It Vanishes

You watch the liquid closely as your fingers sink into it. It feels like you are putting your fingers into runny jello but, at first, nothing seems to happen.

You glance over at the brunette next to you and your eyes widen at what you observe. The top half of the liquid has turned a red color and bubbles like it was boiling (though the girl doesn't seem to be in any pain so it may not actually be hot) and the bottom half is a light brown color that seems to have dried out and hardened. She looks at the transformed substance with a grin and then looks over at you.

Her expression changes to one of confusion as she does so, causing you to look back at your glass only to discover it is completely empty without even any residue left on the glass or your fingers from where you came in contact with it. You're not sure what that means but given how other students nearby are craning their necks to stare as well, you get the feeling this isn't normal.

Professor Aspecta, meanwhile, has been casually looking over the glasses one by one, mentioning their combinations as she does so. "Ah," she says as she sees your neighbor's glass, "The first Fire and Earth combination of this year and you..."

She pauses as she sees your glass, a finger going to tap her chin for a moment before saying, "Huh. I suppose someone with an unusually high score would also have an unusual Affinity as well. Congratulations, you're the first student in over one hundred years to have a Void Affinity."

The Professor doesn't sound surprised at all, just intensely curious. The brunette next to you, however, speaks up and certainly does sound surprised. "Void?" she asks, "I thought there were only four Elements: Earth, Fire, Wind and Water."

"Technically, Ms..." Aspecta trails off as she looks at the brunette expectantly.

"Amelia Harker, ma'am."

"Technically, Ms. Harker," Aspecta continues, "It's still a matter of some debate in the magic community if Void should be considered a proper Element or if it deserves its own separate classification. This is because, in the simplest of terms for now, Void is an absence of Elements that also draws in all Elements."

Aspecta lightly pats you on the shoulder and grins at you as she says, "So I suppose those congratulations should be followed by condolences. While everyone else will need to simply follow the curriculum for their two Elements, I'm afraid this means you're going to have to take full courses on all four and their various combinations."

You groan at the thought, as well as the realization that means expectations for your performance have been raised yet again, and Aspecta flashes you another smile before moving on to finish cataloguing the rest of the class and resuming the rest of her lecture.

The rest of the class is uneventful, outlining the very basics of what you'll be covering for the semester and taking notes the whole time. However, at the very end you feel something bump into your foot and you glance down to see a folded up piece of paper there. As everyone stands, you casually snatch it up and open it to read the pencil written message inside.

"Meet me back at the Dorm. Wanna talk to you. - Amelia"

You look up towards Amelia's desk only to find that she's already left while you weren't paying attention to her, so you fold up the note and put it in your jacket pocket. There IS a two-hour gap between the end of this class and the start of the next. You had been considering using the time to get to know the lay of the campus better but if a woman is sending you letters asking you to meet her alone after only having met an hour or so ago, maybe it would be worth it to find out what she wants.