Saving the World Before Midterms

Part 2

We arrived in a wide conference room, looking as if we had traveled to a different world. It was an underground cavern, but the floor was covered with thick red carpets, the walls decorated with banners from different magical races. The whole area was well lit, from a combination of brightly glowing roots that penetrated the ceiling, as well as floating fairy lamps, exuding multicolored lights from the irritated flying creatures within the glass. Noah looked around with an amazed expression, while I glanced around with a tired sigh, before turning my attention to the textbook in front of me.

"The Hero, has arrived!" The wizard loudly announced our arrival, causing the crowd within to turn towards us. The room was filled with people, both human and other types of magical creatures. Centaurs, fairies, elves, talking wolves, dwarves... every type imaginable, the sheer number making the large cave seem small.

L'Thienne, the elven queen, stepped forward to welcome us. Her mouth opened to give a traditional greeting, but she froze as her eyes met mine. Seeing her about to ask questions I didn't want to answer, I shook my head with a vicious glare. Recovering her composure, she turned back towards Noah with a slightly uncertain expression.

"W-welcome, Hero. We've long been anticipating your arrival."

"Thanks! I'm Noah!" My friend extended his hand, but the elven queen didn't reciprocate. I elbowed him gently.

"Elves don't like touching each other, it's considered a very intimate action."

He dropped his hand. "Oh, thanks."

"No problem." I turned back to my textbook, trying to review the material for next week's test before things got too busy.

The wizard hadn't noticed the exchange. "Pardon us, Queen L'Thienne, the hero has just arrived, and is unaware of the different magical cultures. He will be undergoing training in the next few weeks as we prepare to confront the Dark Lord."

"Wait!" I held up my hand. "When is the battle with the Dark Lord?"

The wizard sighed. "It's in a few weeks. I've wasted too much time looking for the Prophesied One, and now we have so little time to prepare."

"Can we push it back a week?"

His brows furrowed. "No. In two weeks the Dark Lord will attack with his army."

"What about if we do it a week earlier?"

"What is wrong with you?!" The wizard threw up his hands in frustration.

"We have a science test in two weeks. I can't miss it."

Noah cleared his throat. "Maybe you didn't understand, but this is the fate of the world, we're talking about. I'm sure they'll give us an extension on the test."

"You obviously don't know Ms. Grentson. She'll definitely fail us, end of the world or no." Looking back and forth between them and seeing no response, I groaned, mourning my GPA. "Let's get this training over with."

We were taken back to a large series of rooms, where we were forced to sit in on lectures regarding magical history and foreign languages to allow us to communicate with our magical allies.

Noah sat on the edge of his seat, listening to every word, but I spent my time reading my textbook, ignoring my surroundings. Our first teacher, one of the elvish generals, didn't take too well to this.

"Disrespectful human!" He spat out in the elvish tongue. "You know nothing, and yet don't listen when others try to teach!"

I didn't look up from my notes on methyl acetate, simply responding: