I hit the ground hard. Landing on my back knocked the wind out of my lungs. I heard my classmates laugh at my foolishness. I'd been warned several times to not lean back in my chair but of course, I didn't listen.
“Well Whitecastle, you certainly take first place for you being you.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
I grabbed the proffered hand of David Breyer.
“Well just…’ David began to respond before being cut off.
“Cadet Breyer! Cadet Whitecastle! I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation but I have a class to teach.”
We quickly stood up and snapped a quick salute.
“Sorry professor Mescrim.”
**Huff**
“As I was saying now that you are finally of age to start properly Cultivating, you will be expected to be Awakened before you turn 10. I understand that this is above average but you are not average Cadets. Additionally, once you Awaken you will be expected to gain your Affinity by age 12.
As instructor Mescrim began to pace, I quickly lost interest. After all, it was a speech that had been given to them dozens of times over the past few months.
The professor continued to ramble on about the prestigiousness of the Royal Academy, what an honor it was to be a student, and the expectations placed upon them. I tapped David on the shoulder.
“So do you have any idea what your Affinity is?”
“No clue. I have no physical traits or other family disposition towards a specific affinity. So I might manifest either my mom's Metal Affinity, or my Dad’s Earth, or something entirely different. What about you, Wren? You got any idea yet?”
“Not fully, but it's likely I'll end up with Wind from my Mom. Whitecastles usually end up with it no matter who they have children with.”
“Fair point. Speaking of family, are they planning to push you into any specific branch?”
“Well, Mom wants me to either go into the Scribes because of the connections or, heaven forbid, the Riders.”
“That's tough man. I would not want to be you right now.”
I hummed, turning his head back to the professor.
“Class, today's lesson is about Affinity and how it manifests.”
With this proclamation, the class perked up, at last actually paying attention to their grumpy professor.
“As you already know, your Affinity is just what we call your first Skill. It is what Mana type you most gravitate towards. Typically speaking this results in an elemental aligned Affinity; however, others do exist -- if more rare. Unlike other skills, your actions and cultivation have no bearing on what type of Affinity you manifest as it's predetermined from birth. Additionally, out of all other skills, your Affinity will likely be the most malleable.”
As the professor continued talking she conjured several orbs of water that orbited around her head.
“My Water Affinity is an example of this. I can conjure, create, destroy, and manipulate existing water as well as some other liquids. On the other hand, when you initially gain your Affinity you will barely be able to conjure or do anything with it. Now, class, can anyone tell me why more than any other skill your Affinity is more malleable?”
Several hands shot up at the professor's words.
“Cadet Shadowheart.”
“Ma'am it's because of its innate tie to your Mana pool. Other skills don’t inherently change how you absorb Mana and, as a result, change how you manipulate it. Your Affinity is a basic reflection of your Mana manipulation. Therefore, to become more proficient with your Affinity one must become more proficient with manipulating both their internal and external Mana. Which requires practice.”
“Well put Cadet Shadowheart, you may sit down. As Cadet Shadowheart said, it is inherently tied to your Mana pool. Therefore, as you gain in power the power of your Infinity also increases. Can somebody please tell me the byproducts of this increase?”
I raise my hand.
“Cadet Whitechasale, hopefully, this time you can make up for your clumsiness.”
Several of the classmates stickered particularly the students seated around Yor Shadowheart. He blushed from embarrassment.
“Yes ma'am. One's Mana naturally becomes more potent as they advance through Realms and Stages and, the power of the Affinity will be strengthened as a result.”
“Thank you, Cadet. You may sit.”
David leaned in and whispered into his ear, “Nice job!”
“Thanks,” I responded quietly.
Now can somebody explain to me what happens when you neglect Mana's manipulation?
Unlike the other two questions, no hands were raised.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Come on, you’re third year: think logically. I understand this has not been taught, but you are old enough to think laterally.”
A small thin hand slowly raised above the crowd.
“Cadet Grindelwald.”
I looked over at the boy that raised his hand. He was small; He looked younger than the rest of the students. In comparison with his classmates, he was at least a head shorter and had far less musculature. He had shoulder-length silver hair and glistening orange eyes.
He was foreign to me; Ihad never seen the boy, which was odd as I could recognize the vast majority of students within my year let alone my class.
“When one lacks mana control and uses their Affinity, the caster might lose complete control. Beyond having a devastating effect on the investment, there is the possibility of the loss of the spellform. This could consume the remainder of the caster’s mana and even their life force.
“Well done Cadet Grindelwald; you may sit.”
I stared at the boy as he sat down, suddenly noticing how isolated he was from the rest of the class. In fact, as I looked around the room, no one was even paying attention to him anymore.
This, mixed with his unknown origin, made the me curious. As Professor Mescrim continued to ramble on about the importance of Mana control and the rules one must follow when using an Affinity, I couldn't help but continuously glance over at the boy.
I desperately scoured through my memories trying to remember if I had ever seen him before. My memories came up regretfully empty. This was strange for me. I had a good memory for faces as well as information. This, amongst other things allowed me to remember some of the nonsense Professor Mescrim and his other professors shoved down my throat.
But in every memory of my time at the Academy, the boy wasn't present. Until the end of class when professor Mescrim announced that there would be a general assembly tomorrow discussing all of the branches. Only then did he remember seeing the boy. IT was at the very start of the Academic Year at the assembly to congratulate the students on making it through their first two years at the academy.
After the bell rang David and he stood to move to the next class.
Throughout history, all I could do was think about the boy. His unexplained size and piercing eyes, and my lack of familiarity with him. As David and I entered the lunch line, David commented on my strange Behavior
“Hey man,is everything okay”
“Yeah everythings fine. I was just thinking about what happened in Mana manipulation.”
**Humm**
David paused for a second clearly thinking about what to say.
“Yeah that thing losing Mana control was a bit scary”
I decided to just go with the easy explanation.
“Yeah it was”
The conversation ended as I grabbed my food. I looked over at his normal spot only to see Yor Shadowheart and her posse of groupies had taken it. Frustrated I looked around the rest of the dining hall. Most of the sectors were restricted to me due to his younger age and to the size of the student population. There were extremely limited choices when it came to at.
As I passed his gaze over the very few seats available at the tables I spotted a glint of silver. My heart leaped in recognition and my feet started moving.
But before I could take more than three steps before I felt a tug at the sleeves of my uniform. Turning around I saw David.
“Wren, where are you going? I get that the table’s taken, but there's one with Brun and Skyler just over there.“
David thumbed in the opposite direction to where the boy with silver hair was seated.
“I just want to check out a new table. And I don't want to hang out with Burn and Skyler today”
David squinted his eyes.
“Are you sure you're okay? man something's been up with you since Mana manipulation.”
“Yah I’m fine.”
My tone was harsh and defensive.
“Ok, I'll just give you some space. You could have just asked”.His tone was hurt. It made me think about my words.
Maybe I was a bit too hard on David. He was pushy but mostly just curious. I just brushed him off like an annoying pest. I owed him an apology.
But before I could apologize to my friend he had already turned and started walking towards the table with Burn and Skyler.
I turned back around and headed toward the small boy. He was alone at a small table near the corner. The tables around him were all full and no one even seemed to glance at him.
His head was down focusing on his plate. With his knife, he poked at the pork we were both given for lunch.
“Can I sit?”
He tilted his head up, surprise plastered all over his face.
His words were stuttered“su sure.”
“Thanks” After I sat down I continued talking.
“So I know your last name is Grindelwald but what's your first name”
“Alexander” He was more confident with far less of a stutter in his voice.
“But please call Alex,only my mom calls me Alexander.”
“Sure thing Alex,so sorry to be forward but I noticed that you're new”
“eh, I just transferred in”
“From where?”
I had expected something like that but wasn't 100 percent certain.
“Well transferred might be the wrong word. It’s more like I enrolled here. Actually, I just started school this year”
“Wait, so you're telling me you started in the third year”
Alex seemed to look around the room before leaning in and whispering.
“ Can I trust you to keep the secret?”
I nodded hoping I would get some answers on the mystery boy.
“Truth is I Awakened Three years ago”
His answer floored me. If he was my age he would have Awakened at 5. I'd only ever heard of a small handful of people that had ever Awakened that early. If my memory served right the last one was Dutchess Waters who Awakened a few hundred years ago.
“Well okay, that makes sense. Your parents probably didn't want to put you in until you got some basic training.”
Alex shook his head. No, it's not that it's that they couldn't
“What do you mean they couldn't?”
“I mean I wasn't old enough to enter”
“ Wait how old are you”
After my question, Alex once again looked around the room. He whispered into my ear even quieter this time
“I'm six”
“Six! you're six? you got to be kidding! I mean it would explain the size but there's no way you Awakened at three”
But when I met his gaze I only saw truth in his eyes”
“Three three your Awakened at three.?”
“I know I know keep it quiet okay”
“Keep quiet! Hahaha That's amazing Like impossibly amazing”
Alex whispered so quietly I almost didn't hear him.
“Not really.”
“What do you mean not really?.”
At this point, my volume had increased to the point where the Cadets at the neighboring tables were giving us weird looks. When I saw their looks, I quieted down.
“Three years old that’s two years Sooner than anyone who's Awakened in what? the last thousand years”
“More like 5,000.”
I glared at him. “Ok I get the point but it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”
“Okay, that might be fair still amazing.”
“And your age would explain your size.”
“What's wrong with my size,” Alex said defensively
“Nothing it's just you're just quite a bit smaller than the rest of our class”
**Hurum**
“I'll grow you guys have 2 years on me.”
“Sure” I chuckled.
We continued to talk for the rest of lunch about small things well smaller in comparison. I stuck by him for the rest of the day during both our physical training class and weapons training. I noticed that even though he was smaller he didn't seem winded after the physical conditioning.
And although we were prohibited from sparring for the next two weeks,I could already tell he was gifted with the sword and spear.
The next morning I sat next to him in Mana manipulation and during Lunch. It was as if we were glued at the hip to one another. Slowly but surely I got to know the boy Named Alexander Grindelwald.