'You're gonna really like this' the boy said, leading Mel away from the office, into the academy. It seemed that classes had started, which looked quite interesting. Here and there, she could see people practicing sword fight, making colorful sparks and simply chatting, while their teachers told them to concentrate. The decorations were similar, except everything was mostly stone or wood. They walked through long halls, passages and stairs, everything was simply magnificent.

'What will I have to do' she asked the boy.

'For now, just stick to what professor Gray tells you to do' he said sounding serious, scratching his blonde head. 'Then of course, your classes will begin'

'Classes?' Mel said apprehensively. She'd never been to school. 'I don't even know how to read'

'Oh don't worry about that' he said, waving it away. They were climbing their third flight of stone stairs. 'There won't be many books, and we can always teach you. You have to do your homework though'

'Homework?' Mel cried again. She'd long ago had some friends in Harburg who went to school and told her horrors of homework. Their parents had however forbidden them from meeting her when she once led them to a lot of trouble with the local authorities.

'Again, this won't be the who regular school homework!' he said, grinning at her. 'I don't want to spoil all your fun though, cause we're almost there'

They stopped in front of an ordinary door, which was a complete dead end. There was no board or sign.

'Here we are' he said. 'This is professor Gray's office'

'Thanks' Mel said, grinning slightly.

'I'm Edward, by the way' he said, stretching out his hand.

'Mel' she said, smiling as she shook his.

'You know what, we're meeting at the tavern tonight, why don't you join us?'

'Ummm... alright' Mel said 'I'll try. Where do I find it?'

'Look for a hungry boar on the signs. It's in Middle-East of Thais. See you then!'

With that, he grinned again and left, Mel's eyes following him for a second. Then she quickly looked away. Her hand hovering over it for a second, she knocked twice.

'Come in!' a voice said. Pushing open the door, she entered.

Professor Gray's office was no more than a small room almost completely filled with papers. The furniture and decor was wooden and there were no swords or emblems as everywhere. The professor himself was seated behind the table and was engrossed in writing a letter. He looked in his fifties, with whitening and a very intelligible look. He was completely dressed in the royal blue color. Just finishing it, he signed the letter and looked up at Mel.

'Excuse me, are you lost?' he said, rather sternly. 'This area is out of bounds to most people'

'Headmaster Ulaf sent me' Mel said, slightly apprehensive what the professor world say.

Professor Gray put down his pen and stood up. He carefully scanned Mel from top to bottom.

'Are you a thief?' he asked sharply.

'Yes!' Mel said, really irritated now. It wasn't very pleasant accepting to be one. The professor nodded slowly.

'I'll take you on one condition' he said. 'You must pass my test'

'What is this test?' Mel asked, preparing to say she couldn't do it.

'You must recover a certain statuette from a house in Thais' he said. Mel breathed out.

'Leave that to me!' she said, grinning for a moment, before hastily trying to look serous.

'Good! Look for the house belonging to Ely Hasperben in the elite parts. You must recover it before one in the morning. When you do, come to me immediately'

Mel nodded.

'You're dismissed' the professor said, sitting down, going back to the letter. Grinning, Mel quickly left, retraced their steps out of the academy and fined a nice tree in the grounds of the academy. It had been a long night, and it was time to go to bed now.


The sun had set when Mel woke up, for a moment, as she looked at the sky, she couldn't remember anything. Then as she looked to her left, she saw a lit lamppost - a rare sight. With a start, she stood up, fearing her time had lapsed. Looking at the tower clock beside the academy, she heaved a sigh. She still had three hours. Carefully getting up with her bones cracking, she stretched and covered herself more securely.

Mel first set out for the tavern. She had absolutely no idea where the house was, so maybe a few clues could help. The hungry boar wasn't hard to trace. It seemed the owner had gone to all ends to bring customers.

A blast of noise and laughter greeted her as she pushed open the door. About a hundred people were squeezed inside. People were chatting, drinking, laughing, kissing, playing games and much more. Here and there, she could see a waiter carrying beer. The interior was completely wooden and smelled of a myriad of alcohols.

Spotting Edward was not much difficult. He was sitting with a couple of boys in a corner with his head covered with a hood. He looked to be in deep conversation, but didn't seem to be enjoying too much.

'Hello' Mel said, taking a seat beside them.

'Mel!' Edward said, grinning. 'Good to see you come'

Mel looked at the other boys. They were looking at her rather suspiciously.

'Mel, this Theodore, Teddy, Ted... call him anything!' Edward said, gesturing towards the one to his left. Theodore had ruffled bright violet hair that clashed badly with the green dress, a pointed nose and clear face. He leaned forward and shook Mel's hand. 'Theodore is studying as a mage in the academy. Don't bother about the color of his hair, it keeps changing!' Both of them chucked.

'And this is Steven, we call him Steve' He carelessly gestured to the one on the right. Steven didn't look pleased. He had jet black strictly combed hair, clean shaven beard and an aura of superiority. 'He is training with me as a fighter' Mel drew out her hand, but he didn't shake it. She took it back.

'Both of you, this is Mel. She's new to the academy and will study under The professor!' he said, especially stressing on 'The'

'That's simply cool!' Theodore said. His voice was rough, but friendly. 'He doesn't take many students, does he?'

'No, of course he doesn't' Steven said sharply. 'I don't think it's as simple. There are many things involved. You cannot simply...'

'Okay, okay' Edward said, cutting through him. 'Let's not ruin her fun! I don't guess she knows it yet'

Mel shook her head. Steven leaned back in his chair, his face void of much expression.

'Well, what do you do then?' Mel asked Edward, wanting to change the topic.

'Well nothing much, really' he said, looking around in his hood. 'We have a really grueling schedule. Sword practice starts at eight, goes on till lunch. Then the theory class goes in the afternoon, which involves the godforsaken history of the kingdom. After that, again sword practice till dinner, which we usually skip to come here. We get an off on Sundays of course, but our families prefer rather we stay home'

Mel stopped a second to digest it all before she spoke again.

'And what about you, Theodore?' she asked, turning to him.

'Ted, please. I'd have changed my name but the laws force me to take my parent's signature for it' he laughed. 'Well anyway, our schedule is not that bad. We work in the evening only twice a week, otherwise it's all same. Actually, most of the theory classes are together'

Mel nodded. None spoke for a few minutes, while the slowly sipped their drink.

'I simply don't know how I'm gonna fit in here...' Mel said, something she'd been apprehensive about.

'In the academy?' Ted asked carelessly, waving his hand. 'Don't worry, you'll be one of us in a jiffy! Just a bit of advice, though, don't get caught in mischief, especially outside the grounds. Some laws of Thais are completely b...'

'The law exists for a reason!' Steven said, looking extremely stern, stressing every word. 'You'd know that if you had paid attention in history classes!'

'Well, I don't know Steve' Ted said, not looking into his eyes. 'It's too inflexible...'

'I've heard of this before' Mel said. She really had, when she was a kid. 'I never understood why...'

Steven turned to her. He still looked slightly angry, but his expression softened as he explained.

'About until some eight hundred years ago, Thais was attacked by a demon, called Ahriman' he explained.

'That's the reason no one listens in history!' Ted cried out. 'Show me one demon and I'll believe you!'

'At that time,' Steven continued, ignoring him. 'It was thought that Ahriman had acted on his own. The sheer power of his was sufficient to completely devastate Thais. But it was unlikely. Thais had and still has some of the most powerful mages and the most powerful army of all kingdoms. So how could this have happened?'

He paused; no one spoke.

'The reason was finally discovered during the rules of Rhen Pendragon, the first. Ahriman had support from inside. Betrayers had sacrificed their country for power. It was a well planned conspiracy, the architect of which was much later rumored to be the future king himself. When she came to rule, naturally, the queen enacted laws like never before. Much freedom was curbed, intercontinental movement was stopped, and people were trained to reject dark magic. Many were, and still are against these laws, for their inflexibility, but the kingdom has rarely had a threat under these'

'Recently, and that means a couple of centuries, many of these laws were relaxed. Intercontinental routes were reopened, people migrated freely and the old cycle started again. Raids, massacres and a lot of bloodshed, again the kingdom goes back to it's old rules. Then came the time of prosperity, which is the age now, when people again demanded freedom. So it's a question now: do we want to start the cycle again?'

He ended his monologue, the question left hanging, leaving Mel impressed at his knowledge. A few seconds later, Ted leaned forward and whispered.

'I hope you understand why we hate history classes now' he said, half laughing. Mel grinned slightly. Steven sank back into his chair, looking highly displeased.

'Well, then tell us your story, Mel?' Edward said finally, after a minute. As fast as she could, she cooked up what she could for the last night.

'Well, I grew up in the town of Harburg, which is like fifty miles from here' she said, unsure.

'A hundred and ten' Steven said irritably.

'Alright, a hundred and ten then' Mel said giving him a cold look. 'Then, I lost my parents when I was a kid, so I grew up mostly in an orphanage'

She stopped for a moment, trying to think. The boys were listening keenly. Even Steven had leaned forward slightly.

'Well then I spent my childhood there' she continued. 'I had not too many friends though, with many kids there who thought I was a kinda freak, which I still don't know why... I mean, it's not exactly like they showed that they didn't want to befriend me, but somehow, maybe I myself didn't. Maybe it was the fact that I was stubborn enough to never let anyone boss me around, or comply to the rules, go to the old falling school, I don't know...'

She paused again. She had been completely true till now. She was not a usual talker, but no one had ever given her so much attention, so she had to go on.

'Then one morning, it was announced that the orphanage had to close, and there was no other option. The financer had died and the staff was threatened by land owners. A couple was murdered. I was five then. I still remember the feeling of the building like yesterday'

'Then we were on our own, a few were adopted, few went to other towns and some like me stayed. Well after that, I worked as a seamstress till a few days back'

She couldn't help notice herself that her tone had changed. She tried to revert to the old one but it was difficult.

'Then, just two days back, a client came to me. She saved me from a couple of thugs, and even suggested that I was fit for the academy. So we rode here and here I am!'

The ending had been too lame. She hoped they would accept it. Most of it had, after all, been true. Except 'we' had not ridden; it had been only herself.

The boys looked more convinced than she had expected.

'Well, you're definitely completely different from us' Ted said, his voice slightly cracked out of keeping quiet. 'You know all three of us live...'

'Ted!' Steven said sharply. He turned to Mel. 'You're not allowed to discuss or tell your rank in the academy. Everybody is considered equal'

Mel nodded. A clock struck outside.

'Okay, I'll be off then!' she said, getting up.

'Nice meeting you, Mel!' Ted said and shook hands again. Edward grinned, but didn't speak.