Menla emerged on the other side, coughing but unscathed: "Olpi, you did it!" The Demis rushed forward and hugged her, laughing and cheering.

"It actually worked! He was right!" Olpi laughed. 'Cerlius, thank you. You don't know how much you've helped that girl, how much you've helped me. I'm in your debt.'

'That was the plan.' Cerlius responded, unfazed. 'Now I have questions that I want answered.'

'Well we shouldn't talk here,' Olpi thought. 'And I never want to do this kind of talk again. I'll contact you, now shut this off! Please. Sorry.'

'I would but I have no idea how to-' the voice cut out. Olpi glanced over amidst the celebration but Cerlius was still sitting at the other lake, looking a bit disappointed.

"Thank you Olpi!" Menla said as she hugged her. "Now we need to work on completing your spell, but I'm out of mana." She chuckled and her grip went slack.

"That's not fair!" Travis yelled as he got to his feet. "That wasn't a shield. That was an attack!" He jabbed a finger towards Menla. "Show my master the spell against a wall or something! I bet that people couldn't even see what happened because of the mist but you all saw me go flying."

"What would be impossible," Olpi apologized as she lay Menla down "She passed out due to mana expenditure."

"Unfortunately," Instructor Jersin's smile widened. "That was not a new spell. That was simply a normal riptide spell, already known to most mages of the water element. Normally I would give her a second chance but seeing as she is passed out, I have no choice but to-"

"Well hold on." Head mage Glenin Ostroch appeared next to the instructor. He leaned his crooked posture on his elegant wooden cane. A brush of wind blew the few remaining long strands of hair on the top of his bald head around like a broken web. His beady black eyes seemed to bulge out of his wrinkled, liver spotted face. "The Demi did indeed construct a new spell," his voice rattled out of his throat.

"Sir," Instructor Jersin dropped his smile and bowed. "Maybe it appeared that way because you were far away, but it was a normal riptide spell to me. She may have hollowed it out, thus forming the whirlpool, but changing shape is hardly-"

"Nonsense," Glenin poked the instructor with his cane. "If that were a mere riptide spell, it would simply pierce through the boulder, but in this case…" He waved his hand, and the mist dispersed, revealing nothing but a line in the dirt from Menla to Travis, no sign of the boulder. "There is nothing left. The attack was blocked."

"But I was attacked," Travis interjected.

Glenin squinted at the boy. "And?"

"W-well that's not a shield." Travis was still pointing over at the unconscious Menla.

"So the new spell is not a shield." Glenin shrugged. "And what is your point? Do you, a first-year student, have anything you wish to tell me about magic?" Travis lowered his head. "A new spell is a new spell. Besides, you can't even block fish oil, how are you expected to handle a basic riptide spell." Travis bit his lip and scowled.

Glenin stroked his beard. "Now that I think about it, the spell has a similar design to those newfangled guns: power was condensed into a fine point which was then propelled with violent force by both the Jet property and Condense characteristic. Curious." He limped over to Menla and a magic circle appeared on the girl's forehead. Her eyes opened. "Tell me Demi, what was your through process for constructing this spell?"

Menla opened and closed her mouth but no sound came out. She reflexively kneeled before him. Olpi awkwardly walked in front of her and whispered some encouragement. "I-I understand s-s-sir." Olpi stepped back and clutched at her pants until her knuckles turned white. "I f-found out that water doesn't like to be c-condensed…" One explanation later, all but the last discovery was explained.

Olpi braced herself to hear about the Riptide property. She had already fabricated a semi-believable story. "Tell me how you found out about guns." Glenin ordered.

"G-guns, sir?" Menla asked.

"Yes, guns, bang sticks, whatever they are called." He insisted. "You must have come to know about them. This spell is just too similar to a bullet. Were you watching the instructors? Was one of them talking about it?"

Olpi and the Demis all looked at each other, confused. Whispers broke out, but none held any answers, only theories.

"W-well," Menla looked over to Olpi. "I just saw people using them, down in the swamp."

Glenin frowned and leaned closer, inches away from Menla's face. "When? Who?"

"Yesterday as I was heading to my room, I saw a boy with dirty blond hair down in the swamp. He kept playing with something and pointing it at things while a man screamed at him. Whenever he pulled the trigger, there was a loud bang. He spent so much time to load it with this sort of black powder but I kept watching and it made another bang. I just didn't know what it was called."

Glenin's frown deepened. "Very well. Instructor Jersin, I ask that you do not become overzealous with your duties. I shall name the spell: Riptide Shield." He turned and vanished.

Instructor Jersin cursed and dragged Travis away while Olpi helped Menla stay steady. "What is this gun thing?" She asked.

"I don't know." Menla shrugged. "I just looked outside and there they were. I kept thinking about how I was going to live and…" Olpi caught her as she fell, coughing again. "I saw them through the doorway."

"Didn't you say window earlier?" Olpi asked, but Menla passed out again. Olpi sighed. Even before she carried Menla down, a new weight pressed down upon her, a debt she must pay. After placing Menla in a bed with questions about the future drifting through her head, she walked down the hall. After passing a couple of windows, she halted.

'Funny,' she thought as she looked at the sea of clouds inches below the window. 'How could she see them through all of this?' She rubbed her chin but continued on to her room, where she took out a quill, ink, and parchment.