A young man, not even- a boy, barely 12 years old, was sat in a classroom by the window, staring out to his right into the sky and looking at the clouds. His hair was black, his eyes blue, his skin fairly pale.
An old teacher was at the front of the class. His sharp eyes glared through his low hanging square glasses right at the day dreaming boy.
"Windwave!" He spat
The boy was startled and retuned from beyond the clouds.
"Yes Mr Scrouge!" He said as he stood up, adrenaline rushing through him from the mere shout
"Is there ancient scripture among those clouds? History more important than my teaching material?"
"No… sir. They're just clouds." The boy said shyly
"Then do tell me why you're not paying attention. Do you already know everything there is to know about the fallen Emperor Anax?" The teacher said with a raised brow
"No…" Markus said, avoiding his gaze
"Then might I suggest you focus. A person of your caliber should be more focused on their academics to… compensate…" he said mockingly.
"Yes sir…" markus said, lowering his gaze and trying to sit down
"I didn't say sit down. Matter of fact, perhaps what will help you focus is a trip down to the headmistresse's office and explain your lack of focus to her. That should fire up your mind." He said with a crooked grin
"Please sir- I'll pay attention. Don't send me to—" he tried to plea before being interrupted.
"Stop disrupting my class and leave. Now." He said as he pointed to the door by his right side.
Markus grabbed his backpack and headed toward the door on his left. He thought about the layout of the academy and what the longest way to the headmistress' office was so he had time to think. He walked through the long and echoing hallways for a few minutes until he finally reached her office on the second floor of the right wing of the U shaped academy. Her office oversaw the entire courtyard and was as big as a classroom.
Markus approached the intimidating wooden door, reaching over three metres in height and two metres in width. Despite being so large, it was not very heavy. Or at least the enchantment on the door made it substantially easier to move something so heavy. He adamantly knocked twice.
"Come in Markus Windwave." He heard the woman say through the door.
Markus pushed the abnormally light door and sheepishly approached.
"Markus, just the student I wanted to see- I was just about to call for you. Why are you here?" She asked.
The headmistress, Charlotte Windbourne, was a woman in her late 40s with white hair and wore noble suit decorated with her family's emblem: the pair of Dragonic Wings symbolising the Winbourne region ruled over by Duke Windbourne. Despite not being so old, her head of hair was white- pearly white. This was not because of stress but rather because of the genetic condition of all windbournes which turned their hair white from birth. If you wanted to find a Windbourne in a room, all you had to do was look for the white hair. She was sat behind an impressively large wooden desk, with her back to a large grey stained window from which the sun shined through, blinding those who stood before her.
"Mr Scrouge… sent me out for losing focus." He said, averting his gaze from hers.
"Is that so? You lost focus… it happens to us all. I'm not a fan of history either but a student must try to retain his or her focus to learn. This academy has its standards as you're well aware."
"I am. I'm sorry-" he quickly said
"That said, you've fallen below all our standards. There are only three paths for you now Markus. Either you miraculously turn everything around, improving your combat and academic scores substantially. Or you accept your failure and you will be disenrolled from the academy. Or…"
"Or…" he said
"You opt for specialised intervention."
"What is that?"
"An instructor will personally tutor you in hopes of… helping you to turn your situation around."
"I see…" he said as he tried to consider the situation. He thought to himself for a while
'If I get kicked out… 'she' might appear again and I'll be in deeper trouble. I'm too ill to do anything about my combat or academics. I can't muster any essence to do anything… and I can't focus if my essence is killing me. So…'
"Have you come to a decision?"
"I- I think so. I'd like to meet this instructor and be better!"
The headmistress cracked a smile at this response.
"A good choice. Take the rest of the day off and head to your academy accommodation room. Pack anything you'd like to take with you since your tutoring will take place off campus." She said with a stern tone
"O-okay."
"And be ready for tomorrow morning at 7am."
Markus bowed and left the office.
'I can't believe I got off that easy- the deputy headmaster is more terrifying than her!' He said as he hurried away before she changed her mind.