We stayed like that for quite a while that night, and the next day came and went with no events. Arceia and I became closer as the week carried on, but not more than that night. Ragnis came home from her date and she seemed happy, so I assumed she won, if that’s how that worked, but we didn’t talk much. I remember the next week like a blur now; Arceia helping me find my sense of direction in the city and then going about her own business again. My uniform came and the person delivering it was fairly run of the mill compared to the rest of the people I’d seen in the city Guard. I tried it on briefly, finding that it fit perfectly, but refused to wear it outside class until the first day came.
I remember trying to meet with my grandmother again, but she was busy preparing class, and so I looked for other people to hang out with until class. I wound up calling on Key a few times, especially for lunch meetings, and she and I had a good amount in common -both a strong set of ideals and love for dogs. She showed me her favorite coffee shop, and I found myself becoming dependent on the caffeine in no time combined with Arceia and her private stash, which I had to admit was better than most coffee shops I’d tried in the city itself.
Finally, I contacted Dubro again and told him I would like to play on his team after all. I may not have known the rules yet, but I wanted something physically demanding to keep me from losing my edge that I pretended to have.
Slowly, I found myself adapting to city life. It wasn’t that different in all honesty, but the little details about time sensitivity was certainly more to think about. I found some comfort in my room mates though, keeping me on track and smiling all the way up to my first day of classes. The day I’d been waiting for since I found out about this place and decided I wanted to protect people had finally come, and I opened my wardrobe to finally don my Magnum colors for the first proper time.
The first piece beyond my underclothes was the white vest with green trim that extended to my calves. Atop that, as I was in the elementary classes, I was given a black shawl with tassels that reached my mid-back. Slacks of a matching black, or a black skirt with white tights, interchangeably based on my fashion sense. I didn’t particularly favor skirts at the time, so I stuck with slacks. Finally, to cap off both ends, I had boots of a fine leather and an optional pair of gloves for select activities, matching the color of the boots.
I remember stepping out of my room that day and seeing Arceia double-take, which at the time I assumed meant she was distracted. Ragnis was happy to see me in uniform and offered to walk me to class as hers was a bit later than mine. I accepted with an enthusiasm I hadn’t let go of since arriving here, and off we went into the city, as Magnum students. Arceia went off to handle her own classes, and I knew Ragnis would do the same when I arrived at my building, so we made light conversation along the way. I asked her about Dubro and how he was doing, and she was a bit flustered to admit that they hadn’t lasted long as partners. She told me that she found them incompatible after a few days, and as it was such a new relationship the two didn’t feel any hard feelings for one another, which was good.
She also lamented her own personal tastes quite a bit for getting in the way, but I didn’t really get that so I just laughed as we changed topics to food and other things that may be more neutral territory. Before long, we found ourselves in front of my class building, and said our goodbyes. And if you’re wondering why I’m glossing over this, it’s because I genuinely can’t remember much beyond this about it. For as excited as I was to begin, the first day is hazy to me now beyond the greater class itself, and the events that came after.
With a deep breath, I pushed open the door to the building, and inside I was greeted by a fairly plain hallway with some students chatting idly. There were a few people headed toward one direction, and so I followed them to what was my right upon entry to see the main lecture hall with raised seating and a podium, just as I’d expect in a classroom like this. A large board for writing was present behind the podium, but more interestingly I saw the entire class mirrored on both sides, with a second podium on the reverse. The seating also formed a bit of a mountain in the middle, but there was a central area between the student seating for the professors to stand in the center of them.
I assumed the separated podiums were for individual classes, with the layout of the seating being for shared classes, and made my way in. Hopefully, there would be someone else in the room to explain the seating to me.
“You’re early.” I heard a familiar voice call out. Excited, I turned to face them, and saw the red robed man who brought me here standing in the room, alongside my grandmother and an unfamiliar woman with earthy green hair, the latter two both dressed in the uniform for professors.
“Well, I didn’t want to be late, so…” I was stuck on my words for the first time in a few days, but Sir Mirroheart patted my shoulder and laughed.
“Yeah, I figured.” he said, moving over to the board behind the two. “I was just talking to your professors about this equation here.”
On the board, I saw some rune symbols I didn’t recognize, as well as a few numbers that I assumed were for the actual mathematics, and then beside them a conclusion in the form of a glowing crystal structure.
“Do you know what this means?” he asked me, to which I immediately shook my head.
“Never seen these symbols before. But if I had to guess, the glow is magic, so this is probably a magic formula. Right?”
“Got it.” he passed me, heading for the door of the room. “Good guess. We were discussing some fundamentals that you’ll be learning today. I put in a request that the first years learn basic Flux control early this time around.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Basic control will mean everyone here can defend themselves a little. Just in case. We should talk after class.”
He didn’t allow me time to answer before he made his way out of the room, where I assumed he was checking on whatever his class was up to. This left me alone with my grandmother and the other professor, who I hadn’t had the chance to meet yet. Grandmother came up to me, interrupting her current conversation in a way that felt unintentional judging by the look of surprise on the other professors’ face.
“There she is.” Grandmother said, giving me a hug as large as someone her size could. “Come on, let me introduce you to my colleague.”
As if it were some big event, she had to pull me by hand to walk the ten or so feet to see the woman up close.
“June, this is Tariah.” she started. “Well, she’s Professor Ritter to you. She’s helping me run class this year.”
“June?” the woman who was now named to me asked. “Ah, you look just like Arcy mentioned.”
“Ar-” I began to realize who this probably was. “You’re one of the nobles, aren’t you?”
“Right. Tariah Von Ritter, also known as the First General of the Imperial army. Nice to meet you.”
“Tah-ree-ah.” I sounded it out loud. “General? I could have sworn you were a princess, but I suppose the last names don’t match up.”
“I am.” she replied quickly. “Actually, the three of us all have different last names. Dad took us all under his wing at different times, so my title of ‘First’ is only because I was adopted first. Then Laolyth, the Second Tactician, and finally Arcy the Third Princess.” she shrugged, and then her hands found their way behind her head as if relaxing. “Arcy has been telling me about her new friend, and I’m assuming based on the streak in your hair that that’s you.”
At the mention of my hair, I closed off a bit more instinctively before realizing I was going to be noted by it often going forward. I needed to find a way to style my hair to make this look more interesting, I remember thinking.
“Yeah, she’s one of my roommates and she’s been really good to me.” I replied. “I’m still surprised. I didn’t think two of the three princesses would be here in the city.”
“I came here initially to escort Arcy home, but that same day I got recruited into teaching for a bit. Not usually my strong point I’ll be the first to admit, but it means I can keep my baby sister safe so that’s fine.”
“Small world.” I shrugged. “Nice to meet you though!”
Grandmother laughed at my admittedly laid back reaction to meeting royalty, and it was at this moment I realized that I was starting to become desensitized to social status instead of being ignorant of it as I was last week. I suppose meeting a literal Goddess who is also your Grandmother would have that effect on you.
“You too,” she leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Fallen Princess.”
I recoiled from her teasing, and she laughed a bit. Apparently I must retract my statement from only a few moments ago.
“Is that what people who know about me call me?” I asked, clueless as to why but also annoyed when Professor Ritter and Grandmother nodded in unison.
“It’s fine, only Pantheon members, your family and mine actually know.” Professor Ritter confirmed. “Mirroheart made sure to beat that into us.”
“Even more reason I owe him one.” I sighed. “I just want to help people, I don’t’’ No, I’ve been on this rant before I’ll save my breath. Thanks for keeping it between us.”
“No problem.” Grandmother waved it off. “Now, go sit down, the rest of the students will be coming in shortly and if they see you buddy up with us you’re not going to be able to avoid questions.”
I felt a bit silly as I agreed to this, and found my way to the seating area. Nothing was labeled for specific people, so I assumed I could sit anywhere and chose a spot close to the center, but not in the exact center, of the double podium area. I knew they would dominantly be teaching from this location, and wanted to be close enough to take notes but far enough back to not draw attention. I chose the third row of seats, and before long several other students made their way in, most of which I’d seen in the hallway earlier and a few that I didn’t. In total, there were twenty-two of us.
Seated next to me was a boy about my age, who if my racial knowledge was correct was of Lopriel descent, and to his side was a Quezariel male. Both of them seemed fairly standard to what I was told their species looked like and what I’d seen, but the Quezariel male was a bit less dark in complexion than Ike. Instead, I could almost see through him at some places. Not wanting to be caught staring, I looked away and to the other side of the room. Seated directly across from me in the first row was a human girl, who couldn’t have been much older than I was, reading some sort of blue tome.
The two males began reading as well, though it was a different book and they were reading it together. As they did, I noticed the rest of the common members of the class seating around us. So many individual people made it hard for me to focus on any more specifically, especially as Grandmother began addressing the class immediately after everyone was seated.
“Welcome, new knowledge seekers.” she spoke in a way that sounded like a foil to her impish outbursts from before, as if she took the job seriously. “My name is Jamie Faye. I am not the Goddess of Destruction while in this classroom; I am Professor Faye, your educator and confidant. I know some of you will be afraid of me, but you absolutely must shake that fear if you are to learn anything while in my classroom.”
Next to her, I saw Professor Ritter approach from the other side.
“And I am Tariah Von Ritter. While in this classroom, I am not the First General. I am an assistant educator. You are in very good hands for your elementary education between the two of us.”
Neither of them sounded as laid back as before, and it was almost funny to see how seriously they took things until I realized the purpose of that was to make sure their students, who were most likely unsure of how to handle this particular duo of important people, could relax.
“Let’s start with roll call.” Grandmother spoke, unrolling a scroll from her podium.
“Elodie?” she asked. The girl directly across from me raised her hand, but said nothing.
“Shoka?” another student on the other side raised their hand. I was starting to get the pattern that this would be the response expected of me as well.
“Pentagon?” again, a student raised their hand. This time it was a Quezariel woman to my right.
“June?” I almost missed my own name, but raised my hand according to the norm, maybe a bit more energetically than I anticipated.
“Bradley?” The Quezariel male beside me raised his hand.
“Usk?” I saw a student of an unfamiliar species raise his hand. He seemed more reptilian than human.
“Mason?” the Lopriel male beside me raised his hand. It was about this point that I stopped noticing people individually as Grandmother began to go through the names with some slight difficulty in pronunciation. Instead of lingering on that, I awaited the class to start, and Professor Ritter was the next to speak up.
“Right. With all of your attendance, we can begin the first lesson. This will be a bit different to the syllabus you probably heard about, though. This year, we are trying the basics of Flux control as our starting point and seeing if that changes the class participation overall.”
“Right.” Grandmother spoke again. “So, let’s begin with a question; What exactly is Flux control? Anyone know?”
I saw the woman named Elodie raise her hand.
“The control over the fluctuations in magical energy in the atmosphere, using our Primal Blood to manipulate it at will.”
“That’s mostly correct.” she confirmed. “However, Primal Blood isn’t the correct term for your usage. That would be for Pantheon members. What you have is Inherited Blood.”
At this, Grandmother snapped her fingers, and the podium in front of her froze over in an instant.
“To control your Inherited Blood and channel it into energy is a bit more complicated than just making it happen and then magic comes out. Your magical potential is tied to the structure of our bodies. We call this particular study Flux Biology, and it’s the beginning of Flux control. You can’t control your Inherited Blood to the fullest without knowing why and how you’re able to.”
She stepped away from the podium, lighting a small golden flame atop it to melt the ice and causing the wood beneath us to soak.
“Things like creating and destroying are basic concepts, but that’s not actually the full story. In order to create, you are combining elements together, and the same is said of destruction. Everything comes down to the basic building blocks of our world.”
I was intent to observe every motion she did, fascinated but only for knowledge sake. Magic wasn’t my thing.
“Does anyone know the basic fundamentals of this world? What are those called?”
“Particles?” I heard from behind me. Grandmother nodded.
“Particles, yes. There are particles in all of us, from our skin to our hearts. These particles come in a few different shapes, which we call Elements. Every element is present in every person, place, and thing in varying amounts. Ordinary people are built from this, but the Inherited Blood is special. Only in the Inherited Blood do we see Elements being manipulated like muscles. After you realize how to do it, it becomes like blinking. Involuntary and expected of your body to do. For some people, this takes nothing more than physically maturing. For others, great trauma has to awaken the muscle. Some never use it at all and it atrophies, leaving some people magically indept.”
She turned to Professor Ritter, who took over for a moment while Grandmother began to move to the board with the runes from earlier.
“This sounds complicated but it’s really the most basic way to explain magic. For example, when you learn how to activate your Inherited Blood, you can do things like vibrate it violently to generate heat, creating some form of barrier around your body. You could also emit that heat through your pores as raw energy and interact with it for a brief time while it exits your body, allowing willful manipulation of the energy into physical shapes and firing them. That’s the basics of offensive and defensive spellcasting. You see? It all ties to activating this imaginary muscle in your blood. The point of this lesson is to activate that in each of you who have access, and advise those who don’t in how to live without it in the advanced world.”
As she finished speaking, Grandmother called out to the class from the board.
“You all may want to duck.”
Magna Varia 