The Laws of Ascension

A group of new and excited students are gathered in a large gymnasium. They’re all sitting in chairs made of vines, murmuring to one another. There’s a gap in the center of the chairs, where more students enter. Every student is wearing the same uniform. It’s a white button-up shirt with blue pants. The buttons are gold colored, but they’re not made of gold. The fabric and material used in them are all made of materials carrying laws. The women wear matching blue skirts instead of pants. However, some of them choose to wear pants instead of skirts. There’s an emblem on the chest of each shirt. The emblem is a blue vine wrapping around an open book. On the pages of the book are a sword and a shield. In front of the rows of chairs is a stage also made of vines. There’s a podium on top at the forward center of the stage. A line of professors sits in chairs behind the podium. All of them wear formal suits or dresses. Not all match the student’s uniform, however.

Once all the students are seated, a man stands up. He was sitting on the far right of the stage. As soon as he stands, the vines that make up his chair shrink back into the ground. The man is wearing a regal red robe. Under the robe is a clean white suit matching the student’s uniforms. He has a scar going across his left eye and stopping just before his hairline. Covering it, however, is a golden crown. He has golden eyes and short brown hair. He looks like he’s in his fifties. He stops in front of the podium. As soon as the students see him start moving, they all stop talking. By the time he’s reached the podium, there isn’t a single peep from the crowd. The man reaches out and readjusts a device on the podium. It’s a small metal rod with a white crystal at the top and a grey one at the bottom. The crystal facing him is white, and the grey one faces the students.

“Students.” The man says, his voice being amplified by the white crystal. It comes out of the grey crystal so all the students can clearly hear him. “For those who don’t recognize me, I am King Eldrin Caelthar. It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Academy of Concordia. Or as some of you call it, the Concadamy.” The man says with a smile, causing some of those behind him to laugh. “You have all gathered here in order to learn and grow as mages. As you all know, mages are those who have comprehended a law. Until you can comprehend one, you cannot call yourself a mage. Many of you have not comprehended one yet, and likely don’t even know where to begin. But don’t be discouraged, the reason for attending this academy is to grow as a mage, there’s no point if you’re already a good mage. Now, as you all know, in order to help you, future mages grow, we encourage competition. So you will all be assigned to teams of four. But these teams will be assigned based on who we think will work well together. If at any point you find yourself unable to work with your assigned teammates, I implore you to speak up about it. Your professors are fed up dealing with every little dispute you’ll have.” The king says, causing one of the people behind him to burst out laughing. He laughs so hard that the man has to turn around to look at him. After laughing, they stand up and walk over to the king.

“Sorry for that, but I think you’ve bored my students long enough.” The man says. He’s wearing a grey robe that covers his entire body. He has grey hair that stops at his shoulders. He has green eyes that contain a kind and gentle gaze. He looks over the students as he speaks to the king. The king chuckles before patting the man on his shoulders and stepping down. He takes the seat the man was in before the man starts speaking. This time, he speaks directly into the microphone, so all the students can hear him. “Students, my name is Arlen Draeven, and I’m the headmaster of this academy. As the king said, you will all be assigned to teams of four. You will be working with your teammates for the duration of your time here. So do not hesitate to change teams if you do not get along. Now, before I let you all loose, I need to tell you two more things. First, let’s show the results of your entrance exams.” Arlen says before turning around.

“On it.” One of the female professors says before reaching out. Mist pours off her fingers before spreading along the podium. Two flat screens made of see-through mist jump up in the center of the podium. Names fill the screens in different orders. On the left-most screen is the title Practical Exam. The right-most screen has Written Exam instead. The names for the practical exam are in three different colors. Firstly gold, then white, and finally grey. Stars are next to names in a seemingly random order. It doesn’t matter what color, they all can have stars. There are only two names in gold and a handful of names in white. But in total, there are fewer than fifty stars on the screen. The majority of the names are in grey. The names on the written exam are all the same color, white. Next to each name is a number going up to two hundred and fifty. In total, on each screen are one thousand names exactly.

“These are the results of your practical and written exams,” Arlen says before looking across the students. “The written exam results are self-explanatory. The number shows how many of the two hundred and fifty questions you got right. But the results for the practical exam are a bit trickier. As you know, for the practical exam, you all had to fight one of your professors in a one-on-one match. However, the professors had their laws sealed and were unable to use magic. First, those with stars next to their names have already comprehended a law. Those with grey names are people who lost but still showed enough skill to pass and attend my academy. Those whose names are white showed great skill and kept their professors on their toes. The two with gold names managed to beat their professors and won their match.” Arlen says while holding his hand out.

Two of the chairs made of vines start moving. They grow and lift the people in them up before moving them to the stage. The two people are a man and a woman. The man has brown eyes and short, neat black hair. He’s tall, standing at six feet even. The woman is a few inches short, standing at five feet nine inches. She has long, dark red hair and blood-red eyes. She has two long white horns sticking out of her head. Each horn is smooth and has a slight curve. They grow smaller as they reach the tip. The tip is sharp, to the point where they could pierce skin if she headbutted someone at the right angle. Her hands are covered in a layer of fur. The fur is short and clean and looks soft, almost like a blanket. Her fur covers her hand to her elbow. But instead of covering her fingers, they stop at her first knuckle. From there, you can see smooth white skin. Though if you felt it, it’d feel hard like stone. Her stony fingers sharpen to a tip, creating claws instead of fingers. The two chairs tilt up, causing the two of them to fall off. They land on their feet next to Arlen. The man is on his left, while the woman is on his right. They both stand straight and proud. They’re both muscular, but the man is more so. A lot of the students, and even a few professors, are shocked by his frame.

“This is Loric Bolt,” Arlen says while holding his hand over the man’s head. “And this is Veyra Ashthorn. Now, before any of you start, yes, she is a demon. But I will not tolerate any discrimination against her or other demons at my academy. Humans and demons have been at peace for over a hundred years. I’m tired of hearing about them being evil incarnate. So do not bring that up here.” Arlen warns while scanning the crowd. “Anyway, these two are the only ones who managed to beat their professors. So I want you all to know who you have to catch up to. And if you hadn’t noticed, they both already possess magic from their respective laws.” Arlen says before reaching out again. Vines grow from the ground a few feet in front of the stage. They come out of the stone ground but don’t damage the stone in the slightest. It looks like they simply grow from the stone’s surface. The vines form a long rectangular table, and Arlen waves his hand. A hundred bracelets appear in the air and fall on the table. “I’ll start calling names now. Once you hear your name, come and grab your communication bracelet. On it, you’ll have a location already set, along with a map of the academy. It’ll show you how to get to your location. Once there, wait for your teammates to show up. I want you all to spend the rest of the day getting to know your teammates. Once you’ve gotten to know one another and confirmed you don’t want to change teams, go to the dorms. You’ll be able to use points to choose your rooms.” Arlen says before sighing and slapping his palm against his forehead.

“And you thought his majesty would forget.” One of the professors says heartily with a laugh.

“Excuse me, my age must be catching up with me. I forgot to go over your points and how they work. You all have been given points based on your performance during the entrance exam. These points can be used at the academy’s various facilities. You can use them to buy items and weapons to help you along your journey as a mage. Or you can use them to rent various tools or stations. There are two types of points as well. The first is academy points or just points. They’re what you’ll use most of the time, as well as what you need for what I mentioned earlier. You can earn more points by completing tasks we’ll place at the task center. You can take a look tomorrow, as the task center is closed for today. The second is team points or TP. These are much harder to get than academy points. But they have fewer uses as well. For now, you’ll need them to rent your room. Better rooms will require more team points. Your team leader will be placed in charge of these points and is the only one who can spend them. As for the other uses, you’ll find out when the time comes. Just know that if you run out of points or team points, you will be expelled from the academy. So be careful and don’t waste them. You’ll be able to check your total points with your communications bracelet. While they’re called the communications bracelet, they have more functions other than just communicating. Feel free to explore them and the academy after meeting your team. With that, let’s wrap this up.” Arlen says before handing Loric and Veyra their communication bracelet. The two take them and walk off the stage.

“Congratulations, you two.” One of the professors says as they walk off the side. They thank him before walking out of the gymnasium together.

“It’s been a while. It’s nice to see you again, Loric.” Veyra says with a slight smile as they leave.

“Same here. It sounded like you didn’t know what this academy was when we met.” Loric replies while putting the communication bracelet on. It’s made with a leather strap holding a small black cube. The cube is cut to fit around the shape of the wrist. The top of it is smooth and flat. As soon as it’s on the wrist, the smooth side lights up. A screen appears in the air. The screen is half a foot wide and a few inches tall. On it is a map with a red line leading the way to the designated location. Veyra does the same, hers wrapping around her fur. Her strap is a little different, made of cloth instead of leather. It uses buttons to close instead of a buckle like Lorics.

“Looks like we’re on the same team,” Veyra says after taking a peek at Loric’s device. The words Team 1 are displayed on top of both their maps.

“Let’s go see who else is, too,” Loric says before walking toward their destination.