From his room's window, Stan watched as the older students flew around on their broomsticks.
He was completely mesmerized, "You think we'll get to learn how to fly brooms soon?"
Kyle looked up from his book, "When Lillian was here, she learned how to fly quite early into her general magic class."
"Like, how early?" Stan inquired.
"Not sure," Kyle answered. "She never specified."
"I hope it's soon," Stan wished. "That was the main draw of Evandow for me. I just needed to experience that feeling of soaring through the air."
He faced Kyle, "Incidentally, what drew you to Evandow?"
"It wasn't anything at Evandow specifically, rather it was the world it was set in, Mahoroth. I was so enthralled by all the things Lillian had told me about it that I had to see it for myself," Kyle explained.
"Makes sense," Stan agreed. "Places are usually better when experienced firsthand. That was the case when I moved to Scotland. It was vastly different from what I had been told about it. It wasn't as glamorous, but it wasn't terrible either."
Kyle closed his book, "In any case, we should grab some breakfast."
He woke up Sly, who was sleeping next to him, and they headed down to the dining hall. After eating, they made their way to their general magic class only to be greeted by a note on the door that told them to meet Garrith outside.
Stan's excitement grew, "You think we'll be learning how to fly brooms today?"
"We'll have to see," Kyle responded.
As they made their way outside, Stan asked Kyle if he thought his magic would act up again, much to his chagrin.
"I would rather not acknowledge it," Kyle grumbled.
"Why not?" Sly asked. "According to that Astrella chick, it's an impressive feat. Besides, it's what healed my injuries."
"I'm aware of that, but I hate having people harassing me over it," Kyle lamented. "I just want to leave it be."
Stan put his arms behind his head, "Hey, if that's what you want, we won't talk about it, right, Sly?"
Sly yipped and nodded his head.
The students found Garrith on the right side of the school where he handed a broom to each of them. He instructed them to stand in a row and stood in front of them.
"Good morning, everyone! As you can tell, you'll be learning about the art of broomstick flying today!" he told them. "Now watch carefully."
He put the broom between his legs and used the spell, Jetton. The broom began floating in the air as Garrith pulled it up. This resulted in his feet leaving the ground. Once airborne, he used Jetton again and the broom began moving. After pulling it up some more, he began steering it around the field and even performed a few tricks for the students below. He then flew down to the ground and used Jettoff to make the broom stop moving. Once he got his feet on solid ground, he used Jettoff again and made it clatter to the ground lifelessly.
"That's how you do it!" he exclaimed to the awe of the students.
He split the students up into small groups, which would go one at a time to practice flying. This was to give them more space and reduce the possibility of accidents occuring. Kyle was placed in the last group to practice flying, which was fine by him.
Stan was in the first group to go. He had little to no trouble getting the hang of it. He even attempted a loop trick. It was a bit clumsy, but it was a loop nonetheless. He waved to Kyle from the sky with a big grin on his face. Kyle waved back at him as Sly barked excitedly.
Both Marion and Katrielle were in the second to last group to go, much to the ire of the latter. Regardless, Katrielle still handled the broom with grace and skill. She even did some impressive tricks, which not only earned her the cheer from her peers, but Garrith's awe as well.
Katrielle smirked proudly, "This is what you get when you study!"
On the other end of the skill spectrum, Marion was having trouble properly steering her broom. Every time she turned, she always did it sharply. This sudden jerk freaked her out and made her lean forward. This in turn caused the broom to turn down and head down. Kyle noticed that she flicked her broom in order to turn as opposed to gradually turning it. Once she stopped herself from hitting the ground, Kyle asked her to turn off her broom for a sec.
"Um, when you turn, how about you try slowly turning the broom?" Kyle suggested.
Marion tried doing just as he suggested. To her surprise, it didn't result in any jerkiness.
"Wow, that totally works," Marion remarked. "Thanks!"
She took back to the skies and continued moving the broom like Kyle had shown her. She eventually got the hang of it and never had any more issues with control and was able to put in a good showing. Her group was called in and she returned to the ground without error.
"Still got a ways to go," Katrielle huffed.
It was time for Kyle's group to go. Kyle started by putting the broom between his legs. Nervously, he casted Jetton to make the broom start up. Once he moved it to where his feet were off the ground, he used Jetton again to make it start moving. Using his own advice, he had no trouble flying around on the broom. He was still anxious about everyone watching him, but he managed to overlook it and fly properly.
Garrith soon called them all in. Everyone headed down towards the ground as Kyle tried to do the same. However, the broom didn't move down. Kyle attempted to move it again, but it didn't budge. Sly, noticing he was having trouble, flew up to check on him.
"What's the matter?" Sly asked him.
"My broom is... stuck," Kyle responded.
All of a sudden, the broom tilted back on its own. Before Kyle could process what was going on, it started flying backwards into the woods. Frantically, he tried using Jettoff to stop it, but to no effect.
"Help!" Kyle cried in a meek yet panicked tone.
Sly gave chase to him as the two disappeared into the woods. Garrith yelled for someone to go grab the headmistress. In an instant, Stan dashed inside the school.
Kyle sat on the broom helplessly as it flew backwards. He turned his head back and noticed he was headed straight for a tree. He desperately hoped the broom would turn, but it didn't. It smacked dead into the tree. Kyle emitted a high pitch yelp from the impact.
To make matters worse, hitting the tree caused the broom to become lifeless. It fell to the ground with Kyle still clinging onto it. Quickly, Kyle pulled out his wand and casted a spell he remembered seeing from Lillian's book.
"Plarushar!" he commanded.
A big pillow appeared below him. Kyle let go of the dead broom and fell into the pillow. At that moment, Sly had caught up to him. He landed next to the pillow just as Kyle used the spell again to make the pillow disappear. It vanished in an instant, leaving him sitting on the ground.
Sly licked his face, "You alright?"
"Yeah, just spooked is all," Kyle assured him.
He looked beside him and saw the broom cracked in half.
Kyle picked it up, "I guess we'll be walking back."
"I could try carrying you back," Sly offered.
"That's alright," Kyle said, patting his head. "Besides, it's just a straight walk back there."
The two began to make their way back to the school. Just then, Sly sensed something and headbutted Kyle out of the way.
"Sly? What..." Kyle started.
His sentence was cut short by the sound of a large fireball hitting the ground behind where they were just standing.
"W-what was that?" Kyle stuttered, looking off to the side where the fireball came from.
On a large rock stood a girl with long, dark purple hair, a black masquerade mask with a butterfly wing shape on its right side and red lens in the eyeholes, and a black ball gown that had red glitter around the base of the dress. Kyle couldn't see her eyes, but he could tell she was looking at him menacingly.
"W-w-who are you?" Kyle asked, shaking in fear.
"Empress," she replied in a regal and supercilious tone. "That information is superfluous, though. It's more important that I acquire you as per order."
"A-acquire me?" Kyle asked nervously. "What do you mean by that?"
Empress didn't answer; instead, she launched another fireball at him. Kyle used Shieldara to protect him and Sly from the impact. Figuring he wouldn't last long doing this, he and Sly ran for it with Empress in hot pursuit.
The chase ended when she teleported in front of him and used a spell that zapped him with a bolt of lightning. Kyle launched back onto the ground as Empress zapped him again. She attempted to do it a third time, but Kyle shielded it.
Sly tried to attack her, but Empress zapped him in the middle of his pounce. Kyle cried out for him as he slammed into a tree, knocking him out. Empress took this opportunity to zap him again while he was distracted. By this point, Kyle had no strength in him to remain sitting and collapsed back on the ground. Empress stood over his body and attempted to cast the lightning spell again. However, she stopped as if a voice had told her not to.
Reconfiguring her plan, she used Bindlar on him. Rings surrounded Kyle's whole body and bounded him. They uprighted him in the air and floated him towards Empress, who snickered. Kyle yelled for Sly again, but he was still unconscious.
Fortunately, Kyle was still holding onto his wand. He gripped it tightly. He remembered this spell being brought up in Lillian's book where they talked about advanced spells. In it, they mentioned the only way to get rid of Bindlar was to use the spell, Doxalor, also an advanced spell. For once, he actually hoped his magic would act up as it was his only hope.
He took a deep breath.
"Doxalor!" he screamed in desperation.
Instantly, the binds broke and Kyle dropped to the ground in front of Empress.
"What a pity. It seems as if I overlooked something," she remarked in a miffed tone, not even seeming to acknowledge what he did.
She zapped Kyle again, causing his wand to fly out of his hand. She was just about to snatch it before she got pelted with an ice ball. She turned around and saw Meredith glaring at her. Empress had no reaction to this; she just stared coldly at her.
"If you want a fight, then I shall be your opponent!" Meredith challenged.
Empress didn't say anything and fled in a swarm of black butterflies. Meredith picked up Kyle's wand. Using Levitwar on him and Sly, she floated them back to the school ground. Once there, she used Healorso on them. Kyle slowly sat up and crawled over to Sly, who had regained consciousness. He gave him a few rubs before standing up. Meredith looked at him very displeased.
"There are going to be consequences for your actions," Meredith succinctly bellowed. "Come see me in my office right after supper."
"Y-yes, mam," Kyle sheepishly replied.
When the time came, Meredith was waiting for him in her office. She had quite an intimidating aura surrounding her.
"Kyle, I can't believe what you did today," Meredith harshly scolded. "Thankfully, I was able to rescue you before anything else happened, but this kind of behavior won't be tolerated. Understand?"
Kyle held his head low. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he didn't want to argue with the headmistress about it, not wanting to get into more trouble.
"This time will be a light punishment. You will stay in your room for the next two days after supper as well as give the school's pets their bi-monthly bath in the Oasis," she issued. "If you continue with this behavior, the punishments will increase and may result in termination. Am I clear?"
"Y-you are," Kyle quietly answered.
He left her office and met Sly outside.
"I was listening in," Sly told him. "Glad you got off a bit easy."
"Yeah..." Kyle softly sighed. "Anyway, let's get back to the dorm."
After changing into some casual clothes, Kyle along with Sly made their way to the Oasis, which was located right in the middle of the school.
The area that made up the Oasis was fairly large. It was a complete green space containing a wisteria trellis that led into a large flower garden, a brick house where the wolves lived, and a singular, large tree. There was no roof and was surrounded by balconies above that students could use to look down from.
Kyle didn't see them walking around, so figured they were inside. After hanging his robe on an empty hook, he knocked on the door before letting himself in. He was immediately greeted by a two headed wolf.
"Hey, are you Kyle?" Falcon asked excitedly. "Boy, it sure is great to finally meet you!"
He put out his head to gesture for a pat. Kyle recoiled a bit from the creature. Sly, standing next to him, just looked on bemused.
"Hang on a sec," Thoren told him.
The two surrounded themselves in a ball of light and emerged from it separated.
"Sorry if we scared you," Thoren apologized. "That was our combined form. It's a natural state for wolfbles like us. Being said, my brother and I much prefer our solo forms."
Falcon tried again for a pat on the head. This time, Kyle gave it without hesitation. Pretty soon, he was happily soughing.
"Gosh, you weren't kidding when you said he was good!" Falcon stated.
"You really think I'd lead you astray like that?" Thoren remarked, shaking his head. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to wash you guys as part of the punishment Meredith handed me," Kyle explained.
"Punishment?" Falcon asked.
"There was an incident during broomstick practice," Kyle replied. "The broom jetted backwards and dropped me in the woods. There, I had a run in with a girl named Empress."
"Empress...." Thoren mused. "Was she by any chance wearing a masquerade mask?"
"She was, why?"
"I saw her in the Oasis last night. I had woken out of my sleep and saw her through the window," Thoren told him. "I convinced myself I was just seeing things due to tiredness, but apparently I wasn't."
Kyle was off put by this. During his battle with Empress, she had said something about acquiring him. Now knowing she had visited the school the prior day made him nervous about her possibly coming to get him here.
Seeing as there was nothing he could do about her, Kyle dismissed the thought and escorted the wolfbles outside. He grabbed a scrub brush and pitcher from the wall and filled a large tub with water. Grabbing their special shampoo from the shelf, he dragged the tub over to where the wolfbles stood. He was just about to begin washing Falcon when he heard a voice.
"You let me handle Falcon there, dude."
Kyle turned around and saw Stan standing behind him wearing a pair of shorts and flip flops.
He blushed, "S-Stan?!"
The attire was nothing new for Stan, minus the flip flops, it was essentially his sleepwear. Kyle was just flummoxed to see him outside the dorm in it.
"I've come to help you, buddy!" Stan said, putting his hand on his shoulder.
"I appreciate it, but this is my punishment," Kyle politely protested.
"Yeah, but I should've been there to stand up for you," Stan countered. "It's only fair I burden some of it."
Kyle started to feel regret over the whole ordeal. He didn't want to burden Stan with his punishment, but seeing as he was adamant, let him take Falcon while he took Thoren. Kyle grabbed him another brush and pitcher and handed the items over to him. Sly laid over by the doors to the house and watched them.
The two began by lathering up the wolfbles with shampoo. Thoren had no reaction to Kyle's fingers scratching at his fur. Falcon, on the other hand, was rather ticklish.
"Ha, ha, ha! Could you hold it back a bit?" Falcon laughed.
Stan gave a mischievous smirk and scratched him even harder. Falcon could no longer stand it and began moving around. He wasn't watching where he was going and ended up knocking Stan right back into the tub.
"Gah!!!" Stan yelped, splashing into the water.
"Oops..." Falcon said.
He was trying to stifle a laugh as he looked at the dripping wet human.
Stan stood up and shook the water off his body.
"Guess I planned my outfit accordingly," he chuckled, making light of the situation.
Kyle, like Falcon, tried to resist laughing, but he couldn't help himself. He began to giggle uncontrollably as he looked at Stan. He did manage to regain his composure and continue on with his task.
In no time at all, the two finished washing the wolfbles down. The two sat down by the tree and watched Falcon and Sly chase each other around the Oasis. Right as Thoren came over and laid down behind the boys, Kyle decided to bring up something to Stan.
"So, uh, I noticed you like to take the blame for things," he remarked. "Have you always been like that?"
Stan sighed, "No, I haven't. It's something I picked up a few years ago. I'm not comfortable talking about it, but since you're my friend, it's only right you know."
Kyle was surprised to hear Stan refer to him as such. No one ever had called him that before.
"I had this uncle who I was very close to; he was almost like a second father to me in a way. One day, I walked over to his house to bring back a crockpot my mother borrowed. He... was experiencing a bit of heartburn when I came over. I didn't think too much of it as he took some antacid and felt better," Stan explained. "He had been having heartburn all that week, so I assumed he had eaten some fatty food. He did have a thing for chili dogs. I left his house thinking he'd be all right..."
Stan paused before continuing, "I woke up the next morning with my mother telling me he had taken a heart attack and passed away. It had happened during the night, but my parents didn't want to wake me up. I was a complete inconsolable mess. After attending his funeral, I reflected back on that day. I came to the realization that I should've told him to get it checked out; he would've done it for me. It was then I decided I should punish myself for not getting involved when I could have in order to force myself to be more on point."
"And thus you take the blame," Kyle concluded.
"Exactly," Stan answered. "I never want to repeat that experience again."
Kyle just quietly sat there, processing what Stan had dropped on him.
"So, anyway, what happened to you in the woods?" Stan asked, changing the subject. "You said you were attacked by a girl named Empress, but then you trailed off."
"Sorry about that. I was still trying to process her statement of trying to... acquire me," Kyle replied.
Stan turned his head, "Acquire you? Could it be because of your magical abilities?"
"I would say so. She didn't have any reaction to my performing the feat, so I suspect she knows what's up," Kyle reasoned.
He took a deep breath, "Which is kind of why I think I'll start looking into what I have. I don't want to, but if someone is after me for it, it's best to know what exactly I'm dealing with."
"True," Stan concurred. "And hey, if ever you're feeling stressed over it. I'll always be here to lend an ear."
Kyle put his hand on his chest.
"Hey, Stan?" he asked. "Do you really see me as a friend?"
"Of course!" Stan answered. "You see me as one?"
Kyle gave him a small smile, "Yeah, I do."
Not wanting to get in trouble for staying out late, Kyle decided to head back to his dorm. He called Sly over and the two exited the Oasis. Along the way, they heard some arguing going on in Meredith's office. The door was slightly ajar, so Kyle surreptitiously peeked in.
"You know I don't like to oppose you, but I don't agree with you punishing Kyle for what happened during today's class," Garrith protested.
"It's what I had to do!" Meredith retorted. "For all you know, he could have disappeared from us. I couldn't let that happen, not again..."
Garrith folded his arms, "I understand your reasoning, but what happened with Kyle wasn't something done out of stupidity. I'm convinced his broom was possessed."
"Possessed?" Meredith questioned, not exactly buying this.
"I was watching him the whole time he was flying. He didn't have any trouble or act out of order in any way," Garrith explained. "When it was time for everyone to come in, he tried to do as I requested, but the broom refused to do as he instructed. Considering it resulted in him getting attacked, I'm convinced that girl had something to do with it."
"You do have a point there," Meredith conceded. "After all, he has demonstrated above average magic for a first-year student from all I've been told."
"He was like his cousin in that regard," Garrith stated. "Perhaps there is some connection between the two?"
"Could be the Aura Moon," Meredith mused. "Of course, I'll have to consult with the astrology professors on the matter as I'm not familiar with the phenomenon."
She stood up, "Nonetheless, I still plan on following through with my punishment, but I will keep an extra eye on things going forward."
Having heard enough, Kyle continued making his way back to his dorm.