Screaming echoed through the streets of Oleander City. A woman tripped over her feet and collapsed, letting out a cry of fear. As she dropped back, a chunk of a building went flying past and slammed into a car next to her, flattening it.
The woman let out a whimper and looked up at the beast that was rampaging through the city. It stood on the crushed corpses of a few dozen citizens as it howled to the sky and began to beat at its chest. The thing looked almost like an ape, but it was four times bigger and covered in red fur.
Several police officers lay dead around, and the ones that were still alive were firing away at the creature but were having little success. One officer was flat on his back and screaming into his radio.
"Its hide is bulletproof, and it has high-tier magic resistance! We need a Knight! I repeat! We need a—"
The ape stepped forward and crushed the man beneath its foot, splattering him. The woman let out another cry, and she tried to crawl away when the monster's eyes landed on her. It snarled and lunged forward, and she screamed, throwing her arms out in front of herself as if that would help.
And then a miracle happened.
The ape brought both its arms down, ready to tear the woman into two, but its arms suddenly bounced off a shimmering field of golden light that appeared around the woman. It was like a bubble, only solid. It glowed brightly and burned the monster's arms as they touched it. The creature howled and stumbled back. The officers stopped firing at the monster, and they gawked at who they saw. Even the ape stared.
"You're making quite the mess of this city." Stalking through the ruined street, a woman appeared. She wore armor that was so advanced it had to be from the future. It was made out of solid steel, and power lines ran along it, all glowing with a golden energy that gushed out of her suit. In her hands, she carried a gigantic lance that was formed out of pure energy. It pulsed and hummed with power, and the woman casually pointed it at the monster. "Die."
The ape let out a rage-filled cry before it jumped at least twenty feet in the air and came down toward the woman in the armor. Not even blinking, she pulled her lance back and stabbed up. It spun and twisted, setting the air on fire, and with a single thrust, it exploded through the monster's chest, killing it instantly. She didn't stop there, though. Her arm kept going up, the creature's corpse hanging on the end, and with one arm, she lifted it up for all to see.
An Arcane Knight had arrived.
One of the greatest warriors in the world—
"What are you watching?"
Olivia felt a sharp kick to her rear, causing her to yelp and fall off the bus bench. She dropped her phone, which had been playing the video of the Knight slaying the ape, and she glared up at her friend, Bruno, who had been the one to kick her. "What was that for?"
Bruno's smirk only grew, and in the darkness of the forest, his eyes lit up. "What are you watching?"
Olivia glanced down at her phone, which was currently in the middle of an ad for some new armor shop that was opening up and no longer showed the knight. "None of your business." She finally responded, and she clicked her phone off and tucked it away into her pocket. With a sigh and a slightly sore butt, Olivia stood up and stretched. "It's about time you showed up. We're going to be late for school because of you. Just because it's the last day doesn't mean we should be tardy, you know."
Bruno gave a weak chuckle and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm here now, though!"
Olivia didn't say anything and turned to look down at the paved road that led to Lotus City. The bus stop she had been waiting at was a few miles away from Fri, the village Bruno and she lived in. Despite being a bus stop, though, no bus actually ran through the area, so they'd have to walk if they wanted to get to the city.
"Well, let's get this over with." Olivia finally muttered. "Finals are due."
"You're going to do great." Bruno tried to cheer her up.
"I hope so." She didn't have much hope, though.
The two of them made their way toward Lotus, walking down the stretch of road. The city was large, with dozens of stone buildings and a castle in the center where some duke lived. A wall was present around the city, and typically, you'd have to pay a toll to even get in, which most of the village kids couldn't afford; hence, they'd be taking a secret way in.
Bruno pulled out his wand from beneath his cloak and flicked it casually. "Row Ice Stairs!" He announced as the tip of his wand lit up. The area around him began to rapidly grow cold before a wave of ice started to sprout out from its tip, forming into a transparent staircase that went all the way to the top of the wall and then went over it, bending and making its way down to the other side. When it was done, Bruno gave a casual bow. "Ladies first."
Olivia rolled her eyes and let out a soft giggle. "Show off."
In a land far, far away, the Kingdom of Estiria resided. Being a relatively small kingdom, there was but one thing that Estiria could genuinely boast of. To put it simply, Estiria was a place filled with magic! In almost every home or marketplace, magic and technology existed side by side, both thriving off the other.
Olivia stepped off the staircase when she reached the bottom and waited for Bruno to come down. Once he did, he flicked his wand again, and the stairs began to melt and bubble away, simply vanishing into a puff of steam.
Past the wall was the city itself, where they were instantly met with tall buildings, and everywhere they looked was some sort of magical sight. A couple of men were chanting words and causing the earth to twist and bend to their will, while up in the sky, a few witches rode around on broomsticks, flying on currents of air, and further above them were magitech airships that patrolled the skies. Amazing, magical things were going on everywhere, from pillars of flame that danced around to swirling water that formed into different shapes. That was just the kind of place Estiria was. It was a kingdom built with magic.
The street lamps were all powered by lightning magic, and cars drove down the road alongside flying carpets and motorbikes.
"Come on, bro." Bruno took her hand and let out a laugh as he began to lead her down the street and toward Lotus Academy. "Today is our last day, Olivia! Once we finish the tests today, we'll be done with school and can go on to do whatever we want! We can even try to join the Knights! Doesn't that sound great!"
Olivia managed to give a small grin, and she nodded her head. "Yeah. That does sound amazing." Then her smile faded. "Only if I can pass the exam, though."
Bruno glanced back at her and gave a larger grin. "Bro, you're gonna do great."
"Please don't call me bro…"
"Sorry, bro, can't help it." Bruno laughed.
Soon, they arrived at their destination. The other buildings were skyscrapers and fairly modern-looking. The only old-fashioned thing in Lotus was the castle where the duke resided. The building in front of them, though, was something straight out of a fantasy novel.
It was at the end of a block and was carved out of a black stone. It was a circular tower that looked like how most people would imagine a wizard's tower to look, and along the brick were dozens of runic symbols all spewing out random nonsense. It was Lotus's one and only magic academy. A place where people could come to learn and master their magic and attempt to figure out a good use for it so they could go on to better serve the world and the kingdom as a whole.
It was also the last time Oliva would ever be setting foot in the school.
Today was the last test the school would be holding. It was all or nothing. If she didn't pass here, then she didn't know what she would do. This was it.
"Hey." Bruno placed his hand on her shoulder. "Bro, you're gonna do just fine. Just believe in yourself."
Olivia forced a nod. Slowly, she walked up to the heavy gates that were the tower's door and took a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm going to ace this test!" She declared proudly.
***
She was not acing the test…
A few hours later, after entering the school, Olivia found herself shuffling forward and tried to ignore the pain as the thorns jutted into her side. Her school uniform wasn't enough to block most of them, and she cursed the fact that she was forced to wear a skirt instead of pants like the boys got.
The thornbush she hid in rustled every couple of seconds as she inched herself forward, but it was the only option she had. The woods were next to impossible to see in at this time of night, and she prayed that the things she was hunting would just assume it was a squirrel or some other critter that was crawling around.
Bit by bit, Olivia eased herself forward, keeping low to the ground, until she was finally able to see her targets. There were three of them in total.
They all stood in the center of the forest, which was surprisingly open, save for the many bushes that were scattered around, one of which she was inside of. Her targets weren't human, though they might have been mistaken for one if not for the faint moonlight above that shone down, revealing their true forms.
They were hunched over, draped in dirty brown animal pelts, and they carried jagged branches that they had sharpened themselves. They were short, with sickly green skin and pointed ears.
Goblins. A rather low-level type of monster that most farmers with a gun could deal with. She wasn't a farmer, though. She was a student and barely considered an adult since she had just turned eighteen. Even if such beasts were considered simple creatures by many, she wasn't willing to let her guard down.
Olivia took a deep breath and did her best to steel her nerves. She'd only have one shot at this. Once she made her attack, she'd need to wipe them out without getting hit. The goblins were facing away from her, and they kept grunting random noises in some other language. With one last moment of hesitation, she sprang out and made her move.
"Row Blood Bolt!" In an instant, Olivia jumped forward and stabbed her wand forward. The tip of it glowed, and a red beam of compressed liquid fired out at speeds so fast it pierced right through the skulls of one of the goblins, killing the creature instantly.
The other two goblins let out loud screeches and roared in anger. One of them whipped around and glared at her, but before it could even think about attacking, she slashed out with her wand as if it were a blade.
"Row Blood Slash!" Once more, red gushed out of the tip of her wand, and Olivia coldly brought her wand up. The red wave that came out was thin and ran along the goblin's body from the crotch to the top of its head, splitting the creature in two. The last one lunged at her, letting out a battle cry, and it stabbed out with the spear it had. Olivia narrowly dove to the side and felt sick as she landed in a pile of goblin guts, but she crushed down her disgust and used her other hand to grab one of the goblins' spears.
Letting out a cry of her own, she brought the badly carved spear up and rammed it into the throat of the last goblin. Its eyes went wide and filled with fear, and it took a step back, thrashing and shaking. Blood dripped down its chin and its wound. Its eyes were wide and filled with fear, but then they stared at her.
If it was going to die, then it was going to take her with it. Olivia gasped as the goblin threw itself onto her and shoved her back into the pile of gore. She screamed out as its claws dug into her stomach, and it began to tear her uniform and skin apart.
She gritted her teeth and tried to fight through the pain. Her hand clutched her wand harder, and she stabbed up, impaling it into the goblin's ear, and she used another spell. "Row Blood Bolt!" The red spell popped the goblin's head, spilling brain matter down onto her. Olivia gasped and was unable to stop herself as she vomited.
She lay there panting and exhausted, lying in filth. Weakly, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve and tried to resist passing out. She didn't vomit from how disgusting everything was. Instead, it was because she reached her limit. A branch snapping caught her attention, and she painfully looked up, finding dozens of other goblins now crowding around her.
They wouldn't be what did her in, though.
A loud, piercing roar exploded through the forest. Behind her, a tree was torn down, and she turned just in time to see a truly monstrous creature stomping its way toward her.
The goblins had been smaller than she was, but this creature was just shy of thirty feet tall and had dark red skin that was stretched over its form. It was bulky and carried an entire tree as its weapon, and the pelt that was draped over its legs was an entire bear that had been skinned. It was an ogre.
The beast roared, and it was so loud Olivia felt her ears pop, and on instinct she found herself stumbling back. Olivia's arms shook, and she raised them up, but it was a futile attempt. The ogre brought the tree down on her.
Olivia felt her head split open and burst, and her body snap and shatter as she became a red smear on the ground.
Or at least that's what would have happened if this were real.
Olivia gasped and cried out, falling onto her rear. She wasn't dead, and she was no longer in the forest. Her clothes weren't stained in goblin blood, and none of what just happened had been real. It sure as hell felt real, though, and Olivia could feel her heart pounding away behind her ribs.
Then she heard it. Laughter.
Hesitantly, Olivia looked around. The forest and the goblins were all gone, replaced instead with a large classroom. On one end of the room, a blackboard resided, and a teacher sat behind his desk. On the other side was a row of stairs leading up to where several desks were laid out, each containing a study of the Lotus Magic Academy.
They were all laughing. Laughing at her.
"The simulation is over, Ms. Lot." The teacher spoke up. He was an older man with a crooked nose and dark robes. "You can stand up. Once more, you fail."
Olivia felt her face go pale. "What? No! Please! I can't fail! One more chance, sir, just give me one more try and—"
"No." The teacher said flatly. "You've already tried more than any other student. I'm sorry, but I can't pass you. You fail Magical Combat."
Olivia felt tears prick at the corner of her eyes. Then she noticed the flashing cameras and saw several of the students were snapping pictures of her or recording. Her humiliation was being recorded for all to see.
Why were kids always so cruel?
"Please return to your desk, Ms. Lot." The teacher said calmly.
Olivia forced herself to stand, her legs still shaking. None of it had been real, and she hadn't even felt any pain, but the image of what her body had been reduced to was burned into her mind. Slowly, she stumbled forward and managed to take a seat next to her friend Bruno, who was one of the only students who weren't laughing at her.
"You did better than last time," Bruno said, trying to sound a little hopeful.
Olivia shook her head and fought back a hiss. "I failed. That was my last chance, and I failed. I blew it." There wouldn't be any more tests, and she was an adult now, so her time at the academy was over. She had taken that test dozens of times but had never been able to get past the ogre, all because of her stupid magic and the fact that she couldn't cast more than three spells.
"It'll be okay," Bruno said quietly. "It's possible to become a Knight even with bad exam scores; you still have the Knight's test to pass."
"It's much harder, though." Olivia's fingers grasped her wand. "Mages are judged on how well they do in one of the academies, and that goes a long way to passing the Knights' test and joining them."
Bruno looked conflicted and wanted to say more but stopped when the teacher spoke up. "Can anyone tell us what Ms. Lot did wrong?" The teacher asked.
"She used her useless magic!" A student called out in the back, and Olivia didn't even need to turn to know who it was. She could practically feel Ash's eyes gazing at the back of her head.
"Mr. Anderson, please keep your rude remarks to yourself." The teacher didn't even bother to look in Ash's direction. "Ogres are far stronger than goblins and are shockingly fast. When fighting an ogre, there's a good chance you'll die in a single hit, so don't do what Ms. Lot did and engage it up close."
More laughter filled the room, and Olivia buried her head in her arms and tried to fight back a groan. She hadn't done it on purpose. It was just hard to think straight and move once she used three spells, due to her 'curse'.
"We have time for one more, I think." The teacher said, clapping his hands together. "Mr. Anderson, since you spoke up earlier, why don't you show us how it's done?"
"With pleasure." Ash's snickering grew, and Olivia remained in her seat, doing her best to look away as he stalked past her. Eventually, though, her eyes turned to him.
Ash was handsome. She hated to admit it, but he was. Like her and Bruno, he wasn't actually from Lotus and came from a nearby village called Fri, but unlike her, living in a village did nothing to harm his complexion. He was pretty, with nice fair skin and gray hair that was combed back. The only issue he had was the ever-present smirk that always seemed to be on his face.
By comparison, she was practically ugly. She knew that wasn't actually the case, but it was how she felt. Her skin was deathly pale, and not in the good way like Ash's. Her hair was long and snow-white and was constantly in a tangled mess, and her blood-red eyes had heavy bags under them that wouldn't go away no matter how much she slept. Her school uniform was also dirty and way too big on her, since it had been a hand-me-down from Bruno. The uniform was a red jacket that had the school's logo on the sleeve, which was the image of a hawk. The boys got pants, but she was stuck in a skirt that made combat awkward.
Ash stood in the center of the room, and his lopsided grin grew. "Well? I'm ready."
The teacher just let out a sigh and made his way over to the wall where a lever rested. He pulled it down, and from above, a projector came to life. It was pointed down toward the ground, and it let out a soft blue light that draped itself over Ash. The entire classroom shifted and changed, and Olivia felt her chair vanish.
She was sitting in thin air, suspended high in the air, staring down at Ash, who now appeared in a familiar forest. She bit the inside of her cheek to stifle a groan when she watched him stalk forward. She had gone for a stealthy approach, using her magic to take the goblins out quickly, but Ash had no need for stealth.
He barged through the bushes, gaining the attention of the goblins. The three creatures screeched and threw their spears at him, but Ash blocked them by casting a spell. "Row Wind Barrier!" The wind itself came to life and twisted around Ash, forming a powerful shield that deflected the spears. Ash didn't skip a beat and turned his wand clockwise, twisting his entire wrist. "Row Wind Drill!"
The goblins were ripped to bits as the air swirled and howled, jutting forward, and as if a sea of invisible blades went through them, the monsters fell apart. It had taken him less than three seconds to wipe the creatures out. All that was left was the big one.
A roar broke through the forest, but Ash was already acting. "Row Wind Bird!" Silver air glowed and shimmered, forming into a large construct. It looked like an eagle and was made out of a mix of magic and air. It appeared under Ash and soared into the air just in time to avoid the ogre's club swing. Ash stood atop his beast and glanced in her direction. "Notice how I've cast more than three spells." He taunted. "You would have already been dead by this point. Now let me show you how it's done, useless Olivia." Ash held his wand out, gripping it like how a conductor would guide an orchestra. "Row Wind Tornado!"
Both Ash's wand and the beak of his bird glowed, and the air flowed out and twisted together. They formed into a large tornado, which blasted down to the ground and slammed into the ogre. The entire forest shook, and several trees began to get ripped out of the ground as Ash formed a massive twister.
The ogre grunted and howled, but it was unable to fight against the massive wave of air current. It began to get lifted off the ground, and Olivia's eyes once again met Ash's, his smug look growing.
"I doubt you can do this with your blood magic." He flicked his wand up, and the ogre was launched. It went flying out of the forest and sent well past the clouds.
The forest vanished, and Ash stood in the classroom. He took a bow, and several people clapped. Olivia was not one of them.
"Very good, Mr. Anderson." The teacher nodded his head. "You knew that your spells likely wouldn't be able to harm the ogre's thick hide, and you couldn't defend against its attacks, so you took to the skies and allowed gravity to beat it for you. Smart thinking. You pass."
"Of course I do." Ash snickered. "No one is shocked."
Olivia couldn't take it anymore. She jumped up to her feet, and she ran for the door. More laughter followed her as she burst out into the hallway and made her escape.
She was glad the school was doing its final tests because it meant the hallways were empty, so she didn't have to worry about seeing anyone. She left the school and stepped out into the street, breathing heavily. Ash's smug smirk was still burned into her mind, and her body wouldn't stop shaking.
"Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Olivia yelled out and got several odd looks from the many people on the streets. "It's not fair! I tried so hard, damn it! Why! Why couldn't I do it? Why can't I cast more than three spells?" For a moment, the video she had watched came back to her mind, and she remembered that woman in the armor. "How am I supposed to be the kind of Knight like her if this is my weakness…"
"Are you okay?" A tired voice asked, and Olivia let out a squeak. She forgot she had been screaming in the middle of the city.
"Yeah." She said, "I'm—" She stopped when she saw who stood in front of her.
He was nineteen or twenty and had messy, raven-black hair. His eyes were a piercing blue, and he wore a black hoodie with baggy pants. He was sort of handsome in a rough sort of way. The type of person that had a slightly crooked nose from spending years growing up on the street but managed to thrive off of it and surpass that sort of life. He wasn't quite as handsome as someone like Ash, but Olivia still found her breath hitching when those kind blue eyes turned her way. That was also when she noticed his scar. It was a prominent wound that clung to the left side of his face, above his eye, and went down his cheek. His look wasn't one of concern but was instead mostly blank.
"A-are you trying to enter the academy?" She asked, stepping out of the way. "Wait, you're not in uniform; you know you need to wear your uniform, right?"
"Oh, I don't go here." The raven-haired man said flatly.
"Okay?" Olivia shook her head. The way the man was speaking was quiet and very bland. Almost boring. "S-sorry for being in your way, I guess? I'll go."
"Okay." The man lazily shrugged.
Olivia walked past him and glanced back at him for a moment but then turned away and kept on going. She just wanted to forget this day and leave the school behind. Soon enough, the stranger was out of her head.
The man remained behind, standing outside the school, and gently he reached up and rubbed his scar. "How odd," Davi Hawker said quietly to himself. "Was she the one I was sensing? Her mana is familiar. Looks like I've found you, Dragon."
The boy who had marched through the blizzard had become a young man.
Unknown to either of them, Davi Hawker and Olivia Lot had just met.