After the first of the team spars the power balance in class S shifted, tilting towards Liliana’s group like a pendulum, as fickle as the weather but as noticeable as a raging storm.

It was obvious, to her at least, that many of the noble students had written to their parents detailing the events, the results, and getting orders back. Advice to align themselves with the clear power houses in their year, because in their world might so often made right. That her group held the crown princess and the heir to the Rosengarde duchy only further encouraged the nobles sniffing out a chance to climb the social ladder. Better to align with people who would clearly hold power rather than second and third sons, and a foreign prince with no guarantee of ever ascending his father’s throne.

So where many students had been quiet, neither part of one side or another, they suddenly stopped by at meals to greet Liliana’s group. To offer their aid in studying, to help with homework, or to simply try for small talk. Obvious attempts at trying to endear themselves to those who had more power than them.

The exceptions were few. Zindru didn’t change much. Any difference in his actions could be read as him opening up more to them. He was a powerhouse in his own right, heir to a southern duchy that controlled a good portion of their country’s naval power. Koth’talan didn’t change much, either. If perhaps he and Liliana spoke more often during their forest meetings, it wasn’t anything groundbreaking.

Liliana thought if anything, the bastard prince had warmed up to her because of her part in his brother’s humiliation, something that had brought a rare smile onto his face that day in class. Rathwater, surprisingly enough, also didn’t change too much. He greeted them more often, but didn’t accost them at meals or try to slip into their study sessions. He was an heir as well, in his own right. When his mother retired or passed on, he’d be Marquess Rathwater. He had less need to endear himself to anyone with the power he would hold in his own right.

The other two heirs in their class, Eaglebow, heir to a barony, and Chiverton, heir to a county, chatted with them in between classes but didn’t push too hard. Heirs as they were, they were still heirs of relatively low-ranking nobles that would benefit from an alliance with a duchy or the crown, but they held more tact than the desperate second and third children that made up the rest of the nobles in their class. They didn’t have to fear being turned out when they reached the age of majority, or being forced to take up some position in the army or clergy if their parents saw fit. They didn’t need power as desperately as non-heirs did.

It was all quite exhausting to Liliana, who cared little for politics, even the clumsy version played by children. She’d hate all of it if she didn’t delight in the way Zir’elon’s group suffered. Many refused to talk to them at all, ignoring them and icing them out.

Now that team fights were allowed more often, once every other week, no one willingly paired with them. The single and double spars were brutal, everyone wanting to prove they were better than those that had lost so spectacularly after puffing themselves up so much, after making enemies they couldn’t best. Enemies were fine to make if one could defeat them. Picking an enemy you couldn’t beat was stupid, and nobles didn’t fancy aligning themselves with idiots.

So the next few weeks settled, once more a new normal coming over them all. Liliana fielded offers from nobles, both in their own class and others once the rumors had spread. She suffered through pointless small talk, happily listened to gossip spread by hopeful lips, wanting to impress her and hers.

She pushed herself in training, Rauk’s eyes on her and her friends now more than ever after he’d seen what they were really capable of when they were motivated. Zir’elon’s group was paired against them on more than one occasion for group spars, singles, and doubles. Rauk sensing it was a way to guarantee that they’d show all they were capable of.

Liliana was proud to say they hadn’t lost to them yet, though she was by no means undefeated in class. Alistair gave her trouble when she was paired against him. Koth’talan had beaten her more than she beat him. Now that his secret weapon of runes had been revealed, he used them to a devastating advantage. The power they offered him, someone who had a mastery of the affinity that belied his age, made him a match for her, as did his skill with his sword.

Her skills and spells leveled constantly, at a rate she hadn’t seen since she first Awakened. Rauk was a grueling, unforgiving taskmaster, but his methods worked. And Liliana wasn’t like her classmates, who never put more into training than their class. She spent hours in her personal training room every day, and hours more in the forest. Any time not devoted to physical training was spent studying. Their teachers seemed dead set on drowning them in homework, waiting to see who sank or swam.

As time passed and the workload only increased, Liliana watched more and more of her class become frazzled, desperate, when they realized losing their spots was a real threat now. It wasn’t any easier for Liliana; she went to sleep late, more than one night spent passed out at her desk, a textbook her pillow. Only to wake early just to finish homework and devote more attention to her studies, to stay ahead, to stay better.

Exhaustion was a constant companion, and she soon found herself sipping on coffee, tainted unforgivably by creamer and sugar that made Emyr turn judging eyes on her. But it tasted good, and it kept her awake while she filled her mind with facts and numbers and information.

Liliana had almost no time left to devote to socializing. But she still found time to speak to Fiora and Fabian, the latter bonding with her over a similar love of beasts, though nothing quite as obsessive as her own. They talked about his Bond, a Chamrosh named Ariel, quiet a bit as Liliana was curious about any beast and Fabian quite obviously loved his Bond.

He wasn’t a full tamer class, but was considering it. For now, Ariel was a companion more than a battle Bond. She learned Fabian was a support class, who had a Music affinity that he used to help his teammates. He was closest to a conventional bard class, but his personality was so different from the charismatic showman bards she was used to, far more shy and modest. However, the first time she heard him sing, after days spent cajoling him, she was convinced he had siren blood somewhere in his lineage. Liliana had mourned the loss of recording devices, for if she could, she’d have loved to hear his voice whenever she pleased, rather than on the rare occasions she convinced him to show off.

Liliana learned that Fiora was a healer who wanted to use Telekineses to learn how to better heal, to use the affinity and spells from it as added hands to help her heal others. She had little interest in being a battle healer, like Marianne, but instead wanted to become a devoted healer, likely employed by a noble. But her dream was to open a clinic to help the less fortunate get healing.

It was an admirable dream, and the passion she had for it lit her from the inside out whenever she talked about it. Liliana lost track of her thoughts any time she heard Fiora discuss her passions, just watching the way the girl’s green eyes flashed with emerald fire and how her red hair seemed to flare around her like a halo.

Liliana was finding she lost track of her thoughts often when confronted by people filled with passion. She’d forgotten how to speak, stuttering out nonsense words when Fabian sung for the first time, his passive, closed off face blooming like a flower before the sun as he sang, as if the music was filling him and overflowing into the world.

When Koth’talan would speak about the culture of his homeland, or runes, his fiery eyes would burn into her own as he went on for hours about either topic, his careful tongue finally freed from its shackles. She’d nearly forgotten she was in the middle of a fight when Marianne had turned a wide, beaming smile to her, her cheeks smudged with her own blood and her ruby eyes glowing a richer red than even the blood on her.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Liliana wasn’t sure what was happening in those instances, when her mind would white out and she’d drink in the sight of these people, filled with life, with enthusiasm, with zeal so strong it couldn’t be contained. Her skin would heat and her heart would pound like she was in the middle of a fight and her stomach would twist and knot like it was filled with a million Riodinaes, meat eating metal butterfly like creatures, running battle drills in her guts.

All she knew was that she wanted these people to keep talking, to keep filling the world with their light and passion, that maybe some of their passion would leak into her, would warm her body that always felt too cold. That maybe for a second, she could share some of that enthusiasm, some of that light.

But she had little time to spend devoting to understanding these new feelings in her, to discern why she became a mumbling, stumbling idiot. Feelings like these were low on her list of priorities when she had to focus on learning, on being better, on being enough. No, not just enough, to be the best. Enough wouldn’t keep her in class S, enough wouldn’t save the world from whatever monster was coming to destroy it in little more than six years.

So she pushed aside the strange feelings, the theories she wouldn’t admit to even herself that she had on them. She focused on her classwork, on her studies, on her training. She focused on her friends, on helping them, on letting them help her.

All of her friends, even Diana. Who had firmly entrenched herself in their group despite Liliana’s original misgivings, and after weeks in the girl’s company she could admit the girl’s niceness had yet to falter. She had to accept that maybe, just maybe, someone could really be that good, that pure. That instinct she’d had, the instant dislike, was fading away. Only the faintest occasional twinges popping up every now and again. So easy to push aside because Diana was nice. She was good; she was helpful, and Liliana would admit she liked the girl.

Despite her best effort, Liliana liked Diana Baker, could see in this girl the hero she was fated to become. The saint like woman who, in one life, would one day help save a country being destroyed by a villainess that would never rise in this life.

She liked the girl’s bright smile that no one could dim, no matter the cruel words they said to her, cruel words that were coming less and less often as more of their class had the chance to fall under her natural charisma. Liliana liked her sweet laugh with the little snort that was so improper, yet endearing. Liked her clumsiness, despite her Dexterity, that should prevent it. She even found the way the girl would so easily be brought to tears for others endearing.

So as the weeks passed, Liliana began to call Diana a friend, and slowly let herself trust this girl she’d been dead set on hating. She let this girl come behind her emotional walls. Something she’d have never dared before Emyr, before Alistair, before Marianne. But her friends had taught her how to trust, had taught her the wonder that she could experience when she let others into her heart.

Liliana let Diana in, let Anya in, though it was far easier with the wolf girl. A girl who was half beast and who seemed to understand the parts of her that her other friends never could. The animal parts, the parts of her changed irrevocably by her soul bonds.

Anya was easy to trust, with her easygoing smile, readiness to fight, and her unshakable loyalty once gained. Anya was the friend she wanted at her back in a fight, the partner she’d want with her on a hunt. Diana was the friend she wanted to braid her hair, to confess her heart’s ills to because she knew she’d listen, and cry for her.

She let in Fiora, and Fabian, even Koth’talan. In two months her friend group had more than doubled, her heart feeling so much the better for it. It was still injured, full of scar tissue that ached and stung and itched, full of hurts that would take so long to heal if they ever truly did. But her heart, damaged as it was, felt far more whole and full than it ever had in her life.

She had so many people in it now, so many people who made her smile, who brought light and color to her life. Her heart was so full and she knew she had her first friends to thank for teaching her how to open her heart, how to trust, how to love.

So for all that the Academy demanded more than many could give, for all the sleepless and barely slept nights, the stress and anxiety before every test and the breakdowns over homework someone had at least once a week, Liliana was happy. Because the Academy had given her back her childhood, had given her the chance to meet and make friends she treasured so very much.

[https://i.imgur.com/wtMoTrS.png]It was a tired but excited Liliana who stood in their Battle Training class. Her friends were gathered by her, and everyone was whispering in excited voices. Two months they’d been here and finally, finally, Rauk had deemed them passable enough to enter their first dungeon. To enter one of the dungeons deep beneath the Academy.

The Academy was the only place in the Queendom where several dungeons existed so close together without causing an outbreak. Liliana knew now that it was because the headmistress was a beast. She could create her own dungeons, she was over Rank 1. Adelaide Wraithe was as close to a god as any mortal creature could get, if she was even mortal any longer.

No one knew for sure how long beasts over Rank 1 lived. They were so rare. Many thought the Academy had been built here because of the dungeons, to control it while training their children. Liliana and Polaris alone knew the truth of it though Liliana wouldn’t discount the possibility that other tamers might know. She hadn’t tried seeing if anyone in the Beastology club knew the truth of what their headmistress was. It was too risky.

Their class had been split into two teams for this. It meant their teams were oversized, more people than what was necessary for a typical dungeon, but Rauk didn’t trust them enough to have smaller teams. In dungeons, they wouldn’t have the shields granted by fighting in Academy rings. But they would have a teacher with them. Liliana’s group would have Rauk, and Zir’elon’s group would have Vereign. Zir’elon had puffed up at having the higher ranked teacher, but Liliana didn’t envy the group being overseen by Vereign. The man still terrified her, even as she respected him.

Liliana’s group was made of herself, Emyr, Alistair, Marianne, and Anya, of course. Then Diana, Zindru, Koth’talan, Rathwater, and Dawn finished it off. All people they got along well with and who would work with them easily enough, they at least respected her team’s combat ability enough to listen.

Zir’elon’s team was composed of himself, Dunstan, Coppercolt, Allencourt, and Remrence, the only five who looked happy about the team designations. Mildenhall, Goldstein, Ravenswood, Eaglebow and Chiverton looked disgruntled or outright angry about their team, but the teams had been decided by Rauk, so none could argue against it.

Liliana thought he’d paired up those who showed a clear chemistry and friendliness where he could. In a dungeon, it mattered less how compatible your builds were and more if you could trust the person standing at your back. You could deal with an unbalanced team, but if you didn’t trust your teammates or hated them, you were doomed to fail or die.

“We’ve gone over the safety precautions and procedures for dungeons the past week. Remember, this is not a chance to prove yourself a hero or some legendary fighter.” Rauk’s eyes cut across all of them sternly, a clear warning in them.

“This is your chance to get experience fighting in a large group and to show that you’ve retained something I have taught you these two months. If we see you being reckless, putting yourself and others at risk to show off, you’ll be pulled out.” Rauk paused on a few of them and Liliana bit back a smile when their teacher’s eyes stopped on Marianne for a moment. Marianne had shown herself to be a bit of a loose cannon in fights, especially team fights. Liliana often wondered if a healer wasn’t the wrong class for her friend, but Marianne seemed to enjoy holding the power of life and ‘death’ over everyone, even her teammates.

“If it’s bad enough, we’ll pull the whole group and fail you all. I’d rather you fail than die, because while me and Vereign will be there, this isn't riskless. There’s a chance you could die in this dungeon before we can get to you. So don’t give us reason to pull you out if we think you’re a hazard to yourself and others because we care more about seeing you survive this than giving you a chance to show off.” Rauk cautioned them, his voice harsh and cutting as he looked each of them in the eye, pausing more than once on some of the more flamboyant students.

Liliana’s cheeks puffed out when he paused on her for a second longer than others. But she smirked when Anya got an even longer stare. Zir’elon got the longest warning stare of them all.

When Rauk judged them appropriately warned and dissuaded from dramatics that could kill them, he nodded. Liliana bounced on the balls of her feet, adrenaline already pumping in her veins. Finally, a real dungeon, with genuine risks, actual monsters, things she could kill and destroy while envisioning Zir’elon’s face on them. She had missed dungeons and enemies that had the good manners to properly die when you defeated them.

“Let’s go. Team A, with me.” Rauk ordered and led them from the room to the dungeon.