Marcus walked out into the hallways Dum Spiro Spero… or Spero Academy for short. It was one of the older fantasy fortress buildings turned into a school which meant lots of stone, lots of magical lights to offset the lack of windows… and of course the odd magical nonsense that made it hard to navigate the hallways.

He grimaced as he tried to figure out where he was on the map as the area around him didn’t match the map… despite the fact the ‘guards’ who brought him to the interrogation room claimed it was a real map and that he shouldn’t lose it… especially since most students didn’t get one.

Looking at the four hallways splitting off to his right the young magician looked back at the map as the area claimed there was only a simple turn as the path should be pretty straightforward… and completely ignoring the other three paths.

“You know if they had any windows I could try climbing down to the ground floor.” Marcus muttered to himself

“If they had more windows you’d get students flying broomsticks to class rooms.” a familiar voice he hadn’t been expecting to hear replied “I never thought you’d get lost so easily.”

Marcus frowned at the jab, but he tried to be polite “Honestly I thought you wouldn’t have wanted to see me muchless help me after what happened.”

Lapis Rezen stared at him and simply smirked “What makes you think that?”

He rolled his eyes as he stated the obvious “Scorched are trying to kill me. I nearly put your life in danger just by picking the same cart. The old goat tried to implicate me for trying to kill everyone else as he claimed that ‘I hired’ the very beings that are trying to kill me in an attempt to have them kill everyone else, before suggesting that I should be killed for everyone's safety.”

He shrugged as there probably a dozen more reasons to avoid him that he hadn’t even mentioned yet. Still the possibility or risking your life or your social status wasn’t a popular endorsement for trying to befriend him.

The young witch shook her head as she elegantly replied “You managed to risk your own life in an attempt to save everyone else from the utter incompetence Luxarious the headmaster of Stagniss school for Sorcery and self proclaimed ‘leader’ of the wizarding world in general.”

She looked at her hand and started counting them off “You tried to offer me a way out keeping me alive. If I had been in a different cart I could have ended up as a casualty during the first volley instead of losing some clothing.”

There was a pause on the last one as that was probably the biggest nail in the coffin of them all. It was alright for Marcus to piss off the old goat, but that was because he didn’t have strong ties to the magical world… and if he didn’t plan on killing the old goat in the future then would Velkear certainly plan to murder the old traitor.

For everyone else this guy was the most respected, powerful, and most likely gets to decide if you are stuck being the janitor, the next head of state… or the next ‘evil villain’ who should be smothered in their sleep.

Going against him wasn’t good for your future.

“He tried to suggest that they should kill you?” Lapis spoke in mild disbelief “I mean I can see him saying…”

“I’m not the ‘proper heir’ and while he didn’t directly suggest it…” Marcus sighed as he knew the game “He had someone else suggest it as bluntly as possible. He of course did not ‘agree’ with making a hasty decision, but he did hint that they shouldn’t dismiss any possibilities or ‘decisions’ since he doubted I was the… ahem… True Flame Heir.”

He couldn’t help, but chuckle “As apparently the will he has claims that everything my parents own goes to him when they die… while ignoring the updated will that cuts him out. Including the letters and messages from my parents stating that I am their child for the past three years.”

He clenched his hand in anger at how easily the old man seemed to lead everyone into doing whatever he wanted. Just how blind and naive could these twig twirlers be?

Lapis closed her eyes as he knew she was thinking things over. Maybe the Scorched weren’t as dangerous if they stayed inside the school… but having a bullet sign on your back from the old traitor who was suggesting that murdering children just to be safe was a perfectly good idea.

“Well then my father would be disappointed if I didn’t try befriending you if only to annoy Luxarious the ‘ever so wise’ especially after he got two children killed by walking everyone into a last minute ambush.” She spoke in mild anger “Besides the moment he starts aiming for me I fully expect you to lend a helping hand.”

The young magician tried not to chuckle as there was something off about the witch for her to be this… confident? Bold? What was the exact term for it?

She laughed as the smile she wore was infectious “He already has his ‘doubts’ about me after I didn’t befriend his favorite student… and somehow made Hadwin Vera convinced that I am some sort of evil witch that needs to be defeated!”

That caught Marcus off guard until he realized it fit exactly with the old man’s personality. Finding a person who has ties to a powerful family. Introduce his chosen pick… then demonize and try to remove the child in question if they didn’t line up to his plans and manipulations.

The witch pointed her wand at her own face “So you are already too late on trying to convince me to stay away for my own good. Besides you have far too many secrets that would drive me nuts if I couldn’t figure them all out.”

Marcus couldn’t help, but laugh as maybe things wouldn’t be as bad as he thought. Looking at the map he tried to figure out which one of the four hallways he was supposed to go to.

The young witch walked over to him and inspected the map “So you got a map… what are you looking for because I highly doubt this is one of the more special or ‘magical’ maps.”

Deciding to scrap his pride the magician sighed “I’m trying to find out which hallway leads to the ground floor.”

She stared at him in confusion “Which hallway?”

He sighed walking into one of the hallways only to see Lapis staring at him in confusion… before pulling out a hand mirror. When he looked into the mirror he saw a brick wall… and quickly walked back into the room as ‘magically walled off rooms’ really didn’t sound good.

Noticing his look of fear she shook her head “This place is a magical school and one of the problems with magical schools… the older enchantments start to get stronger with age.”

“Stronger with age?” Marcus asked looking at the hallway/trap “Is there supposed to be a death trap over there or…”

That earned him a small chuckle from the witch “The opposite actually. Wizard Space charms were used on a lot of these old castles to add room to allow more people to work and live inside the castle instead of having to build extra houses outside the castle.”

She stared at his left hand for a second “It’s useful when it was initially cast, but give it a few decades and a charm built to add a single room of space ends up now being able to add two dozen rooms… and there are a lot of enchantments placed on these places.”

Marcus tried to figure out how exactly that worked. He could understand trying to add room… since magically adding room to ensure the children would be safe inside the castle rather than trying to build new fortifications sounded easier.

It was a school for magic… they probably didn’t have a shortage of wizards and witches to cast and maintain the spells. The idea of the spells… evolving without direct input? That was… mildly unsettling.

“You don’t know a lot about magic from the Albion Accord do you?” She asked in mild disbelief “I mean I figured you were taught magic of the old ways or perhaps some new addition founded by your family, but…”

The magician shrugged “It was illegal for me to own a wand. Hard to learn ‘regular magic’ without one muchless keep up with studies when you have people trying to kill you.”

It wasn’t a boast. It was hard to study magic he wasn’t able to use when there was a brand of magic he could easily use in its stead… especially when he needed something to protect himself.

The witch smirked as she glanced at the wall for a few seconds “I’ll try to keep you up to date if you tell me how you did that fancy summoning trick.”

Marcus pulled out the key from his ring “Key to the House of Twilight.”

He quickly put it back into his ring as he knew it was foolish to show something so valuable to her, but she was the only one willing to talk to him. If everyone else was under that traitor’s thumb then the young magician was going to need as much help as he could get.

Lapis frowned “That doesn’t explain anything.”

“This school as a library doesn’t it?” Marcus politely replied “I’d tell you more, but you wouldn’t believe me… since the adults didn’t understand either.” He shook his head “So how many students want my head after my incident?”

The witch stared at him for a few seconds before bursting out laughing as he sighed. He really wasn’t joking since it would be very easy for one of them to ‘accidently’ cast a deadly curse on them if they were supposed to duel one another.

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Lapis Rezzen had entered the Great Hallway as all of the important daughters and sons of great wizarding families stared at the Flame Heir in surprise. She had noticed how he tried to prepare to run and protect himself against an attack only to see them rush forward… and thank him.

She tried not to laugh (and failed) when he seemed completely confused at them thanking him for getting the creepy True Fae monsters away from them. He tried to tell the truth claiming it was an attempt to escape alive since he knew they were after him.

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That might have worked if she hadn’t been left alone with a lot of impressionable young witches and wizards to help spread a more positive spin to the story. Mind you it wasn’t that hard to begin with.

Roland made no attempts to hide his disdain towards the sudden lack of security around their carts when the abush happened… after the sudden change of plans separating them from everyone else. While people were less likely to believe that Lux would try to purposely kill children they had no problems believing the ‘Boy in Trouble’ causing a few more casualties.

Not that Hadwin was trying to kill them… just that other people tended to pay the cost when he did some hair brained attempt. The fact that Marcus revealed himself like a storybook hero to lead the villains away from the innocents in danger…

That was a lot easier to spin than what the Flame Heir had expected.

She grinned as she waved at dear little annoying Hadwin who was upset that he wasn’t the center of attention as she was (by association) the savior of their little expedition instead of him.

Glancing back at her new ticket to power she heard Marcus reply “They are Unsee… sort of like house spirits. Honestly until I found out that House Elves are real I thought they were where the stories of House Elves came from since they share a lot of similar traits.”

The House Elves in the corner of the Great Hall were glaring at the odd tiny magical creatures as the two magical species were currently content with glaring at one another and making rude or threatening gestures at one another while the Silver Cloaks were confused on what they were supposed to do in this situation.

Her best guess was that House Elves won their spot at being the magical familiars and helpers to the magical world instead of the Unsee. Sort of like how Goblins and Leprechauns never exactly seemed ‘thrilled’ at running into one after the Goblin Banking system became a thing.

“It’s just a staff I made a few weeks ago.” Marcus answered another student “There is some merit in keeping the Foci of your magical equipment a few good feet away from your face if something goes wrong.”

That raised a few questions in her mind as she took another look at the odd staff. While she thought it seemed more like a traditional artifact made with the help of the Flame Family Records as the Flame Alchemist was old enough to have used a staff before wands became the standard norm…

The fact was she expected it to be at the very least ten years old with maintenance being done to help improve it. Magical artifacts and spells grew more powerful with age as even the ‘newest wands’ were twenty years old and most people didn’t trust a wand’s ability until it was at least a solid thirty years old.

Using a magical staff that was a few weeks old? That sounded truly absurd, but maybe the lack of age was offset by the ring on his left hand? Possibly a magical enhancer… especially if it predated the Albion Accord.

Staves were hard to hide and keeping a ring to harness magic and using a staff as a crude wand would be easier to hide (and replace) back in the days before the Albion Accord rather than trying to keep a powerful magical staff from being broken by a bunch of angry armored knights.

“I’m from Arcadia. It’s not that big of a hidden secret as I am pretty sure you can find out about it in the library!” He finally shouted as the crowd started to leave him “Until now I was left trying to deal with Grim Songs, Scorched, and the more annoying things that go bump in the night. I don’t know or care about what some book says!”

That got a few gasps as Lapis interjected “He’s the real Flame Heir. You can tell by the ring on his right hand.”

He sighed holding up the hand and summoning the Flame family ring for all to see. The look of disbelief on Hadwin’s face was priceless. She might have even gloated that she befriended the Heir before Hadwin did… but she learned not to taunt Hadwin unless she was certain that one of the adults would interfere and stop him.

Her side still stung a little even now as you could never plan for when somebody stupid would do something extermly stupid.

She felt a surge of magic as she turned to face Marcus only to see his staff glow… and then he sort of hopped into his shadow. Everyone gasped in disbelief as the Flame Heir had disappeared right in front of their eyes!

Lapis looked around the room trying to see if the old man really was trying to kill him! Sure she had reason to be nervous around Lux the ‘ever so wise and knowing’ though she didn’t think he would stand by and let someone kill a kid on a hunch!

Only after seeing the Silver Cloaks backing up in surprise did she spot the Flame Heir by the Unsee. Now she was curious about what the old magical creatures really were as apparently her old notes on them weren’t as detailed as she had originally thought.

Trying to slip past the crowd the young witch nearly reached him until bloody Hadwin Vera stepped in her way like always! She bitterly cursed that the True Fae hadn’t gutted the little brat and saved her a whole lot of trouble.

Hadwin still stared at him as if she had kicked his favorite puppy “Who is he?”

She gritted her teeth “The Flame Heir. I thought the ring made it obvious.”

“Grim Song? Scorched? He doesn’t even sound like a proper wizard?” He spoke in anger “What happened to Andrew? Did you do something to him!”

Lapis kept an eye on the Silver Cloaks trying to figure out if she could leverage her new fame against Hadwin’s outburst from before?

No they would side with Hadwin because Lux didn’t trust her so she couldn’t do anything against him until he struck first. She needed him to stop interfering so she could secure her place as Marcus Flame’s friend before they got sorted or whatever was done with temporary transfer students.

“Are you upset that you didn’t get to play hero?” Lapis snarled back “Did you know that he was worried nobody would like him because somebody went around claiming he was an imposter and should be killed just to be safe?”

He flinched as she continued her assault “Almost like how a certain somebody made a few comments about a certain Honey Badger before…”

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Hadwin spoke as he recoiled in fear “My problem is that whenever anything goes wrong you are always there! How do you know more about these monsters than everyone else!”

She chuckled as the crowd now focused on them “Because I stand as a Champion of the Old Ways and remember to read a book every once in a while instead of having other people do my homework for me”

The crowd focused on the new dispute as she had to play her role. She was Lapis Rezen was the young prodigy witch who believed in tradition and had the power to back up her position. Hadwin was the jealous upstart who’s only claim to power was having one of the strongest Dark Lords of their age somehow keel over from a stroke and claim credit for it.

“I heard you are getting your little pet New Blood to get shipped here to help you with your grades.” She quickly jabbed “Or do you want to just rush in with no clue, no plan, and try to save the day...”

One second Hadwin was on the defensive. The next second he pulled out his wand as she realized she pushed too far. That she was an idiot for repeating that line when she realized that Hadwin hadn’t completely forgotten what happened during his second year.

A burst of flames shot out in between both of them forcing them both back. Hadwin snapped out of his rage as he stared at the wizard who interrupted their fight before he realized just how stupid his actions had been.

“Lapis are you okay?” The Flame Heir spoke with a hint of concern in his voice.

“I’m fine.” Lapis lied as she felt her heart racing “I accidentally pushed the wrong button as Mr Vera is still trying to deal with Miss Gracefield’s death.”

“Cathrine Gracefield is dead!” Marcus shouted in disbelief

“No! I mean…” Hadwin stumbled over his words “Rebecca Gracefield…” He tugged on his hair trying to get the right words out “How do you know her older sister?”

Marcus stared at him in disbelief “Because her brother got kidnapped by a Grim Song. She went after him and I did my best to make sure she didn’t get herself killed. How come she didn’t know anything about magic if her little sister…”

Hadwin looked ashamed as Lapis already knew the answer. Rebecca was a New Blood and her family wasn’t magical. So obviously they erased their memories and any traces of the young witch when she died.

Lapis couldn’t help, but take advantage of this golden opportunity “That’s because Hadwin got her killed and Lux had their memories erased so they couldn’t complain.”

The look of disbelief turned to outrage as she tried her best not to smile! If that look of outrage was anything to go by then she successfully ensured that Hadwin and Marcus wouldn’t become friends anytime soon.

Hadwin opened his mouth only for Marcus’s staff to blaze to life. The room grew colder as the Unsee gathered around their master feeling his anger. All of the other students backed away as they now had proof of the infamous Flame Family Rage.

With a deep breath through gritted teeth the young wizard spoke in a stressed tone trying to sound polite “I am sorry for my friend for troubling you.” The smile was stressed to the point you’d almost expect a knife to be pulled “But I am a little lost in this school and Miss Rezen had promised to help guide me around.”

Hadwin to her disbelief didn’t back down “Don’t trust her. Lux told me she is dangerous.”

With a harsh chuckle the Flame Heir smiled as he spoke in a mocking tone “And your headmaster suggested they should hang me after I confirmed that he Stole The Freaking Red Stone they asked for his help and informed him that I was being blood adopted.”

The staff struck the stone floor leaving a resounding clang “One week later he cuts all contact as The Red Stone is magically destroyed by an unnamed evil wizard that somehow snuck into an entire school full of children. Now he suggests that it would be in everyone's best interest if I hang!”

Lapis felt the surge of magic rolling off the Flame Heir as she flinched under the force of his magic. What actually worried her was the pressure he had unleashed as it almost felt like a direct attack against her magical core.

Some of the other students actually recoiled or were clutching their sides as they had felt their magical cores get a little bit injured from the outburst he had unleashed. The staff itself flared it’s strange neon light with the black center now looked like a glaring evil eye from the metal clamps holding the glass orb.

Marcus Flame stepped between them before the crowd parted as she quickly followed after him as Hadwin held his side in pain and disbelief. Her mind raced trying to figure out how easily he had accidentally unleashed an attack on their magical cores?

She heard of flaring one’s core to apply pressure as intimidation, but that felt like a direct attack.

Once they went down the hallway she had to ask “What was that?”

Marcus sighed as he shook his head “The truth. That traitor sent his response to my parents when they refused to abandon me. When they informed him they were blood adopting me, he sent his reply on the front page.”

Lapis blinked as she could tell by the tone (and anger) of his voice earlier that the young wizard believed every word that he said.

“Actually I was talking about that magical flare. It felt like you were trying to cut my magical core.” She spoke with a little bit of unease.

If she was a normal witch then she would have been holding her side as her magical core could have taken some damage. She had strengthened magical core especially with her knowledge of the dangers of the very select section of curses that could harm one…

“That?” He spoke in disbelief “I was just preparing a wand breaker curse…”

“A wand breaker curse!” Lapis hissed in disbelief “How do you?”

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Marcus quickly replied “I mean everyone practically knows one. It’s why everyone carries a spare wand…”

She stared at him in disbelief as Wand Breaker Curses were highly rare specialized magic as the emotion, intent, and…

“How common?” She caught herself as she realized the fatal flaw in her logic

The Flame Heir rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a fake wand “Ten Fangs a wand. I mean roughly twenty US dollars…” He held it out to her “I’ve got a few spares if you need one.”

Lapis stared at what should have been the highly illegal and rare cursed magical artifact being handed out like a Pumpkin Pop. She moved her wand over it muttering the necessary detection charms to confirm that it didn’t have a scrap of magic from the Albion Accord.

It was a wand that was three days old.

She gulped, taking the wand as she hid it inside one of the specialized pockets within her robes “I should warn you that this isn’t a common spell…” She stared at the five other wand breaker curse wands “And that you could earn ten years per wand for just having them… muchless using one.”

His eyes widened in disbelief “You’ve got to be kidding me! Velkear practically has these things made in bulk.”

The idea of bulk wand breaker curse wands being as common as a Mundi Pistol was a horrifying idea… especially since most witches and wizards couldn’t cast magic without a wand… muchless the trauma and damage that would be inflicted if they were on the receiving end of such a curse.

She tried making a push of magic emitting from her core to get a feel of his own. Instead of a wispy core burning with magic possibly revealing his emotions or more… it felt like she was brushing up against a small sharp rock.

Even with her training she hadn’t gotten her core that… rough.

“I take it you have a defense against… them.” She spoke as any problems Hadwin might have been were quickly replaced with whatever threats Marcus was used to dealing with.

He shrugged as maybe the magic he didn’t suffer as badly as someone using magic based around the Albion Accord? Maybe this… bulk curse… wasn’t as harmful as the regular version?

“I have a few, but I could make something for you in a week or two.” He spoke as if it was nothing “I don’t have a lot of tools on hand and…”

“I can wait.” Lapis spoke with a sigh of relief “Still you know you aren’t going to win any points after that outburst.”

Marcus shrugged “I was already expecting them to blame me instead of… praising me. If they couldn’t deal with my outburst when Hadwin was being a bully to you then why should I care what they think?”

That earned a hard laugh from behind them as Roland had managed to sneak up on them. She frowned as while Roland Rook and Hadwin Vera didn’t have a good relationship it didn’t mean that they were friends either.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh.” Roland spoke as the wizard held out his hand “My name’s Roland and I can’t help, but want to shake the hand of the wonderful wizard who managed to put that prick in his place in front of everyone.”

Lapis smiled, but her smile never reached her eyes. Roland smiled as they both knew her history with Hadwin… maybe not all of it, but enough to know that Marcus truly didn’t understand the history they had with one another.

The Flame Heir shook the Rouge Rook’s hand “The Chairman’s first pick right?”

Now she tried not to frown as Roland grinned “Nice to meet you to. Heard that you needed help and after watching you reveal yourself so that those bloody wankers chased after you instead of doing the smart thing of simply slipping away while they were trying to kill Hadwin… I figured I’d help give a helping hand.”

Lapis Rezen pinched the bridge of her nose “How much did you hear?”

Roland shrugged as he glanced at her robes “Enough to ask to be the second person on that special order list.”

The young witch groaned as today was going to be a long day.