Their new teacher headed to the front of the room. She took a seat behind the desk and steepled her fingers.

They waited but she didn’t say a word, simply scrutinizing us with unreadable eyes. Dawn felt uneasy, was she going to be another Arcturus?

Then her face lightened and she slapped the table. “Don’t be such a worry wart, it’s fine. I’m just pretending to be Wynn, you know?”

Wynn? As in Headmistress Wynn? She was one of the top most influential woman in modern times!The main reason she came here (excluding Brandon and Lucifer) was because of her. Dawn knew Headmistress Wynn was rarely seen, much less taking a personal interest in a student. Nonetheless, somewhere deep inside of her, she wished that was the case.

“Okay, so we’re going to start off nice and slow. Since this is our first class, we’re having introductions first. I know some of you might be thinking, wasn’t the whatever with Arcturus your first day? I say no. He did not do introductions and as such, it is not a proper first day. Don’t worry, I’m nothing like the git. He’s annoying.”

Dawn found it oddly refreshing to encounter somebody like Xia. She would blurt out whatever she’s thinking, even if it was mean and rude. At least Xia disliked Arcturus, if all her insults were anything to go by.

“-and I thought he was being a gentleman and opening the door for me but he slammed it close on my face! Do you know how much a closed door hurts? It’s a lot.” Xia was just tipping off the end of a new story detailing the misfortune between Xia and Arcturus.

“Who wants to hear me talk about another story?” she asked. Nobody raised their hands and Xia booed. “Nobody respects proper culture these days. Fine, fine. We’re going for order of where you sat. You, go. First name, Artist type, hobby, etc?”

The selected boy stood up firm and proud. “My name is Seamus. I am a Earth Artist and my hobbies are finding and feeding puppies.”

Cute but not overly threatening. Next up was Hugo.

“Hugo, age 15. I’m an Energy Artist, and can see things three times further away from a normal human can.”

Dawn could see how that would be useful for spying but it wouldn’t be much use in a fight. Not that they would ever fight in the first year. The idea was ludicrous, right?

“I’m Matthew. I am a Water Artist and can steam up water. Not always helpful but keeps me warm at night.” he said.

After him came the first member of their group. Monica gazed down at them like they were filthy pheasants. “My name Monica and my Art is Energy. I can levitate things and move them around telekinetically. I can also do other stuff with it too. . . .” she trailed off suggestively.

This was an ability built for fighting. As much as it galled Dawn to admit it, Monica was one powerful person. In a battle, Monica might be one of the top students.

While more introductions were taking place, Dawn took the time to look at Reina. Her head was in her arms, which in turn was on the table. Her eyes were closed and her chest was going up and down without any interference.

In other words, she was asleep.

The first thought that ran through her head was how adorable Reina looked at the moment. A little of her hair was in her mouth. Her tiny frame and big clothing made her sink into it even more,

Then it hit her and Dawn grew worried. Was this the narcolepsy? Falling asleep randomly at a time where they should be learning more about each other? Dawn bit her lips, but it wasn’t like she could do anything; Reina was 3 seats over to her right. Reluctantly, she focused on the introductions again.

“Lincoln, 17 years old.” At this, Dawn was taken back. 17 years old? Why was he in the first year classes and wearing first year uniforms?

Was he held back or did he not know about his Circuit heritage until recently? The look on his face made her think the latter.

“I’m a Time Artist and I like cakes.” he finished up somewhat lamely.

Dawn was flabbergasted along with the majority of the class. Lincoln wielded Time Arts? There were 8 Arts in total, with Time being one of the secondary 4. They were extremely rare and even harder to cultivate. Time was a fundamental force of the universe, and even more of a fickle element than Energy,

“PICK ME!” Felicie pumped her hand into the sky. Before Xia could say anything, Felicie started. “My name is Felicie and like you, I’m also a Time Artist! I hope we get along and become great friends!

At this statement, more jaws dropped, Dawn’s included. One Time Artist was rare but two? In one class? That was in no way a coincidence.

“Amazing!” everybody muttered. Xia nodded appreciatively.

“That’s a good skill to have,” she commented. “If nobody has question for her, why don’t you sit dow-“

“I have a question!” Daphne blurted out. Felicie stared at her expectantly and she took that as permission. “What are the specifics of your circuits?”

“Oh, I can slow down time and when I stop moving, I can make it so time stops as well!” she cheered, waggling her fingers. Dawn choked. That was a super insane ability! She shuddered at the implications of what somebody could do with such a skill. Toppling governments, assassinations, there wasn’t much anybody could do to stop somebody with a power like that. Judging from the naive expression on her face though, Dawn didn’t think Felicie was going to turn out to be a serial killer.

Most of the class was still shell-shocked when Felicie took her seat. After Xia stared at her for a few seconds Dawn realized it was her time. Clearing her throat in embarrassment, Dawn rose to her feet.

“My name is Dawn and I am 15 years old. I’m a specialized Water Artist. I like drawing.” Dawn said before sitting back down. That was good, right?

Logan raised his hand. “What do you specialize in?”

“Ice,” Dawn answered quickly, wanting to get this over with. Being at the center of the attention. . .it made her skin crawl. It reminded her of all the times she’d been left alone during important banquets, forced to stand on the side like some silly trophy.

“Angel? It’s your turn.” Xia said.

Dawn perked up at the familiar name. She recalled the tiny girl she found hanging around with Reina and Felicie, though she hadn’t see her since.

Dawn found her a bit strange. She was cold and cut off from everybody else, seemingly not trusting anybody. Dawn could only guess at what Angel experienced to make her like that and none of them were pretty.

“I am an Air Artist. That is all.” Angel sat back down, her body language clear to everybody she didn’t want any questions.

Well, everybody but one.

When Angel wouldn’t acknowledge Felicie’s hovering hand, Xia did it for her. Felicie beamed and asked the question Dawn was sure was on everybody’s mind but was too scared to ask.

“Are you blind?”

There was a definite tension in the atmosphere after she said that. It was as if the air itself had turned hostile, ready to protect its master no matter the cost. It was overwhelming, making it hard to breathe.

Was this what an Air Artist was like? Brandon and Lucifer were both Air Artists but as far as she knew, they’d never been able to do something as advanced as this!

“Yes.”

There had been such a long pause and Dawn had been more focused on the air that it took her a while to understand those words. When she did, Dawn was taken back.

She’d assumed Angel was blind; her eyes had the foggy and unfocused look she saw from television. Hearing her confirm it was entirely different.

Angel scoffed when nobody said anything. “What? Are you going to say sorry and pity me now? Well, forget it. I don’t want your-“

“If you’re blind, how can you move around like that?” Felicie interrupted.

Dawn wanted to bang her head against her table. Felicie had many great qualities; tact was not among them. She probably meant to ask the question with innocent intent but it could easily be mistaken for less than honest intentions.

Luckily, Angel didn’t seem offended. In fact, she looked amused, if the small smile on her face was anything to go by.

“I like you,” she commented wryly. “But I’m afraid it’s a trade secret. Surely you can understand?”

“Okie dokie!” Felicie chirped, sitting back down. Angel did the same and Dawn let out a sigh at the averted potential disaster.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The rest of the class introduced themselves until it came down to Reina, who’d sat at the very last seat. Dawn didn’t know if she did that on purpose but judging from the fact she was fast asleep, she doubted it.

“Reina? It’s your turn.” Xia said. Reina mumbled a little and her snoring filled the air. Some people sniggered, but all Dawn could think about was the disorder Reina had. Would everybody laugh if they knew? Would Dawn laugh if she didn’t know?

“Can somebody wake her up?” Xia asked and Dawn hastily got to her feet.

“I’ll do it!” she crowed. Making her way through the tables, Dawn crouched down so she was level with Reina’s head on her desk.

Gently, she poked Reina on the cheek. The smaller girl whimpered and turned her face, firmly rejecting Dawn. Blushing brilliantly now, Dawn shook Reina gently. “Come on, Reina, time to wake up.”

It required several times of this before Reina cracked open her eyelids, revealing her one visible eye. Dawn wondered what caused the reason her other eye was hidden behind the eyepatch. Her Circuits, maybe?

“Dawn?” she asked blearily. “Is class over?”

This time, Dawn didn’t join the laughter. Instead, her heart went out to the poor girl. How often did she suffer under narcolepsy that her first thought was class was over?

“No, Reina. We need you to introduce yourself. Your name, your Art, that kind of thing.” Dawn explained.

Reina yawned and bobbed her head. Dawn didn’t know if that was from the yawn or if she understood but waited nonetheless for Reina to get up.

When she did, Reina bowed. “My name is Reina and I’m a Fire Artist. Hello.” With that, she made to sit back down.

“Hold up! What’s with your eye? And stupid clothes?” somebody asked.

Dawn glared harshly at the person but it died down when she noticed it was Brandon. Surely he only asked because he was curious. He didn’t mean anything bad from it, right?

Reina also noticed how Reina tightened up when he asked that question. Before she could ask what was wrong, Reina replied, “It’s nothing.”

Dawn stared at her in shock. She’d wondered the same question too and had pondered whether or not she should ask. She was suddenly glad she’d decided not to.

Reina took her seat and it appeared like that was it. Then Matthew stood up and said, “Come on, tell us!”

“Hey! She said it’s nothing so it’s nothing! Why are you so obsessed with it?” Dawn snapped. Couldn’t they tell it was making her agitated?

Matthew scoffed. “It’s a simple question, why would she care?”

“Unless something happened to her eye. Maybe it got gouged out with a stick!” Seamus suggested.

Dawn felt sick. What was wrong with them? Monica drawled lazily, “Maybe I should shove a stick up your butthole, how would you like that?”

Seamus stiffened and clutched his bottom. It seemed like that was it, finally, when Brandon opened his mouth.

“I bet there’s nothing wrong with her eye! Look at her, she’s a child. She probably believes her eyes has magical powers and can’t be looked upon or something crazy like that!”

Dawn gazed at him in horror. What was wrong with him? Why was he acting like this?

“Shut your trap!” Juliet shouted. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business! You probably wear a diaper still and suck your teddy bear whenever you’re scared!”

Before, Dawn would have taken offense at the slur against Brandon. Now, she wasn’t quite sure what to think of him anymore. All she knew was that she would protect Reina, even if it was against him.

“Losers!” Brandon shouted.

“Stupid baby!” Juliet yelled.

Just as it looked like there was going to be a full blown argument in the class, a foghorn bellowed throughout the room. Dawn grimaced when the noise sliced into her mind. Everybody covered their ears until the sound died down.

“Take a seat, now.” Xia looked furious and everybody collectively decided it was better to sit down than suffer her wrath any longer.

“Good,” she said when everybody was back in their seats. “That was horrible. I see why Arcturus never does these anymore.”

Dawn winced. Was Xia mad at her? Even if she was, Dawn didn’t regret standing up for Reina, and she hoped Juliet and Monica didn’t either.

“You can’t go up to somebody and ask them questions like that. I thought it was common sense! Isn’t it common sense?” Xia asked. “Yes, it is! You people are brats. I’ll give points to Monica, Juliet, and Dawn but unfortunately, there isn’t a point system. Really should change that.”

Daphne held up her hand. “You can give them detention!” she told her.

The three who were bullying Reina shot her betrayed looks and she smiled smugly at them. Xia nodded her head. “I like the sound of that! Alright, you three get detention. Serve it for a week under me!”

“You can’t do that!” Seamus yelled. Xia arched a delicate eyebrow.

“Oh, I can’t now?” she asked with clear scorn evident in her voice. Seamus tried to backpedal but Xia wouldn’t allow him to.

“Take a look here. This, is you.” Xia placed a small thumbtack on her table. “Useless, worthless, and all around stupid. This, is me.” She slammed her fist against the table and the thumbtack bounced off. “You see what I’m getting at here?”

“Y-you’re threatening me! You can’t threaten a student!” Seamus stammered.

Xia rolled her eyes. “I am stuck with imbeciles. I’m not threatening you, I’m indicating the difference in status here. You’re the son of a rich family, aren’t you?”

“What are you trying to say, Xia? That all of the bullies are rich folks?” Daphnes asked angrily.

“No, it’s because of the jeweled bracket and necklace wrapped around Seamus’ body here. I do applaud you for calling that out, though. Stereotypes are so. . .urgh.”

“You’re welcome!” Daphne chirped.

Xia turned her attention back onto Seamus, who was desperately trying to hide his bracelets and necklaces. Unfortunately, they were too heavy to do so effectively and Dawn smirked evilly.

“You probably have servants to do all the dirty work here, and you boss them around without a care in the world. That’s why you’re used to this kind of place.”

Seamus stopped moving around and asked, “So we get servants?”

There was a groan across the entire classroom as everybody mourned the fact this idiot was their classmate. Seriously, how did somebody like him get into Advanced Math? Dawn would have been certain his parents pulled some strings except the Academy didn’t do those kind of things.

“No, you’re the servant. Technically. Legally, we can’t order you around. Unfortunate, but it’s true. Under detention though, we can do whatever we want bar killing or loss of body parts.”

Seamus shrieked. “You can’t do that!”

“Didn’t I just say I could?”

“My lawyer will-“ Seamus tried to bluff.

“You have a lawyer?” There was genuine shock in her voice. “What lawyer will take you on? You’ll probably admit to doing the crime by yourself!”

Everybody chuckled and Seamus flushed. “That’s not-“

“Stop pointing your finger at me before I decide to get rid of it.” His finger dropped quickly at that. “You’re making a embarrassment out of yourself so do us a favor and shut your mouth, alright?”

Seamus ballooned up like he was going to shout at her but when he looked around, he deflated. He probably saw there was absolutely nobody in this classroom who would support him if he did.

“Now that’s out of the way, come up and get these notebooks.” Xia reached underneath her desk and emerged with a large pile of textbooks. She dropped them onto the table with a loud thud.

Dawn went along with all the others and retrieved one. A math textbook. When everybody had stopped moving, there was still one left.

“Reina, here you go.” Xia tossed the textbook carelessly through the air and it somehow landed right on Reina’s table, missing her face which was on the same table by an inch.

Reina was asleep again? That had to be the narcolepsy kicking in. She hoped Xia wouldn’t call her out for it but surely the teachers knew of her conditions?

Most of the students didn’t, as they were gazing at her and murmuring to her friends. Xia cleared her throat.

“Stop staring, it makes you look like a bunch of pervert wanting to attack that girl. And believe me, that’s not a image you wish to have.” Xia said.

Everybody instantly averted their eyes at that and Xia sighed. “Normally, I would be helping you and we would go through this as a class. Today, you made me mad, so you guys get to do it on your own.”

Dawn did a double take, all her fears rushing right back. “You can’t do that!” she blurted out without thinking.

“Uh, yes I can. I’m a teacher. In fact, this is my first year teaching, so I have a bit of leeway.” Xia said nonchalantly. Dawn couldn’t believe it. Here was a teacher abusing her power and she was doing it without a care in the world!

“If you need help, come to me and I’ll try my best. Unless you’re Seamus. If you’re Seamus, don’t come up to me.” Xia added as an afterthought.

Nobody laughed this time. If the title was any indication, this was senior level math. They were all 14 or 15. They couldn’t do this!

“Why aren’t you working?” Xia asked.

“This is senior level!” Daphne cried.

“Isn’t it supposed to be that? The curriculum said it should.” Xia checked a piece of paper.

“That’s not the point! You should be helping us!” Daphne insisted.

“I’m going to tell you people a secret. Think you can handle it?” Xia asked. Daphne hesitated, and Dawn could understand. She didn’t relate to Xia at all, and had no idea if this was a trick or no. Eventually, Daphne nodded.

“Okay! So, that book is written by yours truly! It contains all my knowledge! If you don’t find something in the book, don’t come to me because I won’t know either. Kapeesh?”

A trickle of sweat dripped down Dawn’s face. Was Xia being for real? This was her teacher?

When Xia didn’t say anything after that, everything burst into chaos. People were yelling at Xia, each other, and pulling out their phones to call their parents most likely.

“What the heck? There’s no signal!” Brandon shouted.

“Of course not! You could tell your parents about the torture we’re unleashing upon you! Don’t worry, you can call anywhere from the Academy to Neverstien, we’re not that mean. But just give it a try, you’ll be surprised!”

Not like they had much of a choice. Not expecting much, Dawn flipped open the book and was immediately starstruck. The pages were filled with writing, each in minuscule sizes. Only a fraction of it were the questions, the rest were theories, shortcuts, and explanation. Dawn’s mouth moved wordlessly as she read over the nearest one. She hadn’t even know that!

When she glanced up, Xia wore the absolute smuggest look on her face. She noticed Dawn and winked at her. Dawn blushed and looked back down, scanning her textbook.

It was official. She decided several minutes after reading this that this was going to be her most precious item. If she brought this back home, her parents would blow up at the amount of knowledge this contained. They wouldn’t believe it!

Though that may have more to do with the fact there were unicorns and rainbows on the cover. It certainly gave the impression of inadequacy.

“Well? What do you think?” Xia asked.

“It’s wonderful!” Felicie exclaimed.

“The font’s too tiny.” Seamus grumbled. Xia shook her head.

“Then improvise!” She tossed a magnifying glass at him and it struck him in the forehead, knocking him over. He stood back up, rubbing his bruised forehead angrily.

“Anybody who wants one of these, come over or have me toss them. Your choice!” Xia said.

Understandably, everybody dashed over and got one of their own. Dawn took one, and also grabbed an extra one for Reina, placing it next to her head.

For the best 50 minutes, the classroom was filled with the flipping of pages and the scribbling of pencils. Dawn’s worries were mostly unfounded. A lot of the questions had already been covered by her tutor back home. She finished them relatively quickly.

What got her attention however was Xia’s writing. They offered up ideas Dawn had never thought of and formulas as well. She wondered if her tutor knew of these and didn’t want to tell her until later or whether even he didn’t know. She decided it was the latter. Dawn had the inclination Xia herself had come up with these.

Dawn had to admit, she’s underestimated Xia. She’d thought of her as a trigger happy teacher, unlike any which she knew, who was both volatile and unique. She’d also thought of her as lacking in the smarts department.

This was a clear sign to Dawn never to underestimate people ever again. Xia’s knowledge far surpassed Dawn’s measly-by-comparison math.

Some time later, Xia clapped her hands to draw attention. “Okay, that’s enough of math.”

“But there’s still class time!” Felicie protested. “I’m not done yet!”

“Don’t worry your cute little head, it’s not due yet. However, I can ensure you’re going to love this little event, alright? Just trust me!”

Dawn bit her lips. Did she trust this slightly crazy teacher? If she had to give an answer-

Yes.