AELLARIA, FRIDAY, FATHERUS 6TH
Thursday and Friday carried on much the same. It was a crushing weight that kept getting heavier, especially for Aellaria and Marin.
The classes with Niall were painful for Aellaria. Although she was comfortable using magic, she had zero margin for error when proving her understanding of concepts. She knew that her class performance could taint Niall’s opinion of her, and her plans for her time at Spire could be shot down by Niall’s opinion of her. Aellaria took care to ensure that Niall respected her, if not feared her.
MARIN
Marin struggled with the pain that accompanied the gym courses. She felt lucky to have someone like Aellaria to push her to be better but not absolutely destroy her. Many of her other classmates couldn’t control their strength or landed blows that were too severe. When this happened, the injured would have to stop training until they were healed in the infirmary and then observed.
The only new part of their lives that the women of the first-year class hadn’t faced was a duel. As of yet, most people were too afraid to take action on these challenges. However, one did go through as tensions simmered among the girls.
As they ran laps, Bren made hurtful comments in Marin’s ear every time she lapped her. “Wow, you are so slow.” “Did you dress yourself today?” “What is the point of you trying?” Then, with every additional lap, Bren would just say the word ‘again.’ “Again.” “Again.” “Again.” “Really? Again.”
Syn, the Pyromancer with the muscular build, had hit her limit and slowed down to Marin’s pace to relax a little bit at her friend’s pace before pushing herself. It didn’t take long for her to realize the pattern in Bren’s statements. “Pardon me, skank, what’d you just say?”
Bren slowed down as she jogged alongside Marin and Syn. “I have just been making a note of every time I pass Marin. She doesn’t belong here, and she should know that and give up before she hurts herself.”
Syn responds, “You’re just scared ‘cause your pals Flair and Alyviah will likely get cut this year, and you are taking it out on MY friend.”
“Face it, the weakling can’t hack it. She should go back to bumblefuck hill, and plow the fields like the simple donkey she is.” Bren said.
“Excuse me, girls. Am I sensing drama, or am I tingling all over for no reason? Separate or make a challenge.” Tilly demanded. Tilly’s motto was, ‘If people had time to talk, they certainly were not pushing themselves hard enough.’
Syn stopped running, and Marin pleaded for Syn not to escalate it further, “Syn, no, please…just let it go.”
Syn formally stated, “I challenge Bren for her rank.”
Since Syn was a lower rank than Bren, Bren had no choice but to accept. Bren seemed annoyed that she had to defend her position at all. “Yeah, okay. Whatever. Easy enough.”
Within minutes, the jogging stopped, and everyone gathered around the central arena. Syn and Bren stood in the middle of the fighting ring. Coach Tilly stood between the women, ready to referee the interaction.
This whole thing was embarrassing for Marin. On the one hand, she was happy to have a friend willing to defend her, but the diminutive Marin would have preferred just to apologize and move on. Even if all she did wrong was exist. Now, pride was involved, and Marin worried it would get worse.
Tilly started with the rules for everyone to hear. “We have a challenge between the seventh-ranked Bren and twenty-seventh-ranked Syn. Syn will not be able to challenge again until next week, and Bren will not be able to be challenged for the rest of the day. Of course, you can use magic during these fights, but refrain from trying to kill each other. It is a lot of paperwork when there are attempted or successful killings, so please don’t do it.”
“Also, you can only use wands, your magical focus, and any items you prepared yourself,” Tilly added.
Tilly looked at both women, who were ready to fight. The other women in the room were happy to relax for a moment to watch.
“Yeah, Bren, go fucking get it!” Flair shouted, ready to cheer on her best friend.
“Ready? Fight,” Tilly said from the side of the central arena.
Bren immediately started by casting two earth cantrips that pulled two tile slabs up and into each other.
Syn dodged back out of the way of both slabs, but as they shattered, Bren cast another spell on the floating pieces, launching them in a scattergun pattern on the already off-balance Syn. Jagged fragments of ceramic-like stone cut into Syn’s exposed flesh on her stomach, shoulders, and face. Blood wept from these wounds, but to Syn’s credit, she did not give up.
Syn took the initiative and sprinted past the debris to close the gap. Bren pulled up another large tile from the floor to try to smash Syn into it, but Syn used a cantrip to create a controlled explosion that launched herself over the piece of stone. From above, Syn threw a cantrip that hit Bren in the knee. Bren’s shorts caught fire, and the impact burned her skin.
The fire did not faze Bren. Bren used the pull cantrip on the lifted piece of tile. The tile was launched with such force as to act like a giant flyswatter, hitting Syn from behind and taking Syn to the ground with a loud shatter.
There wasn’t any movement from Syn, indicating the end of the fight. Tilly ran over and cleared the debris of the tile that had swatted Syn. Underneath the tile, Syn was stunned but alive.
It looked like Syn’s legs took the brunt of the impact, and immediate life-saving healing was unnecessary. A third-year healer was present for the fight and loaded Syn up onto a floating granite disk for easy transportation to the infirmary.
Marin ran to Syn’s side. She was breathing but unconscious.
When Syn was loaded up and taken away, Marin overheard something that made her lose her cool.
“Ugh, that fat bitch singed my shorts and calf. I'm going to have to requisition a new pair, which is so fucking annoying, " Bren said to Flair and Alyviah.
As a fire mage, Flair added, “Good thing she didn’t have any like, talent. She could have downed you if she put any real heat on that.”
“Yeah, but it does sting a little bit, like when a little ant bites you,” Bren said—giving Flair a little pinch and making her laugh.
Marin, feeling the heat of embarrassment and anger, lashed out. She stormed over toward the trio of girls.
“Marin–” Aellaria said to try to calm her roommate, but there was no effect.
“This should help,” Marin said as she cast a cantrip to push icy cold water onto Bren’s legs, which made the unsuspecting girl yelp in surprise.
“Oh, you EAMP Cunt!” Bren shouted. She started casting a spell but heard Coach Tilly’s voice.
“That’s enough, ladies. Make a challenge, or put your dicks away.” Tilly said simply. Between the girls involved, they all knew how fast the coach could floor them if need be.
“Alyviah, challenge that bitch and beat her down with your stick,” Bren said, and all eyes turned to the young woman holding the oversized staff.
Alyviah looked around nervously. She looked at Marin, Tilly, and then her two new friends. Lastly, Alyviah looked at the big stick she carried as an arcane focus.
Alyviah closed her eyes, putting her weight on her magical focus, before she decided. “Marin… I have to challenge you for your rank.”
Within minutes, the two new girls were in the main combat ring of the gymnasium. Tilly used a higher-level spell to restore the fighting area to its previous status. Once a new healer arrived, it was time to fight.
Marin and Alyviah squared each other up. Alyviah walked with the assistance of the large staff in her hands.
Marin was the first to speak. The emotion coursing through her mind and body caused her voice to shake, “You don’t have to fight me on someone else’s behalf.” Marin’s emotions were still raw from the over-the-top defeat of a friend who wanted to protect her honor.
Alyviah held the staff tight in one hand. Marin could tell she was nervous. Alyviah repositioned her staff, which struck the tile with a loud wooden clank. Alyviah said, ”What’s about to happen… it's not personal.”
Neither woman would back down despite their irreconcilable differences having nothing to do with each other.
Tilly marked the beginning of the fight with the wave of her hand.
Alyviah held her breath as she summoned forth water. She could hardly control it, so it formed a bubble from her core until Alyviah stood in a sphere that swallowed her whole body.
Marin watched Alyviah as the dozens of recently learned magic runes buzzed through her mind. Marin tried pushing a wind wall at the growing ball of water in front of her, but Alyviah’s spell was so heavy that the wind had no effect.
When Alyviah finished summoning the water around her, she started lobbing massive globs of water at Marin. The watermelon-sized balls of water arced up and toward Marin.
Marin dodged out of the way of the first one, but there were too many for the inexperienced Marin to avoid successfully, and the water bludgeoned the lottery apprentice. The salvo was strong enough to press Marin to the ring's floor. Pain radiated from her sore muscles with each heavy impact.
Marin looked back at her opponent. Water completely engulfed the water mage, and only Alyviah’s head peeked out of the sphere. Alyviah panted from holding her breath so long before breathing in again and holding as she summoned more water for another salvo.
Alyviah launched more watermelon-sized orbs of water, and Marin saw that when Alyviah cast, her eyes were closed. Marin knew that this was the opening she would need.
Marin committed to a direction, straight at Alyviah. She clumsily dodged past the orbs falling overhead. The water weighing down Marin’s clothes hindered her movement. Just one hit from Alyviah had completely soaked through every scrap of clothing, and her shoes squished wetly with each step.
As Alyviah finished casting, she had thrown enough water for her head to be visible again. Alyviah gasped for air and opened her eyes. The Aquamancer’s eyes opened wide in surprise as Marin closed the distance quickly.
Marin punched, ready to take victory from the other mage, but Alyviah reacted too quickly.
Alyviah jumped back and put everything into the push-water cantrip. The water surrounding Alyviah surged forward in a massive wall. However, the water around Alyviah wasn’t the only water affected.
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Marin was tossed up and back twelve feet into the air by her soaked garments. Alyviah accidentally launched the clothing with enough acceleration for them not to survive the journey.
Marin could have kept fighting. She wasn’t defeated. Not by the rules of the fight. However, she sat there on the floor of the gym class with thirty sets of eyes on her topless form.
“By all of the gods, the spicy little EAMP has a birthmark on her boob. It looks like an Areola speech bubble! How embarrassing.” Bren cackled. Flair started laughing, too.
Marin was overwhelmed physically and emotionally. Her nudity was too much to bear. Marin covered her chest and tummy as best she could and jogged toward the exit. She was shattered.
Seis, the Geomantic healer meant to heal in the event of physical harm, respectfully averted his gaze and held out a towel, which Marin took and wrapped around herself as she fled the room.
***
Marin sat inside the walk-in closet of her room. She changed into the heavy Freshman robes that had brought her comfort throughout the week. Her mind was a storm—A hurricane of boots she used to kick herself for being weak mentally, physically, and emotionally. The one time she tried to stand up for herself this week…she was humiliated. This proved to Marin that the chicken with the longest neck was the next destined for the chopping block.
Marin didn’t know how much time had passed when she distantly heard the door open and close to the dorm room. Aellaria’s distant nature made Marin feel like a burden already. She hoped Aellaria wouldn’t figure out she was in here.
There was a knock on her closet door, and the wood slightly muffled Syn’s voice. “Marin, y’alright?”
“No. I want to go home.” Marin said.
There was the sound of something metal clattering, and Marin could hear that Syn was sitting down against the door on the other side. “If you wanna go home, why have’ncha yet?”
“Because then I would have to leave the closet.”
“Yeah. but the closet doesn’t have Phoenix’s radiance.” Syn said.
“It would if I lit everything in here on fire and then died,” Marin said melodramatically.
“You kinda suck at fire magic, though. Maybe you should let me in, and I’ll help you.” Syn said.
“Okay.” Seconds later, Marin opened the door, and Syn scooted into the closet, leaving the door open. Marin got a better look at her strong friend. Syn moved stiffly and with no grace. As Marin’s eyes adjusted to the intrusion of light, she noticed that Syn’s leg was coated in flaky ceramic. “Is… your leg broken?”
“Kinda? Some injuries take multiple sessions to heal. I'm not supposed to move it, but I think it ain’t broke no more.”
“I was scared for you,” Marin said.
“Yeah, scared enough to get your butt kicked by the lowest rank in the class.” Syn accused.
Marin reflected on the feeling of being tossed into the air. If her clothes hadn’t torn, it could have been even worse. However, Marin would have preferred falling into a crumpled heap than what happened. “I’m the lowest rank in class.” Marin corrected.
“You know, more human boobs exist in the world ‘n humans.” Syn said, hoping her simple, silly statement would get a smile out of Marin.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Marin responded. Syn was trying to tell her that it was normal. It didn’t feel normal. “Not a single woman in that room would have reacted differently than I did. Bren even commented on my birthmark.”
“Yeah, but Bren sucks. She throws overwhelmin’ power into a spell, hopin’ it don’t kill her opponent. Plus, she’s just jealous she's not rockin' your body.” Syn said, trying to comfort her friend.
“I don’t think I can stomach the idea of being in the same room as them—any of them,” Marin confessed.
“Even Aellaria?” Syn said. Marin hadn’t seen Syn talking to Aellaria and knew that Syn wouldn’t understand how she was.
“Aellaria doesn’t care. She's probably out there somewhere meditating or moving that cube of rock around in the air.” Marin said. It seemed to be all Aellaria was interested in doing. She never went out of the room to spend time with classmates and hardly talked to Marin unless Marin pushed her.
“Of course, she cares. Who’d you think told me to come here?” Syn smiled.
This statement had a profound effect on Marin. She thought Aellaria would have picked out a better sparring partner and practiced her fighting techniques. However, Aellaria showed enough concern to remember Syn was the right person to try to cheer her up.
Syn perked up despite her casted leg. “You know what Aellaria told me?” Syn added.
“What?”
“Apparently, Alyviah passed out from mana exhaustion immediately after you left.”
Mana exhaustion was glossed over in their first weeks of class since the body naturally avoided it. The body knows it draws from a limited well every time it uses mana. Similarly to holding your breath too long, mana exhaustion can cause death but will typically knock you out first.
“So if I had endured it for a little longer, I would have won?” Marin asked.
“Exactly. You don’t belong at the bottom, and we’ll find a way to get ya back up there by the end of the year.” Syn said in a calm tone.
Marin furrowed her brow, “I mean it, I really don’t know if I can stomach being in the same room as those three, but especially Bren. Then there is the fact that I will be teased about this for the rest of my life.”
Syn chuckled. “We are learnin’ how to become the most powerful bein’s in the world. This ain’t the first time this is goin’ ta happen, and people are goin’ to make a bigger deal about some dude’s pants burnin’ off and showin’ his pecker to the class. With fire magic, it’s just a matter of time.” Syn produced a little flame on her finger as if to say it was normal.
“Shouldn’t the clothes be enchanted not to do that?” Marin asked.
Syn thought for a moment, “Yeah, probably. Maybe we can find you some new wraps that are fireproof, waterproof, and tearproof,” With each new enchantment, Syn cast a cantrip to make a flame hover over the finger she raised. “Breathable… You know what, maybe we should just get dimensional pockets that will send your boobs to another dimension.”
Marin imagined magical clothes that effectively made boobs travel to a pocket dimension, and it made her giggle. She smiled as she said, “Even I know that dimensional pockets are like…crazy expensive. Not even you could afford one.”
“Yeah, not yet, but after working out for twenty hours this week, it's startin’ to sound like a good investment. Seriously though. What you went through is normal. Nobody is goin’a remember it by this time next week. Don’t worry about Bren, either. She will get what’s comin’ to her.”
“Don’t you rechallenge her unless you know you will win. I mean it. I will kick your ass if you do that again.” Marin threatened.
Syn smirked as she tried to get up, “I heard about what you do when you try to kick someone's ass. I wouldn’t mind seein’ that.”
Marin punched her friend in the upper arm but knew the more muscular woman could easily take it.
AELLARIA
Marin’s experience and Syn’s injury caused the group to delay the trip to Mistfall to Saturday. Syn already covered both the opinions that boobs were normal anatomy and were cool to look at. Marin didn’t need to hear it again from Behngi and Callo, respectively.
After too long, Aellaria entered the room and sat at her desk. Aellaria closed her eyes and began meditating.
After waiting for Aellaria to acknowledge them, Syn said, “Howdy, Aellaria!” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Hi, Syn, Marin,” responded Aellaria.
“She just gets like this. Recover mana, spend mana. Rinse and repeat to infinity.” Marin said.
“That’s right. I must work ten to twenty times harder than you for the same result. If you know of a way to give me the same efficiencies you have, I will indulge you with more mundane lectures than you could handle.” Aellaria explained.
Syn sighed, “I see what ya mean, Marin. She doesn’t exactly radiate a comfortin’ presence. Aellaria, there ain’t never been a master sorcerer with no talent. Isn’t it a waste of time to even try? If it were something anyone could achieve, someone with money would have already done it.”
“Then it’s going to have to be someone rich and hardworking,” Aellaria said. In truth, Aellaria didn’t care about becoming a master sorcerer again. Aellaria had already spent sixty years with that title, and it didn’t really matter in the end. Wealth, fame, righteousness, and acclaim were the ideals of a young Zenithor. Not of a young Aellaria.
“Wait, but didn’t you walk to Spire? Why would you do that if you were rich?” Marin asked.
“I did walk to Spire after using the teleport rings from Frostholm.”
“What?!” Syn and Marin both said in unison.
Not only did you have to be deeply connected to the Archmage’s guild to use the long-distance spell circles, but you also had to pay a staggering fee for convincing one of the sorcerers to open the circle. “That’s crazy expensive. Is your dad the Archmage?” Syn asked.
The Archmage of Element lived in Frostholm. Aellaria cringed, thinking of the prideful young man who sat atop his tower. Spire was a testament to the power of learning, but the Archmage’s Tower of Frostholm was a phallic symbol of one child's pride. “No.”
“I don’t think Aellaria has a dad. She just popped into existence as an overly self-serious person.” Marin teased.
“‘Course, Aellaria’s got a dad, but she did pop free of the womb meditatin’.” Syn joked.
Aellaria smiled and threw a pebble from her practice brick at both women.