Introduction To Elemental Affinity

As you enter the classroom, two things catch your attention instantly.

The first is that on each desk there is a small, clear glass filled with an unidentifiable, gelatinous, dull grey colored substance. You can't help but wonder what their purpose is and, from the looks of things, other students are having the same thought as well.

The second is the teacher. She's got to be the tallest women you've ever seen in your life. Even leaning against the side of her desk, you'd put her at six five or so easily and while tall women aren't completely your thing, you can't deny there's an attractiveness to her slender frame shown off by the dark blue pantsuit she wears. She observes you entering the room and nods, adjusting the thin glasses on her face and unconsciously brushing back a strand of her jet black hair that escapes the confines of her hair bun. She indicates for you to take a seat and you do so, as there is only one left open, meaning you're the last to arrive.

Hopefully, you think, that won't leave too bad of a first impression.

Once you're settled in, and out of the corner of your eye you notice the girl with short cropped brown hair sitting next to you give you a quick once-over, the teacher begins to speak. "Welcome," she says, "My name is Professor Aspecta and welcome to your Introduction To Elemental Affinity."

She looks around the room at all of you and, though you are not completely sure, seems to momentarily pause to look at you in particular before continuing. "You may have noticed," she says waving her hand at the class, "that only Wyverns are currently here for this portion of the lecture. The reason for this is that the nature of the magic you have been chosen to learn is more specialized than most. Who here, if any of you, has heard of the concept of Elemental Affinity before?"

Silence fills the room, the typical first class jitters causing most mouths to remain closed. Admittedly, in your case, your inexperience with magic makes you uncertain if what the most obvious answer seems to be is the right one or not.

"Anyone?" Aspecta asks, looking around at the students before a small smile comes to her lips, "Don't worry, you haven't reached Advanced Illusions quite yet, so there's no need to think the most obvious answer is some sort of trap."

Eventually, the brunette sitting next to you shoots up her hand and when the teacher nods to her to speak she says, "It means the type of elements a magic user is good at using. Like, if you're really good at making fireballs, you're gonna suck at making tornadoes."

"You're on the right track," Aspecta replied, "but that isn't QUITE correct."

Another smile comes to her lips as she adds, "Oh and please refrain from using words like 'suck' to describe someone's skill unless you are discussing Professor Schwartz's abilities at playing the guitar. Don't tell him I said that, though."

Most of the class laughs, including yourself and the brunette (though she does flush slightly at either the slip of her tongue or the resulting chastising) and now it is your turn to raise you hand. All eyes fall on you and for a moment you feel a twinge of panic at the thought of people laughing at you, the student who got an aptitude score of 108 but who can't answer the most basic of magical theory questions.

"It means," you say, licking your suddenly dry lips, "Not being GOOD at certain elemental spells so much as having a good CONNECTION to that kind of element. Like, if you're good at fireballs and bad at tornadoes, that means you've got an affinity to Fire Magic energy more than you do to Wind magic?"

You mentally kick yourself for having what you intended to be a statement end up sounding like you were asking a question due to your own uncertainty. However, you do feel relieved when Professor Aspecta nods and says, "Correct. This course will be introducing the four main elements and how they interact with each other but before that, there is something I must ask you to do that will address something I'm sure you've all been curious about."

She walks up to the closest desk to the front and indicates the glass on it. "Please stick the thumb and forefinger of your dominant hand into the Affinity Liquid," she says, "Most people tend to have a greater affinity for two Elements and before we can really get into the details, I need to see if I'm going to have to be focusing on certain combinations more than others."

You look around as the other students begin placing their fingers into the liquid and pause as the short-haired brunette next to you gives you a little wink before doing so herself. You take a deep breath and then dart your thumb and forefinger into the liquid to see what happens.