Ravina woke up the next day feeling quite refreshed. The students hung out until the sun started to sink and their bellies became so full that she fell asleep almost as soon as she hit the bed. She couldn't remember a time when she had so much fun. She smiled as she rose from her bed. Friends. School would be fun with them.

Then again, she couldn't recall hanging out with people her own age and not having to worry about anything—money was always the shadow of evil. But of course, walking across her room to the vanity mirror. Sitting down on the puffy stool, she looked at her reflection. There she watched her smile fade.

Ravina Ravenshield was the daughter of the Raven, but she was the fake daughter, a tool the Count used to calm his vassals and fend off any unwanted commitments. It was sweet how much he loved his wife and didn't want to remarry. Tragically he lost them both but that left her as nothing more than a facade.

Even when she left the academy and went to the Mage Tower, she became another person. As Ravina would be marked as doing well in the academy. Emily Grant would attend classes in the tower. Unlike the persona of Ravina, Emily was a creation of her own making, a person who had never existed before. So what was the difference between Ravina and Emily?

Yet they shared the same face. The same hair and the same mind. "Who are you?" she whispered softly to the mirror, her reflection staring back at her with deep purple eyes filled with both judgment and scorn. "Who are you?" she whispered again, sighing.

A knock came at the door, and Ravina called for them to enter. It was Marilyn, the Raven Manor's high standing maid and the woman who showed her around when she arrived. Marilyn gave a quick nod of acknowledgment. "My lady, I see you're up bright and early. I have a bath waiting for you, and once we're done getting you dressed, we can enjoy some breakfast. Marvin even made those little scones that you like."

Ravina smiled. "Sounds wonderful," she said. The two of them began to get ready for the day, and after a delicious breakfast, Ravina was off to explore the city once again. All one had to do was go down a street they had never gone down before, and they would find a wealth of objects and fascinations they had never seen. It was another mystery in the form of a shop, all the products were different. Though the names might be the same, there was a certain gravitas that underlined everything the city had to offer. It was all different, it was all wonderful, and it was all time-consuming.

"Oh shoot," she muttered, realizing she was late for her first day of school—or second day, if you counted the introductory class. She hastened to room One Alpha, sliding in just in time, entering the room seconds before the professor.

"Seats!" the professor called with a snap of her fingers. "Seats," she repeated as she arrived at her desk in the center of the classroom. The classroom was not much different than what Ravina had expected: four walls in a rectangular shape with multiple chairs and tables facing one wall filled with a blackboard. In front of that blackboard was a small podium and an office desk where the professor placed her bags. Meanwhile, the students had much smaller, more personal desks, and there were 24 in total.

All the students who had eaten together gravitated towards the front of the class, while those who left early or didn’t join them filled out the back. However, there were a few differences, as some of the other students sat in the front, and others, like Rocco, chose to sit in the back.

Cameron waved at Ravina and pointed to a seat beside Aubrey, whom he sat next to. Ravina smiled and gave him an acknowledging nod before taking the seat next to the young girl. Aubrey shifted uncomfortably as Ravina sat down but managed a smile as she glanced over.

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The teacher began, looking around at each student. "It's good to know that each and every one of you has deigned to arrive on time. To begin with, we’ll start with the very basics of magic. What is magic?" She looked around. "Does anyone know?"

A few students murmured and glanced around at each other until one of them raised their hand. It was a boy in the front who hadn’t been part of the class luncheon but had left as soon as it was over. He was of average height, with black hair and sea-green eyes.

"Young Mr. Hayes, I believe?" The boy nodded. When he spoke, his voice was soothing, but an arrogant tone made it sound snobbish.

"Magic," he began, "is the simple phenomenon of changing one's reality to match one's desires. In a sense, it is the foundation of reshaping the world to one's own wishes."

The teacher nodded at him. "A student of Gel’Gorilgor, I see," she muttered. "Well, that is right in a sense, but wrong in many others. Magic is simply understanding the reality of the world and using that knowledge to build upon it. While Gel’Gorilgor makes a very convincing argument and many wizards believe his works, there’s too little to be proven about them, such as what the shape of the world should actually look like. Not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying that Gel’Gorilgor is an opportunist and an idiot, but not necessarily wrong,"

Young Mr Hayes narrowed his eyes at her, leaning back in his chair. Oblivious to the young man’s dissatisfaction she continued. "No, magic is the ability to cultivate the natural mana surrounding the world. While no one truly knows what exactly magic is, it is accepted and understood that mana is in the air, and people have a unique ability to manipulate these invisible flecks of power into doing what they want. There is a law and an order to these things."

She waited for it to sink in before she continued. Walking ahead of her podium. "Now," the teacher began once more, "who here knows what the color of mana is?" More students raised their hands, confident in their ability to answer this question. "Very well," the teacher said. "Let’s go with Mr. Reid this time."

Tommy Reid stood up and nodded. "Thank you, ma’am," he said before explaining. "There are many colors of mana, far too many to be documented in the short length of time that magic studies have progressed. It is fair to say that as many colors as we can see, there are far more colors of mana out there, most of which have yet to be discovered."

With another nod, he sat back down, to which the teacher said, "Wrong." The other students shifted uneasily, and another student called out, "Aren’t there multiple colors? After all, the easiest way to describe mana is in terms of colors."

The teacher had something else in mind. "The color of mana," she began, "is blue, plain and simple." The students looked at each other in confusion. "There are many different types of mana perceived through different colors. However, it is the blue hue of mana that streams through the blood of humanity. You lot are unique in terms of humanity, as you can feel and guide the blue blood in your veins. This isn’t the blood that flows to keep you alive but an ethereal force that beats within your second heart, something no one can distinctly prove but everyone can feel as an intangible beat."

She paused and shook her head before continuing sternly, looking each student in the eye for a few seconds before moving on to the next. "You will forgo any preconceived notions you have of magic. While some of it is not particularly wrong, it is useless to come into this class with preconceived ideas of what magic might be. Magic is unique, mystical, and wonderful, but at the same time, it adheres to a strict set of principles and laws that cannot be changed, no matter how one wishes it to be. Mana, as flexible as it seems, is unmovable. If you try to bend it even a little, you will break faster than the mana will bend. So, from here on out, you know nothing. You will accept this, or you will leave."

She gave them a moment, a chance to leave, but when none did, she nodded. "Very well, then. Let’s begin."