Ponyboy took a deep breath. His hand ghosted over the big, wooden doors of the office. He hesitated for a moment before pushing the doors open. As soon as he stepped in the room the headmaster's eyes shot up at him with wonder.
"I was wondering who breached into this world," he simply said, putting down a scroll. "Why are you back?"
"I probably wouldn't have come back if I didn't know what was happening. Our worlds are collapsing. At first, I thought that it was just a coincidence, but then broom flyers are falling like comets through the sky, helicopters are crashing; the sky is changing."
"And you managed to use this to your advantage and rip through the worlds," the headmaster mused, scratching his chin. "You came back stronger than you were before."
"The shadow, it's trying to destroy both of our worlds... and maybe even more. It showed me a vision once of what it plans on doing to the school."
"And that was?"
Ponyboy gulped, fiddling with his hands. He could still remember the scene vividly like he had just seen it a second ago. "Every student...every teacher...they were all on the ground, dead. The floor was covered in so much blood..."
"We need to stop it."
"I don't know where to start though."
The headmaster sighed, repositioning his glasses. "Mr. Curtis, you had shown extraordinary skill. You performed a very difficult spell getting here and managed to perform spells in your world where no magic exists, I presume?"
Ponyboy nodded. "I had."
"Our school can't lose talent like that. I hereby reenroll you in this school."
Ponyboy couldn't believe what he was hearing. His eyes were as wide as saucers, mouth agape. "Really?"
"Yes. You may resume your lessons here. I am also enrolling you in an advanced spell class that even final years usually can't take. You need to be at your best when we bring down the shadow. I am also getting you a tutor to help you catch up with all of the years. It'll be hard and you won't have much time for yourself, but it's for the best."
"Thank you, sir. I'll do try my hardest."
"I'm sure you will."
o-o-o
Ponyboy was swarmed by his friends when he exited the office. "What happened?" Soda asked impatiently.
"I'm back in the school," Ponyboy answered, a ridiculous smile on his face.
"That's amazing, Ponyboy!"
"And...I'm being put in the advanced spell class."
"Advanced? The class that less than 1% of the students could get in?" Steve asked.
"Not even Superman could get in that class," Two-Bit added, nudging Darry's side.
Darry rolled his eyes. "What about the shadow?"
"We're just supposed to wait."
"Wait while it's still out there?" Dally asked.
"It's all we could do now. We're just going to have to get stronger."
o-o-o
The advanced class was not at all what Ponyboy originally thought it was. The class only had about twelve students, including him. It was quiet. Each student had their nose stuck in books. They all sat on the ground in a circle, no furniture decorated the room. All of them glanced up for a second before returning to what they were doing before.
"Can I help you?" someone asked and Ponyboy spun around, facing a bony man.
"Um, I was just transferred to this class?"
"Oh, you must be Ponyboy Curtis. I was just informed of your arrival. Please, sit down. The lesson is about to begin." Ponyboy joined the circle of students, grabbing a playing card and a rock as they were passed around. "I want all of you to cut through the rock with the card... without using your voice."
"Performing a spell without speaking is impossible," a student complained.
"Not impossible. How do you suppose you can perform your type's magic without speaking? How do muted people perform magic? You need to learn how to do magic without the use of your voice in order to be stealthy, perform spells faster...etcetera. To make sure you do it..." The teacher did a series of hand movements. "Your voice won't return until you do it correctly."
The classroom was silent. It was probably because no noise was being released when they opened their mouths to protest. Ponyboy tried too, but no sound would come out. Seriously?
"You may begin. Remember, there are many ways to do anything. This is no different."
Ponyboy stared at the card in front of him. Obviously, he had to lift it using the levitation spell... but how was he going to run it through the rock? He knew that a card could stick itself in a wall at a certain velocity. Which means that he would have to move the card faster at a shorter distance. The boy scratched his head. The first thing he had to do was try to lift the card.
He carefully did the hand-movement for the spell, but, alas, nothing happened. He tried again and again, but it was as if a snuffler had defused his magic. Nothing was working. Nervously, Ponyboy looked around at the other students. None of them had moved their card either.
Just as Ponyboy thought that the card was never going to move, it twitched. It was a small movement, almost unnoticeable, but it was enough to raise his faltering hopes. It only got easier from then. Soon, he was able to lift the card a few inches off the ground, although it was shaky. He wasn't nearly strong enough to cut through the rock yet.
Soon, the end of the period came and Ponyboy had to shift into his next class. The lesson was neither useful nor important, so Ponyboy spent his time trying to lift the card under his desk. He was too exhausted to focus on the lesson anyways. At least with the card, he was fueled by determination. It felt like forever until lunch came rolling around.
"How's the advanced class going?" Soda asked when Ponyboy sat down looking dead. He slammed the rock and card on the table miserably.
"Oh, it's a rock hard class," Two-Bit joked. No one gave him any attention. Ponyboy banged his forehead against the table next to the rock.
"What's wrong?" Johnny asked. Ponyboy lifted his head and pointed to his throat and mouth.
"What is it?" Soda asked.
Annoyed, Ponyboy ripped out a paper from a notebook and scribbled in the words, 'The teacher took away my voice until I slice the rock with this card.'
"Finally," Steve snarked, smirking. Ponyboy rolled his eyes.
"You have to move the card without saying a spell?" Darry asked. Ponyboy nodded. "How are you managing with that?"
"Yeah, I heard that only teachers and the headmaster could do that," Dally added. Ponyboy looked at the other boy miserably. He raised his hand, conducting the spell. The card shakily lifted in the air before Ponyboy let it fall back down.
"That's amazing!" Soda cheered.
'I don't know how I'm going to be able to cut the rock,' Ponyboy wrote.
"Why don't you Just shape the card differently," Dally offered with a snarky tone. Ponyboy just stared at the card with a blank expression before he slapped his forehead. Why didn't he think about that?
Again, Ponyboy lifted the card with his magic and started to roll the card until it looked like a unicorn horn.
"Why didn't you just fold it with your hands?" Darry asked. "Use your head."
Ignoring the comment, Ponyboy raised the card, bringing it down as fast as he could. The new shape allowed the card to slice through the air. It impacted with the stone, splitting through it like a chisel. The gang was silent, letting what happened settle in.
"I did it?" Ponyboy asked himself, testing his voice.
"You did it!" Soda celebrated.
"Golly... I thought my voice was never going to come back."
"I'm sure, no matter what, your voice would come back," Johnny said tentatively.
o-o-o
The next time he was in the class, the class was reduced by half. The class already lacked students and the reduction made the room seem bigger than it actually was. Apparently, the missing students weren't able to break the rock yet. It was a shame because that day's lesson was interesting. The only big change in the room were a few nurses.
Combat magic.
Each student was facing another student. The hand motions were already taught. Now it was just time to see how well each student could perform the spell. The boy in front of him was calm, alomst emotionless... in comparison to Ponyboy who was timidly fidgeting with his hands, constantly shifting weights on both legs. Before he knew what was happening, the other boy was moving and a force hit Ponyboy that caused him to bite his tongue and get the breath knocked out of him. The floor left from under him and he was flying backward at a fast speed towards the wall. He didn't have enough time to react or register what happened before he crashed into the wall, cracking the surface. Fuck. He yelled out in pain as he fell to the floor. Even though all of the pain, he had to get up.
Ponyboy stood up slowly, grasping his stomach that felt like it had been sledgehammered. The boy started to do the hand movements again, and Ponyboy bit back the pain, moving his hands quickly. However, nothing happened when he finished. The spell didn't work. Ponyboy looked back up and saw that the other student just finished the spell. Panicking, Ponyboy leaped out of the path of impact right before the wall behind him crumbled. The force was stronger than the one that hit him. If Ponyboy didn't dodge, he would have probably been dead. Shit, shit, shit.
Ponyboy was running around, jumping out of the way of each blast. He kept trying to perform the spell, here and there, but it wasn't working. He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. With each spell cast at him, his opponent was growing stronger. He needed to act now.
Ponyboy stooped, performing the spell, hoping that it would work. A near-invisible force formed between his hands and he shot it forward, knocking the other student against the wall harshly. However, he didn't have time to celebrate on his small victory. The student was up on his feet before knew it, sending another wave at him, and again Ponyboy dodged, sending another blast at the student but missing the mark completely. However, after a few shots of performing the spell, his accuracy became precise, crashing the wall behind the student who dodged just in time.
The other boy was become irritable and started to move his hands in a way that wasn't taught in the lesson. Ponyboy was so transfixed in the boy's hands that he didn't hear his teacher call out or notice anything around him before his body was crashing to the ground. A student had pushed him. His body crashed to the ground, as the sound of ripping was heard.
When the other student removed his body from on top of his, Ponyboy looked up to identify what he had heard and swallowed the spit down his throat. When Ponyboy looked up, he followed the trail of eyes of other students towards a bookshelf against the wall. Well, was against the wall. It was split in half, a clean line on the areas where the two halves touched as if someone took the time to sand down the edges.
"What was that?!" the teacher screamed at the boy he was against who looked so out of it like his soul was reaped from his body. "You weren't supposed to use that combat spell. İt could have killed someone! If this happens again, I will send you to the headmaster."
Ponyboy wanted to snort. It wasn't as if his other spells could have killed him.
"Is everyone alright?" the teacher asked. Everyone in the room nodded. "Well, since we still have class time, we'll put this lesson on pause and move on to another."
The teacher motioned everyone to sit down, going in front of the room to start a lecture. "We'll learn more about your types. Each type has certain types of spells that they are proficient in. For example, Ponyboy, we'll use you for an example. What type are you?"
"A psychic type."
"A psychic type is good at divination type of magic, which wouldn't be good on fast combat. However, they are proficient in illusion magic since psychic types magic has access to the brain."
"But, illusions are useless in fast combat," a student piped.
"On the contrary, illusions are terrifying to face in combat. You see, although illusions can't physically cause harm, it can mentally or drive your opponent to act a certain way. In addition to his psychic abilities, Ponyboy is able to read minds and watch the opponent's memories in a nanosecond. They can see what you love and what you fear. I have seen many of my dear friends fall at the hands-on illusions this way. They were exposed to their deepest fears, literally scaring them to death. Some of them who survived were never the same again."
Ponyboy gulped. He could literally kill someone with his type that he thought was only a nuisance. He didn't know if he should be excited or scared of his power.
"Unfortunately," the teacher continued. "I cannot help you since I am of a different type than you all. I do not know how each of your types works exactly. So, you will have to find out how to use your ability yourself. I can only tell you what direction you need to shoot for."
After that, the class dispersed around the room. Ponyboy sat down against a wall. How was he supposed to start? Illusions are just images... so to start...maybe he needed to put his creative side to good use. He closed his eyes, raising up his hands that were shaped like he was about to splash water on his face. Ponyboy wanted to start out simple. An insect maybe? Although that would be simple, even Ponyboy didn't want to hold a bug...A butterfly should suffice. He tried to image the small, fluttery bug, but it was harder than he thought it was going to be. The image kept appearing clouded.
It took forever until Ponyboy formed a picture that he wanted. Now it was time to implement it. He opened his eyes and focused on the butterfly's image forming in his hands. Ponyboy shut his cupped hands before opening them again. A butterfly flew out, wings glowing like the sun was shining through its stained-glass-like wings.
"Very good!" the teacher's voice boomed, startling Ponyboy. The butterfly dispersed. "You need to be able to do that faster, like second nature. You put too much effort into creating the butterfly."
"Yes, sir..."
The teacher walked off and Ponyboy sighed. Time to start all over again.