Eric had nothing else to do after the test, so he chose to return to his dorm.
But as soon as he opened the door, he found that the room was empty, save for Opal, who was standing in the middle of the room with her arms akimbo.
Eric slammed the door shut immediately and decided he was going to have a tour of the academy again. That look on Opal’s face was not forgiving, and he wasn’t ready to be whipped with a military belt again. Not after a bad day at the training grounds.
"What’s the deal with her anyway? What have I done to her in the short period we met? At this point, I gotta be careful the way I sleep. She might strangle me in my sleep," he spoke to himself.
"Oh, you think I’d do such a cowardly thing?" a voice responded behind him.
He shot his glance back and saw Opal smiling menacingly at him. She also seemed to be enjoying this.
"Oh bloody hell," Eric exclaimed as he rounded a corner and ran down a few classroom blocks, hoping to lose her on his trail.
He stopped by the window of a classroom building, hoping to be quiet and wide, but a session was going on in the building. A knight in shining blue armor and a red collar looked out from his post and waved him away with his large sword. He didn’t say a word, but Eric knew he wasn’t permitted to lurk around like that.
He whispered a "sorry" and burst out, scared he might run right into the daylight hunter girl.
"What a very fast way to have a tour of the academy. Oh look, that corner."
He branched the corner and leaned against the wall, resting his back against the smooth wall while trying hard to steady his breath
The area smelled funny, like someone was burning rubber on a pool of chlorine. He crinkled his nose, getting pretty uncomfortable in the corner he hid. He was just going to wait it out till he was sure his other dorm mates had arrived, then he wouldn’t be stuck in the room with only Opal.
His plans were resonating with him when he heard a soft chuckle behind him.
He cursed under his breath without turning. He knew he couldn’t run any longer; she’d finally caught up to him. That crazy little witch. With his back still turned, he said, "Easy. I’m not going to run, so don’t try to hurt me. But you have to tell me why you’ve been on my throat since I arrived. What did I even do, Opal?"
He was expecting a cold reply, or a smack of the belt, or even the edge of a sword against his back. Anything deadly or savage. But nothing prepared him for what he heard next.
It was a combination of different voices united in raucous laughter. They came from a group of male students who were also lurking at the far end of the corner. Eric never took notice of them. Now the confusing smell made sense to him, now that he knew where it came from.
Somehow, he wished it was Opal who was behind him with a sword to end him. This turn of events was crazy even for his crazy self. He knew he’d live to rue this day.
"Hey, check this one out. He’s running away from a girl. Did I hear Opal?"
The laugh grew worse with each passing moment.
"I’ve never seen a man sound like a whimpering runt."
"He looks like he’s running from an abusive girlfriend. ’Your love hurts, I can’t take it anymore.’"
Eric shut his eyes in embarrassment. He finally mustered the courage to face the boys, and when he did, he noticed that a lot of things stood different about them.
First, they wore red uniforms, a long red robe tightened on the waist by a smooth, beautiful belt with different colors. There were four boys. Two of them wore grey belts, while one wore blood red. The other wore blue. Eric guessed it had to do with ranks or something close to that.
But suddenly, the atmosphere around the boys changed. They were no longer laughing. The one who seemed to be the leader of the group, a tall, lanky boy with smooth, well-gelled blond hair, spoke first.
"How dare you set your filthy legs into the mages’ academy?"
"What? Mage?" Eric looked up at a very tall building, and only then did he realize he was indeed on the mages’ territory. He saw flying banners that inscribed words like "Griffin’s Dawn," and another that displayed "Order of Dragons." Another banner floated past with the inscription "Way of the Waters."
These were weird terms, different from what was expected of the swordsman’s academy, so he knew he had really crossed the line.
But he didn’t know anything about trespassing or crossing territories. He didn’t even know there was supposed to be a boundary between the two schools. Maybe there wasn’t even a rule about the boundaries and the boys were only just being territorial, which Eric felt was normal coming from a different class and group.
"Have you gone dumb?" a fat-faced boy stepped forward, gazing at him with half-closed eyes.
Eric gulped. "I didn’t know anything about territories and stuff. I promise I won’t set foot here again," he said, and turned to leave.
But his head hit a wall of... ice. The ground breaking up as the ice wall rose.There was some cool ability. He’d never witnessed ice magic.
"Are you trying to get away by just saying sorry now?" gel-head paced confidently toward him, playing with an ice sword which he formed right in front of Eric.
"A lowborn swordsman like you should really know his place. How dare an inferior being look down on us mages like that?"
Eric said nothing. He was supposed to feel fear of all things, but he found himself fascinated at how cool it’d be being the one who could summon an ice sword because of magical abilities.
At the same time, his eyes darted back and forth, looking for a quick way to escape from these maniacs. This was his first attempt invasion, and he knew that was why the gel-head boy was quick enough to form an ice wall to block his path. He knew he’d been cornered and was up against four magical bullies. He had no choice, but he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction they needed.
He glanced back at the ice wall, wondering if his "Killer Dash" skill would be able to shatter it to pieces.