Mary

  It has been a week since Mr. Meriel departed, and the school semester started in full. Mary stood in the same training hall that she did her first test in and watched her opponent cautiously, watching for any hint of movement. The rising sun framed the boy in front of her, probably two or three years her senior. He was muscular. Not overly so like that old man that dueled Meriel on the exam, but there were some muscles pulling on the fabric of his shirt.

  He made a step forward, planting his feet solidly, and watched Mary with the same cautiousness as she did.

  He held a sword, though it was firmly placed in its sheath so it wouldn’t actually hurt her, and Mary sensed faint mana pouring into his mana heart and his sword both. She felt like she was disadvantaged without one, and even though Mr. Meriel explained why it's better not to use a blade, she still didn't quite get it.

  It didn't seem so fine now. And also some of her classmates were already laughing at her for not using a sword.

  The boy, his patience finally running thin, stepped forward again and then again, closing the distance. Mary quickly cast an incantation, one of the few spells that she had managed to learn and level up at least ever so slightly.

  [Earth Wall - Level 3 - Activated]

  A small wall half the height of Mary rose from the ground. It wasn't thick or really stable, but it was the best she could do, and it did slow the attacker. He would either have to jump above it or go around, and that bought her a precious few seconds.

  She began casting another incantation, preparing to create a small spark of electricity, the first spell that she had cast in her life, but she didn't get to do so. The boy suddenly came to the same conclusion as she, that the wall was simply too thin and unstable, and instead of jumping or going around, he just crashed through it and fired a spell of his own.

  A small burst of fire came from his hands, though it didn't seem nearly as practiced as her own spell. It was more of an ember than a stream of fire actually, but it did hurt when it hit her arm nonetheless. She fell to the ground holding her hand before the teacher, Brugus, called the duel over.

  It hurt; it hurt a lot actually. One of the priestesses from the church came over though and immediately began healing the wound, the singed skin healing itself right before her eyes.

  It was a strange thing meeting these priestesses. They usually ignored people like Mary and although she had seen them a lot of times in her life, never before had they approached much less healed her or took care about her. It would be a while before she got used to this treatment that the Academy provided.

  She looked at the boy who smirked and walked over to his friends. They congratulated him, but she saw something in that smirk before he left. They were looking down on her. She bit her lip, stood up, not letting the priestess finish the healing completely, and walked out from the hall.

  "And where do you think you are going?" Ziggy finally caught up to her but she continued walking. She passed through half of the academy already on her way to their room, and she didn't even know what she wanted to do there herself.

  She just felt hopeless. Like she was behind already, even though she had just begun her first year. But all of the students already had spells that were several levels higher than hers. How was she meant to keep up if all of her classmates had several years in training already and she had just begun?

  "I’m going to our room," she finally told Ziggy, not looking back. He was already a step behind her, and she appreciated him being there, even if she did her best not to show it. She didn't want to be alone.

  Already, Meriel leaving her felt like abandonment concentrated, even though she knew he had to leave. He had told her so at the very beginning of their first meeting, and she knew she shouldn't have grown so attached, but she did.

  It hurt her to acknowledge that, but it was simply the truth. She liked her new life, and it all began with meeting that man. He didn't treat her like street trash, like most people did, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she didn't feel quite so hopeless about the prospects of her future.

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  But now, she felt as if she would get thrown out of the Academy anyway.

  "You did all right in that duel, you know," Ziggy said, holding onto her shoulder.

  "All right?! He beat me completely.” She spat. “And you are the one to speak?" She stopped and turned to him, watching his neutral expression. "You won your duel. Easily at that. How are you so powerful, if we began learning magic at the same time?"

  "Hey, I had decades to learn, and I have a large mana pool. Dragon’s heart mana-pool. I literally breathe mana instead of eating, Mary. My mana heart is so strong that my levels are already in their twenties," he said, holding his hands up defensively. She hated this about him: how he always looked so collected and calm, as if he was her elder. She knew that he was her elder in truth, but it still felt strange when she felt so childish compared to him, even though they looked to be the same age. His green eyes glistened from the torches on the wall, and she saw that there was no fight in him. There was no use blaming him for her own failings.

  "Sorry, I just don't like losing, okay? And Meriel being gone, I feel like I am so behind." She moaned, turning away from him once again. She couldn't watch his eyes after her outburst. He didn't deserve that, and she felt even more guilty than before.

  "Hey, it's okay," he said softly. "I miss him too, okay? It's the first time in ages since I haven't been with him for such a long while, first time in my life actually." He offered, smiling softly. "And I meant it. You did fine. You'll see. You will do much better than them eventually."

  "I think I would do better if I actually use the sword just like them," Mary offered, thinking back on the way that he closed the distance, how he made her nervous about casting a spell and being punished by a sword strike. "If she didn't hit..."

  "Mary, that mage has been studying magic probably for years, and his spell was so puny that it almost made me scoff." Ziggy shook his head. "Give it time, you can't expect to already be ahead of them after a week of training, but you will be ahead eventually."

  "But the sword is so…”

  “Sword is a crutch, just like Meriel said. Didn't you listen? The spells aren't attached to their mana hearts correctly, but they are imprinted onto the swords as well. They don't level even half as fast as we do, and the spells are weaker even if the levels are the same as us. They are okay swordsmen and at best okay mages, but that doesn't make them better than us. Trust Meriel, please." He finished the sentence and met her eyes once again. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't.

  Oh please, by the taker, let him be right, she pled in her mind, and nodded.

  Ziggy looked back into the hallway they came from and then scrunched his nose.

  "I think we could return, but I smell some burning flesh there, and I feel like we won't probably do anything useful there anyway," he said. "Want to head to the canteen? Grab an early lunch?" He smiled and before she could even answer, he grabbed her hand and pulled her forward.

  She wasn't hungry, not really, but how could she say no to that? Her friend was calling her for lunch, and eating such good food on a daily basis was something that she could have only dreamed of several weeks before. She followed him swiftly, once again taken aback by how pristine all of the hallways in the academy looked.

  The hallway seemed a bit too quiet though. Before long, Mary realized that she felt unsafe, as if something watched her. One look at Ziggy told her that he felt uneasy as well. She couldn't quite place the feeling; as far as she could tell there was nobody watching them, but the feeling remained no matter what she did. She picked up her pace. She would be safe in the canteen surely. There were a lot of staff from the Academy there.

  There was a corridor in front, and just one turn right and a short walk would take her to her destination. Ziggy sped up in front of her, almost running now, but he stopped once he walked into the intersection.

  Mary followed, looking behind the corner curiously, and she felt her heart stop once she saw there were three figures there. Their frames were hidden by black capes that shadowed their faces. On one side, the wall was opened by a hidden tunnel. There, Ziggy already began casting a spell, but one of the three figures in front of them put up their hand, and Mary looked at the very feminine fingers.

  "Don't cast, we have something to talk to you about. Can you please follow?" the woman at the forefront of the trio asked, and it didn't seem like there was any threat in the question. Mary was still high on her guard, but something about the way they asked, the way they nervously shifted on their feet made her drop a little of her caution. Ziggy didn't seem so convinced, however.

  "And if we don't?"

  "Then we leave, but we still ask that you don't tell anyone about this hallway," she replied calmly, pointing behind her with her thumb.

  Ziggy took one quick glance, meeting Mary's eyes. She didn't know what this was about, but something told her she should follow, as if her mind had a second voice whispering instructions to it. She nodded. Ziggy did the same.

  "Very well, then. Quick, before anyone arrives."

  Mary took one last look behind her. It was still as quiet and as empty as before, but the feeling was gone now. She sighed, looked into the dark tunnel in front of her again, and stepped forward.