Chapter 198: The Naive Hybrid

On the Ebon Realm, within the looming hills of Dusk Valley, lay the Great City of Hollow Shade. The city was known for many things, being the largest trading hub in the realm, its shade-enchanted walls, and the mysterious Ebon Tower, but one little hybrid girl simply knew it as forbidden. To be fair, practically everything was forbidden to her, as per her parents’ orders. But that was all about to change, sort of.

Our little hybrid was little no longer. She had grown up and become an adult, a naive adult. And she was determined to visit the City of Shades. At this point, many might simply write her off as foolish, like a particularly unlucky man, but they would be wrong. She was naive, yes, but not because she was stupid. She had simply been exposed to practically nothing. Her name was Sylvie. Or at least, that was the new name she had decided on this morning.

Growing up, her parents had kept her away from the world, for fear of the dangers that lurked in the dark corners of the realm.

Sylvie had technically lived in a variety of different places, from the beautiful Glimmer Grove Forest to the misty Silent Marshes. Yet she had never gone outside. No, instead her parents had locked her away in one castle or another, forbidding her from ever leaving the castle grounds unless it was to move to another castle in some other place she would never get to really see.

That all ended last week when Sylvie had liberated herself. During one of her transfers from one castle to another, she had escaped her guards and ran off. She bought passage from a nearby ship with some of the coins she had stolen from her father’s treasure chamber. It only took a few days for the boat to reach the docks of Hollow Shade.

Sylvie landed in the city with a happy bounce to her step.

Today, everything was going to change. Sylvie’s parents didn’t believe she was ready for the real world, they didn’t think she had what it took to survive. Today, she was going to prove them wrong.

Sylvie walked through the streets of Hollow Shade with wide eyes, excited at the new sights, and oblivious to the dozens of stares being sent her way. She asked several people for directions and they were all kind enough to point her the right way. At least, she thought they were kind. Completely terrified of being murdered by the 7 ft tall wide-eyed vampiress would have been the more apt description. But Sylvie did not notice the fear etched across the commoners’ faces.

Eventually, after a few hours, Sylvie found her way to the front gate of Hollow Shade’s Academy of Magic. The guards at the gate immediately noticed her expensive cloak and garments. They didn’t even bother asking to see her name-plate and simply let her through.

Sylvie nodded her thanks and jogged up the many marble steps to the looming building in front of her. She took a deep breath and pushed the double doors open. Several more guards waited inside, though they stood still next to the walls. A young human sat behind a desk too big for her.

Sylvie strode over to the secretary and smiled bright, “Hi! My name is, um... Sylvie, yeah! I’d like to apply for a chromatic identity exam. Please.”

The secretary craned her neck up to look at Sylvie’s scarlet eyes, “Well, Miss Sylvie, do you have an appointment?”

“Uh, appointment?”

“Indeed. We only accept aristocrats as walk-ins. Seeing as you did not introduce yourself with a surname, I am going to assume you are of common birth. So, do you have an appointment or not?”

Sylvie wrinkled her brow, “Well, no, you see I just arrived in the city this morning.”

“Then there is nothing I can do for you, good day,” the secretary picked up a few documents and went back to her work.

“W-wait, I have a surname!” Sylvie raised her hands.

The secretary pulled out a feather pen, “May I ask from which Named House?”

“Um…” Sylvie clenched her fists and sighed, “Nevermind.”

The secretary narrowed her eyes, “You’re not supposed to be here, are you?”

“Wha? No, of course, I am. Hahahaaa… Please, don’t tell anyone.”

The secretary stared at her clothes and nodded, “I’ve seen your type before. Rich kids who are too afraid to take the chromatic exam with their parents watching. They are so worried about letting their families down. I had at least a dozen kids come in like you last year.”

“Well, I’m not so sure about that,” Sylvie winced wryly.

The secretary glanced around and whispered, “I’ll tell you what. Slip me five gold coins and I’ll let you take the test.”

“Really?! Only five? Deal!” Sylvie smiled.

She pulled out her fat pouch of coins and handed her the gold.

The secretary shook her head at the amount of gold peeking out of the pouch.

“Rich kids,” she muttered.

“Huh, what was that?” Sylvie asked.

“Nothing. Come on, let me take you to the back.”

Sylvie followed her down several winding corridors. Eventually, she found herself in a small well-lit room. A single table stood in the middle of the room, ten magestone chromatic orbs sat on top. A young orc in student clothes sat on a chair behind the table. She stood up as Sylvie and the secretary entered.

The orc adjusted her large, wide-rimmed glasses and looked Sylve up and down, “Woah, you’re so tall.”

“Perks of being a dire,” Sylvie shrugged with a smile.

“Poppy, this is Sylvie, she’ll be taking the exam now,” said the secretary.

“Yes, ma’am. Please step this way,” Poppy ushered her towards the table.

Sylvie walked over with a small smile, it had been a few years since she had last seen these kinds of orbs.

Poppy cleared her throat and began to explain the nature of the test, “Okay, so…”

~~~

The three women stared at the chromatic orbs and the results of Sylvie’s testing.

The secretary’s jaw went slack, “I don’t believe it…”

“Five colors!? And they’re all a dark shade!” Poppy exclaimed.

“Pretty lucky I guess,” Sylvie smiled abashedly.

“That’s an understatement,” the secretary muttered. “Okay, Poppy, exams are over for the day. Why don’t you give our dear new student a tour of the campus? I’ll go speak with the principal about these results.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Poppy saluted proudly.

“If you need anything, Sylvie, just let me know. I’m at the front desk most of the time. Fortunately, you are just in time for the start of the autumn semester. I’ll arrange for you to start your classes tomorrow. I do hope you enjoy your stay here, have a wonderful afternoon,” the secretary bowed her head and left.

“Huh... I don’t remember her being so nice,” Sylvie furrowed her brow.

“That’s because she didn’t know she was talking to the newest and greatest prodigy of the academy,” Poppy smiled.

“Prodigy?” Sylvie cocked her head to the side.

“Uh, yeah, are you kidding me? You just scored the highest results of anyone since, well, I don’t know, a long ass time, okay?”

“Um, okay?”

“Look, I’ve been testing for a whole year now, I’ve seen all different kinds of different chromatic tints. Most students' chromatic orbs end up with a light shade color, some get a medium shade color, but very few ever have a dark shade. The ones that do are almost all monochromatic mageborns. I’ve never seen a mage with two dark shades, let alone five! You’re a once-in-a-generation-talent!”

Sylvie felt her face grow warm, she grinned, “Hehe, thanks.”

It was nice to be complimented once in a while, albeit a little embarrassing.

“Anyway, I’m Poppy of House Skeller, nice to formally meet you,” she stuck out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Sylvie, just Sylvie, nice to meet you too,” she smiled and shook her hand.

“Well, just Sylvie, let me show you around campus,” Poppy pulled her hand and led her out into the halls.

~~~

Poppy spent the next hour showing Sylvie around several of the academy’s buildings, including the library. Sylvie was amazed by all of it. Most of the students were in class, but that was fine. Sylvie was more than happy to just look around. Everything was new to her and she loved every second.

As they walked out of the library, Poppy frowned.

“Uh oh, the clouds are gone,” she sighed.

“What’s wrong with that?” Sylvie blinked.

“Well, the sun. Aren’t vampires sensitive to sunlight? You get sunburned real easily and your eyes don’t work very well or something?”

“Yeah, they are,” Sylvie nodded.

“...Sooo, shouldn’t you put up your hood at least?”

“Hm? Oh! No, I’m half-human. The sun doesn’t bother me, actually, I quite like it,” Sylvie smiled.

“Wait, you’re a hybrid?” Poppy stopped walking.

“Yeah.” Sylvie opened her mouth and curled back her lip, revealing her teeth. “See how my two fangs are smaller than usual?”

“Uh, no. I don’t think anything about a dire is smaller than usual.”

Sylvie closed her mouth, “Hm, well, when I was younger it was easier to tell.”

“I believe you.” Poppy sighed in wonderment, “So, you’re an penta-manifold mageborn, a dire, and a hybrid? Damn, talk about hoarding the talent.”

“Am I really that unusual?” Sylvie frowned.

“Duh. But being unique isn’t a bad thing. Everyone wants to be special.”

“I never really thought of my magical abilities as being unique or special… My dad used to say I was talented, but my mom always said I shouldn’t be vain with my abilities.”

“Your mom sounds like my aunt Celica. Always scolding me for using my magic to impress people at parties. I say screw ‘em. Who cares if we use our magic, it’s our magic. We can do whatever we want with it. Wait a sec, you knew about your magic before today?”

“Yeah, I’ve had some training too,” Sylvie admitted with a wry smile.

“Then why did you come here?”

“Well, I’ve been training for the past couple of years at home. I mean, it’s fine, but I always wanted to go to a real magic academy, you know what I mean?”

“Definitely, home life sucks. You gotta act all pretty and polite when guests come over and the next thing you know they’re trying to marry you off,” Poppy grimaced.

“That sounds horrible.”

“Meh, that’s how it usually goes, arranged marriages are pretty common around here. But who cares, we’re magi now! And while I can’t say you’ve joined the best magic academy in the Ebon Realm, I can say you’ve joined the wealthiest. Which means tons of amenities. Just wait until you try out our new in-door hot springs.”

“Oooh, that sounds nice.”

“Trust me, you have no idea,” Poppy laughed. “And, Sylvie?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t worry too much about being different. Soon enough every student is going to talk about you. Hollow Shade’s academy’s own prodigy. Trust me, word gets around fast at school.”

“How is that supposed to make me not worry? Now I just feel more worried,” Sylvie swallowed.

“Well, you shouldn’t be. You’re not the only vampire-human hybrid either.”

“There are more?” Sylvie asked excitedly.

“Yeah, Callum of House Veres.”

“As in the Ruling Family?”

“The one and only! He’s smart, talented, rich, and he’s a hottie too, what’s not to like?” Poppy grinned.

“Do you know him?”

“Um, not exactly. We’re both 3rd years, but we’ve never been in the same class. But I’ve seen him around. He should be at the academy’s field right now.”

“Why do you know where he is?”

Poppy laughed awkwardly, “Hey, don’t look at me like that. There are only four 3rd year classes. And his class is like the VIP class, all the best students are in there. Anyways, it’s pretty easy to keep track of a class’ communal courses if you check the class schedules, in this case, physical education.”

“Interesting, can we go see them?”

Poppy smirked, “I knew you’d be interested in the hottie.”

“It’s not like that. I just wanna see the academy’s field.”

“Sure, you do.”

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t believe me?”

Poppy put a finger to her lips and winked, “Do you wanna hear the gossip of the class or not?”

“I guess?”

“Great! Okay, remember I said that class is special?”

“Those weren’t your exact words…”

“Yeah, whatever, you know what I mean. Get this, Callum Veres isn’t the only Ruling Family member in that class. They’ve got Freya of House Goldelm too! You’ve probably heard of her, she is the most popular girl in school. She’s super pretty, smart, and one of the most powerful students. All the boys adore her and so do a lot of the girls. Freya is literally like the golden standard for the girls here, pun intended. Rumor has it that she and Callum used to be an item.”

”An item?” Sylvie frowned.

“A couple, dating, and whatever term country bumpkins use. Where are you from again?”

“Um, a lot of places. It’s pretty boring really. Ahem, so are there any other interesting people in that class?”

Poppy smirked, “You have no idea.”