(Resumed) Solstice

[Emmett]

Stepping into the inner campus was, to put it lightly, a magical experience. Not to be confused with a magickal experience, but it was that too.

I got to see five mansions in their own glory. Four ivory castles towered over the bustling campus below, each identical in form, but with different colors highlighting them and a less-exquisite stone construction in the middle. In order they were, the College of Fire with red-orange highlights, the College of Earth with browns and tans, the College of Water with its deep blues, and finally the lime-green College of Wind at the other side of the eastern gate. In the middle lay several gardens, picnicking grounds, smaller buildings, and, of course, the plain stone castle.

Apparently I had stared at it for too long, that or we were rapidly approaching it, for Ser Linn to speak up, "Ah yes, the student center. This used to be the College of Æther, where we held our classes that students of all elements would partake in."

"It was destroyed during our clash with the Eldest Crusade," the Headmaster added in, "We had thought to rebuild it anew, but it was almost a veiled blessing. During reconstruction, we were forced to move the universal classes across the Colleges. This not only cleared a bottleneck of critical classes for all students being held in one building, it also promoted intercollegiate cooperation and allowed us to realize more modern outlooks. Naturally, we will be sidestepping it completely."

We ended up walking around the stone fortress on the western half of the inner campus, and toward a blatant opening in the western half of the inner wall.

"That's unusual," I said, apparently aloud.

"Each section of the outer ring is walled off and for the western quadrant we swapped the outer fence from fence to stone," said Lienne. "The Outer Western Gate can only be opened from the inside, and only for ceremony at that. Any attack on the dorms must come through either the Inner Eastern Gate, the most secure, or from the north or south, both of which are heavily guarded at all times. North is our barracks and South is our agriculture. We are the foremost magickal training ground in the entirety of Sollun; we are very much a military target because of it. This is also why students must reach majority before enrolling."

On the other side of the Inner Gate stood several wide buildings, two, sometimes three, stories tall. There were a few smaller, more ornate buildings, with wind chimes on the front, and signs advertising food being served. We meandered through, toward one of the further-back halls, farther away from the inner campus, and several kilometers north of the entrance.

Ser Linn placed two keys into my palm, one slighly wider than the other. "The warded key will get you inside the building, and the dimple key will permit you into your room. Normally you would receive enchantments to permit entry automatically, but you are still a remedial student."

"I see. And, um..."

"You are on Floor 2, Room 88," Lienne said, interrupting what I was going to say. "Course schedule, campus map, reading list, and some classroom robes are already arranged, as well as a study desk, bed, and meal cards. We'll let you settle in for the night, but your classes do indeed start tomorrow. Have a good night."

I turned around, to watch the three high-ranking staff members march back toward the campus. "Th-thank you!" After giving them five seconds to not reply, I turned around and placed the wider key into the door, opening my way into the dormitory hall that would become my new home.

"Hello!" a fair-skinned woman greeted me from behind a counter when I walked in, "Do you know where you're going?"

"Floor 2, Room 88," I said, and was given directions to go up two flights of stairs, and make two turns in hallways before looking for the number on the door. The hallways were a soft forest-green carpet against sepia walls. Ghostly lights hung from the ceilings, and I wasn't sure whether it was magick at work or some other force.

I slid the smaller key into the door to my new room, and twisted it open. to my left stood a sliding door to a small closet, with several sets of clothes hanging, including azure robes. Ahead lay a bed, a proper bed! With frames! and mattress sheets! And a pillow! I closed the door, rushed in, slammed the keys on the desk next to the folders and notebook I'd get to later, and leapt into the soft bundle of heaven they'd left for me.

Truly this was the moment I knew, I had made the right decision. Sleep overtook me, rather very blissfully. For the first time in a long time, I did not have any responsibilities to anyone. Well, I had courses to take, and formalized studies. And a month-long mission to figure out how to skip five years of practice.

But starting tomorrow- No. Starting now I was my own person. Not an errand boy for Jacqueline to boss around. I was... free. I could even leave right now and go find some land to farm on if I really wanted to, until I got hunted down and thrown into prison for a debt or something.

A while later, I stirred awake. I had wondered whether I found myself in the afterlife for a moment. Everything felt soft, and splendid. I squirmed around a bit, wondering if I had been magicked away somewhere. Then I shook awake because I had indeed been magicked away to a magickal place!

I leapt out of bed, and rushed to the desk. I opened the folder and pulled out the parchments, stopping immediately at the delicate texture of the pages. Was this... This hadn't felt like any other parchment I had worked with before. Was this...?

I ran my finger across the edge of this super-smooth parchment to get a feel for it, and screeched in pain. I looked at my pointer and tried to step back from the oozing blood in vain. Very very sharp parchment. Damn.

I examined the wall above the desk, and found a disc with one number on it for each hour in the day, and a needle; one needle currently pointed to the "6" position. Seemed like I had some time before I had to worry about morning activities. I siphoned off the blood on my finger into my mouth, and kept at it for a while before wiping it against the shirt I would not be wearing to my first day of class, and looking over the schedule.

8AM - Theory of Magick I - Elements and Aspects
10AM - Physical Fitness
2PM - Spell Circles I - Spelling With Runes
3PM - Magickal Martial Artes

I looked at the schedule items for the next and previous days, and it turned out that the Arcane Colleges also included literature, history, and mathematics courses, and I was enrolled in several of those. I got the feeling that most people didn't actually load mundane topics into their schedule like this, and this was to give me some other things to look into. I also noticed I wasn't in any classes that taught any practical spellcasting.

"Well, to be fair, you're supposed to already come in knowing how to do that," said I to no one.

I changed out of my old clothes and into my new uniform, marking me as a Student of Æther, apparently, according to the welcome papers. I took one of the many slips of paper that supposedly entitled me to a free meal, as well as my keys and schedule and campus map, and departed for the day. I had headed into one of the buildings that advertised food, and it was closed. So I spent the half hour walking laps until it opened, and, as it turned out, they accepted my meal voucher.

When I was done, however, I stepped out and noticed a familiar woman dressed in a much darker shade of blue than I.

"E-Emmett?!" Apparently she recognized me too.

"Oh, hello Grace."

"How are you here?!"

"I-" I hesitated a moment. "I'm a remedial student."

Grace's eyes narrowed. "There's no way." The flatness of her rejection made it all too clear to me that Grace considered me an enemy, a liar, and therefore, maybe Patrick had a point about me.

"I'm going to go find my first class. Have a wonderful breakfast." I broke eye contact and gave a wave as I stepped toward the inner campus.

I did not receive a reply. I took the opportunity to walk off my frustration. I had the time. I knew where the building was I needed to enter, and I figured half an hour to find the room would be acceptable. So I walked around a bit. I saw some bustle from students who were also early birds, but not very many. I saw Freya sitting under a tree writing into some sort of book, probably a diary of some kind. I wondered for a moment what that was about before continuing onward toward the College of Fire, in search for my first class on the First Floor.

Room 42, the door read, and I knew I was on Floor 1. I checked my schedule to make sure I found the correct place, then knocked on the door twice.

"Students already?" A soft feminine voice said, "You may come in."

I pushed open the door and waved to the soft-spoken pale-skinned woman in a red dress with orange trim. She curtsied to me, and gestured toward the tables. "Please take any available seat. Oh, and your name?"

"Emmett Sinclair," I said.

"Oh, you're the remedial student Lienne told me about. I am Ser Sakura, your instructor for Theory of Magick I. Pleased to meet your acquaintance."

"Same to you," I scouted around for a seat, and selected one near the back when a stomach-churn of a voice broke my thoughts.

"Emmy?!"

"Of course you're here Patrick." I didn't even need to turn around. I selected a seat near the middle, maybe one row back.

"How the fuck are you here?!"

"Language," Sakura said, "The two of you can have your squabble after class."

"I'm a-"

"After class, Mr. Sinclair," Sakura interrupted my answer. I nodded and sat at my desk, and Patrick positioned himself somewhat distantly from me, wearing very distinct reddish orange robes. In the minutes before the class started, the classroom filled with robe-wearing students from all four Colleges, plus more Unattuned students like myself.

The clock struck 8, and the class began.

"Welcome to Theory of Magick One. I am Ser Sakura, your instructor. You are enrolled in this course either because you are a remedial student, or your previous instructors have failed to provide you adequate groundwork. Now, can anyone tell me what Magick is?"

A blue-robed woman I had greeted on her way to breakfast raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss..."

"Gardner, Ser. Remedial student. Magick is the manipulation of Æther to command the elements and produce desired outcomes not normally physically feasible."

"A classic textbook example, Miss Gardner," said Sakura, "You are technically correct. All spells, and only spells, can be defined in such a fashion. You receive full marks."

"Thank you, Ser."

"Now, can anyone identify any flaws in Miss Gardner's answer? This will not impact her score negatively."

The next hand that was raised belonged to Patrick.

"Yes, Mister?"

"Peterson, Ser. I personally don't see any flaws in an answer that is correct to where the teacher awards full marks, however my previous mentor would have punished me severely for that line of thinking."

"And why is that, Mr. Peterson?"

"She always said that if you wanted to use Magick for real, you have to mean it." Patrick nodded his head as if concluding some kind of prayer. "The answer my classmate gave I feel is too far abstract and removed for any meaning to come forth."

"A very astute observation, Mr. Peterson- Oh, I see Miss Gardner would like to make a counterpoint. Go ahead."

"In my experience, more willpower means nothing in terms of materializing ones element. One must let the depths of humanity's sorrows fill her before she may resonate with the Æther around her."

"An excellent remark. Full marks to you both." Sakura smiled. I slowly let my hand creep up. "Hm? What is it, Mr. Emmett?"

"I noticed that you had given full marks to two very different answers that are almost at odds with each other, Ser Sakura. Is there a particular reason?"

"A beautiful question!" Sakura cheered. "It is as you suspect, there is a reason. And well. Let me elaborate on that a little more." She held her hand forward, and a dense column of golden flames flared to life within her outstretched grasp. The flames simmered down to the shape of an O-ring fused to a handle flowing into a rhomboid shape. The gold flames slowly evaporated off, revealing a metallic silver-colored blade of some form, with a bulls-eye carved into the crest of the newly-made weapon, somehow.

She lowers her hand and the weapon orbits her, as if it had carried a mind of its own. "What you just witnessed is an advanced form of Fire Magick called Forging. I was able to effortlessly recreate this kunai from my extensive practice because it represents a core facet of who I am. The answer, my answer, is that magick is the ultimate expression of the self, with Æther as the medium. This manifests differently in every person, with particular emphasis on the emotions tied to each element. And they are different, that is why Mr. Peterson channels his element through passion and Ms. Gardner through reflection and not sorrow. The two are easily confused, but Water draws from inward focus rather than outward. It need not be negative."

She spent the next several minutes of the class going over what seemed to be rather basic material, but I was definitely learning. Basically, Æther is a substrate through which the soul can act upon the world. Æther can be hardened into a shape, the most common use for it, but it can also seep into objects, like ones eyes for Æthervision (formally called Ætheric Sight, by the way), or objects for strengthening or telekinesis, or spell circles to reliably improve complexity or power of both, or the air to read the thoughts flowing about. One can, of course, push Æther into Magick without any particular pattern to it, but doing that mostly just effects the subjective atmosphere in the area. Oh, and gives you a cool aura you can use as a power measuring contest if you wanted to for some reason.

Elements, on the other hand, are specific attunements made to Æther to further refine the final spell. A person can attune their Magick to at most one Element using a specific emotion, and even then, only if their soul is itself attuned to that Element. The Four Elements are Fire, answering to Passion; Air, responding to Hope; Water, responding to Reflection; and Earth, responding to Confidence. Attuning ones Magick to their Element allows for a greater range of spell expression, specifically allowing said spells to create and control that Element. For example, the azure flames of Æther are just that, a physical representation of magickal energy, but attuned to Fire, those flames become true, real flames, that burn and sear.

"Now that you know about the barest bone nature of the elements, can anyone tell me how I managed to use Fire Magick to create an object from nothing?"

Two hands went up; Grace's and another woman's.

"Well, let's hear from you, Miss-"

"Elaine McConnell. And while I don't know the technical name for it, my Mistress described each soul as having an inward or outward face, in addition to being masculine and feminine. I suspect it has something to do with that, though She never quite described why the facing mattered or why it was separate."

"It sounds like she is using a more poetic form of the standard to teach you," said Ser Sakura, "And you, Miss Gardner?"

"If I may be so pedantic, you aren't creating something from nothing; that is impossible even with Magick. You are converting the Æther used in your magic to a physical form, in a sense transmuting it, despite Transmutation being a different form of Magick entirely."

"Interesting comparison. And you are correct; Transmutation is an advanced form of Water Magick. The difference is Transmutation changes one physical form to another, while Forging, sometimes called Conjuration, conjures a physical shape from the expended Æther. Do you know how these advanced forms come to be?"

"No Ser."

"I appreciate your honesty, Miss Gardner. Well, your homework assignment, due next we meet, is to research this topic. You may use any unrestricted library and consult with fellow pupils to acquire your answers. I will be expecting you to know the standard name for the missing piece of the puzzles, the forms, how it relates to spellcasters, and how it relates to the Four Elements. Thank you for spending your morning with me. Class dismissed."

I stood up, bowed, thanked the instructor, and walked out. Before I got too far, Patrick ran up to me and spun me around. "Alright, Emmy, spill. How'd you get in?"

"I- I'm a remedial student-"

"Bullshit. No one would see any potential in you. Tell the truth."

"I did! I entered the remedial program and have a month to get to passing otherwise I flunk out and have a debt I can't pay!" I grit my teeth and held my hands up and open, stepping back to create some distance.

Patrick, however, didn't try to hit me or do anything else. He just, started chuckling before bursting into laughter. "Excellent! Nice job ruining your own future, Emmy! I don't even have to do anything; justice is so sweetly poetic. So do us both a favor, and keep doing what you're doing. You'll bungle yourself in jail, and you won't betray anyone ever again."

I sighed, and turned around when I noticed him departing for some manner of next class. At least he didn't attack me or try to kill me. It was only a matter of time though... I looked at my schedule, and next on my agenda was a trip to the student centre to try to purchase, or more likely, borrow, a workout uniform.