡¯s. Nothing like my parents deep auburn hair, the only signifying fact of their fire angel heritage. Black eyes that gleamed with mischief. That was what they saw when the looked at my coal black eyes dark enough you could not differentiate pupil from iris. Not only was I different looking, but physically I was as well.

    A cripple. That was what the other children called me. I had no left foot. I had to walk on crutches all of the time. I was the cause that would set off a significant thing that would affect my life. My parents would hit me. Burn me. Kick me. Spit on me. Cut me.  And they knew I wouldn''t run away. Rather it was that I couldn¡¯t run away. So they hit me. They took their anger out on me. I eventually found out that if I cried they would not stop, they would only hit me harder.

    I went to school with bruises and cuts and burn marks all over my body. And as I hobbled down the halls, I could feel each one aching and hurting. But I couldn¡¯t stop walking. They would know something was up. The teachers. Not that I wanted to protect my parents. Ut rather they gave me food, water, and a shelter. Something they could not promise if they took me away.

    Like all children, I learned about magic. I thought about what I could do if I had it, but I could not even enter my mind to observe. Normal children could enter their minds until they were twelve to see if they could understand what was there and then they would awaken into being a magician, but I couldn¡¯t even enter my mind.

    The teachers said that I was probably an abnormality that was rare and had no chance that I could use magic.So I was resigned to a rate as a magicless cripple. Luckily i performed well in school. Not that anything they taught was hard. It was very easy for any student to get straight  A¡¯s if they just put in the effort.

    But no matter what I did, nothing changed. When I realized that like my parents, I would probably never be remembered. Nothing I will ever do will make somebody want to know more. I will be ordinary. To me being told, ¡°that¡¯s normal,¡± is like insulting me. I hate being average, normal, just like everybody else. I want to be different. Whether good or bad I will change.

    As I held this thought throughout the years, i began to care for others less and less. If someone cried or was upset, I felt nothing. It was though a void had taken over the spot of my emotions, except for one that is. Pain. I could still feel the burns on my skin. The places the knife had cut. My bones ached from fractures that didn''t heal correctly and the nub of where my left foot should have been was completely mutilated. My parents scratched it and burned it as though they were trying to erase its very presence. So I suffered greatly. But no matter what I knew I couldn''t cry out. If I did, it would be admitting defeat to them and their cruel ways. To give them the pleasure of knowing I was in pain scared me enough.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    If they heard me cry or scream or beg for mercy. They would stop for a moment, look at me, and say with a voice of ice, ¡°to stop us you must kill us,¡± then they would smile their mocking smile and continue even harsher than before.

    One day, when I was 8 years old, it was especially bad. Something happened that they didn¡¯t tell me and they were angry. Not the red face screaming and yelling angry. The cold, calm face angry that showed they were even angrier than usual. They asked me to come over. I knew I had no choice in the matter so I hobbled to their sides.

    This was the event that started it all. It was horrible what they did to me.They tortured me for 3 days straight. 3 days. Not the starve and beat abuse, but the beating. They beat me all over. It hurt so much. I was scared. Scared I would die. Even the void inside me couldn''t absorb all of that fear. The pain only made it worse. And for the first time in 5 years, I screamed.

    Even with my eyes closed, I could feel their smiles beating down on my skin. The smiles that had no remorse only relief and happiness. Then the rain of attacks started. I could feel them beating down on my bare back already laced with scars of previous occasions. The searing pain jolted through my body along with every cut and kick plastered on to my body.

    The pain was nauseating. My head felt ready to explode. The world was disoriented and shapes were being twisted. I thought that it was the end. But it wasn¡¯t.

    There was a searing pain that wracked my body with jolts of fear started from my shoulder blades. It felt like my body was pushing out something. The pain intensified  several times over in the stump of my left leg. It to felt as if my body was growing, pushing something unnatural out. Then as I opened my eyes I realized that flurry of attacks at stopped and I was greeted by a blinding light that forced me to close my eyes as quickly as I had opened them. I slowly blinked my eyes, hoping to adjust my eyes, and luckily, within a few seconds I could see the world around me.

    After my eyes became adjusted I realized that the light was not coming from my surroundings, but from my body. I was radiating this silver light blinding all of those in its presence. Slowly the light began to fade and I saw my parents within a few feet of my own. I tried to get up but it felt like something was weighing down my leg and my back. I could hardly move. And as the light completely disappeared, I saw my parents for what they were, corpses. My mother had only half of her skull and was bleeding profusely from the side still intact. Upon closer observation, it looked like my mother¡¯s skull had been eroded by acid. The blotchy, rough edges of what was left told me so.

    My father was not in a much better position. The entire right side of his body had been eroded away by the acid that affected mother. I also realized that most of the house had been blown away by what ever happened. My guess was that whatever happened to me cased this, but I wasn¡¯t positive. I soon realized that a storm of people were headed this direction with a look of horror on their faces and the authorities followed close behind.

    One of them saw me and rushed over to check on me. The concern on her face told me she too, had no idea what happened.

    ¡°Boy, what is your name?¡± Said she with the frantic voice one would expect.

    And as I was about to tell her my name was Malum, I realized my parents were no longer here and I was no longer theirs. It was my time to take control of myself, therefore I picked a name that made me feel different, one that made me feel as if was my name and my name alone. ¡°Lucifer.¡±

    Then I blacked out.

    Hello guys, author''s note. In Latin malum mean trouble, bad, or evil. Basically his parents named him trouble. if you guys have any suggestions or constructive criticism, please leave it in the suggestions.

 Chapter 2: Myself

    Random Passerby POV

    It was all a very regular day. I went out and got the groceries like I usually did and did everything I would have done on a regular day, but it wasn¡¯t. As I left the bookstore, a blinding light flashed through out the streets. It only lasted for a second but I could still see the area it had come from.

    It was from Ruby and Toby¡¯s house. They were well known around the neighborhood. Well, I guess it wasn''t them that people knew it was their son. Very rarely do we have anyone born with defects. It had been the first in a very long time. Poor thing didn¡¯t have a left foot.  Everyone was very sweet to the boy,  but we were still unsure about how to act around him.

    He was a very polite child, but very rarely did he express emotions on his small, pale face. It made all of us unsure about what annoyed him and what didn¡¯t. Apparently he couldn¡¯t enter his mind and observe to learn magic, at least that was what we thought.

    As soon as the light disappeared I realized the authorities must be alerted about this because a demon may have appeared in Ruby¡¯s house. If we thought that anyone might be related to or may be a demon we must contact the police, Tutus. Tutus was the name of the police squad in our kingdom of Lux. The angel¡¯s land was right in the southern part of the continent. It was relatively small so we built our building up into the skies. Of course they were all reinforced by magic or they would all come tumbling down.

    So as I ran as quickly as I could to the Tutus station, I thought of the possibility that the officers wouldn¡¯t be able to take care of the demon or whatever it is. What if it was too strong and it began to kill and eat all of us. I could only keep on running to the station to alert of them of the happening.

    I quickly alerted them and they then followed me to the house. It was completely demolished and what I thought was Ruby and Toby¡¯s shadows in the blinding light turned out to be their corpses. I looked around to see if I could find the boy, and I then turned my head to see a small young child with no shirt to be lying on the ground. I ran over to him and asked him his name. Apparently it was a good way to tell someone¡¯ s mental status. To make sure they knew who they were.

    ¡°Lucifer.¡± That was his answer. I was about to ask him another question, but as soon as he answered it, he blacked out.

    I barely even noticed the massive black wings sprouting from his back. Everybody seemed to stare at them for a little while before they realized that ¡°Lucifer¡± needed medical attention. Luckily the Tatus brought a magician with them who could use the magic to support his body. I wondered if the boy knew his parents were dead¡­¡­

    Lucifer POV

    When I woke up and saw the sterile, white room, I guessed that the people who saw me brought me to a hospital. My back ached and leg hurt. Probably from whatever happened yesterday. Or whenever it was. I wasn¡¯t quite sure how long I had been asleep.

    ¡°Doctor, he¡¯s awake.¡± Said a nurse that was standing by my bedside. Strange. I didn¡¯t notice him when I woke up.

    Suddenly the door opened and a woman with a tan face and steel gray hair walked in.

    ¡°So how are you feeling, boy?¡± She said in a thick accent that made it hard to understand her.

    ¡°I¡¯m sore all over.¡± Which was true. All of my joints ached, much worse than anything I had experienced before. ¡°What happened to me?¡±

    ¡°Your parents are dead.¡± The doctor said in a tone that along with her accent only increased the tension in the air. Her steel gray eyes bored into me as if looking for any sign of emotion.

    ¡°I am not surprised.¡± I said quietly in the monotone voice I would use everyday and every occasion. Nothing was special about this. My parents died. No big deal. Then for some reason my face felt moist, I then realized that tears were streaming down my face.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Judging from their injuries, they died quickly. Very little pain.¡± She said in a way, that I suppose, was supposed to comfort me. But I didn¡¯t want them to die quickly. They couldn¡¯t. After all the pain I went through and they just die. No screaming or crying or begging for mercy. They did not deserve to die that way. They needed to suffer.

    I did not believe in God, heaven, hell, basically I¡¯m an atheist. My parents will be greeted with a great void of nothingness and won¡¯t even know they existed because they¡¯re dead. They are no longer anything but a memory. Then I realized why I was crying. I was supposed to be happy my parents were gone, but I felt nothing. My body was subconsciously crying out of the emotions I should¡¯ve felt but didn¡¯t because I could feel them no longer. Maybe I was also crying out of sadness that the people who raised me were gone. It could be either one, but I didn¡¯t know, couldn¡¯t know, because I felt nothing.

    ¡°How did they die? Or better yet, what killed them?¡± I asked calmly in a way that if you didn¡¯t see my face you wouldn''t know I was crying. The doctor¡¯s face tightened as though she were surprised. Surprised, probably, that I asked the question or didn¡¯t know.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°You awakened to magic. It''s our best guess that your awakening caused the explosion and the light.¡± She said and then instantly sealed her mouth and watched for my reaction. Unsurprisingly,she got none from me.

    ¡°You said an explosion, but there was no sound.¡± I said, evidently I only heard the part about ¡°....the explosion and the light.¡±

    ¡°A soundless explosion. It is a common occurrence when children awaken. Although in your case it was larger than usual.¡± She put great emphasis on the words common and usual, as if there was something she were trying to avoid that was unusual.

    ¡°Awaken? I awakened?¡± I asked puzzled. I had some theories about what happened, but awakening was most certainly not on the list. Not to mention the fact that I couldn¡¯t even enter my mind to observe.

    ¡°Yes you did.¡± She hurriedly said as if trying to avoid the topic altogether. The moment she talked about the incident there had always been a hesitation in her voice not previously there. It was as though she was trying to hide something from me that I needed to know.

    ¡°How could I awaken if I could not even enter my mind?¡± If all the other questions were giving her issues, then I can¡¯t wait to see her response to this one. And I was not let down.

    ¡°There is another way you can awaken. It is very brutal though, which is why the Council decided to hide it from the masses.¡± She was now very fidgety and acted as though every little thing scared her. When I moved or breathed she flinched, nervously. The council was the leader of Lux and was composed of five members that ruled the kingdom as though a king would.

    ¡°What other way is there?¡± I said in my normal monotone voice with more authority than usual.

    ¡°Pain. If enough pain is caused the body will forcefully release the magic in it to protect itself.¡± After she said these words she looked as if a great burden was lifted from her shoulders. She was still tense but not as much as before.

    ¡°So enough pain was administered to me that my body forcefully released its magic?¡±it was a rhetorical question but she still answered.

    ¡°Yes, that is what we think. And judging from your scars, you have had more than enough pain.¡± She said.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t I heard about this before? I doubt I am the first child to be abused.¡± It was true. Many children had it much worse for them, yet they didn¡¯t awaken.

    ¡°You are not the first by any means. It is just that the child you do awaken, many of them do not survive the process and, from what we have learned, it is not just pain that causes you to awaken. You need to be aware that you need to protect yourself and have enough mental capacity to go through the change, in addition to pain. The children to not understand why this happened and usually die because their bodies try to forcefully seal the magic. You are the first case in twenty years that did not relapse into an enormous amount of pain after they reawakened.¡± She said with a face that showed signs of fear, most likely because I was still in danger of relapsing.

    ¡°Do I physically change as the other children would have naturally done?¡± I wanted to know if any physical changes occurred because I was lying down and it hurt to move my head.

    ¡°

    Yes you did. You gained a pair of wings,¡± My face remained the same. I was not in the mood to be surprised, but that did explain why my back hurt so much and the ¡°bed¡± I was lying on was so uncomfortable.  My body was hurting all over and I tried to ignore the doctor but the next thing she said caught my attention,¡±and a foot.¡±

    Hopefully it was my left one and I didn¡¯t have a random foot somewhere on my body. I didn¡¯t even try to move it. I was so tired at this point,that the only thing i wished for was a good night¡¯s sleep. ¡°Hopefully it was the left one.¡± She smiled a little when I said that. It made the harsh lines of her elderly face look softer, not that I was going to tell her that.

    ¡°It is indeed your left one. Don¡¯t worry. Is there anything you need?¡± She asked. I¡¯m sure she didn¡¯t want to lose another child to abuse and probably figured I did not have the most comfortable life.

    ¡°Yes. Some sleep would be wonderful.¡± I said, and truthfully that was the only thing I wanted.

    ¡°Then I will leave you to it. Though I should mention that a few people will be coming by to check your species, magic attribute, and purity level. And one other thing, you can call me Dr. Niamh.¡±  Dr. Niamh said as she turned to the door to leave.

    ¡°My name is Lucifer, nice to meet you.¡± And that was the last thing I said before I went into a deep slumber in which my restless mind finally found some peace.

 Chapter 3: Identity

    After waking up from my deep slumber, I realized that their was two people in my room that were not there before. The first one, a woman, was tall, blonde, and lanky. She would be a very plain person if not for her long, pointed ears and greenish skin color. She was also wearing a goofy smile that seemed to give her a warm, friendly feel. Of course that was the way other people perceived her, I saw her as a foolish looking person. She was wearing a black dress suit and had a small sigil on the upper right corner of her jacket which I recognized as the council¡¯s symbol. It was two wings over a rising sun. It was very simple, but almost anybody could tell you what that symbol was. She also had another sigil on her shoulder, two wings. If I recalled correctly, that was how you determined the rank of the council¡¯s workers.

    The second person was a man with black hair and black wings sprouting from his back. He had an ominous look to him and seemed to radiate an aura that said to keep away. He ,too, was wearing a black suit with the council¡¯s sigil on it. He was also a two wing ranked worker, as shown by the small mark on his shoulder.

    ¡°So¡­¡­ Lucifer, was it? Do you know why we are here.¡± The blonde, elven woman said with a smile. Her voice was higher than I imagined it would be, I thought silently to myself.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. Why is an elf part of the Angel¡¯s council?¡± I asked as politely as I could muster. It seemed the people at my school thought I had a condescending voice, so I tried to act polite, after all, you never know who can hurt you. Elves were normally creatures that lived north of the Angelic Kingdom on the continent. Elves that were awakened had long, pointed ears and skin with undertones such as green, blue, and red. They tended to specialize in nature or life magic.

    ¡°I was raised in Lux, so I qualify as a Luxian citizen and could be part of the council. I suppose we should introduce ourselves. I¡¯m Elaine.¡± The woman seemed to ooze happiness every time she spoke, it was sickening. For some reason when others act generous or kind I always have a pit in the hole of my stomach as if their every word is a weight sinking deep into my mind, so I tried to avoid happy, optimistic people much more than I tried to ignore everyone else.

    ¡°Aaron.¡± The winged angel said in turn. It acted as if he was forced to be here and I was just an annoyance that needed to be dealt with quickly.

    Elaine shot him a quick look, as if telling him to be polite and continued on, ¡° We are here to test your element and purification level, after all wing color doesn¡¯t equal element.¡± She now seemed to be treating me like a little kid. That was what the teachers taught us in school, even if the wings or appearance may remind you of an element, that does not mean it is the element to which they belong. Although I¡¯m not quite sure why they taught us that for very few people would ever need that information in the world, after all, magicians are scarce. In fact, I had not thought the council would send magicians to test me, usually when a person awakens they have lower level member of the council test them, I wonder why the two magicians.

    Elaine then reached into the bag at her side and took out a rather large stone. It had opaque coloring and looked very solid for even Elaine, a trained magician, had trouble lifting it. She then flashed a bright smile as she finished putting the large stone on my bed.

    ¡°Now this, Lucifer, is a seer stone. It sees past everything except what we want it to find. I¡¯m going to need you to put your hand of this stone and then Aaron is going to say the necessary things to determine what your element and purification level is. It should only take a few minutes.¡± Elaine seemed dislike Aaron, for every time she mentioned him, she would frown a little and her voice would drop. She then seemed to wave her hand towards me, as if telling me to go, so I reached over and put my hand on the seer stone.

    It was freezing and no matter how long I held my hand on it my hand never adjusted to it. It was as though the stone was sucking up my body''s heat and storing it some place not in the reach of my hands. Soon, enough Aaron began to say words in language I did not recognize. I knew a few languages from reading the books in the library because I had nothing else to do. I could speak some elven, pixie, human, and even a little demon. The language Aaron spoke sounded like a cluster of words to me and it probably didn¡¯t help matters that he spoke them at an unbelievable pace.

    After a little over a minute Aaron stopped speaking and returned to his previous anti-social form and aura. My hand was freezing and felt like it had been sitting in an ice bucket for an hour.

    ¡°Why was the stone so cold?¡± I asked, curious about the tone.

    ¡°Hmmmm. Oh, the seer stone was sucking the energy away to view it. It kept some of the energy but dispersed most of it back into the air. So if your hand feels incredibly cold, don¡¯t worry, it will warm up within a few minutes as the energy returns to it.¡± Elaine said quietly as she looked at the stone as if trying to find something.

    ¡°Hey, Aaron, would you mind saying the final word?¡± This was the first time I saw her without a smile on her face. She seemed angry at him.

    ¡°I already said the word, Elaine. You probably aren¡¯t looking hard enough.¡± Aaron said in an almost mocking tone that most likely meant she had done something like this before.

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°After the stone and speaker finish absorbing the energy you can see it what the stone learned, but only if the final word is spoken. The seeing word, so to speak. Aaron can say the words, but can¡¯t read the results and I can read the results but not say the words, which is why we,¡± Elaine said while pointing her hand towards herself and Aaron, ¡°are partners.Occasionally though, Aaron, being the jerk he is, doesn¡¯t say the final word and makes me look all throughout the stone to find out there is no words on it.¡±

    ¡°Ahh.¡± Elaine exclaimed, ¡°Found them. That¡¯s strange, I can¡¯t read them.¡±

    ¡°What happens in the case that you can''t read them?¡± I asked. I had several ideas of what they might do, but wasn¡¯t entirely sure.

    ¡°We just have to call the elders. I¡¯ll be back in a second.¡± Elaine said as she walked out the rom into, what I assumed, was a hallway. The elders were members of the council that had six wings. They were two levels above Aaron and Elaine. The council always had rankings that were in pairs of two, except when you first signed up. During that time you have one wing until you moved up to the next level. Surprisingly, I heard that many people never make it to rank two, either because they are too weak or their duties are more important to the first wing group.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Soon enough Elaine returned to the room with a puzzled look on her face. I asked her what was wrong but she said everything was fine. She then called Aaron over to a corner where she said a few things to him then turned and faced toward me,

    ¡°Lucifer, luckily the elders were able to decipher the words rather quickly, but the deciphered words made no sense. It said that your attribute: fallen and purification: truth.¡± Elaine said as she had a worried look on her face.

    Magic had two measurable characteristics that were known, the attribute of the magic and the purification of the magic inside your body. The attribute is what your body naturally absorbs from the air and when you awaken, the energy that your body has absorbed naturally becomes usable to you. It is very rare for anybody have more than one attribute.

    The purification of the magic is what helps determine the strength of your magic when being used. The more pure your magic is, the less other attributes are found in it. Purification may help determine how strong your magic is, but it is not the only contributing factor.

    Your magic control is what really determines your true ability level. If a person with a very low purity magic but with a high magic control rate were to fight one with high purification and low control rate, the former would most likely win.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any clue what those words might mean. Thank you for telling me.¡± I acted as if I was crestfallen, but in reality I wasn¡¯t. I lied when I said I didn¡¯t know what those words meant. During my time reading there was a story that stuck out to me, it was about an angel who was God¡¯s right hand man and wished that he could rule the world as God did and wanted to be as close a possible to his God.

    The angel, willing to do anything, spoke to the mortals of the land God ruled and asked them questions and made them believe he was the God they should follow. He wanted to become a God because that was the way that he believed he would get the closest to his God. He made them change by twisting the virtues and made use of them in his own unique way.

    He corrupted this mortal because the virtues he twisted turned into the sins of today. According to that story, sin was made by an angel who twisted the virtues of the world into hateful things. God did not allow this to continue, so he banished the angel to the depths of hell, a place where all of those corrupted by sin and who did not deserve forgiveness would go. They would go to the layer of the man who caused them the pain in the first place. This angel was called the Fallen One or the Fallen Angel, the one who brought sin into the world of the mortals.

    I wondered if my that story had anything to do with my attribute. I have no clue why the purification level of it was truth, though. I¡¯m not quite sure how I¡¯m going to learn magic if I have an attribute no one knows about. While I was lost in my own thoughts, Elaine was lost in hers. There was one final piece of information she had not told Lucifer yet. She needed to be careful how she worded this the next few words would mean nothing.

    ¡°Lucifer, there was one other thing that the elders wished to convey to you,¡± Elaine paused for a moment to take a deep breath, but finally said, ¡°They would like you to go to Drudania Academy.¡±

    Drudania academy was the best magic school in the entire continent of Terra. It was probably one of the better ones in the world in fact. They had the best teachers and students of all different types from everywhere. Of course you had to be a genius to pass their examination and have the required purification of dingy. Dingy does not sound like a very pure word but amongst young magicians it is pretty high up the scale. The scale being dirty, damp, dusk, murky, dingy, brackish, and so on and so forth. You had to a have a large amount of natural talent and the ability to use magic to even get considered for Drudania Academy.Yet they want me, a child who just awakened several days ago to try out for it, it was almost enough to make me laugh.

    ¡°Ms. Elaine, you should know how hard it is to get into the academy and they don¡¯t even know what truth is on the scale, yet the elders want me to try out for the best academy on the continent. Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a stretch?¡± I asked wanting to see how she would handle this.

    ¡°The elders can talk with the academy about the purity level, but you will have to pass the examination on your own. They just want you to go some place where they actually know what to do with you.¡± Elaine replied, happy I didn¡¯t flat out reject the request.

    ¡°When is the next examination?¡± I asked.

    ¡°In several months from now. You should be able to learn a little and get used to your body during that time. So do you think you¡¯ll at least try to get into the academy.¡± Elaine asked quietly hoping the boy would consider it. The elders wanted to keep an eye out on him, but weren¡¯t sure if the strength of his attribute would be dangerous, so they wanted to get him into a place where he could be watched and stopped if things got out of hand.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the examination, Ms.Elaine.¡± I relied and a breath of relief escaped her. I had a feeling that they wanted to watch me, the elders that is. People fear things they don¡¯t know and I was part of the unknown, so why not try. If I get in I would play their game, but of course not by their rules. After all, people are meant to be manipulated.

 Chapter 4: Examination (Part 1)

    Over the past few months Elaine and Aaron have been helping me get accustomed to my new wings and leg. It took me quite a while to walk on it correctly and now I¡¯m beginning to run. It¡¯s strange having an unknown appendage attached to your body. Aaron also began to teach me the basics of flying.

    I had an easy time learning it because it seemed that my wings were different from the traditional ones that were found on angels.  My wings were quite large, reaching their peak at a about a foot higher than my head and touched the ground. The wings came out from beside my shoulder blades and I could feel my muscles in the area hurting from the unknown weight. The feathers were black, but had bits of what seemed to be gold shining through whenever I moved. The feathers were long and were very flexible, but surprisingly they were as sharp as razor blades. They were heavy but I gradually got used to the weight. I can¡¯t fly very high because my magic abilities are not strong enough.

    I wasn''t getting very far in my magic studies, unfortunately. Nobody was quite sure how my attribute worked so they didn¡¯t know how they could help me become more adept in controlling it. They taught me a few possible ways that I could begin to purify my element, but they weren¡¯t really sure how it would work so they told me to go into my mind and try to understand what was in there. They said to become familiar with it to the point where you could identify any part of it at any time.

    The first time I went into my mind, I closed my eyes and imagined myself some place far away from everything I ever knew and when I opened my eyes a sea of bones had surrounded me in every direction. A massive hill a bit farther away had an ominous feel hovering around it, but something was calling me to it. I slowly climbed up this huge pile, a saw a pair of beautiful, golden wings bound by thick, heavy chains. The wings were about as big as the ones attached to my back, but were completely golden and had a holy feel to them but they also had something about them that no matter you wanted to get close to them, you could not move a muscle. The only thing I could do was back away which was hard to do for my feet sunk deeper and deeper into the seemingly endless sea of bones.

    Suddenly a vision appeared in my eyes. No longer was I surrounded by the sea of bones, but rather a battlefield filled with thousands of corpses and above them all was a golden figure with golden wings protruding from its back, the same ones I saw in my mind. This figure was holding a beautiful spear covered in blood from the countless men lying on the ground. The figure, previously back facing towards me, turned towards me but no face could be seen. I then slipped out of consciousness but not before hearing the words, ¡°The truth lies within.¡±

    When I awoke again I was told I had been asleep for two days and no matter how much they tried, Elaine and Aaron couldn¡¯t wake me up. Upon closer observation I realized that a strange, black mark had appeared on my back. It was a rounded mark and against my pale skin it stood out as a lighthouse drawing the attention of those around it.

    I went inside of my mind several more times, but every time I could not move from where I stood and could only see the golden wings from afar. I also gained some small marks on my back connecting to the first one. When this happened I became convinced that all the little marks would add up to be a large one.

    During the time when I was waiting for the examination, I turned 12 years old. I forgot it was my birthday, but, unsurprisingly, Elaine saw my file and knew it was my birthday. She just got me a small cake and said it was for the celebration of living another year. The way I saw it though, was that it is another year closer to my death, which is one of the reasons I never cared for birthdays.

    Elaine also said that the elders contacted Drudania Academy concerning the purity of my magic and they said it was fine to attend, but I needed to pass the exam with even higher requirements than usual. The exam was a series of tests, mental and physical ones, that determined whether you would succeed at the Academy or another place. There was also a written test concerning principles of magic and its history. Of course you not only have to pass the exam, but you also have to convince one of the teachers there that you would do well in the academy. A teacher at most, could give the ¡°seal of approval¡± to 7 new students, but many teachers also decide not to give any seals out, so the amount of new students was incredibly low.

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    In only a few days I would take the examination and I could tell that Elaine and even Aaron were getting nervous. I wasn¡¯t that concerned because, well, I don¡¯t really get concerned about much. I don¡¯t see the need to get worked up about anything, after all, you¡¯re going to do it or you¡¯re not. I do have an issue, I discovered, with anxiety. It seems that whenever I know I am about to feel pain I work myself up and make it much worse than it actually is, it only happens when dealing with pain though. Whenever I am about to do something most people would perceive as stressful, I seem to act just fine and am not anxious about it at all. So, naturally I was not nervous about the examination coming up.

    Several days later¡­¡­..

    It was finally the exam day and it felt like Elaine took care of being nervous for herself and me. She continually asked me questions on my well-being and quizzed me on things they might ask on the written exam. She was being much more annoying than usual.

    Even Aaron, who rarely expressed emotions, seemed to be nervous.His way of being nervous was not nearly as annoying as Elaine¡¯s. He just tapped his fingers as if playing a piano, you could actually see how nervous he was by watching the pace of his fingers. By moving them slowly it indicated that he was slightly nervous or just bored, but by tapping them quickly it indicated that he was in a highly nervous state because he was trying to preoccupy with different actions that would distract him from the real problem.

    ¡°Okay it¡¯s time to go.¡± Elaine said after taking a deep breath and gave me what I would guess to be a comforting smile.

    Aaron and I flapped our wings and began to hover as we waited for Elaine to prepare for flight. During my time with them I found out that Elaine was of the air element and Aaron was of the water element. It seemed that Elaine had more versatile attacks and Aaron¡¯s attacks were more powerful, so with all of their qualities in general, it seemed to me that the council did a very good job in pairing the two of them up together.

    As soon as Elaine was ready, we took off flying towards the examination hall, about 15 minutes away by air.

    It was truly a miraculous experience, flying that is. In the air you could look down and see the towns and villages passing by as you glide through the sky. It was also remarkable to see the size of land that we lived on. From above you could see the boundless expanse that seemed to go on forever in every direction. You could feel the air rushing against your skin as you flew above the countless cities and villages, all containing people who had their own dreams. Shame they would never happen.

    And as I was flying I realized that I was just one small creature on one small continent on one small world. It made me feel so weak, powerless. As though with a single flick of their finger a person could end my life. It made me realize that all of us are weak. We depend on others for everything. We feel the need to socialize and help each other, but at the same time we make each other weak. Even those we call strong depend on others. They would be nothing without everybody and everything. It made me crazy that everything I owned was because of another person. I made me realize how weak I am.

    It also made me realize exactly how much we did not know or rather how little we think we know. To me life is just a race to see who ends up the least ignorant of us all. And in that moment as I saw the boundless expanse I knew I wanted to become the person who realized how all of this happened, why all of his happened. I wanted to win the race, I do not wish to forever be in the dark concerning the knowledge of the universe. Even if just for a second, I want to see the light. The speck of truth behind all the lies we think we understand. I wanted to know the truth, all of it.

    ¡°Lucifer, if we don¡¯t get going we won¡¯t be there on time.¡± Elaine said, bringing me back to the world residing in the dark of knowledge.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get going then.¡± I replied and once again began to fly towards the place, that for better or for worse, would change my life.

 Chapter 5: Examination (Part 2)

    Soon enough we reached the Luxian capital, Rothen. Elaine and Aaron said that it was one of the biggest cities on the continent of Terra, and I could see it held true. As we watched it from above we could see the countless buildings piled on top of one another and we could even see the Calbourne Castle, the headquarters for the council.

    The castle itself was quite menacing with thick, stone walls protecting the outermost layer. Inside the wall was what seemed to be an endless array of hallways and rooms. It seems that nobody knows all of the rooms there and are many secret passages. In the middle of the monstrous building stands a lone tower that looks as if it could crumble with a simple magic attack, but that was not the case. This tower was the meeting place for the council, and at the very top level was the highest level council members of ten wings. It was said that no one could break that tower and the day that it fell would be the day that the kingdom of Lux was defeated.

    The only reason I knew about the city was because Elaine would not stop speaking for a single moment. She spoke of how magnificent everything was and how lucky she was to be raised in such a beautiful place.

    We flew over to the examination hall and I found it quite remarkable. It had massive white pillars supporting the building in the front that had the engraving of a coiling dragon breathing out a breath of burning flames. The building itself was made of a dark brown material that seemed incredibly solid as I touched it. We could see the endless stream of examinees that were waiting in line to get registered, we of course, were no exception.

    I also learned that the place were at, the Kryvirt Hall, was often rented out for different things. Every year Drudania Academy would rent it out along with a few other schools, but because of the amount of money it cost to rent out, it very rarely was occupied.

    We got in line behind a small angel girl with purple wings protruding from her back. I guessed she wasn¡¯t a flying type of angel because her wings did not seem strong enough to lift her up and carry her anywhere. She seemed nervous and was shaking slightly. The girl looked as if she were about ten at the most.

    Not all angels had the ability to fly, even when awakened. The general, unawakened population could really only be identified by the occasional halo residing above their heads. The angels that had awakened usually gained wings but only a few could actually be used. The ones with wings that couldn¡¯t fly were usually due to the wings being too small or too weak.

    ¡°Good luck, Lucifer. We have to go now, but hopefully the next time we meet we will be talking about how you passed the exam.¡± Elaine said before flashing a huge grin and turning away to leave. Aaron followed suit and turned to leave, but to my surprise, he left me with some parting words.

    ¡°Shana kien.¡± Aaron then left the line and walked towards Elaine. Good luck, that was what it meant, but I¡¯m not sure if he intended it to also mean the light¡¯s path. Why would I follow the light¡¯s path? That is where everyone else would go, so I would have to travel a different path. At the time I had not realized how important that thought would be.

    While I was waiting for my turn to sign up, I saw the platforms on which each test would be conducted. On each platform was a building, that from what I heard, contained a small collection of rooms each student would use to be tested in. There was five platforms each with a long line of students surrounding it. The few times I did see the children leave the building most of them had a dejected look on their faces because they knew that failing one meant failing all. Only once or twice did I see any children show happy expressions when leaving the platform.

    The written test was currently being taken by a group of children that signed into the registration papers before me. After they finished taking the test in the main hall area they would go and wait their turn for the platforms while their answers were being judged. Quite a few people stayed to see whether they passed the written exam, they all were probably waiting to see if they should even get in the lines to wait for the platform tests. Luckily the lines to all the places seemed to be moving at a relatively fast rate. Very soon I was at the front of line.

    ¡°Name?¡± Said the woman at the desk while looking down at her papers.

    ¡°Lucifer Udev.¡± I replied quickly. I decided to keep my parents last name because, well, without them I wouldn¡¯t be alive and that I have a truly horrendous naming sense, at least according to Elaine. Even Aaron agreed with her, which happens once in a blue moon.

    ¡°Hmmmm.¡± She said while turning through her papers. ¡°Here you go. Just go wait by the main hall¡¯s door. It should be opening soon?¡± She handed me a card that had a metallic feel to it and contained my name, gender, species, and age. There was also a rectangular box drawn on to the cold piece of metal. I did not know what the box was there for, but I determined that they would probably tell us before we started the written exam.

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    Soon enough the massive doors opened and a flood of students stormed out. After the stampede, I was able to go inside and find an enormous room with tons of small desks and chairs.

    ¡°Examinees, take a seat at one of the desks and then turn your attention towards me¡± Cried a shrill voice that belonged to a small faerie. This faerie was only around three feet tall and had wings the color of blood. Its face was old and weathered, but its voice certainly wasn¡¯t affected. I quickly found a desk with a thin pencil resting on top of it.

    ¡°Turn this direction, children.¡± The old faerie spat at us. ¡°You are about to take the exam to one of the most prestigious magic schools in the continent, and most of you will fail. At the registration desk you all received a card with your information on it. That card will hold all of the results from your tests and determine whether you qualify to move forward. The results from the exam will also be posted outside. This almost completely eliminates the possibility of cheating, so don¡¯t any of you buggers try anything funny. You have 15 minutes to complete this part of the exam. Beginning now!¡± She cried while banging her fist on her desk as if to emphasis the point. Interestingly enough the second she said now the exam papers appeared in front of us.

    There was only five questions, but you had to support your answer with facts previously learned. The first four questions were easy, mostly pertaining to theories of magic and the use of magic over the course of history. But the fifth one was¡­¡­. different.

    5. Explain your views towards good and evil. Provide examples to support your answer.

    This question made me think quite a lot before putting down my answer. I do think this is a very good question to put on the test because by the students response you can determine if their views match up with what the academy is looking for or if they belong elsewhere. My answer was something I truly believed even though others may have different views toward it.

    Answer: I believe that good and evil are terms that have been misused over countless years of misunderstanding what it is to be good and what it is to be evil. We see everything in to colors, white and black, white being good and black being evil. But that is wrong. We must not look at it in such a way that you only see one side of the story and not the truth. The world should be seen in shades of grey. The lighter the shade the better or more good it is, but it still has something evil or bad about it that changes it from pure white to a light gray. The darker the shade is the closer to evil it is but it still has good things that allow it to be gray. Even when you look at it this way it all depends on your views of good and evil. What one may see as good another sees evil and vice versa. People must begin to not only see the cons or pros of ideas or things but they must begin to see both sides to truly understand the entirety of the subject in question.

    I was confident about my answer for it is the truth in the way I see things. If Drudania Academy does not accept my ideals simply because they are too abstract and have no solid form, then the academy is most likely not a fit for me.

    ¡°Put your pencils down.¡± The old faerie shrieked yet again. S soon as the last pencil was laid upon the desk, our exams disappeared. ¡°Now put your card onto the upper right corner of your desks and make sure the rectangle is facing downwards.¡±

    We all waited for a second then a bright flash of light erupted from beneath our cards. It disappeared as quickly as it came and the faerie then told us to pick up our cards and leave. So we all began to storm toward the doors that were beginning to open.

    Most of the people rushed to see their scores on the board outside, only to find out that the small white stand only showed you your scores, so nobody could tell you scored the top position. As I slowly advanced to the front, I saw my ¡°score¡± and wondered if something was wrong for the board said, ¡°Lucifer Udev, please report to the headmaster''s office.¡±

    Not knowing where the headmaster¡¯s office was, I started searching for a teacher and found one wandering around the exam grounds. It was a tall elf that had very dark skin with reddish hues shining through. If I hadn¡¯t saw the long, pointed ears I would have most likely assumed that he was one of the darker humans or perhaps someone of the demon face.

    ¡°May I help you boy?¡± The elf asked with a slight frown on his face as though telling me that I was unwelcome.

    ¡°Could you please tell me where the headmaster¡¯s office is?¡± I asked as politely as I could.  A look of surprise clouded his features for a moment, but he quickly returned to his previous scowl.

    ¡°Go down this hall until you see it split into a fork then take the left fork and continue to the second room on your right. That is the headmaster¡¯s office.¡± He said before turning away and continued walking.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I said before heading to the direction of the headmaster¡¯s office where I did not know what to expect.

 Chapter 6: Examination (Part 3)

    Soon enough I reached the room that was said to be the headmaster¡¯s. It had a large wood door that seemed to have a certain quality that made it draw your eye. I then took my small hand and knocked hard against the massive door.

    ¡°Come in.¡± A voice said from behind the door.

    I then opened the door and walked in to see a small man with curved horns appearing from the crown of his head. He had long silver hair and eyes, a deep brown,  that seemed to possess the liveliness of a young man.

    I was guessing that he was a demon, a race where the awakened form mostly depended on who your ancestors were. The demons lived to the west of us and had much of the continent under control. Most demons that awakened seemed to have the attribute of fire or dark.

    ¡°Ahh, Lucifer was it? I¡¯m happy you managed to find your way down here. You¡¯ll have to forgive the mess for this is only a temporary office.¡± The small man said with a chuckle. I saw what he met by ¡°mess.¡± The room was littered with books and scrolls all over every surface. His desk was filled with what I guessed to be school related documents that seemed to be stacked by the hundreds. It made me curious if he was a procrastinator or  had a ton of work, or both.

    ¡°Excuse me sir, but for what reason did you call me up here?¡± I wasn¡¯t quite sure what to call him so I supposed ¡°sir¡± would suffice.

    ¡°Just call me John. I never bothered with all that formal stuff.¡± He said and moved his hand as if waving off my previous ¡°sir.¡± ¡°I suppose you do want to know why I called you up here. Well it¡¯s because of this.¡± John said as he held up a single sheet of paper which I  recognized as the exam I had just recently taken.

    ¡°My exam, si- John?¡± I asked, catching myself before I said sir.

    ¡°Indeed. You see you had the most curious answer for a child. Less common in adults but still rare nonetheless. Very few children have such ¡­.. advanced views on the subject of good and evil. Most of the children taking the exam but the traditional answer that all the teachers seem to feed their students nowadays. But you spoke of the grays and not just the black and white side of things. Can you tell me why you answered it this way?¡± He asked in a slightly more serious tone than he had been using before. I figured it was a different answer but I still not sure why the headmaster of one of the greatest schools on the continent would want to speak with me.

    ¡°I answered it that way because that was the way I felt on the matter. The world is merely a collection of protagonists and antagonists which perceive good and evil in different ways. There is no solid thing that pertains entirely to good or evil because they are abstract ideas in which everyone has their own interpretation of.¡± I told him quite truthfully. This was my thinking when I put down my answer. Of course I couldn¡¯t write down all the details and ideas that follow what I just said because there would have been countless papers filled with writing describing the thought process.

    ¡°Curious. Very curious indeed. Lucifer what is your interpretation of your magic abilities?¡± John asked. The question most certainly caught me off guard. I did not think that John would be so blunt about it, I figured he would talk and then gradually get to the more personal questions. I needed to be careful about how I answered the question though. I have no doubt that this man had experienced much more than I have and could easily read a person. The lifespans for many creatures is undetermined and they all seem to stop aging at a certain age.

    ¡°The way I see the purification level is that the more truth I understand the better and stronger my magic will be and for my attribute there is to ways to interpret it. One way is to see it as some lost form of an element that has fallen into the shadows of history and the other would be in relation to the religious texts of the Fallen Angel which may pertain to the sins and the twisted of the virtues.¡± I was withholding some information for it is never wise to tell someone all of your secrets, but I gave him the general idea of my thoughts.

    ¡°So you know the story of that angel?¡± John asked as if his curiosity was piqued. Aside from the emotions that a regular being would have, I could detect nothing of what I believed to be his true emotions. It seemed as if he was intentional acting regular as if an attempt to throw me off from his real feelings concerning the matter.

    ¡°Yes I do. It is one of my favorites.¡± I relied.

    ¡°Did you ever think it was strange that nowhere in the entire story the angel¡¯s name was never mentioned?¡± John asked with  strange smile as if he were part of a joke only he knew.

    ¡°Yes, I do. I do believe the story as some truth though. Even if I don¡¯t believe in the creature called God.¡± I told him. The kernel of truth that I found may be truthfully accepted by those who do not believe in God or anything else was that the ¡°virtues¡± can be twisted into ¡°sins¡± and vice versa. I, personally, never really believed in the virtues either.

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    ¡°Hohohoho. I suppose that is true. We seem to have gotten completely off topic although i would like to ask you one more question before we revert back to the original subject that was to be discussed. Why do you think that angel had no name?¡± He asked with eyes that seemed to have a secret agenda. Not necessarily a bad one, but one that, at this point, he had no desire to tell me.

    ¡°I believe that the angel was used to indicate that anyone or anything can twist the ¡°good-heartedness¡± of people in a way that suits himself or herself the best. Even if originally filled with good intentions, those thoughts can become warped and turn into something else entirely. The angel once filled with the ¡°virtues¡± that God, the one he or she admired, put there eventually became filled with ¡°sin¡± and filled others with it. The angel then became fallen in both meanings of the word.¡± The angel was used as an analogy that even the best can turn. I believe it has a good lesson , if you believe it, but the reason why the story spoke to me was entirely different.

    ¡°That is a very unique interpretation of the angel.¡± The headmaster smiled and said. ¡°Back to the original discussion now. Do you know why children are the ones that go through most of the changes they will ever have in their life?¡±

    ¡°No sir, I do not.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because their bodies and minds are more open to change. Their bones are spongy and more adaptable to whatever change they might go through as opposed to adults who have hard bones that are much less adaptable and if changes do occur in adulthood they are usually much more painful than what a child would experience. Secondly their minds have not yet been molded to what we consider to be abnormal or normal so they do not become nearly as alarmed and are less likely to understand what they are going through allowing the transition to be much smoother. Adults tend to have a greater grasp on pain and what they consider strange so they are more resistant to it causing them to become in more pain.¡± John replied while wandering around the room. He looked as if he was searching for something.

    ¡°So our bodies have naturally adapted to the magic and cause our internal timer for change to stop at around ten years old?¡± I asked. Our bodies probably realized the change would be easier when our bones are the spongiest and our minds are the most open.

    ¡°Correct. Although only the primary change may happen during the first ten years in life. After that some changes may occur until you reach about 30. Of course your characteristics still change a little bit after the optimal time for growth such as your horns growing longer or your ears to grow pointer and longer. In the angels case their wings tend to change.¡± John said as he continuously wandered around the room.

    ¡°Why are you mentioning this to me?¡± There seemed to be no obvious reason for him telling me this.

    ¡°Because you are interesting.¡± John replied in a voice as if observing a never-before-seen species. ¡°Your old teachers reported you to have the inability to go into your mind and you still awakened. In all the causes previously of the unorthodox method they all at least had the ability to observe their mind. I believe that the pain gave them insights, but others believe otherwise. But you did not have the ability to even observe. And I have a strong feeling that someone placed a seal on your mind in hopes to prevent your awakening.¡± John replied in his usual happy tone.

    ¡°Why do you think that a seal was on me?¡± I did not consider the possibility of that happening because I was unaware seals of that type even existed.

    ¡°I believe that was the case because of your missing foot and your black eyes and white hair. The seal may have messed with your brain while you were a fetus and caused that foot to not come about and the melanin in your hair to be given to your eyes in addition to the normal melanin they would¡¯ve received. I only know this because their was a case where a pregnant mother had a seal put on her which also affected the child causing him to only have 7 fingers and very pale, blonde hair color in addition to incredibly dark eyes. He could enter his mind, probably because the seal was on the mother not himself. You probably had a seal placed directly on you.¡± John replied. It did make sense but I felt that something else was going on.

    ¡®I understand the rarity of the baby abnormalities, but why are you still talking with me. Couldn¡¯t you have observed from a distance?¡± I asked. I saw no reason for this discussion to still be going on.

    ¡°Because with your answer to the question you had, the seal that may have been placed upon an unborn fetus, and your magical irregularities I feel that Drudania Academy would be a good fit for you. You bring variety, which is what we like. Of course you just have to take two small tests just to confirm that your magic abilities are enough to qualify, but judging from the aftermath of your awakening, you should be fine.¡± John then came back to where I was holding to different things. A small book and an orb.

    ¡°So do you want to take these tests Lucifer Udev?¡± John asked in what I assumed to be the tone that he addressed serious matters in, not the regular soft voice of his. I shook my head in agreement and he then said, ¡°Okay then, let''s begin.¡±

 New Character name

I was thinking of creating a new character soon and wanted your feedback for some names. If you have any suggestions please post them in the comments section.

 Chapter 7: Results

    John told me that a would take the test with the book first because it was less draining of my energy and I needed to save all the energy I could because he test with the orb required complete concentration and found that the test takers performed better with the orb as the second test.

    John said the book test, also known as the Liber Test, was a test testing your mental capacity and your ability to understand and use magic in real life situations and not just in controlled situations. On each page in the book there is a series of questions and you have to make sure you are touching the book or it won¡¯t work. The book reads your mind so-to-say-, in reality it looks at your brain waves and puts them in ways the book can understand then puts the words out on the paper. The process takes a few seconds per question and you are not only judged by your answers but also the speed you answer the questions.

    John said that to complete the test you only need to fill out 2 pages of questions averaging 3 questions per page. The average amount of time necessary to complete all of the questions is around 10 minutes. The requirement to get into Drudania Academy is to complete all the questions with reasonable answers in 5 minutes.

    John brought out a small desk and chair in addition to the orb and book. I quickly sat down and John opened the placed in front of me and told me to open it on a count of three. John had taken out a round object that was similar to a clock but had an arm protruding from the face of it. It had symbols all around the edge and was gold in color.

    ¡°1, 2, 3!¡± John said as he pressed the protruding hand down before it starting traveling in a circular motion, pointing to each of the symbols. I began slightly after seeing the strange contraption and soon realized why there was only 3 questions on each page. The questions were all very wordy and required you to think hard and fast about the answer because if you wasted anytime at all that could mean that you failed the test.

    The I did not find the questions difficult to understand, but knowing what the test was looking for, it was hard to find an easily applicable answer. The answer that raced through my mind were merely theoretical and had an impossibly low chance of succeeding if attempted. I managed to find answers that were good enough that they could probably be attempted and have a moderate success rate. But the next question was, similar to the written exam, different from the previous questions because it was opinionated and you had to justify your answer.

    The question was: In a fight where the one you loved and the side you supported were against each other, which side would you fight for?

    The question passed through my mind several times before I could begin to think about the answer. I thought about the case in which I would love somebody and found it impossible to do so. Even if I did know the feeling I would be almost positive that I would chose the side I supported over my loved one. Gradually I began to justify my answer by understanding that if I supported something it must follow my beliefs. Because I have a strong belief system, I will support anything with all I can, but to find something worth my beliefs and effort is hard to do because of my dislike of many things.

    I began to make myself believe that even if the one I loved were on the other side, I would still kill them. Not to say my beliefs couldn¡¯t be changed. If someone or something were to provide me with enough evidence, then I would change what I believed based on that evidence. To me knowledge is one of the strongest things in the universe, not some petty emotion such as love.

    I soon enough finished my answer and let go of the book.

    ¡°3 minutes and 49 seconds. Not to bad. Now time to judge the answers.¡± John said before putting his strange contraption on a nearby shelf. He then picked up the small, leatherbound book and looked at my answers. He had a blank expression from the beginning but as he looked down the paper to what I assumed to be the last question, he bursted out laughing. ¡°I am not surprised by your answer at all, Lucifer. Although very few people are that blunt about such a question.¡±

    Was it really that blunt? I found my answer to truly reflect my thoughts, not that I could hide them from the book, and I have a firm belief in say it as you feel it. Despite my seemingly lack of emotion, I occasionally feel annoyed or aggravated when people act as if they care about others or do other annoying things. I can never get too annoyed though. It¡¯s like there is a cap on how much I can be annoyed, which is a very small amount.

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    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll give you a few minutes to rest your body a little. Many students have been known to pass out after the next test.¡± John replied, reverting back to his usual happy self.

    ¡°Why do I only have to take two tests?¡± John did tell me that I only needed to take these tests, but never really elaborated on why.

    ¡°Thee two tests are really the only thing we care about. The other tests just help rid the examination hall of those who are too weak or aren¡¯t a good match for drudania Academy. Plus I wanted to check your scores on these tests to determine where I¡¯m going to place you class wise. In reality, I could¡¯ve just passed you, but I want to see if you pass these tests and if so, what your scores are.¡± John replied earnestly. I still had a feeling that something else was at work here, but I doubt he would let me get any farther into it.

    After a few minutes, John finally spoke, ¡°Are you ready for the next test?¡±

    ¡°I am.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I will explain how it work. You will hold this ofb in your hands and put your magic energy into it. I small blue glow will come from the center indicating that it is filled with energy.  You have to continue to put your magic in the orb for as long as you can without making the orb explode from too much energy or making the light disappear by giving it too little energy. Over time, the orb needs more and more energy to support the light.¡± John said, giving me the small, bluish orb. It fit perfectly into the palm of my hand and had a good amount of weight to it.

    John walked over to his contraption and said, ¡°You should probably sit down.¡± I then sat down. ¡°Okay, we will begin one the count of three. 1, 2, 3!¡±

    Took a deep breathe and tried to direct the flow of magic in my body. It felt strange because I only had the opportunity to do it once or twice before I came here. I could feel the energy coursing through my veins direct itself towards the small orb. I tried to slow it down a little when I saw the orb glow brightly with a light that nearly reached the outer layer of the orb. I wasn''t positive that if it touched the edges it would explode, but I wasn¡¯t going to take any chances. Gradually the light became smaller and maintained its size in the center of the orb.

    I could feel the sweat dripping down my face has a held on to the stone. It was like every ounce of my energy was slowly being drained away, but I persisted and continued to control the flow of magic to the stone.

    Over time it became increasingly difficult and could feel a headache coming about, most likely due to dehydration. The sweat still pouring down my face, began to come into my eyes and tears welled up from the stinging sensation they left behind. The light inside the stone began to waver slightly, forcing me to concentrate all my energy on this small, blue orb.

    Every second became increasingly longer and I could feel my muscles ache and my eyes want to close from the exhaustion washing over me. I knew that even though my muscles were not being used that much, I was drawing from them to continue to fuel the magic energy going into the orb. My muscles were telling me that they need to rest, to recover. The light became smaller and smaller until it was but a candle¡¯s flicker.

    My eyes were burning, my muscles aching, and every part of me, metal or physically, was utterly exhausted. I could fel the wave of darkness slowly approach me until I had fallen into its grasp and fell into a deep slumber. The last thing I saw was the tiny flicker of light on my hand disappear.

    ¡°3 hours, 37 minutes and 23 seconds. Well, I¡¯m happy to say you passed your test, Lucifer.¡± John said with a smile before picking up a small device that looked similar to a button. ¡°Josephine, prepare a room down in the hospital ward. Make sure the beds comfortable, after all, little ones need their sleep.¡±

 Edit

    Everybody I went and edited a part of Chapter 4, so I would suggest you read that one again to have the upcoming chapter make more sense. I would also like to take a moment  to thank everyone who has been reading and commenting up to this point. I will try to make the new chapters longer and the story move a bit faster because I feel its kind of slow right now. Please tell me if you have suggestions, criticism, or anything you want to ask and i will be happy to answer.

 Chapter 8: Drudania Academy

    To everyone,

    I changed Lucifer¡¯s Age from 9 to 12

    Seemed appropriate.

    Thank you to

    The Readers

    We reached 1000

    On The True Beginning

    From,

    Me

    When I woke up with my body felt full of energy. It felt full of energy, at least, compared to the last event I remembered. The one where all of my magic energy and its reserved were sucked dry from my body. Due to strange thoughts at the time, I realized that wings had caused my sleeping position to change drastically. Originally I slept in a fetal position or on my back, but now I slept on my stomach. The other two positions felt very uncomfortable with my wings, and as anyone could imagine, at no point in time is laying on my wings fun or comfortable. Even in the fetal position my wings feel awkward as I try to lay down in a comfortable spot.

    Eventually I came to realize I was in a very white, sterile- looking room. The bed sheets were white, the walls were white, the floors were white. It was very strange because with the whiteness of it all it felt like something bad could¡¯ve happened here and they could just clean right up and leave it shiny and as white as before.

    As I was looking across the room, I laid eyes on a young woman with auburn red hair and green eyes. She had very pale skin that seemed to indicate she did most of her business inside and wore a dark blue suit. I was guessing she was a human or another unawakened species.

    It¡¯s hard to tell when a human as awakened because all they seem to get is extra muscles that increases their strength and greater endurance. I¡¯m sure they gain some other things but I never bothered to study them much because i did not find them interesting.

    She had a plain face, but with her hair and eyes she was memorable. She seemed quite skittish as shown from her eyes darting around the room and every movement made with a slight jerkiness looking as if she was uncomfortable in her own skin.

    Eventually she realized I had woken up and was staring at her. She seemed startled at first, but soon had a deep breath and, to no surprise of mine, gave a large, toothy smile. Why is it that everybody smiles at children?

    ¡°Hello. I¡¯m Josephine, Headmaster John¡¯s personal assistant.¡± She said as she approached my bedside with an extended hand. I raised my eyebrow slightly, for I doubted that she had been with him a long time and did not ¡°know the ropes.¡±

    ¡°Pleasure to be of your acquaintance. I¡¯m Lucifer. May I ask your business here.¡± I had no time for small talk. Well rather, I did have time for it, but didn''t particularly enjoy it. I then shook her extended hand and then withdrew it before she spoke.

    ¡°Straight to the point aren''t you?¡± She said with a chuckle. ¡°I¡¯m here to take you to the campus of Drudania Academy. We know the school year doesn¡¯t officially start for a few months, but we know you don¡¯t have anywhere else to go since the incident. You can¡¯t stay with Elaine and Aaron forever.¡± She said, hesitating before she said the word incident. I¡¯m sure she thought it was a sensitive topic, which was quite true. I didn¡¯t feel the need to discuss that matter very openly for I had a lot of bad memories associated with my parents and did not feel the urge to open up old wounds.

    ¡°I understand. When will we head there? I still need to pack my belongings.¡± I said to Josephine.

    ¡°Well, if you can get everything together we can leave today or we can wait a few days so you can say goodbye to your friends.¡± She said, not forgetting the second option. The way she said it made it feel like an afterthought, which didn¡¯t bother me but did raise the question of whether or not people thought I had friends.

    ¡°Okay then. I¡¯m going to head back and get backed. I should be ready today.¡± I replied before hastily getting out of the small, white bed that I was previously laying on.

    ¡°Lucifer, you can just come back to the testing hall whenever you are ready and then we can go. There isn¡¯t any rush, so please take your time.¡± She said, flashing me a small smile. I then headed towards the small white door and left the room.

    As I walked out I realized I was still in the Examination hall and the room I just came out of was probably part of the emergency center or some over thing in the case somebody got sick. I did find it strange I didn¡¯t see any doctors strutting around with their canes at their sides. The defining sign of a doctor was a thin wooden cane that every one of them had which was said to contain the tools necessary for their line of work.

    I walked toward the exit of the hall and saw Aaron and Elaine waiting behind the doors, Elaine looked very pale and seemed to be sweating a lot. My guess was that she was still concerned for how I would do during the tests. Aaron continued to have an impassive face but was tapping his fingers showing he, too, was nervous. I called out to them and they quickly turned around.

    ¡°Aaron! Elaine!¡± I shouted.

    ¡°Lucifer, how did you do?¡± Elaine asked frantically.

    ¡°I got in.¡± I said quietly. They then gave a huge sigh of relief before congratulating me.

    ¡°That¡¯s great! How did the tests go?¡± Elaine asked. Aaron also looked slightly curious, which was unusual for him.

    I then explained to them what happened and, needless to say, they were incredibly shocked. It turned out that the headmaster went with them to every location for testing but few had a chance to meet him. It seems that Drudania Academy goes to every race¡¯s territory to test them, they even visit the faerie¡¯s territory.

    ¡°What did the headmaster look like?¡± Elaine asked excitedly.

    ¡°He had long silver hair down his back and had horns protruding from behind his ears. They were a bright red and looked very sharp. He was very happy and welcoming. In fact, he told me that I could just call him John. Though I expect that when I¡¯m on campus I¡¯ll have to refer to him as Headmaster.¡± I told them. They both absorbed every word I said and seemed incredibly interested in him.

    ¡°Do you know when you will go to the campus? I know that the Academy¡¯s scheduling is different from all the other schools in the area.¡± Aaron asked. He spoke quite a large amount of words compared to his usual amount.

    ¡°They said I could go now. Apparently they wanted me to get used to the campus grounds and they said that I can¡¯t stay with you all forever. Which is quite true.¡± I replied.

    ¡°By right now do you mean today, tomorrow, in a few days?¡± Elaine asked before Aaron had a chance to speak.

    ¡°They said I could leave today or wait a few days to say goodbye to everyone. Josephine, the Headmaster¡¯s assistant, said that I should just go see her at the examination hall to leave. She also reminded me to pack everything before I leave because it is quite difficult to get to and from the Academy.¡± I said while started while walking alongside Aaron and Elaine.

    ¡°So when are you thinking of leaving?¡± Elaine asked.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll probably leave today, after all, I don¡¯t have a lot of things to pack and not many people to say goodbye too. Unless you want me to stay for a few days.¡± I said. They both stopped walking for a moment and looked to be in great thought. Elaine finally broke the silence.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. We would hate to hold you back.¡± She said. I could see tears welling up in her eyes, but she was trying her best to stop them from falling. She couldn¡¯t thoug. The tears began to fall down her face what seemed to be rivers. ¡°I¡¯ll miss you so much.¡± She said as her voice cracked.  It even made me feel a small speck of sadness in my heart just enough to push my leaving time by a few days.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay Elaine. I¡¯ll leave in a few days.¡± I said while trying to let a smile reach my lips. I guess she got my meaning for the tears now came down even quicker and soon her face was covered in tears and snot. Aaron was still quite until he turned to me and said.

    ¡°We should probably get her home.¡± He said while pointing to Elaine sobbing. I but her arm around my shoulder and Aaron took her other arm and then we flew away. The land was just as beautiful as when I came here and perhaps even more so. I could now clearly see the endless forests and rolling hills as we speedily flew towards the house.

    I say house but it was really just council buildings given to the agents without homes to return to. Aaron and Elaine lived close to each other but didn¡¯t actually live together. I stayed with Elaine most of the time I was with them, but occasionally I would stay at Aaron¡¯s.

    Soon enough we reached the houses and we managed to drag the still sobbing Elaine to her room. Luckily Aaron had a key to her room. Why he had it, I¡¯m not sure, but that¡¯s not the point here. We managed to navigate around her place and put her on her couch until she stopped crying.

    ¡°Sorry guys. It''s just so hard. You¡¯re like my little brother.¡¯ She said while sniffling. She then looked like she was about to cry again, but we managed to stop her in time.

    ¡°Get some rest Elaine.¡± Aaron said quietly.

    ¡°Okay. Thanks Aaron and Lucifer.¡± She said quietly before closing her eyes and within a few short seconds she was out.

    ¡°Do you want to go and get your stuff? You can stay with me tonight.¡± Aaron said while gesturing towards the door.

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    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll be quick.¡± I replied quickly. I then went and packed my stuff and left to Aaron¡¯s room.

    That night right before I fell asleep I saw the man from my mind with the huge golden wings. He said something I could not hear and his face was still blurry. It truly eluded me as to what his purpose was.

    In the next few days I talked a lot with both Aaron and Elaine, of course I spoke with Elaine much more, We went over our experiences throughout the past few months and they both commented on how much I have grown from the first time I saw them.

    They also gave me something that was originally my parents. They said they found it when they were looking through the wreckage of when I awakened. It was a small stone that could easily fit into the palm of my hand but  it was unusually heavy for an object of its size.

    It was a light gold color and had a pitch black center. There was something about it that drew me closer in and made we want to look at it and hold it all the time. Elaine and Aaron were unsure of how I would take it because of the incidents that I suffered before. I did not even care about it. The stone was just so fascinating. They didn¡¯t seem to get my obsession with it and just saw it as a pretty stone that may have been of some importance which is why they gave it to me.

    I then determined that it was finally time for me to leave and this time Elaine shed only a few tears and was not sobbing her eyes out. As I left with Josephine on a Griffin, a monster with the head of an eagle and body of a lion, I heard Elaine and Aaron shout something that I could barely make out over the sound of the wind rushing past my ears.

    ¡°We will always be waiting for you!!!!!¡±

    It took  what seemed to be several hours but we finally saw the campus of Drudania Academy. I then realized the true extent of what it meant to be one of the best schools in the world. Every building was reinforced by magic, a very costly thing to do especially when the Academy had countless buildings many floors tall. They even had a massive wall surrounding the entirety of the Academy.

    I believe that Josephine was amused by reaction as told from her chuckle.

    ¡°We¡¯re about to land. Hold on tight. It would be bad if with lost another student to the landing of Fuzzy here.¡± I¡¯m guessing Fuzzy was the Griffin¡¯s name but that didn¡¯t concern as much as the fact that they previously lost a student to landing Fuzzy.

    Luckily I did not die, but rather landed quite smoothly. Now seeing the campus up close, the buildings seemed even larger than from sky. While I was gawking at the buildings Josephine, seeming much calmer than during our previous meeting, tapped my shoulder and gestures indicating me to follow her.

    I followed her to what seemed to be the main building for it towered over the other massive buildings. When I walked in I realized exactly how rich the school was to afford the massive marble statues that littered the grounds. Not to mention the floors and walls looking like they were made from some other expensive material. These people had no concept of moderation.

    Josephine led me up to a huge desk, which behind was seated a small faerie man with childish features and deep blue wings protruding from his small back. The wings were incredibly small, at east by angel standards but probably fit the small man and probably small weight.

    ¡°Josephine, who¡¯s your friend?¡± the man said in a squeaky voice but with a tone that sounded quite sarcastic.

    ¡°My friend, Tom, is a new student for school. Now if you could get a new I.D. ready that would be wonderful.¡± Josephine said in a very natural but authoritative way. My guess was that all of these people were familiar with her power in the school and she was used to them, giving her the confidence to be what I would consider to be her natural state. She was probably nervous in an unfamiliar environment when she was at the Examination hall.

    ¡°Of course, ma¡¯am. It¡¯ll be ready in a second.¡± The man, Tom, said in the same tone as before. He then reached into a drawer by his side. He then pulled out a small piece of paper and a small pin in addition to a small knife.

    ¡°Now you are going to cut yourself with this knife on the tip of your finger and let some blood spill onto the paper and pin. Then you will sign your name on the sheet of paper right next to the drop of blood¡­.. er¡± he said flashing me a quistivie look.

    ¡°Lucifer, sir.¡± I could not forget my manners here. This people, no matter their job, held a certain amount of power for being able to work for Drudania academy.

    ¡°Lucifer. Interesting name. Understand what you have to do?¡± He asked while handing me the knife. I cut myself on the tip of my index finger and let the blood drip onto the small pin which I could now see to have the academy¡¯s crest on it, a sun with a rune on it. The rune meant knowledge, which I learned from Aaron¡¯s lesson in the study of runes.

    As I let the blood drip onto the pin, I also let a drop fall on to the piece of paper. The blood quickly dried on both the pine and the paper and I could see no remnants of it on the pin and a small red dot on the white parchment. Tom then took out a pen and placed it in front of me. I quickly signed my name on the paper and Josephine then said,

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a tour and explain some of the rules tomorrow. Right now you probably want some rest, so just follow me to the boy¡¯s dorms. You will have a roommate and I believe yours is coming later tonight so you¡¯ll meet him later. Don¡¯t forget. Always wear your pin. It gives you access to your room, trunk and the school grounds.¡± She said while walking towards one of the halls connecting to the room we were in right now.

    Within a few minutes she stopped in front of a room with the number 1313. She opened the door and said,

    ¡°You can probably take whichever bed you want because your roommate isn¡¯t here yet. I¡¯ll meet you in the main hall tomorrow morning at 9:00 to give you a tour of the school so don¡¯t forget.Also, you should wear your uniform. It''s in the trunk in your room. Don¡¯t worry about them not fitting. We had them measured and everything.¡± Josephine said before turning away to leave me in front of an empty room.

    I walked in and saw that the room had two twin beds and two desks on opposing walls. One of the walls had a large window with some gray curtains over them. I decided to take the bed by the window. I liked waking up to the morning sun and on that bed I would definitely wake up bright and early.

    At the back of each bed was a large wooden trunk that looked immovable and had a small circular symbol on it with the indention of the school¡¯s crest. I took my pin off and pressed it into the indentation and heard a click sound. I then tried to open the trunk and the lid opened easily and when I looked in I saw the school¡¯s navy uniform. I had two sets of them both of them looked different from regular clothing, but I then realized that they were made for people for wings.

    I quickly but the stone I received from Aaron and Elaine to the very bottom, worrying I might continue to stare at it. I would take it out when I became adjusted to the school.

    I took another look around the room and saw a door off on the side and opened it to find a moderate sized bathroom.

    I then caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and saw how much I changed from the last time I looked at myself. Elaine¡¯s and Aaron¡¯s places didn¡¯t have mirrors for they were rare so I never looked at myself. But I saw what they meant by how much I changed.

    My previous thin face had filled out because I was eating and not being starved and looked much healthier. My eyes were still black as midnight and my hair was as white as snow. The contrast they had was incredible. I was happy that my hair looked less like an old man¡¯s now. My hair was now down to my shoulders from the lack of cutting it. I was fine with it though. It didn¡¯t get in my face so I was all good.

    ¡°Is someone already here?¡±

    I heard a voice come from the main room. I walked out to see a boy that looked around my age and had a head of curly, golden hair. He had piercing blue eyes and a friendly smile rested on his lips. A halo shone above his head. Pure white. I didn¡¯t have one. Only a few angels do.

    All of the sudden my head felt like it was splitting and a flood of memories poured into my skull. The man with the golden wings was speaking. He said the same thing over and over. It was a name.

    ¡°Nice to meet you, my name is¡­.¡± The boy said while I was lost in the memories and visions.

    ¡°Michael.¡± I said under my breath. That was what the angel was saying Michael.

    ¡°Did someone already tell you?¡± The boy asked with the smile still on his lips.

    ¡°Tell me what?¡± I had returned from the visions and could now focus on what the boy was saying.

    ¡°That my name is Michael.¡± He replied.

 Chapter 9: Roommate

    ¡°Your name is Michael?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes, it is. Why are you suprised? I thought someone told you.¡± Michael said, unsure of my confusion.

    ¡°No reason. I¡¯m guessing that you are my roommate.¡± I said with a small sigh. I had hoped that I would have some more time before he came.

    ¡°You would be correct. I was surprised that someone was here already though. I figured I would have been the first one.¡± He said with a goofy smile. He seems like the kind of person who was everyone''s¡¯ best friend. He had a good personality, t least from what I have seen, and looked pretty good compared to the majority of the population. Although blonde hair was quite rare in any species, so he stood out quite a bit. Not that I can talk, I have white hair which is even rarer.

    ¡°I suppose I haven¡¯t properly introduced myself yet. My name is Michael Bonum. I¡¯m from the distant lands of the demon kingdom. Although I¡¯m not quite sure what I really am.¡± He said while extending his hand. I shook it but was still surprised that he was from the demon kingdom. They very rarely had anybody who looked so similar to a human after awakening. Because of that I know what he means by not knowing what he is.

    ¡°You can just call me Luc. My real name is Lucifer Udev, but that might offend some people. I¡¯m from the kingdom of Lux in the angel¡¯s territory.¡± I said. Michael looked at me for a second before nodding in agreement. Before I left I read a little bit and learned that Lucifer an angel who betrayed God and left with the Fallen One into the depths of hell. Some have speculated that the Fallen One and Lucifer are one in the same, but because they are stories and no evidence has been found I refer to them as separate beings. In my readings I also learned that people may take offense to the name in reference to the Fallen One.

    I did not realize that before i named myself that, but I do not believe I would have named myself anything else. Although to be on the safe side, I just shortened it to make sure I didn¡¯t offend anybody. You never know, a high ranking member of society may frown upon the name and not allow me access o certain things because of it.

    ¡°Luc, huh. I¡¯m sure we will be good friends.¡± Michael said while turning to his bed and putting his suitcase on it. It was when he turned around I saw a small mark climbing up his neck. It looked similar to my mark, but instead of being pitch black it seemed to glow in a pale light.

    He turned around rather abruptly, just in time to see me looking at the mark.

    ¡°Guess that wouldn¡¯t go unnoticed for long.¡± He said with a resigned smile.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it''s not contagious or anything.¡± I guess that most people who saw it thought it to be a mark of a disease or something.

    ¡°I know. I have one similar on my back except it¡¯s black.¡± I said. I could see a flash of surprise mark his face.

    ¡°That¡¯s the very time I have met anyone who has claimed to have a mark similar to mine.¡± He said. I could hear a hint of skepticism mar his voice. You could definitely tell he was going through puberty. His voice sometimes cracked and iy occasionally has a higher pitch.

    ¡°Really. I do have one. I got it just after entering my mind for the first time after awakening.¡± I told him that just to show him I knew when I got and was just not making this up as I went along to make him feel better.

    He slightly raised his eyebrows before bursting out laughing.

    ¡°I guess you aren''t lying. The same thing happened to me. I saw these weird pictures but couldn¡¯t hear anything and then I found a strange mark on my neck.¡± Michael said, still laughing.

    ¡°That¡¯s also what happened to me.¡± I told him.

    ¡°Well I have got to get finished unpacking or I¡¯ll never get to it.¡± He said while turning back to his bag.

    ¡°I also have to do it.¡± I said as I walked toward my bed with my bag lying right beside my trunk.

    We spent the next ten minutes or so unpacking our very mager belongings. Michael had about the same amount of possessions I had, very little.

    I talked with him and learned that he was adopted when he was 4 years old by a nice demon family. No one in the family had ever awakened and did not know what do to do when he awoke. They contacted some friends of theirs who had dealt with it before, and with their help Michael was able gain a greater control of his magic and purify it more. Because he was very good at it they suggested that he take Drudania Academy¡¯s examination and to their endless surprise and delight, he passed.

    He told me that he was of the light element, but he wasn¡¯t positive because the way people described the light element seemed to be a little bit different from his. He guessed that his element was actually a variant of the light element, but wasn¡¯t positive.

    Michael said he knew where the dining hall was, so I could only follow him as we went to eat.

    The minute I saw the dining hall, there was no doubt in my mind that it was Drudania Academy¡¯s. It was massive and even the tables seemed to be made of the expensive material that could be found everywhere in the academy. I saw in food bars and could only fathom the amount they spent on food each day. It had the best quality fruit and vegetables and meals that looked like they were made by culinary masters. If I hadn¡¯t known it as a regular day, I would have thought a massive celebration for a king was being held here.

    I talked with Michael throughout dinner and learned that, socially, he was ostracized, even though he was nice. It turned out he looked too different from his classmates, so they tended to ignore him or bully him. He did not really care what they thought of them and helped them and was very nice to them, still. He said that because of the large variety of students here that there was a much lower chance of being ostracized, and because of that he was quite happy.

    He was quite the extrovert, and unfortunately I could not relate to him in that way because I was exactly opposite of him. I was an introvert.

    Soon enough we finished dinner and headed back to the room. I went to sleep rather quickly and the last thing I remember seeing was the angel with golden wings smiling a sad smile and within a few minutes, I was out cold.

    The next morning a woke up to hear Michael snoring, still clearly asleep. I went and put on my uniform and then went out to the dining hall to eat breakfast. The amount of food was similar to the night before and was now breakfast foods. I saw a clock on one of the walls and saw I had a little time for it was only 8:50. I figured that it was better to be early than late, so I went and headed to the main hall.

    To my surprise, Josephine was already there.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy you arrived in a timely manner, Lucifer.¡± She said with a small smile, but quickly returned to her previous expressionless face.

    ¡°Please just call me Luc, ma¡¯am¡± I told her.

    ¡°Okay, Luc. Have you eaten breakfast yet?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Okay then. Let us begin the tour. Just follow me. I¡¯ll show you all the necessary places that you need to know. Mainly your classrooms, the library, the real main hall, and other rooms.¡± She said while turning towards one of the halls connecting to the main hall.

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    ¡°This isn¡¯t the main hall?¡± I asked. It was called the main hall so I assumed that this was the only one.

    ¡°This is the Eastern wing¡¯s main hall. There is also the northern one¡¯s main hall in addition to the southern, western, and central main halls. The central main hall is the main hall for the entire school so that is the only one that is actually referred to as the ¡®main hall¡¯. The rest of them are either called Emh, Nmh, Smh, and Wmh. Right now we are headed to the southern wing which is where your classes are located.¡± Josephine said as we walked down a long corridor that led into a large room.

    ¡°This is the central hall. If you look to your left you will see a hallway. If you continue down that hallway, at the very end lies the headmasters office. The central hall is where student affairs are an any questions will be answered by the staff over by that desk.¡± She said while pointing to a large desk with people of many different species were working behind.

    ¡°Do you have any questions?¡± She asked as she turned to face me.

    ¡°No ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Then we shall now head to the southern wing.¡± She said before turning towards another entrance to a hall.

    ¡°How do you like your roommate?¡± She asked as we walked down the hallway.

    ¡°He is very nice, ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°The headmaster is actually the one who paired the two of you up. He said ¡®they¡¯ll help each other learn and appreciate others talents.¡¯ That means that you probably won¡¯t change your roommate each year like the other students do unless you have major issues with each other.¡± Josephine said with cold eyes. She was unsure of why he did that. I don¡¯t know how I knew, but I could tell that from her voice, actions, and her eyes, that she did not know why he did that and does not seem to approve of his decision.

    She would never voice her concerns to me though. The headmaster is the highest power in the school and should not be questioned except by someone with power equally as strong.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± She said as we walked into a large room of the south wing. This was the main hall.

    ¡°So the hall in that direction,¡± she said while pointing towards one of the hallways, ¡°Is the hall where the majority of your classes are going to be. Since you are a first year student you will be taking Basic Principles of Materializing and Using Magic, Basic Principles of Purifying Magic, Magic in Combat, Magic in Support, and Runes: How to Read and Use Them. You will also have to take a martial art or weapons class in the case that your magic is bound. You have on other class which has not been decided yet, so we will inform you when we learn which class you are taking.¡± She said while handing me two papers. One was my schedule and the other was a list of martial arts and weapons classes taught by the academy.

    ¡°Do you have any questions?¡± She asked.

    ¡°If these classes are too challenging or too easy for me, will I be able to request a transfer. And who should I inform when i decide which martial art or weapons class I should take, ma¡¯am?¡± I asked. I doubt the classes will be too hard for me, but just to not sound arrogant I included the ¡®too challenging¡¯ part.

    ¡°You will be able to request a transfer, but most of the time the teachers will suggest moving up to a higher class if they feel the student could handle it. Concerning the second question, you can report directly to the headmaster when you know which class you want to take.¡± She said with a steady voice. Her voice lost its edge from before but still had a coolness tinting it.

    ¡°Anymore question before we continue?¡± Josephine asked.

    ¡°No ma¡¯am.¡± I said as she turned to a small door residing next to one of the hall ways.

    ¡°This is the door to the stairs. Each wing has its own set and are quite easy to find. It does take a little while to get up though.¡± She said with a small chuckle. We headed up the stairs and I soon realized what she meant.

    The stairs were steep and seemed to take twenty minutes to ascend. Josephine had no difficulty with them, but I struggled a bit because my legs were not as long as hers and my stamina was most likely lacking as well. Soon enough though, we reached the top and entered into another massive hall.

    ¡°We are now headed to the library. There is different layers to the library and gradual you will gain access to more of them. Right next you only have access to the first two layers.¡± She said before walking towards two massive doors. She waved her pin, like the one I have, in front of the door and slowly the door opened to reveal countless rows of novels packed tight into massive bookcases that towered above me.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see that each layer of the library is guarded by a wall of magic that automatically reads your pin and grants you access to the appropriate levels. The further back you go the higher qualifications you need so be careful you don¡¯t wander past your area.¡± She said with a smirk. ¡°Any questions?¡±

    ¡°Will I receive a map to help me navigate throughout the academy, ma¡¯am?¡± I asked. She only showed me the basic things and I would like to know how to get around the entire campus.

    ¡°Yes you will. In fact I have one with me right now, so here you go.¡± She said while handing me a a piece of paper folded many times. I took it and thanked her and as she turned around to leave, she quickly turned back around and said,

    :I almost forgot. The headmaster would like you to decide which weapon or martial art class you would like to take by Sunday afternoon. Headmaster John also said he encourages you to read as many books as you can, he didn¡¯t tell me why though.¡± She said with a neutral face that betrayed no hint of what she thinking. But her eyes did have a hint of emotion. One that has started wars and cause families and friends to split apart. Jealousy.

    ¡°Thank you, ma¡¯am.¡± I said as we both turned our backs to one another and walked toward opposite ends of the hall. Our footsteps the only sound that could be heard against the cool stone. That will change soon, I thought, as students come pouring in and talk. Talk about everything. For some reason that excited me the prospect of seeing all of them move and speak. Talk. Oh, yes they will talk. Yes they will. Suffer. A cold flat voice rang out in the depths of my mind.

 Weapon

    Everyone if you read the previous chapter you should know that Luc has to take a weapons class and I would like some suggestions for which weapon he takes. You can put your suggestion in the comment suggestion if you ave any. Please nothing relayed to current technology, i.e. gun, Thank you in advance for all in put in the matter and continuing to read the story. Please remember that all ideas and criticism will be taken to heart to improve the story I am writing.

 Chapter 10: Library

    Over the past few days I have begun to read the countless books in the massive library. I started with the ones concerning the history and development of the world. They are very interesting, but they get repetitive after a while and to me history is something we can learn from, but I never enjoyed learning it.

    After reading several books concerning the history of the world, the continent, and its kingdoms and territories throughout history, I realized exactly how old the world was and how much everything has changed from the beginning of recorded history. Our continent, alone, has seen many changes in the ruling powers and even the geography has been changed throughout its existence. Most of these changes were caused by natural disasters such as volcanoes erupting, tectonic plates shifting, hurricanes, tsunamis, and things of the like, but some changes occurred because of things we have done.

    There was the Great Catastrophe caused by a magic user that gained too much power and his body could no longer support it, so it blew itself up along with a circle of land 500 miles in diameter, taking out a good portion of the continent.

    Another disaster happened when the dimension had a small tear in it, allowing a large amount of dense, spiritual essence to gather in one area, creating  a so-called ¡°mountain¡±. No one knows how to get into this mountain. And if they did I doubt they would spread the word because it is suspected that because of the large amount of essence your body could either let your element become purify and available to you in more vast quantities or that your body would not be able to take in the incredibly pure essence and try to fight it off along with your current magic leaving you magicless and in, needless to say, a lot of pain. There is a few other theories about what could happen if you were to absorb the essence, but the two former are the main ones.

    There is also a few more smaller disasters that have happened, changing the powers of the continent along with the continent, but those, as aforementioned, are not ones that caused great disturbances throughout the continent.

    I gradually moved on to a different genre of books. One that interested me much more than history, religious texts. These allowed me to see into other cultures beliefs and, to a certain degree, allow me to understand the people better. Why do they believe and follow this god or gods? Why do they have unwavering faith? Do they believe their religion is the true religion? These are some of the questions I have when reading books concerning religious beliefs.

    I by no means disrespect these cultures because of my differing views but it is incredibly interesting to read the books these people consider to be the law or moral code they must follow. One of these books, the Ascitan, is a book about a religion that believed the Fallen Angel was the True God and that the God residing in the heavens is a fake one who gained power. As you can imagine the followers of this religion are shunned by the majority of kingdoms, but they do exist.

    Another book I am reading believes that weapons, shields, and the like are the personification of the Gods they believe in causing them to treat the weapon with great care and respect. This religion is not one commonly found on our land but is rather common on other continents. They are often at odds with the Wedelns, people who believe that Gods make their presence known through books and knowledge.

    I currently reading a book I found on the top row of the shelf. Needless to say, it was very dusty from not being read in possibly tens of years, but when I began to read it I soon learned why. The book was written in strange symbols that look like nothing I have ever seen before. I asked the librarian, Mr. Kurt, about it, but he said it was probably written in a language lost in history and is only kept because of its historical value.

    To my great surprise and delight, I managed to read it. It seemed like something in my head translated the symbols and I could read what it said. It was a book written about the gods above us, their interactions, and what they have given to humanity. Some, it seemed, gave more than others, while others enjoyed watching the small-minded mortals try their best to live in a world full of dangerous things at every corner.

    There was even a mention of the Fallen One and the God it loved. The God¡¯s name, Pravda, was the God who supposedly gave the gift of intelligence and knowledge to the mortals of the planet. What it gave them though was only the knowledge it saw them fit to have, so in the book, the Fallen One, even though it loved the God who stood by its side, choose to give the mortals the ability to learn and also gave them knowledge of things Pavda would not allow. And when the Fallen One did so, it was exiled from the heavens by Pravda and its fellow gods to live in Hell, a place where the mortals who have sinned against their respective god or god go.

    The Fallen One was sealed in a tomb encasing a majority of this Hell and is said to plan revenge against the one it loved and its friends. It was also said in the book that because of the angel¡¯s huge amount of anger it gained the power of a god, but can only wait for the seal to be broken to wreak havoc on the beings said to rule the entirety of Magno and its dimensional neighbors.

    I am not finished reading the book yet, but it is very interesting to see the gods before and after the incident concerning the Fallen One and how their relationships changed in addition to how the mortal¡¯s world changed. The mortals, with the knowledge they gained, began to understand things and became stronger, strong enough not to fear monsters eating them and could now do things they wanted to do.

    The strange thing about the book was that it gave the Fallen One a name. No other books I had read ever mentioned the Fallen¡¯s One name, but this one did. The name given to this angel, exiled from the heavens, was called Langev.

    While reading in the library I also researched some of the weapons that I could learn as one of my classes. I need to decide in three days, so I still have some time to decide but I have yet to find a weapon that interests me.

    Most of the ones I have read a few books about some weapons, mostly swords to see if I had any interest, but they most definitely did not hold it so that took a good chunk of the classes out.  I only have a few options left and determined I should research them a bit more before I decide. The options left are as follows:

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    <ul>

    <li>Kusarigama</li>

    <li>Hand to hand fighting</li>

    <li>Katar</li>

    <li>Scythe</li>

    <li>Spear</li>

    <li>Naginata</li>

    <li>Chakram

    </li></ul>

    I have never heard of a few of them, but they must be weapons that are quite useful if Drudania Academy teaches them. I figured that I should probably look into the weapons I have never heard of first to see if they compare to traditional weapons.

    The library had quite a few books concerning each one. I just had to ask the librarian and he easily found books concerning the usage of these weapons and the use of these weapons in history.

    Kusarigama- Also known as a chain and sickle, this weapon is composed of a chain with a blade on one side and a weight on the other, The weight was used to counterbalance the force exerted when throwing the blade towards an enemy. These weapon, apparently, is not commonly used because of the skill required to wield it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusarigama</a>

    Hand to hand fighting- I know a bit of this, but it better is learn all of the facts before deciding. This art is composed of using your limbs to inflict damage on an enemy at close distances. This is good for self defence, but because of the use of weapons in fighting, it has become a method that few people know. It is quite useful for magic users because if they are having difficulty drawing out their magic, they can fight or hold off their opponent until able to draw it out. One of the earliest forms of fighting.

    Katar- A weapon composed of a blade or blades attached to a handpiece that can be used to puncture your enemy. The weapon is quite potent and is not commonly used on the continent because of its foreign origins. The blade has varying lengths and can not only be used for thrusting, but also slashing if enough weight is put behind the blade. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katar_(dagger)</a>

    Scythe- A weapon with a curved blade situated at the top of a rod or pole. This weapon is powerful because of the sharp blade at its helm and its ability to cut things effortlessly if wielded correctly. This weapon is considered to be incredibly dangerous because even people on horseback or other mounts can be cut by this long weapon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_scythe</a>

    Spear- A weapon similar to the scythe except that this weapon had a pointed head at the top of a pole, unlike a scythe¡¯s curved one. The spear had been in use for many years and continues to be used, albeit not as much. This weapon can be used in hunting and in close to mid range combat because of its long reach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear</a>

    Naginata- A weapon similar to a pear but the blade is longer and curves to meet at a point even with the rod. Typically used by females to compensate for their lack of strength to wield a sword, but men have used these weapons. These weapons are of foreign nature causing a lack of their usage in battles, despite the usefulness of ths weapon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naginata</a>

    Chakram- Metal rings that can be thrown at an enemy or spun on the finger and then with a flick of the wrist sent hurtling towards an enemy. These weapons, despite their small size, most being 5-12 inches in diameter, they have been known to sever a man¡¯s limb from his body. Because of their shape, if any part of it were to touch you after being thrown, you would most likely receive damage. These weapons are also hard to counter because of the way they move in the air. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakram</a>

    I am sure that one of these options will appeal to me once I read more in depth on them, but right now I feel no need hurry, so tomorrow I will continue researching these weapons and hopefully find the one right for me.

    Author¡¯s Note:

    Everyone thank you for your suggestions. I am still able to put more into the story if anybody as any suggestions, but the ones listed are top contenders. It is very difficult to figure out what is best, so the next chapter may come out a bit later. Thank you for continuing to read. This just an idea of what Luc</a> looks like.

 Chapter 11: Waiting

    This chapter is a little short, but don¡¯t worry, the next one will be longer.

    <hr />

    I was still having trouble determining which weapon class I would take even after researching them. The days following the primary research of the weapons was spent reading more into each one. They were all very interesting but I felt that I would know the right one when it was time.

    Michael said that he already knew which class he wanted to take, partly because he learned a little bit from his family. He was going to take the class concerning the long sword. He said that he was difficult for many to learn because of its length and weight, but he also said that he felt comfortable with it so he wasn¡¯t going to change his weapon of choice.

    He said that I could probably be a good swordsman, but I said that I wasn¡¯t really fond of swords so we dropped that matter altogether.  I was still unsure of which weapon I could take for all I know it could be my saving grace or achilles heel.

    Just before I went to sleep one night, I remembered the stone that Aaron and Elaine gave me before I left, and took it out. It truly was a pretty little thing. It was as heavy as usual but the dark inside the gold anterior seemed to pulse lightly as though it was alive. It was barely noticeable but it moved.

    Gradually the pulses were bigger and it looked as if a candle¡¯s flame was entrapped in the stone. It swayed softly in an almost rhythmic pattern and was quite entrancing. I probably stayed looking at it the entire night had Michael not entered the room. I then finally went to sleep thinking about the stone and which weapon I was going to learn.

    I soon got up, got dressed, and then went and ate breakfast. Over the past few days I became used to the large amounts of food constantly in the cafeteria and the seemingly lack of people to eat it. I guessed they probably fed the leftovers to the beasts found on the campus. Some of them were used to guard the place, others a means for transportation, and some saw the usual magnificent beast as pets.

    After I finished, I headed directly to the library to research my remaining options until I had to tell the headmaster. I had only 7 hours left to tell him. That meant that I had 7 hours of power reading and determining which one I would like to learn. That meant that the book I had found before in the strange writing was going to have to wait.

    I quickly found the shelf occupied by the most weapon related books. I found a large amount of books and took them to a nearby table.

    The books each contained a little bit about each weapon and I only looked at those parts, not bothering with the information unrelated to my choices. I looked at the words quickly, only gaining the information I needed before going into the next book. This process happened over and over until I needed more books, which I then started the process over again.

    I went through several books before a wave of sleepiness passed over me. My eyes began to close and I just felt like I needed to lie down.Eventually this feeling got the better of me and I feel asleep in the middle of the library with an open book on the table and a gold stone pulsing in my pocket.

    I woke up several hours later only to realize that in 1 hour I would have to tell the headmaster which class I was going to take. I felt the wave of panic take over my mind clouding my rational thoughts. I felt like I was having a panic attack until I felt a hard piece of metal against my foot on the ground.

    I looked down to see a large weapon at my feet. The blade was curved with a giant space in the middle and atop a long pole. The blade was a deep gold color and had runes unlike anything I had ever seen scrawled across the blade. About ? through the blade was a handle deep black connecting both sides of the blade. The pole looked like it as split into two parts, ? being black and the other half being pure white.

    I could only stare at it. It looked very different from any weapon I had ever seen and the runes seemed to tell a story even though its meaning was unknown. The runes were placed in a strategic spot on the blade and among all of them I only saw one that looked remotely familiar. Right above the point where the blade and pole met was a small rune that¡¯s meaning was unmistakable, truth.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to carry this scythe around school so when I touched the pole to figure out what to do with it, it turned into the stone that had previously been residing in my pocket.

    I quickly put the stone back into my pocket and then took all the books on the table back to the shelves. I determined I would have to look at the blade later when no one else was around because I was still curious about the handle that resided in the blade. If I ignored the blade it looked as if the blade and handle could be a weapon itself¡­.

    I then turned to leave the library and headed straight for the headmaster¡¯s room. After walking for a little while, I soon reached the door to the headmaster¡¯s room and knocked against the huge door.

    ¡°Come in.¡± The headmaster said in a voice that could be heard even through the thick door.

    I walked in to see the headmaster seated at a desk that was remarkably similar to the one at the examination hall. His room, to no surprise of my own, had piles of papers on the several tables around the room.

    ¡°Luc, what a pleasant surprise. Do you know which weapon you want to learn?¡± headmaster John said with a small smile.

    ¡°Yes headmaster. I have chosen to take the scythe.¡± I said.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to call me John. You know I hate formalities.¡± He said.

    ¡°Yes sir, you did. I only felt that because of your position at the school would have me refer to me by you title.¡± I said.

    ¡°Really just call me John. So you chose to take the scythe. Not a very popular option.¡± He said with a resigned smile.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t it popular?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Most families usually teach their children the sword, awakened or not, so this causes few children to chose other classes. The scythe class is especially hard to fill because of its difficulty. By the way, have you been reading in the library?¡± he said in a voice that told me he wished that the children would expand their interests into other classes.

    ¡°Yes, I have. The school has quite a few books so I don¡¯t think that I¡¯ll ever run out of things to read.¡± I said, thinking about the sheer number of books in the library.

    ¡°That¡¯s good, very good. I always tell all of the people you give the tours to tell the kids to read many books in the library. It will help them become more diverse, knowledge wise, and they can depend on that knowledge learned when in a difficult situation.¡± He said with a chuckle.

    ¡°I have a question, John. Do you know which other class I¡¯m going take?¡± I asked. I was curious concerning my 7th and final class.

    ¡°We are still not sure about that, but we will make sure to tell you when I learn what is it.¡± He said. ¡°Another thing, Luc. What are you going to do until school starts?¡±

    I forgot that I still have two months until classes officially start. In In about a month in a half a lot of the new students will be coming to the school, so it will be a lot louder then it is now.

    I could only say one thing in response to the headmaster¡¯s question.

    ¡°Learn.¡± I said, smiling, while turning toward the door.

    During that moment, while I had not realized it, the smile I had left with the headmaster shook his very soul, for in that very moment, he knew who I was.

 Chapter 12: Forest

    If anybody has any suggestions for a class at Drudania Academy, it would be very much appreciated.

    <hr />

    I felt much better after I told the Headmaster my choice, most likely because I no longer had to worry about choosing my weapon. I was still concerned about the class I didn¡¯t know yet. I could only hope for the best and prepare myself for the worst.

    I did still have two months until school started, so they probably won¡¯t give me the details until later. All I could do is wait.

    The weapon in my pocket was still a concern of mine for I didn''t know how the stone transformed into a weapon and why my parents had such a thing. When I got back to my room, I would probably look at it because Michael very rarely was in there, so chances are, I wouldn¡¯t be bothered.

    As soon as I got back yo the room I took out the stone and looked at it. By doing this I noticed a small change in its appearance, only so slight I barely even noticed it, but it was there. Inside the gold stone with a black, wavering center, was a small red speck similar to the color of parents hair. More similar to my mother¡¯s hair though. A beautiful, fierce red that, even being so small, had a presence in this strange stone.

    I tried to figure out how I could get the weapon to come out again, but was at a lost. I tried picturing the weapon with its strange blade and unique handle, but to no avail. After several attempts with no success I was not angry, but just disappointed. I tried only once more to see if it would happen before I went and got some dinner. But to no surprise of mine, like my previous attempts, I failed.

    I then figured I do some more research doing weapons of unique or magical origins the following day, but not without getting dinner first. The dinner, as splendid as usual, was very fulfilling so when I returned to my room I quickly changed into my pajamas before heading off to bed.

    That night I remember dreaming vividly about my mother and her vermillion red hair. I specifically remember her smiling, something that very rarely happened. Another strange thing I remember about this dream was that Father was not in it. Whenever I dreamed about my parents they were always together without fail.

    I thought that maybe the red speck the the stone caused me to dream about my mother, but I did not think too much about it. I completed my regular morning routine and headed of to the place filled with the knowledge of a millennium and the words of the mortals.

    As soon as I entered the library I was greeted by the scent of the thousands of books before walking over to a shelf labeled Weapons:Uses and History. I looked over the shelf before locating a group of books, all by the same author concerning magical weapons, how they were made, how they differ from regular weapons formed traditionally, and several other subjects.

    I brought a few of the books over to a nearby table and began to read them. They were relatively small, so very little time was spent on reading it as opposed to the large amount of time thinking about the information in the books and how I might use it. I did this often when reading books. I would read it and after reading it or sometimes even during it I would think about how this information would help me or how I could use the information given. This helped fully understand the information presented to me.

    The books told me that magical weapons were weapons that were created when magic power was solidified to the point where it maintained a physical form at all times and could be returned to origin of the magic (i.e. the magician''s body) .

    This method was difficult even for high level magicians because you are virtually creating a new weapon each time you bring the weapon out. This method is very rarely seen and the weapon made by this technique are very customizable but it is very difficult for others beside the creator to wield the weapon.

    There is a way to make a magical weapon beside the one aforementioned. This involved taking a weapon forged through traditional means and taking such weapon during its creation and pouring magic directly into the weapon causing it to be more accustomed to the element originally poured into it.

    Regular metals can¡¯t stand the pressure of magic being put into it, so only special metals can be used when making swords in this manner. This causes those metals to be highly sought out and highly expensive.

    Because of the skill needed to make the weapons, they had very few of them in the world and should one be found and put up for auction, it would go for price astronomically high.

    I did notice, though, that in none of the books they did not mention about the weapons being in a form different from, well, a weapon. I was also curious if the weapon I had even was a magical weapon. I assumed at first glance because of its ability to return to a rock-like form, but I was not so sure about my assumption anymore.

    After reading the book that I found most of the information I found useful for my cause, I pondered it for several minutes. I hoped that by doing that I would find some way to bring out the weapon again, and to my great delight, I thought of a way that might work.

    I finished reading the final book, only 50 or so pages, before heading off to my room, not before returning the books to the shelf. As I returned to the room, I sat on the chair by my desk and took out the stone out of my pocket. As soon as I felt the cool texture against my skin, I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. For some reason I had butterflies in my stomach, as though they knew something I didn¡¯t.

    I then looked at the stone and begin to channel my magic into it. I was guessing that the weapon would perhaps react if magic entered it and woke it up. It was difficult to get the magic flowing at first, but I began to visualize the golden wings in my mind and take that power and beauty and channel it into the stone resting on my palm.

    I closed my eyes, trying to visualize the wings without distractions and after  doing this for what seemed to be a few moments, the rock felt different. The weapon I saw before lying on the ground in the library, was now in my hand. It was perfectly balanced  and had the same weight as the stone originally in my hand.

    I opened my eyes to see the weapon of incredible beauty. I looked closely upon the blade trying to, perhaps, understand the runes written delicately along the blade. When looking at it, I realized that the runes on it looked similar to runes of magic as opposed to the runes of word.

    Runes of magic were usually used in sealing or imprisonment spells as opposed to regular magic. The runes, primarily written in a circle form, were used to denote an area which the magic conditions written in the runes was held true. Magic prisons were primarily used against magicians while regular prisons were used to hold regular citizen.

    Runes of word were runes that were similar to the letter¡¯s written by most species. The runes occasionally had hints of magic imbedded in them, but these runes were commonly used many years before this happening.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    I knew several runes from both magic and word, but this runes seemed to differ slightly from both. While I was also observing the blade I looked at the point of connection with the pole and blade. I saw that if the pole came off, the blade could be an entire different weapon more suited to close combat. I did not see any way that the blade and pole could separate, but then I realized that this weapon seemed to react better to magic than pure force, so I put some of my magic into the weapon,thinking about the weapon separating it worked.

    The blade and pole slid apart from each other, and as though sensing that it was not needed, the pole disappeared as soon as the contact with the blade expired. Now the blade was only left, so I took the handle in the middle of the blade and tried to figure out how to hold it.

    It was awkward at first, but gradually I gained a good feel of it. I swung it around a few times to just see how the weapon moved. I did notice that the blade, despite being lightweight, was very durable and sharp. Another thing I noticed was how weak I was. After swinging the blade around a few times my arm was tired, it was during that time I realized I needed to exercise more.

    It would be ad if during class I couldn¡¯t keep up with the other kids. I suppose one of the reasons for my lack of strength was because I didn¡¯t have a foot for most of my life. That did make it hard to get around. But enough excuses, I really needed to get some strength before school started.

    This, of course, meant having to ask Michael for help. Not that I had anything against Michael, but I knew that he was practicing with the longsword and I doubt he wanted a child who knew nothing about fighting to interfere with his training.

    I then headed over to the training grounds and looked to see if Michael was anywhere in sight. I then spotted him at the very back of the grounds and proceeded to walk over to where he was.

    As I became closer to where he was, I could see him practicing and was astounded by his swordsmanship. Whenever he swung the blade it looked so very graceful, but the moment it hit the dummy, a cut appeared in a fatal place. His swordsmanship from my untrained eyes looked remarkable.

    ¡°Michael.¡± I said.

    ¡°Hey, Luc. What brings you to this section of the academy?¡± He said after putting down the long sword in his hand.

    ¡°Michael do you know of any way for me to get stronger before school starts?¡± I asked. Better to get straight to the point.

    ¡°Why the sudden interest? All you¡¯ve been doing was reading books.¡± He said in a friendly way. I knew that he had already made friends with a lot of the people on campus and was quite popular.

    ¡°I just felt that I should become slightly stronger so I¡¯m not exhausted after my  weapon class.¡± I said.

    ¡°That does make sense.¡± Michael said, slightly suspicious. ¡°I can help you.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course. We are roommates, aren¡¯t we?¡± Michael said with his usual goofy smile.

    ¡°We are.¡± I said, admiring his exuberant personality. I may have admired it, but that never meant I wanted to be like him.

    ¡°What do you need me to do?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°How is you stamina?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Poor.¡± I replied bluntly. After saying that Michael laughed a little.

    ¡°You certainly are blunt. Well, it''s probably a good idea to get your stamina up before we work on strength. I would suggest that you go to the Brors Forest and run around there for as long as you can. You can also try hitting the trees there. Should help strengthen those arms of yours.¡±  Michael said jokingly. ¡°Don¡¯t run too far though, it can get dangerous.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t kidding about the last part though. Brors Forest had magical monsters located in its heat, so it was better to avoid that part until you were strong enough to deal with them. The forest was on the Academy¡¯s property so the students could use it whenever they wanted but outsiders needed to receive permission from the Academy.

    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll leave you to your practice.¡± I said, getting ready to go.

    ¡°Another thing, Luc. Make sure you don¡¯t use your wings, they would defeat the entire purpose.¡± He said while, turning to pick up his sword.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t.¡± This was true for the most part, but chances were I was going to fly a little bit to help strengthen my wings.

    I then left the training grounds and headed to the forest. The entrance was at the back of the school, so it took a little while to get there. As soon as I reached the front, I saw a sign warning the ones who entered not to wander too far.

    I entered the forest and after I walked for a little bit, I figured I would continue along the main path to make sure I wouldn¡¯t get lost.

    After figuring out my plan, I began to run along the path. It was quite strange running with wings attached to your back. My foot also felt a little strange.

    It was during that time I realized how weak I was. After running for only a few minutes, my legs felt tired. I could still breathe normally which was surprising. I thought my breath would escape long before the energy in my legs would. Because of this I figured I would fly a little bit until I felt I could run again.

    Surprisingly flying at this time actually uses less energy than running.

    As I flapped my wings I was slowly lifted off the ground. I was only about 3 feet above the ground because I figured I didn¡¯t need to be that high to exercise my wings. Another thing was that if I went any higher, I would probably run into a few tree branches and I had in interest in getting cut.

    I lowered my body to a slight angle and flapped my wings quickly to move forward. When flying you went much faster than running, but had far less control. If you came to a sudden stop you would be in a lot of pain and your wings would be damaged.

    I could fly for about 25 minutes without getting tired, but because I already used a bit of energy, I could only go for about 12 minutes. That was plenty enough time to allow my legs to rest up, so I landed quickly and proceeded to run again.

    If only I remembered the warning that Michael had given me.

 Chapter 13: Pain

    After running for a little while I noticed that the trees became denser and denser. I could barely see the path a few meters in front of me. I realized that I had should¡¯ve stopped a ways back and headed back to the academy.

    I turned around and proceeded to run back to the campus. I ran for around 5 minutes before a fell into a hole not there before.

    I was completely shocked for I had not seen a hole of any sort on the way in. As I fell, I realized that this hole that seemingly appeared from nowhere was far, far deeper than I ever imagined.

    I thought that I would most certainly die if a hit any solid ground, but in the moment I remembered that I had wings. I tried to flap them, but to my dismay, they remained completely still as a fell to the ground.

    I saw something glisten on the ground and within seconds I hit the ground. Or so I thought. The ¡°ground¡± was in fact water. Luckily for me the water was quite rough so I did not die upon contact. I would die if I drowned and with no ground in sight that was a very likely possibility.

    I was trying to keep calm but it was quite hard to do as I sat there with no escape. Then in the that darkness surrounded me, a bright flash appeared on one part of the hole. It looked as if it was blocked by something so  swam in that direction. It turns out the light came from behind a wall situated on a platform. The platform was made of a hard rock that, even amidst all the water, remained completely dry.

    I then lifted myself up. It was quite difficult because it seemed by already heavy wings retained some water. I managed to do it after some tries though. As soon as I was completely out of the water I immediately sat down. Spending time in the water while trying to keep myself afloat took quite a toll on my body. The light was no longer there, so I sat there shivering in silence until the light once again appeared from the wall I sat against. Accompanying the light was the soft muttering of voices. Words to low to understand.

    I got up and walked toward the light. I turned the corner to see a two people a distance away. It occurred to me that if I could hear their voices over here that they must be talking quite loudly. I also could barely make out the object which light was emanating from.

    It was spherical in shape, but aside from that I could not make out anything. The sphere had varying degrees of light intensity, occasionally bright occasionally dim.

    The people, at least from what I made out, were seated at a small table talking. I could not see any distinguishing features from the distance I was at, but it seemed that one was female and the other male. The female seemed to be wearing a long robe, dark in color. The male similarly dressed except in pants and shirt.

    I was going to ask them for help and as I took one step towards the people, I felt an enormous pressure ascend on my body. My entire being seemed to be compressed under this pressure to the point that I could barely move. My body was entirely on the ground and I even had trouble lifting my head. I only found enough strength to say one word.

    ¡°Help.¡± I could barely hear myself say it, but the people at the table immediately turned around to see me on the ground. They got up and slowly walked to my defenceless body lying on the ground.

    They soon were right in front of me and I could only see their feet because my head would not look up.

    ¡°How did this little cockroach get in here?¡± The woman spoke as the words softly rolled off her tongue. For some reason when she said those words the pressure seemed to react to them. It increased my a lot.

    ¡°Truly quite strange. Let¡¯s see how long it lasts against the pressure. I doubt the weakling will last 5 minutes before he is passed out cold.¡± The man said with a sneer. They obviously thought themselves above me at the time, as shown by referring to me as an it.

    ¡°5 minutes. You give it too much credit. 2 minutes, tops.¡± The woman said, cackling. At this point I had gathered enough strength to say another word. The effort this took me was tremendous and after I said this I was in a terrible amount of pain.

    ¡°W-who?¡±

    ¡°It seems the cockroach can still speak. It does need to learn some manners though.¡± The man said with a small laugh. ¡°Well since he¡¯s going to die anyway, might as well tell him. It¡¯ll be funny to see his reaction.¡±

    The woman gave a grunt of agreement to the man¡¯s words.

    ¡°Cockroach, you really should learn to respect those better than you. But I suppose you mortals are stupid enough not to even know that we are the gods of your puny little realms.¡±

    The gods. What? This made no sense. Why do they exist? Why are they here? Did that mean I was wrong about there not being any gods. How did I know they weren¡¯t lying to me? That¡¯s right they had to be lying.

    ¡°Before you think that we¡¯re lying,¡± she said disrupting my train of thought, ¡°the pressure you feel pulling against your body is mana that does not fit in our bodies. Meaning that we can control it any way we wish. These puny mortal bodies are only temporary so we can only use a fraction of our true power. I do wonder why that one made you all so weak.¡±

    At the time I was curious as to why gods would be near the academy and on this continent. It didn¡¯t make any sense. They were beings of supreme power, yet they were here. I felt like I was missing a vital clue as to the reason and much later, much, much later, would I finally learn what the final piece to the puzzle was.

    ¡°You must be stunned beyond belief, little cockroach, and you are probably wondering why we, of all beings, would come to your puny little realm. Well, don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to tell you.¡± The woman said with a cackle. ¡°Make sure you don¡¯t die soon, that would be terrible.¡±

    The pressure then increased causing me to be in even more pain. I was going to try to see if I could use some of my magic to resist the mana in the air, but the moment I tried to do that, the man started to cackle along with the woman.

    ¡°The little cockroach wants to try resisting us. Gods. It¡¯s even stupider than I thought.¡± The woman said. It was hard to understand her because her laugh was getting in the way.

    ¡°I have a wonderful. I just realized that we can¡¯t hear the cockroach scream. Why don¡¯t we remove all pressure from his vocal cords? He should be able to sing us a lovely little song.¡± She said, continuing.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. What a wonderful idea.¡± The man said in response. As soon as he said that the pressure around my body increased everywhere except my throat. I began to gasp for air and while I did so, they continued to cackle.

    ¡°I¡­. will¡­. kill¡­.you....both.¡± I could only speak in between. My gasps for air. At that point, I didn¡¯t really care that they were gods, I just hated the way that they treated me. How they referred to mortals as weak. I hated both of them.

    ¡°The little cockroach can still speak. What a surprise. Here I thought you would only be able to scream for mercy and forgiveness for intruding.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Maybe he needs some encouragement.¡± The man suggested.

    ¡°Whatever do you mean?¡± The woman said, playing ignorant.

    The man simply chuckled and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go into his head and cause damage. Lots and lots of damage.¡±

    ¡°Of course. This mortal won¡¯t be able to resist even one of our advances.¡± The woman said.

    Then one of the two ¡°gods¡± placed their hand on top of my head and within a few seconds a searing pain felt like it was splitting open my skull. This pain seemed to go on for a few minutes before they took their hand off of my head.

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    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Amon?¡± The woman said in a strange voice.

    ¡°Hahaha. That¡¯s impossible. That can¡¯t be. No, no, no, no, no.¡± Judging from Amon¡¯s feet, he was staggering.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Did the little cockroach scare you?¡± The note of panic high in her voice.

    ¡°It should be in hell. Why is it here?¡± Amon continued to ramble on and on

    ¡°Who is it?¡± The woman asked, the panic was still high in her voice.

    ¡°Nyx, we have to kill it now. Before it gets too strong. It''s still weak.¡± Amon was beginning to sound like a madman. Amon then started laughing. The pressure from the air began to weaken, but only because it was gathering in the palm of his hand.

    The magic was a light gold color with streaks of silver running throughout it. Nyx also gathered her magic together. Nyx than sent the ball of magic hurtling towards Amon.

    The magic formed a prison containing Amon in addition to dispersing the magic he was gathering.

    ¡°Nyx, we need to kill it now, before it gets too strong. It¡¯s going to kill all of us. All of us.¡± Amon was huddled in one of the corners of the prison muttering something to himself.

    Nyx quickly turned to me and but her hand against my throat. She tightened her grip and lifted from the ground. Her eyes were a deep black, almost the same color as her skin.

    ¡°What did you do to him?¡± She said. Glimpses of white could be seen each time she moved her mouth.

    ¡°N-n-not-nothing.¡± I could barely speak. She was so strong.

    ¡°Then why is he acting like this.¡± She said looking into my eyes. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that Amon, who was acting fine before you touched him, just happened to become like this after he looked in your head. Tell me the truth or I will force it out of you, cockroach.¡±

    ¡°I do-don¡¯t k-know.¡± I said, struggling to breath.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know? You don¡¯t know!!!¡± She said loudly before throwing me towards a nearby wall. As soon as I touched the wall, I crumpled down to the floor with soul shattering pain. It felt like she had broken several of my bones.

    I could see the anger on her face, in her voice. It was intense. Little wisps of black began to surround her. Circling her.

    ¡°Do not lie to me, angel. I will force it out of you even if it is the last thing a do with this pathetic body.¡±

    She then walked toward my figure huddled over by the wall and touched my forehead with a long, dark finger.

    ¡°Impetro in notitia.¡± After she said that one of the black wisps circling her began to travel down her arm and into the exact place her finger was located at. Her face was the perfect example of intense concentration, her eyes squinted, her mouth at a downward point.

    It didn¡¯t hurt at first, but within several seconds, my mind has what seemed to be a worm crawling throughout it. The pain came from the worm moving and slithering around in the inside of my brain. I wanted to scream out and cry, but I knew that if I did that she would receive a sense of satisfaction from it.

    The pain hurt a lot a first and only got worse from there on. It felt like the worm was growing and I could feel it searching throughout my head. I tried resisting, but that intensified the pain by twofold. I could only bite my lip and hope no sound could escape from my lips.

    The pain continued to grow and it got to a point where I thought I was going to pass out. My teeth had cut through my lip and was now spilling blood into my mouth.

    Nyx then muttered something under her breath and the black worm-like thing was crawling back up her arm. This worm then traveled to her head and disappeared. She let out a small gasp before the fear made her eyes grow large. She quickly backed away, stumbling over her feet.

    ¡°That can¡¯t be. It should be gone.¡± I could see her eyes glisten as the tears welled up and her breath grew ragged. ¡°It should be in HELL!!!!¡±

    She practically screamed the last sentence.

    ¡°No, no, no. It followed me. It¡¯s going to kill me,¡± I could still see the fear in her eyes has she continued to stumble. A grin appeared on her face as the tears came rolling down her cheeks. ¡°But not if I kill it first.¡±

    I barely heard her say those words, yet my throat tightened up and my heartbeat grew faster.

    She then stopped all movement and raised her hand out in front of her. The magi began to gather in the center of her palm. It had streaks of gold and blue and red an black. Her lips moved at an astounding rate, yet the smile I saw before was still there. Her eyes were still wide. The tears still falling, but the power gathering around her was strong. Strong enough to dread what was going to happen to me. I could barely move.

    She continued to gather the magic but I saw drops of blood leaking from her mouth. She continually grew paler and paler. Her original ebony skin tone and a dark brown. Her lips lost color as well.

    My guess was that the body could not withstand the god¡¯s presence anymore and was beginning to fail. I did feel that sh would be able to last this one more spell as her smile grew larger and her mouth moved at a slower pace.

    Her mouth then stopped all movement and she began to speak.

    ¡°I can kill it before this wretched body is done. Its vessel is so weak. This should kill both it and him. Slowly and painfully. That¡¯s right slowly and painfully.¡± Her eyes now contained a hint of insanity alongside the fear and the blood continued to run out of her mouth.

    She laughed a little and then threw the ball of magic toward me. It collided with my chest and disappeared. I then felt a searing pain erupt from inside my chest, making me cry out in agony. It felt as though my blood began to boil and the worm thing that had been inside my head now crawled throughout my body causing immense pain. I didn¡¯t have the strength to hold my body up, so I feel to the ground.

    The pain felt as though I had a migraine at the same time someone was boiling me alive times two. I could barely open my eyes and it felt like I could hear my blood boiling.

    ¡°The curse should kill you painfully. Just like it deserves. The curse of the heavens. The God¡¯s Curse.¡± That was the last thing Nyx said before walking over to Amon.

    She then said something I could not hear, but within a few seconds the place felt void of mana and I heard two loud thumps.

    Their mortal bodies. I thought as I tried to keep the massive amount of pain racking through my body at bay.

    My throat felt parched. I opened my eyes and saw my sight clouded with blood. The pain grew increasingly worse and it eventually got to the point where I could not think of anything except the worms crawling through my body. The migraine beating at my brain and my blood boiling me alive as I sat there.

    I could not use magic and every time I tried to go into my mind the pain increased several fold.

    This pain continued for several hours, keeping me awake during all of it. The pain steadily got worse and began to affect my wings within those long hours.

    At that point I just wanted it all to end. The pain to dissipate. To leave me in the sweet embrace of death.

    I saw the darkness cloud my eyes. The body numb to the pain. And a finally closed my eyes with a smile, happy this could all be over¡­.

    <hr />

    Sorry about the late release, and don''t worry this is not the final chapter.

 Chapter 14: Change

    I woke up to see countless trees surrounding me. I saw the path that I originally came down upon.

    It was a nightmare, a terrible, terrible nightmare¡­ I thought as my mind traveled back to Nyx and Amon. Gods couldn¡¯t possibly exist¡­ right?

    Thinking about the ¡°dream¡± I had, I remembered the God¡¯s Curse or whatever Nyx said before she left. The pain had felt so real. It felt as if trace amounts of that pain was still with me.

    While continuing to wonder about the dream, I realized that I needed to get back to the academy. Who knows how long I was asleep for?

    Knowing that I needed to return to the academy and proceeded to run down the path leading and then realised I would need to have a story to cover up the fact that I was gone for quite a while.

    Well, I can always say I fell and hit my head and I only recently woke up.

    Within several minutes the academy was in sight. I figured that I would just act like I had a headache until I was questioned. I could get to my room from the main hall or the entrance to the hall my room was in. I figured the main hall would be easiest so I headed in that direction, which unbeknownst to me, I should have avoided it.

    The minute I walked through the main hall¡¯s doors I saw the Headmaster talking to a person behind one of the desks. He immediately halted talking and turned in my direction. He then proceeded to walk in my direction, looking quite angry.

    ¡°Luc, where have you been?¡± He said with his voice full of seriousness.

    ¡°Well, sir, I was running in the forest and I accidently fell and hit my head. I must¡¯ve been out for quite a while before I woke up, my head throbbing with pain.¡± I said while grabbing on to my head and acting like it hurt me. I really could care less about lying if it kept me out of trouble.

    The Headmaster stood there quietly for a few seconds, as if suspicious of my story.

    ¡°Well, don¡¯t let it happen again.¡± He said with a small, resigned sigh. ¡°But I can¡¯t let you get off scot-free, instead of giving you the option of choosing your 7th class, I shall do it myself.¡±

    ¡°I understand sir.¡± I said. I really didn¡¯t care about that, and I doubt, knowing the headmaster, he would give a useless class.

    ¡°Okay, well off you go.¡± He said while turning his back to me and heading back towards the desk.

    Unknown to me at the time, the Headmaster knew full well what happened. He knew about Nyx and Amon. He knows who I am. And most importantly he knew who the ringleader was.

    He knew the one who pulled all of them strings. He knew the one who believed that they had my life in their hands.

    So off I went to my room, unsuspecting of what was happening behind the scenes.

    It only took a few minutes to get to my room and realize that Michael was most likely still training.

    I figured I would change into another set of clothing, not wanting to spend the rest of the day in the filthy cloths that were currently soaked in sweat.

    The minute I removed my shirt I realised that something was wrong, devastatingly wrong.

    I realised that my arms and parts of my torso were covered in long, twisting marks similar to burn scars. They wrapped around my arms and extended to the center of chest. They were a pale pink color and looked like they were engraved into my skin.

    I was confused about how I had gotten them, until I realized that some of the pain in my so-called dream was the feeling of worms crawling throughout my body. Even though my eyes had never seen the worms, I feel quite certain that the marks were caused by that.

    At any rate, I would have to make sure I always wore long sleeves or else people may be wondering where the marks came from.

    After several moments of stunned silence after I realized those terrible events did take place with Nyx and Amon, I found I was confronted with the question of my escape from the pain and the cavern I had fallen into.

    I recalled my final memories of being in the cavern but I can only remember the moment when I fell asleep, nothing else. I don¡¯t remember all of my wounds suddenly healing.

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    I continued to be befuddled by the questions until I reached into my pant¡¯s pocket and retrieved the stone from which the scythe came and saw black streaks with a hint of purple running throughout the stone.

    The stone must¡¯ve prevented the curse from killing me by taking the curse into it.

    Grrrrrrrrr¡­.

    I could only groan when my stomach began to grumble. I suppose I hadn¡¯t eaten in quite a long time, so I finished getting dressed and headed to the dining hall.

    After getting my meal I went to find a place to sit and saw Michael sitting at a table, so I figured I would go and sit by him.

    ¡°Hey Michael.¡± I greeted him s I sat down.

    ¡°Luc, you finally came back.¡± Michael said with his usual friendly smile. ¡°I was beginning to get worried that something happened to you in the forest since you were missing for quite a while.¡±

    ¡°I just hurt my head a little. I suppose I was out a little while.¡± I said quietly.

    ¡°Did you manage to run at all before you were injured?¡± Michael asked inquisitively. I was happy he didn¡¯t ask about my ¡°injury.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t use your wings at all?¡± He asked raising an eyebrow.

    ¡°I may have for a little while¡­.¡± I said quietly.

    ¡°I knew it. You just can¡¯t follow directions, can you?¡± He said, teasing me. He had done things like this before, so I did not take offense to it.

    ¡°No, I suppose I can¡¯t.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Michael, do you know when the classes start?¡± I was curious about this because it was getting quite boring in the academy, even with the countless books to read.

    ¡°Classes don¡¯t start for another two weeks, but that means a lot more student will be coming to the academy soon. They tend to come a few weeks in advance.¡± Michael replied quite happily.

    ¡°Why are you so happy? Do you know someone who is going to be coming to the academy?¡± He always acted happy, but concerning the kids coming in, he seemed especially excited.

    ¡°No reason.¡± he replied with a mischievous smile.

    Obviously something was up, but I inquired no further and spent the rest of dinner discussing what happened while I was gone. Nothing of importance.

    <hr />

    The next several weeks were spent reading books meant to prepare me for my classes and watching the countless students stream in through the gates. I also continued to run through the woods, increasing my stamina. I made sure to avoid the part of the forest I fell into the cavern

    Nothing interesting happened inside the academy, aside from a few fights between incoming students.

    The first day of classes finally came about and I viewed my schedule with a bit of apprehension and curiosity.

    <ol type="$type"></li>

    <li>Basic Principles of Purifying Magic</li>

    <li>Basic Principles of Materializing and Using Magic</li>

    <li>Magic in Combat</li>

    <li>Magic in Support

    </li></ol>

    (Lunch)

    <ol type="$type"></li>

    <li>Weapon Class (Scythe)</li>

    <li>Runes: How to Read and Use Them</li>

    <li>Study of Religious Texts and Other Writings

    </li></ol>