Magic Academy (A Fantasy New Adult Romance) (27 page)

Firia began to notice, people seemed to
be rushing about a bit more than usual.

“There’s always something
on the go,” she said with unease. “Why do you think
they’re all in a hurry? Did I miss something in my, ah, daze?”

For all her chiding, it seemed Ala’nase
was no less lost in her own world, for she hadn’t even noticed
the growing furor amongst the people. “Hey,” she remarked
with some consternation, “is it just me or are they all heading
away from the dining hall?”

Firia had little time to ponder that,
for as they were but a few meters shy of the great doors to that
hall, they burst open – quite literally – with a shower
of splinters sent flying.

Before the two young sorceresses loomed
a giant beast, with hooked-talons for claws, long spindly arms, and a
beak-like snout. Though far from resembling a bird, the hideous
monstrosity loomed over them more like a ravenous bear, and a great,
skull splitting shriek tore from its gaping maw.

“What the…” Firia
gasped, taking a step back. Her instinct wasn’t to run, though.
Somehow it was as if everything at the academy translated into a
test, and her first response was to succeed. Completing the game to
save Bran and Mae’lin had ignited that love of magic in her
once more, and instantly she called Luka to her side.

Normally summoning forth Luka was such
a beautiful process, though calling him out so abruptly, it was like
a tear in the air as the light burst forth in a crackling fit to form
the spectral fox.

It was scarcely a moment too soon, for
the great beast lashed out with one of its taloned hands, and Luka
dove before Firia to block its blow.

The crackle of light that erupted from
the display was both beautiful and startling, and Luka lost form as a
fox and spiralled about the creature’s almost human-like hand
to fend off those claws. For its part, the beast recoiled, then shook
its limb to try and free itself of the tendrils of light that burned
and constricted about it.

“We should run!” cried her
friend at her side, grasping Firia’s arm and tugging.

But Firia wasn’t going to back
down from any test.

“We can do this, Ala!” she
shouted, even as she felt that ring begin to tingle as she summoned
its powers, falling back on her element. Fire. Everything was weak to
fire.

Wasn’t it?

Regardless, the surge of heat that
coursed through her set her hair to dancing behind her head. She
watched flames lick up around her arm as she conjured forth fire to
her palm.

So great was her display it drew the
attention of the beast before her, and it lunged forward onto its
forelimbs and snapped its beaked maw at her.

It was only the quick thrust of her arm
and the surge of flame that thwarted the beast’s ravenous
attack. It shrieked in agony as the fire burned its face and set its
furry hide to smoldering. Though it was not quite as effective as she
had hoped.

As Luka slipped away from the creature
to dash to her side again in the form of a fox, the beast retaliated
quicker than either of them could hope to counter.

Those giant, raking talons tore through
the air faster than anything Firia had experienced, and were enough
to easily cleave her in twain.

By sheer good fortune, Ala’nase
finished her own spell, and the stone and earth beneath them rose up
in a sheer wall that caused the creature’s talons to rake upon
it instead of them.

Stone rubble fell about Firia’s
feet, the wall that had appeared so mighty shattered to bits and the
creature little more than surprised.

Why weren’t the other students
helping? They could defeat it if they all joined together…

She ran backwards, but never did she
stop conjuring that flame, willing it to burn brighter and hotter
than anything she’d worked with before. She’d given it
her all to get into the school, but she felt that relaxed calm flood
through her.

For the first few months school had
seemed overwhelming and complicated. The theories. The studying.
Learning a new language.

She wondered if she hadn’t been
overzealous thinking this was her calling.

But in the moments that she was truly
working magic, bending the world to her will, she knew this was her
calling. She’d never felt so passionate about anything in her
life.

Well, aside from surviving the day.

“Fight!” she cried
desperately to the fleeing students.

Though she was so wrapped up in her own
battle, she failed to realize there were no fleeing students left.
They were all long gone but for Ala’nase, clinging to her
“coattails” as it were.

The great beast was in pursuit, down on
all fours as it barreled towards her again and again.

The heat from her flames was so
intense, the waves washed over her and sent her robes billowing back
behind her, the cloth moulded to her shape.

She continued to build that heat to
such an intensity, and Luka bought her time to hone the spell while
Ala’nase chipped away at it.

Chunks of stone flew from the ground to
peck at the creature, doing it little harm but distracting it and
making it wince on occasion. Its great bulk was able to take the
brick sized stones like mere annoyances.

Luka darted about so spryly, at times
slipping in beneath it when it let its guard down to nip at its great
ankles and cause it to stumble.

Upon one of those stumbles, its head
impacted the ground, and though it looked ready to lunge forth once
more, Firia took her opportunity.

The concentrated fire in her palm
glowed blue rather than red, and it struck forth like a missile
rather than flame. So powerful was it, that caught in its wake, both
her and Ala’nase were knocked back a few feet further by the
heat waves as they missed the moment of triumph when flesh and fur
were seared and the tower of looming death let forth a mournful cry.

All before swaying and struggling to
its clawed hands before slouching forth and collapsing in heavy,
laboured breathing.

Firia didn’t take the time to
celebrate, though. Instead she began conjuring again, feeling that
magical ring burn her finger, but she suppressed it. She wouldn’t
be caught off guard.

“Where are the professors?!”

She didn’t need to wait long for
an answer, for Ala’nase pointed to the side, and right there
was a familiar sight.

Several instructors rushed forward,
looking surprised. Amongst them she recognized the haughty elf who
had nearly cost her admission to the academy, Gway’lin and the
old human who had stood up for her.

“Petulant child!” cried
professor Yae’ra, the one who had tried to steal her dream.
“Why did you take on an aviard beast instead of fleeing?!”

The looks upon their faces were a mix.
Some aghast like professor Yae’ra, others shocked, while the
two most important to her were quite different. The old wizard looked
impressed beneath his beard, while Gway’lin looked equal parts
frightful and joyful. For her.

She gasped and let the flame dissipate,
looking to the fallen beast. “I couldn’t run! It was…
instinct.” Her heart was thudding so heavily, and with the
three of them staring at her suddenly she did want to flee. From
them.

Ala’nase still tugged at her
sleeve, as if the two could still simply run off and escape any
trouble.

“You are far too inexperienced to
take on such a threat by yourselves! The danger you put yourselves
and others in by attacking and enraging that thing are–”

Gway’lin stepped out in front.
“You both are unhurt, I trust?” he asked with concern,
his melodic voice so heavenly as he looked to Firia with those wide,
round blue eyes of his.

“I think so, and to be fair, sir,
it was kind of already enraged when it burst through the doors and
started trying to attack us…” Her voice kept getting
softer and softer at the attention, and she moved a bit closer to her
friend.

Maybe Ala knew of a spell that would
let the ground swallow them up.

The other professors moved to contain
the still-breathing creature, but she retained the attention of those
three.

“For this outrage you’ll
both be–”

“Given a special reward,”
interrupted the aged human, arms folded across his chest.

The other two elves looked to him with
surprise. “You can’t seriously mean to reward these two
for their reckless behaviour?! Think of the example it shall set for
the whole of the academy!” cried Yae’ra.

Gway’lin butted in again, “Surely
we can handle this in such a way that word does not get out to
encourage all the students to tackle such issues beyond their
abilities.” He was pleading on their behalf, and his melodic
voice was so convincing.

Not, however, to the two powerful
sorcerers he contended with.

“It is already too late for
that,” intoned the old human whom Firia had thought was on her
side. “We tell these students that everything is a test here.
That they must solve the many puzzles we put before them to succeed.”
The wizened wizard arched a brow. “Do we really intend to feign
surprise that they take this to heart even in the face of mortal
danger?”

“And how could they even be
absolutely certain it was mortal danger,” added Gway’lin
again. “They may have thought it was merely an apparition. A
test!”

“Isn’t it, though?”
she asked, her eyes furrowing towards the beast. “I mean…
how else did it get in the cafeteria?”

“Of course it’s not!”
snapped Yae’ra.

Gway’lin looked to the creature,
which the other professors had bound and were in the process of
having suspended in the air and taken away. “I’m afraid
it wasn’t a test. Not at all. But likely someone at the academy
dabbled in powers beyond their ability. It happens from time to time.
Despite our best efforts to temper people’s enthusiasm.”

Firia’s eyes widened. Throughout
it all she’d half assumed she wasn’t in real danger. That
the professors were able to keep this world safe and controlled.

Knowing that wasn’t true made the
very real fear chill her spine, and she clutched Ala’s arm
tightly. “I.. thought it was just a test. To… see what
we’d do in the face of danger, without planning. It all
happened so fast, that was just my first… thought.”

“You see?” murmured the
aging wizard as he moved forward and watched the giant aviard towed
away by the other professors. “You’re free to go, ladies.
You’ll receive an appropriate reward later.”

Yae’ra fumed, and Gway’lin
turned to them, speaking softly. “You two should run along now,
there shall be some tidying up to do.”

They were both too eager to disappear,
and the moment they were out of earshot, Firia was apologizing to
Ala. Luka rubbed against her leg and she dipped down, giving him a
rewarding stroke between the ears as they fled towards their rooms.

“I’ve never seen anything
like that.”

Ala’nase looked quite pale, a
strange state for the dark-skinned elf. “I hope to never see
another one of
those
things for as long as I live,” she
murmured. Though Firia couldn’t help but marvel at the fact her
friend had stayed with her through it, regardless of her state of
fear.

She’d never had someone she could
count on. Not like that.

Not even Varuj, she thought bitterly.

She was content in her life, happy with
what she shared with Mae’lin, but still she found herself
thinking of the demon and wondering what she’d done to make him
abandon her like that. He’d saved her father, and then just…
left.

Had she asked too much of him?

“Thanks for sticking with me,
Ala.”

“I was too terrified to do
anything else,” the elvish woman said, breaking into a bit of
laughter as Luka coiled about Firia’s calf like a kitten rather
than a fox.

“Me too! I don’t even think
we could have run away if we wanted to. Did you see how fast that
thing was?” Firia’s voice rose with excitement as she,
too, tried to laugh off the terror. “I was certain Yae’ra
was going to kick us both out. I would have felt awful if I did
something like that to you.”

Ala’nase batted a hand at the air
and took a deep breath. “I’ll manage that on my own
before too long, I’m sure,” she said with wry humour and
a crooked smile.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if
Yae’ra sent that after me just to get me kicked out. He hates
that I’m here,” Firia lamented. “He tried to ignore
me and not let me enter the competition, then he disqualified me
because of what happened with Mae’lin…”

Mae’lin. The lanky elf popped to
mind and she realized they were to meet with him. In the dining hall.
The kind-hearted elf had always managed to get there before either of
them somehow, doubtless in no small part due to those long, fast legs
of his.

Ala’nase continued on, however:
“I doubt he’d resort to
attempted murder
though,
Firia.”

Firia paused in her steps. “Mae’lin,”
she whispered, looking to her friend urgently. “Ala, I was
supposed to meet him in the dining hall!”

The elf’s eyes went wide. “You
don’t think… he’s still in there?” Though
judging by the expression on her face she thought the prospect very
real. And very alarming.

They took off, racing back towards the
dining hall as their robes flowed in the air behind them. The great
doors were battered, barely hanging from their hinges as they hung
loosely, great chunks missing.

Running inside, Firia saw that there
were a dozen or more students about, and some of the staff and senior
students were tending to them.

Moving past the terrible mess of the
hall, where the tables were overturned, askew or destroyed, she eyed
the injured seeking out the familiar face of Mae’lin.

Again and again each one proved a
different student, and Ala’nase said behind her. “Maybe
we should check outside; he probably got away in the panic.”