Continued Review

John was teleported to his next class, Professor Arjun was answering a student’s questions as more of John’s classmates appeared. When all of the students had settled in their seats the professor indicated that the student who had been speaking to him would have to wait until after class to continue.

“Good day to you, students. Today we will continue our review of Elemental Evocation. Please order yourselves into your elemental groups and quiz each other on the subjects of your element.”

The students were quick to divide into their groups at the professor’s words. John walked towards Fiona, the only student he was sure was a fire mage. She smiled and waved him over.

“Hey,” she greeted him.

“Hey,” he responded.

There was an awkward silence.

“So, should I quiz you or-” John began.

“I’ll quiz you first, to see what you know,” was her quick response.

John nodded and waited for her to question him.

“How many degrees of burns are there, and what’s the difference between them?” She seemed to be starting with easier questions.

“Three, and the difference is how deep the burn affects the body,” John answered.

“Incorrect.”

His brow furrowed.

“What’s the answer?”

“Well, partially incorrect I guess. There are four degrees of burns.”

John raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

“What’s a fourth degree burn?”

“Soulburn.” The word carried a certain weight with it, and the room felt colder and smaller after she said it.

“That sounds painful.”

“It is, and it’s both extremely rare and extremely damaging. It incapacitates a person’s ability to generate mana, permanently. There has been no recorded healing of a soul burn.”

John nodded his understanding.

“Got it. Four degrees, fourth degree bad.”

She laughed at his oversimplification.

“Okay, next question: how is mana converted into flames?”

“I have no idea,” was John’s instant response.

“It’s a trick question, modern arcane studies are nowhere near understanding how it works,” Fiona giggled throughout her explanation, finding John’s confused expression immensely amusing.

“Is that question going to be on the test?”

“It could be, but paper tests are for students who fail their spars. I have a feeling you won’t be one of the students that have to take a paper test.”

“Our exams are spars?”

“Yeah, it’s a practical show of what we know how to do. It’s one thing to talk about evoking walls of flame, and another to actually do it, you know?”

John nodded again.

“So, if that’s the case, why are we studying concepts?”

“Because, not everyone is as naturally talented as some guy who just appeared in our class in the middle of the course.”

They both laughed for a bit before continuing their review.

---

Arabella yawned and stretched in her bed.

“Mira! Malvada malagradecida! Levantate ociosa!” A feminine voice yelled from the kitchen.

“Callate que ya me levante!” Was Arabella’s response. Footsteps and faint cursing approached the bedroom door.

“If you’re already awake why are you still in bed?” Her roommate smiled triumphantly at her discovery.

“Because I just woke up, leave me alone, will ya?”

Her roommate rolled her eyes and left Arabella to continue cooking. A lively Salsa tune filled the apartment today, trumpets blaring and congas thumping.

How’d I sleep through this?

A morning routine and a few minutes later, Arabella had left her dorm and set out to do something productive with her school suspension. Her first thought, of course, was to work on the blade her Master Smith had assigned. It was her responsibility to complete it. Suspension was no excuse for incomplete work.

She walked at a brisk pace, determination in her eyes. The only place she could finish her work outside of school was at the Smiths’ clubhouse, several blocks uptown. She was a proud member of the Smiths club at Firesmith, and though she was suspended from her classes she could still use the club facilities.

The clubhouse was disguised as a regular apartment building, indistinguishable from its neighbors. Should any non-Abyssal creatures enter all they would see is a decrepit lobby with no attendant. Though to the Firesmith student, the lobby was a comfortably furnished room with overstuffed chairs and a lavish fireplace. The front desk was attended by a flame elemental who floated playfully from one end of their workspace to the other. The elemental took the form of a tiny masculine fairy, flying loops and spins from end to end behind the counter.

“Ara, Ara! You’re in troooouublllle~” His voice was taunting, tiny, and slightly crackling.There was a teasing smile on his lips as Arabella walked towards him.

“I know, I know,” She giggled at his looping antics. “Master Smith is going to make me sharped swords for weeks!”

They both laughed at that.

“Anyways, I need to get to my forge.”

“One portal to an Ara Forge, coming right up!”

Arabella stood back as he started to glow and heat up considerably. A door started to rise from the floor in between them. After a few seconds the door rose to its full height and unlocked with a click.

“Thanks, sparky!”

“Ara, Ara! I hate that nickname! It was one time! How long are you guys going to-”

The rest of his complaint was cut off as Arabella opened the door and walked through it into her forge. Each club member had their own, though higher ranking members had slightly larger ones. Each forge had three doors: one that led to the lobby, one that led to the school armory, and one that led to the school smithing store room. She walked through her forge and into the store room to retrieve her unfinished blade and back to her forge as quickly as possible. She didn’t want to run the risk of being caught on school grounds.

With her blade in hand and the fire of her forge lit, she was ready to continue her work in earnest.

---

“Now class, please transition into demonstration of skill mastery.” Professor Arjun’s voice was soft but authoritative, carrying across the room and cutting through the chatter to everyone’s attention.

Fiona looked at John nervously.

“We can’t spar, you’re way too strong for me.”

“Yeah I don’t want to hurt you.”

There was an awkward silence.

“So what skills are we demonstrating mastery of?”

John broke the silence with a question.

“Oh, things I’m sure you know already. Steady burn of a mana flame. Melt an object with a mana flame. Have flames cover some part of your body without burning yourself. Throw a fireball. Throw a fireball accurately. Throw a fireball accurately at a moving target. Hold two fireballs at once. Really intermediate stuff.”

John nodded.

“I think I can do all of that. I’m not too sure I can pull off melting an object while I’m sparring with someone but I guess it’s not impossible.”

That made her laugh.

“Nice confidence,” she said as her giggles died down. “Let’s test that theory.”

John smiled at the challenge.

“Okay. First up: steady burn of a mana flame.”

He cast flames in his right hand, holding the small fire in his palm.

“How long can you keep that going?”

“A little less than an hour,” he lied, not wanting to make himself sound like a threat.

Judging by the surprised look in Fiona’s eyes, John could tell that he was either ridiculously overestimating his classmates or ridiculously underestimating them. He couldn’t tell which.

I need more charisma.

“Almost an HOUR? Most of us can barely hit ten minutes,” she hissed in an attempted whisper.

Ah, an overestimation.

John kicked himself mentally.

This is going to suck.

“We don’t have time to test my claim, so I’ll just keep it up for ten minutes and we can move on to the next skill. Does that sound good to you?”

She just nodded. Ten minutes ticked by and John let the flames dissipate. Fiona nodded again, seemingly coming to terms with how much more powerful he was than the rest of the class.

“Okay,” she said, “We don’t have anything to melt so I guess we have to skip that one.”

“Have flames cover a part of my body it is then,” John said as he cast flames.

The fire crept up from his palm to his shoulder, burning neither his skin nor his clothes. He let it sit there for a few seconds before letting it dissipate.

“How was that?”

“That was pretty average, a lot of people can keep the fire going for at least a minute. A few seconds is totally fine though, especially considering how long you can hold it in your hands.”

She thinks I stopped because I couldn’t keep it going. No sense in correcting her though, the weaker I look the better apparently. She seems much more relaxed.

“Alright cool. Next is throw a fireball. Which you’ve seen me do. As for throwing it accurately I think I did pretty good on that front. Throwing it at a moving target is something you haven’t seen from me but I’ve done it plenty of times I think I’ll do okay during the exam. That leaves holding two fireballs at once. Right?”

Fiona had been nodding along and it took her a few seconds to register that she should answer vocally.

“Yes, right. Just hold them for a few seconds if that’s what you can do.”

John nodded and cast fireball in both of his hands.

“Our time together is coming to a close, class. Please wrap up whatever practice you may be performing.”

Professor Arjun’s voice cut through the class yet again. John let his fireballs dissipate and smiled at Fiona.

“Thanks for all your help.”

“No problem, I would be more than happy to help after school too if you need it. My dorm is-”

John was teleported to his next class.