Connection

Chapter Four: Cliff

—

Chapter Four: Cliff

—

Raven Eye Academy was buzzing. The new students inhabiting areas outside of Mallowkeep had just arrived, entering through its magnificent iron gates and into the most prestigious school for wizards and element wielders. The school was tucked away into the back corner of the community, and while the seclusion of the school was purely to make it easier for the children to learn, the new pupils marveled at the odd looking trees that littered the ground and the magical feeling that filled the air.

Meanwhile, the seventeen year-olds were cramming in some last minute practice for their assessments while simultaneously enjoying the last bits of warmth that autumn had to offer before the very brief winter that came around every year.

Cliff was among these students, laying alone under the shade of a Lemoliud tree, practicing creating and controlling five columns of fire, all of various heights and widths. Although he knew they'd want much larger versions of this during the assessment, he practiced with a miniature variety of it, for he didn't want to set fire to the grounds that were so loved.

Most other seventeen year-olds were practicing much easier things, as only the top five students in the class had succeeded in passing the level six exam last year. Miraculously, both Cliff and Adam had made it, pushed solely by Charlotte's agonizing taunts. But this left them significantly harder tasks to perform this year, and on top of it all, it was the first year they were to take two assessments—one at the beginning and one at the end of the year—meaning they'd been forced to study all during their summer break.

Cliff had just gotten control over his columns of fire when he noticed Adam sprinting toward him. With a sigh, he allowed the weak flames to sputter out and looked toward his friend.

"What is it?" He looked as if he'd run through the entire town for this one message.

"The Time Freezing spell is gonna be on the assessment. Patrick just told me after 'e came out outta his. Said it was real hard," Adam said between heavy breaths.

"The Time Freezing spell?" Cliff's eyes widened as he realized he'd only successfully completed it once and hadn't studied it at all. With his full brain, he could barely remember the incantation.

"Yeah, 'e said ya gotta freeze time long enough to move an object across the freakin' room! Lord, we're gonna fail; that's advanced stuff!" Adam said, although he didn't seem to be in a rush to learn it. Cliff silently thanked his classmate for the warning; through the five of them, competition had been pretty intense over the years.

"All right, I guess I'll just practice it now. Thanks," Cliff answered, determined to pass the level seven exam. As if hearing his thoughts and just as adamant to have Cliff fail, their headmaster showed up seconds later with a small, brown haired boy at his side. The boy looked as if his bright blue eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. His scrawny frame turned as he stared around at everything—even the grass, which Cliff was quite sure they had outside of Mallowkeep—as if it was the greatest thing ever created. Cliff knew what this meant; their headmaster was with a new student.

"Cliff, I need you to give this young boy a tour. All the others have guides; it's just him without one," Headmaster Darkarrow announced, pushing the child toward Cliff.

"Headmaster, with all due respect, I'd love to but my assessment's in an hour! There are things I still need to practice," Cliff protested, throwing a smile at the kid to stress the idea that it was nothing to do with tours, although Cliff didn't particularly like giving them.

"You're great at both magic and element wielding! You'll do fine," he answered and without another breath, turned and walked away, ensuring this wasn't his problem anymore.