Chapter 7: The Flame Eater, Part 1

A month had swiftly passed since Arcanus held its new students' admission exams, but for Mariana, it felt like an eternity. She was anxiously anticipating the day that she would be returning to Arcanus after she (almost failed)  passed the exams with flying colors.

Mariana had been so over the edge — even Lucia and Robert lost their temper at some point because Mariana wouldn't stop screaming every time she laid her eyes on her uniform that she hung on the door to her room.

Lucia and Robert were the first individuals that Mariana knew to find out that she passed the admission exam to Arcanus, and they should've been also the last to know about it. However, the old couple didn't want Mariana to receive bad rumors any longer, so the next day the two learned of the good news, they deliberately spread the information about her to everyone; they said that a simple village girl from Pago, faced all the odds and passed the 'insanely difficult' entrance examination of Arcanus.

Soon, Mariana's reputation was painted in a better light. The gossips about her changed, saying she was favored by the spirit and Goddess Invidia; they even knew her name now. Mariana wouldn't even be surprised if the news had spread far to the other districts as well and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed about it.

First of all, the exam wasn't insanely difficult. It would've been for, maybe, someone who didn't study anything at all about magic but Mariana didn't believe that there was even a single examinee that day who were clueless about what they were trying to enter.  Even those who resorted to cheating should've — at least — known a thing or two about their own magic. They were nobles, after all, and Mariana never doubted that they would have the money to buy books or even hire teachers to further their learning.

However, the exam was indeed hard — especially the second and the third part of the practical exam. The second part tested the examinees' accuracy, and Mariana didn't like it, to say the least. She even almost failed at it. The task given to them involved hitting several moving targets using their respective element's basic spell. Mariana almost vomited the breakfast she ate that day when twenty different statues of Theresa started revolving around her. She only managed to hit twelve of the statues — the lowest number of targets the examinees needed to hit to advance to the third and final part and exam. Had she missed the one more — well — she didn't want to even think about that.

Their third and final task tested their ability to control their element. The exam required Mariana and the examinees to conjure their elements in their palms and mold them into three different shapes: a sphere, a cube, and a pyramid. Mariana worried she wouldn't be able to cast 'conjure: water' — the spell required to finish the task — since she had never tried casting before, but it turned out that it wasn't needed as the spell proved rather easy to cast. What gave her the hard time was molding the required shapes but she accomplished it, too.

And so, the day came that Mariana finally had the chance to wear her uniform.

"At long last!" Mariana exclaimed.

The ladies' uniform included a white collared shirt, light blue vest, light blue ribbon, white pleated skirt that with a light blue hem, and light blue robe. Her uniform came from a package from Arcanus, too, which was fortunate for her as she wouldn't need to buy it anymore (Mariana doubted she could buy it with her own money).

To say Mariana was happy, the moment she saw her reflection in the mirror, was an oversimplification. The only thing that was stopping her from bugging the old couple about how she looked was their threat that they would cut her uniform if she said anything more about it. Mariana knew they wouldn't really do it but it was better to be safe.

The first day of Arcanus' new term would be starting early; even earlier for Mariana since she would be coming from the Common district. However, she didn't mind as she was used to waking up early. After fixing herself up, she bid goodbye to the old couple and merrily went on her way to conquer her first day.

***

"W-w-welcome, new s-students of Arc-and... ARCANUS! It is an h-honor to meet this year's batch of aspiring m-mages…"

A collection of disappointed sighs and yawns could be heard across the large hall. Mariana, meanwhile, was listening intently to every word and stutter that the speaker said. She even had her hands clutched together as if she was praying.

An assembly was being held currently inside a 

large hall next to the Arena.

The speaker introduced herself as Archmage Oceana Clearwater. She was wearing a long white coat that almost reached the floor over a black dress and black pants. She also wore a pair of round spectacles over dark baggy eyes and her long light blue hair almost reached her shins.

"Archmage? You mean THE Archmage?!"

"Is this some kind of a joke?"

"When will this be over..."

Mariana knew of the person's identity. She had seen her name written many times in the many books she'd read before, and adored the lady ever since she got interested in magic. She knew Oceana had received the highest mage rank, Archmage, at a very young age of 35; no one had reached the same rank ever since.

It was written that to reach the highest rank Archmage, the mage had to obtain three elemental rings — one for every element — and the same person should also be able to cast the highest tier spell for the element. Oceana was also appointed as Arcanus' principal as the other races also believed in her skills.

Needless to say, the Archmage in front of Mariana achieved it all. Her only weakness was talking to crowds. Mariana, however, didn't mind, even though it was getting more irritating for the majority of the students as they listened to her speak.

"I-I will now be introducing your prof-professors for this year. Pl-please, give th-them a round of applause once I called th-eir n-ame..." said Oceana.

Mariana paid attention carefully as Oceana introduced all of them. One of these professors was Theresa, who saved her from Noble district's guards. Funny how she needed to be saved from people who should be protecting her, Mariana thought. She swept this thought immediately and as soon as the next person was called.

The next professor was Igor Stonefist — a dwarf who was wearing full plate armor, Mariana couldn't even see his face. Then a lady named Celeste Darkwind went to the front. It seemed that she was a noble of some sort, as she saw her fellow students bowed with their palms in their chest. She returned the greeting with a graceful smile.

Finally, a human named Marshall Miller stepped in front. He was wearing the same attire as Theresa: a button-up shirt over pants, a tailcoat, boots, a top hat with a large feather on it; all of these had an accent of green, different from Theresa's blue-accented attire. He gave the students a dashing smile and bowed — which received the best applause as well as titillating screams from the female students.

"THAT'S MASTER MARSHALL MILLER OF THE HOUSE MILLER!"

Mariana pressed firmly on her ears with her palms. What was so special about him, anyway?

'Wait, Miller — could he be Marcus' brother?'

"Th-that's enough," said Oceana. 

And they all stopped but not because Oceana said so. It was Theresa's glares — which could kill anyone even someone who breathed noisily — that halted them from speaking any further.

Oceana cleared her throat, straightened her curved back, and said "Good."

Everyone was clueless as to just what happened. Oceana — who looked like she would run away from her spot all the time — changed. 

"My Father told me about that side of Lady Clearwater."

"What about it?"

"They met each other before when Father was doing some business with Arcanus. He told me that she was acting awkwardly the entire time. But, as soon as they talked about magic, her attitude changed turned upside down. Father didn't even know if he was still speaking to the same person anymore."

Mariana gulped. It seemed that the two students talking behind her were telling the truth. Oceana did look entirely different. Her aura now felt... formidable, or so Mariana assumed.

"Before I send you all to your classrooms, I would like to announce something."

Mariana saw the professors' — aside from Theresa —  smiles faded; they must be clueless about this announcement, too.

"There will be another student joining all of you for this term." Oceana raised her finger. "You must be thinking, what did he do or where did he come from for him to receive such a treatment, am I right?" 

No one said a word. All of them have been caught by the net. Meanwhile, Mariana was wondering: if she could speak like this, why was she stuttering a lot a while ago? 

"... I think it would be better if I just show you the answer. Lady Theresa, if you may." Oceania said.

Theresa only bowed and went to the back of the platform from where Oceania and the professors stood. After a moment, she was dragging a male student by the wrist. 

Mariana froze. The student mentioned was never wearing fancy clothes; he wore the same as the other male students. He wasn't too young nor too old, too, for he appeared to be around the same age as her. More importantly, he wasn't the son of the king nor a well-known noble. In fact, Mariana was completely sure that only she knew about him, or so she previously thought. No one should've possibly known anything about him, except for Mariana. 

He was wearing a buttoned collared shirt under a dried blood-colored vest, black pants, a pair of brown leather boots, and a red tie. But the most important aspect of him, that Mariana was sure everyone noticed, was his short ruby-colored hair that barely covered his blank face.

"Why the long face?" Oceana asked as the student approached her. She never received a reply so she turned her attention back to all the bewildered students that were watching the events uphold.

"As you can see, he is different. I didn't even know which classroom should I put him in. It's not like anyone would provide an entire building just for him, " Oceana sighed. "Anyway, why don't you introduce yourself for now?"

Having no choice, the student in question turned to face the awestruck crowd, tilted her head forward, and then spoke.

"Greetings to each and every one of you. My name is Ignis, and I'm a fire mage."

So it was really him, Mariana thought. Mariana could never mistake the face of the person who saved her life, and the one and only fire mage in existence to someone else.

"Excuse me!" Mariana shouted (it was so loud, everyone's head turned towards her) and raised her hand.

"Yes, what is it?" said Oceana.

"Can you put us under the same class?"