At the end of the first day, class schedules arrived at their rooms. The Dragons came together as a collective to review them, arranging themselves on the carpeted ground in Jay’s living room. The living room contained an unused sofa and multiple chairs-more than enough to fit all of them. Looking at the chairs, the group came to an unanimous, wordless decision. The chairs were too luxurious for their use, even for the nobles. The floor was better.

Jay waved his class schedule in the air. “We don’t get to choose our classes here?”

Drake rolled his eyes. “Our classes are literally just the School we wield. The professors shove us into lectures on the affinities we’ll be using.”

Crystal nodded. “I’m going to the School of Thought classes.”

“I have the School of Song,” Catherine chimed in.

“School of Aura,” Drake spoke.

Jay picked up his class sheet. “Uh.” He looked up at the rest of them. “I… have all the schools? One per day, actually.”

Drake shrugged. “Which School are you doubling up on? Thought, Aura, Song, or Spirit?”

Jay looked back down at the piece of paper. “I’m not doubling up on anything. I have those four and also the School of Change on Friday. I also have this class with Diamond. It doesn’t have a name-just a blank and Diamond’s name in the teacher’s place.”

Drake shrugged at him before leaning back. “I dunno.”

Crystal tried to stifle a yawn, but it overpowered her, the loud noise suddenly inspiring laughter from them all. Crystal also started laughing, caught up in the infectiousness. “What say we retire to bed now?,” Catherine asked.

Jay ushered them out of his room, locking the door behind them and going to bed. He was plenty tired as well.

The morning came-bright, amazing, cutting through the lingering darkness.

It also woke Jay up, and for that, he hated it.

He got up, disgruntled from his rude awakening by the sun, and stumbled out of his room and down the tower’s stairs to the mess hall at the bottom. The cooks took one look at him and handed him a plate of food without trying to make conversation. As the hot soup went down his throat, he felt significantly better. In other words, he was now less likely to stab someone without warning.

He grabbed his class schedule, which he’d almost forgotten to bring, and checked to see what his first class was. Diamond’s class, apparently taught in the ‘Gemstone Council Meeting Room’, which he’d just been instructed to not go into.

Great.

He soon finished his food, Crystal, Drake, and Catherine arriving to eat feverishly just as he finished. Leaving for class, which was in around three minutes, he wished them good luck, at which they glared at him. Jay smirked back, reveling in the small pleasure of seeing them late as he ran down to the imposing crystal building.

Diamond was standing directly in front of the Gemstone Council’s building, and waved him inside. He followed Diamond in, finding himself in a massive, theater-like room, with seats in a half-circle around a central stage. Some people sat in the stands, wearing a conspicuous jewel somewhere on their body. Jay gave Diamond a once-over but didn’t see any of his namesake anywhere.

Then Diamond put on a hat, with a diamond embedded on the front. Where’d it come from? Diamond hadn’t been holding a hat during their walk.

Jay continued to follow Diamond as he walked through the room and to a door on the end labeled ‘Faceted Stars - Do not enter’. Diamond continued, pushing through the door and waving Jay into the room, so he nervously followed

A woman with a pair of sapphire earrings turned to them as they entered the room. She had black hair, reaching down past her shoulders, and wore a turquoise dress that matched her eyes. “Diamond,” she said, staring down at Diamond, who had to look up at her. Jay also had to do the same to meet the tall woman’s eyes.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Sapphire!,” Diamond exclaimed as they entered the room. “I didn’t think you’d actually be here!”

Sapphire snorted. “You told me you’d found someone interesting. Why wouldn’t I be here?”

Diamond shrugged. “Because you usually ignore everything I say?”

Sapphire ignored the comment, rushing past him to Jay. “Show me what you can do. Now.”

Diamond turned and nodded at him, so Jay let quicksilver seep into his palm, making a sword out of it. Sapphire’s eyes widened. “How do you do this?”

Jay raised an eyebrow before he realized that was a rude gesture in front of a Faceted Star. Luckily, she didn’t notice. “I just can. I’ve been able to do it for my whole life.”

Diamond put a hand over his heart. “You don’t trust me enough to tell me, even if you don’t tell her?”

Jay blinked at him in confusion. “Tell you what?”

Diamond stood there, frozen, for a moment, before he deflated. “He doesn’t know.”

Sapphire turned to face Diamond. “He doesn’t know?”

“He doesn’t.”

Sapphire sighed, turning back to face Jay. “Kid. This isn’t metal.”

Jay looked at his sword. “Then what is it?”

Sapphire crouched, just a little, to bring her face-to-face with Jay. “Kid, it’s your soul.”

Jay shrugged.

“Why are you making such a fuss about this?”

Sapphire stood up straight. “Because we thought you’d freak out or something.”

Jay shook his head. “Nah.”

Sapphire turned to Diamond. “You said he can make permanent constructs out of his soul?”

“From what I saw of his interaction with a little girl outside the Appraisal building, he can. And it doesn’t rip off a piece of his soul or anything.”

Sapphire nodded. She turned to Jay. “Well. That’s interesting.”

“So, what am I supposed to learn in this class?”

Sapphire started laughing. “If I know Diamond, he’s going to rope you into his schemes!” She patted Jay on the shoulder. He felt a tendril request acceptance from his mind. He let it in as he had Crystal’s, and listened to the instant mental communication that came afterwards, in Sapphire’s voice. Don’t trust Diamond. You don’t know what he’s done.

Diamond shrugged. “True. I’m giving you missions, once or so per week. I might give you less or more if I feel like it.”

Jay nodded. “Alright.”

Diamond waved his hand, and a wolf appeared in midair. “Abyss Wolf. We have a case of Abyss Wolves attacking a village. Take them out. That is your mission, whenever it ends up happening.”

The wolf’s eyes were black, and looking into them made Jay shudder. Its claws matched its eyes, and seemed sharp enough to cut through anything. Its coat was the same as a normal wolf’s would be, however. Jay looked at Diamond. “The wolves have some ability or something, don’t they?”

Diamond smiled at him. “Do you think I’d make it easy?”

Jay shrugged. “I’d hoped.”

Diamond pointed at the door. “Now get out of here! Read in the library or something. Ask for books on the affinities or whatever the hell you want to do.”

Jay left just as Sapphire slapped Diamond, the brief talk having taken barely any time out of the time block. For the next time blocks, he had to go to the building for the School of Thought and learn there. He headed to the library. The sign on the library was an image of an open book. He entered, and suddenly everything went quiet.

There was no one in the courtyard, so it should have been silent outside. Yet, it was quieter in this room. The silence was almost oppressive. A lady sat at a counter to his right, massive bookshelves everywhere else. Jay walked towards the lady. “Hello. You’re the first of the freshmen to visit the library so far.”

Jay nodded. “Good afternoon. Can I get books on the affinities?”

She pointed at one of the many isles, pulling out a book Jay assumed she had put away before. “Right down there.”

The lady opened the book, reading. Jay walked down the aisle she had noted, grabbing a book that interested him. The flames on the cover almost seemed to dance, reflected only in his eyes.

The title read ‘Fire: Immolated Gods’.