The class after lunch had us move into a large auditorium. The room was several stories tall and housed a large solar system model hanging from the ceiling. It showcased seven planets around a star, all of varying sizes and colors.

Around the room were tapestries that contained paintings of different locations. One had an active volcano with roiling lava flows. Another had an island surrounded by ocean. There were twelve in all. All of them showcased a different biome or natural wonder.

I took a seat near the top. I didn’t have magic so I wasn’t expecting to gain much from this class. There was a chance I could find out how to charge my blade faster, though. I also wanted to catch as little attention from the new teacher as possible and my current outfit wasn’t helping me much.

As the students filed in I was surprised to see more than just our class. It looked as though three other classes would be joining us. Blue entered and quickly noticed me and came running over.

‘Where were you during lunch? We missed you!’

‘I had to pick a few things up. Here.’

I tapped my side and removed an apple from my new storage and tossed it in the air to her. She fumbled it a few times but then managed to gain control of it before it fell to the ground.

‘Ah! You got a storage locket! Nice!’

She held up her wrist to reveal a silver bracelet with a green marble in the center. She held the apple to it and it vanished. A second later and a granola bar appeared. She held it out to me.

‘I grabbed this for you since I figured you were skipping your meal. You can’t just live off of apples you know.’

‘Thanks.’

I opened the bar and took a bite. Blue sat down beside me and retrieved her notebook and pen.

‘You don’t have to sit by me.’

‘No, it’s fine. Miss Orica is good at projecting and I can get a wider view from here.’

Miss Orica? That kid was the teacher? Green walked in and spotted Blue. She started to walk over and then spotted me. She paused for a second and looked towards the front of the class, but ultimately exhaled a sigh of defeat and decided on sitting in the row below us. She made no attempt to talk to us.

A second girl noticed Blue from the front of the room and walked over to greet us. Her hair was a light grey with light blue, pink, and purple highlights. It was ridiculously shinny and looked like a faded inside of an abalone shell. It was very wavy but only came down to her shoulders. Her eyes were a light pink that matched the tones in her hair.

‘You must be Sammy! Marina has been talking about you nonstop since yesterday. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Candela Lux. Nice makeup, by the way. The green really accents the hazel color of your eyes.’

Blue winced and sunk into her chair a little bit. It was obvious that she had left out the story of my forced makeover. She looked over in my direction waiting to see how I would react to the comment. I decided it was a harmless remark that was likely meant to be a complement. I decided to be mature about it.

‘Nice to meet you. It’s just Sam, by the way. And the makeup was a…gift from Miss Puffin.’

‘You got a makeover from Miss Puffin on day one! So many girls are dying to get her to do that! She must really like you. That explains why you are wearing that cute dress instead of the usual uniform too. Man I wish we at least had one day a week we could wear whatever to class.’

Blue’s eyes darted around the room for a second seemingly looking for relief. I’d almost think she was feeling more uncomfortable then I was. She decided to change the subject as fast as possible.

‘So Candela is in my party. She is an amazing swordsman! Well, not like YOU amazing, but she is pretty strong against the other first years. She has even beaten a couple of second years. She is our group’s current vanguard.’

Candela struck a superhero pose like she had a cape flying in the wind.

‘That’s me! The rapier wielding heroine. Looking adorable as I slash my way into your heart!’

She made an imaginary horizontal and then vertical slash and then held her hand like she was saluting with the blade in front of her face. She slashed diagonally and then sheathed her imaginary blade.

‘I hear you’re a real hot shot with a blade. Maybe we could spar some time.’

‘Maybe.’

At this point a tall, curvy woman with crimson hair in a bun walked into the room. She had a similar silver cloak with crimson accents to the little girl who shared her name, but it was more form fitting. She had on a silver skirt and blouse with crimson accents and tall high heels that clanked as she walked. She carried a staff similar to the little girl but it looked to be the same height as her.

‘She must be the older sister.’

‘Who?’

Blue looked confused at my comments. I pointed down at the teacher in the front. Blue’s confused look would have to wait for a better explanation as the teacher began herding the students to their seats.

‘Alright class. Everyone take your seats so we can get started. Today we will be talking about some things to be wary of when using magic in combat. So hurry, hurry. Take your seats.’

The class clamored about until everyone had chosen a seat and got settled in. Miss Orica took a position at the front leaning on a desk.

‘All right class, can someone name to me the five basic elemental forces?’

A cheeky sounding student from the front sounded off quickly.

‘Fire, earth, air, water, and electricity.’

‘Good, now what are the relations between the basic elements?’

‘Fire beats air, air beats earth, earth beats electricity, electricity beats water, and water beats fire.’

‘Very good. This is the basic cycle to consider when going up against an enemy. Know its element and use its’ weakness against it.’

I felt a twinge of annoyance at the cycle. It was way too simplistic and juvenile, like something out of a game. Reality didn’t work that way. There were too many cases where the opposite could be true. Maybe that didn’t matter in the world of magic?

The teacher paused teaching and the room fell into silence. Her eyes scanned the room for a second until her eyes met mine. I broke the eye contact but I could tell it was too late.

‘Ah! Miss Rye. Welcome to the class. Please speak up when you have questions. It is best for the whole class.’

She had just revealed her hand. This teacher had some sort of mind reading ability. You think that would be something you would keep secret as to avoid countermeasures. I guess she felt it was more important to be used in teaching.

‘The cycle makes no sense. There are plenty of examples where the opposite force would win.’

‘Oh? Care to explain?’

‘Water only conducts electricity because of impurities. Pure water would insulate an electric source.  Air is a nebulous term. Supply a fire with low oxygen gas and you can put it out. People have hid in the earth from strong winds since humans used shelter. And earth only stops electricity if it isn’t a conductor. And the base of the fire determines whether water works at all on it. A magnesium fire would react with the water and burn more.’

‘Magnificent. What Miss Rye here has explained is the inherent weakness in the general relation between elements. That is why it is important to know both your powers and the enemies. You may not always be assured an easy fight just because the enemy has a disadvantageous element to yours. It’s a basic rule of thumb, but you must always be vigilant.’

‘That brings me to my second point. For this, I need a volunteer. Miss Rye, if you could come down here.’

My heart immediately jumped into my throat. It wasn’t so bad being in the back but walking to the front in this costume was embarrassing. I stood up and adjusted my dress and carefully walked to the front of the class while trying not to expose anything.

‘I see you have had the pleasure of having a class with Miss Puffin. That is quite the outfit. Now, let us begin.’

Miss Orica slammed her staff into the ground and red chains burst from the ground beneath me. My hands were constrained by the chains above my head to a red spectral pole which grew vertically behind me until I was lifted off the ground. Then the chains bound my feet.

‘What the hell!’

‘Now class, what type of spell did I cast?’

The class was silent for a moment as everyone look on in shock. I pulled against the chains and they seemed to have a degree of elasticity to them but otherwise would not let go. One of the students finally spoke up.

‘A…aether based binding.’

‘This is ridiculous. Put me down.’

‘Good, class. And calm down, Miss Rye. It’s only a demonstration.’

I saw a mischievous glint in her eye as she walked over to my side. She placed her staff on the side of my leg. I was in a very compromising position and it was pissing me off.

‘Put us down or your arms getting cut off will be the next demonstration.’

‘Really? In your condition? I look forward to it Miss Rye.’

She began to slide her staff up my leg and slightly lifted up my dress.

‘Now, let’s see what other types of gifts Miss Puffin gave you.’

The embarrassment turn to rage and I pulled with everything I had on my right arm. The chains stretched and my hands passed through it like jelly. I swung my fist at Miss Orica and she stepped back to avoid it.

I reached to my side and conjured my sword from the locket. I swung the sword which threw the sheath off and then used the blade to cut off the chains, which turned to mist when they broke. The teacher stepped back and watched as I cut the remaining chains and the pole dematerialized from view. I finished and took a stance ready to start an attack.

Miss Orica stood with her staff in the crook of her arm. She smirked again and began to clap. It took a few seconds but the rest of the class chimed in as well. Confused, I stayed on my guard.

‘What you have just seen, class, is Miss Rye break out of a class three binding spell. A feat that most teachers here would have trouble with. And I suspect that it would be a total failure if I were to try to cast it on her again. Miss Rye here possesses no bond to a Fairy, but has a very strong resistance to binding magic. One day it might even reach the point of immunity.’

She folded both arms and sighed. She looked annoyed that I was still on guard.

‘It’s all right, Samantha. I needed to provoke you to activate off your ability. You may take your seat.’

I angrily retrieved my sheath and returned my weapon to it as the teacher tracked me with her eyes. I looked up to the back of the room at Blue and thought real hard on whether or not I was going to go back to my desk or just walk out the door. Then, as fast as could, I drew my weapon and slashed at Miss Orica. She seemed utterly shocked at the coming attack.

'Wha..!?'

The blade struck her staff right at the part where the shaft began to curve. There was a sharp crackle of energy and the entire head of the staff fell to the ground. She jumped back dropping the remaining pole and readied herself for another attack. I pointed the blade at her center mass. Her eyes were wide with surprise.

'How did you attack me without...I should have see it!'

'You really shouldn't show your full hand so openly. Just like fire and water, mind reading's weakness is spontaneity. This is a fair warning to you. Pull another stunt like that without my consent and you will wake up in the center of a glowing circle.' 

The room was silent as I walked up the stairs. As I pass by I made eye contact with Blue and Green. Green look genuinely concerned and Blue’s face was flush and she had tears in her eyes. I sighed and then clomped into my chair. I made a point to still be holding my sword. The teacher cleared her throat and then continued the lecture as if nothing had happened. It took a few minutes for the shakiness of her voice to disappear. Blue leaned in and whispered to me.

‘Are you ok, Sam?’

‘I’m fine.’

‘I’m sorry. I should have helped.’

‘What could you have done?’

‘I don’t know. I could have said something. She went too far.’

‘Don’t worry about it. What’s done is done.’

She stared at me for a little while and I pretended to ignore her and listen to the class. After a moment she sheepishly turned back forward and listened to the lecture. The teacher continued to lecture on the various pros and cons of the elemental relations and the emphasis on using creativity when exploring your powers.

Through the lecture I gripped my sword and tried to imagine what the worst thing I could do to a person who could come back from the dead unscathed. There was a certain sadistic nature with these teachers that didn’t sit well with me. I was beginning to want to see the school fall apart almost as much as I wanted to go home.

As I squeezed the grip of the hilt of my blade and rolled it across my palm, I noticed a faint oddity under the white silk rope. Where the first ruby had been, closest to the guard, a faint red light pulsed dimly yet warmly.