I know the moment they start watching.
The room always gets quieter before it happens. Not silent, just tense, like the air is holding its breath with me. My hands shake before I tell them to move. I tell myself to calm down. I never do.
Creation magic isn't supposed to be loud. It's supposed to be precise. Gentle.
Mine never is.
Boom.
Tiny flames crackled out of the gap between my thumb and pinky. I'd flopped again, hadn't I? I had failed the most basic creation spell for the sixtieth time today.
"I'm never going to get better at this," I sighed as I walked back to my seat in shame. I could feel the gloom settle over my face as sweat dripped down my chin.
The class roared with laughter, but Kael's voice rang out the loudest, as if he alone were mocking me.
Professor Selene walked up to my desk, where I had gently laid in resignation. She gave my grubby hair a pat and smiled warmly. She was the only one who ever really had my back through all this. Sometimes she'd privately ask me to stay after class, just to try and cheer me up.
Life as a weakling wasn't so bad as long as Professor Selene had my back.
Or so I thought.
I had no idea things were about to get worse.
The final bell rang, echoing through the building and marking the end of another long day. Student mages rushed out, showing off bright displays of different magical forms as the popular mage sects drifted out in confident groups.
Looking across the table of disarranged spell books, my eyes hovered over a dazzling figurine, one of the class's most proficient spell casters. Her name was Lyra, and she was... a handful. Confident. Effortlessly beautiful.
I didn't realize how long I'd been staring until she started to notice.
The moment our eyes met, my hands froze on the mess of spell books in front of me. Panic hit. I quickly turned away, cheeks burning, and hurriedly packed everything up before racing out of the classroom in an awkward scramble that probably left Lyra wondering,
What's up with him?
Walking down the hallway, I spoke to no one. Not that anyone would want to speak to me in the first place. I was the class wimp, a loser no one wanted anything to do with. To make it worse, I was terrible at open communication, especially when I was nervous.
So I kept walking, eyes forward, trying to avoid the stares of the student mages lining the halls and struggling to maintain my composure. I was used to this, it was part of my daily routine but today felt different.
Heavier.
It felt like more eyes were on me than usual. Judging me. Measuring me. I could feel my heart racing, my skin prickling as unease crawled up my spine. I picked up my pace, desperate to escape the hallway as quickly as possible.
Then it happened.
My foot caught on a tiny brick.
THUMP!
I slammed straight into someone.
Draven.
He fell.
And in that moment, I knew my life was over.
I silently prayed for the floor to open up and swallow me whole. The air grew dense, thick with tension, and fear rooted me in place. I couldn't move.
Draven was one of the oldest students and one of the most feared. A bully you never crossed. Especially not with his clique of no-good Titanar mages at his side. They belonged to the Strength Magic sect, infamous for using physical enhancement spells to dominate anyone weaker.
And now, I had just knocked their leader to the ground.
I quickly pulled myself together as Draven slowly stood up, turning his head toward me. The dreadful expression on his face sent chills down my spine.
"I-I-I'm so-sorry," I stammered, my voice barely holding.
"Get on your knees," he muttered.
My heart skipped. What did he mean by that? It was an accident, nothing more. I mumbled incoherently, pretending I hadn't heard him.
Then his eyes darkened.
Fists clenched.
"GET ON YOUR KNEES!"
The command slammed into me, sharp and unforgiving. Fear washed over my body. I gave in, starting to lower myself...
Then suddenly, Lyra burst in.
She shoved Draven aside with one hand and reached for me with the other, yanking me out of the circle he and his clique had formed.
The air softened as she dragged me away from the crowd of student mages who had gathered, eager to watch Draven beat me into the floor.
I was stunned.
Lyra... saved me.
I barely noticed where we were going. All I knew was that she was holding my hand tight, firm, real, as she pulled me along. My heart raced for reasons that had nothing to do with fear. Her wavy hair danced in the wind as she turned a corner sharply, running against her own momentum.
What am I doing?
This wasn't the time to be thinking about this.
She slowed only when we reached a quiet corner of the academy, empty and hidden. Once she realized no one was around, she let go of my hand and turned to face me, frowning.
"What were you thinking?" she snapped. "Starting trouble with Draven? Are you out of your mind?"
I didn't answer.
I couldn't.
I was too busy staring.
She looked cute when she was angry, ranting, expressive. I hadn't heard a single word she said.
"Moses," she said, patting my shoulder gently. "I'm talking to you. What are you staring at?"
I jolted back to reality.
"Uh... what were you saying?" I stuttered.
Her expression shifted-from concern to irritation.
"You got yourself into trouble. With Draven," she said sharply. "Of all the mages in all three dorms, you decided it'd be a great idea to get on his nerves. I go out of my way to save you, and you're not even listening?"
Her words came fast, laced with frustration. I could hear it clearly now.
To her...
I was a lot to deal with.
"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I was... uh... still in shock."
It was the best excuse I could come up with.
"Arrgh," she groaned. "Well, you're in big trouble now. You're officially on Draven's list of people to 'beat to a pulp'." She began pacing back and forth. "And I think I just made things worse by stepping in."
She stopped suddenly, pressing her palm against the brick wall.
"I couldn't just stand there and watch him humiliate you," she continued, frustration thick in her voice. "Not when you already have it bad enough in class. But now I have to figure out how to get you out of this mess. What a drag."
Then...
"Who's there?" a voice snapped from the other side of the wall.
"Shhh!" Lyra whispered sharply.
In one swift motion, she shoved me into the corner and pressed her fingers over my mouth. I froze.
A figure stepped into view, a brownish-gray male silhouette in mage uniform. A student. I couldn't make out his face clearly, but something about him felt wrong. Dangerous.
He scanned the area slowly.
Seconds passed.
Then, after a long pause, he turned and walked away.
Only then did I realize how close Lyra was.
She had been practically on top of me the whole time.
The moment the footsteps faded, she pulled away quickly, cheeks flushed as she turned aside, clearly embarrassed.
She took a breath, regaining her composure.
"That was one of Draven's goons," she said quietly. "They're probably all over the academy looking for you. We need to stay low until I can think of a way out of this."
I nodded, still trying to process everything that was happening.
She peeked around the corner once more. Seeing no one, she reached for my hand again and guided me along a longer, hidden route out of the academy, doing everything she could to keep us away from Draven and his friends.
Draven stood frozen in astonishment. Lyra, one of the most popular girls in school, had stepped in for a wimp like me. He couldn't understand why. She was known for avoiding drama, being carefree, keeping her distance from conflict. Yet here she was, risking herself for me.
He had already sent members of his clique to search for me around the academy. Draven himself was heading back to his dorm, likely to rethink his next move. I swallowed hard, heart thudding, and quickened my pace alongside Lyra.
As we moved along the railings, I spotted Elowen, smiling cheerfully as usual. She looked like an angel, always kind, always happy, loved by students and teachers alike. She waved at everyone she knew. I wanted to greet her too, but Lyra shot me a glare sharp enough to make my stomach twist. I swallowed my words and kept moving.
The academy's dorms were strictly separated by gender, with high security to prevent misbehavior. I glanced around nervously. But Lyra kept dragging me straight toward the female dorm. I opened my mouth to ask why, then shut it again. Somehow, I trusted that she knew what she was doing.
The closer we got to the dorm entrance, the more I noticed the high-tech magical drones hovering silently, scanning the area. My pulse raced, and I could feel a cold sweat forming on my neck.
"Think of home," she muttered, still gripping my hand tightly. My mind scrambled. Home? Dorm? What?
"THINK OF YOUR DORM!" she shouted, voice sharp and commanding.
"Okay! Okay!" I mumbled, picturing my room in my head. My stomach flipped, and I felt my heart hammer against my ribs.
"Integralis Flux, Nexum Apertum!"
A portal erupted before us. Its magical pull was sudden and forceful. I felt the wind whip against my face, my feet sliding across the floor, and in the next moment, I slammed against the picture frame in my room.
I blinked rapidly, chest heaving. Did she just create a teleportation spell? I thought aloud, stunned. Moments ago, we had been at the entrance of the Aetherion girls' dorm. Now, here I was, safely in my room, my back pressed against the wall, heart still racing.
"Weak. Pathetic. Always relying on someone else... Soon enough, you'll see what happens when you can't hide behind their power!"
My heart skipped a beat. "Who's there?" I whispered, but my own voice sounded small, as if I'd heard someone else speaking inside my head.
I heard nothing. No response.
Startled, I jumped up from my bed and made my way to the kitchen. The lights, which had been dimly lit earlier, were now completely off, leaving behind a dark trail ahead of me. I reached out, feeling around for the switch, when my eyes drifted toward a dark corner of the room.
I made out the shape of a male figure.
Fear crept through my veins.
"Who's there?" I called again, louder this time, my voice trembling despite my effort to sound brave. My hand kept searching blindly until my fingers brushed against a plastic box.
Click.
The lights came on, and the figure vanished.
I scanned the kitchen, my eyes darting across every corner. Nothing. No movement. No trace.
Was I hallucinating?
Maybe I needed rest.
I walked over to the cabinet, stretched my arm upward, and picked an apple from the crate. I tossed it lightly onto the chopping board, grabbed a knife, and sliced it into four neat pieces before dropping them into a bowl.
Before leaving, I glanced around one last time, my chest tight, half-expecting something to move. Nothing did.
I switched off the light and rushed back to my room, settling onto my bed with the bowl beside me. Legs crossed, I stared out the open window into the pitch-black night sky, dotted with tiny white stars, and began to replay the events of the day in my head.
Lyra really did save my ass back there, and I didn't even get the chance to thank her. But why did she do it?
It wasn't like her to interfere in things that actually required her attention, talk less of a situation involving Draven and me. The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. Something about the whole thing felt… off.
Did she have feelings for me?
I scoffed at the thought. That was ridiculous. Lyra had people lining up to be with her. She wouldn't settle for someone like me, someone with weak magic and almost no self-esteem. This wasn't some unrealistic love story.
I reached over to the bookshelf beside my bed and pulled out an old, leather-covered spellbook. It had been sitting there for years, collecting dust. I wiped it down with a napkin, unsure of what I was even planning to do with it.
Still… something inside me felt different.
A strange determination settled in my chest. I wanted to try again. Just once more, before sleep.
The book looked ancient, probably passed down from older mages. My dad had handed it to me when I was admitted into the academy. Back then, I didn't know what to do with it. So I kept it safe.
Now, I slowly opened the first page.
An illustration stared back at me, what I recognized as a warlock. On the opposite page was a male and female mage, standing side by side, holding a massive beam of energy between their hands.
My eyes traced the drawing until something caught my attention.
In the warlock's hand was a small golden rod, carved with intricate patterned stripes. I frowned.
What was that?
I leaned in closer. I had never seen a full illustration of a warlock before. The ones shown in history class were always damaged, incomplete… missing pieces.
Then, without thinking, without knowing why, a word surfaced in my mind.
"A wand."
The realization sent a chill through me. I was certain of it. And yet, I couldn't explain how I knew. I had never seen one before. Never heard of one being used like this.
Too many strange things had happened today.
I sighed and glanced out the window. The moon hung high in the sky, full and glowing, watching over the academy in silence.
Turning back to the spellbook, I flipped the page, and froze.
Spells.
Organized neatly.
Separated by sect.
The spells were written so roughly that I had to lean in close, my eyes straining as I tried to decipher the words etched into the pages. Most of it looked rushed, almost careless, as though whoever wrote it was concerned more with urgency than neatness.
As I flipped through, one page stopped me cold.
VULCANIS.
The word was written boldly in gothic letters, darker than the rest of the text, like it demanded attention. I didn't need to think twice about what it meant. Vulcanis was the dorm name of the Creation Sect. This had to be it, the section meant for mages like me.
A spark of hope flickered in my chest as I turned the page.
Nothing.
I frowned and flipped again. Still blank. I kept going, faster now, pages brushing past my fingers as my heartbeat picked up. Every page was empty. All the way to the end.
"What…?"
Confusion quickly turned into frustration. Who would go through the trouble of creating a spellbook only to leave out the spells? Especially for an entire sect? It didn't make any sense. It felt cruel, like some kind of joke aimed directly at me.
I stared at the final page, my jaw tight, when something small caught my eye. A faint handwritten note sat quietly at the bottom, easy to miss.
Create your path!
I scoffed bitterly. Create my path? How? Magic didn't work that way. You needed spells. Structure. You couldn't just will something into existence because a page told you to.
Heat rose in my chest as the realization sank in, I had wasted my time again. Another failed attempt at proving I wasn't useless. Another reminder that effort didn't change anything for me.
Before I could stop myself, I hurled the book across the room.
It slammed into the wall with a sharp crack, leaving behind a small fracture before sliding down and knocking over a glass of water on the shelf. The glass tipped over, shattering the silence as water spilled across the floor. Pages tore loose and scattered everywhere.
I turned away, staring up at the ceiling, my throat tight.
"I'll never become a good mage," I muttered, the words heavy and familiar.
I reached for the lamp, then froze.
Something felt… wrong. Or maybe right.
I turned my head slowly and looked back at the pages on the floor. My breath hitched. They weren't blank anymore.
Heart pounding, I knelt down and picked one up. Water droplets clung to the surface, glistening under the light. Yet when my fingers brushed over it, the page wasn't wet. The texture was unchanged, dry, firm, untouched. It felt the way it was before I slammed it into the wall.
"Is this… some kind of waterproof spellbook?" I whispered, more to myself than anyone else.
But that wasn't the strangest part.
As I gathered more pages, I noticed the pattern. Only the areas touched by water revealed writing. The rest remained blank, as if hiding something on purpose.
Spells.
My chest tightened as the realization struck me. This book wasn't empty. It never was. The Vulcanis spells had been concealed, waiting. Waiting for someone to uncover them the right way.
Excitement surged through me, sharp and electric, drowning out every doubt I'd felt moments ago. I jumped to my feet and switched on every light in the room.
Whatever secrets this spellbook held… I wasn't going to sleep until I found them.