The children of the Lesser Hall filed into the clearing, the mood low and the tension thick.

Instructor Death said that this assignment didn’t matter, but everyone with sense knew that was a lie.

If you had a lousy showing, you’d be ignored. Death’s attention was a finite resource, even more finite in the lower halls. Even in the same hall, there were winners and there were losers. No one wanted to be a loser.

Instructor Death grinned at his students, eyes glittering.

”Welcome back! I expect good things from some of you. Now then, no need to delay. Let’s see… eenie meenie minee… you.”

Death points at a short boy with long hair down to his shoulders.

“Affinities. Now.”

Death snapped, and the boy fumbled for the answer.

“U-uh um, e-earth, fire, light.”

Death huffed and pointed, a shadow dummy erupting into existence in a few feet away.

“Earth, Lava, Fire, Plasma, Light, Glass. You miss one, you’re gone. Go.”

The boy stumbled forward and raised his hands, mustering his magic.

But under the weight of all his peer’s gazes, only sparks appear.

“I can kill you a hundred times for every second you waste. And some slime from the Outer Wastes only needs to kill you once. Do you not know your elements? Are you that pathetic?”

The boy trembled under his instructor’s annoyance, and could only conjure more sparks.

Death groans and facepalms.

“Gods kid. How can you be such a spaz with an Earth affinity.”

The boy mutters out a response, and Death stomps forward, grabbing the boy’s wrists.

“I’ve seen you cast yesterday. I know you can do this, you know you can do this, stop wasting everybody’s time. Now, what are you?”

The boy seemed to be on the verge of tears.

“I don’t… I don’t know.”

Death glared at him, unwavering in his intensity.

”You are Earth. Steady, study, strong. You are unmoving and unchanging. You are wide-reaching and you are ageless and you are inevitable. Empires fall, but you still stand. Reach inside yourself, find your earth. Now cast.”

The boy tears up, but he clenches his fist and some pebbles fly weakly at the target.

Death, who looks like he’s about to sneer, instead nods.

“Good. Next. What are you?”

“I am… I am… light?”

“You are light,” Death confirms. “What is your light, boy? Tell me.”

It continues on for all of the boy’s affinities. The boy’s responses get stronger and stronger until by the end, he’s answering on his own.

“I am fire. I am fire. I am fire. I am… passionate. Fiery. Blazing.”

The boy flicks his wrist and the construct catches on fire.

Death stares at the fire for a few moments, before shoving the boy back into the crowd.

”Passed. Next. You.”

He points to someone new.

.

.

.

”You.”

He eventually points to Damian.

As the excited redhead steps forward, loud clacks echo on the cobblestone.

“Oh, I’ve gotta see this one.”

The crowd turns to see their audience, and Apathy approaches with a bright smile.

Death grunts.

”I didn’t give you leave to enter the Lesser Hall, boy. Much less interrupt my lesson.”

Apathy scratches his head as if confused, but his eyes hold nothing but triumph.

“Oh… but I’m allowed to be here. Tutors are allowed to oversee their students’ tests, after all. And this is a test, is it not?”

He happily points at Viran, who sinks under the sudden attention.

”And this is my student! He didn’t know his affinities, see, so I graciously stepped in.”

”WHAT?!”

Roars Zack, who storms up to the smug ‘tutor’.

”What the hell are you talking about? I taught him his affinities, if anyone’s that guy’s mentor, it’s me.”

Apathy only tsks.

”Really now? Is that why he was Burning when I found him? Guess lessons didn’t go that well, poor boy, he didn’t even know what was happening to him.”

Zackary turns on Viran, who seems to be trying to sink into the ground with earth magic and failing.

“You were Burning again? Why the hell didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t I smell you? Where were you last night?”

Viran pales at Zackary’s rapid questions.

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“I…”

”You don’t need him. I already agreed to do it, we’re already doing it, he can’t take you from me.”

“Oh, but I guess I sorta did? I mean, he knows his affinities now. So what does he really need you for? After all…”

Apathy leans in, eyes wild with glee.

”You’re only Lesser Hall. I think we both know who’s better qualified.”

Apathy chuckles as Zack snarls.

“I kicked your ass once, I’ll do it again. In fact…”

Zackary whirls on Death, who’s been watching the spectacle with a hint of amusement.

“If I beat him, why is he in Blessed Hall and I’m here? I’m clearly better then him.”

The student of Lesser hall begin to mutter among themselves at that, pondering the logistics of a Lesser Hall student beating a Blesser Hall student.

Death snorts.

“You should focus on your affinity test before asking stupid questions, boy.”

Zack doesn’t break eye contact as he lifts a hand.

There’s a flicker of sparks before his hand erupts with flame, and he casually flicks his wrist at the shadow construct. The ball of fire flies leisurely at the construct, before detonating, consuming the test dummy in an explosion that sends warm air dusting into the faces of the crowd.

He also sends a flash of light and a bit of lightning, but they pale in comparison to his fiery blast.

“Fire, Light, Plasma. Double fire affinity? Fine. Now, your question, you didn’t collect enough tokens, so you don’t make it into Blessed. I figured it was pretty simple.”

“Not simple enough. You said there were tournaments to advance through the halls? Why wait? I’ll beat up everyone here, that Apathy freak as well.”

Zackery begins to flare up again, and a few people begin to step back, realizing he was serious.

“That’s not how in the rules.”

“The rules? You make the rules. That’s the only reason little Viran is here, after all.”

Apathy adds with a cheery smile.

The crowd returns its attention to Viran, who was beginning to get really confused.

“We’re talking about tournaments now? Why are we… what 0-(3 are we even on? None of you are making any sense!”

You’re getting close. Their stories are unraveling. The Cycle is diverging. More. You have to do more.

“What are we doing?! Why are you here to test our affinities?! It’s never explained! What are you teaching us? You never teach anything, you just hit them, and insult them, and then send them off to do their own thing. What’s the point?! You set us all up for failure and then you just DISAPPEAR!”

Viran knew he was spouting nonsense, but his mouth wouldn’t stop moving. What was he saying? Why was he saying this? Didn’t he know how foolish he looked?

He knew the story was a bit dodgy, but why was he so upset? It’s a story, it doesn’t really matter if the Academy didn’t actually teach anything.

And yet…

“Why did you bring me up to Lesser Hall, if no matter what hall I’m in, you’re never going to be here when we need you? Why did I have to learn magic from a classmate? Instructor, please, what’s the use?”

Instructor Death stared down at Viran, expression a mix between grimace and growl.

“You… you… how dare you…”

Death’s hands clench, the fabric of space rippling around them.

“Why… am I doing this? None of you are prepared for this test, obviously. And the ones who are, still don’t really know why they’re prepared. None of you know shit about magic. All of you are useless… so why… didn’t I just explain?”

Instructor Death looks furious, but also confused. And he’s not the only one. All around the clearing, all around the Academy, all around the world, everyone pauses, suddenly wondering why they’ve made the decisions they have.

It’s like they’re actors who’ve suddenly lost the script.

See how the strings snap? Good boy, Viran. Very good boy. Now we have a story on our hands!

“You.”

Death points to me.

“Do you know your affinities?”

Viran flushes.

“I… I think. But I don’t really… get it.”

Death nods, an oddly vulnerable expression on his face.

“I understand. Everyone, sit down, now. You too Apathy, since you wanted to sit in so badly.”

The crowd of Lesser Hall students shift awkwardly, but quickly hurry to the floor with a bit of soul pressure.

Death paces the clearing.

“Magic… is emotion. And emotions are magic. They are intrinsically linked, and can only be unlinked with practice.”

Death suddenly shifts direction and a shadow construct copy peels off his form.

”See there? I used dark magic, but I didn’t need to feel the emotion associated with darkness. Which is rather useful for a fight. For inexperienced children, such as yourselves, you will need to channel an emotion to channel a magic. Now, who can name the base elements?”

Everyone seems hesitant to raise their hands, wary of this seemingly new version of Instructor Death. Everyone except Apathy and Damian.

“Fire, light, earth, water, air, dark.”

“Dark, water, air, earth, light, fire.”

They say in unison, much to the annoyance of the other.

“Don’t copy me, farm boy.”

“Get your own lesson, sword freak.”

Death chuckles, confusing the bickering boys greatly.

“Good. Now, as I said, each base element is associated with an emotion, or feeling. Every one of you will develop your own relationship and understanding of your element, these are just the guidelines. Fire is passion, desire, envy, and selfishness. Water is obedience, submissiveness, passivity, and adaptability. Earth is tranquility, comfort, peacefulness, and stubbornness. Air is freedom, wanderlust, independence, and indifference. Light is love, connection, compassion, and confinement. Dark is hatred, terror, anger, and righteousness. Now, like I said, these are only guidelines, but the affinities your soul is comprised of, are pieces of you. One affinity comes from your father, then your mother, and then from yourself. Fragments. Sub-affinities, one of you, and the elements that make them up.”

A few more hands go up this time, and Death points to a nervous girl.

”Um… ok, I know this… uh…”

“Seriously? It’s the basis of all mag-”

”Enough, Apathy. Continue.”

“There’s… um… oh! I know mine! There’s glass, which is light and earth. There’s plasma, which is light and fire. Finally lava, fire and earth.”

Soon a boy pipes up.

“Lightning, fire and air. Space, dark and fire. Corruption, air and dark.”

Another boy pipes up, a boy that Viran quickly realizes is himself.

“…life, light and water. Cycle, light and dark. And… um… blood, water and dark.”

Apathy, very impatient, fills in the rest.

“Yeah, okay, no need for show and tell. Weather, water and air. Poison, water and earth. Null, water and fire. Lightning, fire and air. Dust, earth and air. Death, earth and dark. Finally, soul, air and light.”

Apathy smirks at his own encyclopedic knowledge, and shoots a smug glare at Zackery, who quickly returns it with a rude gesture.

Death nods.

“Good, you all get that? We don’t have notebooks, so you’ll have to go by memory… why don’t we have notebooks, this is a school? Whatever. Doesn’t matter. Any questions? I do have to go soon, I was only allotted an hour. Viran, yeah? I see you there.”

Viran, who hadn’t realized he’d had a question, quickly panics.

“Uh! So! Um! You… we all have three affinities, right? But you said Zackery only had fire, light, and then plasma. Shouldn’t he have three?”

Zackery himself quickly pauses.

”Wait… I never thought about it actually… why do I only have two affinities?”

Apathy snorts.

“You’d have asked sooner if you were smarter. It’s because-”

“Apathy.”

Apathy has the decency to look a bit embarrassed as he turns away.

Death switches to glance at Zackery, examining him.

“There’s technically two reasons. But unless you let a Null user all up on you, it’s probably that you or your parents share an affinity.”

Another boy raises a hand.

“How do we know which affinity comes from who? For example… how do we know which one comes from ourselves?”

Death thinks to himself for a moment.

“Well, common sense? Fire affinities are loud and annoying, water is boring and passive, earth is stubborn and unreactive, air acts like they’re above it all, dark is probably mean, probably vengeful, light is sweet and nice and obsessed with order. Once again, guidelines, but just see who matches who. For example, Flameclaw here is loud and annoying, so fire is probably his affinity. Which means one parent also has fire, and the other light.”

Apathy puffs himself up at this.

“Makes sense. I’m triple dark, and I can safely say I want revenge.”

Death goes to shush Apathy for the nth time, but pulses of foreign mana ring out from his hand.

They seemed… familiar to Viran. Almost… calling out to him. As if he could just…

“My timer’s done.”

Death sighs, snapping his fingers and forcing open a portal.

“I’ll be here next week. And… and I’ll have a proper lesson.”

He looks up, a glimmer of shame in his eyes as he scans the class.

“I’ll do better.”

With that he steps into the portal, and he vanishes.

As Apathy and Zack both stand up, beginning to walk towards him, Viran suddenly wishes he’d vanished too.