Spring mornings at the academy were… annoyingly pretty.
The kind of pretty where the sun hits the dew just right and makes everything shimmer like some painter dumped sparkles all over the courtyard. Birds were chirping, flowers blooming, students laughing—
Yeah. It was suspicious.
After the festival, everyone was still riding that emotional high. The lanterns. The cheers. The fireworks that were way too magical to be safe. For once, the academy didn't feel like a battlefield disguised as school.
It felt… warm.
And I hated how much I liked it.
Well—
Not hated.
Just… didn't know how to process it yet.
The day after the Spring Festival, the instructors officially labeled this week as "Color Week." Apparently, it was an old academy tradition meant to "Awaken Vibrancy in the Heart of Knights" or something that sounded like Instructor Aldred trying too hard.
But the real meaning?
Every student wore a color that represented their aura—or the aura they wished they had.
Which made my situation awkward.
Because despite awakening, my aura had… issues.
Control issues.
Focus issues.
Size issues.
Okay, stop it. Not like that.
Anyways,
I was still learning to keep it from exploding out like a bomb.
So Color Week hit, and everyone around me looked like walking paint buckets.
Seraphyne wore bright pink ribbons in her hair that glowed every time she laughed.
Varein had green straps wrapped around his arms, fluttering every time he moved.
Kazen wore a teal feather earring he swore boosted his "mist aesthetic."
Theon came running in with a bright yellow scarf and nearly burned our eyes out.
Kai wore red streaks under his eyes "because warriors do this."
Liam had gold bracelets that jingled like a noble princess—don't tell him I said that.
Aelira looked ethereal with icy blue embroidery.
Liraeth had purple markings painted on like runes.
Arion… okay, Arion accidentally used wood varnish instead of dye, but he tried his best.
And me?
I wore… a plain shirt.
A normal plain shirt.
In ret— no, not "retaliation."
Self-defense.
If I tried wearing light blue or white, my aura might have taken it as a challenge and decided to go feral again.
So yeah. Plain shirt.
"RAIN!" Seraphyne called, jogging toward me with less energy than usual—but still enough to look suspiciously excited. "Why aren't you wearing your color?"
I deadpanned. "I'd rather not blow up the campus."
She blinked. "Ah. Fair."
This week also came with extra aura training, courtesy of Instructor Aldred, who insisted that "Color Week is meaningful for your emotional grounding."
Right. Emotional grounding.
More like emotional un-grounding because my aura still hummed like a live wire under my skin.
Aldred stood in front of us with his usual tired sigh, chalk in one hand.
"Today," he began, "you will learn aura calibration."
That sounded fancy.
Probably dangerous.
He turned to me specifically—as he always did now.
"Rain, you especially need this."
Great. No pressure.
He placed ten small crystal rings on the ground. Each one glowed a different color.
"These crystals react to aura concentration," he explained. "Your goal: activate only the one that matches your aura color. Not all of them. Not half of them. Not the entire field."
Everyone looked at me.
I pretended to look at the sky.
"Rain," Aldred continued, "step forward."
I stepped forward.
I breathed.
I focused.
I tried to let out a slow, gentle, perfectly normal amount of aura—
BOOM.
All ten crystals lit up.
Two cracked.
One exploded dramatically.
Aldred pinched the bridge of his nose like he was aging 10 years per second.
"…I said one crystal, Rain."
"I heard you," I muttered. "My aura didn't."
Varein coughed behind me in what I think was a supportive manner.
Or he was holding in laughter. Hard to tell.
Theon shouted, "DON'T WORRY, RAIN! YOU GOT THIS!"
A bit less loud than his usual shouting, but still enough to shake birds out of trees.
Thanks, Theon.
Each day had its own theme.
The academy was taking this way too seriously.
Day 1 – Color Tag
Students chased each other with colored powder. I got ambushed by half of Class 1-A. They didn't get me—they got each other. I stepped aside like any sensible person.
Day 2 – Color Games
We played a version of dodgeball where the balls changed color mid-air. Kazen used mist to cheat. We all saw it. He denied everything.
Day 3 – Aura Art
Seraphyne accidentally set her canvas on fire.
Kai sliced his painting in half because he didn't like the symmetry.
Theon painted a stick figure of me with glowing aura and proudly showed everyone.
It was… shockingly nice.
Day 4 – Color Feast
Food dyed in aura-themed colors. Aelira somehow made ice sculptures as centerpieces. I ate a blue bread bun and my tongue matched for an hour. Theon laughed too much.
Day 5 – Color Duel Showcase
Not real duels—controlled aura demonstrations.
When it was my turn, everyone went stiff.
I stepped into the center, exhaled slowly, and released only a tiny flicker of aura.
Light blue shimmered off my hands.
White crackles danced gently—no explosion this time.
The crowd gasped.
It felt like color was finally behaving.
Finally responding.
Finally mine.
After the events, I sat on the grassy hill overlooking the academy. The sky turned orange, pink, violet—colors blending like paint on a canvas.
Spring really was annoyingly pretty.
Footsteps came up behind me.
It was Varein.
He didn't say anything.
Just sat beside me, quiet, as always.
Then, softly, "Your aura looked good today."
"…Yeah," I said. "It didn't try to kill me."
He snorted—very softly. "Progress."
We sat there as the sky shifted again.
Colors everywhere.
For once, I didn't feel pressure.
Didn't feel like I had to prove anything.
I just… existed.
And when I exhaled, a faint breath of light blue shimmered across my palms, quiet and controlled.
My aura.
My colors.
Mine.
I smiled at them, small but genuine.
Maybe… just maybe…
My world was finally gaining its own color.