"Magic is the art of utilization of energy from a mystical source, also known as a mana core.” I recite from my mind as my research notes are held by a blond man that sharpens a thick wooden ruler.

With each slight hand movement, sharpening the ruler, skimming through my research he reminds me what I gotta do; present my research in the shortest and most informational speech.

“Magic can be utilized within different kinds of arts, such as; conjuration, martial arts, and rune arts” I continue. “Conjurers are also known as spell casters, constructing the art through mana, which is the so-called constructive energy that can bring forth any mystical occurrences through the art, o-" I recite before getting thrown an apple against my face.

"Wrong!" the balding blond man exclaimed with an angry tone while holding my research notes. 

"WRONG, YOU STUPID BRAT!" he said before picking up the sharp ruler and walking up to me. With all his might he whips the blunt side against my throat, causing me to gasp for air. What did I do wrong? 

Before managing to breathe in, I get kicked in my stomach, causing me to collapse onto the wooden floor.

"Can someone tell me what he did wrong?" I hear him ask the class in a mocking tone. I also want to know what I did wrong, I think to myself as I looked up and saw the heavy, sweaty, balding man pointing my notes at the class.

"Breathing!" one of them exclaimed, resulting in everyone bursting out in laughter.

"Wrong," he answered while wiping away tears from laughing too hard. "But you do have a point," he follows up, straightening his back.

"Not that, instead 'through the art' he needs to say 'through conjuration'. If an idiot like him, a freak like him can't speak properly then he needs to be, PUNISHED!” he yells as he kicks me in the ribs with all his might, cracking a few of them. I’ll make you pay for that. Causing some of my alleged classmates to chuckle when they see my face.

“Oh, look at the time,” he exclaimed, acting surprised. “It's the time of the week for the freak show, who wants to go first?" he asks with a delighted tone as if he's done something amazing, done something he should be proud of. As if he’s accomplished something extraordinary in his life. 

Ah, the freak show, the show that keeps on giving each week.

"I want!" "I want!" "Me, me, me!" "I want to go first!" my classmates yell out like it's a competition to have a 'go' with me first. Some of them start climbing the tables to stand on top of the brown lecture tables. 

One of them sprints toward me with a book in hand to clobber it against my face, however, the fat man stops him.

"Alright, alright, settle down everyone. Everyone will get a turn" he announces while taking away the book and giving him the sharpened ruler.

"Alright, where do you want to put it, Robin?" the fat pig asks Robin who's pointing the ruler against my throat while the pig is holding me up by the arms. 

"Not there, we're not allowed to kill him, yet" he answers with a chortle.

"But Mr. Frau, he doesn't deserve to live! Why do we give his parents the same reason, that this is the result of combat, but not that he’s doing everything wrong? That he’s a mistake, and we’re rightfully doing this," my so-called classmate complains to Frau with a look of disgust when he looks back at me as I glare at him.

"See! He's a cursed child, black hair! Yet you do not want to kill him!" Robin continues complaining to Frau.

"Oh, I want to kill him, badly. My peers were killed by darkness, and he harbors darkness," he calmly explains. But I wasn’t the one that hurt them, I wasn’t the one that killed them.

"But we can't because he's under the protection of the Bitel Family. We can't kill him, but we may hurt him and have to explain that this is the result of combat, a duel. And if he tells anyone that this is happening, then we’re permitted to kill him," Frau responds with a tight grip around my wrist. He starts to chortle as I’m trying to pull away, and then it turns into squeals. He really is a fat pig.

I swear you’ll all pay. ALL OF YOU! ALL OF YOU DAMNED PEOPLE! I’LL KILL YOU ALL IF GIVEN THE CHANCE. Is what I want to say, but I can’t. If I do, the territories, the people within the Bitel territory will tarnish the name Bitel, and I’m risking my life.

“Okay,” Robin responds in a disappointed manner, “Don’t worry, we’ll get a chance,” Frau announces making everyone, except me, happy.

“Okay!” Robin gleefully exclaims as he’s swinging down the sharp wooden ruler between my neck and shoulder. Causing me to scream in agony.

"Now, recite the paragraphs correctly," Frau states in a spiteful manner as I'm trying my hardest to pull away. 

"You can't fight, weakling!" he yells as he kicks his knee against my back.

"Mana is the so-called constructive energy that can bring forth any mystical occurrences through conjuration," I repeat, correcting my 'mistake'. 

"Correct!" he exclaims as the next in line punches me in the ribs. "Continue! Or I'll break something else". 

"Conjurers channel their mana through a foreign object, a magic staff, or a wand. Magic staffs are mostly constructed with a special wood that could channel mana and at the top of the staff, there is a special type of gemstone that releases the so-called spells. Conjurers utilize techniques from long distances, often located at the back of troops," I manage to finish before the next kid punches me in the face, resulting in my nose starting to bleed.

I’ll repay that one day, I’ll repay everything. "Continue!" Frau yells.

"Martial arts users are also known as martial artists, martial art is also known as the ‘bodily art’. Martial artists infuse mana through techniques called augmentation and armament through one's body-" I recite before getting punched, and kicked in the ribs. 

"To, let, the mana, run, through one's body and veins" I finish off before collapsing on my knees, watching the blood from my nose drip onto the wooden floor.

"Get up!" Frau demands, lifting me off the ground. "I can't," I reply in pain.

"Alright, how about this?" he asks as he turns me around, making me look at the fat man in front of me, causing me to almost vomit as I can feel the heat burst against my face. He lifts his knee towards my face.

"This is better, right?" he asks in a threatening tone, "Is, this, better!?" he yells as he knees me in the face.

I can feel my teeth pulsating, the flesh around my teeth loosening up. "Yes, this is better!" I stutter with a metallic taste coursing through my mouth.

"Don't you dare speak up against me!" Frau yells as he kicks my shoulder, resulting in a big crack that could be heard across the classroom. 

"Sorry, Mr. Frau," I answer, swallowing the blood in my mouth before getting kneed in the face again. “Don’t you dare mention my name!” he roars in anger and disgust. “Yes, sir” I answer, feeling the blood in my mouth start to run down at the end of my mouth. "Continue," he yells in a spiteful tone.

"Martial artists are mostly located at the front, of the troops," I say before the next person comes up and kicks me on my lower back.

Punch after punch, kick after kick, cut after cut, I manage to recite my research without any mistakes.

"Rune art is also known as the weakest and the most shameful magic art amongst the magic arts. Rune users are also called Runemasters which is the highest form of formation and array mastery. Runemasters could not be located on the battlefield as they are shamefully hiding behind the fortresses, from safe distances. The symbols the true Runemasters utilize is the ancient dwarven language which is also called the demigod language, as it can possibly be used to communicate with gods. Howe-" I manage to say before one of my classmates behind me interrupts me.

"YOU DARE TO MENTION GOD IN FRONT OF US, YOU DEVIL!" he yells as he swings down with all of his might. I feel the object hitting the back of my head that could not be described as a fist or any body parts. 

The object swings down hard with a swooshing sound with a hard end, a magic staff. The staff swings down at the back of my head and crushes me in between Frau’s knee and the top of the staff. My head throbs and my consciousness fades in and out.

“That’s enough everybody, you did amazing. You correctly demonstrated how a cursed thing should be handled.” Frau praises the class as if they’re regarded as archbishops. He lets go of my wrist, making my face fall to the ground, and everyone bursts out laughing.

One of the kids runs up with the sharp ruler and tries to stab me, however, the sharp edge is dented, thus the kid needed to stab me many times before noticing any blood flow.

I wright in pain as the kid sits on top of me, stabbing my back while laughing maniacally, 1, 2, 3, 4… 9… 16… 19… 22, 23 I barely manage to count before he hits me in the back of the head with his fist. The kid turns around and stands up, and walks away, proud and praised for his work.

“Good job!”, “Well deserved!” I hear everyone praise him while he’s walking back to his seat.

“Now, let’s see the freak in action,” Frau announces and everyone reacts the same that could be described in one word, excitement.

Frau removes my shirt, revealing the nasty scar that pierces through the right side of my chest to my back “Ewww” one of the kids yells in disgust. 

He puts me at a table in front of the class. The table is quite clean but has been laced with glass shards pointing upwards. He slams me down on the table with my back, pierced by almost every glass shard. I can only yell in pain as the big pig holds me in a tight grip.

Frau turns me around after a few seconds for my tortured back to be exposed and moves the table around the class for everyone to see me, the pierced animal.

Everyone looks at my body in disgust, however, they can’t hide their excitement and starts bickering about the glass shards wondering which one would start moving first.

“I bet 5 silver that the upper ones are going to move first!” I hear one of them announce, starting the betting session. 

“I bet 5 silver that the lower ones are going to move first”. “I bet 10 silver that the central shards are going to move first!” as everyone takes one of the three sides, they contribute at least 2 silver each. Resulting in the upper level betting 69 silver, the middle level betting 54 silver, and the lower level betting 49 silver.

It wasn’t long before anything started to move on my back. I felt the familiar sensation as a layer was born from my blood. I can feel the scabs forming as I lay still on the table, and then I started to feel glass shards moving.

“Come on!” one of them shouted when they noticed that they lost. I heard different answers from each corner of the classroom, “CURSE YOU!”, DAMN IT!”, at different times and a loud “YES!” in unison.

“Okay, okay, the show’s over now!” Frau shouts, making all the kids in the room stop talking and focus on his voice. “Lunchtime,” he announces, and almost all the kids run out towards the dining hall. But the losing party made sure not to leave without saying thanks for losing.

“Thanks for making me lose 5 silver,” one of the kids walks by and punches me at the back of the head. You’re welcome. 

“Because of you, I lost 10 silver” another one follows through and puts his whole body smashing the back of my head. You’re welcome, you’re all welcome, 

This created an effect that could almost become a tradition, slamming the back of my head.

Everyone has headed out towards the dining hall, except Mr. Frau. I hear him walking up towards me, making a tch sound.

“You didn’t even finish the presentation,” he tells me before slamming a glass shard further down into my back. Causing me to let out a painful shriek.

“Don’t worry, I know that you heal quickly. After some few days of good rest, you’re good to go,” he whispers to me before punching me in the ribs. 

“Don’t exaggerate” he yells before punching me once again in my ribs. “I guess you’re not,” Frau continued while wiping his sweat onto my back. As the sweat spreads across my back it causes my wounds to burn. 

"Your next assignment will be spells and attack types, how they differ and how they are used," Frau announces while tightening a painful grip around my calf and then turns away.

"But remember this,” Frau states as he’s walking towards the doorframe. 

“An adopted child with no background nor any memories of his past is just dead weight, a dead child". Frau tells me as he’s leaving and starts to laugh.

Damn it all, because he’s too thickheaded he assumed that I was done in mid-sentence. Why, me, why of all the other kids am I the one that’s tortured, humiliated. Am I the problem? Or are they the problem?

I could only observe and dream of the outer world, look towards the horizon, and look beyond the boundary. Look towards the sky and try to reach something that’s free from anything. 

My vision becomes blurry, and my eyes spazz erratically as I lay on the table. My eyes are tired, my body is tired, and everything is inflicted with pain. I wish I could be something else, I wish I was born as something else. But right now, I am allegedly a cursed creature, Zephyr Bitel.