witch today, witch tomorrow, witch forever

I was looking extra neat today mainly because my hair and uniform had all been taken care of by fluffy pink hair.

Thinking about it, I was kind of hopeless without her... If I had to hug anyone in class it'd be her! She might not act like it, but she really loves gestures like that, I think? Probably? Better give her one just in case.

“M-Ms Everlyne… This is neither the time nor place.”

Fluffy pink hair's face brightened a beautiful shade of pink, it was cute, as if she were about to turn completely pink now.

Once the last theory lesson was done, we were about to leave class, when I noticed a blonde-haired cutie patotie blast into the classroom. The girl had ocean blue eyes and fair white skin.

Her presence was nobility personified. She was heading straight for me.

“I just came to let you know, that even if a mongrel like yourself is only capable of performing poorly, you must do your best for the sake of the kingdom and the prestige of our esteemed school! Is that clear you laggard? “

It was once again my adorable little sister Charlotte here to cheer me on before practical’s could even start. The other students mainly Fluffy pink hair, looked exasperated by my sister’s childishness, their eyes settling upon Charlotte.

“Yeah, about that I'll do my best!”

XXX

Teacher led us up the top of a cliff where we would be practicing flying our broom sticks. Apparently, the fall down would kill you instantly. Scary. But not to worry I spent the whole night practicing!

Oh, btw when I say ‘led us here’ I actually mean flew us here. She had cast a simple levitation spell on us and carried us all here! Teacher really is something.

We were a relatively small class of twenty students but flying us all here was still impressive.

“Listen,” said our teacher once everyone settled down. “Nice to see you all present and accounted for. You will be taking turns leaping from the edge of this cliff.”

Most people would be terrified to receive such orders from their teacher but for witches it was standard procedure!

She then went into a detailed lecture about casting spells, magic formulae and magic consumption and conversion rates. I was pretty sure everyone already knew the basics of how a spell worked even if we had never actually cast one before, but I guess teacher just wanted to make sure. Teacher’s so sweet!

The gist of it was, spells generally needed two things to function; One was an understanding of how the spell formulae worked. A visual image of what you wanted to create. The better the understanding of the formulae, the better the result.

And two magic.

Magic a resource found in all living things. And a spell let you use magic to affect the laws of nature and the world.

What makes witches special?! Sharp observation from you there!

While all living things had magic not everyone could use it. There was an amount of magic that a body needed to function and tapping into that was normally impossible.

Witches had grades of magic with F being the lowest and S being the highest.

Still don't get it?

Basically, witches had the amount of magic a normal person had plus extra! And we use that replenishable extra to cast spells. The higher your grade the more magic you can tap.

Tapping into the finite part of magic.

The part responsible for life, would kill you.

It’s one of the few rules about magic we must obey.

“When casting a spell, or using a broom stick, the output of magic you use is crucial,” Teacher continued, “too much and you could destroy the broom. Too little and you'll plummet to your death.”

“Aim for a more stable point, the strongest witch is one who can cast spells efficiently.” She concluded.

Teacher’s words made half the class pullout their notebooks and write down what she had just said; the rest were so awestricken by her wisdom they couldn't move

She went into a surprisingly detailed lecture about spell formulae.

I on the other hand neither took notes nor was I in any state of shock by Teacher's words, after all, I had already seen this quote.

The great witch of the Northern kingdom Flamm had said it first. Everyone really needed to study up on their ancient history.

Ah speaking of history the wands and broomsticks we all used came from the elven kingdom Eridu. Magic was formerly an elf only thing but during the great thousand-year war against the demons the elves shared their knowledge of magic with the rest of the races so that we could all tag-team them nasty demons bleh.

The production of broomsticks and wands however was still a tight kept secret between the elves.

Damn greedy elves, I love how smart they are!

They basically had a monopoly on all broomstick and wand development, and they charged a hefty price just to get one.

While custom made wands and brooms were the best, it’d cost the academy an arm and a leg to get each and every student a wand and broom specifically calibrated to each of their individual needs.

So, the academy opted to buy standard issue wands and brooms in bulk that worked for nearly every witch based on their grade.

“In conclusion while the activation of formulae and magic supply are crucial for any spell to function, the wand and broom you use are just as important. Now who among you would like to go first?”

“If I may ma’am.”

Fluffy pink hair raised her hand. She was the first to volunteer.

“Walmslye I look forward to seeing what kind of witch you will become.” Teacher said.

Fluffy pink hair confidently marched to the edge as the rest of the class watched.

Good luck fluffy pink hair!

She leaped off the cliff and effortlessly performed the levitation spell with her broomstick.

“Very well-done Walmslye.” Teacher said.

There wasn’t a doubt in the world that she couldn’t do it!

After all we spent the night revising formulae, rates of change, and computational theory together, so I knew she could do it!

And she was a top student and really smart and she had fluffy pink hair to boot.

Fleta was the best honestly, I was kinda proud of her.

Now it was my time to shine, I could feel my excitement revving up!

“Who would like to go next?” Teacher asked.

“Oooh me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Pick me ma’am!”

“I suppose Up next will be Blake Everlyne.” Teacher said in her usual monotone.

Heh, she must have picked me because of my amazing grades, allow me to show all of you how it’s done!

I was falling.

There was no doubt about it. I had jumped of the cliff and instead of floating I was falling.

I suppose that maybe I had been a tad bit overconfident, but that was mainly because my spell formulae were damn near perfect.

I was so sure I had executed them correctly I didn’t even try recasting it as I fell.

I’m gonna die?

In a moment or two my body would hit the ground and I would go SPLAT! There wasn’t much I could do about it though. For a moment I felt fear but whatever.

It was weird how calmly I had come to terms with my own death, though not like I had much in the ways of stopping my demise.

If I had one regret it’s that I couldn’t see Charlottes smiling face one last time

Before I could hit the ground I felt a sudden weightlessness.

A levitation spell?

It unfortunately wasn’t mine.

Teacher had cast a levitation spell at the very last second, and saved me.

The reaction speed required to make that save was incredible, I know because the process of writing complex spell formulae in your mind and visualizing it wasn’t an easy one. If she had been even a fraction of a second slower, I’d be…mincemeat, or maybe ground meat?

“Miss Everlyne, are you alright!”

Now isn’t the time for a hug I just failed the first real test of my life! But it’s pretty rare to see Fluffy pink hair act this clingy so I’ll let her off the hook.

“Everlyne, it’s not your fault mistakes happen plenty of students…”

Teacher was saying something after she brought me back up, but I couldn’t make out anything she or Fleta were saying.

The lesson went on without me.

Everyone had successfully cast the levitation spell, which was great! 

I was the only student who failed. Me? Why me? I thought I had done my best.

I suck.

At some point Fleta led me to my room where I was greeted by my two roommates but it was like they weren’t even there. In fact, no one was there, I was all alone. Metaphorically that is.

If doing my best wasn't enough, what more could I do? I have to become a witch. I need to become a witch, or else I'll never be happy.

The rest of the days went by quickly it was like I was in a daze.

“I’m such a failure…” I whispered to myself at night