“So what are you going to do now James?”

“Things are going to proceed as normal.”

“Are you out of your mind? Did you not just hear what I told you, you know how fast word gets around. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole damn school didn’t know that he's Grace's kid now—and let's not forget that little display.”

Jordan groggily woke up, hearing hushed whispering to his side. Where was he? He flicked his eyes around, taking in the room. Shelves sat around the walks, a wooden desk sat in the front—wait this was the headmasters room? He grabbed the side of his head, a slight ache radiating throughout.

“Oh you’re finally awake,” Jordan almost broke his neck , turning behind himself—seeing Jason. “You’ve been out for a few hours.”

His mouth was dry, “Oh.” Was all he could muster.

“Looks like sleeping beauty is up,” Someone he didn’t know stood next to the headmaster, looking straight at him.

“Ah yes finally!” James clapped with a slight chuckle, “I was beginning to think I’d have to bring in the healers.”

So many questions popped into his mind. How was he here? Wasn’t he just in town with Jason? He felt himself waking up a bit more, “Why am I here?”

“You don’t remember what happened?” Confusion settled onto Jordan's face, the man spoke, “You don’t remember that big fight you had in town?”

His headache heightened for a moment before the events of what happened flooded his mind. He remembered everything. He also remembered what that man—no scum said about his parents, and how he lost control—again.

He turned his gaze to the side, “Yes… I remember. Am I in trouble?”

James looked offended, “No! Gosh no. You’re not in trouble Jordan, I can assure you. Jason and Xeon told me everything that happened.” The headmaster paused for a second before the man elbowed him in the side. “That was unnecessary,” He sneered towards the man, “but my apologies, the brute to my side is Xeon, a very old friend of mine.”.

He mentally sighed, but something didn’t click. How did Xeon know what happened and how did he get here? He didn’t want to offend Jason, but he highly doubted he could’ve carried him here alone.

“How did I get here?” Jordan managed. He had so many questions but knew he’d have to get one thing answered at a time. Asking a million questions at once wouldn’t do him any good.

Xeon spoke up, hands on his sides, “I brought you here—well I knocked you out first, then brought you here.”

He’d remembered feeling something hit the back of his neck… before he ended Ivel’s life. Recalling the memory was slightly painful but an unknown bitterness crept up inside of him, “Why did you stop me?” He stared daggers into Xeons face, the man matched his gazed, unfazed.

“I was watching the whole thing play out—at first. I wanted to gauge your abilities for myself, but when you picked a fight with a noble I thought it’d be the perfect opportunity.” He slightly grinned, “At the beginning of the first it was a little hard to watch, but James told me that you were new to this world so I overlooked it.”

Jordan felt the pieces connect. This wasn’t by chance. Xeon didn’t just stumble across him by accident—he’d been watching him. He gripped the edge of his seat.

Xeon’s grin disappeared and darkness reigned over his face, “I didn’t expect that bastard to have ties to what happened to your parents, I… both James and I were very close to them. I couldn’t let you kill him because first, you were out of control and I couldn’t risk the lives of the civilians around you. Second, well we need information and that man is the only lead we have.” Xeon huffed, “Trust me, I wanted to kill the man myself.”

“So you were watching me?” Jordan hissed. “You didn’t trust me,” He turned to the headmaster—”So you sent someone to watch me, is that correct?”

James watched him carefully before responding, “You are right but also wrong. I sent my most trusted friend to look after you—not because I didn’t trust you, but to protect you. From others and yourself.” The energy in the room shifted, “Jordan the students have begun noticing your resemblance to your parents, and word gets around fast in the magical world. You don’t know what some might do to you, the Grace's had a-lot of friends—but an equal amount of enemies.”

“Also kid, you did lose control, correct? What if I wasn’t there? Would you have killed Ivel, and moved on to the civilians? This was meant for your own good.” Xeon cut in.

He wanted to refute that claim, say it wasn’t true—he bit his lip, turning to the side. It was true. He didn’t know what he’d do next after killing the man. He roughly whispered, “It’s just, I was so… angry. When I’m practicing I can use the energy just fine, but I let my emotions get the better of me.” He looked down.

“Jordan, raise your head.” The headmaster spoke with authority, “You are learning, don’t beat yourself up over this, learn from it. Negative emotions are amplified by chaos energy, so it wasn't entirely your fault. We’re just going to have to work on keeping a level head—no matter the situation.”

He hesitantly raised his head, still feeling a bit sorry for himself. He still had some questions he needed answers to, however.”

“What's going to happen to the noble?”

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James spat, “He is in the school’s most safe-guarded dungeon and will be questioned extensively. Then he’ll rot inside of his cell.”

A smile threatened to form on Jordan’s face, but he held it down. A flashback grabbed him, yanking his memories back to the fight, but it was foggy. He vaguely remembered the man not having a mouth. It was difficult for him to remember because he wasn't in control. It might have been his imagination, he meant—that was too far beyond what he could do. In addition, he was fairly certain that was impossible. Still… he had a lot to think about.

Jason spoke up for the first time, “What about his father? I remember him mentioning his father is a Duke.”

“That’ll all be taken care of, we have permission from the council to use any force necessary to get the information we need.” Xeon grunted, “Any more questions?”

Only one thing popped into his mind, “What happens next?” His eyes shifted towards James, “You said the students here know about me now, so will I continue classes as normal?”

“The answer is yes. They may know your situation, but they are unaware of what your power truly is. Use it minimally for now—we don't want a leak.” James began walking towards his desk, “If that’s all you’re free to leave, Xeon and I have much to discuss.”

He took the hint and eased himself up. Jason waited for him near the door and they began silently walking to their dorms—they both had a-lot to process.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Jordan walked through the hallways at Hywell’s University of magic with a frown. They were right. Everywhere he went people whispered, gossiped—as if he couldn’t hear them. Truthfully, it made him want to just skip all his classes but he knew that wouldn’t solve anything. Sometimes he just listened to their conversations—he was slightly proud however at how amazing many people found his parents. But while there was good, there was also bad, he overheard some kids talking down to them. It didn't bother him, but it didn't leave a good taste in his mouth either.

His teachers were all acting strange as-well. They had left him out of discussions and had not asked him any questions during their speeches–but he wouldn't complain. He needed a break. He was happy to finally be out of the school as he made his way to the field with Jason for Beginner Battle Magic. They reached the school's enormous field and joined the other students as they all began stretching. This had become a ritual before class after almost everyone ended up with pulled muscles in the first week.

Profesor Nix stood front and center, “Tomorrow will be super exciting!” Jordan could’ve swore she hid an evil grin. “We will begin the duels. You’ll be facing off against each other in a fight to the death—until the loser surrenders.” She coughed, but Jordan knew she was trying to hide her words. In his mind, this only cemented the notion that she was insane.

“Anyway, today we will be learning a new skill called forcefield. This is a defense type magic that will completely protect you from attacks from a lower tier. If an attack is the same tier as the forcefield it will shatter after a couple blows—higher tier well..” Nix shrugged, “You get it.”

Jordan wondered if what protected him against his fight with Ivel was some mixture of a regular forcefield and his chaos energy. The headmaster told him to lay low with his power, so he wouldn’t be able to practice here—he’d just learn the regular forcefield first.

“Alright! We’ll be doing this one by one.” She pointed to Jason, “You, come here.” She pointed to the ground in front of her.

Jordan watched as Jason hesitantly made his way over. Nix pulled a book from her spatial pouch linked on her belt and turned the pages rapidly. Seeming to reach the page she turned the book around, letting Jason read it. Minutes passed before a spark flew through the air, crackles of lightning bounced around Jason both fierce and ready. Nix’s eyes widened.

“What do we have here? You’re already able to infuse your sub-mana with your forcefield?” A familiar excitement reached her eyes, “You are very interesting indeed.” She turned the rest of the class. “This is the advanced version of the forcefield—infusing your affinity with the field increases its strength considerably.” Her eyes again fell onto Jason, “This young man has done something even more difficult: adding a sub-mana aspect to his forcefield is something you learn in your third year.” She sent Jason back into the line.

As she called the next kid up; Jordan lightly punched Jason in the shoulder with mock annoyance, “Why are you so good at everything?” He only received an awkward laugh in return.

One by one the students went up and summoned a forcefield. He noticed that each person's field was a different color regarding their affinity. A girl—who had an affinity in water—was the only one besides Jason to infuse their affinity with their field. Water swirled around her with a calm, but deadly presence. He shuddered. Professor Nix commended her before sending her back into the line.

The moment of truth was here. He was the third to last person in line, but the professor began choosing at random. When she met his gaze, he tried to look away, but like the predator she was—in his moment of weakness, she pounced.

She grinned, “Jordan, why don’t you give it a try.”

Curse this witch, he grumbled—making his way to the front. The book hovered in front of him, he studied the withered page for a moment before looking at the contents it wrote.

Beginner Force-Field Magic – O.F Valor

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath and feel your mana. Next, guide your mana throughout your body towards your heart. As soon as you feel the pressure on your chest, expand the energy from within your body outward. As you progress, you will not have to do this little ritual—it will become instinct.

Jordan closed his eyes, following what the guide said. Reaching inside of himself he felt a shift within his stomach, investigating he urged his mind to go deeper. No way. Under his regular mana pool—deep inside of him was a different mana pool full to the brim with the familiar red energy. He wondered if that meant he could have two affinities as-well. He cursed himself for forgetting to ask the headmaster about it. He continued to follow the guide—using his normal mana pool and guiding to his heart. Feeling the pressure on his chest, he expanded the energy slowly and opened his eyes. He was met with a curious stare from his professor.

“More tricks up your sleeve, eh? Seems to always be something interesting going on with you.” Nix held her hands behind her chin, gazing at him in wonder. He was thoroughly confused.

“What do you mean?”

She tilted her head to the side, “Your forcefield appears to be translucent, basically meaning you can’t see it. Any mid-tier mage wouldn’t be able to tell at all.” She hummed, “So many things I’ve never seen before.” A devilish grin crossed her face, “I wonder what freakish move you’ll pop out next.”

“I… uh,” he nervously scratched his head, speechless. “Thanks?” He figured taking it as a complement would be better than nothing.

“You’re very welcome, Jordan.”

He walked back to the line, sweating.

Jason looked at him with pity, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I’m sorry you couldn’t do it man—it was really hard for me when I first started too.”

What? He looked at him with confusion. Ohhh. The realization hit, his forcefield was clear so everyone must’ve thought he couldn’t do it. He whispered what really happened to Jason, and enjoyed the shock that followed.

With class over and plenty of free time, he returned to his dorms to experiment with his powers. Over the past day, he had been inspired to try so many different things. Better yet, he wanted more control—despite how much he hated that noble, he shouldn’t have lost it like that. His near future included a lot of meditation.