Erdem’s leg shook, bobbing up and down as he fervently tapped his heel against the black marble of the chamber’s floor. At least until he caught the annoyed look of the person next to him. He shoved some of his brown curled hair out of his face and offered the girl an apologetic look, halting his movements before sending his eyes around the circular room.

Though, he noted, that he wouldn’t really call the space a room as that would inaccurately describe the space. Instead he might have called it a hall, but even that didn’t seem right considering the building that they were in. The Department of Higher Learning was the largest building at the Academy, within it being all the larger lecture halls.Those were halls. Large massive pillars reaching up to the arched ceiling where large windows allowed sun to sep in during the day and starlight in the evening. They were decorated with art and luxuries like tapestries depicting the heroes of the Mage Wars or other moments in history. Showing the splendor of the academy.

That day they were in the Chamber of Excellence, a circular room that had five crescent desks, each with three chairs, all facing inward to where a small podium was set facing the Director’s Bench that stood higher than the rest of the room. Though the Director himself was not there at that moment.

Men and women with vibrant hair and the stern looks of academics filled the desks. Each set of three was adorned with different colored robes that matched the six banners that’d been hung in equal increments on the walls around the outside of the chamber. Blue, red, green, purple, gray and finally the black that hung behind the empty Director’s bench. Each representing the different departments held within the Academy of Mages.

A young girl in white was currently standing at the podium, her face pale as the heads of the departments bore in on her. Asking questions about her background and academic pursuits. What she hoped to accomplish after getting an education at their Academy. How she’d done in school before. So on and so forth.

She was a prospective student along with the rest of the numbers that filled the chairs lining the outside walls of the Chamber of Excellence that day. It was admittance day and not a soul in white seemed ready for the occasion.

A professor in green was asking the girl about her aptitude for healing magics when a tall thin man in pure black wept through a set of double doors on the opposite side of the chamber. His stark black hair that matched his robes almost exactly in color was tied with a blue band and pulled over his shoulder. Keeping the strands from falling into his angular features and deep set eyes.

His ancestors must have hailed from some place south of the Teeth, Erdem noted as he eyed Director Ingvar Terzic for the first time. Erdem had never seen them in person, but rumors said that Director Terzic’s eyes were the embodiment of ice itself.

The Director’s appearance had drawn the attention of the room. Filling the air with a thick, heavy silence as he took his seat at the high desk and cleared his throat. Gesturing for the room to continue as he began shifting through papers that had been left on his desk for him.

“Director Terzic never comes to these,” one of the white robes boys said a few seats down from Erdem, “Not unless there’s something big happening.”

“Didn’t you notice something was going on?” Another chimed in, “Its odd for all the department heads to be here in general.”

Erdem swallowed. He had a hunch that he knew what that something big was, though he hated to admit that it would draw the attention of the Director of the academy himself. He’d been warned that it might happen when he’d gotten sponsorship from Professor Beckert.

“This will be a test,” the elderly professor stated one evening when Erdem had visited, “a test to see if we are any better than the people that came before us.”

He’d remembered the fire that’d reflected in the old Mages eyes. Dancing through the startling green that glowed with youth any time he spotted Erdem in the room. It had always surprised Erdem to see them gleam the way they did. Even then, across the room where Professor Beckert sat in his blue robes, Erdem could imagine the youthful green gaze set amongst his weathered face.

“Erdem Pires.” His name being called drew him from his thoughts as he looked toward Director Terzic. He was looking expectantly about the lining of the room, studying the prospective students that’d come here for their admittance interviews that day.

“Is Erdem Pires not present,” The Director asked. This pulled Erdem from his daze as he shot upward, raising his hand and drawing every gaze to him in the process. The Director turned his way, nodding slightly at Erdem before gesturing toward the podium. “Take the Podium, Mr. Pires.”

Of all the moments that Erdem had faced, this was the one where the urge to run was most prevalent. Still, he’d come so far in the last year. He was lucky to even have an interview, let alone one that the Director of the Academy was attending to himself. When Professor Beckert had told him he should petition for admittance under special circumstances, he’d never imagined it’d call that much attention.

His feet felt like they were somehow melded to the marble floor beneath him. He wondered if this was some sort of magic or the fear that almost made his body vibrate. It took what felt like eons to force himself to take the first step, though perhaps it didn’t take more than a moment for him to shuffle up to the podium and take his place facing the Director.

“Mr. Pires,” The Director looked at him over the desk, “You’ve petitioned for admittance to the Department of Research under special circumstances. As you are aware, this still means that you must get a majority vote from all departments even if your goal is set.”

“I’m aware,” Erdem said.

“It seems that you’ve even procured a sponsor from the Department,” the Director’s eyes moved away from Erdem, “Professor Beckert is this true?”

The elderly professor nodded, “I have offered to sponsor Mr. Pires. This is correct.”

“Very well,” the Director marked something on his paper with a quill before setting them down. “The floor is now open to the professors.”

At once a woman in gray spoke, “What are the special circumstances that this student is applying under.”

“Erdem Pires is not a Mage,” Professor Beckert stated. “He is petitioning for admittance under the circumstance of being unable to use magic.”

A wave of voices rose from the people in the room and many eyes found him. It was like he was suddenly in nothing but his underclothes and a million times smaller than he actually was. The way some rose in protest, pushing up from their chairs as they tried to call attention to their words, left his palms cold and sweaty. Many called blasphemy, that a human attending their academy would be a plague of troubles.

“What could a human possibly want here?”

“This academy is our stronghold, we cannot break tradition.”

“They can never let us have our own things.”

“He can’t use magic, why does he set himself up for failure?”

“We can’t let a human taint our academy.”

Erdem had felt judged before. He’d been on the journey to join the academy for over a year now and many times people had laughed in his face. Called him all manner of names. Things far worse than the things these well mannered academics did now. In that moment though it felt like the weight of the world was on his small, scrawny shoulders. He swallowed back the bile that rose in his throat as the crowd around him raged. Doing his best to ignore the way their eyes held him.

“Quiet,” The Director's voice was swallowed in the chaos before he raised a hand and slammed it down on the desk before him. Hard. “QUIET.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The noise had drawn shock but it silenced the rage of the others in the room. Suddenly Erdem’s eyes met with the blue ones across the room and the Director gave him a soft smile. One that caused Erdem’s spine to straighten and his chin to raise.

“I’d like to remind the chamber that we are academics,” Director Terzic said. “Not a classroom of unruly children. Now, the floor is - once again - open for questions.”

Several voices rose at once, falling into Erdem’s ears in a jumbled mess. They all cut their sentences off when a strong, heavy sigh broke from Director Terzic’s lips. He glared around at the others like a disappointed father after he’d warned his children to behave.

“Professor Lyndon,” the Director waved toward a woman in Red with soft pink hair, “You have the floor.”

The woman gave Erdem a gentle look. “You want to join the research department, why is that?”

“Because I’d like to continue my studies in ancient language and the history of the Known,” Erdem said. Thankful at last for a reasonable question.

“Is there no other academy where you could pursue those interests?” She continued, “Our academy is primarily magic based, after all.”

Erdem considered her words for a moment before asking, “can I be frank?”

She gave him a nod, curiosity written in her smile now.

“No other academy actually studies ancient language and magical history,” Erdem stated. “Or, it they do, it’s entirely lacking.”

One of the other Professors snorted, “As they shouldn’t. Magical history and the ancient language should be for mages only. Humans have no use for it.”

“I don’t agree,” Erdem stated. “Understanding the ancient language could open up many avenues to advanc-”

The Professor cut in, “You can’t become a mage, boy.”

“That’s not my intention.” Erdem’s brows furrowed. “Magic is a trait passed down through blood, something that I’m sure my family doesn’t have.”

The Professor crossed his arms over his chest. “So perhaps you’re here to find our weaknesses then?”

This was when Erdem felt his chest tighten. Knowing that the wave of whispers that ran through the room meant people had thought the same.

“I only wish to study,” He said. “I want to research an-”

“The Mad King also liked to study magic,” another professor in gray robes stated, “and he did. He researched enough that he was able to enslave mages. Children. Into his army. By using our magic against us. Is that why words of power interest you?”

Erdem felt the blood drain from his face, “I would never do such a thing.”

“Yes, yes,” the woman in gray waved his words away, “Always saying you're innocent. Never take ownership for what your kind did. The massacres and the blood you humans caused to our people. Disgusting.”

Chaos broke out. Many standing to echo the agreement of the woman’s statement. Others’ raising to shout their concerns as well. Voices peaking and tangling together as they filled the air with the same unbridled anger as before. Erdem tried his best to address questions that were tossed his way, accusations and in part slander that was addressed at him. Though Director Ingvar did his best to quiet the chaos, his voice was drowned out. Until at last a strong voice peaked above everything else, drawing all eyes to the woman in blue sitting beside Professor Beckert.

“At what point,” the woman’s voice sent a shiver through the room, “did we all regress from academics who are able to have sensible discussions into a hall of wild animals?”

Her eyes flashed icily around the room, a hand moving to brush a strand of red hair from her face. It was then that Erdem noted the pins decorating her blue robe. There were five in total; red, green, purple, gray and black. She’d been decorated in all areas of magic then, enough to earn pins from every department and from the Director himself. He wasn’t surprised, the woman held a command of the room that even the director didn’t seem to have.

“Foolish,” she stated. “And shameful.”

Then her eyes turned back to Erdem and the cold, displeased scowl that had painted her face disappeared. She gave a small gesture for him to speak, perhaps hoping that Erdem could say something that wouldn’t devolve the room once more. He wasn’t sure there was much he could say, he was beginning to think that perhaps this whole thing was indeed a mistake. Professor Beckert’s test had been a resounding failure. Still, he would try.

“I understand your hesitation,” he started, “history has not been kind to Mages. I know because I’ve spent many years studying the history of our kingdom and the role magic has played in it.”

“Study, you say.” The woman was clearly not interested in letting anyone else speak again. “Where were you born, Mr. Pires?”

“Here, Professor. In Larith.”

“Larith,” she said. “Did you ever travel to other kingdoms?”

“No, Professor.”

“So you’ve never known a time when Mages were any less than you,” she asked. Pressing him further.

Erdem nodded. “In my lifetime, mages have always been free independent humans with the same rights as myself.”

The woman nodded. “Humans,” she repeated his words, “do you not see us as different races?”

“I do not, Professor.. Ah-”

“Strom,” she said. “Dean of-”

“The historical records department,” Erdem’s face lit, “I read the book you published with Seer Mato of the history of the Known. When I finished I hunted down your other works on basics of ancient language and your text on the Mage Wars.”

A chuckle erupted from the Director whom Erdem had nearly forgotten was there. “You’ve a fan, Strom.”

The Professor cleared her throat, her face a noticeable shade darker red than before. “I bring this up,” she said. “Because a lot of things have been brought against you out of the biases of our counsel here today.”

The woman in gray shot to her feet. “Are you implying we’re being prejudiced?”

Strom met the woman’s eyes with an even, confident gaze. “I’m not implying,” Strom said. “I’m telling you that you are.”

“That would mean that you think all of our suffering,” the woman leaned in, “should just be forgotten? Humans went to war against us. They enslaved us. Massacred our kind and tried to wipe our entire race from the Known. Should we just sit down and allow these mur-”

“Professor Mayes,” The Director cut across the woman’s sentence. His cold eyes held her’s in gentle warning before the woman conceded and looked away. This did not remove the scowl from her face though as she took her seat again. Allowing Strom to stand and draw the attention of the room.

“Professor Mayes is right,” she said drawing confused looks from the others in the hall, “terrible things happened to our people. We were murdered, enslaved, and ran out of our homelands. It was that injustice that caused us to rise up and make war to defend ourselves.”

She paused, her eyes searching the room. “That boy,” she pointed at Erdem, “has nothing to do with that war though.”

Erdem’s heart skipped at her words as she allowed the meaning to sink into the room’s heavy silence. A few nodded began to appear around the room. She then turned her gaze to Erdem.

“Mr. Pires,” she said. “Do you remember the Mage Wars?”

“I only know what I’ve learned from textbooks,” he stated.

“Textbooks,” the woman in gray was speaking again, “When were you born?”

Erdem straightened his back, “In the winter of 2362.”

Strom scoffed at the look of shock on the other woman’s face before she spoke again, “The last of the dust from the Mage Wars ended in 2358. Mr. Pires wasn’t alive for any of it.” She sighed. “I don’t know if you remember what happened after the war, but I do. Many called for justified eye for eye, to show the humans what we’d been suffering. What would that solve though? More blood, more hate, and more of the same spiraling loop that’d brought us so much disappear.”

The room was silent. None dared to even look at Erdem or Strom, let alone speak. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything either. They were, in many ways, correct about the issues they’d brought up. Erdem’s ancestors had done terrible things to mages. Humans had shunned, enslaved, and done many unspeakable things to mages in fear of their magic. Of what they were and how they were different. The Mad King had seen that the fear was deep rooted, anchored in religion and faith.

“Twenty-one years,” The Director said, breaking the silence. “The Academy was founded 21 years ago, before this boy was even thought of. In that time we have made advances in magic, learned much with the help of our founders. Yet we still haven’t learned the biggest lesson of them all.”

Erdem met the Director's eyes, “What lesson sir.”

“That if we want the circle of hate to stop, it needs to stop with us.” The Director’s words were strong. “We have biases that come from that time, hatred and prejudices that we shaped when we had to survive. Those are things that we must handle. You, a boy born after who has never seen us as lesser, are not the people whom we should hold bias against. You are the innocent that we must break the circle to protect.”

“How did you do academically in your other schools,” It was the pink haired woman form before. Professor Lyndon, if Erdem was remembering correctly. Though the question caused him to blink, a slight confusion muddying his mind before it cleared and he was able to answer.

“Well,” he said. “I’ve gotten good marks in all my studies, including at the current academy I attend.”

“Is that academy what you referred to when you said no other schools had adequate learning?” She smiled at Erdem’s nod before asking, “What academy do you currently attend?”

“Larith’s Royal Academy.”

Larith had established several academy’s over the years. The Royal academy being the largest one for all races to frequent. It was only Academy of Mages that had held to it’s values of no humans, though none had actually tried to attend given the name implied it was for Mages only. It was also where most of the Magical advancements of their age had taken shape.

“What do you plan to do if you aren’t admitted today?”

Erdem looked down. He hadn’t thought about that. “I suppose I’ll try again next year,” he stated. “And continue to learn what I can on my own.”

“This boy wants nothing but to learn,” she said, meeting Professor Beckert’s eyes across the hall. “Can we call ourselves teachers if we deny him that right simply because he is human?”

“He would fail all general coursework,” another Professor cut in.

“We’ve tailored education plans to students before,” Strom stated. “We just fill in the magic classes with other things of equal value.”

There was a murmur as teachers began to discuss other lessons in which elementary magic could be replaced with. Magical theory for practical magic. Ancient language for spellcasting. Many more had equal courses that could be tailored to him, as a non magical student. When it seemed like the interest was peaking in the room the Director raised his hand.

“Erdem Pires, you understand that school here will not be easy?” The Direct smiled at Erdem’s serious nod. “That you will be upheld to high standards as a sponsored student and even more as the first none mage within our academy’s ranks”

“I understand that, Director Terzic.”

It was the Director's turn to nod. “Then we will put it to a vote,” he said. “There are 15 people present who are able to vote. You need 8 to win your admittance.”

Beckert was the first to stand, this Erdem was not surprised about. Strom and the other blue robed mage who’d been silent through the discussion rose after him. Professor Lyndon rising at the same time as them along with a few others. Erdem counted seven and his heart fell. Then, just as the Director’s hand was about to lift to write the number another person rose from her seat. Professor Mayes met Erdem’s eyes over the space between them. She was still scowling, but there was something softer in her gaze then. She likely still felt the wounds from the Mage Wars, but Professor Strom’s words had still rang true.

“Welcome to the Academy, Mr. Pires.”