James_Human

“Do you weep for me, my teacher?” She whispered. I pressed my lips to her shaking hand and was transported back to when I first met her thirty years earlier.
“Yes, majesty. I weep for you.” I replied.  “And I weep for my soul. I failed to protect you, and I deserve damnation for it.”
My queen smiled, her blood-spattered face serene in the red haze of blood and smoke. “No, 
Lukas, you have fulfilled your duty. And you will serve me again in the glorious halls of our gods.”
“With all my heart,” I whispered. 
Tears glittered in her eyes, “Call me by my name?” She asked, her voice quiet, weak. “Like you did when I was a little girl.”
“Anna.”

At the end of the world, a mage held his student in his arms as the light left her eyes. At the end of the world a mage stared down his attacker. At the end of the world, a mage died. 
And woke up thirty years before the end of the world. 
He's been given a second chance. 
And this time he's going to do it right.

Spirit Speaker

The storm had returned, an omen of things to come.

The Headmaster lived in a large mansion at the far end of the Magic Campus. Prominently built on a hill, it was one of the many major landmarks that students used to orient themselves around the confusing institution.

I raised my cloak over my head, shielding myself from the torrential downpour, and walked up the gravel path to the front door.

The door opened, a servant bowing slightly as I walked in.

"Welcome, Master Lukas. The Board are waiting in the Headmaster's office."

"Thank you, will you lead me there? It's been a long time since I was last here."

I followed the servant down an unfamiliar hallway, lined with portraits of previous Headmasters.

He knocked gently on a door at the end of the passage. He opened it.

Chapter 26