The Witch Trials: Part One

When I returned to my dorm I jumped onto my bed, hugged my shark plushie tightly, and looked at my ceiling.

"Eri. I think I really like her,"

"Her jet-black hair is so cool and cute when she smiles. The students of Kaline seem to think very highly of her too... I wonder what I could do to make them not hate me... Maybe I should ask Eri?"

As I sat around in thought my phone rang and it was Hina-Senpai.

"Hello?"

"Fana! I'm so sorry!"

"Huh?"

"At the assembly I was absent! Grandmaster Nina told me she needed to speak to me so I missed the whole assembly!"

"Calm down Hina-senpai,"

"Sorry... I should've been there for you then, but I wasn't. How can I make it up to you?"

"I'm not even mad about it anyways plus..."

"Plus what?"

"Eri helped me out anyways..."

"Eri? You mean the Eri of Kaline?!"

"Yeah, I didn't know she was the number one Witch from Kaline."

"She is more than the number one Witch from Kaline! She is the number one ranking Witch Prospect in the nation!"

"There are rankings?"

"Yeah, you are currently ranked number two."

"But I thought there were only two Witch schools in Ars."

"There are still other Witch training programs in Ars, Fana. There is a population of over 5 million in Ars and one percent are Witches. That's 50,000+ Witches wandering around. There are hundreds of private Witch facilities."

"Wow. I never thought of it like that..."

"Anyways Fana, I'm happy you are ok be careful at school tomorrow I'm not gonna be there."

"I'll be careful Hina-senpai"

"Great bye-bye!"

Click-

"There must be thousands of Witches suffering the same fate as me but don't have the power to change anything. It's my job to do for them what they cannot do."

Scrolling through my phone I stared at Eri's contact on my phone.

"Eri... I'm gonna call her"

The phone rang 6 times then she finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"Uhm. Hi Eri."

"Hi."

"..."

"So what's up?"

"Uhhhh. I just wanted to call you."

"You are so weird, Fana. I like that about you." I slightly heard her giggle.

"I like you too Eri."

"Thank you. Anyways since I already have you on the phone. What's your Ethera element."

"I-I-I have S-Rank proficiency with all of them!"

"What! That is seriously OP."

"Thanks?"

"Well, I'm gonna be counting on you during the trials with our last battle being Grandmaster Nina."

"Let's talk more tomorrow Fana, bye-bye~"

Click-

"I wanted to stay on the phone with her,"

Even as I tried to sleep I couldn't stop thinking of this morning's events.

"That was the first time a friend publicly defended me like that."

-

While the morning light split through my curtains I rose rather quicker than usual. After all, This was the last day of Eri and I's afterschool detention. Over the week Eri and I had become even closer.

"I wonder If it's safe for me to consider her my friend now."

After washing up, brushing my teeth, and walking out of my dorm I put my academy uniform on and walked through the door.

Looking at the time I realized I was running late. So I decided I would fly today. Flying in the city of Estaine was very pricy. You would be charged in "Perks". Perks were the currency that Witches survived on instead of our digital currency. "Perks" are given at the start of every month. The low-ranking students barely get enough to stay so they cannot afford to buy flying passes to fly to school. The elite students of the academy are free to spend as much as they want as they are given so many "Perks" that they would not even be able to spend them all on their own.

I currently have a balance of over 465,000 Perks. Daily flying passes cost 5,000 Perks. If you are caught flying without a flying pass you will be punished with a fine and be given a strike. If you reach 3 strikes you will be kicked out of Academy City. This would be a good thing by itself, but only having a currency of Perks will get you nothing outside of the Witch Academy Cities. Plus you will be chased down by Holy knights and Royal Mages for being a Rouge Witch.

This would just eventually lead to you being burned at a stake for being a Witch. This is the main reason that no Witches bother trying to escape their Academies City. The safest place you can be is in the custody of these cities which will send you to war, but if you survive you can live a mediocre life.

Once I arrived at class the first thing I was greeted with was gossip about the Witch Trials.

"Did you hear that Fana will partner with Eri of Kaline?"

"Is it a punishment because who would want to partner with those thugs."

"I think the Grandmaster arranged it I guess she wanted the Dogs of Kaline to have a somewhat notable representation."

The laughter and mocking of Kaline students had existed for as long as I can remember being a Witch of Estaine. I never really understood it since us Witches are already stuck in a terrible position pretty much being the Dogs of the Ars Military.

It came from the distinction between impoverished and Rich areas. The Academy of Estaine is much bigger, cleaner, and better than the Academy Of Kaline. Students took those facts to say that means the Witches of Estaine are better than the students of Kaline.

"All of you should mind your manners, I hope that half of you can pass in the upper echelon in the exam."

"Fana!"

I suddenly heard a familiar name calling for me and it was Hina. She hugged me from behind which scared me and I flinched in her embrace and I tried to escape.

"Hina-Senpai let go of me."

"Nope."

While I continued to argue with Hina some Kaline students passed by our classroom and mocked me and her me.

"Tch! You Estaine students really have it easy huh? While we have to bust our asses to make it to C-rank you guys just get to half-ass everything and still be ranked higher than us."

A classmate that I recognized very quickly from our class stood up and responded to her remarks.

"Please, You Kaline bitches spend hours practicing Ethera control and still can't crack the top 100. We don't need to practice a skill that we were born with."

Another girl jumped in and backed her statement.

"Khristine is right. You could always try to jump off the roof and hope that you are born again with skills to match up with us"

Unfortunately, I have never been good in these situations so I sat there silent as someone else broke up the argument.

"All of you can shut up."

Familiar black hair and brown skin illuded my eyes. Eri showed up at the perfect time and stood in between both parties.

"This year we will see if Kaline is as inferior as you say it is."

"Please, the only Kaline student we won't look down upon is you so even if you do well It's not like you girls as a group will be able to compare with us."

Another Estaine student chimed in.

"You realize that 9 of the top 10 prospects are Estaine students right Princess Eri" She mocked

"Nothing you losers do will amount to anything but a tenth of us. Isn't that why you are partnering with Fana right? It's so that your school can finally have a notable result."

"T-Thats-"

"You know that your school would never do anything without the help of the number one WItch of Estaine right?"

Eri only gritted her teeth and glared back, but she never refuted a single word that Khristine uttered.

I made sure to block out my telepathy between her and me as thoughts started to swarm through my mind.

"That's not true, right? Eri and I are friends so she would never want to use me like that. She stood up for me at the assembly when no one else would so there is no way that is true."

Hina-senpai stood up now and faced Eri to which Eri responded to it by looking away.

"Is that true?"

"..."

Sparks of electricity began to radiate off of Hina. Violet-colored webs of electricity threatened to destroy the classroom while the Estaine Witches smirked as they watched the conflict unfold.

"I gave you my support because I truly thought you liked Fana as a genuine friend, but you were just using her right!?"

She grabbed Eri by her collar and the group of Estaine girls rushed to try to get between them, but Hina's barrier of electricity kept them all back.

"Answer my question bitch!"

"... it's true..."

Eri's words felt like a kick in the chest. Just as I thought I found a friend that I could lean on I found out that she only communicated with me to help her school and not because she wanted to be friends with me.

"Despicable."

"You can never trust a Kaline Witch."

"She dared to try to use Fana-chan? She's like the nicest girl you will ever meet."

Hina let go of Eri's collar and slapped her with an impact that was heard around the entire classroom.

"Stay away from Fana. If you ever make contact with her you will regret it."

Hina turned away from her and walked back over to me after shooting one more glare at her.

Now that they weren't blocked by Hina's Ethera they walked over to Eri who was now holding her holding her right cheek in her palm.

"Eri are you OK!?"

Once again I have been reminded that the only person I can trust is Hina-Senpai and suddenly the announcement speaker went off.

"All Witches report to the auditorium for the start of the Witch Trials."