as the dragon’s face was still covered in mashed potatoes and he couldn’t see well enough to fly.
He suddenly remembered that he was the only person in the level-four Prism class, and set his things down at a desk near Asher’s, pulling a spare napkin from his pocket and attempting to clear Bonk’s face of food before class started. Cinder alit on the desk beside him so silently that Hayden startled, unaware that the dragon was even in the room until now.
Bonk exhaled heavily through his nose to clear it of potatoes, and Cinder looked at his counterpart with haughty distaste.
“I see you haven’t taught him to eat gracefully yet,” Master Asher closed the door behind him as he entered the room. “Small wonder—my old man’s been trying to train him for longer than you’ve been alive.”
“He knows how to behave, he just doesn’t do it unless it’s really important, because he likes being obnoxious.” Hayden made a face at Bonk, who was preening and cleaning his wings with his tongue.
“Bonk, Cinder, why don’t you two find Horace and go play outside? Hayden and I have import ant prism work to do,” Asher informed the dragons, who immediately took flight and soared out an open window without further prompting.
Asher sat at the desk beside Hayden and turned his chair around to face him. “So, how’s your first day going?”
“Pretty well, I guess. I got to use a violet prism during Abnormal Magic, to show how it uses different colors of light on an Absorber.”
The Prism Master raised an eyebrow in interest and said, “Oh? Lucky you, he normally doesn’t show that until later in the year. What did you think of the violet prism?”
Hayden frowned. “It was weird. There were a lot of arrays in it, but it also made my head hurt a little just looking at them all.”
“That’s normal, and will get better with practice. It’s a lot for your brain to process if you’re not used to it yet,” he replied. “So, you’ve probably been eagerly wait ing to see what I intend to teach you this year.”
Hayden nodded eagerly.
“I plan on spending roughly half of our time together reviewing the basics of trigonometric and geometric formulas, the building blocks of prism-based research—if you decide to do any in the future,” he explained. “The other half of our time together will deviate slightly from my original lesson plan.”
“Oh?” Hayden asked with interest.
“We’ll be focusing heavily on spells for combat, both against magical creatures and against other mages. It occurred to me that while you’re very sharp and quick-thinking, you’re still not adept at combat scenarios yet.”
Hayden grimaced, remembering his time in the I.S.C. last year. He had made it through mostly on luck or the errors of others, but he had to admit that the sixth-and-seventh year students he was up against were vastly more skilled at actually fighting other mages than he was.
“That’s true…” he admitted shamefully.
“Don’t beat yourself up over it; it isn’t anything you’ve done wrong. Actually, you’ve improved steadily every year that you’ve been here, which is the entire point of the challenge arenas. Being in the Inter-School Championship improved your skills as well, just not as much as I’d like. You’re on par with other fourth-year students right now, but you need to be better than that.”
“Why?” Hayden asked curiously.
“Because,” Master Asher said seriously, “I’m still not convinced this war is going to go in our favor. There has already been talk of pulling you into the fray if the fighting escalates, though my colleagues and I have been doing our best to keep you out of it.”
Hayden’s eyes widened in surprise.
“The Council wants me to fight fully-trained sorcerers?”
“They see it as a win-win for them. They haven’t seen you in action, only hearing about it after the fact. Imagine the picture your story paints to someone who wasn’t
He suddenly remembered that he was the only person in the level-four Prism class, and set his things down at a desk near Asher’s, pulling a spare napkin from his pocket and attempting to clear Bonk’s face of food before class started. Cinder alit on the desk beside him so silently that Hayden startled, unaware that the dragon was even in the room until now.
Bonk exhaled heavily through his nose to clear it of potatoes, and Cinder looked at his counterpart with haughty distaste.
“I see you haven’t taught him to eat gracefully yet,” Master Asher closed the door behind him as he entered the room. “Small wonder—my old man’s been trying to train him for longer than you’ve been alive.”
“He knows how to behave, he just doesn’t do it unless it’s really important, because he likes being obnoxious.” Hayden made a face at Bonk, who was preening and cleaning his wings with his tongue.
“Bonk, Cinder, why don’t you two find Horace and go play outside? Hayden and I have import ant prism work to do,” Asher informed the dragons, who immediately took flight and soared out an open window without further prompting.
Asher sat at the desk beside Hayden and turned his chair around to face him. “So, how’s your first day going?”
“Pretty well, I guess. I got to use a violet prism during Abnormal Magic, to show how it uses different colors of light on an Absorber.”
The Prism Master raised an eyebrow in interest and said, “Oh? Lucky you, he normally doesn’t show that until later in the year. What did you think of the violet prism?”
Hayden frowned. “It was weird. There were a lot of arrays in it, but it also made my head hurt a little just looking at them all.”
“That’s normal, and will get better with practice. It’s a lot for your brain to process if you’re not used to it yet,” he replied. “So, you’ve probably been eagerly wait ing to see what I intend to teach you this year.”
Hayden nodded eagerly.
“I plan on spending roughly half of our time together reviewing the basics of trigonometric and geometric formulas, the building blocks of prism-based research—if you decide to do any in the future,” he explained. “The other half of our time together will deviate slightly from my original lesson plan.”
“Oh?” Hayden asked with interest.
“We’ll be focusing heavily on spells for combat, both against magical creatures and against other mages. It occurred to me that while you’re very sharp and quick-thinking, you’re still not adept at combat scenarios yet.”
Hayden grimaced, remembering his time in the I.S.C. last year. He had made it through mostly on luck or the errors of others, but he had to admit that the sixth-and-seventh year students he was up against were vastly more skilled at actually fighting other mages than he was.
“That’s true…” he admitted shamefully.
“Don’t beat yourself up over it; it isn’t anything you’ve done wrong. Actually, you’ve improved steadily every year that you’ve been here, which is the entire point of the challenge arenas. Being in the Inter-School Championship improved your skills as well, just not as much as I’d like. You’re on par with other fourth-year students right now, but you need to be better than that.”
“Why?” Hayden asked curiously.
“Because,” Master Asher said seriously, “I’m still not convinced this war is going to go in our favor. There has already been talk of pulling you into the fray if the fighting escalates, though my colleagues and I have been doing our best to keep you out of it.”
Hayden’s eyes widened in surprise.
“The Council wants me to fight fully-trained sorcerers?”
“They see it as a win-win for them. They haven’t seen you in action, only hearing about it after the fact. Imagine the picture your story paints to someone who wasn’t
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