Harassment became part of Aidan and Sora's daily routine. The only silver lining was that Aidan's fierce defense of Sora against the bullies and even nobles above his station, wich means any noble as Baronet was the lowest nobility title possible, earned him the sympathy of the non-human students. The academy studenty body was half human, with the other half mostly elves, dwarves and halflings. Some beastkin, lizardman, elemental-touched races and two minotaurs in the knight course. A handful of students were clearly non-human but nobody knew their races, and they did not disclose this information.
Weeks became months, and Aidan became a castaway. People ignored him and the few that showed him sympathy at the beginning of the semester stopped doing so for fear of incurring the princess' wrath. Despite all the harassment, Lumina's wish of expelling Aidan was not fulfilled. The academy officials and teachers foiled all attempts at framing Aidan or arranging 'accidents' for him.
It was this very wish that brought her to the academy headmaster's office. The former crown magician and personal friend of her father the King Helios Yutis, Archmage Astromelicus. They were having a fight. Meaning Lumina was angry and fuming and saying unprincely things about Aidan and his evil necromancy while Astromelicus used his magic to make sure nothing the princess tossed around broke and dodged her with both his body and noncommittal words.
"Miss Lumina Yutis, I once more beseech you to stop this fool's endeavour of trying to expel student Aidan. I will not allow it as long as I am headmaster of this academy." The academy did not use the titles or rank of students. They were all treated as Mister or Miss. There were no married students.
Lumina bit her fingernail, a rare display of her inner conflict. To call her by her given name completely disregarding her station was one of the greatest insults she could think of. Even the teachers addressed her by her rank. Only her parents had such right! But Atromelicus was the royal archmage, one wielder of the 'Life' quad-element composed of Fire, Light, Water and Air. This old man dared consider himself her father's equals!
"I don't understand why! That wretched and impudent wielder of the Underworld element, he should be not only expelled but also killed and his cursed bloodline erased from the face of the land!" The princess shouted at the headmaster, any shred of the usual princess' countenance gone.
*SLAP*
The archmage's backhand left a red mark on the princess' cheek, whose legs lost all strength and she collapsed to the ground.
"Fool." A cold, impersonal, detached and merciless voice emerged from the archmage's throat. Lumina felt like a fly that was swatted just for being a fly.
Unable to rein in the humiliation, Lumina glared at the headmaster and lashed out with a bolt of lightning. The chant was done in a few moments and there wasn't even time to react. The lightning hit Atromelicus head-on, circling inside and outside the headmaster's body and clothes before dissipating through the air and grounding on the stone floor.
His pointed ears twitched. "Are you done, young lady?"
Had Lumina been in control of herself, she would never have done that. A mage's affinities also dictate magic resistance. A lightning caster himself, and one with centuries of experience over his pupil, Astromelicus didn't need even to think to be able to resist a novice spell like that.
"Why?" Lumina slammed the ground. She was not used to being denied. She was not used to being confronted.
"I suppose you are old enough to know." He scratched his beard, noticing some hairs were slightly singed at the tip. He nodded and smiled a little. 'The princess has potential even though her personality is rotten', he thought. "Compose yourself and remove yourself from my floor, Princess. Or I'll call your handmaiden to help you and witness such disgrace."
There are some keywords that trigger deep and ingrained reactions on people. To Lumina, 'disgrace' was one of such words. She immediately lifted herself, wiped her face with a handkerchief and fixed her dress over her body. With a staggered sigh typical of those that were crying, she finally steeled herself.
"Please do tell, esteemed headmaster." And just like that she was back to her princess act, like a natural.
"Have a seat, your Highness. I have a brew here that will surely lift your spirits. It is something the otherworld heroes brought with them, 'Coffee'." With a flick of the wrist, Astromelicus conjured a floating and steaming cup of black liquid. Otherworld foods and vegetables were a rarity. Because of some attrition between the gods of their world and this, none of these vegetables could grow on the soil of this world.
Lumina sipped the bitter beverage, thinking how insane the otherworlders must be to like this thing. A few moments later she remade her mind. By the time she finished the cup, she was convinced it was indeed a beverage fit for royalty. She felt her energy soar.
"You can begin anytime, headmaster." She calmly stated, placing the cup on the table. Resting her hands on her lap like a royal lady, she gazed intently at the headmaster, with a polite smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"That boy is from the bloodline of the god-slayer hero. The one that liberated our world by slaying the demon god. That squirrel-kin girl that follows him, she is no servant. The squirrel tribe owed their lives to the god slayer, and it is tradition to have one of their own follow each generation of his bloodline of their own will. To that girl, serving under student Aidan is the greatest honor one of her tribe can earn."
A long pause and silence followed, Astromelicus giving time for Lumina to digest what he revealed. He knows the boy had no idea of his own bloodine and legacy. It was not something to be revealed before he came of age.
"Now, do you really wish for the end of the god-slayer's bloodline, your Highness?"
Astromelicus said this line almost singing, putting emphasis on each syllable like a minstrel. And it hit Lumina. Her country only existed because of the god-slayer. Scratch that, the world only exists as they knew because of him. And even more, the gods watching over mortals also owe their existence to these deeds. To wish doom on that is to desire no place in this world, she realized.
"Why is this kept a secret? Shouldn't the scion of the god-slayer be on a high station? Why does that boy only has a Baronet title to inherit?" It made no sense to Lumina. One as important as the liberator of the world should be Emperor. Rule over everyone out of gratitude!
"Because of an ancient deal. If we were to push any rank above baronet on that family, they would depart from the world. It would be catastrophic." Astromelicus chuckled. "Apparently they did not desire the 'trouble' associated with a noble station."
"What?" Lumina yelled her thoughts out loud, her voice raised an octave. For a pampered and spoiled princess that was born with a mithril spoon in her mouth, the thought was the epitome of madness. "Was the god-slayer an otherworlder?"
Astromelicus nodded. The princess reached the right conclusion for all the wrong reasons, it seems. He suppressed his mirth and continued.
"Now, do you understand, right? Miss Lumina Yutis, on my authority as the headmaster you are forbidden from acting against that boy. Or the one being expelled will be you, the kingdom be damned."
An infuriated princess once more rose from her seat. The chair clattered on the floor.
"What? My father would..."
"If you insist so much, I will summon the King here to talk with us right now. I will cast a message spell and the three of us can talk about the subject until we are all satisfied and a consensus is reached. Do you want that, princess?" The archmage's aura leaked so strong that Lumina found it hard to breathe. "I would never do anything against your father's wishes and vice versa, child. Our friendship runs way deeper than you can imagine."
To summon her father? This crooked old senile geezer was going to summon a King? Lumina's head was spinning. But she steeled herself.
"I believe we could continue this conversation at a later date, headmaster?"
"That would be wise, your Highness. My door is always open for you, Lumina. You are, after all, the star student of this year's class."
Satisfied with the last exchange and gaining time to do research on her own, Lumina curtsied and made for the door before Astromelicus presence made her stop.
"But before we part, allow me to give you one nugget of wisdom from the otherworlder heroes."
She turned and gave him a smile. That now was also made with her eyes. "What is it, headmaster?"
"With great power, comes great responsibility. Noblesse Oblige."
"What?"
Otherworlders are crazy, Lumina thought.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Aidan looked at his notes. It was the end of the semester already. After the break he would turn fifteen. He didn't blame the other students calling him an evil magician, if not by intent but by talent. His elements spoke for themselves. In front of him, three spheres, one purple one orange and one red floated in the air. Fire could be seen around the red one, rocks inside the orange one, and if you stared into the purple for too long you would see nothing. As if the light coming into your eyes were divested and drained. Between the red and orange a river of magma flowed slowly. Between the red and purple ashes and the promise of burning into oblivion. Between the purple and the orange the dark echoes of deep tunnels, graves, dungeons and catacombs. And between the three the ominous grey skull of the underworld element.
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Skippy was intently trying to eat the spheres, but they were illusions. His tiny claws and teeth went right through them.
Pushing aside the illusion that displayed his elements, he looked at an envelope he received in the mail. It was from his father. The one that was almost never home, always out in some crazy adventure elsewhere.
> To Aidan, My dearest son,
>
> I hope this leter finds you in good health, yadda yadda. You know the drill. I'm doing fine, your mother is awesome as always. I'm sorry I don't have the time to write more, but we are busy hunting a jabbersomething monster.
>
> I heard about your problems and of your abilities. Three elements, that is awesome! You don't worry about what people think of them, what really matters is what you do with them. You can heal and kill with those elements, but then you can heal or kill with ANY of them. Don't dismay. If the other students are being dicks and assholes, it is their problem of matching the former to the latter on their own. Their loss, I know you are fated for great things.
>
> Don't get mixed up in their mess. Unless it is your thing, then go for it. But I think not. Either way you have my support.
>
>
>
>
> P.S.: And I am amazed that you can now call upon THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL! Awesome, indeed!
>
>
>
> Love,
>
> Dad.
'What did dad mean with power of greyskull?' Aidan shook his head in confusion. His father often made this kind of jokes only he and mom would understand.
That is his father. S-rank adventurer. Baronet. And a bunch of other things, Aidan was sure, but he had no idea or intent of knowing. Nope, sir. Aidan was happy in his ignorance. Everything about his father screamed trouble!
He chuckled and Sora stirred in her bed. "Mmm... Aidan, please go to sleep. You have a test tomorrow, you need to be at your top game. Do you want to come here and sleep with me like the old times?"
"Sorry, Sora. I'm going to sleep. And no, these beds are too narrow for two people." Sora pouted, and Aidan continued, "And I am not dragging the bed to join them. I don't want the school maids starting any funny rumours."
It was uncommon but not too rare for students to be roommates with the opposite gender. Not that too many people cared with who was doing what with whom besides that hearthy gossip to kill time. But when one holds a title of nobility, those kind of things draw attention. Especially and exactly because night activities generate heirs. Aidan was extra careful to not let any suspicion fall on Sora, even keeping separate laundry baskets in the room at the expense of some free space.
Finishing his notes on his spell research for the night, he blew on the ink on a failed hope to make it dry faster and then put clasps on the edges of the book to hold it open. There is no helping, he would need to leave the book open to dry overnight. He sighed. If people weren't calling him an evil magician to his face before, they would be calling him one after the test for sure. He slipped his clothes off after checking that Sora was not looking and quickly dove beneath the blankets on his bed. In moments he was snoring. Aidan was never one to have trouble falling asleep, the opposite.
After counting ten snores, sora slipped out of bed. The light magic stone was still shedding light, Aidan forgot to turn it off. Just a bit of mana wasted, no biggie. She approached the book and tried to read the spell written within. Placing her finger over some almost-dried ink blots on the desk, she leaned over the book.
"Destroy undead." She smiled. With his elements, Aidan could be a top-notch necromancer. And indeed, the spell he just finished was considered necromancy. But it was one that seized control of an undead's magic and crumbled it from inside. Some undead monsters had a weakness to light and holy magic, but those were the weakest ones. The strong ones had resistance to these elements, but none of them had resistance to the very kind of magic that created them. Sora touched the book, unknowingly leaving a fingerprint of ink on the page.
The next day the whole class was gathered on the training and dueling grounds. It was time for the final spellcraft exam, the practical one. The students received the assignment of designing an original spell at the beginning of the semester. The place was warded against accidents and only the students and the spellcraft teacher were on the grounds. The observers, including Sora and the headmaster were seated around the arena. Aidan was nervous. He was amazed that his request to bring zombies and skeletons from the dungeon crypts underneath the capital passed. Without a 'live' undead his spell's presentation would be... lacking.
He looked at his classmates, some of them wondering what was behind the covered cage laying on a cart with stone wheels by a side of the training grounds. It was unusual but not unheard of that some student would bring along a monster to show the spell's effects, mostly when it was a damaging mind spell or something else. Aidan's worries was that his demonstration was going to upset even more his classmates and cement his terrible reputation earned during the semester. One by one the students were called to show their unique spells. Starting with your Royal Highness Princess Lumina, of course.
Lumina started to gather an enormous amount of mana around her and targeted the dueling area. Since the floor and wards there were even more reinforced because duels, it was the designated location for Area Of Effect (AOE) magic. After a brief chant calling upon the power of light and air and water, the princess finished her spell.
"Healing Mist!"
A glowing fog gathered on the dueling arena and covered it entirely. The students could see a mana tether linking Lumina with the mist. Tethers were a connection to sustain a spell. Usually spells are supplied with an amount of mana and they run until the mana is entirely spent, but tethered spells can draw more magic from the caster on the go. Not only the caster, they were used to connect spells to sources of magic like monster cores. The light globes on the dormitories, for example were light magic drawing from monster cores. And since the cores were rechargeable, tethered spells were very useful. There was no doubt in the astonished mind of Aidan that Lumina's spell was designed from the start to be able to be supplied by both the caster or tethered to a core battery. Such was the genius of the prodigy princess.
After the tether stabilized, Lumina glanced at the spellcraft teacher. "Bring in the patients." The teacher nodded and shouted to one of the side entrances. Several people, commoners, were brought. Some of them were monster hunters, clearly sporting recent wounds. After bowing to the princess, they walked to the dueling arena and entered the mist.
Shouts of joy and praises to both the princess and the realm came from the people inside the mist. After a few minutes, Aidan noticed the strain on the tether connecting Lumina's mana pool to the spell. it was draining huge amounts of mana from the girl. Lumina tried to remain composed, but Aidan was able to see that she was under strain. The ability to see magical energies was a boon of his bond with Skippy.
The tether stopped drawing lots of mana after a quarter of hour, and Lumina was being supported by Claire. The hunters were the first to leave the mist, removing bandages with dry blood to reveal a tender but healthy flesh underneath. The other commoners were also leaving the mist, but as soon as they got in front of Lumina they fell on their knees giving the princess praise.
A tri-element field healing spell. And one that can be tethered to a monster core battery to function independently. It would be invaluable for both monster hunters and the army.
The entire class gulped. After this demonstration, all of their spells will be lackluster. One by one the students droned in their demonstrations. There were some ingenious spells, some powerful ones, but none was even able to scratch the magnificent glowing mist that heals wounds of several people at once automatically.
The students also failed to realize it was not a competition. And it finally came to Aidan's turn, the last one as always. The boy walked to the front, pretending he wasn't noticing the scornful eyes from his classmates.
"You can do it, Aidan!"
A girl shouted from the audience. Several necks turned to look at Sora, the headmaster inclusive. It was too far away or he was masking his face, but he let out a brief smile that nobody saw. Aidan waved at Sora and earned some derisive comments from his colleagues. He paid no mind and pointed at the covered wagon.
"Animate Earth."
His spell could put a motion impetus on an object made of stone or earth, like pottery or in this case, the wagon's wheels. A rattling noise came from the inside, but it was muffled by the grinding sounds of the stone wheels moving. A student asked if that was his spell, but was silenced by a gaze from the spellcraft teacher.
The wagon reached the arena and Aidan removed the covers. Inside, two zombies and three skeletons. The undead tried to attack Aidan through the bars of the metal cage, but Aidan was at a safe distance.
"My spell is not 'animate earth' as one of you mistakenly assumed." Aidan decided to make a speech before casting his spell. "Animate Earth is a third circle spell that has existed for centuries. The version I used is listed in 'Garth's earthcrafts and cavernous dweomers' available at the academy's library. I recommend."
"Get on with it, who cares! Just finish this I want my hard-earned vacation!" Someone shouted from the crowd of students on the training grounds. Suddenly the crowd was about to burst when the most unexpected thing happened.
"Silence!" Lumina shouted with her back turned to Aidan.The boy's heart raced. Am I dreaming the princess is standing up for me? Aidan asked himself. If he were a crazy otherworlder hero he would pinch himself. Lumina turned around. "Fellow student Aidan, please go along. Is there anything else we need to know?"
'I see. She also wants me to finish fast and go away.' Aidan thought.
"If you allow me, your Highness, I would be most honored to not waste more of your time." He replied with a polite bow. He was a noble and knew his etiquette.
"That was not what I..." Lumina's voice trailed off. She decided in the end to allow his misunderstanding to settle. But she was put off by his meek attitude. In hindsight, Lumina noticed, Aidan was never hostile or responded to her bullying in any kind. He always took it in like a bottomless pit. She felt a pain of remorse in her heart for a little while, but her metaphysical skin was thick. Claire noticed and thought it was unusual for the princess to show empathy.
Aidan paid no mind to the last exchange from the princess and just assumed she wanted him to go on. He focused his mana and gathered necromantic energies to himself. Some students more sensitive to magical energies felt the natural repulsion the living feels around death magic.
"Destroy Undead."
Aidan chanted with a booming voice, his focus on controlling the spell. in the cage, the zombies and skeletons stopped trying to break out and retreated their limbs, standing in a neutral position. Then they begin to convulse and crumble, their mass seemingly being pulled inwards and being expelled as a fine dust that looked more like ash than proper dust. With a loud pop the undead dissipated like a sandstorm and a sound like glass clattering against metal could be heard.
After the dust cloud was blown away by the spellcraft teacher, Aidan walked to the cage and picked up some purple crystals the size of a pinky's fingernail.
"Monster Cores!" Lumina mumbled in a low voice.
"Indeed, my lady," Claire confirmed.
In Aidan's hands, five cores of a very nice size. Cores are not big crystals by any means. Most of them are smaller than peas like the ones used in lighting. A thumbnail-sized core would belong to a very powerful monster, like a war tiger or a three-headed flying snake. Even a true dragon's core would be of a size that could be hidden in the fist of a grown man.
Aidan approached the already smiling spellcraft teacher and showed him. Ffive cores, one for each undead in the cage. All of them too big to come from a lesser undead. There was silence in the arena. Partly because necromancy was used, but for a few because what happened was mind-boggling.
The silence was suddenly interrupted by a solitary clapping of hands. In the audience, a man was standing up and clapping alone at Aidan's achievement.
The Headmaster.