Graduation

Leo wakes up from his sleep, he sits up in place on his bed and yawns. After stretching his arms for a bit, an excited Leo looks over at his window. The sun is about to rise, accompanied by the early chirping sounds of birds. The room is slightly chilly from the early morning air as he left his windows open the night before. Leo stands up by his bed side, his height has changed a lot since we first saw him. He starts to walk toward his bathroom, through his dorm room filled with books scattered all over the floors, along magic research papers. Many magical pictures can be seen on the wall. One picture is of him with a group of his blue cloak classmates. Another with him next to a pouting Amber and a smiling Nia at some kind of party. The one above his desk has his field trip group, with Leo distracted, looking over at a fireball heading their way. One on the table was of him getting punished by his professor, having to stand outside the hallway with a birdnest on his head. Plenty more pictures scattered around on the table, recording his time at the academy. Carefully dodging the books on the floor, he enters the bathroom, looking into the mirror. The young Leo we all know who was scrawny and short has now matured into a fine adult. He reincarnated into Ataxia as a naive 14 years old and after all these years, he is now an 18 year old graduating from the Royal Magic Academy. Taking some time to self reflect on his time in the academy, Leo smiles. He starts the morning routine of showering and brushing his teeth. Leaving the bathroom, his room is now a lot brighter. Leo looks outside to a beautiful scene of a rising sun, a new day starts. Walking over to the door, he grabs his hat and wand, all aged from the 4 years of use.

“The golem familiars should be coming by in a few hours to pack up my items, i think.”- Leo said out loud.

Before leaving his room, Leo puts on his black cloak and turns around, getting one last look at his dorm room that he has called home these past few years. With a smile, Leo opens his door and steps outside.

The hallway outside is filled with the sounds of other students, some talking, some packing, others are running around.

“Everyone certainly is on their toes on graduation day .”- Leo thought to himself.

Walking to the Great Hall, Leo sees many students also on their way there, along with many underclassmen, who bow to him as they walk by. It is a tradition in the Royal Magic Academy for people of lower cloak colors, or underclassmen to pay respect to those above them.

“I can never get used to this feeling.”- Leo thought to himself.

Taking a detour to get one last look of the school, Leo takes his time to enjoy his graduating status. As he checks the time, Leo starts heading over to The Great Hall for his graduation. Entering through the massive doors, the sound of students chit chat echoes through the room. The feeling of excitement fills the air, a one in a lifetime feeling for those who get to experience it. Leo looks around to see his friends that he made over the years waving at him.They were scattered among the crowd, a lot of recognizable faces of those that he had met throughout the years. After waving back at them, Leo walks to his assigned chair.

After a few minutes, loud rumbling sounds can be heard as the gates of Great Hall closes by itself. The chatter starts to dissipate as some run back to their chair, others taking deep breaths. Music started playing from the floating horns in the air, accompanied by students who played magic instruments. All of the students stand up from their chairs, all looking up at the stage. The principal can be seen walking up the stage and towards the podium. After a brief pause, he starts his speech. The principal congratulates all of the graduates for their dedications and achievements throughout the years. Out of those 400 that were accepted 4 years ago, 150 of them are now graduating. That number isn’t a surprise as the school follows a strict and rigorous curriculum, expelling those who don’t live up to the standards.

He then introduces the top 10 best students graduating for that year, the room fills with the sound of students clapping. To no one’s surprise, both Nia and Amber walk up the stage. As they were walking up, Amber looked over at Leo and the two made eye contact. She makes a mocking face as she pulls down one of her eyes and sticks out her tongue. Leo was pretty annoyed as he gave a sarcastic smile back. After all 10 of the students arrived on stage, the principal introduced the valedictorian, Nia Zauberei, who gave her speech about the students and the time she had at the academy. After her speech, it was the Salutatorian’s turn to give their speech. The principal once again congratulated the top 10 for their outstanding achievement.

The sound of the giant bell chimes, signifying that the time to graduate has come. All of the students’ hats and cloaks transformed, with the school’s crest changing its color, glowing a mysterious color. At the first day of school, all of the students were given a wand made of living wood, giving it the ability to grow with time. The school puts a spell on it to keep its shape as a wand until graduation. Now time has come, with one swift cast of a spell, all of the student’s wand returns to their natural state, growing into a staff. Similar to trees, all the staff have their own unique design based on the student’s magic and how they use their wands . As the song ends, the principal officially announces the graduation. Fireworks and all kinds of flashing magic fills the halls, brighter and louder than any festival Leo has been in before. Many students who had epilepsy collapse and their mouths start foaming, familiars and medic would quickly take them outside. Everyone celebrates as they made it through hell and are now official certified Royal Mages.

Standing outside the school gate, Leo waits while looking at the familiar scenery one last time. He turns around as Amber and Nia head toward the gate, saying goodbye to them.

“You weren’t too bad of a peasant after all these years. You have certainly proven your worth, but remember, you will never reach my level.”- Amber declares triumphantly.

“I didn’t know you were the type to compliment others. Are you under some kind of spell or something? Is the world going to end?.”- Leo cheekily replies.

“You haven’t changed much after all these years.”- Leo said, reminiscing about the past.

“Of course I haven’t. I’m perfect in every way possible, only peasants like you need to change constantly .”- Amber cuts in.

“Well, there is one thing that certainly hasn’t changed.”- Leo said as he looked down at Amber’s chest.

“OH I SEE YOU WANT TO FIGHT AGAIN!”- Amber starts forming flames around herself.

“Now now. Let’s take things down a notch, we are all adults here.”- Nia steps in, her light blue hair now grown all the way to her waist.

“You are right, I shouldn’t fall for cheap taunts by peasants.”- Amber said, dispelling her magic.

All three stood there bantering and laughing until a horse carriage pulled up to them.

“ It’s time to go, milady.”- A butler opens the carriage door, gesturing towards Amber and Nia.

“Well, thank you for making these past 4 years interesting. Once again Leo, feel free to visit us one day at our palace.”- Nia says her farewell as she enters the carriage.

“Until next time, don’t you dare lose to anyone.”- Amber swiftly said her goodbye and hops on.

Leo stands there waving while he keeps his distance from the carriage (PTSD). The carriage slowly shrinks as it gets further away, until it leaves his view. He continued to stand by the gate, saying goodbye to his many friends as they all took their leave one by one. He wonders if Natalie was still in the school yard and was informed by one of his friends that she had already left quickly right after the ceremony. Somewhat disappointed he couldn’t say goodbye, Leo finished waiting for everyone. Then he turned around facing the school, took one last look and in silence, gave a deep bow. Leo is now an adult, the thought resonates with him as he walks home on the familiar path.

Walking towards his home, Leo smiles as he sees his parents waiting for him.

“I wonder if this is what it would look like too in the real world if I hadn’t died.”- Leo thought to himself as he got closer.

“How was the graduation?”- His dad asks.

“It was fun, I got to meet mostly everyone I wanted to see”- Leo replies.

“Mostly?”- His dad asks with one raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, Natalie left early so I couldn’t say goodbye. I hope that I can see her again one day.”- Leo somberly replies.

“Sounds like someone got rejected.”- His mom teases.

“Mom!!!”- Leo smiles.

The three then got inside the house for a warm meal and talked about various things. The next morning, Leo can be seen outside his home just practicing some magic. His mom came out with a big bag packed with many items. Leo has decided to be an adventurer, to his parent’s hesitancy as adventuring in Ataxia is quite dangerous, as many have lost their lives to many threats within the world. Most dangerous of all, the Demon Lord’s army serves as the biggest threat to many that chose that lifestyle. That is the reason why Leo’s dad wants him to take a safe path and be a Court Mage instead, it’s a lot safer and more profitable. But Leo has made up his mind and convinced his parents full heartedly for him to become an adventurer. With one more farewell, the now adult Leo heads off again to his new journey.