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

Instructor Death had 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.

As the students settle into place, Viran feels a hard chest press into his back.

“We need to talk.”

Zack muttered into his ear.

Viran nodded.

“We will. After.”

Zackery huffs an agreement, and turned to look at Death, but Viran could feel the boy’s eyes continually returning to him.

He tried his best to pretend he couldn’t, as Death began his lesson.

Instructor Death grinned at his students, eyes glittering.

“You’re all here. Good. Tardiness is not permitted. So all remember the assignment, don’t you?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, much too pleased with himself.

“Go on then, give us a show! You.”

Death pointed to a short boy with long hair pulled into a ponytail.

“You’re up. Earth, fire, and light, huh? Go ahead.”

The boy nervously stumbled forward, as dummies made of shadow appeared a dozen feet away.

He raised his hands and attempts to pull the cobblestone from the ground, but clearly wasn’t strong enough quite yet.

He then reached for the dirt, but it’s clear all the tiny moving pieces are hard for him to control.

A member of the crowd coughed as the student’s face reddened, and Death sighed.

“Jeez, kid.”

He says to himself, before disappearing.

The silence dissolved into murmurs the longer Death was gone, and a hand interlocked with his at some point.

“You’re not going first? My pupil is not an overachiever, I see.”

Apathy snarks, before a low growl emits from behind Viran and a fist seizes the area above Vi’s hand.

Zackary clearly seized something solid, as Apathy’s signature invisibility dissolved soon after, Zackary’s meaty hand clamped around his wrist.

“You.”

Zackery growls.

“Me.”

Apathy agrees cheerfully.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Don’t have any more fights to lose?”

That wiped the smile off Apathy’s face, as he responded.

“Maybe, but I had to make time for my cute little disciple here! Found him burning in front of Administration, right where everyone could see. Jeez, if only someone taught him how to control it, he wouldn’t have embarrassed himself.”

The jab enraged Zackery, but he turned to Viran.

”This true? You were burning again?”

“Again?! He already burned? Oh my gods, that’s embarrassing. I’d hate to be the guy who taught him magic… oh wait? Arn’t you-”

Apathy was cut off by Zackery’s hand darting forward to seize his neck, the red-haired boy’s eyes seeming to glow gold.

”Say one more thing about him. I dare you. Go home, sword guy. Next time, it won’t just be the blade.”

Apathy’s eyes widen with rage and hatred, but he dissolved away into shadow nonetheless, running off God know’s where.

Viran groans.

“You shouldn’t have done that. He’s going to beef with you for the rest of time.”

“He insulted you, right to my face. I won’t let that go.”

Zackery growled, as stubborn as every episode of the anime implied.

“Who cares? Arn’t we in a fight anyways? You’re not supposed to defend me when you’re angry at you.”

Zackary’s eyes soften, as his hands snake around Viran shoulders firmly.

“I don’t want to fight. And I don’t want to be angry at you. Can we-”

He was cut off by Death popping back into existence.

“Sorry about that. Now here, you’re lucky I’m required to give you proper accommodations.”

He holds out a hand, and a large pile of pebbles dumps out in the ground from a tear in space.

”Now go.”

He grunted at the boy from earlier, who fumbles a bit before lifting a few stones and tossing them lightly at the dummy. He then sends out a weak flash of light, and a bit of fire, and some static. He picks up some more stones, one of which turns into a tiny bit of magma, the other into a shining piece of glass, both are sent flying at the dummy, but miss.

“Weak. But that’s why you’re here. Pass. Next.”

The group of untested dwindles rather fast, most happy to get this over with.

Eventually a girl stepped forward, clearly even more nervous then the rest.

She stepped forward and raised her hands, mustering her magic.

But under the weight of all her 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 girl trembled under her instructor’s annoyance, and could only conjure more sparks.

Death groans and facepalms.

“Gods kid. What are you even doing?”

The girl mutters out a response, and Death stomps forward, grabbing the girl’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 girl seemed to be on the verge of tears.

“I don’t… I don’t know.”

Death glared at her, unwavering in his intensity.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

”You are Fire. Wanting, needing, aching for more. You burn bright as you chase your desires endlessly, filled with a passion that makes others envious. You may burn out, but you will do so in a blaze, dying the way you lived, with enthusiasm. Reach inside yourself, find your fire. Now cast.”

The girl tears up, but she clenches her fist and shoots off a weak fire bolt at the target.

Death, who looks the type of man about to sneer at the girl, instead nods.

“Good. Next. What are you?”

“I am… I am… darkness?”

“You are darkness,” Death confirms. “What is your darkness, girl? Tell me.”

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

“I am air. I am air. I am air. I am… floating. Independent. Free.”

The girl flicks her wrist and the construct is knocked over by a gust of wind.

Death stares at the dummy for a few moments, snaps his fingers to reoriented it, before shoving the girl back into the crowd.

”Passed. Next. You.”

He points to someone new.

.

.

.

”You.”

He eventually points to Zack.

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 makes his official entrance with a bright smile, as if he hadn’t been skulking around just before.

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.”

“He would’ve, if you hadn’t stole him.”

Zack snarls.

Apathy gasps.

“Stole him? But you can’t steal people, Zackery Flameclaw. They can leave you, but they can’t be stolen if they really want to stay. And I guess he doesn’t, does he?”

Zackery shakes with anger.

“I’m going to fucking kill you.”

He took a step forward, before chains of shadow rose up around him, chaining him down to the ground.

Apathy laughed, before a new set of chains appeared for him.

“Enough. Your peers are here for me, not to watch you bicker. Zackery, your elements.”

Instructor Death grunted, as the chains unwrapped to free Zack’s hands.

Zack doesn’t break eye contact with Apathy as he lifted a hand.

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

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

“Double fire affinity? Guess the gods knew you were too stupid to handle three.”

Comes Apathy, to which Death rolls his eyes.

“Do I have to muffle you, Apathy? Next up, you.”

It took Viran a second to realize he was being pointed at.

He’d lost himself in the crowd, as if this were still just an anime he were watching.

He could imagine the invisible camera on him as he floundered.

”I… um…”

“You… do know your affinities, don’t you?”

Death asked, to which Zack and Apathy both look up, wondering who’s training was better.

“I do! I… I do. I just…”

“Do you… need help?”

Death slowly asked, drawing closer.

Gods, why couldn’t he have said that yesterday?

Everything within Viran told him to say no, that he was fine, that he didn’t need anything, that he wasn’t a bother.

But what exits his mouth instead is “I think I do…”

He was shocked with himself. Why now? In front of all these people? It was… embarrassing.

“I understand, I… should’ve done this from the start, really. All of you guys are stupid, I should’ve have assumed there were any brains there. The test is cancelled. 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 hurried to the floor with a bit of soul pressure.

Death paced the clearing.

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

Death suddenly shifted direction and a shadow construct copy peeled 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 seemed hesitant to raise their hands, wary of the terrifying Instructor Death actually instructing them. Everyone except Apathy and Zack.

“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 snorts, confusing the bickering boys greatly, as they saw their fight as nothing to be laughed at.

“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.”

He took a deep breath for his long speech.

“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. Now sub-affinities, one of you, and the elements that make them up.”

A few more hands go up this time, and Death pointed to the first girl who’d been tested.

”Um… ok, I know this… uh…”

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

”Enough, Apathy. Continue.”

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

Soon a boy piped up.

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

Another boy piped up, a boy that Viran quickly realized is himself.

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

Apathy, very impatient, filled 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 smirked at his own encyclopedic knowledge, and shot a smug glare at Zackery, who quickly returned it with a rude gesture.

Death nodded.

“Good, you all get that? We don’t have notebooks, so you’ll have to go by memory…”

Death suddenly paused.

“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 panicked.

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

Zackery himself quickly paused..

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

Apathy snorted.

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

“Apathy.”

Apathy had the decency to look a bit embarrassed as he turnt away.

Death switched 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 rose a hand.

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

Death thought 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 puffed himself up at this.

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

Death went to shush Apathy for the nth time, but pulses of foreign mana suddenly rung out from his hand.

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

“My timer’s done.”

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

“I’ll be here next week. So just… try not to suck next time? The next lessons won’t be so easy, so practice hard.”

With that he stepped into the portal, and he vanished.

As Apathy and Zack’s chains vanish, and they both stand up, beginning to walk toward him, Viran suddenly wished he’d vanished too.

Before Apathy got a chance, Zack hauled Viran over toward a quieter spot.

”I don’t want to be mad at you anymore. Why did you explode on me?”

Viran thought up a thousand lies, but looking up at face of the character he’d liked for so long, he just… can’t.

“…back home. Nobody really liked me. I was… um… I was kinda known for being fat, and always reading a book. And people, girls mostly, they’d come up to me and be like… ‘hey Viran, my friends like you’. They wanted me to get excited, because it was funny to them that I thought I had a chance. I didn’t know I liked guys back then, but I didn’t like girls, so thankfully I never got baited. I never wanted to be funny, but I was hilarious to them. And when I saw you, being so nice to me… I could only imagine… he must be fucking with me. And I thought here would be… different and so I just… hated you. I’m sorry, I’m… you didn’t deserve that.”

Viran was really shocked at how he spilt his guts out, blabbering on and on, unable to stop. He didn’t need to say all that.

Zackery’s eyes are angry as he seized Viran’s hand.

“Neither did you. What those people did, it’s fucked up. I’d never do that to you. I’ll always give you a chance.”

Viran burst out laughing.

“You… shouldn’t say that. You don’t even know me. What if I don’t deserve a chance?”

Zackery huffed.

“Then I’ll cry about it. But until then… can we be friends?”

Viran is speechless at this, unable to respond. Apathy took advantage of this, as he dispelled his invisibility.

“Cute, but he still owes me a favor. And I’m cashing in. Come along, manservant.”

Apathy clapped his hands and turnt to leave as if was expected that Viran would follow.

“I’m coming with you.”

Zackery butt in, fuming.

Apathy scoffed.

“Oh yeah? And why should I let you?”

“Because he’s my friend.”

The two boys turn as Viran says this, who was surprised himself.

Apathy rolls his eyes as Zack grins.

“Fine, whatever, your homeless friend can come along. Two servants are better then one.”

Zack’s hand finds it’s way around Viran for the millionth time, and Viran found himself reacting less and less to it.

Apathy jammed one of his keys into space, and walked into the resulting portal, Zack and Viran in toe.