Praesidium (WMMAP Fanfic)

Chapter 9

A few months has passed and thankfully the whispers and blatant stares towards Ambrose has toned down a little bit, making him a little relieved. The advanced classes were easy and very helpful in broadening his knowledge of magic, the only problem he encountered is that he has made no progress whatsoever in making any friends

The event that he has sent his three classmates flying out the door spread all throughout the campus and divided the students' opinion of him, one side were afraid of him thinking he was just like his father and the other was pure awe that he punished bully student... either way, they all either avoided him or couldn't hold a proper conversation with him without them being weird

One night while taking a walk, Ambrose saw his seat mate who's practicing aiming a water ball spell towards a target located on a very large tree but keeps on missing. He thinks that Jamie has been practicing for awhile since Jamie was panting heavily and the surroundings and her clothes were already wet

Ambrose walked closer and accidentally stepped on a branch startling the practicing person who turned around in surprise and released the oversized water ball towards him, even though Jamie's aim is practically atrocious it will still hit Ambrose due to its large size and so he has no choice but to use his power to absorb the water ball

"I-I'm sorry for aiming it at you" Jamie stuttered while bowing deeply towards Ambrose, she felt embarrassed for not only getting caught practicing late at night but also being seen performing poorly and Jamie is also very scared for her life since she dared to attack a Prince.

"You're not destined to be a magician" Ambrose told her bluntly with a blank look on his face, completely unfazed by her attack

"what do you mean?" Jamie suddenly jolted upright in surprise

"You have no aptitude for magic" Ambrose channeled mana in his eye and stared at her, he saw that her mana coils were very small and that is why she can't control mana properly.

"You think you can belittle me, just because you are gifted and has status far higher than the rest of us" Jamie said angrily as she glared at Ambrose "you think you're better than us? How dare you!"

Jamie put both her hands in front of her and pulled all of the mana inside here body, putting it everything in on last attack. She didn't care if it hurts and she's burning through her coils, she only wants to prove Ambrose wrong

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" Ambrose warned her with a frown, as he saw her coils being sucked dry at a rapid very dangerous rate

"Watch me" Jamie said as she gritted her teeth, she was so tired of people thinking lowly of her. As an illegitimate child of a noble, everybody looked down on her including her paternal family.

She knows, she's not great at magic but remembering the bright smile on her mother's face when she conjured a small water ball solidified her determination to pursue learning magic. That's why she studied so hard day and night, even sacrificing her health, just to get in the school

Ambrose sighed as he watched Jamie conjure something that she can't handle, pulling more mana than that from her body would literally kill her... the moment he saw her realize that she couldn't handle the water ball and panic show on her face, Ambrose teleported behind her to wrap one of his arm around her shoulders and put one hand on top of one of hers.

"Relax your mind and try to pull in the mana back little by little. I'll guide your mana with mine" Ambrose instructed her as his own mana swirled around his hands

"Wh-what are you doing?! Let me go!" Jamie protested as she tried to shake off Ambrose's hands but his grip only tightened

"If I let you go now, you'll die. Now choose, would you rather die or live?" Ambrose gave her an ultimatum. She didn't think she would die, she just thought she'll sustain an injury at most... she can't die, no one would take care of her mother if she did.

"Live... I want to live"

Ambrose nodded at that and helped he helped Jamie guide the mana back inside her body but unfortunately most of her coils were already burned and unable to receive mana back, causing a lot of mana still left over... Ambrose easily summoned a fire ball that overpowered her water ball causing steam to rise as the two collided

"Le-let me go!" Jamie shouted embarrassed as she realized she was still in his arms.

"Ok" Ambrose said blankly as he stepped away from her, but the moment Jamie lost his support she fell backwards as her eyes rolled towards the back of her head. The last thing she could remember before losing consciousness was thinking Ambrose's eyes were really pretty

The moment Jamie opened her eyes, she was surronded by white. White ceiling, walls, pillows and blanket. She sat up in bed and tried to reach for a glass of water but her strength was weak she lost grip of the glass causing it to slip from her grasp and drop on the floor making a loud shattering sound causing her to wince

"Oh my, you're awake! How are you feeling?" A doctor entered and immediately checked over her vitals as he signaled a servant to clear away the broken glass

"Ho-how long was I asleep?" Jamie asked with a raspy voice that signaled she has been unconscious for awhile

"Three days... when Prince Ambrose brought you here, most of your coils were severely burned. We saved what we could to help keep you alive" the doctor explained sadly causing Jamie to fist her blankets

"W-where is the Prince?"

"He was punished for making his mana enter your body and was brought to the dragon cave to mine dragon glass"

"Punished?! Why? He did that to help me" Jamie said earnestly as she grabbed onto the doctor's jacket, shaking him

"I know, it was an incredible feat. His complete control of his mana was a masterpiece" the doctor said with an amazed look on his face "... but the Prince insisted to take the punishment and went into the cave"

"Is he stupid? That cave is dangerous, only 30% of that place has been explored" Jamie said incredulously

"Don't get too worked up or you'll undo your body's healing. He'll have two of our best staff with him and I'm sure they'll be fine"