Havi walked through the crowd of young adults, loathing how much they reminded him of a herd of sheep. He needed a staff to be a shepherd. Unfortunately he wasn't even allowed to yell at them to move out of the way, and was instead forced to hasten through the crowd to make it to the lecture hall in time for his class.

"Professor Halvir!" a student called, somehow managing to push up to his side as he continued through the crowd. "How are you professor? I was just on my way to your class."

"I can see that," Havi stated, not keeping the irritation he was feeling from his voice.

The student, a female and one of the only ones left attending his class, didn't take the hint and continued, "I was studying last night with Nate and Jackie, and we were discussing the obvious short-comings of the magic fables. We cannot see any proof that such powers could have been actually real."

"That was the assignment," Havi almost sighed in relief as me managed to break free from the crowd.

"Yes," she continued, "but why would people today not have that power? There would have had to been something to stop humans from using such power, or draining it all and also explaining why dragons and the like no longer exist."

Havi stayed silent, letting her talk herself to the realization he knew was coming.

"Ah, but assuming that what we consider magic now is not what magic was back then," she continued, "then they might have considered anything magic. Throwing a ball of sticks that had caught fire could have been seen as throwing fire-balls. If these so-called sorcerers had a working knowledge of basic chemistry, like alchemists, then they could have potentially tricked many uneducated commoners into believing they were performing magical acts!" She gasped and beamed up at him. "Thank you professor!" she cheered, running ahead of him to beat him to the classroom.

Havi sighed as he watched the girl leave. He didn't care what they wrote personally, as long as it made sense and answered his question. He didn't really care about specifics, as long as his students walked away from his class learning to look at every side of a problem and find the answer.

Caught up in his thoughts, Havi didn't see the two young men walk into him. The collision caused him to drop his papers, scattering them all over the ground. Havi glared down at the offender, only to be taken aback at the head that was bending down to pick up the papers.

It was just an ordinary young man. He had short brown hair and earrings, and Havi couldn't recall ever having seen this man before. This man was both a stranger and so familiar it was troubling. Something in Havi's mind was setting off alarm bells, and they distracted him when the man moved to hand him his papers back.

"I am very sorry for my clumsiness," the man said, him and his friend looking honestly sorry but also amused at the situation.

Breaking himself away from his thoughts, Havi took his papers and said briskly, "Yes. Make sure it doesn't happen again."

He zipped his way to his class, determined to wipe the event from his mind until he had time to think again.

Just some warning from the the author: not all chapters will be long, but not all will be short either. I tried to keep them all around a page long but didn't always succeed. Just a warning that many chapters will be quick and short.