Gio clicked his tongue in disdain, looking down with barely contained wrath at the paper before him. Professor Anaximenes’ assistant Gladiolus quirked an eyebrow at Gio as she handed him his other papers. Her mane of light red hair swished behind her as she moved on to return graded work to the next row of students behind him.

27/30 questions correct. This was the first assignment that he had gotten less than 95% on since middle school.

This is supposed to be the easy part. This is supposed to be the one area of my life that I have completely under control. Why am I slipping up?

A spritely young girl bounded over to Gio, skipping and giggling as she slapped a similar page down on his desk. Her bouncy white curls, restrained by a floral yellow headband accented her deep blue eyes and rosy cheeks. She pointed to the page.

Her page read 30/30. 100%.

“FINALLY! I’ve been waiting for this day for months! I finally outscored you, Gigi!”

Gio tried to suppress the menacing glare he felt bubbling up from within.

“That. Is. Great, Minette. You. Should. Be. Very. Proud. Of. Yourself.” Gio said, through nearly clenched teeth. His manic smile and twitching eye must have been deeply alarming.

The cheerful young girl stepped back from Gio’s desk, looking shaken.

“I- uh… I- Sorry, Gio, I didn’t realize that you’d take it this hard… I was just trying to be-” The girl stammered.

Gio felt bad. Minette had been nothing but kind to him, even if they didn’t get many chances to interact. She had been the perfect project partner on their history report about the ancient “Kingdom of Red Flowers”. Gio quickly slapped his cheeks, snapping himself out of his mood.

“No no no, Mini- I’m so sorry. I’ve just been… really pre-occupied lately and I guess I’m just upset that it’s started to show in my studies. You, on the other hand, are doing great. Keep up the good work!” Gio brightly said, trying to contain the newfound malevolence he was feeling.

“No… it’s my fault.” the bright-eyed girl said. “I shouldn’t have come over here to rub it in. I just thought since you’re always so good that maybe this would be like a fun competition or something… I feel so STUPID! I know that you’ve been trying to work on your… issue. I’m so sorry, Gigi!” The girl said, clearly on the verge of tears.

Gio tried putting his hand up to try and interrupt the rapidly speaking girl to no avail.

A slender, severe-looking boy approached the conversation with a concerned look on his face. His dark, swooping hair and his excess of jingling silver jewelry made him stand out from their peers.

Oh, this will be fun. Vito barely speaks to me as it is. He’s gonna hate me.

“Are you okay, Minette?” The gaunt boy asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. He didn’t spare Gio much of a glance at all.

“Everything is fine, Vivi, I’m just… a massive jerrrrrk!” She cried, bawling her eyes out and running out of the room.

Vito looked at Gio for the first time in… perhaps ever, with a complicated expression on his face. He rubbed his arm and looked off to the corner of the classroom.

“… I heard the whole thing, you did nothing wrong. Don’t worry too much about Mini, our friend group is working on proportional emotional responses with her.” Vito said.

Gio was nearing a state of emotional whiplash. He felt like he had lived the entire plot of a badly written movie in mere moments.

“I’m gonna go find her… but Gio? Word gets around, uh, and sorry for gossiping, but some of us have been kind of concerned for you. I think she was trying to help… in her own way.” Vito noted.

“Oh… well, thanks, I think?” Gio said, watching as Vito awkwardly nodded and excused himself from the conversation.

A third student that Gio barely ever interacted with took this moment to barge up to him.

Abigail Kosmas, the exceedingly hotheaded captain of the junior military simulation club (a notoriously intense group of students) stomped towards Gio. Her long blonde high ponytail snapped from side to side as she walked, and her high heels clicked menacingly on the marbled floors of the classroom.

Professor A… you can show up any minute now. I’d love to get class over with for today!

“Hey, Disco ball! So are you just straight-up bullying people now? What the hell did you say to Minette Pedini?!” Abigail yelled, drawing the attention of most of the class that had filtered into the hall, being that the lecture was scheduled to start in less than 5 minutes.

Gio felt malevolence rising from him once more.

“Mind your own business, Abigail. And disco ball? That’s really cute, especially considering that you use light magic, too.” Gio returned, not feeling much desire to defend himself at the present moment.

“No, I create light. You can only reflect it. And don’t change the subject!” The girl shouted.

Gio summoned a tiny sphere of light with [Prismatic Shape].

“You were saying?” Gio taunted.

“Oh, wow. He learned a cantrip. Do you want me to congratulate you or something? I don’t know where you managed to find this high and mighty attitude you have, but you’re not any better than the rest of us, Giorgio. I know that everyone likes to pretend like it doesn't matter, but you need to tread carefully. You’re a commoner. In the real world, bad things happen to commoners that disrespect nobility.” Abigail said.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

At this point, Gio felt like his blood was boiling.

“Excuse me? Is that supposed to be a threat or something? I don’t think I’m better than anyone in this class, Madame Kosmas.” Gio sneered.

The tall blond girl folded her arms, cocking her head to the side.

“Sure could have fooled me. You walk around this place like you own it just because you’re good at test taking and you made friends with some of the most high-brow students in the school. Don’t pretend like you didn’t do it on purpose. I mean, the foreign princess, the son of the national defense coordinator- I mean hell, you even got an elven diplomat to take detention for you! I’m just trying to remind you that there are consequences to your actions. I’m not threatening you. I actually hope that you see what I’m trying to say. You’re a good duelist, and you’re obviously smart. I just don’t want to see you say the wrong thing to the wrong person!” She snapped.

Gio stepped forwards and started ranting angrily: “I don’t know what part of me minding my own damn business and performing well on nearly every metric that we get measured on constitutes a “high and mighty attitude”, but I have worked my ass off to get to where I am today. You don’t get to listen to half a conversation and offer me half-baked advice on how to avoid getting assassinated just because you think I’m not humble enough. And I think that it’s laughable that you think that I only care about my friends because of their backgrounds. I don’t know how many times I have to say this- I don’t want your pity. I don’t need any handouts. My friends are my friends because they are good people. And she’s said it a thousand times, Chandrika is-”

“Not a princess!” Chandrika finished, having caught the tail end of Gio’s rant after stepping out of the Manse.

“So what’s this all about? I honestly thought you were better than the whole tired snobby nobility routine, Abby.” Chandrika quipped, taking a moment to fist-bump Gio.

Abigail scoffed.

“Disco ball over here made the nicest girl in class cry.” She said.

“Also, I’m not one of those people… but I also know that there are students in this school that belong to some powerful families that like to handle things… old school. I don’t think that it’s right, but we can’t just pretend like it’s not a valid concern!” Abigail said.

Gladiolus stepped toward the front of the class, placing her stack of papers down onto the desk at the head of the conical lecture-hall with a thud. Her cloud of strawberry-blonde hair was interspersed with silver charms braided into it, giving her a wild, witchy look. Her long, pointed nail scratched across the blackboard, creating a horrifying din that sounded suspiciously like the wailing of a tortured soul. With her status as Professor A’s protege, she could very well have a soul embedded in her nail polish.

“I’ve heard quite enough, I think.” said Gladiolus, her bassy voice ringing out over the silent room.

“It’s not really my place to intervene in the matters of underclassmen, but I’d like to share a quaint little anecdote about assassination, since the whole class seemed to be intent on listening along to this highly animated melodrama. Miss Kosmas is correct, politically motivated murders can occur among the student body. When I was in my second year at the academy, three students conspired to have another killed after he won a Commendation in a tournament. The victim was from a family that had just recently attained a small fortune by inventing some new product or something… But that’s not the important part. The important part is that the three students were easily able to have him and most of his family murdered in broad daylight all the way over in the Iron Ring.” Gladiolus said.

Her voice was enchanting. Every student, including Gio, was absolutely transfixed on her storytelling. Professor A had appeared behind his desk at some point, and was currently looking over the papers she had handed him mid-story, allowing his assistant to continue her tale on class time. Jean had also arrived at some point, grimacing at the subject matter of the tale.

“They were fairly competent at covering their tracks, too. They used several proxies and methods of obfuscation to order the hit, spending multiple thousands of bits as misdirection- even going so far as to fund a shell company in the silver ring to route the transactions with the mercenaries through to avoid suspicion. The whole thing was a huge scandal when it blew up. But… that’s not the important part. Yes, it is well known that the mercenary market is alive and well in the Ringed City. Many people hate this fact. But… nobody hates the wrongful death of a student more than our beloved Headmaster. It is an open secret that five years ago, Headmaster Vespertine strung up the bodies of every mercenary, student, politician, and officer of the law that contributed to the wrongful death of that one student. They hung for thirteen days from the base of the flight deck, just out of sight of most of the student body- but well in sight of the noble houses of the Gilded City below. Now, with that little story being told, I’ll let Professor Anaximenes take the floor. Have a great class!” Gladiolus cooed, sauntering toward the back of the room.

Gio didn’t really know what to make of all that. Was he safe from harm? It didn’t really sound like Gladiolus brought up this story to reassure him… if anything, it sounded like she was warning the rest of the class?

Whatever… I have enough to think about for now. One thing at a time. First, we pass mid-terms. After that, I can worry about… getting murdered in broad daylight. What has my life come to?

Professor A took off his reading glasses and stroked his short, bone-white goatee. The class collectively went to their seats.

“An… interesting anecdote. Today’s topic of discussion is one that you’ve all likely been waiting for.” Professor A said, pacing around the front podium.

He lifted a single, gloved hand, and Gio felt his blood run cold. An icy chill descended upon the room, and he could see his breath in front of his face.

A glassy, red coffin rose up from behind Professor A, and a suit of matching ruby red armor stepped forward, consuming the form of the professor from behind, as he merged with it. He walked around in the armor, leaving odd, bloody ripples of energy in the air. The room began to darken, and the walls changed texture, turning from matte white stucco into what looked to be a rusty, dark metal of some kind.

Gio was now acutely aware… no, more than moderately aware, of exactly where his bones were. It was an odd feeling, noting how thin his skin felt as it pressed up against the laminated wooden edge of the desk in front of him. He became aware of how his muscles felt sore from the intense training he had been doing. In this moment, under the cold chill of the room, he noted a deep and powerful fatigue in his body- a new heaviness, causing him to feel tired and sluggish.

“This is [Bone-Taker’s Oubilette]. I won’t keep it up long, as I’m certain that you’ve all started to feel the more… disconcerting passive effects of my spell, but I want you to notice how you feel in this present moment. Circulate your mana. Notice how your body, mind, and soul are reacting. Today’s lesson marks our first lesson… on domains.” Professor A stated.