“Greetings, young magelings! Today is the day you will achieve the greatest honor possible for a young mage like you, which is to attend the Lation Magic Academy’s opening ceremony!” The white-haired professor shouted.

The school’s amphitheater was bustling with energy. The closest seats to the stage were occupied by several high-ranking personnel of the academy, none of whose name Alec knew. Behind those first few rows of personnel were the third-grade students, who were now in their final year of the school. From there, the students were seated according to their grades, where the first-grade newbies were the furthest away from the stage.

It was very easy to differentiate them from the other students, as the second and third-graders all had a certain confidence in them. First-graders, on the other hand, all looked around with a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and most importantly, fear of the unknown. It was never easy to adapt to a new place, after all.

Amidst all this, in the middle cluster of seats, Alec and Evan were sitting side to side. Evan was very excited, as he was in the place of the first-graders just a year ago. Now, he could act as tough as he wanted in front of these younger students.

Alec, on the other hand, was mostly expressionless. He threw around a few calculated, inquisitive glances every now and then. His leg would also start jumping for a few short moments before he stopped himself from doing so.

‘There doesn’t seem to be a problem for now,’ Alec thought. As per habit, he was trying to see if there were any signs of a dark magic terrorist organization attack, or a student going berserk, or maybe even some professors suddenly turning on each other and starting infighting.

“You see, that white-haired professor giving the speech is called Hunter Howard. He is a fire artillerist,” Evan continued explaining excitedly. Ever since they had sat down, he hadn’t stopped talking about who the professors were. Obviously, Alec had no intention of refusing free information from his dear friend. “All the students who specialize in fire magic or one of its branches worship him like a god. It would be hard to explain all the legendary feats he has achieved so far, but since fire magic is the most developed magic branch out of all the others, he has a different level of authority than the other professors.”

“That makes sense...” Alec briefly commented. Shortly after Professor Hunter finished his speech, three students walked up to the rostrum. While one positioned himself in front of the voice-amplifying magic circle, the others stood to his sides. “Oh?”

Surprisingly, this student was Edward. The blonde mage placed his hands on the sides of the rostrum confidently before speaking with an elegant voice.

“It makes me incredibly proud to announce that I’ve been appointed as the leader of this year’s student council by the unanimous vote of our professors. During my term...”

‘Ah alright... Is he a nepo baby by any chance?’ Alec thought for a moment. However, remembering the way Edward treated him, he shook off the idea. ‘He has a knack for these types of things I think. If I were given the chance to vote, I would’ve probably voted for him.’

As speech after speech was delivered to his uncaring ears, Alec kept looking around to spot something interesting. And the thing that did interest him was a girl with blue hair, sitting approximately 10 meters away from him. When he spotted her, he noticed her to be staring at himself. For a brief moment, their gazes met, only for the girl to avert her eyes quickly.

“Ariel...” Alec muttered. Trailing his gaze, Evan spotted her too.

“You could’ve continued the relationship, you know?” Evan said with a frown on his face. He continued after placing his hand on Alec’s shoulder. “She was waiting by your side the entire time you were in a coma. She wouldn’t mind helping you create new memories with her, I think.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

During his days in the dorms, Alec had encountered Ariel once in the cafeteria. There was obviously a need to talk things out between the two, which they did over lunch.

‘That would make sense if I was the past Alec. But I’m a different person. I can’t just take over a relationship like that,’ Alec thought to himself as he sighed. They had eventually agreed to go back to being friends, however, they never really talked after that accidental meeting in the cafeteria.

“It’s probably for the best,” he told his genuine thought. “We don’t have that kind of relationship anymore. Her emotions will fade away with time. We can go back to being friends that way. She just needs time, I think.”

“Whatever you say,” Evan said. He was about to change the topic by talking about one of the other legendary personnel of the school but was cut short by the announcement made by Professor Hunter.

“And thus!” the professor's voice boomed across the amphitheater. “I’m inviting the three top-scoring students of our new batch to the stage!”

“Mr. Zac Fraser!” he said. At his beckon, a young adult with a tall and thin stature approached the stage. He had chestnut hair with dark eyes. Each of his steps was filled with overbearing confidence.

“Mr. Phoenix Chambers!” As the professor’s voice resounded once more, a flash of flames appeared on the stage. Shortly after, from amidst those flames, a student with bright red hair and red eyes appeared.

‘Woah... That’s a flashy entrance if I’ve ever seen one,’ Alec thought to himself. Edward had told him that some of the new students would be given magic education from childhood, however, Alec didn’t expect that they would be able to do flashy magic like this. ‘Maybe it’s easier than it looks,’ he thought as he turned to look at Evan, who was dumbfoundedly staring at Phoenix. ‘Apparently not...’

“T- That’s a 3rd circle magic. Phoenix’s descent,” Evan mumbled. The deciding factor in the difficulty of casting a spell was generally the amount of concentric circles it contained. The magic missile was one of the easier first-circle spells. By the end of the year, a mage should have become capable of casting beginner-level 2nd circle spells, which denoted how good Phoenix was at his specialty.

“The guy is named Phoenix for fucks sake. Do you really think he would be average at fire magic?” Alec snickered with his arms crossed.

“That... That actually makes sense,” Evan answered before leaning against the back of his chair.

Finally, a third student was called to the stage.

“Iris Duncan!”

Suddenly, on the stage, a petite girl with long white hair appeared. It was unprompted, too sudden to be noticed by Alec. When he realized she was there, she had already been standing on the stage for more than half a minute.

Her most distinctive feature was a small magic circle embedded into her forehead, slightly above her glabella. It wasn’t floating outside her body like Evan’s was. Instead, it seemed to be under her skin, constantly rotating in there.

“What is that?” Alec asked. When he turned to look at Evan, he noticed him to be zoned out. “Hey?”

“Oh... What? What is what?” Evan reflected the question back to Alec.

“That magic circle on her forehead. What is it?”

“What gir- Oh... Since when has she been there?”

“Just answer the question,” Alec further urged him.

“Umm... I have no idea. Maybe some form of perception aid?” Evan guessed after grabbing his chin with his right hand.

“Like a third eye?”

“Like a third eye.”

Shortly after, the highest-scoring student Zac approached the rostrum and gave a speech. Which Alec didn’t bother listening to. For whatever reason, he couldn’t stop himself from looking at the magic circle on Iris’ forehead.

He could only snap out of it when the viewers started becoming more and more restless. He could hear the amount of chatters constantly rising around him.

“And now,” the professor said. “I shall announce the official start of the opening ceremony!”

Cheers rose from the amphitheater, filling the skies with loud claps and whistles. The first-year students were a bit hesitant at the start, but they eventually joined in with the crowd.

Even Alec felt a bit of excitement, momentarily forgetting about his worries. What was the problem with wanting to join the fray, after all?

“And what’s the best way to start the opening ceremony other than some flashy magic battles, huh!?” The professor suddenly shouted. Which made Alec frown in confusion. Why had this aloof professor suddenly changed the way he spoke?

“Nothing!” all the second and third-grade students shouted back at him.

“Then let the students choose!” Professor shouted before he gestured to the three to approach the rostrum.

“Zac!?”

“I choose Edward Spellson!”

“Phoenix!?”

“Douglas Burton!”

“Iris!?”

“I shall fight against Alec Greenwood.”

Alec, dumbfounded, turned to look at Evan. Although the cheers were undisturbed, people who knew him turned their heads to look at him.

“I- How?” Evan muttered. Alec’s answer was simple.

“Fuck!”