Serenity Academy

Chapter Eighteen: Absorption

"Naturally your body wants more mana when it has less, making it easier to absorb. So today you will practice absorbing." A sly smile came on her face, the kind she had right before she forcefully canceled Isen's magic. Pulling up both hands they started to glow a brilliant red, with a wicked smile she slammed them down into the ground. A red shock wave rippled out hitting them all pushing their chairs back a few feet.

Instantly Kyroth felt it, all of his mana was ripped from his body. It was painful as it was forced out of his body, looking around he could see that the others were also feeling the same thing. "Two lessons in one." She stated with a little laugh as she walked forward a little bit. "As I showed you before, you can force people to lose access to mana and now you have seen that spells can remove all of your mana. This one is a rather high level spell, most Seventh Sharders are not even able to cast it. Most of the mana disrupting spells are touch based.  Not to mention it only took all of your mana because your base maximum is low." 

Some grumbling could be heard from a few of them as they scooted back to there desk, discomfort on their faces. "So now we will begin, your goal is in the next hour to absorb the mana in the area to fully recharge. Be aware that the mana in this room is limited and so it will not be as easy as you would think." She smiled again sitting behind her desk and pulling out a book.

Peaking from her book a few times, Kyroth swore he saw Assera's eyes glowing just a bit before she glanced back down. Shrugging he went to the window and sat on the sill looking out the window for a minute. Most of the students had chosen to spread out, figuring that the mana in the room would be fought over if near each other.  

Closing his eyes he leaned against the window, it was cold to the touch at first. Reaching out with his senses he felt the mana around the room. He could feel it swirling around a bit as it was being drawn into the other students. However what he could feel the most was the mana outside of the window, it was green and vibrant pushing up against the window. Drawing on that he felt the difficulty of pulling it through the glass, slowly though it slipped through the cracks in the edges and started to seep into Kyroth.

Assera looked up from her book smiling as she saw the mana gathering through the window into Kyroth. Not all of it was being absorbed flowing past him and into the room, mixing with the arcane mana in the room. The wind mana would be harder for the rest to absorb but it would still allow more mana inside the room.

The hour passed with everyone focused and trying to absorb as much as they could. Assera stood up and clapped her hands, "Everyone to your seats." She stated enthusiastically, one by one they found there seats sitting attentively. "You all did marvelously." Her eyes started to glow again. Inspecting them all she nodded approvingly to all of them.

"You have all exceeded expectations, almost all of you got a third of your mana back some all of it. I am glad, because I have an announcement. Each and everyone of you will now be taking a field trip. Today you are assigned your elemental adviser's and they will be taking you on a week long trip into your elemental region." Taking a stack of envelopes she started to hand them out, each had the recipients names written on them.

Kyroth's names was written in green ink in very fancy lettering. Picking it up it weighed more then he expected.  Inspecting the back of it, a green seal with a symbol he did not recognize was in the middle of it. Assera found her way back in front of Nivora and leaned on her desk, "Each of you will need to open that envelope and then follow its instructions. Each one of your teachers were picked to compliment you well. By the end of the day you guys will be outside of the Academies protective barrier." She stated excitedly.

"First, I need you all to bring up your Emblems, I will have to cast a spell that will grant you acess to the elemental areas for a week.  After a full week you will no longer be able to move freely between the barrier.  If you somehow get trapped on the elemental region you will have to wait for a high level teacher to come and get you.  Very few people are allowed to grant access to the barriers."  Assera stated as the students all gathered pulling out there emblem and holding them out.  

Pulling out a rod she twisted a nob on it, setting it to one week.  Pushing mana into it the tip started to glow.  Touching each of the emblems with the tip the shard on it glowed and then dulled, Kyroth could feel magic pulse through the emblem through his hand.  "There you go, now you have access for a week."  

Everyone left with smiles on their faces, some even ripping open their envelopes immediately scanning the letters. Slipping his own into his pocket Kyroth waved bye to Syn whispering encouraging words and left. The urge to open it was great but he held back wanting to wait until he got back to his room. Weaving through the halls he finally made his way back closing his door behind him.

Opening the envelope he took out the note and started reading it. In it his new teacher told him to pack his weapons and nothing else. Shrugging he slipped his sword belt on and slung his bow and quiver onto his shoulder. Snatching the letter back up he finished it, "The roof?" Kyroth muttered to himself as the instructions were for him to meet on the roof of the main academy. Slipping the note into his pocket he pulled out his map and spoke, "Roof of the academy." Sure enough the line appeared leading through the Academy.

Making his way through the building he stopped at the cafeteria to grab a quick bite to eat, the note had stated to meet a little after lunch. None of the others were there, he assumed they were preparing for their trips. Eating a big plate of pasta with some rich white sauce as quickly as he could. Once done he followed the map, weaving in and out of the halls taking random staircases up and then crossing the academy to rise up another floor. "I think you are toying with me map." He hissed making it to the final staircase.

The staircase was simple but spiraled up leading into the ceiling. Following it up he rose into darkness before his head hit metal. Growling he reached around finding a handle and throwing the hatch open. Fresh air rushed through ruffling his jacket, the light almost blinding him. Pulling himself onto the roof he gasped, seeing everything from so high up was breathtaking. He could see the varying colors of the regions around the castle from this angle, the red of the fire area standing out.