"You think I am a fool. Don't you dare to mock the dead brother of Lady Shelly. Have you no shame?"
Said the boy named Elias in a harsh tone, "don't you dare pretend to be her real little brother."
"Why?" August asked as he mustered up the courage to continue, "what happened to her real brother?"
After knowing Shelly which felt like a lifetime for now, August was taken aback to find out something this serious about her. While there still was a doubt that this strange boy must be making up this whole thing but his expressions never betrayed him.
"You really didn't know?" Elias widened his eyes in surprise, "her little brother died some years ago."
As if he was saying nothing but the truth. Every word coming out of his mouth felt heavy, like a big revelation to August. He was the kind to hate being left under the shades. Not hearing the truth from Shelly's mouth made him feel a little bit of betrayal. But more than that he felt disappointed ...in himself.
He should've asked her.
Maybe it was because the jolly front she puts up before everyone around was to divert herself from that painful memory. He felt wrong, not being of a help to ease up her pain. And for some reason there was a little bit of anger somewhere in his mixed, complicated emotions.
Why haven't she told him already? Aren't they both close enough to share things like these? Does she not mean when she said she wanted a little brother.
Wait, now all the things started to make sense to August. She was drowned in her sadness of losing a little brother therefore when she found August before her front door she became desperate to make him her little brother.
She wanted to replace him in her memories with her lost brother. Shelly, she just wanted someone to take her dead brother's...
Before he could complete the chain of thoughts however, Elias spoke again as he noticed August' discomfort, "what? Really? You really didn't knew?"
Clearing his throat, "well, now you know. Say! What is your relation with Lady Shelly? Or are you trying to stick with the former answer perhaps?"
August was here today to attend a class on mana basics. He came here sneaking from his mother all day which wasn't quite an easy job to do. But the revelation he got to know here also wasn't something to be forgotten easily. It was a hard pill to swallow.
There were many questions rising in his mind.
Not now.
They can wait.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before answering the young boy in front of him, "that's right, Lord Elias. I'm not her real brother but kind of sworn or you can say God brother."
"Oh! Is that so?" The young boy doesn't seem satisfied by his answer but the class was about to start. He bit back any of the questions he had and never stopped staring at August with angry expressions, "okay then, I'll trust you for once."
His expressions though said something else. It was obvious the boy wasn't even close to being done with August.
Suddenly the class got quiet as a beautiful woman wearing a crimson-black dress made from a kind of protecting cloth but looked like an elegant dress at the same time. Her dark hair tied upwards in a pony tail. Walking slowly to the podium, every step she took seemed graceful and flawless.
"Good morning students" she said in a pleasant tone resting her hands on the podium and looking at the newest batch of students with her red ruby eyes, "My name is Sophia. Your one and only teacher."
'what kind of introduction was that?'
Obviously there wasn't anyone in the small town who didn't know about Lady Sophia and her husband Lord Valerius. They were kind of icons of nobility for their small town after all. As far as a small town's nobility goes.
Both husband and wife were high grade combat mages but the thing that made them loved by townsfolk was they were extremely kind and generous people. They used to help the town's people in need and used to protect the town from any external threats.
She greeted the young batch of students, It wasn't like she shouted in that grand hall but somehow everyone seemed to have heard the pleasant greeting.
'wind magic perhaps'
It was true that the attribute Lady Sophia possessed was of the core element Ice. But for an experienced mage with mana it wasn't impossible to use other elements up to an extent, that is. If nothing more the element of anchor helped the mage to overcome the effects of echoes from other elements and use them also if one has aptitude and wished to do so. Not to mention it required very high mental capacity to command more than one element.
Like in this case Lady Sophia was using wind type non incantation-less spells, to carry out her words to everyone in the class.
The beautiful teacher however continued, "the purpose of all of you to be gathered here today is the common interest we all share. Magic." She lifted her hand from the podium and started walking across the lifted platform, "Magic is something that makes our life easier, it is something ...beautiful. Creating something out of nothing, I don't know feels like a dream to me."
'how vague is she with her explanations'
Watching the students who were listening to her attentively, "So who can answer my next question?"
She lingered for a moment watching excitement rising in the eyes of the students, "Magic is the result of what exactly?"
'she's asking easy questions at the start huh? Mom really seems like a good teacher. Well everyone knows the answer.'
She observed the class as her eyes ran across the great hall.
August, who was sitting at the top, far from the centre or his mother to say was confident that he might go unnoticed. But due to the conversation he had with the boy named Elias, August was thinking something else already. He forgot to hide from his mother.
Well it wasn't like he could try to hide below the desk. It could've attracted even more attention. What he meant to hide from her was to sit quietly and pray to the gods that she didn't notice him.
The moment he thought he wasn't noticed by her, she saw right through the crowd of students, locking eyes with him. Even if it was for just a moment. For some reason August thought he saw a dark smile appear on her lips.
'this is bad. Mom's gonna point me out'
"You!" She looked in the direction of August for a moment and gestured for a student to stand who was raising her hand, "yes little mage, tell me."
'Thank god! ...little mage? mom! You are embarrassing the poor girl'
The girl who stood however, seemed unfazed. No more like she seemed pleased with the compliment. There was a hint of emotion but she suppressed it before anyone could've noticed.
"Magic is a supernatural phenomena" the girl said proudly, "which takes place as a result of our innate mana present in us since birth."
'yeah! Right. Pursuit of magic, page no. 4. She seems more bookish than me. Blurting out the same answer written in a book?'
"That's right" Lady Sophia said smiling, "what is your name young lady?"
The young girl seemed surprised for a bit but never let that show on her face, "Nyra, it's Nyra Ma'am"
"The answer young Nyra here gave" gesturing the girl to sit down, "it's absolutely right." She lingered for a moment then added, "but you see, there is another factor which produces magic as a result"
The beautiful teacher raised her hand as though giving a command to something invisible. Then a beautiful see through ice crystal appeared hovering above her palm, "the other factor is however, your imagination." The ice crystal started changing its shape under the influence of her unspoken commands, "We mages, use mana to give shape to our imaginations and that's what makes magic beautiful."
The crystal was now of the size somewhat bigger than her palm. Students gasped in amazement as they saw different phases inside the icy blue crystal starting to arrange themselves in a perfect order. What seemed like an irregular shaped crystal of pure blue ice some-time ago, now was looking like a huge diamond crystal, reflecting the sunlight coming from the long window from where the teacher was standing.
The light got reflected from within the— now white crystal illuminating the surroundings of the great hall in various colours. Some were clapping, some stared in amazement and some were looking at the gem with determination in hopes of someday they would also be able to do something beautiful like that.
August however was also impressed a little bit. It wasn't like he hadn't seen his mother do stuff like that at home. But for some reason being surrounded by these many students appreciating the same thing felt heartwarming. He could also say he felt a little proud of his mother. Not that he would say that aloud of course.
Another reason for him to be impressed was the process. Unlike the many here, he knew what might have inspired the mana to behave that way. He knew the process behind the beautiful miracle, in theory that is. He also had the look of determination in his eyes. He may have been ahead of these students in the perception and stabilization of mana but unlike them August didn't have the core element to anchor him to mana.
Most of the children present here would probably have used a spell before. Making something out of nothing which was way easier for the ones with the core element. On the other hand August may very well be a single person in that hall not having the experience of even forming his first spell.
It wasn't like he could be blamed for that though. It wasn't his fault he encountered echoes from the other elements trying to make him use them or making him go insane indirectly.
All of the students were flabbergasted by this beautiful display of creation with mana by their teacher. But the show wasn't about to end just yet.
The hovering diamond ice crystal above her palm illuminating the surroundings with various colours of light stopped rotating. Lady Sophia gave a gentle push to the gem upwards. The crystal flew above, leaving her palm.
Reaching at some considerable height, where everyone present in the great hall could clearly see it, "Just like I created something with my imagination using mana, shaped it according to my will in the process whichever I wanted" she walked towards the podium once again, "If I can have enough control over my imagination and my innate mana, I could easily make this crystal turn into nothing using the same process but in reverse direction."
The crystal started forming cracks like it had when it was just an irregular block of ice, "or I could also modify the process a little bit. To make it look more ... beautiful" the internal visible phases of the crystal started forming cracks once again but this time the process wasn't irregular.
August looked above in bewilderment as the ice gem broke with audible noises into many smaller pieces. No not the irregular pieces, they were exactly shaped like ... snowflakes.
The crystal fell down on the amazed student mages in the form of tiny and beautiful snowflakes. However before coming into contact with any of them the snowflakes vanished into nothing.
The beautiful teacher however never looked back at the impressed faces she knew the reactions already. It wasn't the first time she had shown the beauty of magic to the young generation.
But this wasn't a regular class like all of the previous ones either. The special thing about this class was when she spotted her one and only son sitting in the crowd of young student mages. Lady Sophia was so excited that she wanted to jump from the stage.
She tried to hide her excitement but she wasn't able to do that anymore. With that it was time for her to talk with her sweet son. In a way no one would suspect of course.
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