| I didn't have friends here, nor did I even have a home of my own outside of my assigned dorm room. This place was different than the indestructible obsidian and raging lava of Dragonspyre, with its fertile grasses, still-flowing rivers, and, most of all, wizards who could freely practice magic without having to worry about the Undead.
The denial manifested itself into a sensation that made me feel as if my soul was floating, while my body still lingered on the ground here in Headmaster Ambrose's office. Headmaster Ambrose: head of Ravenwood School of Magical Arts' faculty and the man responsible for my immediate transfer into their Myth School from that of Dragonspyre Academy, my former educational institution. My aunt, a soldier of Dragonspyre's army, forced me to transfer from the now-decimated academy because she feared for my life.
I was to continue my studies in Conjuration, or Myth magic, in Professor Cyrus Drake's classroom. Cyrus Drake visited Dragonspyre regularly to help us with our current situation, so I knew him as an acquaintance. I wasn't very fond of him, nor did I care much about him until now.
"And, Miss Mistthistle, here is your schedule for your classes at Ravenwood. You have been assigned to Dorm 136 BBA, where you can sort out your things before attending your first class, which begins in 2 hours. My, my, you're here early..." the Headmaster rambled on. His face was sunken with age, and his body, which was clothed in purple, star-speckled robes, was hunched in deeply. Ambrose had a long, winding beard that hid most of his face and a spectacle over his right eye. He extended his arm to me, and I took the piece of parchment in his hand.
"Please, call me Maria, Professor," I insisted with a smile, bowing as politely as I could manage. I could literally feel the dark circles under my dull, brown eyes etching their way into my skin; hopefully, temporarily. I was tired, and my muscles ached. The week it took to get me here without a Wizard City Spiral gate key was hard on me.
"As you wish. I know you're very... stressed today, but I know you can manage," Ambrose responded. "You'll probably want to take the extra time you have to get familiar with Ravenwood's campus."
I nodded, a weak smile showing itself on my face. With that, I exited his cluttered office and started walking down the tunnel that led to Ravenwood.
The school was vaguely reminiscent of Dragonspyre Academy. A giant living tree - Bartleby, the source of all magic - with an eye gouged out was in the center of the school. Leading away from him was a single road that circled all the way around the campus in front of all of the buildings. The layout was simple enough, it seemed, but the school itself was enormous. The two towers that held the students' living accommodations were not far from the tunnel leading back to Wizard City's Commons, and were on opposite sides with the girls' tower on the left and the boys' tower on the right.
It was 4 o'clock in the morning, so the sun hadn't quite risen yet. Consequently, the campus was empty. Clutching the small bag packed with only two changes of robes and, more recently, my schedule, I quickly walked into the girls' dorm tower. It was cloudy, and I could tell that it was starting to rain, so I was a bit more eager than before to get to my dorm.
"136 BBA, huh? Well, the first dorm should be AAA, and the second should be BAA. My dorm is really the third? Wow, that's really nice of him," I murmured to myself, genuinely touched by an act of kindness for the first time in months. I traversed up the stairs that brought me to the first floor of dorms, which were laid in a circular pattern to match the structure of the tower. My dorm was to the right of the first I came upon.
I opened the wooden door to the dorm, which had a frosted glass window in the center and towards the top of it. I was greeted with a rather plain, stone-walled room. It was hardly furnished, and only contained a bed, a dresser, a work desk, a bookshelf, and a chest to store my items in. I wasn't complaining, though.
Groaning, I heaved the chest open and threw my other set of robes inside. Afterwards, I set my wand, deck of spell cards, and now-empty rough leather bag. As soon as I remembered, I fished my schedule out of the bag and examined it.
Maria Mistthistle - Magus Conjurer*
Period 1 - Charms & Wards in the Ice Classroom - Professor Lydia Greyrose
Period 2 - Spiralwide History in the Fire Tower - Professor Arthur Wethersfield
Period 3 - Homeroom in the Myth Classroom - Professor Cyrus Drake**
Period 4 - Summoning in the Myth Classroom - Professor Cyrus Drake
Period 5 - Secondary Homeroom***
Period 6 - Defense in the Life Tower - Professor Moolinda Wu
*Students Adept to Magus will attend classes (A.M.) 6:00 to 1:00 and students Novice to Initiate will attend classes (P.M.) 1:00 to 6:00. Master students may attend lectures in their respective school towers from (P.M.) 7:00 to 10:00 but are not required to.
**Note that all students attending schools in the Spirit Wing (Life, Myth, Death, and Balance) will have Homeroom during Period 3, while students attending schools in the Elemental Wing (Storm, Fire, and Ice) will have Homeroom during Period 6.
***Period 5 is set aside for students so that they may choose a secondary school to study in. During the first two weeks of school, the students will be allowed to freely switch between classrooms to find which school would accommodate them best as their secondary. On the 11th day of school, however, their decision will become permanent.
I was allowed to choose a secondary school here? Interesting.
"I'd better go check the schools out now," I said, my mind not even touching upon the much more welcome idea of getting some rest. I set my schedule down on my bed, then raced out of the dorm into the open.
It was beginning to drizzle now, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Slowly guiding myself across the cobblestone pavement to the right side of the campus - the "Elemental Wing", presumably.
The first school I saw was the School of Storm, a grey, partly purple building next to a large lake. Directly next to the Storm School was a willow tree. Like Bartleby, it, too, was living, yet its face was unusually downcast and bland. I ignored it, assuming that any conversation would be a waste. There were school trees at Dragonspyre Academy, as well, but they were all much more lively. Especially Ashley, the Fire tree.
Abandoning my thoughts of Dragonspyre Academy, I strode over to the Storm School's double doors, above which was a circular plaque displaying a cloud ejecting a lightning bolt. I pushed them carefully, and to my surprise, they were unlocked. It didn't occur to me that someone would actually be here this early.
It was cozy inside the classroom. The wallpaper inside the room was purple with the symbol of the Storm School printed on it over and over again in yellow. There was a rug in the middle, which split the classroom and had the same design as the wallpaper. There were desks on either side of the rug. The aforementioned rug led to a wooden platform at the front of the class. On that platform was the Professor's desk, and at that desk, as expected, was a person.
The person in question was a young girl with tanned skin, blue eyes, and long, dark brown hair. She was hunched over the desk, frantically scribbling something down, and her eyes were wide. Her appearance was the exact opposite of mine, considering I was pale, silver-haired, and brown-eyed.
It took a while for her to notice me, seeing as she was clearly engrossed in whatever she was doing. "Oh, hello! Are you here to meet Halston Balestrom?" she inquired. She wasn't wearing a hat, and her robes, which were printed with various storm markings, were black with dark purple trim.
"No," I said quickly. "I'm a transfer from Dragonspyre, Maria Mistthistle, and Professor Ambrose suggested I look around the campus."
Immediately, a wide grin spread across the girl's face. She rose from the desk, walking over and shaking my hand with such vitality and vigor that her curls bounced up and down and my appendages were tingling when she stopped. "Excellent! My name is Fallon Stormstone, Master Diviner and assistant to Professor Halston Baelstrom! I'm almost a Grandmaster wizard, and even though I'm working hard, I dabble in teaching and invention! I'm sorry the Professor isn't here right now, but I'd be happy to tell you about whatever you want to know!"
Her enthusiasm scared me a little, but she seemed friendly. "Thank you, Fallon. Would you mind telling me where the towers are?"
Her smile grew wider and seemed to do so with every passing second. "Quite simple, really! The towers are on the opposite side of the road from their corresponding schools. Not too far, hmm? Next question!" It was then, I decided, I liked her.
"Well, is anyone else here?" I asked. Maybe I would go back to my dorm for a while if there weren't.
"Well, Professor Wethersfield, the Balance teacher, comes early, but I'm afraid he's usually not here this early. Baelstrom, however, should be here in a few minutes!"
"That's alright. I think I'm going to take a nap for now. I'll be here Period 5, though, I'm certain." With that, I exited the class, but not before waving goodbye.
I held true to my statement and went back to my dorm to take a 1-hour nap. When I exited the dorm tower, I found that nearly every student was outside. Classes (which began at 6 o'clock) were now only a half-hour away.
I blushed immediately, once the realization that I was still socially inept sank in.
No sooner than I had been standing there for twenty seconds, I had been noticed. Oh, no.
The girl who had seen me had come from inside the dorm tower as well and simply shouldered past me, standing beside me while clutching an old spellbook in the crook of her arm. Her skin was sickly pale and dotted with acne, her eyes yellow. Her black hair was put up in a high, sleek bun. "Hi," she muttered, staring at the ground. She didn't seem shy so much as indifferent and nonchalant. "You're new here, aren't you?"
"Yeah," I shrugged. This was getting awkward quickly. "I'm, uh... Maria, a conjurer and transfer."
"Transfer... I was, too, a week ago, when school started. You know, it's good you transferred in early so you have time to get used to things," she remarked.
At least I had something to start a conversation with. "Where did you transfer from?" I asked, now focusing my full attention on her. "And, uh... you still haven't told me your name."
"My name is Madison Crowdreamer and I transferred here from Kishibe Village in Mooshu," she answered, suddenly raising her head so that her gaze met mine. "But Madison Crowdreamer is just the name I took on after Ravenwood's student scouts came to invite me. Most students coming in from worlds whose naming terminology is strange to Wizard City natives do it, too."
"Are you in the Myth School?" I asked hopefully, eyeing her black, kimono-like robes. Going off of the color alone, it was obvious she was probably a Death student, but her demeanor was even more of a dead giveaway.
She shook her head. "No, I'm a Magus Necromancer." Like I figured. The upside was that she was also a Magus wizard, like me. "But we might share some classes together."
After we went over each other's schedules, I found that I only shared Defense with her, a class that was instructed by the teacher who also taught the school that was essentially the antithesis of Madison's. That was, unless she and I agreed to the same Period 5 class.
"What are you thinking of making your Secondary?" I asked.
"Either Storm or Life. Probably Life, though. Everybody wants to make Storm their Secondary, really," she shrugged.
I, of course, knew this. It was the same way at Dragonspyre Academy. Storm focused on strength above all else. Wizards who chose Storm as their Secondary were able to cast powerful spells and not have to suffer the low health of an actual Storm wizard. Life was also a popular Secondary.
"I don't know, I was thinking about making Storm my Secondary," I said. All I had to go off of regarding the School of Storm was Fallon. So far, my opinion of the school was positive.
Out of the blue, what I presumed was the bell rang and cut our conversation short. She nodded in acknowledgement towards me, then began walking off on her way. I did the same, trying my hardest to breathe comfortably in the midst of a sea of sweaty wizards.
I headed down to the Elemental Wing, which was to my right according to the way I was facing. The School of Ice was directly next to the School of Storm. The lake behind Storm was frozen over once the transition between schools was made clear. It was snowing around their school tree, and frost was starting to creep up on the blue-wallpapered Ice building. Ice had double doors as well, but the plaque above them was engraved with a snowflake.
It was freezing when I entered, but the other students around me didn't seem too affected. So it only took a week to get used to the atmosphere? In my opinion, a freezing Ice classroom was better than a probably-scorching Fire classroom.
I took a seat at the front of the class, clutching my Dragonspyre-esque wand and placing it on the desk.
The teacher standing at the front of the class was small. In fact, she was a pixie. She was dressed in all blue, and her grey hair was pinned back in a librarian bun. She was visibly aging and wore small, circular spectacles. It was kind of endearing.
Written on the chalkboard next to the Tooth Fairy professor was:
PROFESSOR LYDIA GREYROSE
CHARMS & WARDS
TODAY'S SCHEDULE:
CHARMS IN RELATION TO SCHOOL
CASTING A SCHOOL BLADE CHARM
HOMEWORK:
READ PAGES 36 TO 39 IN YOUR TEXTBOOK & ANSWER QUESTIONS 1 TO 10
CAST YOUR SCHOOL ORIENTED BLADE CHARM AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE
PREPARE FOR A DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE CLASS TOMORROW
Below all the words, a picture of a circle around a sword was drawn, along with a picture of a shield.
Professor Greyrose began the class by clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "If you would please respond when I call your name so I can mark you present!" she called, holding a piece of parchment in her two hands. "Zachary Anglehammer!"
"Here!"
"Devin Bearsword!"
"Here!"
There were a lot of people in my class, and I was halfway down the list:
"Maria Misttlistle!"
"Here, Professor!"
As soon as Professor Greyrose called my name, I heard faint murmurs coming from behind me. New students didn't usually transfer in a week in, I knew, so this must've been unexpected for the class.
"Interesting," Professor Greyrose remarked, chuckling. Her cheeks were bright red. "A student from Dragonspyre Academy? Extraordinary!"
As she continued on with the role call, I could hear several boys behind me whispering.
"I heard the place got destroyed, except for two school trees and the Fire School," one said.
"Malistaire's back, and he's using the Undead to swarm the place," another one remarked.
I grumbled under my breath, resting my chin on the cold desk and crossing my arms.
"Desiree Wraithtamer!"
"Here!"
"It seems as if none are absent today, which is quite good!" Greyrose exclaimed in ecstasy. "Today, class, we will be learning about the enhancement school charms provide in relation to that school!" She began to flutter down to the board to address us.
"Take, for example, the Life School blade and the Ice School blade. If you read the pages assigned yesterday, you should know the amount each blade increases the power of the next spell of the corresponding school. Can anyone tell me what amount the Iceblade and Lifeblade spells increase the damage dealt by spells of their school?"
The girl next to me raised her hand slightly. She looked like another Conjurer.
"Yes, Devin?" Greyrose inquired.
"The Lifeblade and Iceblade spells increase damage by 40 out of 100, or 40 percent," Devin answered.
Greyrose nodded. "Very good! Now, today, instead of focusing on the differences of the power of a school's designated charm, we will focus on the checks and balances they create. Now, someone give me a brief synopsis of the most notable things about wizards of Ice."
I was determined to answer at least one question to prove I wasn't behind in my schooling because of Dragonspyre's incident. I raised my hand eagerly, leg erratically tapping up and down in anticipation.
"What about you, Maria?"
"Wizards of Ice have very high health and can cast different kinds of wards," I said. "Oh, and they can stun like Myth wizards."
"As a consequence of having high health, Ice wizards are not able to conjure very strong attacking spells. Now, the schools of Life and Ice have the strongest designated blades out of any school. Based on what I just told you, can anyone tell me the reason why?" Greyrose flourished her wand and looked up at the crowd of students. "Yes, Roslyn?"
I looked back to see Roslyn only a seat behind me. Her hair was bright purple and her robes made her look as if she were in the School of Ice. "Well, Miss Greyrose, the only way Ice wizards can attack with a powerful spell is if they have a charm enchanting their wand. Since normally, Ice wizards are weak, their school's blade gives a much needed 40 percent increase to Ice damage spells. Ice and Life wizards are supposed to be defensively oriented," she explained slowly, as if she were still forming the words as she was saying them.
"Fabulous! Now, I want you all to draw your school's symbol and apply it to your wand as a charm. You all should be skilled enough to do this, especially the Magus wizards in this class," Greyrose ordered.
Casting the Mythblade was rather easy, since it didn't cost me any of my mana. It must've been for everyone else, too, because by the end of the class, everybody's wands were glowing their school colors.
After I had finished casting several Mythblades, Professor Greyrose flitted over to me. "If you would, darling, drop down by Wizard City's library to pick up all your textbooks. The teachers have already talked to Professor Ambrose and they've decided you won't have to make up any homework from the first week of school," she said, then continued down the line of desks to observe other students.
After the bell rang, I went to History, where we learned about Marleybone's Industrial Age. Then, after that, it was time to go to Homeroom to meet my new teacher, Professor Cyrus Drake.
The Spirit Wing was definitely more whimsical than the Elemental Wing. I felt nostalgic walking past the Life classroom, and my heart felt as if it were about to burst when I passed the one-eyed, firefly magnet Myth school tree. Myth's symbol was an eye, and its school colors were again wallpapered to the front and on the inside.
Avoiding Professor Drake's gaze, I chose a desk in the middle of the classroom on the far right. There wasn't anything written on the board, like I expected there would be. The chalk and eraser next to the board were floating around in midair.
Cyrus Drake slapped his wand into the palm of his hand. "Now, if everyone would please pass their essays on the essence of Myth to the front of the-"
Drake, however, did not get to finish, because an announcement came from one of the cauldrons at the front of the class:
"ALL TEACHERS, PLEASE DIRECT YOUR STUDENTS INSIDE THE WORLD TREE. CLEAR AROUND THE SPIRAL GATE AND ATTEMPT TO SEAT YOURSELVES AS CLOSE TO IT AS POSSIBLE. YOU MUST MAINTAIN URGENCY. PLEASE FOLLOW THE ORDERS GIVEN AT ONCE."
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