As Cold as Stone
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Students admitted to Royal Mages Academy:
1. Surname: Zohani. Affinities: W A E F SS: 2
2. Surname: Talonstone Affinities: F E A SS: 1
3. Surname: Renkol Affinities: E A F
4. Surname: Flamebreath Affinities: F
5. Surname: Gravstow Affinities: E A
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Everyone in his class turned to look at him, with a mixture of shock and hatred. The laziest person in the entire class had somehow become the next all-user. Gradually, everyone else in the room caught on and began whispering among themselves. The Seven Houses representatives began walking towards him, nudging each other and trying to get through the crowd, all in an attempt to get to him.
Mat grabbed him and shoved him towards the fire exit at the very back of the gym. Eric followed his lead and went over to the door as fast as he could. When he burst through and started running, one of the representatives, a red cloaked lady from the Third House yelled several orders. From the stamping of feet, it seemed half the gymnasium was after him. He circled the school complex, keeping low as he could while the people searched for him. He re-entered the building from the front entrance and went back to the gym. After all, who returns to the scene of a crime. He smiled to himself at that thought as he opened the door and stepped through.
There, in the middle of the room, was a girl lounging on a chair, completely absorbed in whatever song she was playing on her head-phones. Or at least it seemed like she was, since as he took several steps into the gym she looked up, sighed and took off her headphones.
"So, Zohani I presume? Quite the spectacle you put on, Eh?" She sounded bitter, as though Eric had stolen the last piece of chocolate pie off her very plate. He looked at the girl and wondered who on earth she thought she was, acting that way.
The girl wore an open biker-style jacket in deep silver with gold details. Her black under-top had a rainbow skull on a white background. Her jogging were reasonably tight and darker than the blackest night. She had a pair of tinted sunglasses with lime-green reflective lenses on her head. She seemed to have decided to wear emo clothing yet wanted as much clashing possible. Overall, she was well developed, physically and mentally, and seemed at least partially intelligent, at least compared to the rest of the girls in the class.
Eric crossed his arms across his chest and did his very best to seem irritated. He knew that this retort had better be a good one.
"Why are you so angry at me? What the hell did I do to deserve this treatment. I never wanted this much attention."
"Ugh, I'm not angry at you per se. I guess I'm angry at the status quo. I'm mad that somebody who doesn't give a crap about his future can turn up and be ranked above somebody who trained her whole life for this moment. Every single important person that were in this room are currently searching for you because you have four affinities while I only have three. It doesn't matter that you have the same clue about magic as a three legged donkey, you have the potential to be one of the strongest mages of all time, and that's all that matters." He hadn't thought about it that way, but she had hit the nail on the head.
The girl continued, seeming to warm to the subject as if it was personal,
"Then there are people like me. People who train and train and train for even the smallest chance that we can have a chance to be great, who look at every challenge as an opportunity to become stronger. If we were to fight, right here and now, I would win without a shadow of a doubt. I've worked my arse off to get to this point, you haven't. You got all the attention because you got lucky."
She sighed again, stared down at her feet for a brief moment, shook her head then focused on Eric, her eyes as hard and cold as steel. "When we meat again, either stay out of my way, or get on my side, punk." For some reason, that final insult really ticked him off.
"Ok that's it. Don't you call me punk when you don't even have a decent idea of matching clothes. What gives you the right to lord it over me?" She started laughing and pointed at the board, as if it was proof to all his questions.
"See those double 'S's next to our affinities? And the numbers? As far as I know, that shows how strong you are in your affinities. We are the two strongest users in this class, probably remain so when we reach the academy. This means one of two things," she held up two fingers and pointed at one of them, "Either we are gonna be an unstoppable duo at the academy," she then pointed at the other finger, "Or we are gonna be rivals, forever trying to top one another. So, you have fun at that, I'm going outside to see if anyone managed to find you." She got up, put her headphones on and walked out without looking back, leaving Eric to contemplate the meaning in her words.
"That girl was so f***ing rude. Talonstone... wonder who killed her love of life...."