Thea

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Recently, the mark on my arm started tingling. It was a barely perceptible feeling, but I couldn’t help noticing it.

It’s been more than three months since my internship as a novice witch. As Adeline said, I was enrolled in a kind of school for witches, where I practiced every single day. No, it was not a school as it is understood by people, etiquette, dance lessons or history were not taught here. Here, completely different sciences were in priority. Combat science, defensive science, potions, etc.

We learned a lot of different spells for all occasions, as well as an important moment for a witch - how to survive if a magic wand suddenly broke and was stolen by an enemy. It turned out that for this, witches always carry a couple of artifacts with them, through which they can control energy until a replacement for the wand is found.

Also, there was no clear division by age, because each witch reveals her abilities at different times, and someone even came to tighten up her skills already being at an advanced age. But despite this, the students were still grouped, because practicing combat magic with a child was somehow strange, while I was already eighteen.

We had our own backbone, which included me, Adeline and Nicole. The latter, however, still failed the exam and could not score enough points to become close to the supreme witch. It made her terribly angry. She was one of those people who would go ahead, but achieve their goal.

We even became friends somehow, although we still had some friction about her dear and beloved Lillian, in whom she saw a star descended from the sky, no other way.

So, three months have not been in vain for me, considering that my mentor drove me both in the tail and in the mane in addition to school. It all started with Eugene. As soon as I realized that I could trust her, I relaxed and the magic opened up in me by itself. It didn’t happen right away, but I felt such care in her that at one moment I wanted to do something nice to her and with just the power of thought, my hands created a bouquet of fragrant peonies for her.

I was so shocked myself, because I just thought about how happy she would be with the new flowers in the dining room, when suddenly magic flowed through my hands so easily and gently. From that day on, we gradually began to develop my abilities, and as it turned out, they were based not only on anger, but more on love and creativity, although anger had to be controlled now.

I was still very inexperienced by the standards of other witches, but visible progress fueled and stimulated me to improve.

On one of the weekend Saturdays, the older girls and I agreed to arrange a small competition. Having performed the rite to secure the area around, we created a barrier that absorbed sounds and vibrations, and did not allow our distress to go beyond this barrier.

This was the most important rule that was taught at school, first we have to protect our people from ourselves. This did not apply to the enemies, they could and should have been inconvenienced. It always made me smile. As Nicole liked to say: what kind of witch are you if you don’t mess up once a day?

- We will immediately agree not to use traumatic spells on ourselves. – the girl from the rival team reported.

- It’s kind of boring, then what will the practice consist of? - Nikki grumbled, displeased. – We’re not in kindergarten, really.

- Maybe we can agree not to use deadly spells and not aim at vital organs? - Adeline asked.

We agreed on that, although I was slightly shaken by the thought that we would fight as if we were enemies, although the idea of this sparring was crystal clear to me.

The die fell on me first, so I slowly took out my wand and reminded myself to keep myself in hand. I still had too little control over the flows of my magic and sometimes they came out abruptly, without the ability to stop. Well, perhaps this is another test for my endurance.

We started with light spells, like trying to transform each other into various insects and reptiles, until the opponent made an attempt to knock me down with creeping roots that came out of the ground at one moment. I fell down and felt a slight burning sensation in the knee area, where blood droplets appeared on the torn skin.

Having reflected the spell with a cutting wind, I cut the roots into splinters, got out and attacked the girl with the same roots that flew into her, leaving light cuts on her clothes. Her ability to dodge and deflect attacks was amazing.

After that, a stormy stream of water gushed into me, which knocked me off my feet again, leaving my clothes hanging on me like a heavy load. Fortunately, I now knew how to dry it quickly and using wind magic refreshed my dress in a matter of seconds.

For a while I still tried to repel her attacks, which became stronger and more aggressive, until I realized that I was gradually getting tired and losing concentration. There was only one thought in my head: how can I make her give up at once?

I gripped the wand tightly in my hands, breathing heavily and trying to cope with the growing irritation, but everything turned to dust when she began to create a powerful water whirlpool at my feet. Panic was immediately reflected on my face and I didn’t have time to realize how I was immediately submerged with my head under the water, floundering and tumbling in these swirls.

I was completely disoriented in space, I began to actively lose the remnants of oxygen and the first attempt to take a breath made me choke on water. I began to choke and flounder even more actively, but the whirlpool did not let go, as if sucking me inside more.

In one second, the thought flashed through my head that this was the end and I would not survive, and in the second second, it was as if I grabbed the water threads slipping through my fingers with my hands and began to feel them tactilely. My lungs expanded, and a barrier formed around my body, which did not allow water to rush into my face. It was as if I was fingering each stream with my fingers, noticing how they immediately freeze from a light touch, and immediately I felt this magic passing through me, as if I could control it purely on an intuitive level. I don’t need any wand to do magic.

I closed my eyes, feeling each freezing stream more acutely, and then I heard a crack, as if the glass had crumbled into fragments, which were now circling in the air around me. I was holding a magic wand in my hands to distract my eyes, but my power was concentrated in my hands and at the moment when I directed the wand towards my opponent, these ice fragments rushed into battle, piercing her so quickly that she did not even have time to react. Having inflicted significant, but not fatal damage to her, unwittingly, I quickly ran up to her, but she refused my help. Fortunately, this did not arouse feelings of hostility in us, despite the fact that numerous cuts were now visible on her body.

It was not an easy, but a total victory and we both got our experience from it.

- It was just amazing. - Nikki exclaimed, running up to me. – We already thought about saving you from this whirlpool, we thought that you would not get out. But what you did afterwards is just beyond the realm of fiction. How did you do that?

- I don’t know. Apparently I just really wanted to live. - I grinned, slightly embarrassed.

- I’ve never seen students here create such strong magic streams. After all, you’re still quite a beginner, and you get up to something that will be a match for the teachers. - she continued, and everyone else gathered around me, supporting everyone’s surprise.

- I just used a freezing spell, the rest all happened by itself. - I shrugged my shoulders.

- Well, that was cool. Thanks for sparring, Those. – said the girl, who by that time had already stopped the bleeding from the wounds.

Of course, she would have to spend some time to heal all the traces, but still, the presence of potions greatly simplified the life of every witch.

- And thank you. - I smiled back.

The next one sparred was Adeline, who, to her failure, totally lost to her opponent, but you can understand her, her strong point was potion making, and not combat magic in any way. But everything went perfectly for Nicole, her every move, every spell was so clearly rehearsed over the years of training that the opponent turned out to be too weak for her, which caused Nikki a wave of disappointment.

- Next time we will spar with you. – she said to me, pouting her lips.

- And in my opinion you were great. By the way, I was surprised when you put snakes under her feet, and they began to spread. It was so creepy that I almost had a heart attack. You know how much I "love" all these creeping reptiles. - Adeline laughed nervously.

– By the way, do you know that no one among the witches can tame the magic of fire, except our great queen? Nicole asked suddenly. – I keep trying, but nothing works, it’s so infuriating. Let’s try it together next time? You see, she will surprise us with something again.

I rolled my eyes at such a pretentious attempt to tease me.

A little later, we said goodbye to Nicole and hurried home to Adeline to see Klaus as soon as possible, who had been absent from Eastheve for three months.

At first, he trained with us, drinking a miracle potion made by Eugene every day, which completely hid his smell. His fighting skills were far superior to ours, and his strength and endurance were truly brutal. Watching him train was so interesting that many girls abandoned their classes for the sake of this spectacle.

But on the advice of my mentor, or rather under strong moral pressure and possibly threats, he was forced to leave us one day, going in search of other werewolves. And today was the first time we received a message from him that he would be able to return for a while and we could not miss this opportunity in any way.

But on the advice of my mentor, or rather under strong moral pressure and possibly threats, he was forced to leave us one day, going in search of other werewolves. And today was the first time we received a message from him that he would be able to return for a while and we could not miss this opportunity in any way.