Gwen sat upright at her desk, awaiting the arrival of Professor Soveliss. A few other students were in the room, but it was mostly empty. She wondered if a lot less students decided to continue on this track. Professor Soveliss was far from an easy teacher, but he was kind and fair. The content of the class was just very complicated.
The class wasn't as empty as originally thought; Most of the students were arriving at the last minute. For a moment, Gwendolyn considered getting an extra half-hour of sleep tomorrow, but decided that would be wildly irresponsible. "Do better," her father had written. She could practically hear his voice. She would do better. She would be the best; for father, for mother, for Sir Strand.
For Tess.
Gwendolyn shook the thought from her mind. She didn't have time for distractions right now. She had to focus.
Class began with the Professor handing back their books, where they conducted the pre-exam to see how much information they recalled from the Basics class. Gwendolyn scored slightly above average. She scowled at the thought of it. She missed such obvious questions!
"Overall, I believe the class as a whole is prepared to go through the Advanced lessons, after our recap last week. Due to scoring the highest on the pre-exams, and the highest in the Basics class as a whole, I would like to extend a congratulations to..."
"Please be me," Gwendolyn thought, "Please be me. I need something to write back to father; I need to restore his confidence in me."
"Miss Chaezona."
Gwendolyn's heart ached. She looked over to the recipient of the honor. Lulu Chaezona. Pale as a ghost, hair as black as night and large, amber eyes. She hardly ever spoke. Never asked questions! Gwendolyn always asked questions; always participated. How could Lulu have done so well? How could she have done better than Gwendolyn?
She must've cheated.
Shaking her head, Gwen realized the bitterness in her thoughts. She had let distractions get the better of her in the last class. Lulu didn't. Lulu was better. Gwen frowned, further disappointment weighing her down until she sunk in her seat.
The class applauded for Lulu, whose expression didn't shift. Gwendolyn held at bay her dark thoughts for the dark woman.
"Let's begin," Soveliss announced.
The class moved at a slow pace. Slower than Gwendolyn needed. That was a point of pride, at least. She felt like she could answer some of the other students' questions, but she dared not appear so arrogant. There was still a little bit of review, but it was brief.
"Using your gifts will draw in the light of Thyr that's been trapped within the Black Sun. It attaches to your soul, giving you the smallest fraction of the fury of a blazing star."o
Gwendolyn recalled such events in the Void. They would act and begin to glow. They would burn with light. Gwendolyn could remember the feeling; power, speed, rage. It was an addiction, for sure, but maybe if she knew how to control it, the fight in the swamp would have gone differently. She could only remember bits and pieces; It had gone by so fast. Spider-creatures all around her, a massive, powerhouse of a monster swinging hammerfists her way. The thought gave her chills. The memory of the pain gave her aches in her ribs.
"This is your aura and it can be harnessed. There are ways to draw more of it, to wield it more effectively, and there are some things that a gift can only do when enhanced by an aura," Soveliss explained, "Some exceptional powers are gated until unlocked by the presence of an aura.
"There are varying degrees of auras," Soveliss continued. Gwendolyn was scribbling notes furiously to keep up with the Professor's explanations.
"First there is glowing. This stage is relatively easy to reach. It is unlikely that you have a fight without reaching this stage in aura generation. While it does make you slightly faster, slightly stronger, it doesn't tend to alter your abilities in any way.
"Next is fiery. This occurs after some exceptional uses of gifts, or a great deal of typical use. At this stage, just being near you is going to harm foes. You may find that you are capable of exceptional talent here.
"Radiant is the third stage. This stage is most easily recognized by the eyes turning white. The whole body glows bright. You'll have unlocked new, miraculous, unbelievable abilities. It typically takes pretty special situations or dutiful training to reach this level of control."
Gwendolyn focused on that word: dutiful. That is something that she could do. She was going to train and train and train until she could reach a radiant aura just by sheer force of will.
"Lastly," Soveliss continued.
This drew Gwen's attention once more. She leaned forward in her seat, attentively watching Soveliss for more information.
"And this is not confirmed," Soveliss explained, "But there is a theorized fourth stage. We have labeled it 'incandescent.' There has been one instance of an incandescent aura being attained, but whether this was the case or not, the wielder's aura burst into a catastrophic explosion, like a star undergoing a supernova, destroying much of the void pocket that he was in, and killing himself in the process."
"Professor," one of the other students asked, "Who was that person?"
"A man named Henry Ostmyrr," Soveliss replied, "He used this power to kill the Betrayer."
"Sir," Gwendolyn spoke up, "How do we know that's what happened?"
"There were a few others with him," Soveliss said with a thoughtful sigh, looking up toward the ceiling as he searched his memory, "Maeros the Mad, Krahe, Harkroth St-..."
"The Valkenlord?!" One of the students blurted out, "He was there at the defeat of the Betrayer?"
"He is the only survivor of the battle that is still alive today," Soveliss replied with a nod.
"I thought Elnaril was present?" A few other students spoke up, acknowledging this same sentiment.
Soveliss shook his head, "Elnaril was killed by the Betrayer about ten years before that time."
"Sir," Gwendolyn spoke up once more, "Why don't we hear more about Henry Ostmyrr? I wasn't even aware he was at the battle with the Betrayer, and he was the one who landed the killing blow?"
"Henry's story is complicated, and it doesn't lend a pretty light upon civilization as a whole, or the story of the Betrayer's defeat. When discussing the story to young children, Henry is often excluded. His side of the story is dark, to say the least."
"What is it?" A student asked.
Soveliss waved it away, "You can take a history class for that. Let's get back to Auras."
Chapter 62 - Meditation
For training today, Mairaela was instructed to follow the teacher's assistant, a woman named Filly Morgan. She was cute, but younger than Mairaela by a good deal. She was pretty certain that the girl was only 19 years old and already a TA for Scirocca. She was apparently a natural star mage and a disciplined student in the college. She must be, to have impressed Scirocca enough to learn under her.
Filly was about 5'6", brown hair, blue eyes. She was more cute than beautiful, but Mairaela appreciated that. She seemed to be pretty clumsy and socially awkward, bumping into things and going "Umm" and "Uhh" a whole lot. Mairaela thought it was pretty funny. Still, it made it hard to appreciate her as a wise superior that was supposed to help her learn.
Filly led Mairaela into a small room with a chamber that had a tall, steel chamber that reached from floor to ceiling. On the front of it was a hefty door with two runes engraved on either side of it. They were marked with three layered constellations of vibrantly colored powders encased in glass tubing. Filly brought Mairaela into the room and shut the door behind her. The inside of the room looked like it was covered in oddly shaped pillows. It was quiet here.
"Here we are," Filly said, directing Mairaela to the steel chamber, "You'll want to undress." Mairaela did as required, popping open the buttons of her shirt, which opened up in relief, exposing her bra-covered chest. The undergarments she decided to wear today were of the bare-minimum variety, which Mairaela was grateful for. Anything to get a blush out of Filly; She was just so cute to tease!
Filly began to turn around and Mairaela insisted, "Ma'am, please watch to make sure that I do it right."
"Uhh.. What? You're... you're just undressing. You know how to do that," she said, remaining turned around, but craning her head to the side to glance at Mairaela out of the corner of her eye.
"Well, should I take my bra off? It's pretty small, so can you check to see if it would be okay?" Mairaela spoke in an innocent, naive voice. All she had to do was mimic Tess! Easy.
Filly turned around, her face already as red as a strawberry, highlighting those freckles on her face. "Um.. yes, uh.. You'll want to take that off.." Filly insisted.
"Oh, okay," Mairaela hummed, as though she didn't understand what naked meant. She pulled the cups of the bra up over her chest, letting those heavy breasts spill out of their confines, bouncing and swaying. Filly pinched her lips together, her eyes glued to Mairaela's chest. The Fey was used to that. She had some great tits and she knew it!
"What about my belt?" She asked.
Filly nodded with a dumb smile on her face.
Mairaela pulled the belt apart, wiggling her hips to work those tight pants down over her ass. It was quite the effort, given the big butt she had, but she was used to it. Of course, she had to turn around for it, too. She looked back over her shoulder to see Filly definitely not making eye contact. Mairaela smirked, finally getting those pants down over her hips. It was easier to peel those skin-tight leathers the rest of the way after that.
Turning back around to face Filly, "Even my panties?"
Filly slowly nodded her head, only able to mumble, "Uhh-..."
"Okay," Mairaela said, hooking her thumbs into her underhead, tilting her hips forward a little as she pulled her underwear down. Admittedly, undressing in this way had her a little turned on, so the gusset of her underwear stuck to her wet sex for just a moment while the rest of it lowered. She stood there for a moment, hip thrust to the side, one hand resting upon it and the other tossing her hair back over her shoulder, "Even my earrings?"
Filly just stared, gazing at Mairaela's wonderful form for quite some time before she looked up at the Fey and blurted, "Wh-what?"
"My earrings. Do I take them off, too?"
"Uhm.." Filly started, pausing, glancing down Mairaela's body once more before she had to close her eyes and shake her head clear, "Y-yes."
"Oh, you shook your head but said yes..."
