The three of us sat in the lecture theatre for a good 5 minutes talking and making conversation before the rest of the students began to file in. In that time I learned that Octavia had asked to be a professor’s assistant and originally was assigned to Professor Cyrus. I also learned that he had been recently promoted to dean of our year as a result of ‘exemplary performance’ so she had been reassigned here. Octavia seemed to think my S rank exam completion had been a big contributing factor to that. As the rest of the students came in and took their seats I recognized a few of the faces. All of our group from the exam was here, Julia, Krista, Luca, and Xavier. Luca came up and sat next to Octavia and smiled at both of us. Krista tried to take a seat near us as well, but Julia dragged her to the back and sat next to Xavier who had already taken a seat in the corner of the back row. Julia scowled at Octavia as usual. Another face I recognized came in and made a beeline for a seat behind me. It was the girl with the pink hair. She sat down and I caught a heavy scent of vanilla that was almost too sweet. She leaned forward and whispered.
“You’re August right? Loved your performance in the arena yesterday.” She said. Wait, yesterday? I didn’t realize it had been a another full day.
“Uhh thanks. Nice to meet you, um…?” I stammered out not sure if I was meant to know her name.
“Hyacinth, pleasure is all mine.” She said extending an arm to shake my hand. I awkwardly turned to shake her hand and she smiled. I noticed she had long manicured nails each painted with a different small picture. She noticed I was looking at them.
“Cute huh? I got them done while I was in Japan last week. Have you ever been?” She said.
“No, I’ve never even left New York.” I said slightly embarrassed.
“Well, now you have, hun.” She said. I was so taken aback by the use of the word hun that I nearly didn’t realize the meaning of what she said.
“Wait, we’re not in New York?” I asked her.
“Oh, You’re cute! We’re not even in America anymore.” She said laughing with that high pitched giggle.
“Can you two stop flirting for a second, Professor Dos is about to start class.” Octavia said quite sternly
“Wha-Flirting? We’re not-” I began to protest.
“Shhhh.” Octavia said. Hyacinth just cocked and eyebrow at Octavia and put her hands up like she was saying ‘Sorry, my bad’.
“Alright girl.” Hyacinth said. “We’ll pick this up later, hun.” She said giving me a wink. I saw Octavia’s fist clench. I didn’t realize she really like school that much.
*Author’s note here - Looking back at this entry I’m really starting to see how stupid I was.
I mouthed the word ‘sorry’ to her and she just scoffed. I would have to apologize to her later. Professor Dos cleared their throat and the murmurs of the students in the classroom died down. Professor Does rose to his full height, or at least as much as the ceiling would allow, and began pacing across the pit at the bottom of the lecture theatre.
“Hello Students. It’s great to see you all here this year. I hope that your placement exams weren’t too stressful. I can already see a lot bronze emblems here in the class, which is an amazing start to your scholastic career here. You should all be very proud of just the fact that you are sitting in this room right now.” He stopped and paused letting that moment linger. I saw a few of the students in the room perk up. They seemed to realize the magnitude of their achievement now that it had been pointed out. Professor Dos continued. “It’s precisely why you did so well on the exams that you’re in this particular class.” The Professor raised his wand. He lowered it and the walls began to change from their light gray colour into a darker gray. Blinds on the windows began to lower and the artificial sky above darkened into a night sky complete with stars. The Professor then swished his wand and a hologram of the earth appeared in the middle of the stage he stood on. It was semi transparent and glowed. It was showing the continent of australia and slowly spun.
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“Question, does anyone know what this is?” He asked. Nobody answered immediately. I looked around wondering why.
“It’s earth.” I said out loud. The professor smiled. His fiery eyes were clearly illuminated in the darkened.
“Yes and no.” He said. He swished his wand again. The globe spun and zeroed in to the united states, except it the land mass was slightly different. There was a massive line of blue ocean that ran right through the center of the continent cutting it in half vertically. “This is an alternate version of our world. It’s tectonic structure resulted in their americas being split by an a strait they call The Meridian Ocean. The two nations that formed on either side of the the Meridian are wildly different. The West side was settled by French explorers and is called New Arcadia. The East was never conquered and is still governed by the Natives that call it Turtle Island. They are at constant war with each other.” Dos turned to look at us all again. “So Is this some kind of fairy tale? And what does this have to do with you? The short answer is No. It’s very real. In terms of what it has to do with this class. That’s where I need the long answer.” He swished his wand and the room returned to it’s daylight version. It was kind of like he’d switched the room back to light mode. The gobe remained there still slowly spinning.
“Does anyone know where magic comes from?” He asked. Again there was silence in the room. I looked at Octavia thinking she might know the answer. She looked just as confused as I was, but she shrugged and her hand shot up. “You don’t need to put your hand up to answer or ask a question here Miss Quinn. We’re not in grade school anymore.” Otavia hesitantly lowered her hand.
“Oh right. Umm is it our Soul Oceans?” She said genuinely unsure if that was the answer. Dos smiled.
“Very good, but not quite. That’s where magic accumulates in our body and soul. But where does that energy come from?” He looked around the room. He seemed to spy someone in the back row.
“Mr Cyrus, care to contribute us?” He asked. We all pivoted to look at Xavier who lounged back in his chair with his feet up on the pew in front. The girl who was sitting there looked uncomfortable with his feet so close to her face and was leaning away. Xavier quickly put his feet down and stood up. It was clear he had been dozing off. He rubbed his eyes and stared at everyone looking at him.
“Sorry Sir, uh what was the question?” Xavier asked. A couple of the students snickered. Professor Dos did not look amused.
“If you plan to sleep in my lectures, Mr Cyrus, I suggest you at least know the material you’re skipping out on. Now, can you tell me where magic comes from?” He asked. Xavier slowly sat down, but his signature air of on chalance returned.
“Oh, obviously it’s our soul ocean.” He said. The rest of the students began to laugh out loud now. Xavier looked around confused.
“Thank you, But Mr Adams had already offered that response. Okay. If no one else knows I’ll just move on.” Dos said shaking his head. I hadn’t paid attention to the exchange. Something in my mind had me fixated on the spinning globe in front of me. It just felt… off.
“It’s dying, isn’t it?” I said quietly. The Professor stopped and turned to look at me. I wasn’t sure how he’d heard me until I remembered he was basically part dog and must have insanely good hearing.
“What was that Mr Adams? Can you repeat that for the class?” He said. His busy tail had begun to sway a little like it was trying to wag with excitement.
“Oh. I said the world looks a little wrong. Like it’s dying.” I said. The Professor clapped his hands loudly most of the students flinched.
“Well done, August. That’s exactly right.” He said. He turned back to the spinning hologram and did a flourish with his wand. The globe started to blacken and decay like it was withering and dying. It continued to crumble and flake away piece by piece until all that was left behind was what looked like a cloud of nebulous gas. “This is magic. When a universe with magic dies, it leaves behind all it’s potential magical energy. That’s then absorbed into the nearest aligned world. Usually that’s world that’s the closest match to that world’s current state. However, if a conduit is present at the time of collapse that magic can be siphoned to another world instead. That brings me back to what our class will be handling. Welcome Class. Starting today, you’re all on the path to becoming a Conduit.”