"I didn't know you rescued strays," Gallion stated, glaring at Gianna.
'WOAHHHH.'
Damien's butt puckered up real quick as the girl's face dropped to absolute zero in an instant and someone laughed back at the carriages.
"Gallion. Always a pleasure. Still have a dick in your ass I see," the Celestial he'd so recently acquainted with on the ride out responded.
Damien took a massive step back mentally and physically while glancing over his shoulder for help, only to see the coach had already begun to pull away.
'TRAITORS!!'
"Guys can't-"
"Yes, well I'll always believe it's exactly what you need rather than the stick you seem to prefer," Gallion shot back, interrupting Alexa's short appeal for diplomacy.
"At least I don't have to walk funny."
"Yes, and you'll walk like that until you die. Would you like a cat?"
"Fuck you."
"I'd rather not be the one to break you in."
Damien and Alexa stayed frozen in place, watching the rapid-fire exchange happen in front of them. Neither said anything, neither did anything, only stepping closer to one another while praying the two wouldn't turn their venom elsewhere.
"Go to hell."
"I visited Hylyu last year," Gallion said with a wave, shooing at Gianna as she picked up her things and sauntered away through the crowds, flipping him off in the process.
Damien watched her leave, feeling bad for the girl. Gallion was... something else with his words.
Damien looked at Alexa and saw she had a complicated expression on her face, not sure what to do either. It would seem neither of them had the social skills to deal with this.
"Well that was fun," Gallion said, turning back toward them with a smile.
"Why can't you two just get along?" Alexa asked with a sigh while Damien nodded.
"She's ice to my fire. A prude and a tease, the worst combination. Now, enough of that. Let's get you checked in Damien," he said, motioning for them to follow along as he turned and headed back toward the academy grounds, annoyed.
"What's a dick?" Kastra asked, bending down into Damien's vision as he followed along after Gallion, bags in hand.
"I... I'll explain it later, or never..." Damien said, coughing and mumbling while shaking his head.
Sometimes it was refreshing that she didn't know slang, and at times like this, it was horrible. It was a wonder it hadn't already been explained to her. He'd have to make Alexa handle it later.
Gallion moved through the gates, weaving between the many other people of all different shapes and sizes that were staring about in wonder, and brought them to an enormous building. It looked about the size of a casino back on Earth, without the added height hotel rooms gave.
Damien looked upward and saw Temporary Housing was written above its large oak double doors. Gallion opened one of the doors and the three followed him through.
Immediately, Damien felt like turning around and leaving. The sheer volume of noise that hit his ears when the doors were opened... it was like a tidal wave of hundreds of conversations all crashing into his ears at once. The room was as large as an auditorium and filled to capacity. It sounded like an auditorium too, if Damien was going to compare the two.
Directly in front of them was a rope, and further to the right was an opening in the rope with words painted on the ground saying "Line starts here". Twenty feet into that line that snaked right by where Damien was currently standing was the back end of it. He had not the slightest clue as to where the front was, or how deep this crowd of people all waiting in line went.
Damien's face fell.
"Stop gawking, let's go," Alexa said, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the left as Kastra jumped to her shoulder.
Refocusing his eyes and positioning them on her back, Damien allowed himself to be drawn in the small space between the throngs of people in line, and the wall bordering the outside world. A minute of following her later and they arrived in front of a door with a red crystal in the center of it and words across the top which read Returning Students Only.
Gallion held his hand up to the door and the crystal turned green. The door slid open and they all hurriedly entered, escaping into a room that was eerily silent in comparison to where they'd just been.
"Miserable," Gallion said, fixing his clothing and leading the way again.
The new room was much, much smaller than the previous one, and only had two couches in it. It looked able to hold around ten people comfortably and had another door fixed on side opposite them, which Gallion headed directly toward.
He opened the new door and when Damien moved through it, he felt like whistling. Much more lavishly decorated than the other two sections of this building, it felt like a waiting area for an expensive five-star hotel or restaurant. It boasted multiple windows, couches, gold lined end tables and coffee tables, and even a bar for refreshments. Damien believed there was probably more money in this room alone than he'd encountered in his entire life combined if he exluded the foray into the Fae realm.
Gallion didn't seem nearly as impressed as he was, ignoring all of the beauty, and led the way to a desk with an elf receptionist behind it. The woman sat behind a name plaque reading Moonrose and glanced up when Gallion came over. She looked to be in her mid-thirties with long golden hair and a relatively slim figure.
"Stuck at the desk again Luna?" Gallion asked, causing the woman to furrow her brows.
"Gallion. It's Ms. Moonrose. And yes, it is indeed my turn again... who is this with you?" Ms. Moonrose corrected in a cold tone before questioning, looking past him to Damien.
"New applicant," he replied with a shrug.
Ms. Moonrose's eyes sharpened as she looked at Gallion, expressing her feelings at his answer.
"Gallion, you can't sponsor every single good-looking Elerian you come across. You've already used your four spots on three women and a man then used your clout to get another man in. I won't allow-"
"Oh yee of little faith, this one is Alexa's," he said, pointing to the Celestial behind him.
"Alexa?" she asked, face turning surprised. "Ah, I didn't see you there sweetheart," she said, looking to Alexa then over to Kastra. "Hello Kastra. You look lovely as always."
"Hello Ms. Luna. You look beautiful as well," Kastra replied from atop Alexa's shoulder.
"What did he do to blackmail you into helping him?" she asked, turning back to Alexa.
"I did no such thing."
"You expect me to believe she really wants this... what's your name, dear?" she stopped turning to Damien again.
"It's Damien ma'am," he responded.
"Right. Damien. Polite young man, don't let him influence you," she said, turning back to Gallion. "You expect me to believe she is willing to sponsor him?"
"I do. Tell her," Gallion said, looking back at Alexa and motioning for her to speak.
"I would like to sponsor him, Ms. Moonrose. If that's alright," Alexa said a little nervously.
"Call me Luna, dear, and it's no trouble at all so long as he didn't do anything to you. You have ten slots this year and have used none of them," she finished, pointing at Gallion mid-sentence and turning back to Damien as he watched Gallion scowl. "Fill this out," she said, sliding him a piece of paper and what looked like a pen. "Name, age, place of birth, birthdate, parents names, race, and preferred method of testing. Everything else is optional," she explained.
Damien nodded and moved over to a couch with a table in front of it, Alexa following behind him as they both looked over the paper and set their luggage down.
"You're sure I can just put my age as normal?" he asked.
"It should be fine with me as your sponsor, but I'll go back up with you just in case," she responded.
He looked at her questioningly but she offered no further explanation so he didn't press. She had more slots for sponsorship than Gallion and could allegedly get him in even though he was born a month late. Things weren't adding up.
They poured over the paper, Kastra flitting down from Alexa to get closer, and begun to answer its questions. Some of the bonus questions he left blank, like ones asking his preferred weapon and element of highest knowledge. When he got to the one asking for his preferred method of testing, he marked combat. He wasn't sure what 'Oral Presentation' consisted of and 'Showmanship' just sounded horrible.
Perhaps those were for people that specialized in noncombatant magics.
Damien stood up as Kastra flew to his shoulder and offered Alexa a hand with standing before walking back to the desk. He set the paper down and the woman, whom Gallion had not stopped annoying, grabbed it to begin looking it over. She glanced back up from the paper with a neutral expression moments later.
"You're too young hun. No exceptions, I'm sorry. Come back next year."
"Uhm, Ms. Moon-"
"Luna, dear," the elf interrupted, smiling at Alexa
"...Ms. Luna, I was told I could bring him to the testing grounds when I asked Dean Lemshire, is that not ok?" Alexa asked.
"Oh! Right, I'm sorry. Special case, let me check if he has a file," she said, holding her hand up as orange text started floating before her. "Ah, here it is. Right, well... I suppose it has been asked for in the past... alright. I'll be coming with you both though," she said, flicking her wrist and sending the floating, incorporeal form across the room into a file while standing.
Alexa nodded and Ms. Moonrose led them out of the office, Gallion in tow and bags left behind. They entered a few different hallways before walking down a flight of stairs and arrived in front of a room with double doors.
Arena
Damien read the plaque as they walked through the doors and into a room that was as tall as four stories and almost as big as the first auditorium they'd entered. Directly after the door was a walkway that led to more descending stairs, ending at a coliseum of sorts. All along the sides of the room, seats were lined with spectators.
Ms. Moonshire led them down the walkway where Damien began to hear whispers from the students to his sides.
"Isn't that her?"
"Fairy princess indeed..."
"Yeah! Look, we were just talking about her!"
"Who is that with her?"
"A sponsor? He looks young for a Human."
"The Ice Queen herself."
Damien leaned to his side and whispered to Alexa, "Why are they all talking about you?"
"They aren't, shut up."
"Then who would they be talking about, Luna?" he said skeptically.
"I'll explain later just... stop breathing on my neck," she said, blushing slightly and leaning away.
"Why is it on the boy's shoulder?"
"She has emotions?"
Words continued following them down the pathway as Ms. Moonrose led them to a black-haired man standing guard by a set of doors leading to the arena, wearing a simple set of black shorts and a t-shirt. He was holding what looked like a physical representation of mana in the shape of paper, similar to what Ms. Moonrose had used earlier except blue, and watched them as they approached.
"Good to see you, Luna. His name?" he asked, motioning toward Damien.
"Damien Tearen," Ms. Moonrose replied.
"Tearen," the man said as the list of names floating before him seemed to scroll upward endlessly. "Here it is. Wait time is approximately five hours. Take a seat wherever you like."
"Sponsorship: Alexa Sial N'moran," Alexa replied, prompting a few of the closer parties to gasp as the room slowly turned from watching the current match to the four of them.
Damien glanced around nervously for a moment. He wasn't used to this many people being around him in this life, and definitely not having all focusing on him.
"Very well. Wait here until this match is over," the guard stated.
Ms. Moonrose nodded and they waited, watching the match. It was between two younger Humans like him, one wearing what looked like a uniform and the other wearing casual clothing. They were engaged in rather... slow magical combat from Damien's point of view.
The man in the uniform kicked his foot into the ground after dodging a poorly made and aimed shard of ice, then mumbled something under his breath. Once his foot touched the ground, it dug into the earth like it was sand and came up the other side, launching a misshapen boulder at the other fighter.
"[Rock wall]!"
Damien cringed as the other younger man shouted out, trying to raise a thin barrier of earth rather than dodge. The boulder crashed through it and continued unimpeded into his stomach, sending him into a wall of the arena. The poor guy looked like a child as he crumpled to the ground in a heap, coughing and sputtering.
"Samuel Dresun, failure," the guard called out, echoing around the room.
The fallen man in the arena slammed his fist into the ground and started yelling.
"Just give me another chance! This was too much! You put me up against someone too strong! Just let me try again!"
His tantrum did nothing to impress the guard, instead causing a sigh to leak out of the gentleman. He lifted one of his arms and waved his hand in a forward motion, instantly causing two heavily armored men who were standing near the lowest rung of seats to jump down into the pit from almost five feet up. Damien's eyes widened in surprise as the two figures hit the ground hard, yet reacted as if they were wearing light cloths, not armor. With nimble movements, they scooped the protesting boy up and hopped back out without an inkling of effort.
The guard at the front entrance to the arena looked away from the scuffle and back down at his paper, his eyes widening in shock. He looked to Damien, then Alexa, then back at the paper and cleared his throat as he began to read.
"Applicant number ten thousand, eight hundred and twenty-nine: Damien Tearen. Mage. Specialty: Unlisted. Race: Human. Requirement: Silver. Conditions... Victory."
Gasps echoed through the room as he made his last proclamation. The guard turned to Damien apologetically and continued.
"You may enter now. Don't hurt yourself boy, you can always try again next year when you're older."
Damien looked at the man quizzically before walking past him.
"Don't screw up."
Gallion slapped him on the butt causing him to jump slightly as Alexa smacked the letcher and Kastra waved at him.
Damien moved forward through the small gateway behind the guard and into the arena where the same man who had tested the others was waiting. The uniform he wore looked intriguing yet simple: a white button-down covered with a blood-red vest. The vest trailed down his back and had tails that covered his waist slightly, underneath which black pants extended down his legs.
"Timmothy Brolen. Are you ready?" he asked.
Damien shook his head.
"No, Damien Tearan. Are we fighting?" Damien asked, prompting the room to begin laughing.
"Yes. The first to knock the other down wins," the young man responded with a smirk. "And I'm Timothy Brolen."
"Kick his ass, Damien!" Kastra yelled out, startling everyone present except the guard.
Damien held back a laugh and looked at her, mentally thanking her for distracting people from his screw up. He then turned back to see Tim had set into a stance.
Damien followed suit, left hand forward above his left leg, knees slightly bent, as he preferred when sparring with Alexa. They both looked to the guard and he nodded at them.
"Both Combatants ready?" he yelled, receiving a nod from Damien,
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"Match, BEGIN!"
Before his opponent could even blink, Damien had already lifted his left wrist slightly. Following the movement, an echoing boom filled the room. The dust settled as the man in the uniform peeled off the wall he'd been thrown into and fell to the floor, landing on his hands and knees while gasping for air. The arena instantly went silent as healers rushed to his side to check his condition.
Damien looked up to the guard and saw him watching on silently, mouth slightly ajar. The sound of quiet clapping filled the air.
"Go hubby!" Kastra screamed this time.
Damien looked over with a big smile and saw Gallion leaning and whispering into her ear as she sat on his shoulder, nodding. He sighed at that, but his smile remained because everything had finally paid off. Giddiness at her praise and seeing all of his hard work come to fruition in a setting where people who don't know you are forced to acknowledge you had plastered a permanent grin on his face.
There was scarce few things better than winning when everyone believed you were going to lose.
"He's fine," one of the medics proclaimed. "Gonna have a nasty bruise."
The guard turned to Damien, then turned to look back at where Damien's training dummy had been standing. In the man's place, a solid pole of rock jutted out from the ground about five feet before ending right where his chest would have been.
The guard turned back to Damien.
"This... was my fault. I should have set you up with a better opponent. I barely even saw you chant... I apologize for underestimating you," he said.
Damien shrugged and stretched his limbs out, tension gone. He'd been nervous at first with all the spectators and laughter but was loosened up finally, rotating his shoulders and watching as the medics carted poor Tim out of the arena.
'A worthy sacrifice.' Damien laughed out evily inside his head.
The guard would learn next match that he 'barely' saw him chant because he hadn't. He wanted to hide a few things, but it wouldn't do to be treated like a regular Human.
"Casten, come be the boy's opponent. Silver level, adjust as needed," the guard called out. "Fight will go until one of you is unconscious or incapacitated in some way."
Another man, slightly older this time and wearing the same uniform, walked down the steps into the arena.
"Silver level, turn it up. Understood," he said, taking up a fighting stance across from Damien. "Are you ready?"
Damien nodded again, confused about the specific change in rules, but figuring he might not need to hold back so much.
"Both Combatants ready?" the question came, Damien absently nodding but not turning away from his new opponent.
The man across from him definitely seemed more versed in combat. His stance seemed stronger, his eyes were more determined... Damien could tell the fight would be a bit more challenging.
"Match, BEGIN!"
Damien went for the same opener as the man ducked to his side, moving his lips as a layer of rock built up around his arms. He scooped his arm into the ground like it was water and sent a boulder in Damien's direction moments later.
Damien pushed off the ground with the pad of his left foot, hopping slightly out of the way. He flicked his wrists in a forward motion upon landing, sending three six-inch diameter rocks from the walls hurtling at his opponent. Two missed, going wide left, while one aimed for the man's stomach and caused him to lift his arms to block. The rock collided with his protected arms and shattered into them, causing a minor dust cloud. Damien had already launched more in his direction before it had time to clear.
The dust didn't matter much it seemed, as before his other stones had traveled halfway across the room, pillars erupted from the wall on Damien's left side, aiming to slam into him. They'd almost made no sound and Damien had almost not noticed them, barely catching them in his peripheral before they hit, leaving him no time to dodge.
He rose his left arm up, creating a wall of stone braced in the ground out of thin air. After, he instantly sent out his mana across the arena to feel for where the man was, having needed to look away and not willing to lose sight of his opponent.
The pillars struck the wall and it held true, bending only slightly inward. Damien felt as his rocks finally finished their travel at the same moment, two landing on Casten's arms again with one going wide. He stopped for a second to gauge how injured Casten was only to realize the man was disappearing behind a screen of dust to hide from Damien's view, likely hoping he couldn't use his mana sense and fight at the same time.
He was wrong.
Damien rotated forward on his left leg and spun right, sending the heel of his right foot into the wall he'd made earlier and launching a long chunk of it out to Casten. His foot finished its arc and landed on the ground where it sunk into the dirt to his surprise, throwing him off balance.
Damien reached for the ground with his mana and found it was saturated in Casten's mana, most dense around his foot. His mana sense warned him of another spell being prepared at the same time.
He watched with his mana as Casten moved slightly out of the way of the large rock pillar he'd kicked, but Damien had planned for that. Many times, a simple dodge done by Alexa had been more than enough to cause his projectiles to lose their effectiveness, so he'd developed a few countermeasures.
Utilizing one now, Damien shot poles out of the pillar into Casten's side, throwing him into a wall as Damien felt a few of the man's ribs give way beneath the pressure of his attack. His opponent collided with the earthen wall and sunk into it like sand, confusing Damien until the dust cleared and Damien watched him step out of it, wall reforming while also coated in his mana.
Damien tried to seize control of the mana around his leg but it was under the hold of Casten's mana. He felt he could break it with some intense focus and free himself, but that would take time he didn't have. Instead, he reached for the mana under Casten to realize it was all being claimed as well. The man had sent his mana into his surroundings and taken that which was important. It took away from what he could do offensively if he didn't use it, but was a great tactic defensively and for maintaining control of the battlefield.
Damien cursed at himself.
He'd gotten decently well versed in all the elements, having Garrett to tutor him, but had never sparred with his father. He was beginning to regret not having a mage's spar against either him or Vanessa.
Damien kept up his mana sense and sent tons of earth from all around the arena at Casten, bombarding him from the multiple angles he hadn't claimed. They reached a standstill where Damien was attacking and the man was defending, dust once again creating a haze over the battlefield, until he felt Casten relinquish his control of the mana in the ground around Damien. The young man changed nothing else, but Damien began to pick up on small movements that indicated an attack was coming, most likely an attempt at sneaking a shot in while Damien was on the offensive that required extra focus.
Damien decided to gamble, unsure of how to break the stalemate without using his two better elements.
While Casten was in the later stages of his movement and had just launched a boulder towards Damien's far-right side, Damien stopped his earthen assault and lifted his right arm upward, swinging his left arm into it. A large pillar of stone answered his call and shot up from beneath his opponent abruptly, launching Casten skyward only to have him be met immediately by a large blast of water into his side. The unexpected torrent crushed him into the wall with immense force, and the Human fell weakly to the ground, unmoving.
Damien felt as everything instantly voided of Casten's mana, signifying he'd gone unconscious and Damien's gamble had paid off spectacularly. He reached out to his right and palmed the stone that Casten had launched at his temple, having curved its path inward with a spell, obliterating it as dirt shot out and around his body.
Damien cleared up the air with some quick manipulation and spun around to look at the guard, then turned his gaze further and smiled at Alexa and Kastra while breathing heavily. It wasn't that he was physically tired, but the need to think so quickly and the anxiety he felt when his leg became trapped had gotten to him. His heart was beating rapidly and yet he had barely moved from where he'd started the exchanges.
The sound of clapping once again filled the air, but it was more than just Kastra this time.
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Alexa watched on as Damien's hand collided with the stone and pulverized it while turning to look in their direction. He'd looked so serious, so... domineering, when he'd stared at the Guard, only for his face to melt into a smile asking for praise from them. The tension she felt in her heart melted and she laughed out loud at the display, Kastra and the arena obliging his request with more clapping.
She was surprised at how in control he'd been throughout the fight. It was apparent he lacked experience, not even thinking to make sure another ground manipulator couldn't halt his movement, but he'd held a gold tier sixth-year student at bay without breaking a sweat or using any of the elements she knew he was adept at. She had held hope he'd make it into gold with these tests, but if he were to continue up the chain from here on, he could probably remove someone from platinum just with the experience from this fight. If he were to use lightning...
The water had been a smart move, taking Casten by complete surprise. It was obvious the man believed Damien could only use earth well by the way he'd fought so far and was capitalizing on that by securing most of the arena, thus paying for underestimating his opponent. If he'd have tried to fight offensively, perhaps Casten would have gotten the best of Damien for a moment.
That is, until Damien himself 'turned it up.' He'd mentioned to her that he'd gotten much better with the other elements over his last year of practice, but she hadn't thought he meant this good.
The applause petered off as Medics once again rushed into the damaged arena and began attending to Casten, everyone likely excited to hear the report.
"Few broken bones but he should be ok, the last shot knocked his head into the wall it and stole his consciousness," one announced loudly.
Once again, applause at the amazing fight filled the arena, filling Alexa with pride as she wondered whether or not Damien would accept the next challenge.
"Boy, how is it you were able to do that?" the guard finally asked, staring at Damien confusedly and completely forgetting to continue the test.
The room quieted down again as those in the surroundings focused in on the question and others asked what was said. Alexa watched on with a smile, wondering how he'd get out of it.
"...Luck?" Damien said/asked.
She mentally smacked her palm against her face.
The guard stared at him for a few more seconds before shaking his head and speaking up again.
"Chantless magic is not luck, boy."
"Oh, that. She taught it to me. Are we going to do the gold test now?" he asked, changing the subject and throwing her under the bus while walking out of the arena and toward them.
Alexa sighed. That was going to be hard to explain her way out of.
The guard nodded slowly as if that was an acceptable answer and looked unsure of what to do next, thrown off by the question, before finally answering.
"That... was the gold test. You are the first Human in the history of Eleram to ever test into gold. Congratulations?" he replied to Damien, still not believing his words.
"Oh. Ok... Well, I guess that's fine then. I'll um... be going now," Damien said, arriving by Alexa's side and grabbing ahold of her hand.
He pulled her gently back toward the door they'd come in and swooped Kastra off Gallion's shoulder as he stayed frozen next to Ms. Moonrose.
The three walked out of the silent room as gazes followed them out, the sound of the doors closing the only thing that echoed in the hallway for a few seconds longer.
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"Ok, what the hell was that?" Ms. Moonrose asked, bursting out of the doors with Gallion behind her, nonchalant and composed once again.
Damien winced as the silence in the room behind them snapped at her words, becoming an uproar again in a moment. Then the doors swung back closed and it became dead quiet almost instantly once again.
"The soundproofing is amazing in these buildings..." he muttered
Ms. Moonrose seemed irate and wanted answers while Damien was content not to give them. Alexa looked amused at the whole situation and Kastra had moved to her neck, having squirmed out of Damien's grasp.
"Ask her," Damien said, passing the buck while pointing to Alexa's once again.
"It was chantless casting. The guardsman said so himself already," Kastra replied curtly, almost immediately.
Damien smiled. Kastra must have thought he'd been pointing at her.
"But HOW did he do that? I've never heard of a Human utilizing chantless casting before one hundred," she added. "If they'd have... you..." she trailed off.
"You can ask Alexa back in your office, we still need to go get him sized too, yes?" Gallion said.
When Damien nodded and looked past the Elf to focus on Gallion, he saw he was wedging a thick piece of metal he'd conjured through the door's handles like a temporary lock. Looking over at Alexa to see her reaction, he saw panic in her eyes and he assumed that was probably against school policy.
Ms. Moonrose nodded without looking back luckily and began to walk forward, albeit slowly. The door rattled behind them and Gallion began to push her from behind, prompting her to complain at him while they moved forward much more quickly.
The group eventually made it back to the same office they'd been in before heading to the arena. Gallion made sure this side entrance was locked as well before turning to Alexa and asking the question on his and Ms. Moonrose's minds.
"So?"
Alexa looked at Gallion nervously before looking at Damien with a glare.
He shrugged in response. It was her turn to come up with an excuse for them anyway.
"I... when he was young, I made him focus on how my... mana flowed when I healed him and it just... sorta worked? He learned how to manipulate it based on how I healed him," she said, bullshitting her way through an excuse.
"Even if that could work, you expect me to believe he was injured constantly enough for you to even do that?" Ms. Moonrose asked with exasperation.
"I-"
"She was pretty violent as a kid. I was constantly healing something from her," Damien interjected, interrupting Alexa before she could start and receiving a glare in the process.
"Well that makes more sense than I thought it would," Gallion said while Ms. Moonrose nodded.
Damien looked confused for a moment before turning to Alexa.
"Remember when I told you to tone down your viol-"
"I am not violent. I've never even hit anyone outside a duel!" she defended.
"Sweetheart, your opponents always end up in the infirmary," Ms. Moonrose explained.
Damien took a step back which caused Alexa to look exasperated. When Kastra then flew to Damien with a fearful look, she threw her hands up in the air.
"Fine, whatever. Are we getting him a ring or not?" she asked.
"A ring?" he asked.
"They're the rings that let students roam freely throughout the academy," Ms. Moonrose explained offhandedly, moving toward her desk. "The possibilities if you're right... Lemshire will want to know... Lots of pain and healing...."
As the woman continued to mutter, Damien began to feel sorry for whoever would be the scapegoat for testing out this method of becoming a chantless caster. At least the school would most likely get permission from the parents and child, he hoped. Not that that would help. The only reason he'd been able to handle the mental strain of her beatings was that he had the maturity to back it up, and there was no guarantee that even played the tiniest of parts in his casting.
"Ring?" Alexa said, interrupting the woman's mutterings and trying to get the topic off her brutality most likely.
"Right, sorry dears. The different tiers have different rings with access to places in the libraries and training rooms. They also let you into your private residence, though you'll be assigned a temporary residence first in this building," she explained, still not fully focused on them.
"That's ok, I'll be staying with her," Damien said, pointing over his shoulder.
"Wait, what?" Ms. Moonrose asked.
'That got her attention.'
"Is that not ok? I figured she'd have a ton of room by now since she made it to platinum a while ago," he responded.
"Uhm, no I suppose it's alright just... Alexa?" the Elf asked.
"Yeah, it's fine. We're used to sleeping together," his favorite Celestial said with a straight face.
Damien laughed inside at her bluntness that could and would cause misunderstandings.
"Oh?" Gallion said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Shut up. We sleep together normally," Alexa said, blushing slightly.
"Mostly normally," Kastra corrected as Alexa looked at her helplessly. "What? Normal people don't have wings to wrap around each other. We have two pairs," she explained, showcasing hers.
"Right... well, If you don't mind then I'll attune his ring to your new home. Is that alright?" Ms. Moonrose asked Alexa who nodded. "Ok. Damien, if you could step over here... We'll need to get you fitted as well for a uniform."
"Gallion, leave," Damien said immediately, looking at the other Celestial as he started to follow Damien to the other side of the desk where Luna had pointed.
"Really?" he asked, confused.
Damien nodded seriously. He wasn't about to give the philanderer an excuse to get handsy.
"Rude. Well, if you need me then I'll be in my room," Gallion said, turning around. "Knock first unless you'd like to join in."
Damien shook his head while Alexa stared confusedly at his back.
"I've never understood just what he means when he says that," she stated.
"Sex, Alexa. Lots of it," Kastra answered, surprisingly understanding this reference.
It was hit and miss with her, it seemed. Damien would have to make sure Gallion wasn't teaching his impressionable Fae anything too strange. Or... thank him?
"Oh... Oh!" Alexa said as she followed the man with her eyes, blush slowly returning.
Damien followed Ms. Moonrose behind her desk and felt her mana pass over him briefly as she grabbed a ring out of a drawer and began to fiddle with it. Once done, she handed it to him with a smile.
"You are... ring number 197 this year. Glad to have you, Damien. Welcome to Eleram Academy."
He took the ring from her hand and looked up at her, confused.
"What?" she asked.
"That's it?" he asked.
"What's it?"
"No... ceremony or sorting of some kind? What about the fitting and uniform?" he asked again.
"I just did it when I scanned you. You'll get your uniform delivered tomorrow. Do not wear it before day one or you'll be assumed to be a test administrator," she said.
"I don't... I don't have to take my shirt or pants off?"
"Why would you do that?" Ms. Moonrose asked, squinting at him.
Damien thought to himself for a moment and realized he was thinking about it all wrong. Why would he need to do that, truly, if they could just scan his body rather than physically size him with a tape measure?
He quickly answered when he realized Alexa was staring at him strangely.
"I... don't know. Nevermind that I asked, sorry. Fittings are different where I'm from. Thank you, ma'am," he said, nodding his head slightly while slipping the ring onto his right hand.
"You are welcome, young man. Alexa, Kastra, I trust you'll keep him out of trouble?" she asked, turning to the girls.
Alexa nodded.
"He usually gets us in trouble," Kastra stated.
"Right, well take care. The opening ceremony is in nine days, don't forget about it," Ms. Moonrose said as they began to file out the door, Alexa shoving Damien from behind, seemingly anxious to leave, luggage in tow.
Once they got out of the office they continued down a few more hallways and through more crystal locked doors, Alexa in the lead. Soon enough they walked outside into the crisp morning air, watching as each one of their breaths as it exited their mouths.
She led them down the back steps of the large building and onto a road toward a large gated community in the distance that was alongside a lake. The entire section was cut off from the rest of the grounds, and the entrance had another crystal mechanism on it, red in color.
"Hold your hand up to the crystal so we can see if it's working properly," Alexa said.
Damien nodded and held out his right hand, watching as the crystal slowly turned green. The gate slid to the left, out of their way, and they continued through into what looked like a housing district.
The first area they moved through was full of small two-story apartment-style houses, all packed together tightly. Each had one home on the bottom and one on top with a stairway leading to the upper level. In between the building's staircases were walkways that traveled between all the buildings.
Once they'd traveled further, they came across a gate with a plaque reading "Gold Housing." It led to another area with a large number of small homes all set next to each other. Each had a small yard and a fence blocking out prying eyes, but other than individual decoration, were all the same.
They continued down the nice paved road, idle chatter between the three the only thing alongside their footfalls to break the eery silence. Eventually, they came across a third gate and Damien once again used his ring to unlock it. If his ring wasn't attuned to her house, he wouldn't be able to get to it through the gates.
This gate was titled "Platinum Housing" and would be the test of whether he was limited to his gold rank or could pass through to get home.
Damien lifted his hand to unlock something for the third time today and rested it near the crystal, watching in relief as it turned green. The gate slid open and revealed the much classier district beyond.
The section held a much smaller number of houses than the others but used up the same amount of space, showcasing just how much extra room one was granted for being talented. They looked like mansions in their own right, two stories with a large fence or wall blocking those walking by from looking past the front lawn.
Each huge building was meant for one person, with a few made even larger in case someone wanted to host some of their friends or colleagues to live together. The yards, from what Damien could assume based on what he could see, were definitely an acre by themselves. A private pathway lead to the main road from the front door or out the back of the house to a side street, both having a large gate to block view where they met the fences.
All the roads were lined with beautiful trees with pink buds on them and had access to the lake that he'd seen earlier.
"This is amazing," he said, looking to Alexa who'd been walking alongside him. "You've been living in luxury girl. I can't believe I have such good connections. It's like I'll be living in Malibu."
She looked at him as he elbowed her while wiggling his eyebrows and laughed at his embarrassing display before responding.
"Well don't do anything that'll make me want to kick you out then."
"Please, you wouldn't get rid of me," he said with a chuckle.
She shrugged.
"Lexi?" he asked, feigning worry. "Lexi don't tell me you'd really leave me on the streets?"
She laughed and lost some of the tension he'd seen her holding throughout their walk and he smiled. This was better.
"If she kicked you out I wouldn't follow you. I'm not a street Fae anymore, I have a home," Kastra said, causing more laughter.
"Visitation rights," Damien said, nodding. "If I get kicked out I'll have visitation rights to come see you. Then she'll have to let me in."
"Alright, alright. No one is getting kicked out, hush," Alexa said, smiling.
"Good. Though, why didn't you leave most of this stuff in your house over the winter?" Damien asked.
"They made me move again," Alexa said to him with a sigh. "And I couldn't move before the year ended."
"Again? Why?" he asked as they approached the last two houses before another gate.
Theirs was likely one of the two. From a quick glance, Damien hoped it was the one on their right. It was walled instead of fenced, he thought it looked nicer.
"Well, hold your hand up to the gate and you'll have your answer," she said.
Damien felt Kastra leave his shoulder and heard words of congratulations as his peripheral vision showed her becoming her full height and hugging the Celestial. He continued staring up at the gate before him, more majestic than any of the others had been.
"The teacher lady said you had more privileges than Gallion," he stated.
"I do," she replied simply.
"Gallion's in Platinum," he said, looking at her.
"He is," she nodded.
Damien dropped all the baggage he'd been carried and turned toward her and bowed deeply, knee touching the ground.
"Oh your majesty Alexa, I had no idea. Please allow this servant to escort her Diamond highness inside her palace," he said, doing his best to keep a straight voice.
A smile spread across his face as he heard the two women before him laughing.
"I'd be honored, but please stand the hell up you're embarrassing me," Alexa responded.
Damien shot up and set his hand on the gates plaque reading Diamond Housing. As it slowly began opening, he then turned to Alexa and picked her up by her stomach, tossing her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry as she started laughing and smacking at his back.
"Damien, aha, put me down! Put me down what about the bags!" she cried out from behind him as he held her legs.
"Butler!" he yelled out.
"Yes sir," Kastra replied, levitating the luggage they'd been carrying and following behind the two as Damien stared at her open-mouthed.
"You can do that?" he asked.
"You didn't know? I thought you just wanted to carry them," Alexa responded from behind his shoulder.
He looked down at her serious expression as she held onto his side with her arms, pulling her body to his side so she could look up at him
"Also, I'm getting a little uncom-"
"I carried them that entire way and no one thought to inform me we could just levitate them?" he clarified, looking back at the bags.
Kastra and Alexa both nodded. He moved to Kastra and picked her up by the stomach with his other arm and turned, carrying them through the gate and walking to the house as they laughed while begging to be put down.
He did not oblige.