Chapter 15: Chapter 15 - A Chat with Alexander

Two rows of first years stood a good ten meters away from each other, facing their partner across from them. At the sound of a whistle, those on the right raised their wands and shot out a white ball of mana, while those on the left flicked their wrists and sent out a similar looking spell, but it looked more misty and less shaped. When the two attacks met, they either dispersed gently, or the mana blast zipped right through and hit the partner in the left line. The latter happened far more than the former.

“Hmm, good first attempt, class.” Mrs. Warren said. Her scarred face never seemed to smile even on the rare occasion she was complimenting them. “The greatest defensive tool in any mages arsenal is the dispel spell, which half of you just tried to use for the first time.”

“The two spells, mana blast and dispel, are the most important spells to learn should you choose to become a mage. We’ve been working on mana blast for a while since it has more fundamental uses compared to dispel, but in the grand scheme of magical combat, dispel is ultimately the more useful spell to master.”

“Time is running short today so we'll continue this next class. As for homework this week, you should all spend an hour with a partner practicing the dispel spell like we just did today. Mana blast should stay white, we don’t want to be injuring our classmates after all. Dismissed.”

Kira tucked away her wand, a smile was on her face for successfully using the dispel spell. She was lucky, as someone who started magic before school, she had the chance to at least be able to cast it properly. Rynus had been teaching her dispel for that last week leading up to the school year, and only on the last day did she manage to successfully cast it.

The list of spells she could use was growing fast, even if they weren’t developed much. Mana channeling and absorption was simple, mana blast she was good at for someone her age, though her control still wasn’t quite there, and they had started learning the reinforcement spell last week. The teacher had to be extra cautious around her when she was practising reinforcement, due to the possibility she reinforced herself too much with her large mana reserve, and lost control over her strength. Besides being extra cautious during class, she wasn’t allowed to practise it outside of class until she could demonstrate to the teacher she had full control to prevent unneeded injury.

Both Magical Foundations and Mage Training were moving on to defensive spells for the next two or three months. After they could properly defend themselves, they could do more combat drills without risking injury as much as before in Mage Training. Dispel was taught first, as it was the most crucial spell for protecting oneself against harmful magic coming your way, then they’d learn the barrier spell to protect against non-magic attacks, and then cleanse, to get rid of spells with long lasting effects. During these defensive few months, they’d still be working on the spells they’ve already learned earlier since they were still very much beginners when it came to magic and spell casting in general.

With exhausted bodies from a tough class, the students began to find their way out of the Mage Training backfields and onto their next destination. Kira and co usually went to the lounge in the Great Hall after classes to either reshash lessons they had together, or to relax and discuss whatever came to mind— usually magic related.

A glint in the grass drew Kira’s attention away. She peeled away from her friends and picked up an ornate metal earring with a small emerald gem in the center. Small grooves were etched into the metal in the shape of branches. It looked expensive.

“What’d you find?” Abby asked her, wondering why her friend had diverted from their path.

Kira held up the earring. “Someone must have dropped it, it’s not any of yours right?”

The girls shook their heads.

“It looks quite nice. I wouldn’t mind some earrings, though I’d have to get my ears pierced first.” Marcus commented and walked over to Kira. “Do you think it would look good on me?”

“Don’t say yes!” Helina jabbed, making Kira chuckle.

“I don’t think you're an earring type of guy are you?” Kira said.

“You’ve seen right through me.” Marcus raised his hands. “But, I think I do recognize them. Yes, these are those quiet girls earrings, what’s her name… ah, it’s Ashley I believe.”

Ashley… Ashley… The girl's appearance popped into Kira’s mind after running through her classmates in her head.

“I think I saw her walking off to the dorms.” Marcus pointed.

“I’ll be right back then, I’ll meet you guys in the lounge!” Kira turned without waiting for a reply, and sprinted after Ashley. It didn’t take her long to catch up to the girl. She was alone, walking along the paths towards the girls' dorms, with books held in her arms she usually carried to every class.

“Hey, Ashley!” Kira yelled as she slowed her approach, coming to stop a dozen feet away from Ashley. “I think you dropped your earring back in Mage Training.” She held out the earring for Ashley to see.

The girl whipped around and flinched upon seeing Kira. She was a short girl with plain brown hair hanging loosely by her side. Thick glasses sat on her nose, and a single earring hung on one of her ears.

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“W-what do you want?” Ashley stuttered.

“Your earring.” Kira dangled the earring in her hand so Ashley could get a good look of it. “You dropped it I’m pretty sure.”

Ashley’s face morphed when she recognized the earring. Her meager demeanor became angry and she stomped over to Kira and aggressively snatched the earring from her hand.

“How dare you hold this!” Ashley snapped and stepped back, “Did you steal it?!”

Kira raised her hands in confusion, “What? I j-just told you I found it on the ground, you dropped it.”

“Liar!” Ashley barked. When Kira took a step forward to try and diffuse the situation, Ashley jumped back and yelled, “Stay back, you murderer.”

“Murderer!?” Kira squeaked. What the heck was this girl was on about? “I’m not a murderer, why would you call me that?”

“All you Thorn’s are murderers, everyone knows it.” Ashley spoke, her voice cracking, “Just… stay away from me!” And before Kira could say more, the girl took off running.

Blinking in a multitude of emotions ranging from confusion to anger, Kira didn’t know how to proceed. She had just been yelled at, called a murderer, her lineage had been attacked, and she hadn’t even been thanked for returning the earring.

“…Kira.” Her name was said behind her and snapped her out of her stupor. Alexander was standing there, a frown on his face.

“Sorry, I overheard the conversation.” He apologized.

“No… that’s okay.” Kira shook her head. “I’m just… I don’t know what just happened. Why did she freak out on me?”

“It’s not a fun story.”

“Hmm… wait, you know why she was like that?” Kira leaned in and asked.

“That’s why I came over. I wanted to stop you from giving her those earrings, but I was too late.” Alexander explained, “Come, walk with me Kira.”

Alexander started walking and Kira jumped a few steps to catch up and then kept up beside him. It was just past midday now, nearing into the evening, and the fall sky above was gray and gloomy. The trees had started losing their leaves as they prepared for the winter season. Even the grass was beginning to lose its green shine.

“My family made sure they researched all my classmates before the school year.” Alexander began. “A little much, I realize, but that’s just the way they do things. They wanted to know everything about everyone, and to make sure I knew anyone of importance.” He paused.

“Your name was there of course. The first Thorn in centuries. But there were also two other names on that list my parents gave to me. Ashley Oak, and a boy prodigy named Marcus Herro, from the Lock household.”

“Wait Marcus? How could he be a prodigy before school if he hadn’t even started using magic?” Kira questioned.

“Not a prodigy in magic: one in wands.” Alexander answered.

“That still doesn’t make sense. You need magic to make wands.” Kira said, reciting knowledge she had learned in wands class.

“You're correct in your thinking, but the Wondrous society doesn’t prevent children from carving wands. Normally, you’d need to consciously pour mana into a wand during its creation to form its core, something you’d need hundreds of hours of practice to do successfully, but Marcus did so unconsciously. His first ever wand he carved for practice, became a real wand with a core, something that’s never happened before. But we’re getting off topic here, you can ask Marcus for more if he’s willing to share.”

“Sorry, I’m just surprised.” She had been talking to her friends, including Marcus, for over a month now. Marcus being some prodigy of wands was something she hadn’t even heard him bring up before.

“No need to apologize, it’s good to be curious about your friends.” Alexander said, then continued. “As for Ashley Oak, she’s in an awkward predicament.”

“She’s a noble then?” Kira surmised, based on how Alexander said her name. Ashley’s name on the class attendance was different, so Kira didn’t know she was a noble.

“Technically she is, but no.” Alexander said. “Her uncle and aunt took over the Oak households about ten years ago… after her entire family was killed, except for her.”

Oh.

“Exactly.” Alexander read her face. “Normally if the noble head dies, the heir takes over, or the next youngest, but not only was Ashley the fourth child, she was only three at the time. Not really an age to be able to properly lead a noble house.”

“The Wondrous Society intervened and proclaimed the brother of the dead household’s head to take over. This was normal, it’s not the first time it’s happened, but Ashley’s situation was a little different. Her family was criminals, corrupt nobles, and the uncle wanted nothing to do with the daughter of such heinous people.”

“Since she was born of two wizards, instead of being found as an apprentice, one of her parents was her master. Since they were all dead, she had neither family nor master to look after her. She was put into an orphanage for wizards and has been there ever since.”

Soaking in the information, Kira had thought she had lived a sad life, being orphaned and not able to interact with the other children, but Rynus had swooped in and made her life better than she could have asked for. But Ashley, she had no master to save her, and no family to help her. She was alone.

“Her family… well maybe I won’t talk about what they did, it’s too vile to talk about.” Alexander said. “Once they were found out of their crimes, the Wondrous Society immediately stepped in, but they did not want to go down easy and fought back. To make sure things were dealt with swiftly, the Elder’s called in the adjudicators, the—“

“— Thorns.” Kira finished his sentence.

Alexander nodded. “The Oak’s took an entire village hostage, using the villagers' lives to bargain for their own freedom. Your grandmaster, Horris, decided, if the villagers' lives were already hanging by a thread, she didn’t need to worry about them. She destroyed everything; the Oak family, the villagers, it all disappeared in a fiery explosion. Except for a lone girl hiding in the woods nearby.”

“Your grandmaster is the reason for her loneliness. Even if she did stop the Oak’s from continuing their crimes, the way she did so was seen as an extreme approach. There’s a reason she’s quite a controversial figure in the Wondrous Society.”

“So she hates me because of my Grandmaster…” Kira said with a low voice.

“I don’t think she hates you.”

“What!?” Kira turned to him, “How could she not?”

“Because you had nothing to do with it, and I think she knows that. It’s a challenge repressing such powerful emotions from lashing out at everything, especially something that reminds her of said emotions.”

“Then… What should I do?” Kira asked.

“Nothing yet,” Alexander replied, “I believe the best thing to do is to talk to your master, do some research on the topic, then wait for her to confront you.”

“You think she’s gonna confront me?”

“Absolutely, she’ll want to get it off her chest at some point, so you must wait for that time. I recommend not bringing the conversation to her, she’ll feel pressured if you do.”

Kira nodded. It helped ease her mind to have such a level-headed and knowledgeable individual like Alexander give her advice. Is that what most nobles were like? She hoped one day she’d be able to act like Alexander did, a calming voice in a time of restless thoughts.

They silently changed course back to the lounge where they rejoined their friends who were going over study cards for the upcoming math test. They were able to bring her mind out of itself and back into reality as she groaned and complained about how stupid math was.