The sensation of going through the portal was strange. Correction, it was outright disgusting! As if something thick and gooey sucked them in and suddenly spat them out.

Karil tumbled and almost lost his footing. The scenery of a small green meadow at the foot of a craggy half-destroyed peak opened before his eyes. The rest of his classmates were sitting on the grass around the portal and were bathing in the mild sun. The teeth-like ruins of an old outpost fort from the Great War protruded from the ground all around. Karil recognized the spot. During the history lessons, the teacher had shown them pictures of the keep where one of the decisive battles against the northern invaders had taken place. So that’s why there was an exit-portal here. It was a real miracle that it was still functional.

Behind Karil’s back teacher Danila coughed and attracted the student’s attention.

“Now that everyone’s here, it is high time to go. Get in line, double-file”

Karil hurriedly took his place, trying not to look anyone in the eyes.

“Surely, it would have been better not to come at all, normal. You’ll just fail anyway!” A nasty voice whispered in his ear.

The boy spun around. As expected, he was met by the proud grinning face of Ludlo. Whoever stated that the chubby people were nice and good-natured? Ludlo was as good-natures as a leech sticking on your foot. Since the first day at the Academy he had decided that Karil would be the perfect victim for his cruel, stupid jokes, and never missed a chance to bully him.

“There is still time. We’ll see who will fail,” hissed Karil through his teeth. “And since I study at the Academy and am even in the same class as you, there is no way I’m a normal.”

“Oho-o, the servant boy wants to play tough!” Ludlo painfully elbowed him. “Better learn your place, lowlife. Someone must have been blind to let you in the Academy.”

“What’s going on there?” Teacher Danila interfered and gave them a stern look. “Is there some sort of problem?”

“It’s nothing, teacher,” mumbled Karil. Right now, he didn’t need additional trouble. Next to him, Ludlo was gloating.

“Let’s go then.”

About a hundred meters from the portal, the green meadow was cut by a set of shimmering railroad-tracks. Somewhere in the distance, the drawn sound of a whistle sounded and, in a few moments, a bright-orange monorail stopped before the group. Along its side it was written in big black letter that gave it the look of a giant angry wasp: “TOURIST TRANSPORT RAILING AND AVARICIS INC. MALIYA-DEVIL’S TEETH CAVE-CLEAVED WATERFALL-CHAMPION’S PEAK. (For organized groups and weekend outings the price stays the same!)”.

The students quickly boarded, all while shoving each other and shouting, and sat on the hard, wooden seats. The cry of the whistle sounded again. They departed.

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With some effort, Karil managed to ignore the vicious taunts coming from behind his back. The problem was that Ludlo’s words had hit where it hurt. Was there even a reason to do the exam, when they were going to fail him anyway?

“You are such an idiot!’ he chastised himself internally. “If you never try, you’ll definitely fail. But if you take the exam there still exists the tiny chance of passing it. What would Nula say on the matter? ‘If you say I CAN’T, you’ve already lost the battle; if you say I DON’T WANT TO, your enemy will know that you have an opinion.’ And you want to be a master, right? Don’t you dare give up before even trying!”

Deep in thoughts, Karil lost track of time. Slowly the meadows disappeared, giving room to tall trees. From nearby came the thundering roar of falling water.

The monorail abruptly stopped and Karil almost knocked out his teeth in the front seat.

“We are here,” stated Danila and jumped out of the wagon. “You have half an hour to practice before the exam. Don’t stray too far and be careful. The current is strong. I don’t want to have to rescue someone from the water.”

“That goes for you, looser,” grinned Ludlo in Karil’s ear.

“When you hear the whistle,” the teacher continued, “you will all gather on the edge of the waterfall. There will be a committee of three presiding over the exam. Lady Hariya herself will grace us with her presence.”

The students whispered excitedly. The small girl to the right of Katil was shaking from head to toe and repeating like crazy:

“Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no!

Despite being worried himself, the boy felt sorry for her. In her eyes, one could read such desperation, as if she had just got sentenced to death.

“Don’t worry!” he whispered in the girl’s ear and then added with more confidence than he actually felt:

“It probably won’t be that bad.”

Two beautiful but sad hazel  eyes peered into his.

“You have no idea how wrong you are.”

Before the boy could even react, the shrill cry of the whistle echoed and the students dispersed, everyone looking for the best training spot. No matter how much he wanted to continue talking to that strange girl, in whom he found a kindred soul, Karil couldn’t afford to lose even a second from the precious half-hour he had. Obviously the same was true for the girl since she too had simply vanished. Karil lifted an eyebrow but quickly gathered his thoughts and darted to the nearby forest. Teacher Danila could talk about how dangerous it was to wander around all he wanted. The boy had no intention to turn his practice into an unending fuel for Ludlo's idiotic jokes.

He didn’t need to look long for a nice quiet place. Surrounded by thick bushes and old crooked trees, a small creek slithered between small rounded stones – one of the many streams that fed the might of Cleaved waterfall.

The boy found a larger rock and with a single jump landed on top, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He then abruptly stretched out his palm over the bubbling creek. The minutes dragged. Finally, the splashing of water could be heard, and Karil opened his eyes. The first step was finished. One arm away from his face and one and a half meters above the ground hoovered a translucent water-sphere and sparkled in the sun. Now, the difficult part was coming. Karil stretched his other hand. Slowly, he started to move his fingers as if he was a potter trying to give shape to an invisible piece of clay. Despite the crisp morning, sweat droplets appeared on his forehead.

At the same time, the sphere had started to change. It took the shape of a pear and grew four thin protrusions. One part of the pear elongated and flopped down from the weight of its own bulky end. Karil waved his hands even more vigorously bit the effect remained more or less the same – the final shape looked nothing like a dog.

“You’ve chosen the wrong trade! It would be more suitable for you to become an orchestra conductor the way you’re waving all over the place because, honestly, this is the worst water-manipulation I’ve ever seen.”