Chapter 1

Early Bird Gets the Worm

Seval snored, as he slept in peaceful dreams. He laid in bed with his head almost smothered in the covers. It was a well-deserved break after all the walking, fighting, and arguing. He needed this more than anything in the world. It had been decades since he had last been in such a comfortable state. This needed to go on forever . . .

"Seval!" a voice exclaimed at him irritatedly, after a door smacked against the wall loudly, very loudly. Seval had no choice but to wake up, only closing his eyes once more. He only grunted tiredly in response, hearing Marien groan back at him.

"Fine, I'll get you up myself," she stated. Footsteps followed, and before long, Seval was tugged off the bed by force, a quite strong one at that. He kept clawing for a hold on his beloved bed, but nothing could help him now.

"Nooo!" he exclaimed sorrowfully, being pulled onto the floor. He rested his face against the carpet in defeat, until admitting defeat. Finally he stood up, all awake and conscious. Definitely not prepared or content, though.

"I'm not doing this every morning. I hope you realize that if you keep this up you'll be forgotten," Marien advised him. Seval spun around and saw her already clad in her black tunic. Her dark auburn hair was kept tidy inside her hood. She was ready to go surprisingly.

"Nah. You won't forget me because we're walking there everyday," Seval boldly claimed, before picking up his sword and boots to head out. He heard Marien voice her disagreement as she turned around to leave.

"Who said that? I never agreed to such a preposterous plan," she declared, and went to leave his room, with the drapes of her tunic rustling behind her. Seval quickly put on his boots, like he was late to a meeting. Then, he ran after her.

"Hold on!" he requested, just barely catching the girl out in the hallway. She didn't seem to care, keeping her amber eyes straight ahead. In the way her hood was, he could barely catch her lips forming a faint smile. It swiftly turned into a frown, after she shot him a glance.

"Don't speak to me," she said, and returned her gaze ahead as they descended a hollow staircase that creaked at their every step. "I hope you realize that us being on the same team doesn't mean a thing. We're still separate individuals, and this thing we're forced into is a free for all. Good luck out there." She chuckled amusedly, just to stop seconds later. They had reached the bottom floor, seeing a dwarf sporting a tidy suit waiting for them.

"If ya don't mind, follow me. The first class of today shall be in the Scholar's Hall," the dwarf announced, and headed off elsewhere as an escort. Both Marien and Seval followed, the duo unsure of whatever was going on.

"Who's the teacher?" Seval asked curiously.

"I dunno. I wasn't told," the escort answered, as he led them down a new street that was full of guards, some in gold armor, as others had dull armor with red paint. They were mostly dwarves, only a few handful elves to be spotted by their tall, standing out height.

"Let's see . . ." the escort continued, stopping and scanning the place. "Ah! Here it is." He scurried over to a building that seemed completely vacant. Seval shot Marien a puzzled glance, before the two pursued their guide. From all around, dwarven guards gazed at the pair fiercely. They didn't seem all that happy, but at least they weren't charging or trying to slaughter anybody that didn't look like them.

"Just inside of here." The escort stood proudly at the wooden door, pushing it open, before standing there like a doorman. He kept an arm gestured inside, which gave the courtesy of the duo for entry.

Seval, with Marien trotting beside him, journeyed through the Scholar's Hall, or at least the entrance wing of it. Rows upon rows of bookshelves were all over the walls, some being hoisted off the ground. Doors split off from the main hallway--that had a stone tiled floor and dull ceiling with dwarven lights hanging about for every twenty feet or so in a row--leading into numerous varied rooms. Some were enormous, having entire rows that could fill twenty or so dwarves descending downward to where a round podium sat, surely where a teacher would rest. Others were small but organized, either they be archives or libraries. All of them, however, were empty.

"Seems like a nice place . . . if it wasn't so dead," Seval commented pitifully, with his eyes still locking in to every door he passed by, until it faded out of view.

"It must be abandoned. But does it really matter? We have this whole building to ourselves!" Marien fanned a hand around the hallway that caught Seval's eyes, her excited voice elevating her interest. "Anyway, I hope we find where we're supposed to go soon, because I have no idea where we are." The hallway seemed to go on for miles, no signs of a destination in sight. It would branch off into more hallways, which had their distinct colored rug spread across the floor, but no open door or anything. Just dead silence and vacancy.

"I . . . ," Seval went to say, just to see a distant figure down the hallway. As he neared, he could tell it was Shimmer, who was leaning against an open door. She no longer wore an underdress, for it was a strict skirt that hugged her legs and arms. It was very professional, like she actually knew what she was doing.

"Take a seat anywhere," Shimmer requested, and gestured inside the room. Seval obliged, making his grand entry. Against his expectations, the room was not colorful or anything. It was dull, so dull that it made Seval yawn at first sight. Beside the monotonous colors and texture, the room itself was a box. A pedestal sat in front of rows of chairs, all of which had a long, rectangular table in front of them. The table was also wooden, so everything was either stone or wood.

"Where do we sit?" Seval whispered to Marien, who was standing alongside him at the door, unable to pick a seat. He saw Arena in the front, her hands clasped together in preparation. She wore a ponytail, her crown still sitting proudly on her head. Seval got not one wave out of her, not even a glance, for her eyes were only trained ahead.

Behind the elf, in the second row, sat the nobles who kept fumbling about with their possessions. They continuously complained, arguing with another over the most tiny things. Not one of them looked like they wanted to be here.

Then sat the dwarves, all the way in the back of the room. They were practically invisible from how dark it was there. Being stuck behind a table in chairs didn't seem to stop them from roughing another. Seval could hear punches here and there, as well as shoves and grunts. Constant nuisances to ruin his studies; they weren't the best of classmates to be around.

"Um . . . let's sit there," Marien decided quietly, and pointed at the chairs in the very left end of the room, in the second row. Seval went to protest, only to realize that there wasn't much else of a choice. He nodded in hesitant approval, before following Marien to the chairs. They took their seats, a constant bickering, though faint, from behind them. It made Marien shoot the dwarves a glare, which shut them up in a blink of an eye. She was good.

Shimmer marched inside, closing the door behind her. She inhaled a long, calm breath, straightening her skirt's collar. After tending to her nervosities, she took her place behind the pedestal, yet she moved away from it after contemplating her choices.

"Hello, I'm Shimmer," she introduced herself, leaning against the wall adjacent to the pedestal, but in a way that her slanted body wasn't blocked at all. "I'll be responsible for your knowledge about royal magic. Does anybody know what that is, for starters?"

"It's our--human magic," Iodian blurted, before sitting back in his chair triumphantly. His sister congratulated him on the feat, with a warm smile added in. Shimmer nodded at the response, almost like she expected it.

"Very good. Royal magic is indeed derived from human will and that alone. Elves and dwarves, or anyone else, can't grasp it. They have their own magic, which you'll learn from the others later today or whenever it is." She pursed her lips and tapped her fingers together, unsure of what to do next. "Well . . . I guess we can start right away. You should have a spellbook of the Royal Sorcerer--your welcome--under your tables." Seval glanced under his table, indeed spotting a thick book that was royal blue and gold. "I doubt any of you know who the Royal Sorcerer is, for he isn't that popular of a wizard. . . ."

"He's the guy that got killed in a friendly duel, an assassination plot I'd say," Iodian remarked, with clear knowledge of royal magic and its entirety. "He's not the brightest bulb. What a sore loser. No wonder he died in the most idiotic way available." He kept a proud smile upon his face, with his sister trying to share his glory. Shimmer seemed like she wanted to say something, but she suppressed it to a neutral state.

"That's correct, yes. Though, he wasn't just known for that." She moved her lips around, without saying a word, a blue mass appearing before her that gently levitated in a spherical shape. "He's the creator of magica, which is this little ball here. You can do many things with it, since it's only limited to the wielder's mind." She cast her eyes upon the orb, her fingers twisting and stretching to do the same on it, amazing none but Seval, who couldn't help but let his jaw drop. Everybody else was a little less enthusiastic about the display. It displeased Shimmer at the reaction.

"Oh, I see that isn't exciting enough," she guessed, Iodian nodding his head in boredom. "Let's just step on ahead then, shall we?" In a matter of mere seconds, the blue orb became shaped into something completely new. It was no longer a useless orb, for it was now a growing mass with feet and arms, a head, all of it. It was a knight that held its blue sword and shield in pride.

"Conjuration. Only a true link with magica can do such things like this. Of course, with experience, you can grow beyond what is comprehensible. I really don't think there is a limit, I truly don't," she continued, her right hand growing in increasing blue light, before that blue knight turned into another form. It grew and expanded outward, its color turning into that of black. Nam'ill was back, just as a display. He seemed to be just fine with it, though, with everybody ooh'ing at him.

"That's Nam'ill," she identified the knight, a warm smile on her face. "Don't even dream of conjuring such a being like himself. It takes decades of mastery to learn such a thing."

"It only took you a few minutes, I thought?" Nam'ill challenged her, surprising her into a red face.

"No . . . I was using your spell . . ." Her voice trailed off, as she dispelled the dark knight. In an irritated groan, she rested her eyes upon the students ahead of her. "Open your books and turn to the page where it says Magica and Evulani." Everybody obliged, Seval taking some time to examine each and every page for those words, just to make sure. Beside him, Marien shook her head at how slow he was.

"What about the part before that?" Arena asked confusedly, showing the pages to an attentive Shimmer. Though, the mage just shook her head.

"That's not important. Just ignore it," she answered, setting her eyes on the dwarves in the back. "Hey! Are you even listening to me? Seeing my demonstrations? Do I have to move you to the front?" The dwarves had stopped their snickering and roughing in the back, their attention now toward her.

"Nay, I promise we been listenin' to ya the whole time," Ruck claimed, Drak whispering into his ear. What a mysterious bunch.

"You better be," Shimmer said disappointedly, her arms crossed and eyes dead set on the dwarves fiercely. Soon she moved into a more relaxed state to resume her instructions. "On the same page that you see the title, I'd like you to tell me what is the first listed spell and its words." Everyone went to reading, just for Iodian to have an answer only seconds in.

"Audna Truail. Enhancement of the ears and eyes."

"Correct," Shimmer remarked to satisfy his triumph, her eyes scanning the rows of students. "Now, I'd like you all to repeat those words out loud, until something changes. Trust me, you'll know when that change occurs." She laid back on the wall and watched everyone burst out in the chant, every word being jumbled up into a load of nonsense, each of them in a different tone. It sounded like a first time choir, with a not so bright future ahead.

"Audna . . . Trail? Audna Trail . . . damn it," Seval kept repeating, unable to let go of the word that slipped off his tongue. No matter how hard he tried, it just stayed. There goes his success, for it was all just failure.

"Audna Truail," Marien recited clearly, her eyes narrowed. "How is this useful? I can see the wall's cracks and decay, but that's it. Wow. Great class." Her sarcasm made Seval want a taste of the spell more and more, until he just forced himself into it.

"Audna Trai . . . Audna Truail!" he exclaimed, loud enough for the whole class to hear and fall silent. Despite embarrassed, he felt a sudden atmospheric change. The silence had grown louder in his ears, able to hear breathing from everyone. Arena's was calm, the nobles' were of irritation, and the dwarves' were quick for whatever reason. Strangely enough, Marien's breathing was the faintest of them all, only to be heard as a low thump, like a heartbeat. It was extremely serene and calm, beating that of Arena's.

"Did you . . . ," Shimmer declared, and it hurt Seval's ears by utmost surprise. He clamped his hands around his poor, ringing ears. They kept pulsing, like blood was rushing out of them. Luckily, it all subsided soon, for his hearing had gone back to normal. Though, the sharp pains remained whenever he would think to himself. That was great.

"Well, at least you did it," Shimmer congratulated Seval, before darting her eyes at the dwarves in the back. "Unlike them. They have done nothing I've asked them to do. I'd throw them out of this very building if I could, but I don't think that's allowed."

"Oi, we're quite hurt at that, ya know? We have hearts, not of stone. Hold ya tongue, where it belongs. . . . Human," Drak remarked, the two dwarves chortling together. Shimmer almost lost her cool, just barely holding onto it, before it turned into a smile.

"My tongue? Oh, well, if that's the case. . . ." She thrust the palm of her right hand toward the dwarves, a flash of blue light erupting that didn't affect Seval at all. It surely did affect somebody, though.

"My eyes! What have ya done, ya witch!" Ruck demanded painfully, groaning alongside his brother. They covered their eyes with their large hands, everybody turning around in their chairs to examine them.

"Heh. Seems like magica is better than your dwarven nonsense, isn't it?" Iodian tweeted, his sister throwing the blinded dwarves a mocking smile.

"They couldn't dream of possessing such power as our dear friend here," Isqiene added favorably toward Shimmer, who blushed for a hot second.

"Well, it's possible, just very unlikely," Shimmer determined, before clearing her throat for attention. "I'd like you all to turn your neighbor--I'll be yours, Arena--and try to chant another spell that we haven't used yet. If you even bother with one on the second page, good luck is all I can say." She positioned herself in front of Arena's table, actively listening and teaching the elf personally. Seval wished he had treatment like that. Instead, he was stuck with Marien.

"What do you want to try?" Marien asked him, so he faced her with his book open in his lap.

"I don't know. Something easy. I could barely do the last one," he answered, and heard her chuckle at him. He shot her a glare, but she had already ceased her laughter. Her eyes were directed onto the book below her, her hood hiding the upper halves of them as well as most of her forehead and hair. A very studious position, if Seval could say so himself, that had her legs crossed on the chair's flat platform.

"I think I'll . . . ," she tilted her head left and right, searching the page, until striking a finger upon it. "This one: Gumanis Pranxin." She leaned closer to the book, arching her back forward. "Gladiator . . . fight?" The spell piqued Seval's interest and he wanted to find it.

"Where? Where is it?" he asked excitedly, his eyes darting all over the pages. Soon Marien's finger entered his vision to lead him to his objective. "Gumanis Prax . . . Pranxin?" Though amused at his pronunciation, Marien nodded her head.

"I'll try it first, then you can follow," she decided, relaxing her throat. "Gumanis Pranxin." She said the words in clarity, a miniscule blue mass appearing on the table. It started as a circle, only to shift into a figurine clad in blue armor and a helmet that had a mohawk of trapped feathers. A tiny spear and round shield sat in both of its even tinier hands.

"Oh, that's neat," Marien commented, and shifted her eyes onto Seval, after scanning the blue figurine for some time. "You try." She watched Seval fumble on his words, until eventually getting them right.

"Gumanis Pranxin," he recited, after numerous failed attempts. His own blue figurine appeared on his side of the table, identical to the other. Seval and Marien both watched the gladiators examine their competition, weighing their own spears and shields, as if they hadn't been summoned in centuries. They wouldn't fight another, though.

"It says that one of us has to say Advensa first," Marien declared, her head buried inside of the book. Seval waited for her, only seeing her raise her head up at him with expectant eyes. After a few moments of admitting his defeat and laziness, he heaved a sigh.

"Advensa," he added reluctantly.

His figurine went from a light blue to a light red in a matter of seconds. Then, the two gladiators of opposing colors clashed. They swung their tiny spears and shields, even getting unarmed at times. It felt like it was an actual battle. At the end of it, the red figurine, with only one arm, thrust its jagged spear directly into the other's shield. It bounced off, but the gladiator followed it up with a swift kick from below. That got its foe on its knees, and it quickly finished the job with a brutal spear thrust to the helmet.

"Come on. How do you lose with such an advantage?" Marien commented disappointedly, shaking her head. The red figurine, though heavily wounded, bowed toward the two spectators, as the blue figurine fell over on its side lifelessly. As it disappeared, Shimmer approached the table to rest her arms onto it.

"Gladiator fights? Oh, I haven't watched one of these in forever, it feels like." Her eyes darted back and forth to the duo. "Who won?" Marien didn't say a word, ashamed. Seval could see that and boasted about his triumph.

"I did, with incredible ease. Her fighter stood no chance against mine," he declared, and was glared at in the side of his head by Marien. Shimmer shrugged and twirled her fingers around boredly.

"You both summoned the same gladiator, so it was all luck. Though, after a while, you can start formulating strategies to counter your opponent. It's quite the game, I'd say," she said, which raised Marien's spirits slightly. "So, try me." Seval nervously watched her summon a figurine clad in shining blue armor, its longsword basked in moonlight. It stood quite tall, and its helmet was sharp and fierce. Countless black skull emblems ran along its arms and bulging chestplate.

"The Skullpiercer," she said, almost naughtily. "I overheard somebody use it, so I took it as mine. It's quite a formidable foe, since it hasn't lost a single duel." The Skullpiercer raised its longsword into the air, in a slanted state. It seemed to be boasting in a squeakish, guttural language. It may have been menacing and fierce, but it was still as tiny as Seval's index finger.

"Well? Go on ahead," Marien prowled him from aside, so he nervously repeated the spell. His blue figurine appeared, and after it turned red, it was quaking in its boots. Somehow, it felt like the Skullpiercer was double the size of the gladiator, despite them both being tiny. As Seval shook his fists under the table, like he was gambling, the two figurines clashed.

His gladiator thrust its spear, with its round shield held in front of its helmet for safety, at the Skullpiercer's chestplate. Though, the dark knight batted aside the spear with its longsword, immediately swinging its heavy left gauntlet at its foe. The jab repelled the gladiator a good distance away, its shield engulfed in smoke and an active blue flame. In no time, nothing was left of the shield, as the flame spread its way across the gladiator. All it took was one jab to eradicate the poor figurine. It left Seval in dismay, as Shimmer gleefully smiled at her triumph.

"I can't say that I didn't expect this, but by god, that was so thrilling to watch," she said, her hand imitating the Skullpiercer's wild boasting. "No wonder it's undefeatable; its gauntlet single-handedly wins duels on its own." Seval felt like he lost all his money, unable to accept his defeat.

"Impossible! I just won in a landslide moments ago . . ." he complained, his voice trailing off, as the Skullpiercer brandished its longsword at him. It just wasn't disappearing, so Seval decided to do the work himself. He pounded the figurine with his fist, a sticky substance attached to him. When he lifted his fist to examine it, he saw a blue flattened circle underneath it. Before he could shake it off, it fell onto the floor and disappeared.

"That's everything for me, so just take your book and practice the first page or so. I expect all the spells to be memorized by tomorrow," Shimmer declared, clapping her hands together before setting her focus on the chattering nobles on her right.

"Where do we go now?" Seval blurted, the mage stopping in place.

"The dwarf that led you here will show you where to go. Don't worry," she answered, not turning around at all, proceeding toward the noble pair. Seval went to ask her more questions, but she had already struck a conversation with the siblings. Beside him, Marien stood, her book nestled closely to her torso with an arm crossed over it.

"Time for second class," she muttered, heading out of the room. Seval hastefully grabbed his belongings and sped after her. He had noticed Arena was already gone, so she was way ahead of him. He wouldn't be surprised if she was the star student.