Ajana found herself standing in the middle of a blue ice cave that simply took her breath away.
All around her she could see beautiful blue ice that reminded her of a lot of small waves caught in the act of trying to reach the shore and frozen in time and space, for an eternity.
At first, the only lights in the cave were coming from the soft blue glow that held the cave's wall in its firm embrace, but soon enough the magical lights started appearing.
Precious gems seemed to be spread all around the cave but upon close expectation, Ajana realized that those weren't gems dangling from above her head, they were the most beautiful lights she had ever seen.
The feeling that overwhelmed her was one of both power and loneliness because she was in that vast space of wonders, but she couldn't see or hear any other students.
When she first entered the cave she could feel a freezing blast of cold, but only after a few seconds the spell they had on that place started working, and she was all warm and fuzzy while standing in what must have been the coldest place ever.
She was literally surrounded by ice and coldness.
It was breathtaking and something that she thought everyone should see at least once in their lives, but she was also scared.
However, it was scary to be at a place of such an intense, raw power knowing how defenseless you would be if anything bad were to happen.
Ajana thought that wasn't true for everyone but it sure was true for her.
As the bright green glow of the small, twinkling lights started increasing, she started seeing them all over the cave, dozens of stars spilled all over the magical cave.
The fact that the mirror-like blue walls of the caves reflected light made the sight otherworldly and something that Ajana had never even dreamed of.
Before she had time to either get overwhelmed by the beauty of it all or to get terrified by the surrounding vastness, she could see shimmering shapes of people and things appearing all around her.
As Ajana tried to focus her attention, she could see one shape materializing more quickly than the others and it was a shape of a woman wearing a long black gown and a pointed hat.
When she finally made a full appearance, Ajana could see the woman's red hair billowing behind her as if she had just come from a windy place and her hair could still feel the gentle hand of the wind in it.
The woman's face was adorned with a beautiful, heartwarming smile that left Ajana reassured that everything was as it should be, after all, she was in presence of someone who was just like her.
Well, the woman was obviously much more powerful, but still, they were both witches, the fact of which the woman seemed to be very proud.
There was a certain power, confidence, in the woman's posture that Ajana could only wish she possessed.
It was as if the woman was so sure of herself, her powers, that she could afford to always be happy and positive without having to worry about smaller or bigger life problems.
Beside her, another shape started coming into definition but Ajana wasn't sure what it was.
It seemed as if it was just another human, but upon noticing a huge fox-like tail moving swiftly behind what she would call a man, she was no longer sure what he truly was.
He was very attractive but Ajana couldn't help but stare at his bushy tail while it swept up and down as if the gathering crowd of students was making him nervous.
When all the students and all the equipment had finally fully materialized, the witch stepped forward with the man following close behind.
It was obvious that she would be taking control of the class but no one had any idea why the man, or whatever magical creature he was, was there.
"Alright everyone, settle down." The witch said sternly but kindly.
As they all settled down in the nearby chairs which materialized with them, without in any way intruding the beautiful cave as if they were there but not actually there, the witch took control of the class.
"I am Ruby Fireborn, the last witch of the Scarletwound tribe. This here is my helper Abelard and together we will teach you Spellcasting.
I know what you are thinking. What does a troll have to do with spell casting?" Ruby said.
Ajana was relieved to finally know that the guy was a troll, it was much easier for her to adjust to new things and magical creatures if she could put a name to them.
"Actually Abelard and his people are very good at harvesting their magical abilities, and he will be here to show us the way of his people while I show you more traditional methods," Ruby said.
Although he was nothing like big ugly trolls Ajana had seen before in the movies back home she was still a bit skeptical about a troll teaching them magic.
To her, it never even occurred that trolls could do magic or that they would like to help.
"Now, since I know that many of you are very new to magic, especially spellcasting, today we will just go through some basics to give you time to get used to the idea of one day casting spells by yourselves," Ruby said.
Everyone sighed in relief upon hearing her words because none of them were ready to try their hands at casting the spells, well everyone except for Kieran who didn't seem to care either way.
"As you might know 'magic' has always been here in one way or another and in different worlds, it had been recognized in different ways and used for different purposes.
Some ancient cultures have used magic to control the elements and bend them to their will, but they achieved that by giving sacrifices and offerings.
These sacrifices can be said to be the earliest forms of spellcasting since the power obtained by giving thanks to Mother Nature has helped them with farming and the gathering of food.
Later on, some tribes started using wands and crystals for spellcasting as well as offering gifts of thanks for their powers.
Their focus was mainly on charms and trinkets or even dolls which could be carried around for the spells to be performed anywhere.
Only, later on, did they start using prayers or what you all commonly associate with spells these days." Ruby said.
While Ruby was talking Abelard kept shifting around, uncomfortable that everyone's gaze was directed in his general direction.
Ajana's focus kept shifting between paying attention to Ruby and Abelard's shifty behavior, and her own thoughts of inadequacy and fear.
What would happen to her if she didn't show any improvements in her magical abilities?
Would they send her back home?
What would that mean for the safety of her family?
Although Ruby's teaching was interesting and necessary for Ajana's future, she was unable to fully focus on it since she was too consumed in trying to figure out what her magic could be.
"As for the spells that we will be learning in our class, you have to have in mind what many magical creatures often forget, before every spell you have to purify yourself.
Cleanse yourself from any negative thoughts and doubts so that your body can be relaxed and your mind clear form everyday clutter we often deal with.
It is necessary to cleanse the space you will be performing a spell in as well and that is why our lessons will be held here, at the purest place I could find, the ice cave.
Since this cave is Abelard's home I will ask of you to strictly follow the rules and not make any unnecessary clutter." Ruby said.
"His home?" Ajana thought.
"It is definitely a very beautiful place but how can anyone live there? Isn't it freezing? Does he just sleep on the ground or does he have other rooms that we can't see?" Ajana thought.
She felt like she was being ridiculous for thinking about those mundane things when there were so many more important, bigger things happening all around her.
However, she couldn't help it, her brain kept getting lost in the sensual overflow and kept thinking about anything and everything that she didn't understand.
There were so many things she couldn't understand and a lot more that she could barely grasp so it was no wonder that she was having difficulties focusing on only one topic.
It was like that one time she was listening to a lecture about black holes, back home, and no matter how much she tried to grasp the enormity of it all, it still was impossible for her mind to fully integrate the information.
Being in Mag, faced with all those wonders, all her dreams in front of her, proved even more difficult to deal with.
Soon enough, the lecture was over with Ajana only managing to catch a few snippets of it, consumed as she was in her own thoughts.
After the class had ended, and she was back to the plain old hallway she noticed that Kieran was hurrying off down the hallway, but before he could leave Orla stopped him in his track.
When he tried to move around her she moved with him preventing his passage and it was clear to Ajana that trouble was brewing.