Raine awoke to the sound of persistent knocking on his door, followed by a sarcastic voice:
"If you don't wake up now, you'll be the first to achieve a failing grade without even showing up, oh genius of shadows!"
He sluggishly opened the door to find Professor Kraiv standing there, holding a cup of hot milk in one hand and a stack of papers in the other, wearing a smile far too wide to be genuine.
He handed him a paper and said:
"Exam schedule. And your name is spelled correctly this time, I swear I triple-checked it—even though the letters themselves seem to be trying to escape you!"
Raine glanced at the paper. Phrases like Structural Control, Chrono-Spatial Interference Readings, and The Philosophy of Magical Uncertainty leapt off the page.
He sighed and said:
"But I haven't reviewed any of this…"
Kraiv winked and replied:
"Neither did I, and yet here I am—a professor! Just go through it and fake confidence. That's my advice for life… and for marriage."
⸻
Raine entered the first exam hall and sat among his restless classmates.
One whispered:
"I heard he spent half the month staring at the wall, talking to his shadow."
Another replied:
"I think he became a shadow…"
But Professor Kraiv entered at that moment, shouting:
"No more whispers! This is an exam hall, not a philosophical café!"
He then raised his hand and whistled. A glowing, transparent paper appeared in front of each student.
"Question one: What's the difference between Reflection Magic and Refraction Magic? Answer without breaking… yourself."
Raine sighed again and muttered to himself:
"If only there was a question about surviving the unknown—I'd write a thesis."
⸻
As the exams progressed, fatigue began to show on everyone's faces—except for Professor Kraiv, who seemed to grow more energized the more frustrated the students became.
In the Live Power Demonstration exam, each student was required to perform a spell in front of an audience.
When Raine's turn came, he attempted to use one of his basic techniques… but his shadow suddenly stretched without permission, wrapping around one of the spectators.
A student screamed:
"He's activating shadow magic in a neutral zone! Has he lost it?!"
Kraiv responded with suspicious glee:
"Oh, excellent! Uncontrolled variables! Just what I needed—a bit of action!"
But the shadow began to spiral out of control, distorting the magical field itself.
Raine's classmates began screaming—some rushed for the doors, others disappeared briefly into folds in space-time.
⸻
Just as one of the walls was about to collapse—everything froze.
Sound, movement… even light stopped.
Then Headmaster Malek appeared out of nowhere, walking calmly through the frozen chaos, a small leather-bound notebook in hand.
He opened it and wrote:
"The test resets to its original state. No injuries. No collapses. No tears."
Everything began to revert—the shadow withdrew, doors closed, and students breathed again.
Malek looked at Kraiv and said quietly:
"Once again… you launched a session without stabilizing the structural fields."
Kraiv smiled:
"But did you see? They had fun! I mean… in their own way!"
Malek didn't reply—he only gave Raine a long look, then disappeared as suddenly as he had come.
⸻
When it was all over, Raine sat alone in the stone corridor outside the hall, staring at the blank paper he'd barely written on.
Kraiv sat beside him and handed him a strangely shaped candy.
He said:
"Sometimes, the best answer in life… is survival."
Raine looked at him and asked:
"Won't they expel me because of today?"
Kraiv smiled:
"Maybe. Or maybe they'll keep you… because they don't yet know what you are."
Then he added as he stood up:
"Every test has a question that isn't asked… but your very existence asks it."
And with that, he walked away.