As my eyes pried themselves open, the sun peeked through the curtains. I groaned and sat up on my bed. I didn’t have class until ten and it was... woah! Nine thirty. I rubbed my eyes and assessed the mess Luke had made last night. I sighed and stood up. Thankfully our floor was carpet, otherwise my feet would be freezing. It was surprisingly cold out today. I shivered and walked over to the closet, opening it. I stared at the clothes that were hanging by the hangers, then reached in and pulled some things out. I laid them out on the bed. 

"shut up, I'm trying to sleep." Luke muttered shifting in his bed. 

"morning sunshine." I joked, Luke groaned and wrapped a pillow around his head. 

"you're sooo loud... my head..." Luke groaned. "How much of that scotch did I drink last night..." he muttered. I picked up the empty glass bottle and examined. I turned it upside down.

"uuuuh all of it?" I laughed. 

"that explains it..." he groaned sitting up. His hair stood up in every direction, yeah it wasn't often neat, but today it was extra wild. 

"Lets go. were gonna be late." I said changing into jeans, and a long maroon sweater. 

"I think I'm gonna sk-"

"nope. Come on." I grabbed his arm and pulled him up. "If I'm going, you're going." I said. "Get up and change." I said helping him to his feet. "you reek man." I said coughing. He waved me away and walked into the bathroom, starting the shower. "make it quick its already...." I glanced at the clock in our room. "Nine thirty five." I sighed and sat down on my bed. I grabbed my phone and flipping it open, looked for any messages I had, or hadn’t received. "Quiet night..." I muttered shutting the phone, no messages. In a few minutes Luke exited the shower. He walked over to his closet, pulling out khakis and a blue flannel. he put on a white undershirt, then the flannel. He glanced back at me. 

"no peeking." he said laughing. I rolled my eyes and looked away. When Luke was done he turned to me. 

"lets go." he said, grabbing his backpack. I stood up and followed him out of the room. When we exited the dorm building I immediately shivered the temperature had to be below freezing. Luke yawned and pressed a hand to his temple.

"Jesus, did i really drink that much?" Luke muttered. I nodded, smiling. 

"at one point you straight up just drank out of the bottle." I joked. Luke shook his head, as he opened the door to the building where our classroom was. He motioned for me to go in. It was a quiet day on campus. very few people were out and moving around outside, and the lobby to this building was barren. We made our way up the stairs to our right. When we reached the top we followed a long hallway then turned right into the open doorway, and into the classroom. Everyone was already in their seats. Luke took his seat behind me and dropped his head into his hands.

"long night?" Lauren asked smiling at him. 

"shut up... my head is killing me." Luke snapped to Lauren, rubbing his temples. 

"What happened to him?" Caleb asked.

"long story." I muttered. 

"hey... hey Harry!" Luke whisper yelled. Harry turned around to face him. "were probably doing a practical exam today where we fight someone else. fight me?" he asked. Harry's face stayed blank.

"Sounds good." he returned to Luke, turning back around. Harry was never really one for emotion. It was hard to even tell when he was trying to convey a feeling. I laughed and turned back to face the front. 

"hey." Caleb whispered to me. I turned to him. "what say you and I match up today?" he said winking. I took a deep breath. It was a tempting offer. Id love nothing more than to squash him into the ground, but I also hated any kind of interaction with the guy. 

"I think I'm already paired up with Lauren." I said loudly hoping Lauren would hear it. 

"Roger that." she called up to me. I  breathed a sigh of relief.

"Guess I'll take him." A girl in the back said, we all turned backward quickly. 

“who the hell are you!?" Luke yelled nearly falling out of his chair. She was sitting to his left, I don't know how he didn't see her before. She stood up slowly. she was dressed in a black shirt, with a red jacket on. she wore jeans and a red beanie. She walked to the front of the room and moved her red hair to the back of her head and took a deep breath.

"hello there." she said cheerfully. "My names April Warner." she said, "I'm a transfer student form California." The classroom silence was broken by Luke

"Well I'm the best Magi on campus s-" everyone shot Luke a glare.

"not even close, mutt." Caleb grunted. Luke stood up quickly. 

"oh you wanna test that theory now??" Luke called, a smoky ash formed around his wrists. Caleb stood up and pointed his left hand forward. a golden circle of light appeared around his forearm.

"Wait!" April yelled, rushing to Luke. she grabbed his hand and examined his wrist. "you use fire magic too??" she asked excitedly. Luke's eyes widened, then he got a smug look on his face. 

"yeah well, ya know its more of a variant of fire." Luke said. "my parents used dark and fire magic... so I..." Luke pointed his left hand to the side and twisted it clockwise, a small portal appeared. "awake yet Benny?" he called. a small, skinny demon hand exited the portal and waved. "... use Underworld magic." Luke said gesturing to his demon friend. April rushed over the the arm, and grabbed it. 

"whoaaah..." she muttered examining it. "... Ive never seen anything like this before..." She muttered. Luke pulled April backward. “Benny doesn't like being touched for too long..." He said. Benny gave a thumbs down. 

"you have a relationship with him??" April asked loudly. 

"Benny?" Luke asked. "we got a relationship?" Benny gave a thumbs up. "Awesome. Thanks buddy." Luke said twisting his wrist counter clockwise. Benny waved then returned his arm as the circle closed. 

"Alright sit down." Stevenson called entering the room. He turned to see Luke and April near Lukes desk. "Oh, I see you've all met the transfer. Excellent that saves a few minutes we can use to examine your abilities further." Stevenson said placing a briefcase on the his desk. "Ok I've signed us out some time in the gym, so let's get started immediately." He said gesturing to the door, we all filed out of the classroom and made a left, entering the stairwell that led to the basement, where the gym was. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, Mr. Stevenson typed a passcode into the keypad on the right of a metal door. It beeped and he opened the door. The gym was a huge arena with a floor covered in soft padding around the arena was seating. Mr. Stevenson turned to us and smiled. 

"so." he said clapping his hands. "who's going first." It was quiet for a moment then Caleb stepped forward. "alright Mister White, who will you be fighting?" Caleb turned to me and pointed. 

"Sabrina." he said smirking. I rolled my eyes and stepped forward. Guess I didn’t get much of a choice in the end after all...

"didn't know you were so eager to lose." I joked. Caleb laughed and stepped into the arena.

"alright class, go on, take a seat." Mr. Stevenson said gesturing to the stands. They all moved off to take a seat and I stepped into the arena, cracking my knuckles. When Caleb reached the other side he turned to face me. 

"ready?" he asked. I nodded.

"Ladies first." I teased gesturing to him. 

"very well." He muttered, he rose his hand in the air. A small golden light wrapped around his elbow, then moved up his arm, covering it in a golden shimmer. I narrowed my eyes as the circle completed its movement. Caleb winked at me then shot his arm downward, toward me. I rose a brow as silence fell over the stadium. I glanced around looking for the attack, then I saw dozens of golden twinkles. My eyes widened. Quickly I put my left hand on my hip, and slid it backward. As I slid it backward a pitch black katana formed at my hip. I gripped its handle with my right hand and bolted forward. Along with elements of magic there were different classes of magic as well. Conjuration, the creation of items using your magic, Illusion/Distortion, which involves molding the world around you using your magic, Regeneration, healing or restoring items, Mysticism, which allows the user to copy magic used by other Magi, and Alchemy, which was more scientific and involved brewing potions with your magic. I had used Dark conjuration magic to create this sword. The Severance Blade, is a spell that had been passed down throughout my family. Its a katana made of negative energy, and if it contacts a magical spell, not A physical spell, it completely severs the mana supply, that’s making it. As I closed in a golden light flashed toward my face, I quickly dipped my head to the left, as a golden arrow flew passed my face, nicking my cheek. dozens of other golden arrows plummeted from the sky, toward me. I slid to the left avoiding two, slid beneath one as it came close to my head, I then quickly pushed against the floor, leaping over three arrows as they stuck into the ground beneath me. Another arrow arched toward my face. I gripped the handle of my blade. with my left thumb I pushed on the blade guard, and swiftly swiped the blade across my body, slicing the arrow in half. I brought the blade to my right side as I charged Caleb. As I reached him I sliced across my body at him. Caleb's eyes widened as he quickly shoved his left hand forward, it illuminated gold and a large metal shield appeared in front of him, blocking my blade. That was a physical, defensive spell, called Shield of Aegis It was great for blocking physical attacks but magical spells typically broke the shield. Caleb stumbled backward falling onto his back, the shield disappeared and I stepped forward. Caleb attempted to get up, but I quickly jabbed my katana forward, the point lightly tapped his throat. 

"woohooo!!" Luke yelled from the stands. "NO MERCYYY!" He yelled. 

"Quiet baker." Mr. Stevenson ordered. "allow the fight to proceed." I narrowed my eyes. Then I noticed Caleb's right hand turn slightly. my eyes widened and I quickly turned, swiping my blade. It hit against something metal, causing a high-pitched ring. I gulped as I examined the spell Caleb had created. It was a conjuration spell... but he hadn't conjured a weapon, he'd conjured a golden spartan warrior. Caleb stood up. 

"Hahaha!" he laughed loudly. "Check mate!" 

"aw thats bullshit Stevenson!" Luke called. "She's outnumbered!" Mr. Stevenson narrowed his eyes. 

"Have more faith in your sister..." He said. I nodded to myself. I sort of needed that right now, being outnumbered wasn't ideal, but I could manage. The Spartan had heavy golden armor covering his right shoulder and parts of his chest. A large golden helmet with a bright red plume rested on its head, its face was shaded by the mask. I narrowed my eyes examining it for weak points. 

“Kind of a cheap move...” I muttered to Caleb. “Ganging up on a girl like this...” I could practically hear him gritting his teeth. I smiled to myself as a large, black circle appeared beneath my feet. Caleb pointed quickly, and the spartan jabbed forward with its spear. As it reached me a cloud of smoke exploded from the circle, consuming the area Caleb, The spartan, and I were in. “Let’s see how you like it!” I called, the smoke faded away and a dozen... me’s stood surrounding them. The doppelgänger technique was a Dark Distortion spell that many dark magic users had tried to master. I obviously hadn’t yet, given that I could only manage around twelve at a time for only about a minute and a half. An experienced Doppelgänger spell would have multiple doubles that could sustain multiple hits of damage. I couldn’t give him time to attack, because my doubles would dissipate on impact. I took off toward the spartan, the others followed. The spartan rose its spear, readying to attack, but as it did all twelve of us swiped forward, cutting through the creature. It roared in agony, and exploded in a blinding light. I stood up slowly, sheathing the blade, my doubles disappeared. 

“Impressive...” Caleb muttered, panting.

“Tired?” I teased. I was probably more tired, the spells he’d used, except the spartan, required less constant mana and more small bursts. Both spells I had used have been eating my mana the whole fight. As novice Magi, our mana reserves hadn’t fully developed meaning we could only use small amounts of spells for a small amount of time before we exhausted ourselves. I only knew those two spells and I would venture to guess, the three Caleb showed me were his only spells. 

“The battle has ended.” Stevenson called. 

“Sir I can kee-“ Mr. Stevenson cut me off. 

“No need to exhaust yourselves, I’ve gathered the information I need.” He said. I turned to Caleb and nodded, acknowledging that he had at least posed a small challenge for me. We headed up to the stands...