“Come over here, Dena. Let’s get your tunic sorted out.”
Dena was led to the leather case, from which Netalia picked out a tunic in the exact shade of blue that she’d conjured. Dena pulled it on over her head, and then fastened a leather belt around her waist. She had a shy little smile on her face, but I could tell she was proud of herself. I didn’t blame her; she’d done well to perform under pressure in my opinion.
Slowly, Netalia made her way through the group. As I watched, I realised that no two mages had the same colour magic as everyone else. The dark haired boy I’d noticed from yesterday had magic the exact same colour as fire; when he first created the fireball in his hand, I managed to confuse it with real fire. When he came back to the group after collecting his tunic, I saw that his eyes were the exact same shade as his magic; they were on fire.
Finally, I was called forward. I was the last mage to receive their tunic, and, truth be told, I was feeling a little naked.
As I stepped up towards Netalia with the rest of my classmates watching me, I noticed Iain taking interest. This was surprising, as he had looked bored throughout the process so far.
I held out my right hand before Netalia could ask.
“Collect the tingling, and act as a conductor for it,” she instructed.
I closed my eyes, calling the feeling in the air towards me. It prickled along my skin like pins and needles.
“Sometimes visualising a spark can help,” she told me, and I did just that.
As the match in my mind struck the matchbox and ignited, I heard gasps from my classmates. Worried, I opened my eyes and looked around.
Rather than igniting over my outstretched palm, the magic had decided to turn me into a human torch. Flames curled up and around my body, but I just felt a tickling sensation. I looked up at Netalia, expecting to be told off. Sure enough, I wasn’t disappointed.
“Very impressive, Sky,” she said, her mouth twisting in one corner. “Decide to make a spectacle of yourself, did you?”
“Leave her alone,” Jett piped up from next to Iain. “She’s inexperienced; you know that.”
I dared not look at Jett; instead, I locked eyes with Netalia.
“Come and get your tunic then,” she muttered, already stalking away from me.
I followed her reluctantly. She pulled out a tunic of the exact shade of green as my magic and my eyes. I pulled it on and accepted the belt she was offering me, fastening it around my waist.
“Now then,” Iain said, stepping back up to the front and clasping his hands together. “To classes.”
Classes at the Academy were nothing like my classes back at Ar Cena High. My first class was Magical Theory, taught by a tiny, frail old woman named:
“Watt,” she announced, standing in front of the blackboard.
All of the students glanced at one another.
“No one... said anything,” the blonde girl in the front said.
“What?”
“What what?” a young man with red hair asked, a smile growing on his face.
She eyed him off with her beady little eyes. The red headed boy was looking around and smirking at the student next to him. Before any of us could move, Watt clicked her fingers, and a bolt of lightning snapped through the air, striking Red Hair on the hand. His hair stood on end, but his expression was funnier. I snorted with laughter, and I wasn’t alone.
“Welcome to Magical Theory,” she said loudly, strutting along to the blackboard and picking up a bit of chalk. “In this class you will learn how to control the magic that you’ve been newly introduced to. For some of you, this will be old news, but please pay attention anyway.”
The blonde girl who had spoken up before smiled secretly to herself as she inspected her nails. I’d already recognised her from the group of giggling teenagers, the ones Larni had informed me were from this world and had grown up in this realm. I narrowed my eyes at the back of her head.
An hour later, we were let out into the corridor. I was leaning against a wall, struggling to stuff bits of paper into the satchel Jett had handed me when I was leaving the hall, when someone bumped into me, causing the papers to flutter to the flagstones.
“Sorry!” Dena dropped to the ground to pick up the papers. “I was doing the same thing as you – I suppose I didn’t see you.”
“That’s alright,” I said, accepting the papers she handed me. “Bit overwhelming, huh?”
She nodded, pushing her glasses back up her nose.
“I’m from the human realm,” she said. “Nothing could be more... different.”
“Me too,” I replied, relieved she wasn’t one of the village mages. “No phone reception or anything.”
Her eyebrows jumped into her hair.
“You brought your phone?”
“Yeah,” I pulled it out of my pocket, where I’d been keeping it for some kind of familiarity. “It got wet when I fell in the river, but then it dried out and started up.”
Dena looked at me, confused.
“What river?”
“The river portal. How did you get here?”
“I came through a mirror,” she replied. “One morning, a couple of days ago, I looked in my mirror and instead of seeing my reflection, saw this place. When I reached for it, I got sucked into my dorm room, here.”
I shoved my phone back into my pocket indignantly.
Thanks Jett, I thought savagely.
“What’ve we got next?” Dena was asking.
“Uh,” I scrutinized the time table we’d all been given. “Fitness. Uh oh. Does this mean exercise?”
It sure did. We headed outside; following the rest of the students to an area which looked like it had been set up by a drill sergeant. Jett was waiting for us next to a wall that went straight up. I shuddered; exercise had never much appealed to me at all.
“So now that you’re all sorted and organised,” he started eagerly. “I thought I’d start getting your health up to standard. Any meals you are supplied with at the Academy are specifically designed to provide maximum protein and energy.”
He started handing out shirts for us to wear for this subject. As I took mine, last as usual, I decided to ask him about something I’d been wondering.
“Jett, who pays our tuition?”
He packed the last few shirts away and then turned around.
“The Academy does, for now. When you leave after the three years, you head out into the mage world and get jobs. Mages are highly sought as healers and the like. Once you’ve got a high enough paying job, the Academy starts taking back the money for the tuition, but only in small amounts.”
“Oh, ok,” I looked at the plain black shirt I was still holding. “Where can I get changed?”
I followed the rest of the girls to the small changing rooms on the edge of the training ground. When we emerged, the boys were already being lined up at the beginning of the course. Jett was letting them go in pairs at intervals, and I watched as a surprising amount of them got stuck at the climbing walls. Eventually we got to the girls.
“Sky and, sorry what was your name?”
I turned around and felt my heart sink. The young blonde woman, the local mage, was making her way to the front to stand next to me.
“Eleanora,” she replied.
“Eleanora, ok. You two ready? Remember, it’s not a race. Just try to finish.”
But the second after he’d blown the whistle and we set off, it was very clear to us running the course - and those watching - that it was most certainly was a race.
I reached the low wire nets a split second before she did. I dropped to my stomach, army crawling through the mud below them. Behind me, I heard Eleanora gasp in pain, and I wasted a split second wondering why. Then my elbow clipped the wire, and a sharp jolt of what felt like electricity but I knew was magic snapped through my body. I dropped flatter, my nose almost in the mud. But I kept going.
We reached the end of the nets at the same time, stretching with relief. We were c
oming up to the rope swing, which would launch us out and over the muddy stretch of water. I groaned as I neared it; it was obvious that it wasn’t going to swing us far enough – we were going to have to swim.
Eleanora was now ahead of me, grabbing a rope and launching off the embankment. I did the same, making sure to push off as hard as I could. Eleanora dropped from her rope, and I felt a split second of elation – she’d dropped too early!
My lungs burning, already exhausted, I waited for the rope to reach its apex and then flung myself from it, landing in the muddy water a good four feet from the other mage. I gasped as the water rushed over me, icy and churning, but the cold invigorated me and I stretched out, beginning the short swim to the other side. I was a good, strong swimmer; Mum had made sure of that.
I heaved myself onto the bank, wet, cold and exhausted. I scrambled to my feet just as Eleanora pulled herself out of the water. I dragged myself to the last obstacle, the vertical wall. I picked up one of the ropes hanging down it and tried to start climbing.
Nothing happened. Any upper body strength I’d had at the beginning of the course had gone. My chest heaved, water dripping from my braid and I knew I was done.
Eleanora reached the wall, and without glancing in my direction, picked up her rope and started climbing. I slumped against it, absolutely defeated.
“It’s alright, Sky, you got an excellent time on everything else,” Jett stuck out his hand to help me up. I ignored it, dragging myself to my feet, my legs shaking. “The wall is the hardest thing in the course.”
I walked back to the group, utterly defeated, just as Dena and a red headed girl started the course.
I’d given up on a lot of things, but for some reason this stung the worst.
~Chapter Four~
“Are you alright, miss?”
“Exhausted,” I managed to mumble through my arms. It was evening, and Larni had just brought me my
dinner platter. I was currently face down on the table, resting my head on my poor, aching arms. “Don’t worry about it, miss, that course looks terribly difficult.”
“The other girl could do it. Eleanora.” I rubbed my face on my arms, determined not to go pink with
embarrassment.
I’d never thought of myself as unfit. It was mighty embarrassing to have that fact uncovered in front of classmates that I’d be studying with over the next three years.
“She’s most likely been training for it,” Larni pulled the cover off the platter on the table and began spooning the casserole into a bowl for me. “She’s grown up in this world, you have to remember. She’s been training for the Academy since she could walk.”
I started eating, ravenous after the day’s exertions.
“Apart from the training, how was your day?” Larni had found a hairbrush and was beginning to pull it through my matted hair.
“It was alright,” I answered, tearing a bread roll in half and offering it to her, but she refused. “My magic is green, I found out.”
The hairbrush stilled for just a second, before she resumed.
“Green like what?” she asked, and I noticed an edge to her voice that hadn’t been there before.
“Like this,” I snapped my fingers, visualising the match in my mind again. A small green flame erupted from my finger tip like a lighter.
The hairbrush had stopped completely.
“You picked that up fast, miss,” she said quietly.
I put the flame out and resumed eating.
“I guess I finally found something I’m good at,” I replied, and didn’t think any more of it.
~
The next day I was woken by the bell again. I clapped as soon as I opened my eyes, wincing with pain; my muscles were aching worse than yesterday. The bell dinged once anyway, and I climbed out of bed, groaning at the movement. The bell, seeing me up and about, fluttered towards the door just as Larni opened it with my uniform for the day. I dressed and ate quickly after she told me that my first class would be history – I’d always wanted my old school to introduce history to the curriculum.
Still munching on the pasty that was my breakfast, I was one of the first to the classroom that my timetable specified. I brightened when I noticed Dena.
“Morning,” she said cheerfully. “How are you feeling?” “Sore,” I admitted. “Have you ever studied history before?”
“Just normal history,” she replied. “Human history,” she explained to my questioning look.
“Oh,” I hadn’t even thought about it, but of course the magical realm would have a different history to the world that I was familiar with. “This ought to be even more interesting than I thought then!”
Jett let us into the classroom, and we all sat down, some more eager than others.
“Welcome to History,” he began. “This class is also one that I take, so you’re stuck with me, sorry. Right,” he picked up a bit of chalk and set it on the blackboard, where it stayed as though magnetised. “Let’s start from the very beginning, shall we?
“At the beginning of Time, there were nine Ancients; nine beings that were once human, but were no longer. They were transported to this realm, and together, started building it. They planted the forests, raised the mountains, filled the seas and built the cities on every continent. They had their world, now they just needed a population.
“So they shared their gift with the mortal realm, and the first generation of mages came into existence. But the amount of power it had taken to gift the magic to the humans weakened them all, and they became sick.
“The last Ancient, Beltanna, lived long enough to see their world begin to divide; dark and light, good and evil. And so she turned to the Academy, where students were learning their craft, and cast a curse over the students and those to come.
“Beltanna was so lonely in her final years that she decided to create a bond between students; a bond so unbreakable that they’d never be alone again. She divided the soul of every mage, so that each half would be able to find each other, and every mage would always have a partner.”
“Which brings us to our next order of business,” everyone jumped as Iain spoke; no one had heard him enter the classroom. “The soul mate ceremony will be held tonight. Obviously it is compulsory for everybody to attend.”
He left before anyone could ask anything. My heart was beating unnaturally fast – I thought I’d done quite well on my own. I didn’t need someone by my side for all eternity.
“Next week we’ll go over some of the finer details of history,” Jett was saying, trying to bring everyone’s attention back to him. “But I’m letting you go early so that you can be ready for the ceremony tonight. Eat and dress; someone will come to collect you.”
I left the classroom and headed back to my room before Dena could catch up. My thoughts were racing furiously, and I needed to be alone.
A soul mate? I was doing perfectly well with only half a soul in my opinion. I didn’t like relying on other people, full stop.
I bathed quickly, avoiding the other girls as much as possible. After a while I remembered that someone was supposed to be coming up to collect me, and clambered out of the bath tub, dressing in leggings and a tunic for the trip back to my room. When I returned, I noticed that someone had laid out a white dress bag on my bed. I picked it up and untied it.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
A plain white dress hung on the wooden hanger. I was mortified. I felt like throwing it back down on the bed, but I decided to obey my instructions - for now.
Wincing, I pulled on the dress and laced it up. There was a long mirror beside the dresser and I approached it warily. After the bath, my skin glowed and my green eyes were highlighted by the cream colour of my skin. My long brown hair hung loose from its plait, adding contrast to the stunning pure white of the dress, which was sleeveless with a laced bodice and a flowing skirt that stopped just past my knees. I searched for shoes but couldn’t find any, and eventually came to the conclusion that I
was supposed to go barefoot.
There was a quiet knock at the door and I pulled it open. Jett stood there, and upon seeing me in the dress, broke into an enormous grin.
“I wouldn’t have figured you for one to wear dresses, Sky.”
“I’m not, but I get the impression I’m supposed to wear this,” I replied. “Tell me more about these soul mates.”
“All mages have soul mates. Not anything romantic like, just best friends. They're your partner through life; nothing can deter a soul mate. It would happen naturally with time, but to speed things up we have a ceremony, to help soul mates find each other.”
“How so?” I asked, dreading the answer.
He grinned again, proving my apprehension to be spot on.
“Dancing.” He replied.
“No.” I said, half in disbelief and half refusing to.
“Yep. Don’t you love tradition?” He chuckled.
“Not particularly. So what happens?” I was beginning to drag my feet, reluctant as ever. It felt the same as having to go to the doctors to get an injection; you knew you had to, you just really didn’t want to.
“There will be a short speech, and then there will be music for the dancing,” he saw me cringe. “Things happen naturally, don’t worry. You’ll be pulled subconsciously towards your soul mate and will end up in pairs. Soul mates can be any two people, no matter what age, gender or race. There’s just one thing you don’t do.”
“Which is?”
Jett glanced at me, and then looked away.
“Never fall in love with them.”
“What? But you said it wasn’t anything romantic like.”
“Some people have a tendency to disobey tradition. Trust me, the repercussions aren’t worth it.”
We walked quietly for a few seconds. I let the information sink in and watched Jett stride along the corridor. I was practically running to keep up with him, eager to keep up the conversation but not reach our destination.
“Who’s your soul mate?”
“I don’t know you that well… through here.”
Soul Fire Page 4
