The Ether Walker

Chapter 9

As I entered the dinning hall, I immediately spotted Zach and his crew sitting down at one of the long tables. I took a few steps in their direction before remembering my new friends. I looked back at them and apparently Finley could see my torn expression and waved me forward.

"Go on, we'll be fine. It is actually quite rare for upperclassmen to be friendly with the lower classes, so don't waste the opportunity." I was slightly puzzled at her comment but took her advice and hurried over to the boys. They all looked up as I sat down next to Zach.

"Hey, how was your first lesson?" Zach asked once I was settled.

"It was amazing! I learned how to make a wyrdlight. Here, look!" I babbled excitedly. I pointed my finger up and reached for the invisible connection to Khagan in my head, not needing to close my eyes. Khagan's mana came naturally to do my bidding. I wanted to show off a bit and created a dozen tiny, coin-sized wyrdlights. I thought of a few cool patterns, sending the lights over their heads. I hadn't realized somewhere during the performance I had captured the attention of all of the students in the room, everyone going silent to watch.

I was bringing them all together when something out of the blue flew right through the group, causing all of the wyrdlights to disappear. It startled me and I whipped around to where the object originated. My eyes clashed with Caith's glare from across the room. He had a triumphant smirk that silently challenged me.

I broke away from his glare only to get caught in another stare. His silver eyes bore into mine, the intensity scaring me. I felt as if he could read my every thought just by his stare. It took a few moments but I eventually broke away. It had been ingrained into me that staring was rude, even more so when you stare at the Prince.

I turned back to the table and put on a shaky smile when I realized everyone was still looking at me. I put my head down and started stuffing my face with food while the conversations slowly started back up. Marc was the first to speak.

"Did you just learn how to make wyrdlights this morning?" I looked perplexed at his question and nodded. All four boys looked stunned.

"Why? Is there something wrong?" I started panicking, wondering what I could have messed up on the first day.

"It takes weeks before you can make as many wyrdlights as you just did." Marc explained.

"Ha! I told you I could be a fast learner!" I exclaim, turning to Zach. "Maybe I do have a chance to get top five."

"Well, I'll only believe it when you can make a better shield spell than me," Zach said stubbornly.

"That'll be hard, Zach has the second best shield at the academy," Camden added.

"Whose the best?" I asked.

"Prince Ayden. He's the top student here."

"Yeah, royalty has always had stronger summoners," Zach commented. The boys continued talking and bickering through the rest of lunch. Right as I was getting up to leave, Dever tapped my shoulder. I was quite curious as he didn't talk much during any of the conversations.

"Here," his voice gruff. I looked down at his outstretched hand and in his palm was a silver coin. "He threw this," Dever nodded his head towards Caith. I pocketed the coin and smiled up at him in thanks. Caith obviously didn't need it.

I joined back up with Ivan and Finley before heading back to the summoning room. Captain Wyder was already in the room when we entered.

"Bastant, please demonstrate a summoning," Captain Wyder called out.  I looked around and only realized he meant Finley when she appeared by his side with an apron, goggles, gloves and scroll in hand, all made of leather.