Chapter 3

The best magical school in the country was called Aurelis Academy and it stood high on a mountain top, isolated from the rest of the world. Once upon a time, it had been a fortress capable of withstanding a siege for years and now it was a highly respected school. It was large and showy, built in a gothic fashion and with high walls surrounding it. Cale lost his breath as he stared at it, just outside the gate into it.

Autumn had finally arrived, and with it, Cale was finally leaving the house of the Frosthaze family.

Calla was twenty years old and two years behind on his studies, which meant that Cale would be going to a class with eighteen-year-old teenagers.

Hopefully, no-one would notice any changes in Calla's personality.

He trudged up further along the mountain path until he reached the high gate. It was made of iron and colored dark, with spikes at the top that gave off an unsettling feeling. Cale swallowed nervously, suddenly hit by the fact that he was going into an entirely unfamiliar situation. He had never been to a boarding school before and although the affairs of the protagonist were told fancily, that was influenced by the protagonist's good luck and miraculous strength. Even the bullying for being adopted ended once the other students saw proof of his power.

Calla's family was of fairly high standing, high enough that he shouldn't be bullied just because, but he was also famous for being sickly and often ill. There was no telling how that might have affected the student body. This might be his last year alive, he really didn't want to have to worry about bullying on top of everything else.

Cale gave the gate a last glance before he walked to the Gatekeeper to the side. He kept a tight hold of the suitcase in his grasp and said, in a subdued voice, "Calla Frosthaze, final year."

The Gatekeeper, an old man that scowled at everyone and everything, looked down at the book he was holding and started shifting through the pages until he came to the page holding the offered name. He scowled even more fiercely and pulled out his pen to draw a short cross next to the name. "Welcome," he hissed out.

Cale gave him an odd look, but the Gatekeeper was actually a character in the book, so he wasn't going to ask.

When the gate opened up, he didn't wait for it to open all the way, instead, he hurried in through it right away. The Gatekeeper gave him an eerie feeling and he wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

In the story 'Fire & Ice', the Gatekeeper was tied magically to Aurelis Academy, a kind of last line of defense. The Gatekeeper was over several thousand years old and ridiculously powerful and was sort of an ace in the sleeve for the protagonist.

When the villain attacked, the Gatekeeper was able to transfer a large portion of his power to the protagonist so that he could win, but in doing so became a mortal and eventually died a few months later. After his death, it was revealed that he was born from a mortal woman and an ancient earth spirit. The earth spirit was so enraged at his death that he attacked the protagonist directly and was defeated after a long-drawn-out battle. With the earth spirit's death, a series of earthquakes erupted all over the land until a new earth spirit was born.

This caused the deaths of countless innocents.

It was never revealed who the new earth spirit was. Regardless, Cale had no intention of getting caught in the middle of the battle between the protagonist and the villain if he could help it. Which meant staying far away from the allies of the protagonist.

The villain didn't really have a lot of allies, at least not at the academy.

Once through the gate, Cale ventured through the courtyard they opened up to until he reached the doors. With one hand, he held tight to his suitcase and with the other, pulled the door open. It was heavy and he had to lean back and use his weight as leverage to get it to open up all the way. When it was finally open, he hurried through it before it had a chance to close.

The loud bang that sounded as the door fell closed again deafened the area shortly.

Cale flinched and prayed that he hadn't broken anything.

He turned away from the door and let his gaze slide over the rest of the room. Across from it was another person, a middle-aged woman wearing a smart grey suit with a knee-length skirt. She was frowning at him and Cale stared at her like a deer caught in the headlights.

Eventually, he mumbled out, "Sorry."

It seemed to knock the professor out of her disapproval as she clicked her tongue. "I thought you'd know better by now, Calla Frosthaze. You've certainly been here long enough."

Her voice was full of scorn and Cale gritted his teeth so as to not say anything that would offend her. Getting into a fight with a professor on his first day would certainly not be a good way to start off his last year. "It's just been so long that I forgot. My apologies, Professor. If you'll excuse me, I'll go to my room."

"Hmph, do you even remember where it is?" the professor scoffed out.

Cale took a deep breath and turned back towards her, as he'd already started to walk away. He gave her a shining smile and stated, in a tone as sweet as he could make it, "I don't."

He should probably have asked her where his room was, but there was just something about her that he didn't like. He had so many issues that he needed to deal with, handling a professor that disliked him for some unfathomable reason on top of everything else was not on his to-do-list. He wasn't going to go out of his way to provoke her, that would just paint himself in a worse picture, but he also wasn't going to spend an extra second around her. He had no patience for undeserved humiliation.

Now, where could he find someone else to give him directions?

* * *

The first day of classes was two days later.

It was a Monday.

The sun was hidden behind clouds that got progressively darker with every passing hour and the air was humid and damp. Cale packed the relevant books for the day and squeezed them into the new shoulder bag that Calla's mother had gifted him with just before he left the house. After breakfast early in the cafeteria — early enough that he was nearly the only one there — he'd returned to his room to get his things ready.

The uniform consisted of simple and durable black pants, a white shirt and a grey vest with a red tie. He braided his white hair (something he'd gotten uncomfortably good at lately, but Calla's mother started crying each time he brought up the topic of cutting it) and grabbed the bag and he was ready to go. The map given by the councilor was in his other hand.

He left his room behind after locking it.

The school was definitely big and without the map, he didn't doubt that he would have gotten lost. It was even more confusing than the Frosthaze manor.

And far more depressing.

He found the classroom without much trouble.

Cale entered it and looked out at the twenty or so desks arranged in lines that filled the room. It looked like he was the first one there, aside from the professor that was sitting behind their own desk at the front of the classroom. As Cale had no desire to attract unnecessary attention, he walked to the back of the room and settled into a corner next to one of the high windows. The view was of the landscape outside of the fortress. He put the bag at his feet and sat in the wooden chair.

Now it was only a waiting game.

Within a couple of minutes, students started wandering in.

Once every desk had been filled with people wearing Victorian-style suits and vests, the professor stood up from their desk and wrote their name on the blackboard. The black hair fell around his face as he turned back towards the class and said, "My name is Valerio Hallow, your professor in Offensive Magic. This is my first-time teaching, but I attended this school myself, so there shouldn't be any problems. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them."

Cale let his head hit the desk in despair.

All he wanted was to stay out of it! Was that really too much to ask for?!

If he could, he would have groaned, but he wasn't going to do anything to bring Valerio's attention to himself. He was already screwed because he was the protagonist's cousin! Getting on the villain's bad side was so not on his wish-list.

Valerio Hallow was the villain that orchestrated the whole thing. He lured out scumbags and corrupted people and used them to attack the protagonist while he himself used his cover as a professor to always have an alibi for everything. Even when the protagonist started to suspect him, there was nothing to be done, no evidence to be found. Valerio's power rivaled that of the protagonist and moreover, he was from the family that had originally abandoned the protagonist. In short, Valerio and the protagonist were biological half-brothers.

Well, not that they figured that out until their final epic battle that almost destroyed the world.

When he heard Calla's name getting called by Valero, he raised his head just enough to call out, "Present." in response then let his head hit the desk again.

How bad did his luck have to be for him to wake up in somebody else's body, in the world of a novel where the character he woke up as died uselessly, who was also the cousin of the protagonist and then have the hidden Villain Boss be his professor!

There was something seriously wrong here!

Cale spent the rest of the lesson just stewing in his own thoughts, not paying any attention whatsoever to what the professor (who was the Villain) said. His mind wandered over every possibility he could think of, but there was no way to completely avoid the villain. He would just have to hope that he didn't do anything to attract his attention.

When the lesson ended, he grabbed his bag and stood up as the others left, talking amongst themselves. He was pretty sure that he heard one or more of the girls commenting on Valerio's looks, which he had to admit were good, but as the villain that was expected. Thinking about how handsome he was when Calla had a feminine beauty that he couldn't do anything about just soured Cale's mood even further. Just as he was about to leave the classroom, unfortunately the last one left, the villain interrupted him.

"Calla Frosthaze, wasn't it? You didn't listen to a word I said."

Cale froze, his heart suddenly beating wildly in his chest. "Yes I... did."

He grimaced at the obvious lie. For his plan to fail this fast was really like a cruel joke. He didn't dare turn around and look the professor in the eye.

"Hmm..." the villain started, "so you can explain to me what Georgi's Magical Theory is?"

Cale felt his eyes go wide and his heart started to beat even faster, so fast it felt like it was about to jump right out of his chest. He had no idea what the man was talking about. "Sure... it was about the... magical... stones..."

"You should put in more effort if you're going to try to lie to me."

Cale grimaced again and turned around to face the villain, letting his eyes drift over anything but him. "I wasn't trying to lie to you, I was just... worried."

The man rose a dark eyebrow and quirked his lips like he was smiling. "Worried about what?"

Unwillingly, he found himself looking at the man's dark blue eyes. It was unfair how intense they were. "I've been sick a lot. I'm just worried I'm too far behind."

"Ah yes, you're the Frosthaze heir, aren't you? I heard you were behind in your studies."

Cale narrowed his eyes, "Is that a problem?"

The man smiled and answered, "Not at all."

Cale furrowed his eyebrows and stated, "I need to get to my next class. I promise I'll pay more attention next time."

"I'll hold you to it."

* * *

Aside from the fact that he had already caught the attention of the villain of the story, the rest of the week passed by easily. The classes were difficult to understand and the only way that he could pass them was by writing down literally everything the professors said and going over it again and again in the school's library. The library of Aurelis Academy was much much bigger the Frosthaze's and there were so many more books there that it was probably as close to paradise a person could get. Knowledge from a different world.

Science did exist, because although everyone had magic, only about a third of the population had enough magic to actually use it, and if the magazines he'd spotted in the library were any indication, electricity was currently being invented by a talentless mage, though it was impossible to tell if it was going to go somewhere.

Cale didn't make any friends as he used most of his energy trying to keep away from people. He ate breakfast before nearly everyone else, was always first to class and spent all his free time either in the library or in his room, studying everything he could. Studying wasn't actually boring, rather it was fascinating and informative. If he was now stuck in this strange world of magic, villains, and heroes that had frankly ridiculous good luck, then learning everything that he could was simply common sense.

Unfortunately, he had three classes a week with the ultimate villain in Offensive Magic.

He wasn't sure how he was going to manage an entire year of it.

He made sure to pay attention to what Valerio was teaching and was honestly a little stunned that Valerio was a good teacher. He knew what he was talking about and how to make others understand. For some reason, he had expected that as the villain he would be horrible at it, but Cale listened and learned and though he hadn't quite gotten enough courage to ask questions yet, he thought he might one day.

On the other hand, so far, he had managed to avoid the protagonist completely.

The protagonist was Calla's adopted cousin on his father's side. As the protagonist was three years younger than Calla, he was currently seventeen and a student at Aurelis Academy. Even members of Cale's class had heard of the impressing amount of raw power that he had and his skill with spells. He was a terrifying fire mage already and Cale had absolutely no interest in meeting him.

In the novel, Calla's and the protagonist's relationship was described as distant and fragile. It was only after Calla died that the protagonist started to care for his cousin and that was because he thought that Calla had purposely eaten his poisoned food and died for him. In short, if Calla hadn't died, the protagonist wouldn't have cared about him at all.

Hopefully, this meant that the protagonist wouldn't bother trying to track him down.

He was already in enough panic and distress from having to spend three hours a week with Valerio Hallow; he didn't think he could handle any more drama.

Cale closed the book and pushed his chair back, stood up and started to gather his things from the large wooden table. He piled everything up until he could squeeze what he was taking back to his room into his bag and pushed the loose hair back from his face. It was evening now, and the library was about to close which meant that he had to leave, whether he wanted to or not.

Once his bag was full, he took a hold of it, swearing under his breath due to the heavy weight of the many books that he had squeezed into it.

Cale let his eyes drift over the rest of the room, noting that he was the last one there and that the librarian was starting to look impatient. He gave the old woman a kind smile and started walking for the doors.

The library had large double doors, exaggerated like everything else seemed to be. He pushed them open and left the library.

The walk back to his room was long and winded and by the time that he arrived, night had fallen. Thankfully, Calla's body didn't seem to need as much sleep as his own, so he could function despite the long nights and early mornings — but he was still exhausted by nightfall regardless. Cale lugged the bag over his shoulder and unlocked his room with the silver key.

Just as he was about to enter, a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Back so late?" Cale turned around and looked towards where the voice was coming from. He saw a young male teenager that he didn't recognize leaning against the wall some distance from his door. Had he waited for him?

"I was in the library studying," Cale responded to the question.

The boy hummed in thought. "Really? And here I thought you were just going to take advantage of the professors' pity for you again."

Cale narrowed his eyes and answered, "You can't get by on pity forever."

The fact was that it was entirely possible that Calla had gotten by on his professors' pity before. Aside from his history of illness, not much was known of Calla, so Cale had no comparison. At best, the only thing to do was to guess and try to answer all questions neutrally. The ones that he couldn't turn back on the questioner, that was.

The boy, who probably couldn't be older than fifteen, hummed again. "I guess not. But you know, it'd take a miracle for you to be able to graduate this year. You're probably just going to be held back again. You should just give up."

Cale just smiled at him and asked, "And you? How are your studies going? I haven't seen you in a while, I'm curious."

Hopefully, the boy wouldn't notice that Cale was bluffing with everything that he had right now.

The boy tilted his head, his face obscured by the hallway's darkness. "I'm at the top of my year, unlike you who's a failure. I don't get what Sayer sees in you. You should just stay away from him. He doesn't need you."

With that, the boy left.

Cale waited until the boy was gone from his sight before he finally entered his room and locked the door behind him. He breathed out deeply, unexpectedly rattled by having to lie on the spot. He'd just thrown words out of his mouth, hoping they'd make sense to the boy.

What was even more rattling though was the name Sayer.

The name of the protagonist that he had so far tried not to think about.

Sayer Frosthaze was the adopted son of Calla's father's younger brother. As such, Calla was the heir but as the only child, once he died, the next in line was Sayer. He didn't like to think that Sayer had wanted the lordship; because the Frosthaze family was declining lately and that wasn't the sort of thing that a protagonist was supposed to do. But it had never actually been said in the book that Sayer didn't know that the food was poisoned. It was entirely possible that he had known and just not done anything.

Until Cale knew for certain, there was no way he was getting anywhere near him.

And even after he knew that Sayer hadn't known, he was staying for away from him. As cannon fodder, being close to a major character, no matter their intentions, was practically a death sentence.

Though this begged the question of who the boy was.

Honestly, Cale had no clue.

And he wasn't particularly interested in finding out.

Cale left the bag full of books on the desk and started getting ready for bed. The worry of being caught as an imposter was exhausting, but it was still less than at the Frosthaze manor. But then there was the worry that when they started actively using magic in classes, he was going to get caught at once if he couldn't live up to their expectations.

Hell, was he even an ice mage?

If he wasn't, he was soon going to have a huge problem.

Finished with his preparations, he climbed into the moderately big bed, pulled the covers up to his chin and fell asleep.

Exhaustion was so troublesome.

* * *

Cale woke up the next morning to a bright light murdering his eyes soon identified to be the sun.

Some things just never changed.

He groaned and rolled over in the bed. It was the weekend, finally, which meant no classes and spending the entire day in the library. He'd never liked studying but when the subjects were so fascinating and different, even history got interesting. He was fully prepared to not be leaving the library for the entire weekend, but unfortunately, it closed during the night.

It was a shame too because Cale was rarely this motivated to do just about anything.

Eventually, he managed to muster up enough strength to leave the bed and get dressed. He needed to go get breakfast now if he didn't want to eat with everybody else — something which may require him to share a table and act like he knew what they were talking about. No, eating alone was the best solution.

Dressed in his uniform with his hair once again braided, he pulled on the heeled boots unwillingly. At least he had gotten more used to them and no longer tripped over thin air. Still, he didn't get why the school didn't issue shoes with the uniform, that way he could have left them behind. Sadly, he had had no choice but to take them with him and after all this practice, he was actually getting kind of comfortable in them. A scary thought if ever there was one, because this wasn't his body nor world.

He didn't want to get comfortable. That would be like admitting that he hadn't been happy with his life before.

It would feel like a betrayal.

The cafeteria was empty when he entered. There were no cooks for breakfast; everything was left all out in the open on a long table and you just picked what you wanted to eat onto a tray. Cale was well used to the routine by now and knew what he liked.

He filled his tray with his breakfast and picked a table in the corner of the large open room with the high ceiling.

Just as he was about to eat, he became aware of the sound of the chair in front of him being pulled out and as he watched, the same young boy that had mentioned Sayer the night before sat down with his own tray. The boy had short light blond hair and a pair of bright green eyes and even Cale could tell he was probably going to grow up handsome. Rather than Calla, who was more along the lines of beautiful.

The boy scowled at him and avoided his eyes. "Sorry," he muttered mulishly.

Cale snorted before he could help it. "Sorry about what? You didn't say anything I haven't thought of before."

The boy just looked down at his own tray. "I didn't mean... of course you can be close with Sayer, you're his cousin while I'm just... that annoying kid that keeps on following him around everywhere. It's just, he said that you were feeling better this year and might actually graduate and I got mad and I lashed out at you. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve it."

Involuntarily, Cale's eyebrows rose in surprise. It was the last thing that he expected to hear. He figured that he should probably repay the honesty with some of his own. "That reminds me, who are you again?"

The boy's eyes widened before he scowled at him fiercely. "Julius Claymore. I'm Julius Claymore and don't you forget it."

Cale smiled. "I won't."

The boy spent the rest of the meal giving him suspicious looks and Cale worried that he might have taken it too far. But there was nothing to be done about it now so he would just have to hope for the best.

Once he finished his breakfast, he left the tray on the table as he left. It took a few steps for him to notice that the boy, Julius, was following him. He gave him a look, but the boy just stared stubbornly back at him. Cale sighed and continued walking.

Other students were starting to enter the cafeteria for their own breakfast and he didn't want to spend another moment there with them. If the boy wanted to follow him then he was welcome to. All he was going to do was study until his eyes crossed, the same as every other day.

Studying was pretty much the only thing that he did nowadays.

Maybe he should fix that.

Regardless, he made his way to the library, by now having figured out the perfect timing for it to just be opening when he arrived.

Cale walked through the doors unhesitant, amused at the weird look the librarian gave him when she saw him. Doubtlessly, she wondered why he was spending all his time around books. He was the only one that spent all available time there. But it wasn't like he had a choice, he was working on a limited time schedule.

If things went according to plan, he'd be dead within a year.

On the other hand, if things went according to his plan, he'd be long gone this time next year.

He ventured in between the many shelves of the library until he reached the table that he'd claimed as his. It was hidden behind a whole ton of books and impossible to be seen from anywhere else, the perfect place to study in peace. For some reason though, Julius was still following him.

As Cale sat and started to unpack his books from the bag, he glanced unsurely at the boy and tried to work up the courage to say something again, still reeling from the last epic failure. He needed to stop trying to be nice, he just seemed insensitive in hindsight.

Seriously, who asked someone who they were after what was probably a dozen meetings?

Him, that was who.

He had the absurd urge to hide his face in his hands and hope that nobody could see him.

Cale watched as the boy sat down across him again and started to look through the books Cale had unloaded. "You're reading this?" Julius asked him. He couldn't tell if it was incredulous or condescending.

Maybe both.

"Yes," he answered flatly and took back the book from the kid's hands.

The boy hummed. "You know, if you keep this up, you could graduate. I was serious about that. You have an actual chance this year."

"I plan to," Cale stated.

Still, could he actually keep up this pace of studying for a whole year? He liked reading and the material was hardly boring, but perhaps he could do with some variation in his schedule. A hobby or something like that, something to distract him from his possible death.

Julius stared at him as he cracked open books and notebooks and started up where he had left off the day before. "I've never seen you study this much before. Are you really that desperate to graduate now? There are still four years left before the age restriction stops you from coming back."

Cale looked up from the books and caught sight of the boy leaning his head on his hands and staring at him with bright eyes. He swallowed nervously. "I want to see the world. I don't want to be here any longer than I absolutely have to."

"I suppose you're right. You only just got healthy. Who knows when you relapse?" Julius commented lightly.

Cale grimaced, but it was the truth. Calla had a sick body rife with illnesses. A change in the soul shouldn't affect that. Eventually, it was probable that he would get sick, maybe even bedridden as Calla was so often in the novel. It was only further motivation to do well in his studies and graduate as fast as possible.

Just being in this school made him nervous.

This was an entirely different world, with different laws, traditions, and societies. For someone like him, it was a treasure drove. He wanted to go everywhere, see everything and learn everything there was to know. He wanted to do experiments, see how science and magic interacted and crack open every single book that existed. He missed his home and his family, of course he did, but this was his life now. If he couldn't accept that, sooner or later he'd go insane.

And maybe, just maybe, if he learned it all, maybe he could find a way home, to his own body?

It was a thought that bore considering.

He turned back to his books and resolved to not worry about it anymore. It only brought grief that he could really do without. Maybe this wasn't what he had imagined in his future, but it would have to do. Life rarely panned out as planned anyway.