Bully

It was the first day of classes. I got prepared, but had to wait for Andrew, and he took longer than a normal dude should.

For now, we would be taking general classes before we had to fine-tune what we had to do as a whole, and select the classes that were for us.

We left the dorm and headed out, walking through the academy. The warm glow of the rising sun hugged our skins, and the smell of morning dew was still there.

The students were walking about, each one dressed in the academy uniform, their heads held high because of the pride that they had in them. Being students of the academy was no easy feat.

But this academy was anything but normal, and these four years were going to be something else in the academy; I know it for certain.

We finally got to the classroom building, where a majority of the classrooms were held, and there were a ton of students already inside.

Each one already forming the cliques that they wanted to be in. I personally understand the human need to form those groups; it works to validate themselves and give them a sense of protection.

But it was stupid, to me at least. Those cliques would be the downfall of almost anyone; it's a self-made prison with no proper plan to escape when the time is right.

I looked to my side, my eyes lingering on Andrew. Was he my clique? Would I be pulled into the same issue as other students that form cliques? I don't know, but Andrew doesn't seem like that type of person, well, I hope he isn't.

I looked ahead, and the first class was there. It was more of an orientation class than, it was to be held in a larger hall that could fit all the first-year students that the academy had enrolled.

I walked to the door, looking forward. Yet somehow, right when I was about to enter, a dude rammed me to the side. He used a massive frame, tall and sharp-eyed.

"Huh? Why the hell are you standing in my way?" He bellowed, turning to look at me. He stood there, his frame eclipsing me and Andrew. Andrew stepped back a bit, shocked by this aggressive dude.

I looked at him, clicking my tongue at this cliché. His eyes locked on me, carrying the stare of a man eager for trouble. I wasn't having any of that, not to talk about the fact that I have no strength whatsoever, I also didn't want a bad rep on my name. That would be a bad start.

So I did what any reasonable person would do: I rage-baited him by walking through his side and completely ignoring him like the insect he was. Hahaha.

I stepped to the side and Andrew followed. He walked past him, and oh boy, that was the greatest feeling. I could literally hear his breathing spike and see his fist clench.

I know, I know, I might get punched because of this, but I couldn't just resist at all. I walked to the door. This dude spun around instantly; his hands reached out and grabbed me by the collar, pulling me forward.

His eyes shined with rage; his breathing was so heavy I touched my face, yuck. I looked him dead in the eye, seeing all the rage. I knew I'd won.

"What the hell? Do you think you can run into me and walk away?" He roared; his loud voice pulled the attention of everyone.

Andrew stood behind me, already freaking out. He looked around for a teacher or someone to call, anyone, but there was no one near and he didn't want to leave the scene.

I looked at the bear of a person, and honestly, he wasn't as scary as he thought he was. Sure he was big and all that, but he wasn't threatening at all.

"You ran into me first, but I said nothing and decided to step to the side and allow you to have the win, yet your small ego managed to get hurt by something like that.

Behind that thick dome of yours, I'm sure there is more space than brain, because if you had a brain, you would understand that there are better things to do on the first day than bully someone because you can." I let the words rip, each one sharpened to hit a nerve.

And with every word I spoke, the more his anger spiked. "I'll break your face, you bastard." He roared and punched; I saw it coming, that was it.

I moved my head to the side fast, and the punch flew past my head, grazing my ear. It stung, a lot, but I focused, swinging my leg as fast as possible, right into the groin, and I could swear I heard a crunch.

"Arghhhhhhhhh!" He screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground, holding his nuts in pure agony. I'm sure every guy that saw that felt it.

"If you come to bully someone, don't expect them to fight fair," I said.

"What is happening here?" I suddenly heard a stern female voice behind me. I turned around quick; it was a teacher. A tall, late, twenties woman with silver hair and eyes, pale skin, and a beautiful face.

But right now, she looked like she was about to take my soul. I knew this woman; her name was Elena, one of the teachers who had a main part in the plot of the story.

"So? Is someone going to explain?" she asked. I took a deep breath and narrated what happened. She listened; she didn't rush me, which was good.

When I was done, her eyes moved to the still-grimacing bully. She asked, "Is what he said true? Do not lie."

Yup, that was her signature line. It was never explained how in the story, but she always knew when someone lied, and she always used that line when she asked a question.

I saw the way her eyes pinned on the bully, I sensed his nervousness, but despite that, he spoke, a blatant lie.

"I didn’t do it," he said. Her eyes squinted, I could tell that she already knew the truth, she gave him a second chance.

"Did you do what he said?" she asked. But this time, his confidence grew even further, he stepped up and looked at me first before looking at her, a solemn look plastered on his face, he tried to be deceptive.

But can you really win a chess game against the person that knows all the plays? I’m that person. My view of the board is unlike anything he could have, he lost the very moment I was his target, he just didn’t know it yet.

"I didn’t do anything like that, he ran into me and when I asked him to apologize, she attacked, kicking me in the nuts," he said.

This dude was a joke, he pushed his tone to sound as broken as possible, he almost sounded convincing.

"I see," she muttered. She walked to the door of the classroom and turned her head to look at the both of us.

"You lied to me," she said. Her eyes drifted to him, his body froze, he wanted to say something else, but the words got choked in his throat as he looked at her eyes.

Those eyes were unforgiving and deadly. If he doubled down, he would only bring ruin to himself. So he shut up, his head dropped down.

I already knew this wasn’t the end of his case, but it was the end of mine in the issue, so with happiness in the fact that I had won, I waltzed into the class, arms almost swinging beside me like a boss.

The entire hall was nearly filled already, but Andrew and I found a pretty good seat, it was halfway to the tip and halfway to the first row, perfect in my books.

There were a lot of students in this hall, each one a first year that had just come to the academy, eager to prove themselves. It was really something else.

Their dreams and their desires were great, but none could actually compare to what the academy had for them. They looked at this place and saw the hall of dreams and desire, I saw the place that prepares and delivers tragedies.

Elena took the stage after every first year was inside. The class went quiet when they saw her. She scanned the room for a few seconds, her eyes landed on me and stayed there a bit before going off.

Then she finally spoke, "Good day, students. I’m Miss Elena, and I’ll be the one handling you for this orientation." She spoke in a clear voice that reached everyone. She walked around the stage for a bit and then picked up a piece of chalk, she wrote on the board: Magic.

Then she began to explain the concept of magic to us. Though it should be something that everyone knew, it was still a part of the curriculum.

"Mana is an energy form, it is the energy that exists in everything that is around us, everything has a certain level of mana.

Now this energy is extremely dynamic and can theoretically do anything depending on your affinity and how you use it," she explained, and it made sense easily.

Maybe I was a good student, or maybe she just knew how to explain, but one thing was certain, the concept was sticking to me.

"Now magic, magic is the manipulation of said mana in order to achieve a goal. That goal is when we cast magic, amplify mana, use it in one way or the other, that’s magic and the manipulation of mana.

The concept of mana is continuously growing and the studies never stop."

She really made the concept straightforward and easy for me to understand: mana, mana manipulation, magic. I already knew most of the concepts of this world, but it was refreshing to learn it myself.

I knew about the fact that everyone is born with an affinity, some people two, and on extremely rare occasions three.

There were also different types of magic: elemental magic, space and time magic, spirit and taming magic, chaos and reality magic.

These were the main among many, and each one had their uses and applications, and though some were innately better than others, they were all good when used properly.

I personally have wind, which makes me an elemental mage. I would have loved the immensely destructive power of chaos, but the one born of chaos is a once-in-a-generation type of mage, couldn’t ever be me.

But there was still a chance for me, and how you may ask? That’s simple, because when a mage becomes a five-star mage, they are capable of what is called a reawakening, where they will awaken a new affinity in one of the many categories.

If I looked forward to that and worked hard enough to get there fast, I might be capable of becoming a chaos mage.

While I was busy daydreaming about all that, the class went on and was slowly coming to an end. Every student was eager to learn, they wanted to be the ones ahead.

Though all this motivation was momentary, they would all lose the fire as it got hard, and that would be the point where the prodigies are separated from the normals and the failures.

As for me, where do I want to fall in? Well, the prodigies of course, not only because I love to learn and be above intellectually, but because the people I want to save are all prodigies, and I need to get closer to them.