?.?.? POV
The rumors spread like crazy that Raife tried to kidnap, take the magick of, then kill Dakota and Atlas. Now Professor Swan is the new Dean despite having no leg which was severed by Raife's blood magick. Apparently he completely had the twins in his grasp for the taking but the lucky touching of their two hands caused his machine to be overwhelmed with magick and malfunction. All is well; no casualties for the good guys and Dakota was named top of our class. Sounds like I'm a close friend of their inner circle right? Not at all, I'm simply watching diligently and have been since the day I saw a brunette girl my age crawl out of water instead of emerging out of the Hall of Mirrors. So who am I? A nobody with minimal secrets and an unrelenting desire to beware of others instead of myself, perhaps this is why I can't simply forget about Dakota, Atlas, Shreya, Beckett, Zeph, Griffin, and Aster. Now we are in our second year but despite being up to date with everything they're up to, I cannot go up to them and start a conversation. Shreya once complimented my outfit even thought it was a backhanded compliment... my response? 'Thanks' as if that was going to spark anything. Will it sound weird when they find out I have practically been spying on them for an entire year? I could not help myself, I saw Dakota emerge from the water, I saw Atlas sneaking around campus, and most importantly I saw them ditching the dance for what turned out to be the battle with Raife. It was always those situations where I wanted to make myself available in case they needed help but they never did. Someone else was always there to assist, leaving me stuck in the shadows. I never was good at making friends when I was little or even now so for this upcoming year it would take another catastrophe in order for me to finally do something about my anti-social nature.
Third Person, Penderghast College
"I'm so glad at least one of you showed up; although you are very late and classes start tomorrow." The RA says with a menacing tone, "However, the good news is that you drew the short stick which is really the best stick out of the bunch, didn't you Lance?" Her tone does a one-eighty, as she smiles and gives Lance the surprising news, "Your dorm is officially all to yourself."
"How is that possible?" Lance glances around expecting to be pranked at any moment, "What happened to my roommate?"
"It seems that she transferred but we can fix that if you prefer to have a roommate-!"
"No!" Lance shouts but quickly grimaces, "Sorry for the shouting but no, it's ok... I got lucky I suppose. She was very bubbly and would always try to get me involved in whatever she was doing."
"That's so sweet, if only she stuck around maybe we could've seen a breakthrough with you."
"Maybe some other time." Lance nods, politely waves, and walks off presumably to head upstairs but the sounds of clashing doors halted him as seven students came in at the same time. The same seven Lance has been spying on for an entire school year.
"That was crazy! The way he was able to do all of that but not even know is unbelievable."
"That's because it was unbelievable Griffin." An aggressive tone is heard from Atlas, "He totally knew what he was doing."
"What did he want with you?" Shreya pleadingly looks at Dakota
"You heard as much as I did, it was so odd."
"He did say he would return." Aster mumbles
"Great, one more thing we have to worry about besides classes starting." Zeph sighs
"You got something to say?" All attention turned to Beckett who was now facing towards Lance
"Crap... I was just staring at them after all."
"..." Lance narrows his eyes and does not reply
"Lay off him Harrington." Atlas shrugs, "We were stupidly loud, I wouldn't be surprised if everybody came out of their dorms to look at us like we're crazy."
"Yeah Beckett you can't just call out whoever you want, besides this guy looks chill." Shreya walks up to Lance and smirks at him, "He's even ready for class tomorrow, all black, very simple but stylish."
"Thanks." Lance nods and walks past all of them with no more words to spew "REALLY? 'Thanks' again?"
Lance remains calm and collected at face value despite burning up on the inside, rushing to his dorm and shutting the door behind him was the closest
"If I can't be social with the nicest people on campus how do I expect to get along with anybody?" He sighs and lies down on the couch inside his dorm, unsure of his future in this second year in Penderghast
The next day, History of Spells class
"Look at that, everyone chose to sit anywhere but next to me." Lance shrugs and anxiously rubs his hands which were covered by leather gloves with the tips cut off.
"Good morning class and welcome to the History of Spells!" A young woman passes by all the students and turns when she reaches the front of the class. "I have something fun planned today that by the time you leave you'll wish it never ended. Before that of course I must introduce myself. My name is Katrina, but you may call me Professor Harrington."
"Harrington huh?" Lance glares at Beckett who also got looks from everyone including Dakota who was sitting right next to him
"No worries everyone I will not play favorites, my brother will have to work as hard as the rest of you." Katrina smiles and swiftly moves along with her lesson, "The Weapon Forging spell yes, all that needs to be said is that it was first used to create Excalibur. This spell is a combination Metal-Fire spell, with predominant energies in the metal realm."
"Fire, Ok. Metal? Not exactly my forte but this should not be too difficult." Lance focuses on tuning out everyone around him and focusing on Katrina
"Focus your fire magick into a forge, heating it to the most extreme temperatures you can raise it to while keeping it stabilized. Then you mold, shape, and re-solidify the metal into the shape you desire. Kinda. Like. THIS!" Katrina speaks with complete confidence as she demonstrates the spell whilst she describes it, the last steps go as planned when the metal in her hands forms into a long sword with a gleaming jewel in its hilt. "Now it's your guys turn, good luck." Katrina winks as she chucks metal in front of every student
"No pressure." Lance mumbles, "Literally. All eyes are on Beckett." He looks at the boy who put him on the spot the day before as he and Dakota both forge their weapons with ease, a long rapier and beautiful dagger are soon admired by Katrina as she stops by their desks first.
"Class please take a look at these two stellar examples, what lovely craftsmanship Dakota. You too Beckett. I have a feeling you two will be a pleasure to have in class if this is anything to go by."
"No thank you, I would much rather be that slow river under the bridge." Lance's calm demeanor quickly turns around as his hands crackle with the briefs sounds of electricity, "W-what!? N-no! Not yet!" He quickly gets it under control as only a few students turn to look at him but all they see is Lance with a basic forge. "Close call, now let's wrap it up." Metal magick leads the chunk of metal given to him right into the flames, allowing Lance to make any weapon of his choosing.
"Oh my." Katrina's eyes light up as Lance seems to have an idea that tops Beckett's, Dakota's, and possibly even her forged weapon but out of nowhere the process is cut short and all that is presented in front of her is a metal staff. "This sure is something."
"Is it?" Beckett suddenly was right behind his sister with his finished rapier in hand, "I don't think everyone listened to your lesson."
"I went for quality over aesthetic." Lance mumbles as he hands it to Katrina
"Hmm." She grabs the staff and smiles as she is able to swing, lift, and lower it despite it seeming like a heavy staff. "It's so light but it feels so strong. Beckett, may I?" She reaches for the rapier
"Katrina please I don't think you want to test the two. My rapier is almost perfect with the precise technique used to forge it while his is simply... MY POINT IS, surely you do not want to destroy his forged weapon, how else will he receive a gr-!"
SMASH!
Katrina tested Beckett's confidence by extending her arm with Lance's staff and slamming Beckett's rapier into it.
"It's not possible!" Beckett kneels down and picks up shattered pieces of his rapier
"It's nothing fancy but it's light, feels great on the hand, it does not tire the hand nor make you feel like you're carrying a lightweight, and it is very strong. Excellent job overall." Katrina returns the staff and moves on
"Excellent? B-but a rapier is th-! His staff wasn't even forged pro-! He-!" Beckett frowns and returns to his seat in a huff
"So much for going un-noticed." Lance carefully looks over at Beckett who is blatantly staring right at him. "Yeah, that totally went well, thanks Professor Harrington."
Days pass and the only thing that changes about Lance is his idea of going under the radar, the incident that occurred in the History of Spells class was the last one where the shy introvert made himself stick out. All he does is the bare minimum of what is required whilst hiding his true potential from those he wished to share with
"Dinner couldn't hurt right now, I'm not exactly starving but I get really anxious when I don't eat." Lance opens the doors and slowly steps into the dinning hall
"...Cap, you're doing it wrong!"
"Crap, everyone get down!"
Sparks fly as the magick from the upperclassman begins to crackle
"What are they doing?" Lance eyes the rogue magick as it shoots towards Dakota who was sitting not too far away
"Get out of the way!" Atlas shouts
"Maybe I can-!" Lance stops himself as the distance between the magick and Dakota is too close for him to try any sort of spell to stop it
"Ahh!" Dakota puts her hands up to embrace the impact whew a massive shield expands with a hiss of air from what was a little charm in her hand within seconds.
The magick slams into the shield but the shields is ultimately victorious as it absorbs the energy and then shrinks back down to the size of the charm.
"What was that?" Dakota can barely pick up a letter from off the ground due to the scare and shakiness of her hands
Everybody except for Lance was either ducked under a table and scramble far away from the magick, despite the crackling, shredding, and impact of the air shield, the second year loner remained still and calm as if someone wasn't seconds away from being seriously hurt if not, killed.
"I see..." Aster speaks as she and Beckett are now eyeing Lance
"Now I'm grabbing their attention but for all the wrong reasons." Lance shakes his head and storms out of the dining hall without getting anything to eat.
"Why were they staring at me? Do they know something's off? They can't possibly know about..." Lance sighs and rubs his head roughly, as he quickly walks back to his dorm. "Maybe I should just let it be known about this. After all, isolating myself from the world now makes it hard for me to socialize even in the slightest."
Lance exits the main building, extends his arms, and turns his hands to face the sky. He lets out a deep exhale and shuts his eyes, many thoughts rush through his head: the names of spells from last year, his inability to move outside his protective bubble, the constant paranoia he suffers from, etc. Until finally when he relaxes his mind, opens his eyes and lays them upon what he now has in his hands... lightning.
"I've heard all the Att's known in the realm of magick, but I wonder if it's too late to scribble Lightning-Att on there."
Lance smiles as he easily maneuvers the lightning to spread out into multiple individual bolts before they suddenly retract and morph into a sword.
"Is this really a curse? Surely somebody out there would love to know about this." Lance assures himself with an even bigger smile before walking off.