Chapter 12: Well Laid Plans

"What's wrong? You've been sulking around for most of the week." Ben asked Ryan, who was doodling in a small sketchbook, laying on his bed.

Ryan didn't stop his pencil as it sketched out some unknown magical beast. He didn't even bother looking up, he was miles away, in his own little world. Ben walked over, purposefully knocking into Ryan's arm, causing a thick, dark line to bisect his creation.

"What was that for?" Ryan protested his treatment.

"I was talking to you, stop ignoring me." Ben said in his defense.

"Haaaa, sorry, I've got a lot on my mind." Ryan said, beginning his sentence with a sigh.

"You didn't confess your love to Laura did you? Did she turn you down?" Ben teased, knowing of his crush on their classmate.

"What? No!" Ryan said quickly, a noticeable blush creeping onto his face.

"It's just school stuff, nothing worth talking about." Ryan said, trying to deflect the topic.

He still hadn't decided on what the correct course of action would be, and the deadline was fast approaching. He and Ben had worked together these past few days, successfully brewing the five potions Professor Kal had assigned for them to do. They failed multiple times, even getting worried about the amount of ingredients they were using, but Professor Kal had set aside more than enough for the entire class to fail a number of times and still have enough.

With their assignment taken care of, Benjamin couldn't figure out why Ryan seemed so down, but seeing how he didn't want to talk about it, he didn't press the issue. Shrugging his shoulders, Ben humored him and changed the subject.

"Let's go out to the practice field, practice some magic." Ben suggested.

"I only know one spell, and it takes up a lot of my mana." Ryan said dejectedly, scribbling some more in his sketchbook.

"And you won't get any better at it drawing a…. goblin?" Ben said, looking over at the sketchbook.

"It's supposed to be an ogre." Ryan said with a flat tone.

"Whatever, let's go."

.....

The practice field was a large open area, divided into different sections. Some sections had dummies set up, others had small ponds situated in the middle of them, others had small hills and obstacles, almost any environment needed to practice magic. Any student of the Academy had access to the practice field, the only rule was no targeting other students. There was always one Professor on duty near the field in case a student happened to get injured, requiring attention.

Benjamin and Ryan made their way over to the area where the dummies were set up. There were plenty of other students spread over the area as well, still, there was plenty of room for everyone. Ever since Ben had discovered his affinity with the element of air, he had been trying his hardest to learn Air Slash. It was an air spell that would send compressed waves of air at an enemy, cutting them to ribbons. So far though, all he could produce was a slightly strong breeze.

Ben squared up with a dummy, approximately twenty feet away. He closed his eyes, concentrating on his mana that was chaotically swirling around his body. Being a novice mage, Ben had very little mana control. If the mana was a raging mess in his body, Kal's would look like a well organised circuit board, the mana being delivered to his body in the most efficient way.

Ben opened his eyes and began to chant the spell. "Spirits of wind, hear my call. Surge forth and cut my enemies."

As he finished his chant, he pointed his open hand towards the dummy that he targeted. A whistling sound could be heard, soon, the dummy swayed backwards before springing back to its original position. One would think that the spell was a failure, and they would be right, but the look on Ben's face spoke otherwise.

"Did you see that Ryan!? Did you see it? It moved a lot more than last time!" Ben exclaimed ecstatically, practically jumping up and down.

Ben looked over at Ryan after not hearing his replay, seeing that Ryan was kicking dirt around with his boot. Ben stopped his jumping, a sour look on his face.

"C'mon man, you've got to cheer up, this is getting ridiculous." Ben said, not being able to help the anger from seeping out of his voice.

Ryan looked at Ben helplessly, not wanting to upset his friend, but couldn't bring himself out of his rut. He started to say that he was sorry, but Ben cut him off before he could.

"I'm going to get something to eat, I'll give you some space since it seems I'm bothering you." Ben vehemently explained to Ryan, before stomping off towards the cafeteria, leaving him behind.

Ryan didn't try to stop him, he knew he messed up. He managed to piss off his only friend when all he was trying to do was cheer him up. This just made him more angry at himself than he already was, causing him to lash out, throwing a rock at an unsuspecting dummy not too far away.

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As he threw the rock, he noticed that his energy felt as if it drained slightly. This was strange, the only time it would feel that way was when he used magic, and him only knowing one spell meant that was impossible. His eyes traced the path of the rock that he had thrown, seeing that it had hit the dummy square in the chest. What was strange about it was that there was a hole where the rock had hit.

Ryan walked closer to the dummy, scrutinizing the injury he caused. The rock was lodged deep inside the dummy, the edges of the wound were burning with an eerie, black flame. He took in a sharp breath, taking several steps back, keeping wide eyes on the ever expanding hole in the dummy's chest. The black flames weren't burning the burlap skin of the dummy, it was corroding it. The straw and burlap wasn't producing any heat or smoke, just turning stark white before falling apart turning into ash that floated away on the breeze.

Ryan stood dumbfounded for over a minute, until the black flames ran out of the mana that was sustaining them. The flames faded out of existence, seasing the assault on the dummy. What was left was a head sized hole that started out the size of a thumb. Ryan was afraid, he instantly knew that he had somehow used his affinity with death to cause this to happen. He didn't know what to do, so he ran.

Ryan ran back to his dorm room, leaving the injured dummy alone in the practice field. Luckily for him, no students had witnessed his display of taboo magic. Not so luckily, someone who wasn't a student had. A figure slowly came into existence, like a mirage in the desert coming to life. It walked up to the dummy that Ryan had struck, bending over to inspect the hole. After picking the stone out from the dummy's chest and looking at it more closely, the figure uttered one simple word.

"Interesting."

.....

It was the beginning of a new week, which meant it was the day that the students in Professor Kal's alchemy class were required to turn in their five potions. It was still ten minutes until the beginning of class, but almost everyone was sitting at their desks, ready to start. Every student had five small potions, of various colors, sitting neatly on their desks. No one wanted to be kicked out of the alchemy program, so they all worked hard to make sure that they completed the project on time.

Even Clerance had five potions sitting on his desk, which was impressive for him. In any other class, his father would take care of any shortcomings his son would have, paying his professors 'bonuses', ensuring his son's passing grades. After talking it over with his father, Clerance was persuaded to forgive the slight that Professor Kal had subjected him to. Clerance didn't know it, but his father was well aware how important the Elemental Potion was, so wanted to ensure that his family didn't spoil any relationship that may come in the future.

With that in mind, his father had hired the best alchemist in the city to complete Clerance's assignment, hoping that the high quality would impress the new professor. If he could foster a good relationship between his son and the man capable of producing such potions, there was no telling how powerful his family could grow.

Ryan and Ben were stationed at their desks as well, potions set out before them. They had made up after the incident on the practice field, their lives mostly returning to normal. Ryan had finally settled on a decision, making his mood much better as well. Ben could tell that his friend was feeling much better, he didn't know why that was, but was happy about it nonetheless.

Just as class was about to begin, the last desk was occupied, the student clumsily arranging their past week's labor. As they were lining up their potions, the clock struck eight, sending shrill chimes out into the classroom. Having been startled by the sudden outburst of the clock, the unfortunate student dropped a potion, shattering it on the hard stone floor. Sounds of shattering glass brought everyone's attention forward, the student aghast, staring forlornly at the mess on the floor.

Before anyone could stand and comfort the student, a familiar purple and black vortex popped into existence. Out of the Warp Gate stepped Professor Kal, wrapped up in his trademark black robe and holding his gnarled staff. Upon snapping his fingers, the vortex disappeared, he was about to begin the lesson when he noticed the teary eyes of the student still staring at her hard work adorning the stone floor.

He walked over to her desk, his face a placid lake of emotion. Stopping in front of her, she viewed him as an executioner, preparing to swing hard the axe of her demise.

"I only count four potions." Professor Kal said, his face still emotionless, as he looked around the classroom, counting the other student's potions.

"Everyone else has five."

The poor girl was petrified, all she could do was slowly nod her head as her bottom lip quivered and she began to hyperventilate. Her name was Patricia Gallows, a fitting last name for the way she felt at the moment. She was the only daughter of an honorary knight. When her father received his title, the last name Gallows was bestowed to him by the duke that gave him the title. She didn't know why her father was given that name, but did know what gallows were.

Being a newly named family, they were very poor compared to more established families. That being the case, she would normally never be able to afford to attend the Academy, but was granted a rare scholarship in order to attend. Knowing how rare this chance was, she worked harder than almost anyone in order to make the most of it. So when she realized that she had dropped a potion she had painstakingly made over many days of sweat and tears, she almost fainted. To make matters even worse, Professor Kal didn't seem likely to take pity on her, she fully expected him to kick her out, right then and there.

Before Patricia could have a full blown panic attack, Professor Kal broke character. "Relax, relax, I'm not a monster. I can clearly see what happened, don't worry, I'll count it."

Professor Kal put on his unnatural smile as he bent over and placed his finger in the drying liquid on the ground. Putting his finger in his mouth, he tasted the potion.

"Well done, that's a well made Drought of Concentration, I can tell you worked hard." He said, comforting the young girl.

Turning his back to the still trembling girl, he moved on, inspecting the other student's hard work. He pulled the cork on each bottle, tasting or smelling the contents. It took him several minutes, but finally made it to the last desk in the back row. Clerance was sitting there with his chubby arms across his chest, gloating as Professor Kal sampled his first potion.

Professor Kal paused, cocking his head to the side, noticing the quality of the potion. He moved on to the others, noticing the same with them as well. He was instantly suspicious of the fat young man, knowing full well the capabilities and limitations of a novice alchemist, but couldn't say for certain. Although not likely, he could have a savant on his hands, there was only one way to find out.

He walked back to the front of the class, turning around once reaching the lab table.

"You all have done a satisfactory job, some better than others, but all acceptable. There is one exception though, the young man sitting in the back." Professor Kal said, pointing to Clarence, but not knowing his name.

Clarence had a bright, haughty smile on his face, sitting on cloud nine. His father's plan seemed to have been pulled off flawlessly, impressing the young Professor. He was just waiting to hear Professor Kal say that he wanted to take him on as an apprentice, then his father's plan really would have worked out. What he heard in reality was far from what he was anticipating.

"Seeing how high of quality his potions had turned out, I thought that you all could learn from his success.. Why don't you come down and walk everyone through the process you used to brew such fine potions, I'm sure we all could learn a great deal from the demonstration."

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