As Velvet walked the hallways over the next few days, people kept glancing her way and mumbling. This confused her greatly and she consulted her friend about this strange behavior.
“Don’t tell me you forgot?” Arianna asked when she brought this up. “The Magornis is this year.” That’s right, the Magornis! How could she forget?
“Oh, gosh, it’s been that long already?!” Velvet exclaimed in surprise. The time she spent away from her friend flew by and more than three years have passed since the both of them graduated. After this school year ends in the summer of year 55 post racial war, the 11th annual Magornis will be held. The last one was held just a year before Velvet and Arianna finished their schooling, meaning that they were not yet eligible to participate. This time, however…
“You and I are both eligible to compete to become our academy’s champion,” the air mage told her friend. “I’m nothing special, but you, on the other hand…everyone here knows who you are, even the first years! The ones that were already going to our academy at the time of our graduation three years ago spread the word about you. And with the timing of your return, they must all think you’ve come to take your spot as the one representing Everdale academy at the Magornis this time around. A competition will be announced in the following months to select a champion. Of course, everybody expects you to enter and win it.”
“Ah, I see,” Velvet nodded. It all made sense now. With how cut off from the rest of the world and the academy life she was during her stay in Talim and her explorations of the Kamatayan forest, she completely forgot about the Magornis and that it would be held within less than a year. “I better talk to Argus about it then and make our academy proud! You’re entering the competition too, right Arianna?”
“Uhh,” the other girl stammered but was thankfully saved by the man whose name was just spoken. As if Velvet had summoned him, the headmaster appeared behind them with a wide smile and curious eyes.
“To think that you would return and not even come to greet me!” the old man laughed. “This just won’t do!” Before either of the girls could respond, he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Hoooo! So it’s true what I’ve heard being whispered around the hallways. My little girl has broken yet another record! Wait ‘till Priscilla hears about this! How old are you now?”
“Headmaster Argus!” Velvet exclaimed. “It’s nice to see you again! Yes, I got the mark of water while fighting an ursa major! Also, I just turned seventeen last month.”
“And ursa major, you say?” he peered at her with childish curiosity. “You just keep surprising me every time you open your mouth! Since you are here, I am guessing that ursa major is no more then?”
“Yes, I beat it good! And a fai-…”
Arianna lightly kicked her, realizing that excitement had taken over, and she almost revealed something she herself made her swear she would tell no one.
“And a friend helped me!” Velvet quickly corrected herself. “We beat it together!”
“A friend, huh?” the headmaster raised his eyebrow suspiciously as if he had seen through her lie immediately. “Well, I’m glad you’re making new friends besides Miss Goldleaf here!” They both sighed in relief internally. Looks like he hasn’t caught on anyway.
“Come to my office! I want to talk to you!” he then said, dragging her off by the hand like a child drags off his parents when he wants to show them something exciting he discovered.
“I’ll…see you later?” the girl being towed off turned around and called out to her friend.
“Sure. I will wait for you in the park as always,” Arianna, who sort of expected this, said.
When they came to his office, Argus sat the girl on a chair before his desk and started pacing around the room as usual.
“Tier three at seventeen!” he exclaimed. “I don’t think you realize what you are doing here, my girl! You are rewriting history as it is!”
“I am?” she kept following him with her eyes, almost breaking her neck when he walked behind her and disappeared from her view.
“Of course you are!” he raised his hand. “Nobody in recent times has done this! Not to my knowledge, at least! And believe me, there’s quite a bit of that up in here,” he patted his bald head.
“You said being a tier three is a requirement to found an academy,” Velvet said. “So I went and did that first since it seemed the easiest out of all—I was only one mark off anyways!”
“The easiest…ho ho ho!” he laughed heartily. “I needed a decade to get from tier-two to tier-three and another twelve years to get to tier-four from that! ‘Easy,’ she says!”
“So it’s not that easy?”
“It’s not supposed to be! But for you, it looks like it truly is that easy! Ralphie boy still hasn’t acquired his third mark! Isn’t that right?” he turned toward his assistant’s desk.
“Are you now going to proceed to make fun of me, sir?” the young man looked up from the paperwork he’s been quietly filling out this entire time.
“Of course not!” Argus replied. “Whatever makes you think that?”
“It sounds like something you would do, sir.”
“Well, maybe I’m going to make a little fun of you,” the headmaster admitted. “But at the same time, I should worry about my own pride. At this rate, she will reach tier four three decades ahead of me!”
“We wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we?” Ralph chuckled. “She might even reach tier five one day and make you look like a fool, sir.”
“Can you teach me water magic now?” Velvet butted into their little quarrel.
“I could,” he turned toward her. “I am not the most suitable teacher for this type of magic, however.” Lifting up his hand, he revealed his four marks to her. Water was not one of them.
“I never did water magic in my life, you see. It would be better for you to learn from someone who can actually demonstrate these spells to you. Ralph, my boy!” he pointed at his assistant.
“Yes, yes,” he rolled his eyes in resignation. “I’ll teach her water magic…”
“No!” Argus yelled, to his surprise. “I’m sending her over to Priscilla! She’s better than you.”
“You’re joking right now, aren’t you, sir?” the young man couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
“Absolutely not! I want this girl to learn from the best!”
“I would actually prefer to be insulted by being bested by a seventeen-year-old than being declared second-best to that bitch of a woman,” Ralph replied coldly, glancing back down at the pile of papers before him. He still hasn’t forgotten what happened on the elf’s last visit.
“Nonsense, my boy!” Argus said. “Pricilla is a fine young lady with great taste for men!”
“Permission to throw up, sir?”
“Denied! There shall be no throwing up in my office! Anyway,” the old man turned to the girl observing their odd exchange, “I can write to my friend Priscilla and ask her to teach you. Provided you would want this, of course. She teaches at Eldar Royal academy of magic.”
“But isn’t Eldar the capital of the elven lands?” Velvet was confused. “I would have to cross the Ardor borders to get there, wouldn’t I? And I have no permit to do that.”
“You have no permit yet!” Argus chuckled. “That can be arranged, you know…”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“REALLY?!” her eyes widened the moment she heard that. “I get to go to the elven lands?!”
“Only if you want to,” he smiled warmly, knowing fully well the answer he would get.
“YES!!” the girl jumped up from the chair. “Yesyesyesyes! Of course, I want to go!”
“Very well then. Ralph, write a letter to Priscilla to arrange a permit for her, so she can cross.”
The assistant grunted. “Will do, sir…”
“But,” the headmaster raised his index finger, “there is another matter which you should consider, my dear Velvet. And that is the matter of the Magornis.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“As I am sure you are aware, the Magornis will be held at the end of this school year in just a bit over ten months from now. I shall announce a competition that all the graduates who finished their respective courses in the last five years can enter very shortly. If you go to Eldar, you will not be able to partake in that competition. You see the problem here, right?”
The girl nodded. “I get it. If I go, I won’t be given a chance to represent our academy.”
“Indeed,” Argus confirmed. “Personally, I think that’s a shame since you are one of our best candidates this time around. And you won’t get another chance to compete because, at the next Magornis in five years, you will already be too old to qualify. Now would be the perfect time to show the world what you can do. Think about what you want more for a bit.”
“I understand,” Velvet said. “I want to go to the elven lands.”
“Are you sure you want to decide this already?” he eyed her curiously.
“Yes,” she confirmed. “There are others who can represent our academy in my place.”
“Very well then. Proceed with the letter, Ralph. I will inform you when I get a reply, Velvet. You are free to leave now.”
“Thank you for doing this for me!” she exclaimed happily before leaving the office and slamming the door shut on the way out so hard that the portraits on the walls shook.
“You’re most welcome, my dear,” the old man spoke to himself and smiled after her. “We will make an amazing sorceress out of you yet. As I said, my dream is yours to live.”
“Are you sure it’s wise to send our most accomplished graduate away instead of letting her represent us, which she surely would if she entered the competition?” his assistant spoke. “Our academy has not won the Magornis in forty years now. Would be nice to get first place after all this time, don’t you think? You know she could do it.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Argus replied, staring out the window. Arianna was sitting on the bench in the park below, reading a book like she had gotten used to doing all these years. “Let’s give others a chance to prove themselves, shall we?”
***
“You’re going where?!” Arianna threw her book away and started shaking her friend.
“Eldar…Eldar academy of magic?” the other girl shrugged while being shaken violently. “Is there…is there something wrong with that?”
“Is there something wrong?! You literally just came back a few days ago! Now you tell me you are leaving again? How long is it going to be this time? Two years? Three?!”
“Relax, Arianna,” Velvet grabbed her shoulders firmly. “Breathe. It’s going to be fine.”
Arianna took her advice and took a few deep breaths. “All right. I’m calm now. Well…I’m still freaking out on the inside, but I am at least calm on the outside. So when do you leave?”
“I don’t know anything yet,” her friend replied. “But Ralph only just now sent the letter to Priscilla, so it will probably take at least a month for Argus to get a reply for her. We still have lots of time to catch up and hang out together. You still need to show me what you learned while I was hunting! What about those mythical transformations?”
“It’s sweet of you to try getting my mind off you leaving,” the blonde girl smiled. “This isn’t going to change the fact that I will be left alone again in a month or so.”
“I’m sorry,” Velvet loosened the grip on Arianna’s shoulders and instead pulled her in for a tight embrace. “Believe me; I missed you as much as you missed me. I missed you every day. But this is an opportunity I might not get ever again! You know I always wanted to meet other races and explore the world. This is doing both at the same time!”
“I know,” Arianna hugged her back. “I’m being selfish again. You can go wherever you want to and for as long as you want to. It’s not right for me to try and keep you anchored here.”
“I hope we can go on an adventure together someday,” Velvet confessed. “I dream of that day since I met you. But somehow, fate keeps tearing us apart.”
“That’s all right,” her friend patted her back. “We’ll do it one day. I’m just not ready yet.”
They broke their hug and kept talking when Arianna suddenly remembered. “Hey! What about the Magornis?! If you go there now, you can’t compete, right?”
“Nope! I can’t!” She grinned widely. “But I know someone who can!”
The blonde girl’s eyes widened. “Oh no. Oh no, you don’t! You’re not pushing this onto me!”
“Come on!” Velvet urged her on. “Take part in the competition! I bet you can win it!”
“I’m not a fighter! This is for crazy people like you!”
“Says the person who fought some crazy snake-lady in the ruins and turned into a freaking dragon while doing so!” her friend laughed.
“Yes, and I also nearly died!” the other girl retorted. “That was the worst experience of my life! I never want to be in a situation like that again! Ever!”
“You might not think much of yourself, but you are pretty amazing, Arianna. You know I’m right. Look at everything you accomplished!”
“Keep on trying to sweet talk me,” the air mage crossed her arms. “It’s not going to work!”
“Oh, don’t be like that! Do it for the academy! Argus has trained you for the last three years, hasn’t he? You owe him one! And it’s not like these are fights to the death! It’s just friendly dueling! Nobody gets seriously hurt here! Trust me, I read books on this and can name each of the previous ten Magornis champions. Not a single person died in this tournament so far.”
“So far!” Arianna exclaimed. “There’s a first time for everything! And why are we even having this discussion? I’m not even going to enter our academy’s competition! No way!”
“Pleeease!” her friend resorted to begging now. “Please, Arianna! You are the only one I trust with representing our academy. Plus, there will be many amazing people there! It’s the best place to find someone suitable to be a teacher at our future academy! At least one of us has to go there! And if I can’t, you are the only other option!”
Arianna started massaging her forehead. “I swear, you will be the death of me…”
“Does that mean you’ll do it?” Velvet’s eyes lit up with the all-too-familiar spark. “Will you?”
“I’ll…think about it,” her friend said, knowing this was the only way to get Velvet off her back.
“YES!” she squeezed her tightly. “Thank you! Thank you!”
“I didn’t say I’ll do it,” the other girl reminded her. “I just said I’ll think about it.”
“Write to me when you become our academy’s champion so I can congratulate you!”
“ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!”
Thank you for reading this part of the story! As always, have a nice day!
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Did you know? The Tournament Island, upon which the Magornis is held, has been deemed international territory, and conquering it is considered a declaration of war against all the other kingdoms.