Strolling away from the arena, Mirai’s walk was oddly peaceful. Instead of the bombardment by ten other students that she had expected, she was walking alone while only two students followed her back to Lumír’s electives building. Despite their destination being the same, both of the students spoke in hushed whispers, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact details of their conversation.
Nevertheless, the blue-eyed maiden hurried along with her bag slung across her body, forced against her hip by her arm. Even with the bag’s weight, she had reached the building in ten minutes. Knowing she had very little chance of being late for her last class of the day, she reduced her speed-walk to a sedate stroll and entered the eastern building, rather than the northern building she had spent the greater part of the morning in.
The eastern building was much like its northern counterpart, save for the fact that many of the classrooms were not lecture halls in the slightest. Although the beige hallways and square-shaped framework of the buildings were identical to each other. That fact alone made each one simple to navigate, as evident from Mirai’s arrival into her next class by only needing to go into the classroom to the left of the entrance.
Then there was the classroom. Compared to the lecture halls of her Magic Theorem and Alteration classes, this class was arranged much like a laboratory. The tables were in rows, each one separated with enough room to place two more tables between them. Meanwhile, various bottles and tubes were placed on top of the countertops against three of the four walls. The fourth wall was instead occupied by a chalkboard, much like the lecture halls. Although, instead of a lectern, there was a table spanning three-fourths of the room’s length with its own set of various flasks and tubes.
After that, Mirai looked at the students already there. With the large classroom, she expected more people than just the select thirty that were present, even if that was already twice the size of her first-year class. Though those who were here had not even heard her above the conversations they were having.
That was when she noticed two messy mops of red hair. Immediately, she speed-walked over to the two in the second-to-last row of tables. Yet before she could speak the first word, one of the two redheads spun around and hugged her, consequently lifting her in the air.
“Mimi! It’s been a while!” He shouted before she kicked him in the shin. “Ow!” He exclaimed when he dropped her. “Come on! We’re family! You can’t just go kicking me!”
Squinting at the young man, the blue-eyed girl plopped her bag on the table. “And just because we are related, does not mean you can hug me at any given moment.”
“Now, that’s just cold,” the other, identical redhead commented from the other side of the table. “Usually you aren’t so pissed off until we actually do something bad. That must mean someone else pissed you off!” He concluded with only a small bit of excitement at his stroke of genius.
Sighing, Mirai turned toward the front of the classroom to avoid eye contact. Unfortunately, this action only excited the suspicions of the twins.
“Ah, you seem to have hit the bullseye, my less handsome brother,” the redhead in the middle said as he stopped rubbing his left shin. “Now, what could have possibly happened? You don’t think she made an enemy already, do you?”
“Maybe she dueled someone?” The other suggested.
“The rankings don’t start until next week, so that can’t have possibly happened,” the less freckled twin argued. “Oh, do you think she’s gotten a crush on someone?”
“Little Mimi has a crush?” The more freckled twin leaned in front of his brother and closer to the young woman who ignored both of them.
Leaning back, the twins smirked at each other. “Stop your scheming, Birch.” The blue-eyed girl finally interjected without facing them. “And for the record, Oakland is right about my duel, but the details will have to wait until after class.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“Settle down, class!”
Breaking off all the commotion, a woman sped to the front of the room with her brown hair trailing behind her in a simple braid. Once she reached the longest table, she grabbed a piece of chalk and began scribbling a jumble of words across the board. By the time she was done, only a few students even realized she had written her name instead of a complex equation.
“I see that all of you are here,” she whispered in a voice that the first row could barely hear. “Good, good,” she reassured herself while scanning the room.
For a brief moment, the supposed instructor was disheveled and trying to take all the new faces in. Doing the same, Mirai counted fifty-four students, including herself. Which meant she had missed the arrival of around twenty students. The mere idea made her want to bang her head against the wall.
“Good afternoon, class!” The brunette professor greeted, only to solicit nothing in return. Nevertheless, she moved on. “My name is Stella Arentz and I’ll be introducing most of you to the delicate art of alchemy. But for some of you, you might be leaving us if you ever pose a risk or a problem to anyone, including yourself.” Letting that sink in, the big-eyed professor clapped her hands. “Now! Alchemy breaks down into two core branches: potion brewing and transmutation. For our first semester, we’ll focus on potion brewing since everyone can do that, but for transmutation, some of you will be exempt from the semester because the art of transmutation largely depends on using nature’s energy and some people can’t use that. Did you catch all of that?”
Receiving hesitant nods, the instructor pursed her lips. Keeping whatever thought she had to herself, she opened a drawer behind the table and pulled out a small stack of papers.
“But, today’s assignment is to pair up into groups of three and fill out these questionnaires. After that, you have the rest of the period to work or study. Nothing else.”
After a few minutes, the family trio was handed part of the stack and took their share before passing it on. Skipping over the whole group portion of the class, the family pulled out a few pencils for the twins and a pen for Mirai.
Once the trio wrote their respective names, they moved onto the first question. “Why did you sign up for Alchemy?” Whispered the twin with more freckles. “Well, duh! To learn a bunch of new tricks!” He shouted for the whole classroom to hear, much to the ire of the instructor.
“To attain ways of molding my surroundings to suit my purposes and survive longer than a day in the political world,” Mirai thought as she wrote her answer, which was her thoughts verbatim. “What have you heard about the course?”
“At least twenty students are expelled from it for having fun each year,” the less freckled twin answered. “Oh, and that the first potion we learn is a cleansing draught.”
“Thank you, Birch,” Mirai mumbled as she wrote that information down. “Do you have any experience with potions?”
“Oh, remember that color-changing potion?” The other redhead interjected with withheld glee. “Mimi’s hair was bright purple for a whole week!”
Rolling her eyes, the mentioned girl grumbled out, “How could I forget that one?” Again, she wrote it down.
And the rest of the class followed that routine. Mirai would read the questions and the twins often had an answer usually concerning some prank toward the blue-eyed girl. Nonetheless, the three wrote down the answers until the whole questionnaire was completed. From there, Birch took out a roll of paper and asked Mirai to take a look over it, only for her to learn about their next prank.
Namely, the twins wanted to prank the Magical Creatures teacher next week with a visit from her high school crush. That crush just so happened to be the eldest Heath son and older brother of the trio, Leonidas Heath.
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“Class dismissed!” Professor Arentz announced after collecting all of the questionnaires from the fifty-four students. Immediately, half of the class bolted out of the room without a second thought.
Meanwhile, the Senshin-Heath family were ironing out the last details of their plan. After a few small tweaks to the script, Birch rolled up the paper and stuffed it into his bag. Now, the three left the class, only for the twins to stop in the doorframe.
“Dad? What are you doing here?” Birch asked as Mirai peaked her head around her step-brothers to see her step-father standing there along with her mother.
“We just wanted to check up on you three!” the grey-haired man exclaimed before pulling the twins into a bone-crushing hug. Neither Nikki nor Mirai had a shred of sympathy for them. “Plus, Nikki needs to give Mimi a check-up after her little duel,” he said, pointing to his wife who stood off to the side.
“Speaking of which,” Nikki stepped forward until she was just inches away from her daughter. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” She exclaimed, causing the Heath family to step back. “A duel on the first day! You couldn’t even wait until your condition was stable, could you!?”
Shrinking under the ire of her mother, Mirai kept her head held low. Nothing she said would get her out of whatever punishment she was about to receive.
“No leaving school grounds for a month!” Nikki exclaimed before sighing. “Just be glad you won, otherwise I would be banning you from the dueling circuit.”
“Mother, I assure you, I will not lose when I propose the final challenge. It would bring shame upon myself and those I stand for,” the younger Senshin declared with her head held high to peer into the sapphire eyes of her mother. “Besides, I would never dare to go to Lumír’s main city or smaller cities with my current amount of training,” she added in her mind.
“That doesn’t make it better, young lady!” The mother shouted. Then, she huffed and shook her head with her eyes closed. “Let’s just get going.”
“Huh? Where are we going?” Birch asked as he turned to follow his step-mother.
“Crestworth,” Nikki said with a gesture for the other four to follow her. With only a second of hesitation, the Senshin-Heath family hurried along to the buildings of Crestworth Academy.
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It took over ten minutes—bordering on twenty—to get to Crestworth’s main building. In all fairness, the building was no masterpiece of magic, but what it lacked in elegance, it made up for in uniformity.
When the Senshin-Heath family first entered the building, they looked upon a standard office building, complete with a receptionist taking a call. Moving through the bright, white hall, the group ascended up a flight of stairs, and instantly, the smell of bleach and antibiotics mixed with the bustle of dozens of people rushing passed each other. Though repulsed by the attack on her senses, Mirai followed her mother’s lead toward the seventh room on the left.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Within the room were three couches and a coffee table. Upon that table laid a clipboard and a crystal vial. Strolling onto one edge of a couch, Nikki gestured toward the other two. “Take a seat.”
Doing as they were told, Illuctos sat next to Nikki, the twins plopped down on the couch farthest from the door, and Mirai seated herself on the only empty couch. “Besides my health, what else do we have to speak about?” Mirai asked, breaking the ice between the family.
“Your constitution, your duel’s consequences and how you will handle situations like this from now on,” Nikki answered while leaning away from her husband with her arms crossed.
Taking a glance at the grey-haired man, Mirai asked, “Anything to add?” When he shook his head, she looked over to the coffee table. “What do you want me to do, mother?”
“Fill the vial with your mana. Don’t worry about keeping it contained, it’s enchanted to hold all kinds of stuff.”
Grabbing the vial, Mirai fingered the sharp edges and cuts on the crystals. Once she found her grip, she popped off the stopper and raised her hand over the container. In an instant, her fingers illuminated with an aurora of colors, but since she was unsure of how to exactly fill the glass, she poked her finger in it and focused her energy into her pointer finger.
To her surprise, the light of her energy appeared to flash through the crystals before condensing into a silver liquid that still had a shine of colors in it. Before her fascination could get the best of her, Mirai grabbed the stopper and popped it into place, trapping the silver liquid in the vial. Waving it around, she realized it truly did contain her energy, despite its enigmatic properties. Though still fascinated by it, she laid the vial back down on the table.
“Now, we need to talk about your special condition,” Nikki announced, breaking the period of silence brought forth by Mirai.
“What’s so special about Mirai now?” Birch asked from the left side of the couch.
Kicking his twin in the shins, Oakland said, “Astral messed up the ritual, remember?”
“Speaking of which,” Nikki said, bringing all the attention in the room back to her. “I believe it would be wise to begin meditating again, Mirai.”
“You believed meditation would leave me vulnerable earlier, did you not?” The youngest Senshin asked with a flicker of curiosity going through her sapphire eyes.
“Yes, I did,” the matriarch sighed. “But I believe it best to reconnect with your mental space after two months of leaving it be. Plus, the worst that can happen now is that your mind has been remodeled entirely.”
Pondering over that possibility for a moment, Mirai argued, “Though that is reassuring, my status as a Catalyst molded my mind, so it is highly likely it has been my mental space has been completely reformed. Even with my previous protections, that situation would be catastrophic for someone of my caliber.”
“Your caliber?” Birch interrupted with more of an inquisitive tone than a mocking one he would have taken with anyone else.
“Yes, her caliber,” Illuctos repeated. “Mirai’s condition is special, even among the Attuned. Besides having the Senshin’s gifts for spiritual communication, her magic remained pure when the ritual was finished, which means she still retains her qualification as a Catalyst.”
“Just great,” Mirai grumbled with sarcasm oozing out of her voice.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I’d get it changed, but anyone with reserves even half as pure as the naturally occurring deposits is considered a Catalyst. Even if they don’t have a reserve bigger than the average mage.” The greying man elaborated while scratching the back of his neck.
“I suppose that is acceptable,” the blue-eyed maiden mumbled solemnly. “Although I still wonder if it is truly safe for me to begin meditating again.”
Grabbing the clipboard on the table, Nikki scanned over it. “It should be. The only other irregularity is the fluctuation with your mana’s affinity, but that’s only been seen with our tests. So if you just begin with ten or so minutes today, you should be able to scale up without any problems.”
Nodding at that plan of action, Mirai glanced over the twins. Birch looked as if he was trying to understand what was happening while Oakland was taking it all in and thinking about something else.
“What’s so special about a Catalyst again?” Birch asked nervously, only to gain the ire of everyone in the room.
Clearing her throat, Mirai shifted her seating so she leaned against the arm of the couch. “A Catalyst is born to magic wielders, but unable to wield magic themselves, save for transferring mana to someone else. And though extremely useful, people like me are used as tools since the ban on the Tuning Ritual was put in place to keep the balance of power in check. As for our specialty, we have very pure mana which anyone could use, making us look little more than batteries for mana.”
“If they’re so useful, why are they used as tools?”
“Simple, most Catalysts are incapable of using any spell, save for Transference. I am the sole exceptional though.”
“Now, if that little lecture is finished, we have to discuss the consequences of your duel,” Nikki interrupted with a nod from Birch. “Since the ranking system isn’t in place until next week, you aren’t being ranked yet.” Mirai sighed in relief. “Unfortunately, it won’t be long until the staff of every academy knows what happened. So, by this time on Wednesday, Illuctos will move for the board to keep the duel unofficial.”
“Won’t that still incite some outrage from students?” Oakland inquired. “Making exceptions for Mirai will make you look bad, won’t it, Dad?”
Shaking his head, the headmaster of Phoenix Feather Academy tugged on his shirt. “This sort of stuff happens a lot in the first week. That’s why we have to separate classes until next week, otherwise, we might’ve had quite a few more duels going on.”
“How does separating the classes and changing everyone’s schedule help?” Mirai asked with her curiosity returning to her eyes.
“There’s not much proof behind it, but we’ve seen fewer duels when we split up the students for a while. Even when we merge the classes together, duels are still scarce since first years don’t know too many spells and the upperclassmen have already settled into their ranks. After that, the only major duels happen around the festival weeks when people want a chance to compete in the tournament.”
“If you don’t believe him, then just wait and see,” said Nikki, who still held the clipboard in her arms. “Back when we went to school, the only duels were between old school rivals.”
“Plus, clubs start recruiting that week,” Oakland added with a bit of excitement lingering in his voice. “With all that stuff to consider, it’s no wonder no one would want to risk their rep with a duel.”
“Rep?” Mirai repeated. “Does a duel change that much?”
“Totally,” Oakland answered. “Even in prep school last year, everyone knew that dropping a few ranks was basically making a fool of yourself. Especially if you’re the one making the challenge.”
“Good to know.”
Tossing the clipboard onto the coffee table, Nikki locked eyes with her daughter. “So, you aren’t being ranked, but you might get into a duel next week. Make sure you wear your school’s crest next week, alright?”
“Of course,” Mirai nodded.
“Good,” the mother looked around the room. “Now, remember to start meditating and don’t start a duel again. You have a bunch of raw power, but skill and talent will beat that any day of the week.”
“I know, that is why I am still training,” the young maiden retorted.
“Yeah, yeah. Now get going, we have to talk about the twins and their punishment next.” Waving her daughter off, Nikki watched her mini-me saunter out of the small lounge with her bracelet still jingling on her left wrist. Turning back to her step-sons, she cast the thought away. “You two are banned from the dueling circuit until next semester!” She exclaimed for all the world to hear.
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Back in her dorm, Mirai was sprawled out across her couch. With the curtains drawn, no one saw her in such a relaxed state, much less in such a vulnerable form. Nor could one see her tea set out and her textbooks stacked on her desk.
Stretching out with a yawn, the young maiden sat up and gazed over her form. After two months of being a girl, she could say she was comfortable. An overall small frame and weights on her chest every waking moment made for an odd adjustment period, but she did adjust in time. Now, the most she would complain about is her body requiring regular maintenance to maintain its form. Once she learned what she had to do, she made the routine and dwelled little upon it.
Other thoughts sped through her mind though. “My mind was restructured. I can feel it without even meditating,” she thought as she poured herself a cup of chamomile tea. “Even with the abnormal protections I have, the ritual should have changed the arctic landscape my mind had taken on. If not that, a spirit may have taken the chance to sneak into my body. Although it would have to be really weak to not be detected or too resilient to be found with mother’s limited spellwork. That reminds me, I have to look into spirit communication at some point.”
Letting her train of thought pitter out, she took a sip from her tea. It was calming to a point. The tea was nothing special, but when Mirai regained her usual composure, her inner tirade ceased into little more than an absentminded idea.
Setting her cup down, the girl moved over to a small open area of the room and sat down with her legs crossed. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and recalled her meditation training.
To begin the process, she located her mana reserves. An easy step when one considered she was training her casting speed for the past month. By proxy, drawing on her mana reserves became a habit. Then, she had to find naturally occurring mana to take in. Though this step took significantly longer, it proved its benefits outweighed its time when Mirai felt her reserves replenish.
And that was it.
All of Mirai’s meditation was replenishing her reserves with nature’s energy. Though, even with her reserves filled to the brim, she kept going. Letting thoughts slip through her mind, she felt tranquil.
That was until she felt a tug and lost all feeling in her body.
In an instant, Mirai could feel everything coming back to her. At first, it was a breeze. Then, it was the smell of salt. Bolting up, the blue-eyed maiden found herself in the middle of a garden of exotic flowers, each taking a different color. In front of all of that, a black-haired man stood looking over a cliff with his hands clasped behind his back.
The man had a lithe frame and his hair looked silky as it flowed down to his neck. That was when she noticed his clothes. He wore a navy blue button-down and a pair of jeans. It was so simple, but it still flipped a switch in Mirai’s mind.
“Father?” She mumbled as she took a step forward. “That means,” she glanced around once more, “this is my mind.”
“Quite the astute observation,” the man commented with a soft, yet teasing tone. “But yes, this is what your mind has become. Lovely, is it not?”
Shuffling through the field of flowers, Mirai came closer to the edge of the cliff. From there, she was welcomed with the sight of a vast ocean, going passed the horizon.
“There is a vast collection of other words that I would use,” she remarked once she stood to her father’s right side.
“Sometimes, you are too much like your mother,” he muttered to himself. “You know, leaving your mind alone for two months left quite the opening. Even with the years that I’ve been here, one spirit has made your reserves its new home. Thankfully, she’s quite a peaceful spirit.”
“You have conversed with this spirit?” She asked with confusion and concern vying for dominance in her expression.
“Yes, only once though.” He confirmed before pointing toward the ocean below. “She was a beautiful nymph, but she only spoke one sentence since she had taken residence with me. But she’s powerful, alright. Maybe on par with Nikki’s partner.”
Pondering that thought for a moment, Mirai tried to recall whether or not she had heard this spirit say anything. In time, her memories held no positive results. So, she went to her next best source, her father.
“What did she say?”
Humming, the parent looked at the ocean. His mind looked for the answer while his eyes looked for the spirit.
“I can’t quite recall,” he spoke solemnly. “But she has not threatened the tether my soul has on yours, so we can assume she means well.”
“That is reassuring,” Mirai replied automatically.
The two stood in silence. The father kept his eyes trained on the ocean as a predator would wait for its prey. Meanwhile, Mirai tried to collect her thoughts. There was the new situation with the spirit, her recent induction into the Lumír Academies, and the ritual. No matter what happened, there seemed to be something that traced back to the ritual.
Without the ritual, the spirit in her would have likely found another host. Without the ritual, she would have been left as a Catalyst hidden on Earth from the prying eyes of magic users. Without the ritual, she would be living a peaceful life.
“Something you would like to ask?” Her father asked, interrupting her train of thought.
“I… I don’t really know,” she stuttered out. “I just want to go back home and go back to my mundane life. But… But all that changed in just one night.”
“If you’re wondering why it all happened to you, well, we can say that Hecate and the other gods need to create balance. You were just the prime candidate for their plan.” He spoke softly as Mirai shook in her place. All of a sudden, she clung to his side. “It’ll be alright,” he said with an arm pulling her close. “I’ll be here for you until the end.”
Sniffling, she tightened her grip. “Thanks, Dad.”