Drawing on the energy flowing through the world pulse Karius cast his hands out in front of him, and a giant plume of fire came into being, killing the captured Arc Jumper instantly. A laugh escaped his lips and he stood up tall. He was the number one pupal at the lone academy left to humanity. Karius was a famous figure at the academy, something he knew would change shortly. If rumors were to be believed. He was actually looking forward to it. He had pale skin, grey eyes and almost pale blonde almost grey hair like most of the humans of this world. He worked hard to keep himself clean like most of the male students here. The female students, however, tended to be filthy, as if hoping their unkempt appearances would help discourage the attention of the male students. All female students at the witch level were subject to the same laws of females everywhere. He wondered if this policy was to help birth more children with magical potential, that those same girls became "men" in the eyes of the rules here if they reached channeler, probably was meant to be a carrot for the female sex. A sex which had miserable magical potential among humanity for reasons unknown to him.

The location of this academy, it's existence even, was secret. It was actually an ancient fortress built on some island in the middle of a sea or ocean somewhere on Althos , a frontier palace and fort once held by the long dead Grey King. When humanity was cursed and mankind realized it’s ramifications, before they lost control of the known world, they made preparations for humanity’s collapse.

This place was intentionally left nameless. It once had a name, under the reign of the old king, but that name was removed and mankind erased this island from every map they could locate. It was the work of decades to hide this place from the rest of the world, and to set up the “academy” to rebuild man’s now dead knowledge of magic.

During those decades’ humanity gathered all magical knowledge that existed in the falling kingdom and stored it here in the academy. That was how it was learned about what happened to the human wizards the grey king took away. When the grey king lived he actually didn’t kill the human mages. He had sheltered them in Erindalle in the Sky, the sky castle of the Dragon King. The reason for this action wasn’t revealed in any documents so it become one of the biggest subjects of debate for the students and faculty here.

He was actually trying to work out his excitement. He had heard a little something from some of the teachers that lead him to believe that something life changing might be happening soon in the academy. They were supposed to be getting new students soon, and one of them was supposed to be immune to the curse.

He was actually thrilled just thinking about it. He knew what it meant to be immune to the curse. It could mean the student was the reborn dragon king.

He looked around the courtyard. There were plenty of sycophants smiling and watching his training. He had no time for these people, if they were so interested in his excellence they should be training to match him not praise him. Frankly he had to admit a few of the witches in training were turning his head today. Usually those miserable girls were too busy scuttling around in the corners and huddling away from the main student body, or squealing under one of their fellow students. He didn’t like their lack of spirit, so he usually had nothing but ill thoughts about those failures.

However, it seemed that word must have leaked out about someone important coming because those miserable wretches were braving the pale daylight with their faces uncovered and hair done as if hoping to catch a husband.

If the witches knew then that meant pretty much everyone knew. He was a little miffed about that. He wanted to slip his way into the greeting party with the faculty, and make a positive impression on the Grey King. He wanted this curse gone, if the price meant living his life in Erindalle in the Sky he’d pay it gladly. Actually considering what life was like for humanity outside this academy, he would prefer living in Erindalle in the Sky as a slave over leaving here when his training was done. Before learning the Grey King might be returning he had worked himself half to death trying to impress the faculty so an offer of a permanent professorship might be offered.

It might have been wishful thinking, he would never reach the level of a Grand Channeler, which seemed to be the cutting off point for faculty. His elemental affinity just wasn’t good enough. No matter how deep his insights into the glyph, no matter how high his knowledge became, he was probably going to top out at Channeler.

The school ranked magic potential in how you could manipulate the energy of the pulse of the world. The lowest levels were the warlocks and witches. They could manipulate the energy only in themselves, or with complex rituals others to a limited extent. Once someone could manipulate the energy in something or someone else, either by touch or without touch you were a Channeler. Grand Channelers were people who could affect areas. Wizards could affect cities, maybe even destroy one on a limited scale with a big enough ritual. Grand Wizards could DESTROY a city with a flick of a wrist. Or affect the area of a continent with a ritual on a ley line. This was typically the maximum potential for a human. Other races could produce yet more powerful individuals. Fairies and Kindred both could reach the next level of “Sorcerer”.

Something happens to the magic channeled by a sorcerer, from what he understood the actual area a sorcerer could affect isn’t really all that different from a grand wizard. However, the magic of every single magic user under the level of sorcerer no longer affects a sorcerer or the magic the sorcerer casts. He heard it described as the difference between a grand wizard and a sorcerer was the sorcerer was “accepted” by the pulse of the world, where as the grand wizard was not. As a result, a sorcerer could do things with magic that a wizard cannot. There had only been 3 acknowledged grand sorcerers in the world’s history. They had all been dragons. The lone surviving one is the Dragon king, ruling in Erindalle in the Sky. Grand Sorcerers were creatures who existed beyond comprehension. Close to the existence of a god. Calling them demi-gods would not be inaccurate. Even the grey king never reached the level of a grand sorcerer.

Of course even thinking about becoming a Grand Channeler was likely wishful thinking for him. He might have had unmatched knowledge of the glyph form; he might have had a lot of theoretical knowledge of magic. But he simply didn’t have the right “affinity” with the world. The pulse of the world would not merge with him enough to reach that level. It was frustrating that such a thing be depended upon birth. Still, he was luckier than most. Maybe 1 in 100 humans could even become a warlock or witch. Of those who could get to that point only 1 in 10 could reach each level beyond that. Meaning he was one in 1,000. Which meant he was one of just 8 channelers amongst the students here in this academy. While the faculty was at least at the grand channeler level. Of course those numbers were only accurate for males. Females on the other hand had terrible potential. if 1 in 1000 witches became a channeler that might be considered a good result. As a result there were no women among the faculty here.

There was just one grand wizard amongst all of humanity. He was the headmaster of this facility, though his flame of life burning out had robbed him of that level, he was now known as the Grand Sage Eldridge, the title of sage was only given to Wizards or grand wizards if their life flame burnt down and they lost touch with the pulse of the world. It was believed that their insights in the glyph were unmatched so they still carried the respect of their former power.

It was the Sage who was bringing the grey king. The sage held an important position in Karius’s heart. He had been struggling to make the leap from Warlock to Channeler when a single lecture given by the sage helped enlighten him enough to make that leap. A small part of his heart still hoped some further enlightenment might help him reach a level beyond his potential. He knew it wasn’t impossible. Eldridge’s own potential had only been that of wizard yet he found a key of enlightenment to leap a level beyond his birth potential.

Glancing at the blood red orb in the sky, he gave up on training and made his way to the entrance hall. Soon the sun would be aligned with moon and the ley lines would swell and allow transportation to this academy. He could barely conceal his excitement.