Academy days (Book 2 of IA)

[10] The passing

Around me, all the students charged as if it was a game store 50% discount sales day. And we were the last pair to not have moved yet.

"Kard..." She blushed and looked away then quickly looked back: "please hold onto my wrist..."

What? Wut? WUT?

There are days I really feel like I need to get my ears checked.

"Hurry please!" she offered her wrist to me.

"Ok!..." I replied, reluctantly seizing her wrist.

Veritas's skin was pale as snow, smooth as marble, yet soft like a marshmallow...

There was an involuntary shiver the moment we touched, and her face also reddened a little. Then doing her best to conceal the awkwardness, she followed up what I suppose was a spell chant:

"Valebunt praemitto!"

Before I even had the chance to ask lift my tongue and ask what the it meant, I felt my foot missing the ground and swung it back and forth several times, only to find myself kicking the air. When I looked down I realized my body was being levitating from the ground, slowly. I began to feel a powerful yet gentle force, like a giant pair of invisible hands lifting us higher into the air. Veritas who ascended beside me wore a fixed expression, her face back to its normal colour. I guess it really went to show how much focus it required to maintain the spell. After what felt like about a minute or two later, we stopped at ascending and came to a stop about a treelength above the canopy. Up here, the air was fresher and chillier than down below. More importantly we had a good view of the lay of the land stretching out for several kilometers. But since it was winter and everything was covered in snow, I was only able to make out a frozen river, some mountains in the distance and of course the forest we were hovering over.

"Kard..." her voice was clear, despite the blowing winds.

"Yes?" I casually replied.

"Sorry, it's just...I should've asked if you were afraid of heights before I lifted you up here..." she said, her voice a panicky whisper.

"No, not at all!" well it is true that I am not scared of heights, but dangling off a building or cliff is where I draw the line. "Plus, the view here is pretty good." I added.

"Oh, thank you." she said as her worry in her voice retreated, "please hold on now, I am about to go forward now."

"K." I nodded.

It felt like the same invisible giant hand was around me again, this time pushing us forwards. I then felt a giant finger pushing my back, forcing me to lurch forward until I was in a superman position. I looked to my side and found Veritas in the same position, except hers was a hundred times more elegant, like a fairy straight out of fairy tale. As we glided forward through the air, snow rushed at our faces, yet never touched us. It seemed that they were repelled by some invisible barrier, which I could only assume was another of Veritas's spells. Near the end of the forest passage, I began to realize we were losing altitude.

Wordlessly I looked to Veritas, then decided it was best not to interrupt her focus, and surely enough, as we got closer to the ground, we gradually slowed down. And the moment, it felt as if I ran into a giant fluffy wall stopping me from going further as I felt the sane giant invisible hand slowly straightening me back to a standing pose before gently placing me onto the ground.

"Kard are you alright?" Veritas looked to me.

"Yeah," I said, letting go off her wrist and began stretching: "dang that was amazing!"

"You really thought so?" she asked again, holding a hand to her chest.

"Yeah. Why would I lie now?" I asked quizzically.