It had been about a week since everyone’s introductions. The student population new and old had already gotten used to the new rhythm of school life and everyone’s advancement was coming along nicely. There was still one thing that the new class had yet to completely finish, and that was their practicals. Some of the older students wondered why it was such a big deal, but between both Albert and Grant wanting to show off what they could do and because it was a direct order from Headmaster Plact there wasn’t much room to argue.
A special area had specifically been allotted to the new students and everyone who wished to come and see their presentations were to come and watch. It was just before noon by this point so a healthy number of people attended.
The itinerary was pretty simple. Albert would go first, as Aeromancy and Atmomancy only required an open area and not specific setup. Grant would go last, he was going to perform a feat of summoning and that required a whole host of set up and contingency plans. Both were secretive about what exactly they were planning on doing, but they assured everyone that it would be worth the wait. Because no one knew precisely what it was that wa going to happen, work across the college was slow and non-committal just in case the new students somehow caused an incident.
When the time came, the primary class and whoever else wanted to come were signaled to approach the courtyard entrance. It was a surprise to some when they passed through what seemed to be a regular doorway and found themselves in the center of a large open field with miles of grass all around, not even a tree in sight between them and the horizon.
Andromeda and Alice came together as they had already been busy doing research on Andromeda’s flow when the notice came. Rigur and Albert were already there because Albert asked for assistance in the setup and Rigur was not particularly busy that morning. Grant was nowhere to be seen at this point, but that was expected as he was probably knee deep in his notes and research to prepare for the event.
Everyone filtered in over the course of an hour until there was a crowd of nearly one hundred mages all gathered in a loose crowd a few dozen yards from where Albert and Rigur were working.
Alice and Andromeda were near them and getting a look at what they were working on. Alice was just enjoying the fresh air and Andromeda taking notes.
Albert’s setup was a little different then what they were expecting. Everyone knew that he was either going to do wind magic, weather magic, or both, so it was strange that it seemed like he was setting up cannons facing deep into the empty field that surrounded them.
Albert was adjusting something on the side of the cannon when the wrench in his hand suddenly snapped and fell to the ground.
“Ah, shit.” He said, he picked up the wrench and looked it over, the adjustable back had snapped clean off. A snap cracked in the air and in an instant he saw that the broken piece had repaired itself. He looked over to Andromeda and nodded in approval, to which he shook it off as no big deal.
“Hey Albert, I know you’re keeping it a secret, but I can not possibly imagine how you would need several cannons. These couldn’t have been cheap to set up, let alone acquire.” Andromeda said.
“True, they cost a pretty penny to rent from the royal fleet, but its not like I’m hard up for coin. As for getting them here, mages respond kindly to a spare plat when you ask them for favors.” Albert said.
“Fair enough.” Andromeda said. The four of them had gotten slightly closer since they first arrived. It wouldn’t be quite right to say they were all “friends”, but they helped their fellow students where they could. Andromeda and Alice would take tea now and then to talk about their work or anything else that caught their attention. Albert and Rigur shared a word now and then when they had the free time.
Between them, Andromeda and Albert occasionally talked about the mercantile trade around the country. It started as small talk when they found themselves in the same place, but it evolved into a shared interest for the both of them. Rigur and Alice didn’t have much in the way of a relationship, but they were polite to each other and had nothing bad to say.
There was one glaring exception to the friendliness of their class. Grant.
Grant spent the majority of his time researching alone or ensconced in some dark corner of the library. While he couldn’t claim to have a positive relationship with anyone, it was common that a spat would break out between him and Andromeda should either cross each other’s path. It usually started with snide remarks then escalated until Grant was held back by his servants.As a result, no one liked spending time with him. Even when he would begrudge an interruption, he was anything but pleasant to them.
No one cared for his childish behavior so he got what he wished and was rarely bothered unless it was called for. At the very least no one would try to put him and Andromeda in the same room without very good reason. It didn’t bother anyone else because having to deal with him less just meant less stress in general.
A few minutes passed and Albert finished the preparations on his cannons. He and Rigur stepped back to see if they forgot anything and couldn’t find anything of note. They called the crowd to tell them it was ready and Albert started walking out into the field. Rigur stopped people from getting too close to the cannons and not to follow Albert out into the field.
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Once he was in position, Albert raised his hands into the air.
Until this moment, the sky above them was completely clear of clouds, there wasn’t a drop of moisture in the air and the sun was as warm as the summer heat could allow. But in a flash the atmosphere all around them changed. It grew heavy and full of static, clouds formed in the sky above them.
The wind picked up and started rolling the grass under their feet. The temperature dropped and people could see their breath in the breeze. Rain fell from the sky, several mages erected barriers above them to block it, but the churning storm above them wouldn’t be held back by any simple ward.
Far in the distance, the sound of thunder rumbled through the sky. With nothing to block the sound in the empty field it sounded the roar of a waking giant. Even the most senior of the mages temporarily remembered the primal feat of nature that their ancestors experienced in the caves all those millennia ago. They watched in awe and terror as the sky seemed to crackle with energy itself.
“FIRE!” Albert screamed over the hollering winds.
All five cannons fired in perfect synchronicity. Sending cannonballs sailing into the distance. But in the middle of their arcs, the air seemed to burst with energy.
A deafening roar of pure primal energy ripped through the fearstruck crowd as the sky sundered with the force of lighting and thunder. The ground shook below them and the sun seemed to be momentarily outshined by the absolute radiance of the bolts of electricity that fell from the sky.
Five fingers of god fell from the sky and stuck in unison. Explosions of light and sound erupted in the air and obliterated the cannonballs faster than the rational mind could even fathom.
Albert put his hands down and fell backwards on his rear. Rigur and the others rushed forward to make sure he was alright. He was, but he had used a lot of mana to do what he did.
The weather returned to its natural state and the sky cleared. The sun peeked through the clouds when they dissipated and evaporated the freshly shed water. The clouds of steam rose into the air and gave the area a ghostly glow you would only see early in the morning.
Everyone gave him some time to recover from the stress and after a few minutes he was back on his feet as healthy as ever.
Now with his part done, It was Grant’s turn.
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It wasn’t until nearly an hour later that Grant came around. He had a few of his servants carrying 2ft long boards behind him while he himself carried a few books and what looked like a metal rod over his shoulder. These were the supplies he needed for his summoning project.
The staff and Albert had already set the cannons to the side after he finished, and at Grant’s request a large patch of grass was removed from the field. A task that originally was going to be done by the staff, but when Rigur heard about that he just removed the patch himself.
Grant and the staff went to work setting the wooden boards in the exact order they needed to be in. There were to be 25 in total and they were all arrayed in a grid of 5 by 5 boards. The total was 10 feet and the runes carved in the wood looked to be hundreds of feet long. A few people at a time were allowed to get close enough and they saw that it was a startling amount of work to be done in a week.
Grant got to work on final preparations, making sure the runic circle’s boards were aligned properly, making sure all his notes were in order, and making sure that there was no last minute damage that would ruin everything. It took another 20 minutes, but he finally claimed that he was ready.
He had the crowd stand back and stay clear, he raised his hand with his pointer finger outstretched and traced a circle above him and a ring of electric orange energy formed above him. He flicked his finger forward and the ring was thrown toward the innermost ring of the runic circle. He repeated this again with both hands and flung two rings to the far edge of the circle, then again two the nearest edge. There were now 5 circles of glowing orange energy, with the four smaller rings equally spaced in the corners of the larger circle.
Grant clapped both of his hands together and a green explosion of sparks burst from between his fingers. He pulled them back apart and revealed a web of energy between his fingers. He flung his arms over his hands toward the circles.
The energy filled every line and rune in all five circles like molten metal filling a cast, and just like a cast, the wooden boards that made up the base of the runic circle burst into flames.
Grant threw his hands forward and two strings of energy shot from his hands. The two strings attatched to the rune he threw hands in the air. The runic circle lifted from the wooden base and levitated in the air. He threw the strings of light around like whips, lashing at the various parts of the runes to keep them stable.
Sweat dropped from his brow and blood fell from his bleeding palms. The runes started to glow brightly with red light. A deep rumble shook the ground around them again. The dirt surrounding Grant and the rune started flaring with fire.
A burst of flame erupted from the runic circle, a monumental column of flame shot high in the sky, when the fire dissipated the runes were gone. In their place was a massive humanoid beast made of pure fire.
It roared with unholy force, but before it could start thrashing Grant threw more strings of energy around it. The creature tried to resist, but dozens of more strings wrapped around its form, the ground around it was burning and everyone present felt like they were standing in a closed furnace.
“YIELD!” Grant screamed, the creature roared again and a burst of fire engulfed it. He threw more and more strings toward the ball of flame until its entire form was covered with them. Then with a heaving pull the sound of several whips cracking pierced the ears of all around.
Grant dropped the strings and stepped toward the fire beast. It took a step back.
“Yield.” Grant said more quietly. The beast remained still.
Grant raised his hand with a single ring of orange light wrapped around it. The beast growled with seething hatred and started to shrink. The beast shrunk from the size of a small house to half that size, then to not larger than a person, then finally shrunk down to something no larger than an arm. Grant reached over and picked it up. In his hand was a sword that seemed to be made of pure fire. Only it didn’t burn to the touch.
When he looked back to the crowd they were not cheering and clapping as he thought they would. Alice most of all looked distressed about something, then he noticed what that was. The one he hated seemed to be gone.
Andromeda was no longer there.