Curious eyes and hushed whispers followed Noah as he took a seat at the front of the Invocation class. The classroom consisted of tables going down a podium to show the blackboard. On one side of the wall were large windows and hanging across from it was a wall with illustrations of plants, runes and common spells.

“Good morning Noah,” his seatmate said with a smile Noah gladly returned.

Yoshua was one of the few people he considered a friend. He was a gentle young man with tan skin and chin-length curly hair. His dark brown eyes reminded Noah of a puppy pleading for treats. He was the type of guy people couldn’t dislike.

“Congratulations on getting a guide! Now that you have one, you can be the lead dancer in the upcoming summer solstice, right?” Yoshua asked.

“Good morning,” Noah replied while taking out his books, grimoire and a notebook.

Since ripping out pages off a grimoire was incredibly painful–and even illegal in some religions–students had to continue writing in notebooks during lessons. Assignments were generally written on separate parchment paper to be handed over to the professors.

Once the assignments were done and graded, the students copy them neatly on another piece of paper or feed the information directly into the pages of their grimoires. Doing so meant their mistakes and corrections would be recorded into the book.

Noah was the type to rewrite his notes neatly before putting them inside the grimoire.

“Hm, I’m not too sure I want to be the lead dancer this year. It seems like a hassle,” Noah replied to Yoshua’s question.

Azrael sat on the edge of the table and raised an eyebrow. “You dance?”

“Yes. I’m part of the dance club.”

“Oh? I didn’t know that.”

“Of course you don’t,” Noah replied simply. Why would the demon know anything about his school life?

“What about you? Do you want to be the lead dancer again?” Noah asked his friend.

“Ah, well… Last year was enough for me,” Yoshua said. “I almost had a mental breakdown because of the stress and everyone’s expectations. I could barely sleep last night because we’re going to be picking who got the short end of the stick today!”

The haunted look in his eyes had Noah patting him on the shoulder.

“Noah, I can’t do it again. Going back and forth between the clubs, choreographing the steps, making sure you were all in the right positions or otherwise it’ll botch the ceremony? I can’t do it again! I’m going to get premature baldness! I’m too young for that!”

Noah remembered the pale face and wobbly legs of his friend once the curtains closed. “You did faint backstage after the dance and you’d look awful with a bald head. I don’t think you have the skull for it.”

“I do have a flat head thanks to my mother making me lay on my back for long periods of time as a baby, “ Yoshua muttered under his breath while touching the back of his head. “Yes! And I almost threw up at the crowd too!”

“That would have been a disaster considering royals were mingling about,” Noah pointed out and watched in amusement as Yoshua turned pale at the implication. One of those royals would have been extremely agitated if they got a tiny splatter of vomit on their shiny shoes. Yoshua would have been hanged right there and then. “But what’s done is done. What matters is that you pulled yourself together and finished the Ceremonial Dance beautifully.”

“Quiet down,” a voice cut through the crowd. Everyone quickly said their goodbyes to their friends and took their seats as some students left to head over to a different classroom.

Professor Angharad entered the room in a flurry of purple robes.

“Oh, it’s that guy I almost killed.”

“Why are you still here?” Noah asked. “Don’t you have things to do? People to terrorise?”

“I do,” Azrael said. “But I’m bored, so entertain me.”

Noah tried not to roll his eyes.

Professor Angharad draped his thick cape over the back of his chair. He frowned at them as he tapped the black board with his wand and runes and magic arrays appeared as if they were being written down by an invisible hand.

“I hope for your sake you have all done your reading for this week. We will be looking at the Ancient Civilization of the Vallarins today. Their rise, downfall and of course, the way their runic system works and how it functions with our modern world.”

Noah leaned on his desk and began to scribble his notes. The Vallarins were the first people to invent runic magic with their mysterious Saintess, who was said to be the very first to exist in history. The Church of Somnium, the largest religion to date, liked to boast their connection with her and Vallarins.

“The three thousand year old Vallarins Empire were masters of runic magic. They could do magic with minimal mana usage and conquered a third of the world. We see several of their monuments and ancient weapons littered around the globe along with various statues of the Goddess of Sleep and the Gods of Life and Death. This rune here indicates the blessing of the Goddess and is used for protection…”

Azrael, who stayed quiet until now, scoffed at what he was hearing. Curiosity got Noah’s eyes flickering over to his spirit quickly before returning to his notes.

“Do you have anything you want to share with the class?” he asked.

“Nothing much except history has been mangled throughout the ages, none of these are correct,” Azrael grumbled with his arms crossed.

“Care to share what you mean by that?”

“For one, the Vallarinians have mastered preservation magic so well, they fooled your scholars into thinking they were only three millennia old. They have been around far more than a mere three thousand years.”

Noah stopped his scribbling and twirled his fountain pen between his fingers as he listened to the demon. “Oh? Are you saying that you’re older than three thousand?”

“I am as old as time itself,” Azrael said with a huff of pride. “I’ve witnessed the rise and fall of Vallarins.”

Spirits can get extremely old, that was common knowledge, but Noah has never heard of one boasting to be as old as time itself. Surely, the demon must be joking. They do like to scheme and lie.

Even the contracted spirit of the royal Xuprevia family was barely a thousand years old, and the Caroli family had been around for a very long time. Though, they couldn’t beat the Ghulan royal family who’s been in power for several dynasties. But then again, certain Beastkinds tend to live far longer than normal humans.

“So you’re an old coot,” Noah said. He underlined a sentence from his book and wrote a small note on the margins in his neat handwriting. That might come up at an exam in the future.

“Indeed I am. And I look good for my age, don’t I?”

Noah stared at Azrael blankly. While he can’t deny the demon really looked handsome, he’d rather bite his tongue than give the man an ego boost . “You look like an old prune,” he muttered under his breath instead. He’s also tired of the demon trying to flirt with him.

“Excuse me?!”

“Mr. von Vinter!” Noah flinched at the harsh voice of Professor Angharad. The man stared at him with narrowed eyes and a disapproving frown. “Would you care to repeat what you just said?”

“I didn’t say anything, sir,” He lied smoothly and put on his practiced smile.

“No, I clearly heard you say something. Now, do share your thoughts with the class.”

“Sir, do you really want to know?”

Azrael’s mouth twitched as he tried to suppress a grin.

Meanwhile, the class went quiet while Yoshua stared at Noah with large pleading eyes. He heard what Noah muttered and was trying to stop him from digging his own grave. “Don’t do it, Noah,” his mouth movement spelled out.

Noah leaned back and draped his arm over his chair. He crossed his legs together and tilted his head to the side, all the while staring at the Professor contemptuously in the eyes.

“I said “You look like an old prune.” I suggest choosing a different robe colour, professor. Dark purple does not look well with your complexion.”

He watched with satisfaction as the professor's face slowly turned red in anger.

“Detention!”