What Makes a Human?

I: Alex

 "I heard we're getting a new kid."

Chatter spread throughout the room as the students prepared for their class. The 15 Central Magician's High School (though most people just called it 15C for convenience and to differentiate it from other mage schools scattered throughout the country) rarely saw new students, especially past the first year, so this was quite the surprise to everyone in the class. Fewer still opted for the school's combatant track, making the rumor one that caught most of the class' attention.

"Wait, in the combatant track? What kind of magic do they have? Do we know if they're strong?"

"I don't know, nobody's tried to look at the teacher's file on them. They should be in the next block, though, to get their combat pre-assessment."

"Do you guys think they'll beat Alex?"

Everyone turned to look at the girl in the corner. Her raven-brown hair would have gone down to her shoulders if it wasn't tied in a small ponytail, and she wore a light blue tracksuit and grey sneakers. Despite having only arrived a minute ago, she was sound asleep, completely unbothered by the excitement around her.

"How is she asleep already? We just got here."

"Eh, it doesn't matter. Mr. Jimels will wake her up anyway."

And wake her up he did a few minutes later, by throwing a metal pipe at the wall. Alex jolted awake at the clanging and scowled.

"Was that really necessary?"

"Is you sleeping in my class really necessary? I have a lesson to teach and you'll miss important information by sleeping. Wake up and pay attention," Mr. Jimels said. Alex almost told him that she was paying attention, that she could focus while seemingly asleep, but she stopped herself. Mr. Jimels was one of few teachers at 15C who actually enjoyed the subject he was teaching, and history came less easily to her than most other subjects. She couldn't think about it like she could other subjects, and it irritated her. Actually, that might be why she fell asleep more often in this class than any other. Mr. Jimels tried his best to make Barenian history enjoyable for his students, but the state-mandated materials made that far harder than it needed to be.

"Alright, everyone, that's a good introduction to the unit we'll be doing on the Ninth Day Rebellion. For the rest of class, I'll let you guys read the short section on the Schembenger massacre, and then have a study hall," Mr. Jimels sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. All the students pulled out their textbooks, more than happy to be able to talk to each other instead of listening to another lecture. Alex pulled out her book and scoffed. Brief section? Who would say that five pages was a brief description of one day's events?

Gee, I sure wonder what they're trying to say here, Alex thought, rolling her eyes. She glanced up at Mr. Jimels. He didn't seem to enjoy the textbook any more than she did, which was why he almost never assigned readings. I guess Schembenger makes him uncomfortable, but he has to teach about it a certain way. I can't say I blame him. She quickly looked at the first paragraph in the section, found that it was as bad as she expected, and promptly went back to sleep. Mr. Jimels didn't say anything this time.

Eventually, the bell rang, and everyone went to the next class: Combat Training. Every member of the school's combatant track took Direct Combat Training together, the intent being to help them learn self-defense and magic control in a dangerous situation—at least, that's what the course description said. In reality, it was an easy way to foster division between young mages and decide who would best serve the nation in the military.

Yay, child soldiers. I love sending droves of children to die in a war. Alex didn't have to take the stairs, as the school had a jump pad from which students could directly float down to the combat area, but she figured that stairs kept her in shape, so she always used them instead. She joined her classmates on the bleachers, a fair distance from everybody. This is what I get for only making friends in other tracks, she thought. She followed everyone else's eyes to the person talking to the combat supervisor. She was tall, dark-skinned, and had kinky, short hair. Most importantly, though, she looked strong. Alex found herself trembling ever so slightly. Maybe this girl could give her a decent fight. She hadn't had one in ages. The only person who could truly handle her abilities didn't care about class enough to take her on, and she had been getting restless.