Practice

After class, we spent the day using every bit of magic I possessed to completely demolish the gardens outside our dorms.

Grass was scattered with every spell, clumps of charred dirt tracing the spells I cast with lines of black. Fire, wind, electricity, Mai lectured me on every type of magic in her arsenal. Apparently, Arhonia had a much larger selection than even the strongest Mikin magicians, granted not to the same heights as Mikin magic specialized in.

Yet it wasn’t enough.

Even my best spell was torn apart by a single flick of Mai’s wrist. Lightning, wind, forget it. She hadn’t needed to bother drawing her sword a single time, much less give a bit of effort.

I focused, letting every bit of magical energy available condense itself on the tip of my finger. Wind began to blow, energy causing the nearby space to warp like the area next to a black hole. I focused, focused, and let the blast of lightning fly.

Even that had the same effect as a fly. With a single finger, the best I could muster got redirected towards a nearby tree. It didn’t even sting her.

“Interesting…” Mai muttered as she knocked a stray bolt of electricity aside, the first word either of us had spoken in a while. “I’m assuming you got your magical capacity checked as a child, right, Rio?”

“Yeah. Apparently it's just as high as the rest of my siblings, not that there's any practical evidence of that.”

“It’s higher if anything,” Mai pondered for a few seconds, kneeling down and analyzing one of my magical scorch marks. “It's like… Imagine a well for me. Normally, there should be a bucket that goes up and down to retrieve the water, right? That water is your mana. Now imagine someone cut the rope with the bucket and replaced it with a tiny shot glass.”

“So I have a lot of mana, but can’t use much of it at a time?”

“Bingo.”

“Well, I guess that answers some of my questions,” I sighed. “Do you have any idea how to fix it?”

“No fucking clue, but I do know some people who might.” She said.

“Let me guess, they’re in Arhonia?”

“Yep,” Mai stretched, her hands seeming to touch the sky. “Tonight I can get in touch with some of my friends back home. Maybe they’ll be able to relay a message for me.”

“Worth a shot, though I doubt I’ll have much time to practice for the week or so,” I said

My eyes drifted towards Mikin Castle. Every other year, a few students got the opportunity to attend the Crimson Ball–an exclusive event where the best and brightest Mikin Royal Academy had to offer could mingle and talk with the upper nobility, and maybe even the king.

To me, it was normally one of the lucky few balls I wasn’t forced to attend. Yet because of my apparent progress with Mai, Father had seen fit to shoot me an invitation.

“More reason to do what we can now,” Mai said. “You lose nothing by practicing with what little free time you have.”

I let a shallow breeze twirl around my fingers. “You’re right, but what’s the point if I can’t even summon most of my damned magic?”

“Let me try something,” Mai walked over and gently placed her hand on my arm. “That wind you just summoned, I want you to send it towards school, but don’t completely detach it from yourself. Stretch it.”

“Stretch it?” Why not, I guess. With Mai’s hand still wrapped around my arm, I sent the ball of condensed air towards campus.

Noise burst out like an orchestra starting its performance: students chatting, clothes shuffling as people walked, even the teachers lecturing behind closed doors. All of it was just as vivid as if I were standing right next to it.

I narrowed my eyes, stretching my trail of wind just slightly further. It looped around the stone wall back towards our now destroyed gardens.

“Interesting…” I raised an eyebrow, dispelling the wind. “What’s that voice doing here?”

“Did you hear it?” Mai asked, ears perked up in excitement.

“Too well,” I said, eyeing the pillars to our right. It was hard to make out from here, but the coattails of Felix’s school robes were unmistakable poking from the rightmost stone column. “My brother’s decided to make himself an uninvited guest.”

“Your brother? Which one?”

“Felix, thankfully,” I started to march over. “Hey, no need to hide yourself, Felix! We know you’re there!”

Yet before I even got a few steps in, his crimson red uniform turned and disappeared beyond the corner. “Shit,”

Mai caught up to me, eyes narrowed. “What a bitch. Do you have any idea why he’d be watching us?”

“Felix? No idea. He barely acknowledges my existence unless we are forced to interact.

“I wonder… Your cocksucker of a father did imply he’s spying on us, and I know neither of us have caught a glimpse of these spies. What better way to hide a spy than in glorified plain sight? He’s hiding horrifically, but is there a better method to throw us off his scent?”

“Sure, but Felix of all people? Not in a million years. He would be the last person Father would ask.” Felix was an academic to the core, athletic and good at magic, sure, but even I had to admit his morals would strain themselves if he were to spy for Father.

“A spy’s supposed to be the last person you would expect, Rio.”

“I grew up with him, Mai, he doesn’t have the skill set to be a spy.”

“Maybe,” Mai pondered for a second, her tail slowly moving back and forth like a pendulum. “Let’s quit the practice for today. I have some things I want to check out.”

“Sounds good,” I said, mentally dreading the work to come. Sure the failure sucked, but the paperwork and preparations for the ball would be another level of suffering.