Jaux Ballad has always wanted to enter the realm of magic, but could not do so by regular means. In his desperation to become a magician he finds himself with more power, and more trouble, than he could ever have imagined.

*=+=*=+=*=+=*

The head and vice head administrators of discipline sat in a dim office. Two crystal balls were placed on top the head of discipline’s desk, each replaying a different set of events.

Hawkshire absently tapped his fingers on the desk while using his other hand to scratch his beard. "You're sure about this, Rilane?"

The woman nodded. "Yes Rictor, I analyzed the memories countless times. There appears to be no signs of tampering on the children's minds."

Hawkshire closed his eyes, gripped the bridge of his nose, and then uttered a low groan. "Well, I doubt any mind genre archmages are paying us a visit, but go ask for a total scan on the Lyceum."

"Actually, I already ordered a scan." Rilane pulled out and displayed a small card with an orange stamp mark.

Hawkshire glanced at the card, then gave a single nod of approval. "Good, though I don't think it'll turn up anything. We most likely have a mind altering priest on our hands. Have the guards and teachers be on the lookout for wirums, harpies, and melzans."

Rilane scribbled a few words on a blank card. "No vampires or oni?"

"No," said Hawkshire, "only ancient vampires can manipulate minds with this much precision. They would be powerful enough to appear on the scan. An oni's malice should also be detected."

"Okay, anything else?" said Rilane.

Hawkshire clasped his hands together for a few seconds in thought. "Ballad and Intone will both be on trips tomorrow, have some student council members follow them and keep a record of their activities."

=+=+=

Desyi shook Suhara until she woke up. “Time to get dressed, Suhara. We gotta head down to the entranceway soon.”

Suhara moaned for a few more minutes before she sat up on her bed. The sound of showers could be heard through the bathroom door, and Desyi was pulling on a robe.

After stretching out her limbs, Suhara walked into the bathroom to get cleaned up. The blue haired girl Suhara met on her first school day, named Fesie, was currently doing her meditation in the middle of the bathroom. Fesie was a motion-water mage who was raised with a siren father. She had to meditate every second or third day to synchronize with water, which was a method developed by sirens to improve water magic efficiency.

It was weird, but motion meditations were fascinating to watch. Fesie’s entire body would rotate randomly while water, ice, and steam swirled around her body.

Frey showering was still a bigger distraction for Suhara, and certainly lovely to look at.

=+=+=

All the outing groups met up by the entrance.

The group going to Orouna mostly wore robes, but the students heading to Veilflower were more dressed up. Roy Intone was in the Veilflower group, and he was one of the few who dressed in fine silks.

Suhara wasn’t in the mood to talk to Roy, so she hid behind her roommates.

Unfortunately, Roy had the bizarre ability to detect Suhara. “Hey brute girl! What’re you doing here? Novices like you aren’t allowed on trips!”

“Back off, snob!” said Suhara, “I’m a basic class mage now, I’m just choosing to keep this collar on!”

“Ha! Even better!” Roy laughed. “Too scared to let go of your ace’s leg, eh?”

“Watch it, shrimp,” said Frey. “Suhara is gonna punch your smug little face off.”

“Yeah right, she’ll probably just trip over herself again.” said Roy.

“Students! Back to your groups!” said one of the supervising teachers, “We must track the attendance!”

Roy scoffed, and walked back over to the Veilflower group.

Once every student was accounted for, the iron gateway was lowered. The Marlifa students followed their supervisors, and stepped into the magical wagons assigned to them. When everyone had boarded, the wagons sprung to life and rolled off.

=+=+=

Orouna was loud.

Suhara was able to hear the city's din before the Marlifa wagons had even reached the walls. "Why is that city so noisy?"

"It’s just the artisans,” said Desyi. “They call Orouna the craftsmen's abode, because there's always something being made."

Tricks covered up the ear she had facing the city. "They got like a blacksmith in almost every corner! Loud as a storm all day."

"Thankfully, we have magic fix that." Frey took out her metal wand, and gave it a few waves.

Suddenly, a great portion of the sound Suhara heard became heavily muffled. It was like she had covered her head with a pillow. The sound of the city had grown quiet, but the voices of people still remained the same volume. Frey had cast a spell that granted selective hearing.

"Ah, much better," said Tricks. "If you aren't used to it and don't have the right spell, you gotta bring some ear muffs when visiting this place. Yelling is the normal form of speech here."

"They do make wonderful items," said Desyi. "No better city if you want to be an artisan. The mountains here have an endless supply of material. Wood from forests, metals from mines, and stone from quarries, you name it and they got it."

Frey nodded. "Cheap too, considering the quality. My caravan comes here all the time to restock. Too bad that it’s so dirty and smelly on the streets, it’s why most other students don’t dress up when coming here."

The wagons soon parked themselves by the city's gates.

"Okay students, be back here in eight hours!" said the supervising teacher.

Suhara and her friends hopped down from the magic wagon and entered the bustling city.

Orouna generally had a rough and rocky appearance. Most buildings were made from oddly shaped bricks that fit together like a puzzle. The central street had a compact line of carts, but they moved at a swift and steady pace. Most stores had someone working or crafting outside.

Suhara saw people hammering metal, shaping pottery, carving wood, blowing glass, and chipping stone. She felt tired just from looking at all the work being done. The sounds of the city were dimmed, but the strong smell of sweat flowed into her nostrils.

The girls led Suhara to a large building that looked like it was carved from a single massive block of marble. It was one of the few places without work taking place in the front. The entrance was a set of two stone doors with colored glass panes.

The inside of the shop spelled like flowery perfume, which contrasted heavily with the odor outside. A surprisingly gigantic array of dresses out on display.

Suhara immediately pulled away from her roommates. “I’m not gonna get a dress.”

“What? Why not?” said Desyi, “You’ll need one eventually, and all the Lyceum ever has is robes!”

“This place carries skirts too, if you don’t want dresses.” said Frey.

Suhara shook her head. “Nope. Don’t want neither.”

“You’re gonna look real outta place if you show up to any parties with robes on.” said Tricks. “C’mon, at least take a look with us.”

“You’re Desyi’s size, and I’m buying some for you either way.” said Frey. “If you don’t come in with us, you won’t get any choice over what you get.”

Suhara crossed her arms and turned back towards the door. “Fine, whatever. I’m not gonna wear any.”

Frey smiled faintly and sighed. She motioned for Desyi and Tricks to go in first. Then she walked up behind Suhara and hugged the shorter girl tightly by the waist. “You know, if we ever go out, I’d like it if you dressed up. Don’t you still want to try dating?”

Suhara bit the inside of her lips and didn’t answer.

After a minute of disappointing silence, Frey let go and walked into the store. “If you change your mind, we’ll be inside.”

Suhara looked back at Frey, but didn’t follow. She didn’t have a choice with her body, but she wasn’t comfortable wearing any feminine clothing outside of the dorm. She just wasn’t ready. It hadn’t even been two weeks since her body was transformed, she would rather keep to somewhat unisex robes.

Suhara walked out and away from the dress shop, and wandered down the street. There was a marketplace nearby, which she decided to check out. She didn’t have any money, but it didn’t hurt to look around. Anything was fine when trying to kill time.

Suhara didn’t notice the Marlifa student that was following right behind her.

A lean male merchant spotted Suhara from his stall. “Oh hey, unless that staff you got is for a play, I think I spot a witch! Come, come! I have plenty of soul for sale!”

Since Suhara had never seen soul items before, the merchant successfully caught her attention. She walked up to the stall, and observed the crystals on display. They all glowed with lovely colors, which was visible to the eye even without the Winter Sight. The merchant had arranged his stall by the colors of his wares, so it looked like he had a crystallized rainbow laid out.

Suhara’s eyes and mouth opened wide. “Wow, you have so many.”

“Oh yes!” The merchant laughed, picking up a hand-sized gem that shined orange. “No one has as much of these as me.”

The council student following Suhara was also surprised by the amount of soul crystals, and scribbled a note of it on the booklet he carried. It wasn’t too absurd of a thing, but the council student was thorough.

For some reason, Suhara’s eyes started to itch. She quickly tried to blink the feeling away. The itch was beyond her reach, buried inside her head. When the feeling wouldn’t go away, she began to roughly rub her eyes with her palms.

“Something wrong?” said the merchant.

Suhara shook her head, but continued rubbing. “N-no, I’m fine. Just something in my eyes.”

Since she couldn’t physically remove it, Suhara began to suspect that the itch was magical. When she shifted the Winter Sight on, the feeling finally went away. Theema’s voice immediately started to echo in Suhara’s head.

“You have seen one. You are in its presence: a vessel of Broken Space.” said Theema.

“What? Really?” Suhara looked at the merchant, who was the only person currently in her sight. “Him?”

The merchant’s magic glowed blue, but there was a misty funnel of turquoise light that was streaming into him. The steam of turquoise was fading in from thin air.

“Yes, that is the vessel.” said Theema.

Suhara muttered suspiciously. “I thought you couldn’t see through my eyes when Winter Sight is off?”

“Indeed, I can not,” said Theema. “The marks I left upon your body recognize the immortal magic of Broken Space and Bright Noon.”

The merchant gazed at the girl with a mixture of worry and curiosity. He thought that she was speaking nonsense into the air. “You sure you’re okay, miss?”

“What do you know of Broken Space?” said Suhara.

The merchant’s face abruptly flashed over from concern to fright. A large circular mirror opened up behind him, and he jumped backwards into the image. The mirror rippled as it absorbed the merchant, like it was a pool of liquid mercury. Then the mirror shrunk in size and began to disappear.

“Do not lose him.” said Theema.

Suhara felt her body burn as she turned into flowing darkness. She sped into what remained of the mirror-like portal.

The merchant’s escape and Suhara’s teleportation both happened in the span of three to four seconds. The student stared at the empty stall with his mouth agape. The quill and booklet fell out from the council student’s hands.

=+=+=

Suhara found herself in a shiny turquoise tunnel. The merchant ran off around a corner, but she was too disoriented to follow right away. Then the tunnel seemed to shift, and the corner the merchant ran into ceased to exist.

The properties of the tunnels caught Suhara’s attention. She knew that she was currently in the Realm of Five Dimensions: Broken Space.

“Theema, you still there?” said Suhara.

“Yes, child.” said Theema.

“I’m sure this is Broken Space,” said Suhara, “but I can’t follow the merchant.”

“You can,” said Theema, “his magic is still revealed in your vision, move towards it.”

Theema was right. The walls also glowed under Winter Sight, but Suhara could see a distant outline of blue. She started to move through the maze in the direction of the magic source. Since all the tunnels glowed confusingly in her vision, she ran into a few walls on accident.

The chase took several long hours. The merchant changed directions many times, but Suhara’s vampire augmented speed allowed her to crawl through the maze at a pace that was just enough to keep up. When she finally got close to the merchant, his magic unexpectedly disappeared. Suhara hesitated in confusion, but then proceeded to move to the merchant’s final location.

A large mirror gateway awaited Suhara.