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Cursing under her breath, Souline Cordis kicked the unsuspecting stone on the way as she testily marched on the Everdelle Academy's wide pavement. She stopped under a plum blossom tree, dark brow twitching when she caught sight of the winged bunnies hovering around a garden area as though the place was a wide plantation of carrots.
With a dejected sigh, she slumped down on the grass while her mind wandered back to her earlier potions class. She might have really pissed off her professor by nearly setting the laboratory on fire because of a liquid experiment gone awry. It wasn't her fault; she convinced herself. Her teacher should have provided them with a clearer instruction.
Souline stared at the red crystal chips band around her wrist before snapping her fingers and murmuring, "Aithne."
Her bracelet glowed for a fleeting moment. Once the light disappeared, a long staff adorned with garnet jewels materialized in her hand.
She studied the mystic scepter as if it was her first time seeing it and wondered if everything would be different if she had gotten a different elemental; one that was more cooperative than Aithne.
Another sigh escaped her lips as Souline acknowledged that her thoughts were unfair to the poor soul.
"One doesn't need to choose their elemental to be a great mage," her mother had told her one time, and Souline could not argue with the statement. She knew that no matter how good people might think a scepter's soul was, the wielder was still the only one who could dictate the outcome of magic.
The young sorceress slowly twirled her hand and waved the mystic staff in the air, a soft incantation accompanying her movement. With a flick of her wrist, she pointed the scepter at the little edelweiss flowers growing beneath a mossy boulder a few meters away from where she was sitting.
It was just supposed to be a sort of experiment. Souline had only wanted to see if she could metamorphose those white blooms into something more colorful. Heaven knew she had never meant to produce ashes out of them. Yet, as soon as the flash from the scepter touched the flowers, they burst into flames, ending their purpose in the world with a tragic fate.
And by bigger mischance, the blaze did not stop there.
"Oh, Hades!" Souline scrambled to her feet. She gaped, alarmed, as the fire started to consume the glittering grass and other wild plants around the giant rock. "Water! I need water!" she recited to herself, turning her head left and right to look for a nearby pond or lake or any source of water.
The young mage returned her attention to the unfortunate scene. Her hazel eyes widened in horror once she witnessed the fire grow wilder, dancing as though to further make fun of her messed-up magic. She could practically hear the laughter and ridicule. You really are a no-good witch, Souline Cordis.
Just when she was about to lose hope regarding the situation, snowflakes appeared around the mad flame. For a brief moment, the little white frozen pellets just floated in a circle.
