The First Body 1

Week 5

As he said he would, Instructor Drakkon helped Sky with the exercises all throughout the next week.

Apparently, she had been thinking about her barrier in the wrong way. Rather than all the way up or all the way down, she should have been thinking of it as having a hole in it. This hole would be able to change size and go from completely closed to all the way open. It would also have the ability to stop growing or shrinking and just be in a partially open state. By changing the size of the hole, Sky could control how much magic she had access to and thereby gain more control over how much she was using. According to Instructor Drakkon, the goal of Year 1 was to learn control.

This new method of accessing her magic was hard for Sky. Her magic would break through the barrier when it was weakened by the hole. She had to concentrate much harder than before on maintaining her barrier to prevent that from happening. Sky spent all week working on this and wasn't able to do it reliably until Clayden morning.

Once she got it, she attempted to do the week's exercises, making a rope of Water and gathering a hollow sphere of Light. The Light exercise she was able to do right away but she struggled with the rope. Her orb would either not stretch at all or would keep stretching until it broke.

When Instructor Drakkon came to check on her, she showed him the Light exercise. However, he said he couldn't give her points for Light magic because she wasn't gifted in that area. To be gifted in an area of magic you had to have enough magic in that area to score a ten on the Magical Aptitude Test and his best guess was that Sky only had a one or two in Light. He did give her some good news. He told her that he would test her on the Expansion and Contraction, the rope and the Spoken Magic exercises on Alontil, the first day of the next week. He also suggested that she spend this weekend practicing those.

Sky did as she was told and spent all weekend working. Her meals were brought by Instructor Drakkon. When he gave them to her, he would always also give her tips on whichever exercise she was working on.

The monotony of Sky's weekend was broken only by two visitors. The first was Dain. His visit was short and inexplicable. He came alone, without West, and seemed very uncomfortable. He only looked at Sky twice, right after he arrived and right before he left. The rest of the time he stared at the floor. It was hard to tell with his broken sentences, but Sky thought he'd come to tell her that he was fighting in a challenge.

Challenges were another way rank was determined. By beating someone stronger, a person would receive points. Fifty point were awarded per difference in rank. If the stronger person won, he or she got twenty-five points. The victor also got to name a winning condition, such as the loser being the victor's servant for a week.

Sky asked him if he wanted her to come cheer him on, but Dain refused. He gazed at her with searching eyes for a long moment then left.

The other visitor was Vaeryn. He started off by asking Sky if she had summoned her familiar again. She hadn't. He then informed her that another body had been found in the woods. This male was killed in a similar way as the first. Then he asked her about the fire and left.

Other than that Sky spent the entire weekend alone in her rooms. It was better than the week she'd spent in her previous rooms; there was at least a practice room for her to use.

***

Week 6 Day 3 Ruken

It had now been over six weeks since school started and to Sky it seemed like she was no closer to being recognized as a student now than she'd been in her first week. This was troubling. While her goal was to learn magic to defend herself, it had started to matter more to Sky to gain her proficiency. The only way to officially work as a mage was to have a proficiency. That wouldn't happen unless she could get herself recognized and she had no idea how to do that.

Sky had come to the realization in her first three weeks that the Chancellor simply didn't meet with humans. It wasn't just her because whenever she'd gone to ask to see him, his secretary told her to wait without taking her name and never even bothered to tell Chancellor Draekkon that she was there.

So far, this week had gone well. Sky had received twenty-five points for the expansion and contraction exercise and three points for her rope. It still broke when she stretched it past a certain point.

It was now Ruken, the third day of the week, and Sky was outside. She was not supposed to be but her new freedom had become grating, so she had used a portal spell to come to the Elemental Garden. She knew she had to get back to her practice room soon, but it was a beautiful day and she was enjoying the peacefulness of the surrounding woods.

The wind shifted and lightly ruffled through Sky's hair as she stood up from the stone bench. It carried a rich, appetizing scent. Sky immediately realized how hungry she was. Once more her mouth felt too small. Her head ached acutely for a second. Then some of the colors seemed to fade out of her surroundings. Her eyes picked up on something new.

Winding away through the trees at eye level was an amorphous, vivid, pinkish-red trail of some sort. Sky walked over to it and sniffed. It was that appealing scent. Her stomach rumbled. It wouldn't hurt to follow it for a little bit; maybe she could get a small snack, if she were quick about it. Licking her lips, she took off after the scent at a jog. No thoughts of Lessers lurking in the trees even crossed her mind.

As she dodged around tree trunks, Sky saw the trail widening. Other branches began joining it. After about five minutes, she considered turning around, but the smell had gotten stronger and fresher. She could taste it on her tongue, and it was mouthwatering.

In another two minutes the smell was everywhere. There was no longer a trail to follow as the scent ran between every tree that she could see. Sky paused and groggily tried to figure out where it was coming from. She had to find source of that scent. There! To her left, the scent trail appeared to be a darker, richer color. She headed that way and continued following the darker colored trail until she burst through two trees.

Blood. Blood was everywhere, splashed across trees, gurgling from gaping holes in jagged flesh. A mangled body lay in a V between two big tree roots.