Warning: This contains both straight and gay sexual interactions, if you're not a fan of this, you've been warned.
Note: Sorry for the long wait on this next part! I hope you enjoy!
*****
I throw open the doors into the training hall, breathless, to my classmates all gathered in the center of the immense stone chamber. The chamber was fitted with target practice dummies, all forms of elements accessible from the large metal crates of burning fires, fountains of water, and the stone beneath us. Tall glass windows were against either ends of the grand hall, their panes spilling bright morning sunshine onto the students.
I jog over, and make sudden eye contact with Reckner, who stood instructing before the crowd of students. The silvery eyes of my teacher were almost leery, but within moments of that gaze, he turned back to his students and his expression was that of a lightly spoken instructor once more.
I settled next to one of my old friends, Gregor, who stood tall among our classmates. He gives me a light nod in my approach, his blue eyes almost white looking in the shine of the sun.
"Hey- Gregor, thanks for lending me some of your clothes last minute, I accidentally used a shrinking spell I was practicing on my clothes."
He smiled, whispering back:
"No problem."
I glance back over to Reckner, who's shallow voice belted over the students in his instruction.
"What'd I miss?"
I asked Gregor, who gave me a sharp side-glance look that scolded me to quiet down.
I offered him an apologetic smile, and he replies softy:
"Today's going to be basic spell casting training, he wants us to continue perfecting what we've learned in class."
I nod, trying to rummage through my memories of what we'd been going through in class.
In the back of my head I see Morgana and her cream eyes, her hand sliding up my leg.
She had been distracting me.
Suddenly the students dispersed, taking grouped positions at crates of fire, at the fountains, and near practice dummies.
Must be elemental manipulation.
I had read and studied plenty ahead in my spell book to know what was going on.
"Fuckin' nerd."
The beast inside me uttered quietly as he followed me over to a spot near a dummy, on my own.
A few yards away from me, a group of young female mages were trading banter, toying lazily with the flames that blazed from the metal crate, tracing the orange flames swiftly through the air. I could see Reckner walking about the groups of mages, stopping here and there to quietly critique their forms and spell pronunciation.
I pull out my spell book, but end up just holding it closed in my hand, staring blankly into the messily painted black spiral targets on the dummy before me.
I see the subtle silver glow of the Succubus' eyes. The Incubus trapped in me's solemn voice grumbling in the back of my head:
Your mother has been hiding something from you, Laizen.
My mother...
I think back to her small cottage in the poorer outskirts of the city, seeing her smiling face as she pulled weeds from her garden as I would play.
I hadn't properly seen her in years. The course of study of a mage and the admission into such a prestigious school left me little free time.
Suddenly, a sharp female voice drags me abruptly from my thoughts.
"So, just because you survived a demon attack, you think you don't have to train like the rest of us?"
I turned over to see that the group of women's attention was now focused on me. The woman who spoke, a rather short woman with her posture strained straight and proud stood glaring at me with her arms crossed, the not-so-subtle glint of annoyance clear in her black eyes.
I could have said anything, I could have articulated any sort of sentence, but instead I look at the woman in a speechless and numb stupor.
This succeeded in making her visibly angrier and menacing, which was ironic considering her petite form. Something about her vicious confidence beckoned me to step away from her.
"I've heard about your abilities with magic. They're next to none, all you have to your name is high test scores. So tell me, why are you still standing here?"
I attempted to spill out a fumbling sentence, but she continued speaking.
"Out of all of those powerful mages, why were you the one who lived?"
Her friends exchanged looks of concern that seemed to say that she was taking things too far.
A vibrant red head stepped towards the short mage.
"Lisa, it's alright."
The girl reached to press a hand onto the other girl's shoulder, but Lisa promptly and viciously swats the hand away, stepping from the red head, and towards me. Her black eyes looked pupiless and outraged.
"How come it was you. Lucy lost her life just for a useless mage like you to survive? What kind of fucking world is that."
I'm suddenly back in the dark halls of the Incubus infested house, following a young girl with black eyes much like the ones glaring at me now.
My throat felt raw and tight.
She was her sister.
She steps towards me, and I instinctively step back.
In the back of my mind, I see Seirna's gentle eyes as she tugged on my cloak sleeve.
Stay by my side.
I felt a rising heat press against my features.
Suddenly a glow of orange flames danced over Lisa's fingertips and palms, her eyes emitting pure hatred, her eyelids glinting with the brim of tears. Her voice is shaky:
"Luck... Won't save you from getting burned."
Before I could blink her hands were raised before her.
"Fiero Encarsas!"
Suddenly all I could see was red as an immense ball of fire hurdles towards me.
I'm thrusted from my frozen stupor. Muscle memory kicks in.
I raise my arms, guarding my face and chest, and shout:
"Teiro sheilus!"
The flame collides with a translucent barrier that was conjured before me. The force of the attack sends me skidding backwards, and the shield is shattered, its jagged shards falling in a wicked dance with her dwindling flames to the floor.
My arms shake before me, and I struggle to catch my breath and find my composure.
I stopped it. No protection spell I've ever conjured has been able to stop anything, let alone the product of a powerfully produced spell like the one she used.
She only stares at me, her concentration breaking for moments in her surprise.
Her features contort, she looked to be visibly shaking beneath her robe.
Flames spread up her arms, twisting like peculiar serpents up her forearms.
The fire from the crate beside her rises in the air, the flames spreading to an evil vibrance around her.
The red headed friend again steps forward.
"That's enough Lisa- stop-"