I wake up another morning to the sunlight streaming into my conveniently placed room. The feeling is so familiar, yet feels so foreign the second I open my eyes. I'm not in my comfortable place in the castle. I can't just leave the walls of my room behind and go gallivanting around the city. I let a sigh escape the confines of my soul.

No, I'm in school. Liken Academy of all places. The crown jewel of Raekoft.

'Why am I here?' I ask myself despite knowing the answer.

All the royal children go to Liken. Its become a tradition at this point. So, I'm stuck, spending four years in Liken Academy only to be trapped under Kalim's thumb the second I leave. How irritating.

I dreaded my first day here. Students swarmed me as I walked through the Academy gates, which were to be expected yet it never felt so draining before. These people must think they finally have a chance to speak to me as an equal! To finally wriggle their way into my 'inner circle'! To finally be friends with the prince of Raekoft!

How exhausting.

It's always the same thing with these people. I thought that only their parents would act like this but no, it runs in the family. It runs in every family.

I mean, I like the company but like, why can't any of you guys have a backbone? Always asking me all the questions and never questioning a thing I say. If I wanted a pet, I would have gotten one myself. All the practised smiles and bows and little gestures of kindness make their appearance again. Funny how much these people really follow their parents. Or I guess it should be tragic that I can't pick out a single positive difference?

I pull myself off the bed and dress in the school-issued black undershirt and open my room door. The corridors remain silent for now, but that is to be expected. Suddenly, a door opens from the front of the hall. Relqis sleepily emerges from her room wearing her own black undershirt.

It suits her.

"Good morning Leyna. You're up early, I see," I say with a small smile.

I watch as Leyna goes stiff, turns and reciprocates with a small smile of her own.

"Good morning, Prince Malik," she replies.

Her response is one of the better-practised ones I've seen, which makes sense. Her father owes a lot to my family. I make a gesture to get her to follow me, which she reluctantly obeys, deciding to walk behind me slowly.

"A bit odd to have us wake up so early after what we went through tomorrow hm? Think its another test?" I ask

"It could be. I wouldn't know. My father never told me about the...the Uhm, proceedings, of the school" she replies.

Knowing the proceedings of the school before entering would be a breach of trust. She saved herself and her father quite well. I nod my head in agreement, not willing to expend the effort to keep up the conversation. I continue making my way to the toilets with Relqis shifting uncomfortably behind me.

We move closer to the toilets before- what is that sound?

As we move closer, it evident that someone is already preparing in his or herself in the sink. I sneak a glance at Relqis and witness the confused expression on her face as competition comes to her so early in the morning when she least expects it. She's always been competitive but it's a shame she never is around me. We could have been good friends.

We quickly turn the corner and are faced with the back of-

"Ritz?" exclaims Leyna.

"Oh, good morning," he groggily replies while manoeuvring his toothbrush in predetermined actions. He has not turned to even look at the both of us. I look to my left again and realise Relqis has vanished into the women's side of the toilets, eager to regain whatever lead she had left. I turn back to Dravus and can't help but smile at his effort.

Despite the nonchalance in his greeting, he has been keenly observing his surroundings since the moment I left my room. His eyes dart to the corners of the mirror, keeping an eye on me and Relqis. His head is turned slightly to pick up when anyone else would be leaving their rooms.

For him to be on high alert so early into the semester is admirable, if not a futile effort. Ironically, trying so hard to take in his surroundings at all times means that he's been performing the same two movements for over three minutes now.

"Hey, Prince Malik, are you going to take a shower?"

I crease my eyebrows in confusion.

"I didn't think I smelled that bad," I reply with another one of my smiles. Dravus spits out the leftover toothpaste in his mouth and taps his toothbrush on the edge of the sink. "I mean, there are only six stalls in there."

He turns and starts walking out the entrance only to briefly stop next to me.

"You better hurry before the rest wake up," he advises before walking away and back into his own room. There was a strange bitterness to his words as he said them. Yesterday's experiment must have given him some trouble. I didn't intend for anything to happen to him but I have that annoying effect. The experiment was, unexpectantly, a success. Once I broke off from the group to talk to Dravus, the other students following me started hesitating. Better to keep him around while I can.

As expected of class 1-A, the students got up in time and ready for class. We were all made to line up in front of Ruikan

"Good afternoon students. You've all done well getting here in time,"

Ruikan is our teacher for most of our classes as I just learned. I can only assume Kalim has some influence in this matter.

"Since you've all been introduced to one another we can begin our lessons promptly. As your combat teacher, we would start by learning on the basics of magic control."

My mind slowly starts to tune out Ruikan's script as do the rest of the students. To my knowledge, each class has their own little dojo for practical lessons. They usually consists of the things you would expect in a dojo like combat dummies, rubber mats for sparring, hollow weapons and even poly orbs.

The dojo itself is fairly standard, if not a little smaller than what I'm used to.

"Any questions?"

That was fast. That was unusually fast. I glance at the other students who seem just as surprised. They might have some crazy expectations for us.

"Right, now grab a poly orb and space yourselves. I'll be taking note of your performance for future reference."

I look down to see a pile of poly orbs at his feet, already primed and ready. So we're doing a standard magic control test. Well, a standard for most of us at least. There is a good chance that most other students in this school have never seen a poly orb before. Kalim however, has always made me practice with these damn things. I can still feel my arms tearing apart. I glance at my other classmates and see them standing stiff, none of them wanting to take an orb from under Ruikan's intimidating gaze. I decide to take the initiative and take a poly orb for myself.

"My prince, that was awfully quick of you," Ruikan remarks.

"Shut it, Ruikan" I whisper, just loud enough to try and counter his snide comment personally. Of course, a small smirk is all I get. The other students quickly follow my lead, eager to show off their own skills on such a basic test.

Poly orbs were created almost decades ago for Raekoft's War of Attrition. They were such a game-changer in the war that we continued their use to this day. Once primed to the user's specifications, they can absorb magic in a certain radius to a specified strength. A lot of magic users buy these things as an endurance test to check and improve their control of magic. The palm-sized ball in my hand are of excellent quality, obviously made to last instead of having too much functionality.

I walk over to an empty space and activate the orb with the push of a button. It starts levitating at the predetermined height and I stand about an arm's length away. I take a deep breath and let my magic flow through me. I manipulate the air around me and focus. A concentrated stream should be enough to bypass the orb's current strength. I take a deep breath and go through the gestures, slowly allowing for the stream of air to orbit around the orb. Using just my hand should be enough, with my fingers maintaining a slow and controlled circular motion.

I've done this test a countless number of times before, Ruikan watching from afar included. I relax my arms and look again at the rest of my classmates. They all seem relatively used to this as well, with some of them struggling to hold on. As expected of class 1-A soon enough, most of the students here manage to orbit their orb with their own spectacle of magic. I look at Relqis to see her looking almost bored with her bright red magic swirling around her poly orb. The trick is to manoeuvre around the orb instead of overpowering i-

A shiver halts my thoughts and invades my spine. I pinpoint the source of the magic and find a huge black cloud forming around Dravus. The poly orb is sucking in his magic like a vortex and Dravus is struggling to hold on. He plates his arms with the armour he used in his exhibition match but...it's not going to help him. His face contorts into one of struggle and anguish. Ruikan slowly walks up to him with a sceptical expression.

"Are you having some trouble there Ritz?" Ruikan questions as the plating on Ritz's arms crack and falter. The rest of my classmates take their attention off of their test to witness the desperate struggle from Ritz.

His hands start shaking as his fingers lock-up, trying to get a hold on his magic. I hear the snickers and giggles from the other students as they continue to watch Dravus struggle. It must be hilarious for them. Ritz finally regains control of his magic as the smoke stops and hovers over the orb. The moment of triumph passes almost immediately as Dravus winces in pain and recoils, holding his hands close to his chest. His hands refuse to stop shaking as Ritz tries to stabilise himself. His heavy breathing prompt Ruikan to steady Dravus and directs him to sit on the floor.

"That was a good effort Ritz but I expect to see a significant improvement soon."

Ruikan is doing his job as a teacher but the lack of any surprise on his face tells me he was expecting failure from Dravus already. I guess I wasn't really surprised either. Most of the time, normal citizens don't even see poly orbs. Unless something big happens. I've seen the soldier use their own poly orbs before. It was always...a nightmare.

"Head to the infirmary Ritz. Please come back in a timely fashion. The rest of you, take a short break before we continue our lesson" instructs Ruikan.

Hmph, I never thought I would hear the words "short break" come out of Ruikan's mouth. As Ritz slowly pulls himself up, I get swarmed by the rest of my classmates.

"Wow, that was great Prince Malik!"

"How did you do that?"

"That was a near-perfect performance!"

Annoying. I laugh off their comments as I get overwhelmed by questions and chortles. I peek over the group and see Dravus conveniently on his own. Some students come rushing over to me but stop, careful to avoid Dravus with an annoyed look on their face. I guess my hypothesis is correct. I push past the students and quickly walk over to Dravus.

"Hey Ritz, let me help you out. I'll direct you to the infirmary." I look behind me and see the swarm hesitating to approach. I need to make the most of this!

"I'll be back quick Mr Ruikan!" I say as I look over at Ruikan for approval. Ruikan raises an eyebrow but nods his head nonetheless. I look over at Ritz with a smile on my face only to be greeted with a blank look. I back off just a tiny bit in surprise. I can't read anything from his expression. Nothing. No embarrassment, no nervousness, no happiness no...nothing. The little bit that I can gather is how much pain he's currently in but anyone can see that. I tilt my head and try to gather my bearings.

"Come on, I know where the infirmary is. I'll bring you there." I say. I wait for a slight moment before an awkward smile forms on his face. "Thanks," is his reply. "No problem," I say as I try my hardest not to drop my smile. I start moving in the direction of the infirmary with Dravus following closely behind. Once I make my way out of the dojo, I try to enact my plan. I move slightly back to walk in tandem with Ritz. He looks up to me with a questioning look on his face which catches me off-guard once again.

"Hey Ritz, you didn't do too well back there huh?" I ask. He looks away for a moment before nodding. "I'm not used to the training that they do here."

"I see. That's a shame. Hey, if you need any help, don't hesitate to ask me any questions. I can help you out." Gives me an excuse to avoid the crowds. Just a few moments of me teaching the most basic of fundamentals to someone as quiet as him as the rest of the class avoid us completely. Sure, it won't last long, but if this becomes some sort of friendship...I could stretch it as far as I want.

"What do you say, Ritz?" I ask. I look over to Ritz and find him looking back.

"That would be nice. Thank you, my prince" he says with a smile.