Archangels of War

"As I was saying before I was very, very, rudely interrupted." I looked straight ahead, pretending not to notice the killer glare Ms. Elmer was casting at me. "I will be your one and only teacher. This school operates in one teacher teaches all necessary subjects', for one set class of students. Because of the nature of this school, -being one more focused on magic than anything else-that only applies to basic classes, which actually only take up half of your day. Things like reading, math and science aren't a heavy focus. The other half-of your day will be taken up by magic specific courses. For example, courses like, Magic engineering, which is focused on how we can implement magic into our existing technologies to better society. Or courses like magic refinement, which is focused on how we can better enhance the power off your magic skills. And others." 

Ms. Elmer leaned back from her position over the podium, before stepping around and standing in front of it. "Considering that it's the first day of school, I won't be assigning any work. So, you essentially are free for the next 2 hours. However, there are a few things that I'd like to show you before you I let you off the hook." She walked over to where I was seated and stood behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "With the help of my VIP, Raiden." I immediately froze, continuing to stare straight ahead with a blank expression on my face. From my peripherals, I could see Ms. Elmer lean in, and I could feel her warm breath on the side of my face as she spoke, her lips only inches from my ears. "Smile." It wasn't a suggestion.

I immediately forced the best possible smile I could. 

"Good Boy." 

She stood back up before walking over to stand beside me. "I'd like to use this time to provide you with a useful piece of information." She held out her hand and gathered a ball of mana in her hands. "This is mana. Its properties can be changed to whatever the user wishes." As she said this, the orb of mana in her hand began to shift and change different forms. Flames, flowing water, and a howling wind. Suddenly, she closed her hand into a fist, dispelling the mana completely. "An important part of Magic, is that not all spells are lethal. There are those that are capable of recon, or other more interesting things. Such as..." 

Suddenly without any warning, she pointed her finger at the side of my head and fired off a concentrated beam of light. Straight at my head. The beam of light made contact, but it didn't hurt or kill me on impact. Instead, it traveled straight through my head. After a second, she released the spell, before turning back to face the class. 

"Like right there. The spell I just fired into Raiden's brain is going to make his right arm involuntarily raise." My arm raised, and I looked at it in confusion. 

Some students looked at me in awe, while others had expressions of skepticism on their faces. Mrs. Elmers adjusted her glasses before returning to the podium. "If you were even slightly skeptical of what I just told you, good. because it was bullshit. Remember, in a world like this, Skepticism is your greatest ally." 

* * * 

As Mrs. Elmers VIP, I wasn't really allowed to leave my seat. However, other students were allowed to freely roam around, and one of them ended up approaching me. As she got closer, I recognized her bright red hair and boisterous laughter. she was the same fearless girl from the opening ceremony. The one that seemed to have played a sort of practical joke on the headmaster of the school. 

She pulled up a seat before sitting down, leaning forward on the chair's backrest. She still had a mischievous smile on her face. "So, Mr. VIP, how's it going?" She said it in the most innocent voice possible, which completely contrasted all of her mannerisms, and the sly expression on her face. However, I decided to play along, mainly because I was pretty uncomfortable. 

"Things have been great, thanks for asking. How about you, Erika?" 

She seemed shocked that I knew her name. She turned to a girl who was approaching, the same one who was looking at me with pity earlier on. "Nova, am I really that notable?" 

She stopped right next to where Erika was seating, looking down at her with a somewhat exasperated expression on her face. "Not in a good way, you know that right?" 

"Pssh. All notability is good notability." 

Nova looked at me with a sort of, 'get a load of this guy, expression.' "Please, don't take anything she says seriously. I apologize on her behalf. I'm Nova, nice to meet you." 

"Oh. Nice to meet you, Nova." Erika's expression had suddenly become serious, and she leaned in, causing her chair to nearly touch the ground,as she was standing up now. r

"So, how'd you do it?" 

I stared back at her with a blank expression, more concerned with the proximity of her face and chest, than whatever question she had just asked. "Huh?" 

Suddenly, she was pulled back, as Nova had grabbed her by the hair. "Learn to respect people's boundaries, Erika." 

"Oww! Ow! Okay! I get it! Let go!" 

"She was referring to the stunt that you and Ms. Elmer pulled." voice interjected. I, as well as the two girls turned around to see who it was. Leaning against Mrs. Elmers's podium was the mysterious blue-haired kid, Masayoshi. 

I turned back to look at Nova and Erika. "When did he get here, and why is he posed like that?" I whispered this. 

"No idea." Nova said. 

"Zero Fucking clue dude." 

Masayoshi, seemingly unperturbed by out whispering in his presence, pushed himself off of the desk, only to nearly trip on literally nothing. Immediately righting himself, he attempted to play off the moment before looking back at me. "As I was saying, how did you manage to pull of that stunt? It pretty clearly is impossible to fire off a beam of magic through someone's head without side effects." 

"Oh, that, it was nothing really. She just fired the spell and stopped it right before it actually pierced me into head. Then, I simply waited before casting a spell of my own, to give the illusion that it had gone straight through. 

"Thats like, seriously impressive man." Erika said, as she finally manages to snake her way out of Nova's grasp. 

"Oh, really. I don't think it was that impressive." 

"The speed that you would have to react to understand the situation Ms. Elmer was trying to set up, and launch a basic light magic sequence, all in less than a second." Masayoshi listed how hard the feat I performed was, his eyes never leaving mine. "Impressive." 

"uhh.., thanks.... I guess." I didn't really know how to continue the conversation, a flaw of mine. 

At that moment, Mr. Elmer came to my rescue. "Masayoshi, Erika, and Nova, please return to your seats and stop harassing my VIP." 

They complied, although Masayoshi's stare seemed to linger on me, while Erika let out an, "aww." I leaned back in my seat, drained from the short interaction. 

What a great start to the first day of school.