Solaria

I was going to die of hunger and boredom. Hunger because all that magical tiredness meant I had to eat double what I ate just to stop my body from growling so loud like it was trying to get me deaf. Boredom because today's classes were math and properties of nature, but I was sure I was in a time loop, as the math class never ended. The professor started class as soon as he entered, a short guy with a ‘lets get on with it' face, writing on the blackboard a bunch of definitions and formulas and only speaking to say which parts were supposed to be memorized by the next test, creating a world where this class didn't begin or end, it just was. I was wishing Lunario kept talking just for me to feel something, but by the way he was with his forehead at the table and by the pond of drool that was forming under him, I think I won't be hearing from him.

So, to pass time, I was going to train my casting, so I started to grab a hold of time and… “The person using magic is going to stop right this moment or they will be doing so outside of this room” the professor said, not even bothering to stop writing like his sad little life depended on it, with what sounds like the first time any emotions left his mouth and of course it was annoyance. The annoyance was masked, but potent, like he was supposed to show displeasure at reality itself so hard that it decided he didn’t need to be here, and at the same time not having the students realize he hated his job. “Why can't we cast magic in a college about magic?” I asked, baffled by the notion. “Because it is official policy and that if I don't enforce it, I will be fired” he fired back, with what I can now be sure is annoyance everyone can read as well as a sense of longing, all the while continuing to write formulas. I continue to copy it, for the next eighty hours or so. Are they actively trying to make the most boring class possible?

Saphena

That 's bad. Like, really bad. I wanted to check in to see how my soon to be fellow revolutionaries were faring as I looted the ‘Webmasters of the Hallways’, when I saw Solaria challenging the professor, which would put so much more scrutiny on her and anyone she is associated with. Schools are some of the most watched places, and all this questioning of the tool’s put up to control growth is the reason why they are so watched. I had to fast track convincing Auvrey, or maybe I had to go for Solaria directly now, although there was no way that a big fight would break soon enough to trigger so I could talk to her without people knowing. I don’t like taking risks, although this was one spot where not doing anything has the bigger risk.

Solaria

After what felt like carrying a boulder up a mountain as a punishment of a petty god, the peak was reached. I saved Lunario’s life from drowning in his own drooly grave. Having done my good deed for today, I went to the class of properties of nature with a person following close behind me and a lot more people a little behind him, so that if I don't look directly back I can imagine he is a knight scouting the princess and the procession following. Well, his forehead was so red from having a long and passionate kiss with the table that even seeing it from the corner of your eye was distracting from my fantasy.

And so we got to the classroom, with all the class in tow, as it seemed they realized they could delegate their spatial awareness to me. That is too much power you shouldn’t give to a single woman. Leading my legion into class, I seated in the front row as usual, my squire to my right and all my minions dispersed. Yeah, all this is getting to my head.

“Welcome class, I am Helvenia and will be starting off with the base knowledge you have to have to be able to take this course. If anyone has any questions, please ask it and if I deem a large enough deficiency in this topic, I will be opening an afternoon time bracket to serve as catch-up to the rest of your peers.” The professor introduced herself, a surprisingly young lady with the kindest eyes burning with a passion I identified with. I already knew this would be awesome, so buckled up and got ready to write. She glanced at me, saw something she liked and got to scratching the blackboard with chalk, explaining as she wrote. I got super into it, especially with all the explanations about how the unassuming ‘properties of nature’ was about understanding how the laws of reality works.

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Until she got into math. Oh, it was hidden with letters instead of numbers, relations instead of formulas, but she couldn’t fool me, as this was some kind of a repeat of last class. As I felt proud of carrying this rock all the way up, the cruel, terribly cruel god kicked it all the way down, just for me to carry it up again. Will it ever end?

Saphena

Good news is there was a way tamer reaction than I was anticipating. As I finished looting the rest of that faction, which I didn't fell a drop of shame for, I got to the main hall to see if the whole plan had to be scrapped. The fight, which seems Frebbie got the better of apparently (not sure how good for her it was), really did a number on a lot of big factions. While Frebbie didn’t get thrown to mid-sized faction status instantly like it happened to Jervus (welcome to the 'mildly powerful' club), it definitely didn't leave her faction in one piece, so control of portals really got shaken up and people were fighting for promotions and openings into all kinds of places. The fighting was done politically, as most were licking their wounds sustained in the basically civil war.

I seemed to have seriously misjudged the undercurrents that were pushing this combat forwards and thus missed the way it all would develop and thus the major winners of this event. The only thing I can do now is study the new landscape and see what factions come out on top after the dust settles, changing my plans accordingly. Will I ever catch a break?

Solaria

As I went home, I started to think it was unnerving how soul crushing those classes were. The first day put my expectations so high, only to be crushed by a hard day of numbers. Professor Helvetica did all she could, but she clearly was in an uphill battle to teach all the curriculum demanded of her. Next day seemed even worse than today, with practical engineering and business classes, as I did not want to pursue commercial use of time magic, but it seems that I had to pass those even if I would do nothing with them. I would have to go day after another through this gauntlet until I got to the other side with the worst kind of magic or died trying.

I felt the world closing in, not letting me explore my dream, the walls from the closer houses stretching to enclose me, eyes trying to see everything from my plans for the future and my weaknesses to be exploited, all trying to pick a piece of me until I was no more.

“Shit!” I hear someone scream, taking me out of my own head for long enough for me to see a man sized ragdoll thrown in the ground over a pound. Wait, that vaguely human shape covered in mud is supposed to be my friend. I stare in disbelief (an emotion I did not fully comprehend before meeting him), as this mudman crank his head to stare me back.

“You were so distracted that you were going…” the absurdity of it all, the mouth opening weirdly like a clay doll finally got to me and I laughed. So ridiculous was that scene, I couldn’t contain myself. I laughed so much my belly started to hurt, laughed so much I doubled over, laughed so much that I couldn’t see the world behind all these tears. At some point he joined me, literally rolling in mud as he laughed. I knew this was a momentary relief from those emotions, they would be coming back to get me, but for now it didn’t matter. Not the crowd looking at us, not the mess that I was in, not even the weird feeling of being watched that didn’t leave, It all didn’t matter. As the tears cleared from my eyes, the controls for my muscles got back to my hands, I offered my hand for him to take. Maybe I was more unstable than I thought, because as I tried to help him up, I felt pulled down stronger than I was expecting. Losing my balance, I go to meet the pound.

As I tangle with the mud, I feel my clothes getting wet and dirty, something I will hate to clean up later, I start laughing again. Getting up by myself and letting him lift himself up, we head to my house in a good mood, with the ‘Eyes watching you’ sensation still there, but muted enough.

Fuck, I think I may have fallen in love with the stupidest person alive.