Rumerra - The Journey Begins

Chapter 11 - Together Again (part III)

As Velvet walked the hallways over the next few days, people kept glancing her way and mumbling. This confused her greatly and she consulted her friend about this strange behavior.

"Don't tell me you forgot?" Arianna asked when she brought this up. "The Magornis is this year." That's right, the Magornis! How could she forget?

"Oh, gosh, it's been that long already?!" Velvet exclaimed in surprise. The time she spent away from her friend flew by and more than three years have passed since the both of them graduated. After this school year ends in the summer of year 55 post racial war, the 11th annual Magornis will be held. The last one was held just a year before Velvet and Arianna finished their schooling, meaning that they were not yet eligible to participate. This time, however...

"You and I are both eligible to compete to become our academy's champion," the air mage told her friend. "I'm nothing special, but you, on the other hand...everyone here knows who you are, even the first years! The ones that were already going to our academy at the time of our graduation three years ago spread the word about you. And with the timing of your return, they must all think you've come to take your spot as the one representing Everdale academy at the Magornis this time around. A competition will be announced in the following months to select a champion. Of course, everybody expects you to enter and win it."

"Ah, I see," Velvet nodded. It all made sense now. With how cut off from the rest of the world and the academy life she was during her stay in Talim and her explorations of the Kamatayan forest, she completely forgot about the Magornis and that it would be held within less than a year. "I better talk to Argus about it then and make our academy proud! You're entering the competition too, right Arianna?"

"Uhh," the other girl stammered but was thankfully saved by the man whose name was just spoken. As if Velvet had summoned him, the headmaster appeared behind them with a wide smile and curious eyes.

"To think that you would return and not even come to greet me!" the old man laughed. "This just won't do!" Before either of the girls could respond, he reached out and grabbed her hand. "Hoooo! So it's true what I've heard being whispered around the hallways. My little girl has broken yet another record! Wait 'till Priscilla hears about this! How old are you now?"

"Headmaster Argus!" Velvet exclaimed. "It's nice to see you again! Yes, I got the mark of water while fighting an ursa major! Also, I just turned seventeen last month."

"And ursa major, you say?" he peered at her with childish curiosity. "You just keep surprising me every time you open your mouth! Since you are here, I am guessing that ursa major is no more then?"

"Yes, I beat it good! And a fai-..."

Arianna lightly kicked her, realizing that excitement had taken over, and she almost revealed something she herself made her swear she would tell no one.

"And a friend helped me!" Velvet quickly corrected herself. "We beat it together!"

"A friend, huh?" the headmaster raised his eyebrow suspiciously as if he had seen through her lie immediately. "Well, I'm glad you're making new friends besides Miss Goldleaf here!" They both sighed in relief internally. Looks like he hasn't caught on anyway.

"Come to my office! I want to talk to you!" he then said, dragging her off by the hand like a child drags off his parents when he wants to show them something exciting he discovered.

"I'll...see you later?" the girl being towed off turned around and called out to her friend.

"Sure. I will wait for you in the park as always," Arianna, who sort of expected this, said.

When they came to his office, Argus sat the girl on a chair before his desk and started pacing around the room as usual.

"Tier three at seventeen!" he exclaimed. "I don't think you realize what you are doing here, my girl! You are rewriting history as it is!"

"I am?" she kept following him with her eyes, almost breaking her neck when he walked behind her and disappeared from her view.

"Of course you are!" he raised his hand. "Nobody in recent times has done this! Not to my knowledge, at least! And believe me, there's quite a bit of that up in here," he patted his bald head.

"You said being a tier three is a requirement to found an academy," Velvet said. "So I went and did that first since it seemed the easiest out of all—I was only one mark off anyways!"

"The easiest...ho ho ho!" he laughed heartily. "I needed a decade to get from tier-two to tier-three and another twelve years to get to tier-four from that! 'Easy,' she says!"

"So it's not that easy?"

"It's not supposed to be! But for you, it looks like it truly is that easy! Ralphie boy still hasn't acquired his third mark! Isn't that right?" he turned toward his assistant's desk.

"Are you now going to proceed to make fun of me, sir?" the young man looked up from the paperwork he's been quietly filling out this entire time.

"Of course not!" Argus replied. "Whatever makes you think that?"

"It sounds like something you would do, sir."

"Well, maybe I'm going to make a little fun of you," the headmaster admitted. "But at the same time, I should worry about my own pride. At this rate, she will reach tier four three decades ahead of me!"

"We wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?" Ralph chuckled. "She might even reach tier five one day and make you look like a fool, sir."

"Can you teach me water magic now?" Velvet butted into their little quarrel.

"I could," he turned toward her. "I am not the most suitable teacher for this type of magic, however." Lifting up his hand, he revealed his four marks to her. Water was not one of them.