Melody of Mana

I smiled as Kala held my head, soft light flowing over it from her hands. It felt warm and close and made me want to find somewhere to lay down and sink into. These little sessions were needed, the light healing she was doing was to repair the damage from all the loud noises during my 'therapy'. Once we'd finished both of us sighed and lay down on her bed for a few moments to breathe.

"You ready for tonight?" I asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Of course. It should be fun at the very least." She held me close, since we both knew we'd shortly have to get up.

"Okay!" I popped up quickly, it made it easier not to lazily stay in place. "I'm off to get dressed, you should do the same, meet after?" That got me a little pout, but Kala nodded.

"Alright then. I'll go make myself presentable." While I was a bit excited about our outing tonight, Kala was significantly less so, since she didn't like one of our companions, and didn't really know the other.

Of course I didn't really know Clarissa either, save for a few things Dras had told me during our conversations before and after class. We were still both painfully busy with school work so that was about as much as we got to spend together. That said we had both made some real attempts to keep up with each other as best we could.

I knew that Dras had kept up with his fire, but was now also adding some cold magic to his repertoire. This was apparently a rather popular combination since they were similar to each other, just in different directions. Wizards had figured out that much at least and were abusing it as well as they could.

He was also super jealous that I was learning lightning-type magic. It was poorly understood and thus extraordinarily difficult for wizards to learn. Some more advanced war-wizards picked it up, and there were thought to be a few texts that explained important details, but if those existed, they were kept well hidden. When I told him that Professor Endel was teaching me as 'therapy' he'd come to quick agreement with me that what he was doing also counted as him seeing just how far I could take it.

He even told me a few things about Clarissa here and there. For one, she was a noble, the third daughter of a baron, and his fourth child to attend the academy. That was pretty odd, as it was stupidly expensive and hard to get into, but it seemed they were really skilled as a family. He knew that her initial attraction had been because he was quite a bit stronger magically than she was, but it had gone further from there, and from what I heard they genuinely liked each other.

She'd also gotten us tickets to see some exhibition at the training grounds for the apprentice knights. It had taken months due to the fact that they were really limiting the number of spectators. They were also thoroughly vetting everyone and holding them with almost no notice, so as to avoid any potential terrorist attacks. We'd found out only the previous day that we'd be going tonight, so it had been a real rush to get things ready.

I was personally excited. It'd been a good long time since I got to go much of anywhere that wasn't the local market, and even that was being discouraged. It was subtle, but once you got to looking the signs that there were more and more attacks and that the kingdom was really struggling to keep up appearances became clear. I had heard no news of our war against the 'Lord of Shadows' or his army, save that we were in one. That alone told me that things weren't going well.

That was all beyond my ability to do anything about though, so I settled for getting dressed. Dora was there to help, as she always was. I was unsure how much she knew about Kala and I. She said nothing though, and that was enough for me. I suspected that she was reporting back to Pinea or her family, but it hardly mattered, I'd shown her nothing of any real importance. I had been particularly careful not to make any more aluminum, or even mention it around her.

Once I was properly ready I headed down to meet up with Kala. The two of us talked about what kind of monsters we were likely to see when we got to the exhibition. Sadly Kala knew many more kinds of monster than I did, something I'd need to eventually get around to learning.

We met Dras and Clarissa at the doors to our academy. From there the four of us took a carriage, it seemed even this was arranged by those in charge of the exhibition, but it was very nice. The inside was comfortable, with well padded seats and some form of suspension to dampen the rocking a bit. I knew little about those, but it was possible to tell that there was something.

"So, how long have you and Dras known each other?" Clarissa asked, looking over at me.

"Around five years I think. We met when we were both fairly young." I took a few moments to think about that night, it was a rather pleasant time in retrospect.

"That long? Were you in the same prep school or something?"

"No, he saw me hit a prostitute with a scream when she spilled food on me." That was not the expected answer and Clarissa looked over at her boyfriend, who seemed to be trying to avoid eye contact.

"It was really funny at the time. I didn't really know many other casters and I'd never seen a girl that young curse that fluently while slinging spells."

"So... you just went over and said hi or something?" I supposed it was more formal for nobles, but I didn't really know enough about how they grew up to tell.

"Yeah actually. After that we just sort of... ended up hanging out a lot. Alana taught me most of what I needed to get into the academy."

"I was taught by a wizard back home when I was little, so it wasn't like it was too much."

"Oh! You had a tutor too? That explains everything. Father hired mine when she first graduated, since she had high marks and needed a well paying position. Where did your family find yours?"

I saw Kala trying not to laugh from the corner of my eye. "He was the old wizard who lived next to us in the village. He and dad were friends from way back when or something, so he taught me what he could."

I could see it dawning on the girl that I really was some village girl from way out in the middle of nowhere. To my surprise that only seemed to cause her the briefest moment of pause. After which she continued.

"I... see. Well, it's good to know that Dras found someone to teach him more about magic."

"What about you then? How did you two meet?" I asked in response.

"Oh, we met in our Etiquette class. Poor Dras didn't know how to dance at all and the two of us ended up getting put together several times. He was just so cute I couldn't resist."

"Let's move the conversation away from me now, shall we?" Dras interjected. "Why don't you tell Clarissa how you two met?"

"We were at a party that got ruined by a terrorist attack. After which Alana told everyone to go jump off a cliff and invited me to join her on walking home." Kala really summed up that one in as few words as possible.

Clarissa gave me another long look. "You get into a lot of trouble don't you?"

"I kind of seem to huh?"

"Yup," said Dras.

"Absolutely," agreed Kala.

Not a moment too soon we arrived at our destination. This led to something not dissimilar to a TSA search. There were multiple stations, all separated from one another through which everyone had to pass. You would stay with your group, and your group only and everyone had to be checked against lists followed by a quick examination for any magical items.

It seemed a bit extreme to me until we actually entered the seating area. Once there, my definition of extreme was pushed up a few notches. No two groups were near each other, and between each there was both a physical wall and an obvious wall of enchantment. There were also the wards separating the arena and the spectators, which were so thick as to almost be visible. I could almost see a shimmer in the air there.

This was all on another level. It's like they almost expected there to be an attack. I knew that the academy was insulated, but this, this drove it home.

"Hey... Clarissa, is this level of protection normal."

She furrowed her brow a bit as she looked around. "No, at least not that I've seen."

I considered adding some of my own to the area around us, but thought that might be seen as a threat by one of the many people I supposed were now on the watch for any odd behavior. Everyone seemed a bit put off by it all. Eventually though, the fights started.

The first one was a first year apprentice against a spinewolf. I'd seen these particular nasties before and so knew roughly what to expect. The fight was good, if short. The apprentice was quick on his feet, managing to avoid any of the many projectiles fired at him, ducking and weaving expertly until he could close in and deliver the blows that quickly ended the monster.

After that was a girl who used a spear. The only reason I even knew she was a she was due to the introduction from an announcer off to the side. She fought something called a pyre hawk. That fight was hard to watch, not because of anything awful that happened, just that both of them were really fast. The bird was also impossibly bright once it got going.

There were several others, one fought a mutated cat of some kind, it was big and rather scary. There was also another bird or two of varying varieties. I couldn't find any sort of pattern in what made a certain monster go a certain way, but they did seem to come in a finite number of species. It was also of note that not all the fighters won, several, particularly the younger ones, would sometimes lose against their opponent, though the creature would be captured quickly by a few mages waiting on the sidelines for any such issue to arise.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now for our final bout of the evening. One of the Knight Instructors will be fighting a mountain lizard, brought in just recently from the northern territories."

"Oh, that's a rare one. Those are particularly nasty." Clarissa spoke up, looking as over to the rest of us.

"That name is familiar..." Was that the one dad fought way back when?

The man who moved into the arena was decked out in gear. Runes covered every piece from his helmet down to his armored feet. Even if I couldn't read them from here It was clear that he'd come for business.

His opponent was soon released as well and I had to sit back in my seat. The mountain lizard was easily the size of a carriage. It looked most like a chameleon had had an angry love baby with a crocodile which had then taken all the steroids it could find.

As soon as it entered the arena the thing turned its head, seeming to recognize a foe when it saw one. It launched itself forward. I was expecting a tongue from its apparent similarity to a chameleon, but no, it seemed this beast preferred melee combat. It slashed at the knight, tossing him back with the force, even through his armor, which sparked as the claws skidded across it lightly. He responded with a downward cut from his sword, which similarly did little to the beast as he flew back.

Their battle was the fiercest by far, and the longest. Both were heavily armored, and both were deadly quick. Eventually though it was the knight's constant small cuts on the beast which slowed it, bit by bit until it finally failed to keep up. Once its reactions were down to almost nothing he managed a killing blow, by sticking his blade through it's eye. It was gruesome, but it worked.

"Why the eye?" I asked. That was just... brutal to watch.

"The hide is too thick. To succeed in actually killing it one must hit through the eye, the mouth, or with potent elemental damage." Clarissa clarified. "Well everyone, ready to go home?"

I smiled as we made our way slowly back to the exit.