Review of History

The spirit animal had been observing them for quite some time.

It heard their entire conversation without making a sound.

After seeing the boy and the teacher quietly head back to their dorms, only then did the phoenix choose to disappear.

----------

The next day, classes began.

Due to the size of the school, in some hallways there were labeled doors placed with teleportation portals behind them. They allowed students to quickly enter their classes if they were too far away. However, the portals could only remain open for a limited time. If a person failed to reach one before it closed, their only option was to sadly take the long way around.

Students were also not allowed to use magic in the corridors without permission. Special methods of detections were placed around the school for security reasons. Of course, if it was urgent, then the headmaster would accede to it.

While some teachers can help students get to class quicker, it was a strict policy of Halo Academy for people to learn the importance of attendance. Only on special cases, such as an injury, will staff members help students get on time.

Leo walked into one of the portals and passed through the doorway to his History Class. When he arrived, he was surprised to see the alchemy teacher Sharon Oakshield, the woman he saw the other day. She was standing near the giant board at the front of the class.

'Shouldn't Mr. Jones be here?' Leo was curious.

The interior of almost every classroom in the school is in the shape of a semi-circle. There is often a large desk and a wide board placed at the flat side of the wall for the teachers to use. Tables and chairs surrounded the board. The classroom floor was also elevated in descending order to allow students to easily see over the heads of their colleagues.

Walking down to his seat, Leo put down his bag of books and notes while pondering on Ms. Oakshield's presence.

After waiting for a few minutes, he soon saw Austin walking down from the doorway. With disheveled hair, Austin yawned heavily as he sat next to Leo.

Slowly taking his school materials out, Austin grumbled about how he nearly missed the portal.

"They should keep them open longer. It's way too cruel to force students to travel miles to the next class."

Leo chuckled. "It's supposed to build "character", as they say. We're all living in comfortable furnishings in our rooms and being served decent food everyday. It isn't much to show a little courtesy to the school staff."

"Bah. Well the food is nice... If they served better cuisines I might try a little harder to be earlier next time." Austin joked.

"With this attitude, I can never tell how you got so far ahead of everyone in our studies."

Leo slowly shook his head in disapproval, though he was only doing this to keep up the friendly banter.

Austin snorted and held up a smug grin on his face.

"Guess it's just natural talent..."

Before they could keep talking, Ms. Oakshield immediately called for the class' attention.

"Alright everyone, it's time for lessons to begin. As some of you might have guessed, Mr. Jones is unfortunately unable to attend for this morning." Sharon spoke, "His alcohol tolerance was much weaker than expected last night and he ended up suffering from alcohol poisoning. Luckily he has been healed and will be able to teach classes after noon. For now, I'll be substituting in his place."

The class stayed silent at this revelation, mostly curious at the prospect of being taught by a substitute teacher. While this wasn't the first time any of them have experienced this, it was the first for many to see Ms. Oakshield take part. She had a well-known personality, thus many people were interested to see how she would teach them history.

Soon, Sharon helped the class do a quick review of what they learned in the past to get their minds refreshed.

Austin had his books out but he didn't take any notes as he already knew most of them. Even when he returned back home for the holiday, he had made sure to keep studying. As for Leo, he had done the same, though he still kept writing a few things in his book from time to time. He wasn't too great at memorizing history as his dear friend.

After some time, Sharon started to reach the end of her lecture, ".... And thus, in the year 964, it was decided that the Victoria Association would be established to both honor Queen Victoria and her wish of peaceful cooperation with other sentient species in Bavalon..."

'Queen Victoria, huh...' Leo couldn't help but sigh in his head.

The Queen would often be mentioned in Bavalon's history as the most renowned ruler the country has ever known. Born more than 400 hundred years ago, Victoria Felgrand would help lead her kingdom to establish a stable position in this new world. And that was only one of the many things she had accomplished. Many texts in the recent history books often spoke a lot about her.

She had helped the commoners gain a firm voice in the country's politics. She set up many systems in place to increase the kingdom's control over the newly spread magic abilities, and in turn had allowed them to provide further benefits to nobles and commoners alike. While often viewed with mixed feelings by the nobles, the lower-class citizens all loved her reforms.

Leo had nothing against the Queen, of course. If it wasn't for her, people like him and Austin would most likely have never gotten the chance to receive an education in this day and age. He had simply too often heard her name in lectures that it was beginning to get tedious.

"Now my students," Sharon finished her review and gave the class her full attention, "Today's topic will be about Religious Wars and the groups associated with them. It will also introduce the aftermath of those wars and the newly formed groups that are still at large today."

The discussion soon involved topics related to philosophy and deities. In the year 500, when the Great Change had occurred, old gods from ancient mythology were reawakened into the world once more. However, the present religions at that time did not have any divine beings descending to represent them. Very soon, arguments arose over which deities should be followed. Should we abandon the new and accept the old? Should we merge religions? Should we allow ourselves to keep our traditions while reintroducing old ones? Does having deities even matter when we should be focusing on the virtues and lessons taught in religious fables?

After a couple years, war eventually sparked between the many differing viewpoints. When confusion and debates subsided, violence was used to seek the answer. In the end, the reawakened gods had personally taken to the field and supported the sides who worshipped them. Granting their followers new abilities, it soon ended with the side supporting the ancient gods casting down the gods of the present era (not that any of them showed up). Soon, the gods that were cast away became known as the Forgotten. The newly established gods, on the other hand, became separated into two distinct groups: the Immortals and the Regals.

"Among the deities, a third group had later emerged in recent years, now mentioned as the Fallen." spoke Sharon, who was using magic on the board to write down the information, "Their appearances are a mystery, and they are now slowly gaining followers through their religious groups from the shadows. Whether this is their first appearance since the Dawn of Magic, we do not know."

At this moment, Ms. Oakshield stopped speaking and stared around at her students. Clearing her throat loudly to get undivided attention, she continued in a serious voice, "I hope that all of you pay close attention to this part of the lesson. It is important that all of you understand the threat that these beings and their organizations can pose to the kingdom."

Sharon then turned to the board and recounted the recent events that have taken place, not just in Bavalon, but also in the surrounding nations about these new religious groups.

"Although calling themselves different names, the rest of the kingdoms have referred to them as Dark Cults.

"Each cult practices their own brand of forbidden rituals. Often, it is related to the concept of sins of human nature. Bear in mind, this also applies to other species.

"The main organization that appears to be in charge of the groups is called the Shadow Core, who are suspected of using unethical methods in their research on the dark aspects of magic..."