Magic, just the word alone left Ursa Tudor tingling with excitement. She had always been enthralled with the idea of the arcane and the whimsical from her time as a child.

Perhaps that was why she chose to follow her parents down the path of a mechanic. Science was as close to magic as one would get, back on earth.

She had never thought that earth's destruction would be what made the impossible very much possible. Nor that the young street rat with blue hair and golden eyes who she befriended on the streets of London would prove that magic was in fact real. She remembered how the king and queen had welcomed her and the rest of the survivors to Avalon.

They had raised their hands and blessed them with corose, or as most people called it, the second magic. These magical cores within them had made her fast enough to match the speed of sound and strong enough that in the knight test, she had been able to bench press over fifty tons and that was without knightly enhancements.

But all that paled in the face of the power over the elements. In her case the earth itself, this was in her opinion the greatest gift being in Avalon granted, though the enhanced five hundred year life span was not too bad either.

She practically ran through the city streets of Anabia, passing everything without a care in the world, all that mattered to her was the great castle upon the floating island at the center of the city, the golden fire upon its highest tower acting like a beacon.

The Runith institute might not have been as great as the legendary Witchen Hall and Thermonia Keep, but it was still one of the four great magical colleges, Ursa would have given up her knighthood in a second just to study in their illustrious halls.

She finally reached the end of the road where three great stone arches stood. She was stumped as she looked around for a bridge or some other means of transport to help people go up to the floating magical college.

"Are they expecting me to fly, is it some kind of a test to see who is truly worthy to be up there? " she thought, but she quickly dismissed that as she noticed that the arches center had a distorted view.

She could not see what was on the other side as the world was like a blurred picture through the eye of the stone monument. People around her walked through the arches without skipping a beat and they would vanish into nothingness.

And in some arches people materialized walking out of the distorted blurs. Ursa made up her mind before taking a deep breath and plunging into the arch, the world around her altering as she walked through it and into the Runith institute grounds.

While the great castle walls and towers were nothing special in comparison to everything that she had seen from the capital itself, they were still magnificent works of architecture.

Up in the air, she saw people riding the winds upon brooms and some even laying upon dense clouds. Though the fae seemed to prefer flying upon their great moth like wings.

Around her were hundreds of thousands of normal civilians and students. The students who appeared to be of every age from nine year old children to even persons whose hair begun to spot grey patches. Though Ursa was sure that the truly old here were part time students.

The students wore red and white uniforms with grey capes which bore a black three headed hound, the symbol of the school. The black beast stood upon its hind legs like a man, as if challenging all who saw it.

The strangest denizens of this place were entities whose bodies burned with a green fire and a purple wooden mask remained perpetually upon their faces. Whilst some looked almost humanish, others were great beasts or living elements and some were living geometric shapes in a constant state of change.

But their nature was the same, for these were the Mizihimo. Those spirits of that immaterial realm known as the Shade. One of the few reasons why some left their eternal realm was to form contracts of binding with the wizards and some gifted knights.

Outside the great castle were multiple shops which were crowded with both students and tourists trying to stuff their bags with as many magical trinkets as they could buy. Ursa joined them with just as much enthusiasm, she had come prepared with bag filled with hundreds of high note Geld.

In one shop she bought a box of alchemical materials, in others she got a crystal orb and in another she had acquired a book on the history of magic.

Next she rushed into a shop that was filled with large shelves that held all sorts of books. Ursa walked from shelf to shelf and each book that she saw was different from the other in size, colour and texture. Some appeared to be new, while others were so old and worn out that the white paper had become a dull shade of brown.

"What is all this?" she asked as she ran her fingers across the books and she could swear that she felt an electric tingle run up her nerves from her point of contact with the books.

"Grimoires," a voice said from behind her and in surprise she spun backwards to face the speaker.

By his uniform she could tell that he was a student of the Runith institute. His age and skin colour appeared no different from hers. He was tall with broad shoulders and Ursa could not lie that he was a pleasing on the eyes.

"I am sorry, what?" she asked in surprise.

"They are Grimoires... Or at least as close to one you would get buying in here. The books are the personal notes from second years, they are filled with our notes, experiments and some spells," he responded.

"Then why are they here?" she asked him.

"Well, a few extra Geld has never hurt anyone," the young man responded and Ursa felt a pit in her stomach as she remembered that with Chris as a personal friend and with her job as a Knight, she had not lacked for money in a long time.

"Isn't that a bit reckless, these must be important to the base of their knowledge in magic?" she asked.

"Not really, very few second years are going to do much. They won't be touching serious advanced spell work, much less Archon spells. Also they usually transfer the notes to their next Grimoires and rub off any of the dangerous things written in here," he responded with a smile that was admittedly charming.

"Get ahold of yourself Ursa, stop looking at his pretty face..." she chastised herself mentally.

"Oh... Thank you for that, mr..."

"William, William Redret. Just William is fine, no mr, it makes me feel like my grandfather," he replied with a nervous chuckle.

"Of course William, thank very much. You are a student here?" she asked him.

"Yes, fourth year of pure Alchemaic studies, " he replied.

"Pure Alchemy, that's impressive. It's one of those courses that teaches you Archon levels of magic, right?" she had learned through her research that Alchemists were the equivalent of chemists.

"Yes it is, though I still have a long way to go. Its a seven year course of learning."

" I must say that I am envious," she admitted.

"Envious, you are a knight?"

" I know, but I have always loved the idea of magic and while the basic knight training is okay and all. But to be a true Wizard, learning and researching the deep secrets of the universe sounds almost divine. " Ursa could almost imagine herself as a Runith institute student, it was a beautiful dream.

William looked at her oddly before a certain realization lit up on his face. "You are not from around here, you came from that reality... what was it again... Earth?"

Ursa felt a bit embarrassed, but she admitted it, " Yes, so magic is little new to me"

"There is no need to be ashamed, most people live with it here and they don't appreciate magic that much. As an Alchemist in training it is my pleasure to meet someone who is as excited about it as I am. Though may I let you in on a little secret?" he asked and Ursa nodded in response "Before studying to be an alchemist, I tried to be a knight."

" What, but why and why didn't you?"

"Evey child wants to be a knight, I too had grand dreams. Unfortunately the knights test proved to much for me and my grandfather would not let me join the Asikari like most others who failed at knighthood. I was mad at him, but looking back on it now, I am grateful."

" Well I am glad you became an alchemist, how else would I have had a lovely conversation with you," her words drew a smile from him.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Thank you, it's not everyday someone makes you feel good for joining the wizarding profession over knighthood, especially a knight as wise and stunning as yourself."

The two of them then broke out laughing almost madly, though they stopped as the other people in the bookshop cast irritated glaces at them. In particular the shopkeeper at the counter looked ready to jump towards them and give them a piece of her mind.

"In your expert opinion, which one of these Grimoires would be best for me, a complete amateur in the arcane arts to buy?" she asked him.

"Well, wi would think..."he said as his hand hovered over the shelf closest to them.

He took a deep breath and Ursa felt a swirling of air around the bookshelf. Strings of blue energy began to swirl around Williams fingers, a sign of him using an advanced spell as he weaved the magical threads into a pattern of spell work within him.

This continued for a few more minutes before his hand landed upon a book with a brown cover that had a red butterfly drawn upon the center of the cover most likely by the previous owner of the Grimoire. " This one would do nicely."

"How did you know?" she asked him as she drew the book from the shelf.

"A little spell that showed me how much spell work was worn into these Grimoires. This one has a few advanced spells that the old owner kept within it," he replied.

" Thank you very much," she said as she opened the book.

On each one of the pages that she began flipping through were notes and diagrams that detailed, lectures by teachers and experimentations that the previous owner had taken up in their private time.

Ursa walked to the counter and she placed the book down upon the table. The shop keeper lazily scanned the book with his eyes before saying, "Six thousand Geld".

" Six thousand, what kind of drugs is this man on," she thought as she reached into her pouch and pulled out sixty notes of one hundred Geld.

The cashier took them and Ursa picked up her newly acquired Grimoire. She turned around and much to her surprise she found William waiting for her.

"Since you seem interested enough in magic, then I would like to invite to a public lecture on magical history by the headmistress. It's mainly for the tourist, but since you are allowed to ask the headmistress anything, I am sure that you will enjoy it, " he asked.

Ursa could not believe just how much better her day was getting as she responded, "I would love..."

She never got to finish her words as a gust of wind flowed past her and a green flame was born between her and William.

The flame grew and shifted into the form of a man. Its body was the living green flame and upon its face was a wooden mask covered in purple, black and gold paint. Upon its back were a pair of great wings and it wore golden bangles upon its arms and wrists.

This was very much a Mizihimo, and though Ursa had seen them before, these spirits still fascinated her.

" Gradvan," William said with an exasperated tone of voice.

"Young master, you were supposed to be taking this time to study, not to play around," the Mizihimo spoke in a voice that sounded vaguely male.

"Young master?.... Wait, is he an Animus? " Ursa thought.

Animus were those who had through their own magical skill managed to form contracts with Mizihimo or extremely potent magical beasts. Very few people could manage to accomplish it.

"I am not messing around," William defended himself.

"Everything other than preparing for the A.M.A.E is messing around. You know better than anyone just how difficult they could be, this is your second attempt to finish this semester," the Mizihimo spoke with exaggerated hand gestures when trying to get their point across.

Ursa was so hypnotized by this that she leaned in close, her hands slowly getting closer to the Mizihimo's body. For while its body was a living emerald flame, she could not feel any true heat.

"I know that, don't take me for an idiot," William snapped.

"Well I ...." The Mizihimo stopped and it instantly turned to face Ursa as her hands were not more than a quarter inch away from it. "Child, what the hell are you doing?"

" I... I just wanted to feel how a Mizihimos flesh feels like... I hope you don't mind?" Ursa could feel her face being soaked with nervous sweat.

"I very much mind a random stranger trying to grope my body." Ursa almost gagged at the assertion, by this spirit.

"That isn't what i was intending on doing?!"

" Oh, then tell me what it was you wanted to do other than grab my defenseless form?" the Mizihimo said as it gestured with pride to its body.

Ursa wanted to die on the inside. She wished to use her magic and open up a hole in the earth that would bury her and the shame which has shackled itself to her.

"Gradvan, please leave Ursa alone... she is from earth, she was just fascinated by you," William came to her defense and he placed himself between her and the Mizihimo.

"An earther, my apologies on your world. It was a lovely place, a bit over polluted in some areas, but a lovely place indeed."

" Wait, you have been to earth?" she asked in surprise as she looked upon the spirit.

She had always thought that Chris was one of the few Avalonians who had set foot on earth. She had never imagined that the Mizihimo could actually have been there as well.

"Of course, the Shade is a realm that is of even greater size than the universe. Before the fall of our previous Multiverse, our realm had passageways to many other realities. In my youth, I like many others walked these paths, that is before I contracted with young William".

Ursa remembered what she had been wondering about. " You two are in an Animus contract?"

"Yeah, I forgot to mention it," William said nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"That is so amazing, when we are finished with that lecture that you invited me to, you should explain to me how you did this!"

" Wait, you invited her to a lecture?" the Mizihimo asked William who simply nodded.

"I see, come on Willy, my lad," it said as it wrapped its arm around William and it ushered him not too far from Ursa.

"What are they talking about? " she thought as she watched their conversation continue for near seven minutes, their words too far from earshot.

William sharply turned away from the Mizihimo and he came walking towards Ursa. His body posture and facial expression reading of a pent up irritation while Gradvan the Mizihimo remained with two excited thumbs raised towards William.

"Is something wrong?" Ursa asked as William approached.

"Let's just go, " the young wizard responded as he took her hand and led her out of the room.

XXXXXX

"....and then she started puking sand for ten whole minutes. Bulanda has never drunk her own concoctions again." William struggled to wheeze out his words in between his laughter.

"That sounds awful." Ursa might have said that but tears of laughter streamed down her cheeks.

"I know, but she was so sure that it would work," William said as he now coughed from just how much he had been laughing "We have to stop, we are...we ar.. we are here."

The two of them had halted in front of a large door of a small building outside the castle, it was no bigger than the small apartment complex, which she lived in.

" Is this it?" Ursa asked, when William had mentioned that their headmistress was giving a lecture, she had expected a large place for great numbers to gather.

"Oh, you will love this," William said with a knowing smile as he slowly pushed the door open and what she saw within took Ursa's breath away.

The inside of the small building was a far larger auditorium that should not have fit within the building in question. It was like opening your wardrobe and finding an entire sports stadium within.

"A lot of things here are bigger on the inside than outside. Even some sections of the castles levels are not in the same plane of reality as us," William said as he took her hand led her within.

More than a thousand men and women sat upon the many chairs with all of their attention pointed towards a fae woman who stood upon a podium. The woman had black hair with some strands of grey, though her face was still young looking, but with how long Avalonian's lived, Ursa was not sure

William led her to one of the nearest seats and the both of them sat down to listen to the headmistress who was passionately speaking.

"...In the opinion of many, the use of Divine power is impossible to forcefully learn," she said before turning to one of the audience members. "Does that answer satisfy you Mr Danielson?"

One of the audience members arose from his seat and he nodded his head as he said, " Of course madame, thank you."

" What is going on?" She asked William.

"She must be taking in questions," William replied though with how he spoke, it sounded like he was disappointed.

"Is that bad?"

" It means that we are late, the lecture is about to end."

"Then let me make the best out of it," Ursa whispered back before she eagerly raised her right arm.

That seemed to catch the headmistresses attention as the old fae pointed to her as she said "A Knight, now isn't that something you don't see everyday."

" May I begin by saying that it is an honor to speak to you ma'am, " Ursa said.

"The honor is mine young lady," the headmistress responded and Ursa felt her cheeks heat up.

"I am sorry, I am new to this..." Ursa said as she struggled to force out her words.

"New to speaking!" some heckler shouted from the crowds, gaining a few chuckles from the people.

"I mean, asking about magic... I am from earth you see," she said and the headmistress's face lit up.

"Oh, then take your time dear," the older fae encouragingly said.

"I want to know how come an Alpha-Spell can achieve the effects of an Archon spell, even though many Knights are not even knowledgeable in full basic magical fundamentals?" she asked.

"An interesting question miss...?"

"Tubor... I mean Ursa, Ursa Tubor," she replied stumbling upon her words.

"Yes, now miss Tubor, we must first begin by granting a basic understanding that Alpha-Spells can be done by everyone with enough magical knowledge and energy. Of course its strength and power fluctuates by the person...." The headmistress began her explanation.

"...Of course we must look to Elemental Magic in order to build a base of understanding. Elemental Magic is broken down into its four subsections, air, fire, earth and water. These elements have sub forms themselves. A person is only capable of using one magic type, you can learn one of the three pillars of reality, Light energy, Dark energy and Divine energy, though many experts are still arguing on if the three pillars of reality are magic in the first place..." Ursa knew that she was getting this basic lesson because as a person of earth, many viewed her as ignorant to just about everything, but she did not care.

"The three pillars of reality are extremely difficult to learn. I myself have struggled with Light energy..." The headmistress chuckled a bit, as if remembering some memory.

"....Now on the matter of Alpha-Spells, these are less magical spells created through conscious thought. They are reflections of the user through your history and even your psyche. Unlike normal spells, these Alpha-Spells are drawn from deep into you're very core, they are like an expression of your nature upon the world..."

As she continued, Ursa could only smile in joy. This was all that she had ever wanted and it was beautiful.