Kosmos: The Witch

During the four remaining days, they are all pushed to their limits. They are constantly getting attacked, no matter how many times they relocate, by groups of competitors attempting to get their hands on a core of their own since they weren't skilled enough to survive the heat from the volcano. On the sixth day, they almost all died to a massive rockfall from the sides of the volcano, which they narrowly avoided thanks to Morgana rapidly reacting and shattering the larger rocks from a distance with a bow and arrows made of fire, just like her axe and spear.

She showcased that it could hit targets up to 400 meters away, but her aim could be a bit sloppy at times since she didn't actually know how to use a bow like a trained archer. Only Magnus seemed to be having a blast, especially when they were attacked by a group of large amphisbaena, two headed serpents with one of their heads being located at the end of their tail, horns and bat/dragon like wings. Their venom was a neurotoxin capable of paralyzing most people in seconds, and Cassandra had to resort to blowing up their camp to wipe them out with the large spell within her Crest that she used against Morgana during their duel.

On the seventh day, each of their black metal necklaces produces a large quantity of red flames before lifting them and flying them back across the island towards the faculty. They all land in front of the same stage they were at before they left, but this time the crowd is a tenth of what it used to be, at most. Everyone looks ragged and dirty, their once elaborate and pricey looking robes completely ruined. The woman with the dragon wings is floating at the front of the stage, a marble table placed right in front of her with a golden bowl on it, with swirls of blue energy oozing out of it and a purple eight point star glowing on its front.

- "Welcome back, fledglings !" the woman with the dragon wings shouts. "Kehehe, you look a lot better than before ! Now walk up with your groups and give us the cores you painstakingly gathered for appraisal."

The groups walk up to stage every time their group number is called, and deposit their cores one by one in the bowl. At some point, Morgana notices a witch in particular who, after discussing with the dragon winged woman, climbs onto stage without anyone else and fills the bowl to the brim with the cores of fire creatures. She actually has to empty the bowl after her points have been recorded before she can add any more, and she does this twice. Eventually, group 29 is called, and Morgana, Cassandra and Magnus get on stage. The dragon winged woman seems slightly surprised.

- "It's only you three ? That's promising." She comments as each of them places their core in the bowl, the star shines brightly. "Oh ? That's a pretty high value ! Three intact unicorn cores on top of that ! Your total is nine thousand, then given the fact that you were only three in your group, this brings your total to sixty three thousand !"

The audience whispers "Sixty three ?", "That's pretty much the second highest score !" and "Bullshit !". Cassandra seems very satisfied, and when they get down from the stage after retrieving their cores, she turns to them.

- "Mighty fine work out there, team ! We made it to the top two !"

- "Good job everyone." Morgana says.

- "Haha, I knew we'd have fun if you were in my team !" Magnus says to Morgana. "Cassandra was more interesting than expected too !"

- "I'll treat y'all to a fancy restaurant sometime next year." Cassandra concludes.

- "Lady Cassandra, we failed…" the witches in red robes that used to follow Cassandra around approach them.

- "You kind of had it coming ! Now you can go tell my mother I don't need any attendants at school with friends like these ! Begone !"

- "Yes…" they slowly walk away, some of them looking back at regular intervals as if to check if Cassandra didn't change her mind.

- "Friends ?" Magnus asks.

- "What ? You're too good for me or something ?" Cassandra replies.

- "Hahaha !" Magnus has what feels like a genuine laugh compared to the ones he usually has, and he lifts Cassandra above his head, parading her around the crowd. "I have a friend now !"

- "Put me down you moron !!" Cassandra screams, her face red with embarrassment. "Unhand meee !!!"

This circus lasts for a minute before Magnus loops back to Morgana and puts Cassandra back down while she keeps yelling profanities.

- "Right, now that I. Know you well enough. We can be friends." Morgana says to Magnus. A heavily concentrated fireball about to explode instantly appears in front of Magnus' face.

- "If you even think of going through the same song and dance with her, I'm blowing all of us up." Cassandra says.

- "Haha, got it !" he replies.

- "Also I want to. Be friends with Cassandra. Too." Morgana finishes.

- "Then it's official ! Now listen up, they're announcing the classes." Cassandra says as she turns her attention to the stage.

- "Alright, it's all sorted !" the dragon winged woman says. "All of you, welcome to the Academy of Eretria, as you are now officially students ! Anyways I'm done with the boring stuff, the top 10 students can come with me, I'll be your teacher for the rest of your curriculum. There Danis, you can take over the rest, for the other classes that matter less than mine." She hands the documents to an old man with a wooden staff that had a yellow flaming delta floating on it and glowing golden eyes. He sighs, looking exhausted.

The dragon winged woman calls ten names, and only calling their first name for any people without last names: Morgana, Cassandra Pyranthis, Magnus, Theo Chronis, Adriana Charilios, Sophia Kaminoros, and four mages who shared the same last name, the Melas brothers. She then gets off the stage and starts walking away, towards the village on campus.

- "Everyone I called, come join me for a walk ! I own a few houses in the residence, so I'll just be lending those to you for the time being. You don't need to be lumped in with everyone else in the dorms !"

She then starts calling everyone again. When she calls Theo Chronis, a young man with bubbles made of what seemed to be glass floating around him silently makes his way towards her. He was wearing a very simple dark blue cloak, and had an unremarkable wooden staff in his left hand. His hair was long and white, and his eyes were gray, which causes Morgana to tense up when he passes by her. However, they don't look lifeless like those of her mother, so she eventually relaxes.

She then calls Adriana Charilios, and a woman shining with a blinding light quite literally floats towards her. A miniature replica of the sun was floating above the palm of her hand, and a larger, flat one was placed vertically behind her head emitting golden flames and giving her an almost divine aura. She was wearing a white and gold dress, her eyes were orange with irises shining like stars and her hair was bronze colored, floating in all directions like carried by an invisible wind. She says hello to all the people she passes by with a positive energy shining as brightly as herself, distributing handshakes to whoever wants them. She had a simple golden tiara sitting on top of her head. She looked like she was used to floating, since she was the only person in the crowd that seemed to have deemed shoes unnecessary.

After that, Sophia Kaminoros is called, and a woman that was around two meters tall walks through the crowd. She had red hair and eyes, and was dressed relatively lightly, with a very short tank top black dress and similarly colored shorts, along with a black with hat placed on her head. Her hair was so long that the braid they were tied in behind her head reached down to her ankles. However, the most noticeable features of all were the glowing red tribal tattoos she had on her arms and legs. She pushes people around as she advances, giving death stares to anyone who dared speak against her. She wore a silver necklace with a glowing red gem embedded in it, giving off an almost sinister aura.

Finally, the four Melas brothers are called. They all have brown hair, and are wearing different colored mage robes along with staves that each had a fire crystal embedded on top of them. They walked quickly, as if they were stressed about something until they made it to the dragon winged woman. She then talks to all of them while they're walking outside of the castle grounds and into the village's streets.

- "My name is Nova ! You can call me Miss Nova, and as I said before I'll be your teacher for the upcoming years ! Just gotta say it officially for anyone who wasn't paying attention. Any questions while we make our way there ?" she says, and Magnus raises his hand in response. "Yes ?"

- "Can I challenge you to a duel ?"

- "You got a death wish or something ? Are your survival instincts on paid leave ?"

- "Probably !" He replies with an amused laugh.

- "I like your energy though ! You can spar with your classmates if you want once we get to my property."

- "Right !" he turns towards the other students. "Who wants to fight me ?"

Cassandra facepalms and everyone stays silent for a moment, just staring at him. Adriana, the woman with the sun floating behind her, speaks up.

- "I really don't think we should be fighting each other right now ! How about we organize a tea party instead to get to know each other ?"

- "No thanks, I've never been a fan of tea !" Magnus replies.

- "That's unfortunate ! You really should try mine though, I'm sure it'd change your mind. Everyone else is still invited !"

- "I'm up for the challenge." Adriana, the red haired witch says.

- "Oh ?" Magnus turns to her. "Let's go then !"

They both start chatting at the back of the group, while Magnus is shadowboxing and Cassandra side eyes them during the rest of the walk. Theo, the silver haired man, approaches Morgana to talk to her.

- "Greetings."

- "Hello." Morgana replies.

- "I couldn't help but notice earlier, you were looking at me and you seemed distressed. Is everything alright ?"

- "Yes. It's just that. You look like mother."

- "Is that so ?" he fiddles with his long hair. "I get told things like that from time to time..." he continues, looking slightly hurt in his ego.

- "No, not your hair. Your eyes. They look like hers. Same color."

- "Oh I see. Apologies for startling you then."

- "No problem."

Eventually, they make it to a large cluster of houses close to the castle grounds, still in the same style as the other houses of the village, with large gardens at the back of each of them, that apparently weren't taken care of in a while and were conquered by the weeds.

- "I own the entire block ! You can just pick one and tell me any renovations or modifications you'd like to have, and I'll make sure it's done by the end of the week." Nova says. "You can also live together for all I care, or each take a house, there's enough space."

Everyone starts picking houses, and groups form. Morgana, Cassandra and Magnus take the house closest to the castle grounds. Adriana takes the neighboring house, and asks for the house to be replaced with a big tower, with a nice, fireproof bedroom and a fully equipped kitchen, along with a set of teapots and a large balcony with tables and a garden. Theo chooses the house in the center of the city block, and the Melas brothers follow him. He doesn't ask for any additions besides a roman style bath, and the brothers simply ask for additional bedrooms and study rooms. Sophia requests that her house be turned into a temple style building, with a large training arena at the center that could withstand heavy damage. When Morgana, Cassandra and Magnus also get to enter their house to see if they need anything changed, they are met with a cozy wooden interior, complete with a sizable living room, four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen. There was a door at the back leading to the garden, and the entire house reminded Morgana of her room back at the dorms, which she appreciated. Eventually, Cassandra speaks up.

- "So… we can ask for anything huh ?"

- "Yep ! That Sophia person had a good idea, I'm going to ask for an underground training arena !" Magnus replies.

- "Why underground ?"

- "No reason in particular !" Magnus promptly answers.

- "I think the house. Is fine as is." Morgana says.

- "Well I'm not wasting that opportunity ! I'm going to ask for this place to be turned into a mansion !" Cassandra replies.

- "Like Helen's ?"

- "Which Helen ? The True Ancestor ?"

- "Yes."

- "Hell no ! That's way too big for three people. You make a good point though, I'll specify the size when I ask."

- "In that case, I want a lake."

- "A lake ?... For what ? We got running water, you know ?"

- "Running water ? What is the water. Running from ?"

- "Right, you lived in the dorms. When was the last time you even took a bath ? You don't look like you know where the common baths are."

- "In the river. When I was traveling. To Eretria."

- "By Hecate… this explains the smell I guess."

- "I smell ?"

- "Yes !"

- "She's right !" Magnus chuckles. "I didn't say anything because you didn't seem to care !"

- "I see." Morgana mutters.

- "Anyways, running water is just access to water from your house. We get it from Aquatic magic spells placed in the bathroom, garden and kitchen." Cassandra explains.

- "Aquatic magic ?"

- "Water magic, if it makes it easier for you to understand. I heard that the Hydromancy Faculty campus is somewhere under the sea, not too far from our island."

- "Hydromancy ? Is that water magic ?"

- "Yes, that's yet another name for it, I get it can be confusing…"

- "It is. Thank you though."

- "No problem. By the way, you probably don't know but we're on one island, from an entire archipelago. The other faculties are on the other islands, but I wouldn't recommend swimming there."

- "Why ?"

- "Because their security is airtight, and while they'll probably let you through after they learn that you're a student at the Pyromancy faculty, some of them tend to shoot first, ask questions later."

- "I see, I won't."

- "Good to know. You still want that lake ?"

- "Yes, it's for Splash."

- "Oh for !…" Cassandra mumbles and Magnus laughs in the background. "You're actually going to try to move a lesser spirit here ?"

- "Yes."

- "Well, I don't know how you're going to do that since it's supposed to be tied to the lake it's the spirit of, but good luck I guess."

- "Thank you."

- "I'm also gonna need a better kitchen !" Magnus yells from said kitchen.

- "I'm totally for it, if that can upgrade the quality of your dishes." Cassandra replies.

- "It will ! Are we done here ? I have a sparring match to attend !"

- "Yes, let's go notify Miss Nova."

They all exit the house and return to Nova with their demands. Eventually, a group of hooded mages and witches approaches them, wielding staves, books and wands with green and brown gems embedded in them.

Nova starts giving them directions, and Morgana asks:

"Who are they ? That's not Fire magic."

"The construction team ! They're Geomancy and Sylvester magic mages, and they're great at terraforming and building things !" Nova replies, and the mages and witches proudly nod along.

- "Geomancy ? Sylvester magic ?"

- "You don't know ? How did you even pass the written exam ?"

- "Sulfuris said I could."

- "Oh you're here through a recommendation ? This class definitely has some great potential. With Theo, Magnus and Adriana, you're four to have gotten in through recommendations. That's a really big achievement, you know ? Even witches from some of the big families aren't qualified enough to get in through that."

- "Cassandra isn't recommended ?"

- "Thanks for hammering the nail." Cassandra mutters. "Some of us actually have to work to get into the Academy."

- "Oh. I didn't mean it. Like that."

- "Mhmmm."

- "Right, Geomancy, more commonly called Earth magic, is a magic used to manipulate existing rock, soil and even things like sand to an extent. Sylvester or Nature magic controls the growth of plants and can get very complicated, I'll make sure to explain it in detail during the first classes." Nova explains.

- "I see. Thank you." Morgana replies.

- "Just doing my job ! Anyways, you can return to your dorms or anywhere you call home, we'll have the houses ready by the end of the week. Make sure to move in by next week, classes start on January 1st."

Morgana and Cassandra thank her, and Magnus runs off to meet up with Sophia. Cassandra watches him leave and says:

- "I'm just going to make sure he doesn't cause excessive trouble. See you around, Morgana."

- "See you around." she replies as Cassandra runs after him and Morgana walks back towards the castle grounds to get back to her room in the dorms.