Ice Storm

Everyone stepped to the side as Melody walked down the academy's hall, her magic pulsed in time with her rapidly beating heart. With each step she left behind foot steps of ice. One student walked out in front of her and she growled at him the warm autumn air suddenly got cooler. "Out. Of. My. Way fool." The boy yelped as if he was struck by her magic and ran off.

"Watch out Melody is in a really bad mood today," someone whispered to another student. "Did you not know the crown prince called off the engagement. Decided to-" The student bit her lip when Melody turned to face her. Ice began to crust the walls at the mention of the annulment of her engagement. Her and the crown prince where forced into an engagement by her family and the king.

The engagement was purely political and she didn't really care too much about it, but to lose it to her. That bitch of an elder sister Lyra, just infuriated her to no end. Lyra may be a genius in the field of magic, but it wasn't right for her parents to give her what she wanted when Melody had to fight and scratch for everything she had.

In the classroom, Melody saw her friends and sat next to them. They immediately surrounded her giving her hugs and well wishes. "Mel, how are you holding up?" Kelly, her closest friend, said stroking her hair.

"I'm fine Kel. I just wish it hadn't happened this way." She said wiping away a fake tear not wanting her friends to see her anger. The girls fawned over her as she wiped away the magic tear drop she conjured. A simple trick she learned how to do during her magic training.

"Still, why did Lyla do that? I know she can be a bitch sometimes, but still." Another girl - Jill - chimed in tossing her hair to the side. "I get it, she has that body, perfect breasts, and hips, but that doesn't mean..."

Another girl silenced Jill before she could continue. Melody looked down at her slender frame, the same frame she had since she joined the academy. Even though she was almost twenty, her chest and figure was like that of a preteen. Flat and slender, but her magic was on par with some of the greatest sorcerers around.

"Still-" Kelly started trying to steer the conversation back into safer waters. She dipped her head as the honor student walked in. His robe in tatters and carrying a second hand magic tome under his arm. "The HONORS student his here... Again, I though the teachers ran him off last semester."

Turning her attention the the mage walking into the class in piss pour attire, Melody snorted at him. "Gods, he looks worse now than last year." A student stuck out his leg and tripped Calian as he moved past his desk.

Stumbling for a moment, Calian regained his balance before taking his place at the front of the class. The girls snickered at him as he sat down and opened up the tome. "How does the academy put up with him?" Jill mouthed off as the others nodded in agreement.

"He's a commoner, he shouldn't be here." Another girl whispered as they huddled close together looking at the honor student.

Deciding she'll have a bit of fun with him to get rid of her frustration towards her sister. Melody decided to stand up and walk towards Calian. Her magic pulsed as the air cooled around her. A wicked smile made its way across her face.

Snatching the book from his hand, Melody froze the book shut and slammed it down on the desk. "Well well, look who's back for another semester." She smiled as she moved closer to him.

Calian's hood was up over his head covering his face from sight. It was another one of the annoying things about him - always hiding his face. She curled her lips as he reached for the tome and slowly thawed the ice surrounding it. "Look at that! The commoner isn't even looking at Melody." Someone called out from the back of the classroom.

Pushing her hand down, she refroze the tome, keeping it sealed off from him. "I'm talking to you commoner." Melody said her voice lacking that honey sweetness she usually talked with. "You will look at your betters."

Stopping his attempts to thaw the tome, Calian didn't look up, his hands sit pressed against the frozen tome. With a sigh through his nose, he started thawing the tome again, not bothering to look or acknowledge that Melody was looking at him. Frustration with his indifference towards her. Melody applied more magic to the frozen tome until it started cracking.

Shielding his face, the tome exploded in front of him. Melody smiled and the class exploded into laughter. Walking back to her seat next to her friends, satisfied that she made someone else's day miserable. The girls started patting her back and giggling like she just conquered some impossible task.

Smirking as she watched him wipe away the shards of the shattered tome, she felt empowered as she watched the professor enter the room.

After classes let out, Melody bit her lip as she checked the magical clock on the wall. She groaned as Kelly droned on and on about one of the noble boys that had caught her attention. "I wonder if he'll ask me out for the fall dance." She swung her hips with a little extra effort, making boys turn their heads.

"I hear he's got an eye on that silly little freshman," Jill answered tossing her hair over her shoulder. Melody rolled her eyes as they walked, biting her lip as they passed the next clock. She was almost out of time.

"What do you think Mel?" Kelly asked looking back at her friend, distracted by the passing time.

"Oh, don't mind her. She wants to go see her mystery man," Jill chimed in folding her hands behind her back getting in front of Melody. "He's the reason she's not tearing the walls down to the academy."

"Jill," her voice coming out more shrill as she looked between her and Kelly. "It's not like that."

The girls giggled amongst themselves, moving closer, keeping her rooted in place. "Have you figured out who he is?" Kelly asked biting her lip, ready for the latest bit of gossip.

"No. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you, Kelly. You'll just try and steal him from me." She folded her arms, taking a defensive stance against her friends. She watched as Kelly opened her mouth, Melody pushed past her rushing past the gossipers.

She rushed out past the gates, her robe bellowing behind her in the wind as she moved towards the lake. He never used the practice field. He was always there, hidden from view as he practiced his spells. She had found him at the start of her first year.

She squatted low in the bushes and she saw him, shirtless as always. His muscles rippled as he stretched his arms out. His feet shoulder width apart. She watched him exhale as he focused on the small wooden ship rocking on the waters over two hundred feet out. He had moved to smaller and smaller targets over the last few months.

His left hand stretched out towards the water, his palm down to the ground. Another exhale as she watched him. His arm bent towards him, his fingers flexed out, and pinched close together like he was grabbing something. The air crackled with magic and the air smelt of burnt ozone as lighting danced between his out stretched hand and the one gripping the lighting at the end.

The lighting danced and swirled in his grasp as he focused on the small target. The air around him began to simmer as the lighting grew more and more intense, as bits of it danced scorching the ground around him. He released his grip on the lighting.

A long streak of light raced across the water, disappearing as it passed over the small boat. Covering her ears, she squealed as she heard the boom. The water split open as the thunder crashed down the firing range where the light had raced. She saw the boat in the air, or the pieces of it that remained as it fell back down into the steaming water.

A long sigh escaped from her lips as Melody fanned her face with her hand. She watched as he spun around and picked up another small ship. It was no bigger than a small dog as he placed the boat into the water and used a bit of wind magic to push it out into the water. Walking away from the edge of the water, he swung his arms back and forth easing the tension in his arms. She didn't know what kind of strain lighting magic put on the body, but it had to be intense.

Hands on his thighs, he did several squats as he watched the small boat heading towards the center of the lake. Doing one last squat, his hands touched the ground and he launched himself into the air. Lighting crackled from his body as he reached out with his right hand, gripping something in the air. Lighting circled his hand in a vortex of magic and power.

Covering her ears again, she watched as the magic left his hand and flowed down through the boat in the water. The explosion was intense, the concussion blast knocked Melody back on to the ground. A large column of water and steam shot into the air. She watched as the mystery mage floated back down, landing gently on the ground. Her heart pounding in her chest, she watched as he shook his head. Water sprayed from his dark hair as he walked away, disappearing into the steam.