Pretending To Be Gilead's Prince and Master Wizard

It was a perfect day the next day as I walked toward Gilead Academy. With me were other students of the institute who also chose to save money by walking.

And if I'm lucky, I've seen my childhood friend Dexter Woods while I was walking up the stairs to my first-period class.

"Good morning, Kris," Dexter says, smiling a bit. We continued walking upon catching up with one another.

"Good morning Dex!" I greeted back enthusiastically.

"Long time no see, I guess?"

"Yes! I haven't run into you that much for so long. About two weeks, I guess?" My forehead creased upon remembering that. "Anyway, where have you been lately?"

"I was just studying, like any normal kid here…" he said, like that should make sense to me now. But it didn't.

"The school is wide for the both of us. There will be days where we will not be seeing each other for so long because of our busy schedules," he added.

I looked at him, not really sure what to say. 

"Right." was the only word that came out of my mouth afterward.

"And speaking of schedules, I believe we are now in your classroom for your first-period class?" 

The moment he said that, I immediately stopped walking and looked at the classroom in front of us.

"Yeah. Then I guess I'll see you soon? I hate to say goodbye since it's really inappropriate when we still have to see each other again, right?" I let out a light chuckle to lighten up the mood here.

I heard him also laughing a little. 

"Right," he says. "See you soon."

He waved one free hand before heading towards his first-period class which is just three classrooms away from where my classroom is.

Is it just me… or is Dexter slowly turning to be a mere stranger to me as time goes by?

Well, that might have been only my way of thinking since I was so used to hanging out with him every single day when we were still kids way back when we were still in our village. 

As I try to think about it, he could definitely learn magic in our village, since boys are allowed to do magic in our village, but I think he prefers prestigious schools like our school, right now.

The walk going towards my seat will never be complete without receiving a greeting from our class president, who also happens to enter the classroom the same time as I was. I plastered a smile on my face and greeted him back as well.

I finally made it to my seat, and noticed that neither of my friends were already there. Feeling bored, I took out a notebook from my bag and started scribbling on it.

I wasn't able to tell this to anyone yet, since no one really asked, but I am also good at arts. As a child, my father used to give me materials I could use to make art as a gift whenever he embarked on a quest to a faraway land. 

"Woah, that is some fine art you got there."

The minty air from someone's right ear tickled my right ear as I heard someone's voice. As soon as I lifted my head to see who it was, I saw the class president genuinely surprised and amazed by what he is seeing right now. 

In my notebook, I tried to draw a large house where all of my family members are. But before I could totally finish the outer details of the house, this guy startled me.

"Class president! You startled me!" I said, half yelling at him. He only gave me a nonchalant look.

"Why? I just happened to pass by and saw what you've been doing in your seat," he explained and crossed his elbows to somehow give him an intimidating look. That never worked on me though, he already knew about that.

Then, as his head began looking away from me, he added, "It's great though. The drawing, that is, like some architect's work I've seen before."

Considering the arrogant and boastful class president rarely gives a compliment to his fellow students, my face became pale with disbelief as I looked at him.

"What? I just told you what's exactly going on inside my head. That's all." he said and walked away before I even had the chance to express my gratitude towards him for complimenting my artwork.

I only shook my head in disapproval. That guy really reminds me of Alex, the person whom the class president is looking up to.

Later in our magic execution class, we were taught by Ms. Leigh, our professor for this subject, how to handle fire magic really well. If I remember correctly, Alex had already shown me this but I ended up burning my hands out of frustration.

"Our emotions also play an important role for us to execute fire magic really well," Ms. Leigh tried to explain using the same words that I already heard from the captain of the magic army.

"One must also master controlling his or her emotions in order to execute the element of fire. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Ms. Leigh," we all said in chorus.

After that, each of our names has been called randomly for us to display our skills so far in executing fire magic. The seats inside this classroom are arranged in elevated levels and in a circular way, so one student must bravely walk in the middle and do as what fire spell Ms. Leigh asks him or her. The whole room is fire-proof (from the walls, to the furniture of the room), so learning fire spells in this area is not that dangerous

I was the tenth student whom Ms. Leigh called to walk in the middle of the class, therefore I wasted no time and rose up from my seat. As soon as I reached the middle, I waited for the instructions Ms. Leigh would be giving to me.

"For you Ms. Lancaster," the teacher says, reading the spellbook she currently holds. "I want you to do a level one Sun Burst spell." 

I was somehow relieved by the time I was told what spell I will be executing. Alex has also taught me this spell. The spell is not very strong, but as he said, it is often used as a surprise attack to catch your opponents off-guard.

A smile formed at the corner of my lips and said to my teacher, "Noted, Ms. Leigh."

As I breathed in, I concentrated my mana and stored it in my mana container, which can be found in my lower abdomen according to Mr. Pumpkin during our previous discussions.

When I felt that I had gathered enough mana, I put my right hand forward, fingers apart, and focused the spell in a direction where I was pretty sure no one would be hurt.

"Rupti Sunt!" I chanted.

An explosion of heat bursts into the direction I pointed my palm at. Several of my classmates, especially the ones near where I pointed my spell (particularly Jill the bully) shrieked in their seats as they saw light appear in front of them.

But, as it turns out, my spell didn't harm any of them and I was able to cast the spell perfectly. That made me and my friends happy for another achievement that I have acquired.

After me, Ms. Leigh called Julie Love, a petite and skimpy girl in my class. Looking at her, she was the type of girl that you could hardly notice in class, so that is why I learned her name and existence just now.

The spell that Ms. Leigh was asked to perform had already been given and she just nodded in response. She closed her eyes tight and wrinkled her forehead a bit. A crease forms between her slightly thick and straight eyebrows at the point at which they are drawn together. 

This girl, just by observing her, is having doubts whether she could perform the spell perfectly or not.

As she started stretching her hand, the class went silent, and her lips quivered in the process. Shortly thereafter, she already cast the spell. Soon, the fire was consuming her right hand, which shocked everyone.

"Somebody, help her!" says my other classmate.

While everyone was panicking, Ms. Leigh just stood there, observing, whether Julie could overcome this and will be able to control the fire that emerges from her hand.

---

"Aunt Lucinda is dead…"

---

I don't know why, but Leo's words back then started echoing in my mind. His puffy eyes and his tear-stained face flashing at the back of my head only remind me how useless I had been at that time.

Standing up from my seat, I chanted a water spell that extinguished the fire from Julie's hands as soon as possible, even if the teacher had not approved my sudden actions. 

My classmates, even my teacher, was surprised by what I have done.