The tension between the four students was rather high. Where Maya and Sol were well aware that their respective friends had had a rather peculiar first meeting, seeing them clash over the first physical education class was perhaps not the best of ideas.
"Carla, are you okay?" Maya asked her friend.
"Yes yes, I'm fine." Carla blinked and looked at Devion, who gave her the biggest smile, which made her blush all the way to her ears. "I-I'm fi-fine. Perfectly fine."
Maya laughed at her nervous friend. There was clearly no animosity between the two, just shyness and lots and lots of reserve. Everyone resumed their places and the fight began.
A first flash appeared before Devion's eyes, and he remembered Cristael's teachings when he must have been about twelve. She had always taught him that, although it was rare to possess two elements, one should never rely on that or on one's symphony rank. A magician with a single element could easily be stronger than he was.
But here, the conditions were different: he had rated Carla at a level similar to his, and she, too, possessed two elements.
As if to avoid bringing them face to face, Maya turned instead to Devion, where Sol turned to Carla. The latter breathed a slight sigh of relief; she didn't really understand why, but shyness enveloped her no matter what she did when she was in the young man's presence. She thanked her friend inwardly and concentrated on invoking as little magic as possible.
Opposite her stood a young man of infinite coldness, drastically different from the smiling young man who had stood here a few minutes ago beside Devion, Sol Wolfrad had covered his mask of the untrusting, the testing.
Carla was completely unable to judge the young man in front of her. She'd heard he was from the water element and at the Resonant stage like most of the students here, but he seemed to have that little something extra. Nevertheless, symphony ranks were changeable and bound to evolve. While everyone arrived at Orpheion with a similar level, the most talented quickly overtook the others.
Sol didn't summon any magic. At least, Carla couldn't detect the slightest hint of it. Too bad, she thought. The tiniest possible layer of blizzard covered her body and, concentrating as hard as she could, the scar from her blow began to flicker slightly and she threw herself at her opponent.
Carla rushed towards the boy but he didn't move an inch and at the last moment through a blood-curdling smile he raised his hand, particles of water barely visible on his fingertips.
"Oh no, no." Carla tried to back away, she'd been naive. If Sol managed to touch her in this state, the reaction with her blizzard power might freeze her in place.
A little further on, another duo was clashing. Devion and Maya had exchanged a polite glance and then taken up their positions.
If his memory wasn't faulty, Devion remembered that Maya possessed the earth element. A real challenge for the brunet as his frostfire was not particularly powerful against this element. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Devion knew, however, that he had a definite advantage: brute strength. So he decided to take the rather risky gamble of not invoking any magic at all. Maya finally approached him, having fortified her forearms and fists with a solid rock overlay. This way, she could do it.
Maya was doing exactly what he wanted her to do: rush towards him and exhaust herself as much as possible. As the girl came upon him, Devion grabbed her rock-wrapped full arm, at the last moment using his flames to fortify his hands and his ice to anchor himself to the ground.
"Hold on tight."
"What-"
Maya flew with the fighting grip Devion had just thrown at her, only to find herself brutally on the ground in a squeak of pain. At the same moment, Carla touched Sol who activated her water magic in an instant the girl found herself frozen in place.
"We have new winners." Professor Steele looked at the four youngsters panting on the ground. "Nevertheless, despite Maya and Carla's defeat, I also wish to congratulate them on their ingenuity."
Devion extended a hand to Maya, who was nervously rubbing her aching back.
"I'm sorry, I came on a little strong." He smiled and helped her to her feet.
"Thank you. Don't worry, either way you were better, I'm glad you won our duel."
In an instant, everything changed.
The moment their hands touched, a surge of electricity passed through Devion's entire body and his vision was obscured. The two teenagers were suddenly separated and Devion found himself thrown to the ground. Everything went dark, darker and darker.
Devion, remember.
"Dev!" Sol tried to shake his friend, but nothing helped, the brunet was lost in thought, absorbed by an all-powerful aura. "Dev, please!"
Devion's scar spread across his face, again and again. Deep black, this teardrop shape expanded into a more misshapen form, a scratch, a much larger and disturbing trace. Carla watched, petrified, as the scar grew into the same shape it had taken before. She had to help him, she knew, but she was as if pinned to the ground, immobilized.
"Children stand back." Professor Angus asked with a harsher look, his soft, friendly expression had turned to palpable concern.
"I'll take care of it sir, trust me." To everyone's surprise, the prince, Galahad Morwynn, stepped forward, with a mixture of uncertainty and confidence, he activated his mist powers. A light wind flew around him as he concentrated.
Galahad's initiative, however noble, did not result in the activation of a greater force around Devion. Dark shapes surrounded the boy, enveloping him in arms of darkness.
You know where to find us.
Devion cried out in pain, screaming at the top of his voice to stop. Galahad tried to approach him, trying to create a crack in the strange black power around him, but it only pushed him back.
Professor Steele, meanwhile, had contacted the management and moved closer to Galahad. He placed a hand on the prince's head and nodded that he could leave him to it. Galahad resigned himself and let the teacher pass, advancing dangerously towards a completely uncontrollable boy.
"I'm sorry, kid."
The teacher used all his strength and gave a huge blow to the ground, which ricocheted and shook the boy.
You must be chosen. Let the Void Drifters guide you.
Devion came to his senses before sinking again and losing consciousness. The last images he saw were of Professor Steele looking desolate, Sol calling his name and Carla rushing towards him.
It took no less than four hours for Devion to come to his senses. He awoke in an unfamiliar room. Straightening with difficulty in the bed where he lay, he put his hand on his forehead to massage it. A throbbing pain was giving him an unbearable headache.
"How do you feel?" Cristael was sitting next to him, he hadn't noticed her at all. "You do like to stand out, son."
"What happened?" Devion grunted, rubbing his head.
"That's more for you to tell me, don't you think?"
The teenager eventually recounted what had happened and the details of what had actually happened at the welcome party. Cristael's gaze went from surprised, worried to annoyed and then very annoyed.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know. It's like, argh-" He rubbed his head, another whiff of pain coming to strike another blow. "It's like someone's stopping me. And what are these things, Void Drifters?"
Cristael stood up and readjusted her outfit, rising from the chair where she'd been sitting.
"I think they were the strange shadows that had attacked us. They were sort of shapeless shadows that looked like ink splashes. They were of totally different heights and symphony ranks." Cristael turned her eyes to lock onto those of her adopted son. "What was strangest of all was probably the fact that their elemental type was completely unknown."
Devion straightened up more, which caused him an umpteenth, terrible headache.
"What do you mean?"
"As you know, there are five mono elements and three double elements known to date. Nevertheless, these beings didn't seem to use any magic that we know of."
"Wait, but that means we've discovered a new element?"
Cristael looked desolate and nodded. The situation was critical, strange enemies were attacking Orpheion and they were linked to a strange force that had a grudge against her son. The state of things hadn't been this worrying in many years.
"This is so cool."
The headmistress let out a hiccup of surprise. So cool? Devion was still true to himself. This was anything but "so cool" but hearing these words from Devion's mouth, was, in itself, rather reassuring. He was fine. He was still himself. For now.
"Good." She laid a hand on the brunet's head. "I think there are a few people waiting for you outside. Can you stand up?"
After this more than traumatic event, Devion's class had remained rather agitated, even if the students had been given vague justifications, they had been asked to keep this event to themselves and certainly not to talk about it to anyone. The situation was already critical and if panic broke out, everything would become totally unmanageable.
Galahad was disappointed in him. There was nothing he could do. Nothing at all. He had been absolutely useless.
Being seen as the perfect prince, the teenager had always had to maintain an impeccable reputation without the slightest misstep. He had to represent the best possible image of the Morwynn family. Above all, he had to make his mother proud.
Lazarus and Nymeris Morwynn were two very powerful magicians, while Nymeris was in the Transcendent stage, Lazarus was one of the only known magicians in the whole of Kaelor to be in the Absolute stage.
Galahad wanted to make his parents proud. He wanted to be the best. But right now, he was just average. Prince Galahad Morwynn, the only prince in the kingdom of Kaelor, was basically an average magician.
From an early age, however, Galahad had shown great promise. Double-awakened early in his childhood, the double element, mist, quickly awakened in him, making him the pride of his father. As he grew older, Nymeris Morwynn built a kind of barrier between herself and her son. This wall had become almost impenetrable for the teenager.
Born of a fire element mother and a frostfire double element father, Galahad should have carried the double element inherited from his parents or at least the fire one, but this was not the case, much to his mother's dismay. A double element wasn't enough.
The prince had therefore decided to work, to train again and again to be better, to please his mother, to measure up to the Morwynns.
One winter evening, several months before his entering Orpheion, Galahad decided to leave Kaelor to perfect his training. He set off to train between the mountains of Scorchfang Peaks and the Glacian Forest northeast of Parvana, accompanied by various powerful magicians and soldiers of the royal family. The trip was scheduled to last three months and would be his last major training before entering the academy.
By the end of his long journey, the young man had become a much better magician than before his departure. The evening he returned to the royal family castle in Valterys, the capital, he rushed to his parents, still dirty and full of scratches.
"Mother! Father!" Galahad came running into the castle's main hall-snow still stuck to his boots. His parents were comfortably seated over tea. "I have great news!"
"Speak my son." Lazarus enunciated, taking a deep sip of tea.
"I've passed the Ascendent stage!"
"And you think that is enough?" Nymeris looked at his son, her gaze just as cold as it had been months before. "If it's enough for you, you'll never be a better magician, Galahad."
That evening, Prince Galahad Morwynn made another decision. Being better didn't mean much, because there was no final stage. So Galahad would become better again and again.
"You'll be proud of me, Mother." A tear rolled down the young man's cheek before he turned and left the room. New horizons awaited him, Orpheion would be his second wind.