I woke up staring at a stone ceiling, way too smooth and uniform to have been made by masons. It’s the same ceiling I’ve woken up to for the last 7 years of my life.

Today’s the day of my graduation. It’s the day I'll finally be free from the suffocating classrooms of the Lilroth Magic Academy. Now don’t get me wrong, the Academy is known as the best academy in the country, even better than the one in the capital, and it's true. The teachers are the best, the resources allocated to each student is staggering.

It’s just that; they never really had all that much to teach me. Of course, I still learned the basics of generic magic. Identifying magical items, making balls of light, and other small tricks. No, the problem is that they think I’m a once in a generation genius in healing magic, but the truth is, I don’t even have an affinity for the stuff. Instead, I have a perfect affinity for Biomancy. I don’t know what dark god thought it funny to “bless” me with an unheard level of affinity for a highly ILLEGAL magic affinity.

So why is Biomancy illegal exactly? Well, just like healing magic, it allows you to do things like; putting torn bodies back into working shape, fixing a heart defect, or regrowing someone’s lost limbs. What Biomancy can do that healing magic can't however is; change people into monsters, create horrors beyond human comprehension, or fabricate magical plagues and diseases that no one has any resistance to, to name a few. They’re also incredibly useful as spies, as they can kill someone and steal their appearance. Stories tell of entire royal families being replaced by a band of thugs led by a biomancer. The reaction of someone being a Biomancer is pretty much the same everywhere; execution on the spot without a trial.

My saving grace is that everyone thinks Biomancy doesn’t completely overlap with healing magic. I guess previous biomancers had been kinda shit at it. It’s also said that biomancy is useless in a fight, again; I think my predecessors have just been unimaginative. I could think of a dozen gruesome ways to attack someone. A big reason might also be that they just don’t even want to imagine that the new shining star healer is a monster. Not that I consider myself a monster. In fact, I’ve never done anything bad, ever. At least not with my biomancy.

After snuggling in the soft sheets of my bed for way too long I finally get up. I walk over to my en-suite bathroom and slide into the large marble bathtub. The water magic stone mounted near the wall immediately starts flooding the bathtub with warm clean water. I don’t look forward to going without such luxuries in the future. I’d have to get really rich somehow. Healing pays well, but not pay off a cadre of expert spatial mages to make you a pocket mansion rich. I could probably afford a regular bathroom fairly quick though, but I also wanted to explore the world. That would be a problem.

While I float around in the luxurious heat I hear the first bell go off in the distance. Oh, shit! I better get ready. I reluctantly haul myself out of the bath and start drying myself off with the ever soft and dry magic towels. For a second I consider stealing one, but I don’t want to risk the graduation certificate that I’ve worked so many years to obtain. When I finish drying myself and my long matte brown hair, I head over to the massive mahogany wardrobe and pick out one of my uniforms. The white robe identifies me as a healer. It's such a pretty robe; and it has details of royal blue and gold, along with the school's emblem of a mare in yellow doing a handstand on a black background over the heart. It’s supposedly kicking or something, but everyone jokingly says it’s doing a handstand.

Finally dressed and ready, I put my few belongings in the small spatial bag we actually got as a present from this place. Well technically you only got to keep it if you managed to graduate, but I feel like in my case that was more or less guaranteed. I had spent more time healing the combat mages and teaching the teachers the last year than I had spent being taught, it was mostly alchemy they taught me in the end. Anyone could do alchemy, just find ingredients that complement the effect you want to achieve and infuse the solution with a spell. Naturally it was quite a bit more complex than that, but close enough.

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I walked through the winding corridors and made my way over to the biggest auditorium on campus. In the hallways I was joined by flocks of other mages in various colored robes. I didn’t make many friends here as I knew I’d leave for far away as soon as I graduated, and besides I don’t think many students here like me all that much. Jealousy is a bitch, but no one was stupid enough to bully or piss off a healer who might one day be in charge of saving their lives. Due to that, most of the students showed me some modicum of respect even though I don't come from any prestigious families or bloodlines. But no one exactly tried to befriend me, though I guess I didn't try myself either.

Except Jack of course, fucking clown he was. Not that I believe he will graduate anyway. Just because I wasn’t exactly the prettiest around he thought I’d be desperate enough to be with him. God, I felt nauseous even thinking about the cretin. What even is cartomancy anyway?

I took a seat in the back, slouched into the soft pillow and just tried to get a quick nap in. I had been too excited about refining some get-rich-quick schemes I had thought up to sleep properly. The old headmaster started his long speech about how we were the country’s best, and he expected great things from us, blah blah blah. I drifted in and out of his long-winded bullshit of a speech. Then the graduation began, and I started paying attention, mostly because they did it in alphabetical order, and I’d be one of the first.

“Aaron A. Aaronson, please come up to the podium.''

The headmaster called out. And shortly after a tall thin blonde man in a fiery red robe reached the podium. I swear that man is always first. I bet the family named themselves that intentionally.

“You have done an excellent job learning the art of fire. I hope your future will shine as bright as your fire magic. I hereby declare you graduated from the Lilroth Magic Academy. Please say a few words of inspiration to your fellow graduates.”

The headmaster handed Aaron an inscribed metal certificate as the young man looked out over the crowd. Fuck, I hadn't thought of anything to say. Ah well, I’ll make something up on the spot.

“Thank you everyone for making my time at the academy such a pleasure. I hope the fire in your hearts burns as intense for your own subjects as mine does for fire magic. I vow to keep this kingdom safe from adversaries both within and without.”

Well alright, that was a fairly good speech. I knew my name would be called next, because this was far from the first time we had all been mentioned in that order.

“Alina Violet, please come up to the podium.” The Headmaster called out once more.

I got up and made my way to the scene at a fast but dignified pace. On the way up I walked past Aaron who had decided to stay around. What a good boy. You were technically allowed to leave as soon as you were done, But it was considered the proper thing to do to stick around. I got up next to the Headmaster, I could almost smell the old coming off of him. He had been around for a while apparently, and I believed it, he looked like he could be my grandpa’s grandpa.

“Alina Violet, you have done an excellent job learning the art of healing”

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I held back the urge.

“I firmly believe that you will bring in a new era of healing magic. I can't wait to see what new discoveries you will make in your field. I hereby declare you graduated from the Lilroth Magic Academy. Please say a few words of inspiration to your fellow graduates.”

He handed me my Metal certificate. On the top was the academy’s name. Then below it said:

“Hereby certifies that the student Alina Violet has completed the following courses and received the grade that follows the subject.”

Healing Magic: S

Alchemy: C

On my certificate there were only two subjects. Most people had a lot more, but I wasn’t very talented in many things besides Biom... cough Healing Magic.

I could live with this. The number of people who got an S grade in any subject was less than one per graduation. I stepped up to the podium to give my short improvised speech.

“It’s been a pleasure teac— learning at this academy, with all my fellow talented students. As a student of the healing arts, I hope from the bottom of my heart that we never have to meet again. Thank you for taking care of me.”

I could hear the crowd chuckle at my joke. It wasn’t exactly original or anything, but the privilege of being one of the first out to deliver a speech meant you didn’t have to be. I took a walk towards the back of the auditorium, but instead of heading for my seat…

I just went out the door while yelling out a loud “Seeya!”