Loh day was back again. Signaling not just the start of a new cycle, but also my most hated lesson. As I settled in at the back of the classroom, ready to rest my eyes, I saw Aeloria scowling at me from the front before she took her seat.

I offered an expressionless stare back, then replied to Ressa who was speaking to me. "Sorry, didn't catch that."

She smiled at me, and offered a friendly thump to the arm, "It was nothing really, I just wanted to give you an out from your glaring contest. I know how stubborn you can be."

"Then thank you very much. That was starting to get very uncomfortable."

"I take it she must have heard that you're not on the table anymore to buy."

"God, I feel like a bit of prime beef. But yeah, she's definitely heard."

"You think she'll cause trouble for you?"

"Apart from telling everyone I threw the fight against her, which I doubt she will because it makes her look bad, I don't see what she could do."

Ressa nodded. "I agree. And even if she did, I don't think it would cause half the stir you think it would. Most people would probably understand why you did it, given your circumstances."

"Silence!" Master Draven was up on his feet, which was a rarity. "It's that time of year where we need to tighten our focus on the end-of-year tournament. By now, you should have a good enough understanding of Archo… Union history to understand why Warrior Mage academies exist.

"You will become our most potent weapon against any enemies who are foolish enough to cross us. To prepare for your roles in the future, and your rapidly approaching military service placement, you will all no doubt be aware of our inter-academy tournament. Today's lesson will be to cover the history of the tournament and the expectations and rules."

I perked up a little at the mention of the tournament. Even though I'd be gone from here before it started, it was more interesting than any topic we'd covered so far. In a different setting, it almost sounded fun.

"As you all know, there are five other Warrior Mage academies across the Union. For many years, the winner of the tournament has come from either the Irala or Selenos Academy. This year, our strongest opponent is Selenos again. I need not impress upon you the importance of Irala Academy winning this year.

"We also have Taless, who are stronger than usual this year after House Parthen chose to send their young hopefuls there. We do not expect them to be a threat this year, but such an illustrious house supporting them will no doubt bring others looking to make a name for themselves. It may be in future tournaments that they are become a force to be reckoned with, so keep an eye on them.

"As for Caldris, Auronis, and Illeos, according to our reports, they pose no significant threat this year.

"As always, the first-year tournament will involve a capture-the-flag style game, bringing together all of the knowledge you have garnered in combat, magic, and strategy. We have maps available in the library for everyone to study. I suggest you make use of them.

"Make yourself familiar with the terrain, and the Houses in closest proximity to our base. Each House starting point has been marked on the maps for you, as has a rough approximation of the area you will find the flag in.

"The only thing I hope you take into account as it is the single most important thing in the tournament is team work. I want you to remember at all times, teamwork is not about everybody having a go. Everybody having a job to do to feel important."

I felt Ressa shift uncomfortably next to me. I looked over, and she shook her head.

"You know he's talking about us, right?" she said so quietly that I more read her lips than I heard her voice.

I winced, then shrugged. Better for us if we were an afterthought. Unloved, but more importantly unwatched.

She must have read my mind because she smiled and looked back to the Master.

"We need the best minds making the decisions. The strongest arms in the front lines. The fastest runners carrying the flag. There is no room for pity here for our lesser students. The strongest of you have a responsibility to take this tournament and crush it without remorse. The weakest of you have a responsibility to assist when asked, or stay out of the way."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing from the ignorant old Archon. While part of me didn't disagree with the message, the delivery left a lot to be desired.

Sometimes trying to involve everyone did more harm than good. Combat was a time to act and act decisively, with everyone understanding their place. In an academy like this, everyone here was training to be elite. Everyone came from a powerful family and would want to assert their authority. A situation like that could turn to shit in a heartbeat.

I also reminded myself that I didn't care. I was letting myself be drawn into something that didn't matter. As Master Draven droned on, I decided to settle back down into my seat as the rest of my friends had, and take the opportunity to rest.

The tournament took center place more and more in all of our lessons now, and what Master Draven had hinted at became painfully obvious across all of our lessons. If you were not in the elite at a subject, you were no longer worthy of teaching.

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That meant I was all but ignored in Defensive Magic, Heavy Weapons, Dueling, Evocation, and Healing. All of my best laid plans on keeping a low profile were laid bare in Aetheric Magic, Unarmed Combat, and Military Strategy.

In Aetheric Magic, Master Quesal stood at the center, arms folded, eyes scanning us like a drill instructor evaluating fresh recruits. Her black robes shimmered with golden power, giving her a distinctly dangerous look.

"Henshaw, Stormhold, Nessoran, Besas, Fenis, Tachal, here with me. The rest of you clear off down the field and see if you can produce something worthy of my attention. Until then, I have little to say and even less time for you."

As the crowd parted, Ressa grinned at me and did a little dance. "In the special group. Oh yeah!"

The six of us stood in front of the offbeat teacher, and she grinned back wildly. "Ellaazi, we are moving on today. You can practice your Gentle Touch skill on Freeday and on evenings. I expect you to be able to demonstrate it in a couple of cycles from now with skill and control. Today we will be learning Kinetic Lift. Your father is the best I've ever seen with the skill. I expect the same levels of excellence from you, and I will not accept anything less."

Ellaazi swallowed audibly. I knew she hated being compared with her father. From the small amount she spoke of him, he was not a good man or father, but he still cast a large shadow over her life.

"Adam, the same goes for you. Practice Spirit Chains in your free time. Today you will be working on Spirit Hand. Over the next two weeks, I want you to command your skills to both levitate and to move in the air."

I was more than happy with that development. From being ushered off to the side in Defensive class, I was now front and center essentially learning to fly. I nodded and moved off to side where Ellaazi had gone.

"The rest of you," Quesal said, "are a sorry bunch. Possibly our worst intake of Aether-attuned students I've seen in ten years. But! You are the best of a bad bunch and you have a lot of work to do.

"I want you all to listen and learn as I teach Ellaazi and Adam, and pick up what you can. Practice your base skills, but your job in your free time is to come back next week good enough to learn alongside them both."

Valda Fenis, the overly proud Archon, folded his arms. "You shouldn't be giving preferential treatment to non-Archons," he snapped. "It's our kind who will win for Irala."

She laughed, a friendly sound full of joy as if a friend had just told a joke. "But, dear Valda, I did not choose this. I am required by the Dean and all of your interfering Houses to ensure we win. To do that, I must focus on those with skill and ability." She pointed at Ellaazi and me. "That is those two. They are not enough, so I scoured the rest of the dross that have come to my class this year, and you are the best. Not good, barely passable in fact, but you are what I have. If you want more from this class, then you must become the change you want to see. The power as always is in your hands."

He huffed loudly, and I had to fight to hold in my laughter at the perfectly executed dressing down. All of the others in earshot wore frowns of disapproval at Quesal rather than Valda, apart from Ressa who fought her mirth like me.

"Anything else, Fenis?" she asked, her words thrown like daggers.

He bowed. "No, nothing else, Master Quesal."

"Very well," she continued. "Then listen in silence from now on unless there is a pressing question that you must ask in regard to attaining achievement."

With that, she turned back to me and Ellaazi. "Let us begin. Adam, the raw energy of Spirit Burst nor Blast will not help you here. You must channel what you have done so far with finesse and control."

"Like with Spirit Strike?" Aeloria helpfully offered as Quesal stood back to watch.

The Master's head snapped around to Aeloria. "Excuse me?"

"Adam has another Skill called Spirit Strike, which appeared to me to have a far higher level of control than his blast. I've never quite seen anything like it. A Tier Two spell as well," she said, smiling over at me, making an attempt at an innocent smile though I saw the malice in her eyes.

I groaned internally as Quesal spun back to me. "You did what? Is this true, Adam?"

I nodded.

"Show me!"

Fighting the urge to glare at Aeloria and give her the victory, I raised my hand and activated Spirit Strike. Of course, no one could see it but me, though Quesal's eyes went wide as she felt the power.

She thrust out a hand to her side toward a pile of un-erected targets, and launched out a golden beam of light. It latched on to one of the targets, and she pulled it over, before reorientating it so that it was upright in front of me.

I side-eyed Ressa as all this went on, and she offered a sorrowful look back. Then I risked a glance at the other Archons who were all watching the target and magic being used in bemused silence. Apart from Aeloria who was still staring at me with a self-satisfied look on her face.

"Strike the target," Quesal boomed, pulling my attention back to her.

I shrugged, re-coated my fist, and threw a straight right at the yellow center. As before, the target disintegrated around the impact site. The amount of shit I was going to take from the Archons for this was going to be torture once word got out.

I didn't dare look back as silence reigned from the onlookers. Then as Quesal launched the target back over to where it came from, I heard hushed whispers.

The Master's eyes swept over the other students, then gestured at me and my heart sunk. She was going to praise me and shit on them, and I was going to be back to square one.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I am utterly amazed that one of our students has mastered a Tier Two ability with no assistance. Perhaps we baby you too much if someone unused to support can achieve such a feat. I am interested in your opinions on this matter. Aeloria? What do you think? You two must be friends for you to have known about the new power when I did not."

"I would hardly say friends," she replied without emotion. "You say he has no support, but I wonder just how much support he is really getting from House Garazal. How much do we really know about this outsider. He's not even of a Union race."

Quesal nodded, then turned to Arun. "And you? How do you feel about this development? To be bettered by an outsider in Aetheric Magic?"

Arun looked at me and frowned. He rubbed his head for a moment in a very un-Archon-like way. Then nodded as if he decided something important. "It's good we have people fighting for us who are good with Aetheric magic. Archons have always fared better with Elemental magic, and from what I see in that class, nothing's changed."

Quesal raised an eyebrow. "How very diplomatic of you. Perhaps you think one of the other Union races would be better at teaching this class than me, then?"

He flushed red, and I cringed inwardly. It was going so well. "No, Master Quesal. Perhaps you are an outlier among our people, but I find no issues with your teaching of Aetheric magic."

She nodded, satisfied with the answer and turned to Valda.

"I don't see how it matters. Like Arun said. Archons have their strengths, and this has never been one of them."

"And Ressa? Your opinion on this development?"

"Honestly, I think it's incredible. I spend a lot of time with Adam, so I can see he has many shortcomings across the curriculum here. But where his strengths lie, he tends to be excellent. Also depressing as Velorians tend to be reasonable with Aetheric magic, but I see Adam and Ellaazi, and I fall so short."

Quesal smiled at the answer. "Nonsense. You are one of the strongest in the class, make no mistake, and none of you four are bad. You've just been unfortunate enough to be here when we have two prodigies in the year. Or fortunate, perhaps, as their affinity may bring you on. Now back to the lesson!" She spun on me again, and I fought to keep the dread from my expression. "Spirit Hand, Adam."

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