Radiance - The Alight Archives Book #1

21. The Pocket Prison

"Admirable work, students. That shall be all for today's lecture," said Professor Dragonthorne in her jolly tone of voice. "Do remember to revise chapters three and four, as they will be incredibly crucial to the topics we will review next week."

Elaine sighed as she placed her textbook inside her satchel. She'd give her roommate credit where it was due; Abjuration wasn't an easy artform to master, and this class was entirely dedicated to its application. According to Fearne herself, she'd been practicing it ever since she was a child, and not only that, the girl was surgin' excellent at it.

But there was a lot of material for them to cover. In fact, they would need to work their way through the next handful of chapters in their texts before they would even be permitted to attempt to cast a real Abjuration spell.

Abjuration, at its core, involved the casting of various healing spells, those that could cure a man of his ailments or seal up a freshly-opened wound. Nevertheless, a sorcerer needed to be cautious. A healing spell performed incorrectly might very well have the opposite effect on the subject. According to what she read in her textbook, improper healing spells could be more dangerous than regular, basic-level attack spells.

The thought in and of itself was terrifying, and a part of Elaine was glad that they weren't jumping straight into practicing the complicated magic. She didn't want to be held responsible for robbing someone of their eyesight or sprouting an extra arm out of their back. And yes, those were legitimately possible side effects. Abjuration was a dangerous artform, indeed.

Through the diamond-shaped glass windows shone the orange-colored light of an afternoon sun. She'd only one final class for the day, and unfortunately, it was being supervised by her homeroom teacher. The Abyssal Sorcerer. Elaine would admit to the anxiety she felt shivering within her. If the man had been that strict and dispassionate during homeroom, what would he be like when leading an actual lesson, she wondered.

She would have joined Fearne and Custas as they started for the exit with the rest of their classmates, however, Elaine instead strode towards the front of the classroom, where Dragonthorne was preoccupied with clearing the numerous illustrations she'd scribbled on the chalkboard throughout the lesson.

This classroom itself was decently sized. It consisted of five rows of desks that stretched from one side of the room to the next, and each could fit four to five students at a time. A green-colored mattress decorated with streaks of yellow covered the wooden floor, glass cupboards containing oddly-designed apparatus were lined on the walls, and there was a good amount of space separating the front-most desk and the desk of the professor herself where a lifeless, gray homunculus was lying on the floor. Elaine imagined it'd be used for future demonstrations when it came time for them to cast Abjuration themselves.

"Excuse me, Professor Dragonthorne," Elaine called.

The professor whirled around to greet her with a cheery smile. "Ah, Ms. Harwood. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Maya Dragonthorne kept a bubbly and tender personality—as was expected for any proper Medical Mage—which made speaking to the woman relatively easy. She inherited long, darkish hair that she had fixed into a pair of ponytails, lively, green-colored eyes inside of her roundish face, and rose to be a tad taller than the average height. She was wearing a brown shirt accompanied by a red-colored dress, and there was also a sash tied around her waist. Her wand was kept in a holster on her side.

"It's nothing much, really," Elaine said. "I was just wondering if you were knowledgeable about injuries concerning Lightning Magic."

Dragonthorne began humming out of her clasped lips. "Lightning Magic, you say? And what, might I inquire, spurred your interest in it?"