– How should I know? – I lied with a senseless smile. – They haven’t taught us magic yet!
He’ll get used to it. People adapt to everything. He’ll walk around like this for a week or two and then accept it. The heavy toll of a bell echoed through the school. Time to get up. And what’s on the schedule today? They handed out those sheets yesterday, didn’t they… Ah, here they are! So, two classes of sorcery, magic theory, maganalysis, and an introduction to pharmaceutical alchemy. Not bad, I can live with that. I’ll also get to meet the sorcery professor.
The dining hall was shrouded in a thick silence. It seemed as if all the students were under a spell of sleepiness. What a feeble young generation, ashamed after just one night of revelry and drinking. They even discussed my new friend’s hairstyle with half-hearted enthusiasm. Pity, I had put effort into that.
What’s for breakfast? Pancakes and tea? That’s what I like. Especially with sour cream. But where is it? No sour cream? This is a mockery!
– Good morning! – Asya joined us.
She really is pretty. I wonder, is she already eighteen?
– What’s up with you? – the girl eyed her brother’s hairstyle suspiciously. – Have you gone mad?
– Leave me alone, – grumbled Zheka, devouring the pancakes. And I should take his example, considering the first class was starting in just a few minutes, and I really didn’t want to be late for the suspicious professor.
The sorcery professor’s office was, to put it mildly, unusual. Oak shelves lined the walls, filled with stuffed animals, inexplicable powders, and preserved organs of magical creatures. Although the heart on the top shelf looked suspiciously human… And the label on the jar, “cor humanum,” translates from Latin as “human heart.” Who is this guy?!
– Take your seats! – bellowed a voice from the teacher’s desk.
How did he get there? Did I not notice his arrival? Impossible! Judging by my classmates’ bewildered faces, they hadn’t seen him either. Some sort of mystique. Or magic?
– My name is Altair Ivanovich. Today’s topic is gravity-defying charms, or simply put, levitation. The levitation spell is one of the simplest in your curriculum. I will draw the weaving on the board; you just need to memorize it, visualize it, and fill it with power using your staff. Direct the weaving at something from your stationery. You probably don’t have the strength for anything more.
Altair Ivanovich? Is he joking? And what is he drawing? Why is the weaving enclosed in a circle? These aren’t levitation charms. Or… Wait. I’ve seen this before. That’s upper astral magic! Nobody has used it for thousands of years!
A soft pop sounded to my right, and the neighboring desk turned to dust. That’s why these charms were discontinued. The slightest mistake in weaving turns them into something destructive and deadly.
– Nothing serious. You’re just learning, – the teacher commented calmly. However, the tension in the classroom noticeably increased.
By the end of the class, only one desk remained intact – mine. I successfully pretended that I couldn’t do it, and Zheka was too upset with his mohawk to try anything. Better that way.
– Alright! – clapped Altair Ivanovich, clearly amused. – There’s nowhere left to write, so you’re all dismissed. See you on Friday!
Great. Just hope no one decides to practice in the common lounge. At this rate, there’ll be no furniture left.
– Vsevolod, I’d like you to stay behind!
Is he talking to me? What does he want from me? Interesting. I returned to my seat and patiently waited for my classmates to leave the gloomy auditorium.
– Ah, greetings, Guardian! – the sorcerer cheerfully announced – And what have you forgotten in our alma mater?
This was troubling. Exposed on my second day? What kind of Guardian does that make me? Yet, the worst part was still not knowing what to expect from this peculiar individual.
– Whom do I have the honor? – I inquired, carefully concealing my own curiosity.
– Oh, you haven’t figured it out yet! Well…
Oh dear, seems like I shouldn’t have asked. The professor’s eyes yellowed, teeth growing rapidly, and his already large nose started to resemble a medium-sized squash, his skin turning scaly and blackened. A sight no one would wish to see. But then it all became clear. A dragon. An ancient dragon in human disguise. How could I have not realized? And what was this oversized lizard doing in our world?
– Our world is closed to dragons, – I calmly stated – In the name of the Guardian, I command you to return beyond the veil.
– Make me! – the sorcerer laughed with a roaring chuckle.
I despise dragons. Wise, nearly immortal, incredibly powerful, yet they act like children! Well, time to show my true power. Grasping my staff firmly, I threw a portal spell without looking. In the middle of the wall, where the blackboard once was, a shapeless black spot appeared, shimmering like gasoline in the sun. The thin fabric of our reality tore open, paving a way to the spirit world.
Now, just a small matter of pushing the mighty dragon into the portal. What is he doing, by the way? Ah yes, spells of the upper astral – a dragon’s favorite magic. In the next moment, my desk burst into flames, turning to ash. A pity, I had taken such good care of it.
The next weaving seemed intended for me. Falling to the floor, I let the lethal spell pass over my head. One of the shelves melted into the ground as a murky green sludge. Hmm… I wouldn’t want to be in its place.
Rolling to the side, I quickly sprang to my feet and raised the most powerful of my protective weavings – a dome of shadows. The entire space around me was cloaked in a dark, semi-transparent smoke. Timely, as several of the dragon’s spells shattered against the shield, showering me with bright sparks.
The situation became a stalemate. The sorcerer couldn’t break through the dome of shadows, and I couldn’t attack, as I was spending all my energy maintaining the shield.
– Why are you here? – growled the dragon, momentarily ceasing to hurl combat charms at me.
– Ley lines have shifted, the tension point is above the academy. I’m investigating the causes, – I replied truthfully, dragons have a keen sense for lies – And what are you doing here?
– You came to expel me? – the teacher expressed genuine surprise – I’m actually working here! Kazimir and I are old friends, he asked me to substitute as the sorcerer this year. She’s on maternity leave. And I don’t want to go back to the spirit world, I’ve only got three years left until retirement!
A dragon nearing retirement? That was new. But I still needed to get out. I couldn’t hold this shield forever. Well, I could, but I didn’t want to.
– I propose a truce! – I shouted – You help me with my investigation, and I’ll cover for you with the other Guardians!
The sorcerer pondered. For a long time. He seemed quite keen on killing me. Dragons don’t like Guardians. But it’s not our fault! Protecting the world from intelligent magical beings – that’s our job!
– Alright… – the professor grumbled – We shall aid each other. Without my knowledge, you’d hardly cope.
***
The old castle was enveloped in a sleepy silence. Students were catching up on sleep after the first day of classes. Even my restless roommate had dozed off, allowing me to slip out unnoticed and visit my new ally – the dragon in human guise.
– Why do you think the ley line shift is connected to our academy? – the sorcerer posed a logical question.
We had been intently studying the map of magical currents for several tens of minutes, locked away in his gloomy office. The lines on the map glowed, shimmered, and twitched, entangling the earth in an asymmetric web.
– At this point, the country’s two largest magical arteries converge, – I pointed at the intersection of thick silver lines. – And it’s precisely where the academy is located.
– Magical educational institutions are always built near a power flow, to make it easier for students to sense the movement of magic, – the professor calmly retorted. – I see nothing unusual.
– But what if someone is deliberately drawing energy here? – I couldn’t let it go. – I have a gut feeling something’s amiss. Are there any strong mages in the academy?
– You and I, – the dragon smirked. – The rest are mediocre, nothing remarkable.
– But this can’t be a mere coincidence. Magical currents have never changed. Not once in history have the ley lines altered their position.
Frustration began to build in me. Not understanding the situation was driving me mad.
– In that, you are correct, – the teacher unexpectedly agreed with me. – Lines of force are constants in this world. Like the speed of light in a vacuum, the value of elementary charge, and Planck’s constant. They shouldn’t change.
