Chapter Seven: The Seductive Wind Mage and the Grumpy Fire Mage (1)

An explosion covered the whole place with dust. Two people were in their fighting stance, both wands in each other’s throat. 

“You should give up, you can’t beat me Lalia” said the woman fighting against Lalia

“Huh! Where will I see another wind mage as strong as you, if I beat you here I would be the strongest.” Lalia stood firm, resolved in beating the opponent. She threw another spell towards the woman, leaping backwards to have a better range.

“Chime Wind, Defendio,” defended the woman. The opponent, who was also have wind as her element was clearly stronger than Lalia. But Lalia wanted to defeat her, not for her pride but to become even stronger to protect her love ones.

“Power unfathomable

Blow everything possible, Blast!” Lalia casted again, the spell produced a strong wind leaving even trees uprooted. But the opponent wasn’t so easy to deal with; another defensive spell was performed followed with an attack.

“Come Forth! Wanderer!” the following attack was a summoning spell. In a second, a thick white smoke appeared in between the two and a five feet tall silver wolf materialized. The Wanderer ran towards Lalia, in a blink it was already pinning her down. 

“Revoke!” she shouted the cancelling spell. The cancel was not futile as she was able to cancel the Wanderers summon. But as she thought she could procure another spell a rain of ice was already pouring towards her. It was then that she realized the Wanderer was a mere diversion, the real hard core spell was coming afterwards. Kneeling and shivering in the cold, Lalia could feel the warm blood trickling in her forehead. Her opponent drew closer and she felt a soft caress of the wind. Although her clothes were still in tatters and the blood was still evident in her body, she knew the wounds have healed. She looked up to the woman, wondering why she healed her despite beating her. In the first place it was Lilia who instigated the fight, the woman, out of compassion adhered to her wishes.

“You could’ve just left,” Lalia said lowering her head once again feeling the shame.

“Why would I leave an injured comrade?” the woman asked, a gentle smile showing in her face.

“Why did you hold back?” Lalia asked. She was sure the woman took it easy on her. She wondered why she even became considerate of her. If it was Lalia she would definitely beat the crap out of the person who provokes her carelessly instigating a battle.

“You got it wrong; I didn’t hold back, you were simply strong enough to fend off my spells. Or is it why I wasn’t a little mad even after you did all of those provocations what you really wanted to ask?” once again Lilia lowered her head down even more. She heard a low chuckle from the woman causing her to look up.

“Someday Lalia, you will also find someone, a person with so much potential. And you’ll just find yourself wanting to teach them and nurture them. To me that’s who you are.” The woman said patiently. Lalia was stunned. She was convinced of the woman’s power. From that day onwards, Lalia vowed to herself to become stronger and someday feel the wonders of finding someone she could nurture and to become like the woman standing gloriously before her.

**********

Year 1028 A.G. The current year.

I woke up with a start in her new home. The Academe’s morning bell chimes echoed in every hall, waking up everyone in the Academe. Today will be the beginning of the first year’s classes. The seniors told us that we could eat breakfast in the dining hall when we are done preparing and told us to not forget our class schedules.

Nellie, who was dressing up keeps muttering to herself how it was so early. The girl slept to late that night because of the excitement and ended up waking in the wrong side of the bed. The other girls on the other hand were fresh and ready for the day. Euna let her waist long hair flow freely creating a carefree atmosphere around her. Kimi had her hair in a tall pony tail highlighting the prominent features of her face and emphasizing her green eyes. She had the air of prestigious lady. Joanna was the opposite of the two; her shoulder length hair was braided and had only the necklace she always wears as her accessory. We were all wearing our Academe uniforms. The inner blouse of the uniform was a lilac long sleeve. The wrist was white hemmed and had two green buttons similar to the ones in the waist just below the bosom. In the top of the blouse was a long blazer, the two ends not reaching each other allowing the lilac shirt peek on the outside. The lower part of the uniform was a skirt above the knee in length, a gold three inch belt almost covered by the blouse. The uniform also has a set of white boots reaching the knees; it is adorned with blue lines and a red gem stone right on the knee complementing the rosy red color of the shoe. And finally, the last piece of the uniform was a blazer like cape covering the shoulder to the elbow. The two ends meet and was tied by a gold ribbon.

After making sure my enchanted ribbon was intact, I called out to everyone and we started to take off to our first class. The night after my chat with Johann in the lake, we went back to the dining hall and found that the headmaster Arammi was already briefing the first years. The eyes were on us when we entered the hall and I felt a little embarrassed. Johann walked straight to their table after leading me to mine. The briefing did not last very long and the headmaster dismissed all of us after introducing the all the professors.

The sky was cloudless and the sun was smiling brightly when we exited the dorm. The gentle sway of the trees produced a refreshing breeze caressing every passerby. The boys were also making their way to the lecture room, bustling with big grins on their faces. Luther on the other hand was the antipode. Contrary to the bright atmosphere he, still in his men in black outfit, was looking annoyed. His forehead wrinkled, sighing, and shaking his head. I glanced at Antonella who immediately understood my stare. We let the other three carry on as we half ran towards Luther and Antonella immediately clung to his left arm. The man nearly flicked Antonella ready to throw an outburst to whoever dared to touch him but only wrinkled his forehead even more when he saw it was the bubbly girl in the exam. He gently removed Antonella’s hand, and brows meeting he looked at us asking what we were doing. I smiled bashfully and Antonella began to talk shamelessly forgetting all the bad energies she was feeling this morning.

“Why the long face Luther? You look like an old man weighing the world’s problems on his shoulder.” Said Antonella while bursting into laughter, I thought Luther was going to get mad worsening his mood but he looked at me and asked if we were going to our Ancient History class. His words were as brief as ever and he ignored Antonella’s comments but I was still relieved that he did not shove us away.

“Yes we have the same class, but may I ask why you are in a foul mood?”

“Just some annoying roommates,” he replied dismissingly. Walking together with Nellie was not a world of quietness, she chattered and chattered while I reply with her questions and commented about the topics I know. Luther remained silent but was obviously listening. In our noisy little conversation the little murmurs of the passing students didn’t miss our ears. Some mahò users, usually the girls, were still talking about my encounter with Johann in the dining hall yesterday. Nellie immediately stopped talking and grinned widely.

“To think I forgot!” she said as if remembering something very important.

“You should tell me about your relationship with the captain, seriously,” 

“I told you we are friends right?” I retorted.

“You think I’d believe that? Even Luther would not believe you nonsense. What friends intimately kiss each other?” she said, arguing. 

“What kiss? It was just a greeting!” I defended.

“Heh, would you kiss Luther then?” she fired back. I shook my head and took a deep breath biting the insides of my cheeks.

“See! I was right.”

“B-but I just met Luther yesterday, how can I…” I found myself at loss for words

“We’re here,” Luther intercepted leaving the two of us outside as he entered the lecture hall. I looked at Nellie with a ‘don’t ask me anymore look’ which she laughed at.

“Okay fine, I believe you now,” she giggled. “I was just teasing you, Lista your reactions are priceless. A good way to start the morning compared to Luther’s foul face.” 

Entering the classroom we found it already packed with wizlings. Kimi and the other gestured us towards them on the third row of chairs as they saw us entering. Luther on the other hand found his way in the seats out in the front for it was the only place with less wizlings seated.

“So you are also friends with the second placer of the exam?” Euna excitedly inquired. 

“Yes, Luther is our friend,” Nellie proclaimed proudly.

“But Nellie, isn’t he scary?” asked Joanna. I shook my head at Joanna’s question and Nellie was about to say yet another sentence when the noise dissipated. We all turned to the person who was entering the door; it was our Ancient History of Mahò and Gaearandys professor, headmaster Nathaniel Arammi. The headmaster greeted all of us with a bright smile, as bright as his red hair. Everyone answered back. Standing with our heads bowed, one hand at the back and the other on the stomach, one foot forward and another bent towards the back.

“Greetings to the headmaster!” the mahò users chorused. The head master nodded and headed to tribune beginning his lecture.

“Let us begin our lesson with the war 100 year ago,” the headmaster flicked his hand and books started to appear in our table. ‘Along with the Gods’ was written in the book cover.

“In your hands now is the book that we will be using as reference for today’s lesson. Kindly open it to the fourth page, young wizlings.” The shuffling of the book pages can be heard throughout the lecture hall and the headmaster started his speech again.

“100 years ago in the year 928 before the great war, the gods and goddesses realm was still open. Every land in Sinofiory, the Island of Llfhame, the Mountains of Bekdu, The plains of Rastamund, The Ocean of Ormosis, the Floating City of Sarynaya, the Forest of Congastu, the Dessert of Dryagona, and the Sky Castle of Haliya have the guidance of their respective gods. Focusing on our empire the Sinofiory Island of Llfhame, we have the wind goddess as our guardian. The three cities of Llfhame were blessed by the goddess. Every now and then she comes down and visits the cities. Her coming down was described as majestic by our ancestors. A calm wind sweeps in every town strong enough to call their attention but never enough to tumble their things. With the wind emerges the wind goddess. Her long white gown that floats up to her ankles is like the pure white clouds in the sky, her gradient long hair reaching her feet was astounding, from long snow white turning pale to dark blue as it nears the tip. Her face was covered with a white veil but her gentle compassionate smile was evident every time she interacts with the Llfhams. But the peace that lasted over thousands of centuries began to crumble the day a young mahò user’s ambitions became higher. It was the Grand arch Wizard,” the lecture was interrupted when somebody from the listeners raised his hand asking permission to ask a question.

“So headmaster, the Grand Arch Wizard was a nobody once?” the mood in the lecture hall became more serious.

“Yes, strictly speaking he was a nobody at first because no one knew the talents of this mahò user. Careful to not draw attention to himself he studied the forbidden black mahò and only brought light to himself when he successfully mastered the magic. The gods were alarmed, but they were not to interfere with this kind of matters. It is a problem that the wizlings of Sinofiory shall resolve particularly the Island of Llfhame, the place this wizard was from. The gods however brought help for the wizlings; the wind goddess was to summon a hero from another dimension to help the wizlings in the gods’ stead.” Murmurs filled the lecture hall. Despite the knowledge being already known in the empire the wizling’s reactions to the lecture were still vivid of amazement. The lore of the hero’s summoning was a very entrancing topic for every wizling. After all it is the arrival of the greatest savior. The headmaster cleared his throat and silence engulfed the hall once again.

“The news about the hero brought relief to the Llfhams, although everyone was starting to panic with the proclamation of terror of the Grand Arch Wizard, the news brought a little comfort to them.” Once again another mahò user raised their hand.

“Headmaster what did the Grand Arch Wizard particularly do to arouse terror?” the question was quite intriguing. I glanced at the person who asked the question. It was the guy sitting two chairs away from Luther. He was wearing reading glasses and one look at him anyone can tell that he was,well, smart.

“That is a good question. Considering the wizlings high regard for the gods, treating them as the highest beings, the Grand Arch Wizard who proclaimed that he will step foot in the realm of the gods was considered blasphemous. Though it did not ended to being just blasphemous, because if it did, the wizlings could just openly condemn him, but this evil wizard opened the current gate connecting the dark dimension to our world. In the past the monsters are not that frequent for they cannot easily pass to our dimension but as you can see now, monsters are more rampant, fortunately we could keep them at bay today. It was not the case for our ancestors though. When the Grand Arch Wizard opened the---“ the headmaster’s lecture was cut off when the door of the lecture hall was abruptly pushed open creating a loud bang. The headmaster’s eyes widened when he saw the woman entering the hall. The shock was fairly the same for all of us.

Clad in a classy body fitting blue dress, showing her cleavage, and right leg from the slit of the gown, was a beautiful seductive woman. She had a long blue wavy hair reaching her knees and blue eyes that were sharp and focused. Despite her seductive look the woman has a bright smile on her face. She sashayed towards the headmaster and giggled upon seeing the headmaster’s expression. Mouth now agape and was slightly red, if the reason was for anger or from pleasant surprise, even he doesn’t know.

“Dear Nathaniel what a pleasant surprise!” Everyone in the hall remained silent as we watched the spectacle unfold before our eyes.