Chapter 26 | PoV: Sanya
Sanya would not admit what happened towards the end of lunch.
On the first hand, she had already denied Mai multiple times. There were a lot of other students hanging around in full view of whatever occurred, if anything.
On the other hand, Mai was so cute! Sanya liked her . . . a lot. How could she say no to Mai? It was just feeding her, not anything more intimate!
Sanya purged it from her mind.
With great reluctance, Mai broke away from Sanya and headed to her class. Sanya entered her own again, as well, to finish the last half.
Sanya took the same seat as before lunch. She ignored the fact that a couple of her classmates seemed to take seats even further from Sanya than before, as if everyone was trying to get as much distance from her as they could.
Sanya—genderqueer, lesbian, silent, moody, and sometimes snappy, in a world not accepting of people like her yet. Of course people would want to get away from her—at least on account of being snappy and moody.
It still hurt.
No, wait, she didn't care. If they cowered away from her, then they obviously weren't worth being friends with her. Mai was worth it. Maybe Zahira. Sanya was sure she could find other companions as well, it would just take some time.
Time. She had time.
“Now I will teach you how to attune yourselves to the mana around you,” Nur said, stepping onto the stage and to the podium. “I know there will be mixed responses, but bear with me—meditation will be our technique of choice.”
Some kids groaned.
“No groaning!” Nur said too late.
“‘Technique of choice?’” A student echoed. “Does that mean there are other techniques?”
Nur paused. “Yes.”
“Soooo—”
“No. You will not learn that way with me as your teacher.
“May I get a different teacher then?”
A handful of kids looked at him like he was crazy.
“Either I teach you,” Nur's voice wavered, patience thinning. “Or nobody does at all. Would you like to sit out in the hall for this lesson?”
“No sir.”
A couple kids snickered.
“That will be enough,” Nur snapped.
He took a deep breath. The room cooled. That kid really wore down on Nur . . . That student wasn't even the one that had been mean to Sanya earlier. At least two of the ten here were despicable.
Could Sanya blame them? They were all orphans. They had lost their parents or were abandoned. They had fought over resources with other kids. Fought for attention. Lived in less than desirable conditions. They were young, they still had room to grow into becoming genuine people.
“Close your eyes, get comfortable, and hold your staff,” Nur began.
“Sir, I can't get comfortable. This stone seat is making my butt ache.”
“Out. Into. The hall,” Nur ordered.
“Yes dad. I will await my lashings patiently,” the student got up and left the classroom. Instead of slamming the door, he actually shut it with care.
Nur stood there, blinking.
“Was that your son?” A kid asked.
“No,” Nur said. “I don't have any children.”
“Aw. Not even us?” Another student asked. Something told Aisha that this student would be recurring in his annoyance, Sanya shall dub him Needless Trouble until she learned his name.
Nur set an elbow on the podium, he rested his head against his hand. He sighed.
What was with all these interruptions? Sanya wanted to see mana! She wanted to learn to cast spells and all of that. These annoying students were holding it all up, and for what?
“Thank you,” Nur took a deep breath. “Sanya, Sakhr, Esmat, and Najah, for being so quiet and behaved. Let us take this moment of tension to close our eyes and breath. To focus on other things—like your new companion, the staff you created with your sweat and labor.”
Sanya closed her eyes, she felt the staff in her hand, the grooves created by her spiral pattern etched into the metal.
“You all have unlocked ability. You may hold your staff and cast it on me—any spell you know.
“Awesome,” Needless Trouble whispered. No doubt enjoying the fact that he could attack his teacher.
Needless Trouble, Sakhr, and two of the other nine students remaining raised their staves and cast spells at Nur with their innate magic. Everyone else had some reluctance to do so.
“Why do I only sense four mana signatures?” Nur asked. “Come on! You won't hurt me. Unless someone's learned an actual spell already.”
A few other students joined in. Sanya thought for a moment if she should direct her spell towards the bigot, then thought the better of it. She aimed her staff down at the stage and tried to sense her innate ability, like when she temporarily blinded those guards . . . and some thugs . . . and that other guard . . . and those demons that once called themselves her parents . . . Perish the thought!
Sanya felt the mana snaking around and pooling at her staff. She directed it towards Nur.
“Ah, yes, there's Sanya's innate mana. Ah! Esmat's is also fun, love that.”
Hmm. Nur said that as if people had different innate mana. They were all abyssal mages, weren't they? What in Heliux's name even was an abyssal mage? Sanya still didn't know.
“Good,” Nur's voice projected through the otherwise quiet hall. “Can you sense it now? Hold onto it and don't let it go. See if you can sense other spells. Since you're manipulating me, sense your classmates’ spells around me.”
Sanya gasped. An aura of mana surrounded Nur, drowning him. It was weak, unfinished, unformed. It felt . . . purple. Yeah, it beat Sanya how something could feel like a color.
“Try and form your spell into a shape, form a sphere from the mana.”
Sanya willed the mana into a sphere. A little sphere formed. Huh, she could sense those being created in the room around her, as well.
“This is the basic unit of mana. Combine these in shapes to make spells. Incantate a spell’ name to lock it into your knowledge, so you don't have to shape it any longer.”
“Is this a spell?” A student asked, not Needless Trouble—a girl.
“No. One sphere is not enough for a spell.”
“Oh.”
“While still feeling the mana,” Nur said. “Open your eyes.”
Sanya heard gasps from around the room.
She slowly opened her own eyes.
She jumped in her seat. She could feel the mana channeling through her staff. The thick impression of purple. The sphere she created wasn't there, but it also was.
She could sense the mana of her classmates too. She could feel then channeling the mana through their staves, she could see their spheres barely holding together, begging to either be made whole or break back into the impressionist mist.
“Now that you know what to look for, you have it with you at your fingertips always, so long as you look for it. Time to learn some spells!” Nur continued. “I will make my mana more obvious to help you sense it. It will help you to attune yourself to others’ mana as well.”
B-but I already have. Sanya let herself have a satisfied smile.
Nur winked. This was the most expressive Sanya had ever seen Nur.
Purple orbs manifested at the end of Nur's staff.
Nur smiled slyly. Oh, he was enjoying this. “Do I have any volunteers?”
Nobody raised their hand. Not even Needless Trouble. Not even the bigot.
Nur pointed at Sanya.
Oh.
Why did she have a bad feeling about this? She really hated this. She did not like where this was going.
Nur's mana locked into place, as if they were alive, and suddenly gained complete confidence.
“[Organic Displacement].”
Nur pointed down at the stage.
Sanya's stomach dropped as her world lurched.