Elias and Kiran stepped out of workshop 104-F, their clothes stained with scorch marks, wisps of smoke curling off Elias's sleeves.
"That," Kiran huffed, brushing soot off his shoulder, "was a terrible idea."
Elias rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Oh, come on. It almost worked."
"Almost worked?" Kiran repeated, incredulous. "You almost burned the whole room down! And I almost lost my eyebrows!"
Elias grinned, unbothered. "Yeah, but the theory was sound."
Kiran threw his hands in the air. "Oh, sure. Great theory. Really solid. Let's just hurl raw fire into a mana conductor and see what happens!"
Elias shrugged. "How else are we supposed to learn?"
"Without dying, preferably."
Their bickering continued as they walked down the hall, the scent of charred air still clinging to them. It wasn't until Elias's stomach let out a loud, desperate growl that their argument came to an abrupt halt.
Kiran snorted. "Okay, yeah. That's our cue to get food before you start trying to cook that with magic, too."
Elias grumbled something under his breath but didn't argue.
As they turned toward the exit, Elias spotted a familiar figure ahead—Hush, walking with quick, heavy steps, heading straight for the doorway leading outside.
Elias raised a hand to wave, about to call out—
But Kiran grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"Wait," Kiran murmured.
Elias turned back, confused—until he saw what Kiran had noticed.
Hush's face was set in a hard, unreadable mask.
His usual air of detachment was gone, replaced with something else entirely—his jaw tight, his eyes cold, his entire posture screaming barely restrained frustration.
And he didn't even glance at them.
He just kept walking, his footsteps heavy, his aura dark and bordering on volatile.
Kiran watched him go. "Well, that's new."
Elias frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. "What's gotten into him?"
"No idea," Kiran muttered. "But that is not a guy I want to bother right now."
Elias hesitated for a second longer, watching as Hush disappeared through the exit.
But then his stomach growled again, even louder than before.
Kiran gave him a flat look.
"Yeah, okay, food first," Elias admitted.
By the time they stepped out into the open courtyard, the sun was setting, painting the academy in hues of orange and gold. Kiran stretched, rolling his shoulders. "I cannot believe we were in there for that long."
Elias smirked. "Time flies when you're on the brink of magical disaster."
Kiran gave him a deadpan stare. "Yeah. Real fun. Love living in constant fear of explosions."
Elias grinned, but before he could say anything, something caught his attention.
A crowd had gathered near the center of the courtyard.
A large one.
Students stood clustered together, whispering, watching something unfold.
Kiran paused, tilting his head. "What's going on there?"
Before either of them could consider approaching, the ground rumbled.
Suddenly, a mass of vines erupted from the earth, twisting into the air like a living, writhing tower.
Elias took an instinctive step back, his eyes widening.
At the very top, ensnared in the vines, a boy struggled.
He kicked and squirmed, yelling down at the crowd below.
"YOU'RE ALL GONNA PAY FOR THIS! I SWEAR IT! I'LL—"
Whatever else he said was lost beneath the sound of laughter.
Elias blinked.
Students in the crowd were either chuckling or walking away without a second glance, as if this was nothing new.
Some lingered for a moment longer before quickly hurrying off after someone else—a girl, who was walking away from the scene without so much as a glance back.
Elias and Kiran exchanged a look.
"…What the hell did we just walk into?" Kiran muttered.
Elias didn't answer, his gaze instead following the movement of the departing crowd—or more specifically, the girl leading them.
Aeryn.
She strode away without a word, her posture unbothered, almost casual, as if the scene behind her was nothing worth her concern.
Kiran smirked, shaking his head. "Well, guess it's not just you causing trouble this early."
Elias let out a short huff of laughter, glancing once more at the boy still tangled in vines, shouting and cursing at no one who cared.
"…Yeah," he said, turning away. "Guess not."
With that, the two continued on toward the mess hall, leaving behind the commotion, the laughter, and the boy's increasingly indignant shouts.
Elias and Kiran arrived at the mess hall, their stomachs leading the way. As soon as they stepped inside, the low hum of conversation and the clatter of plates filled the air—but one exchange stood out louder than the rest.
Near the center of the hall, Kaelen and Martice were bickering.
"—You can't just use time magic that way!" Kaelen was saying, exasperation clear in his voice. "It's not some convenient tool you can slap onto every problem!"
Martice crossed his arms, unimpressed. "Why not? If I had access to your magic, I'd be efficient with it. No wasted time, no second-guessing. Just fix the problem and move on."
Kaelen groaned, rubbing his temples. "That's not how it works. There are rules, consequences—"
"Then change the rules," Martice shot back.
Kaelen looked positively offended.
Elias and Kiran exchanged glances before casually sliding into the seats across from them.
"So… what are we fighting about?" Kiran asked, lazily picking up a roll from a nearby plate.
Martice scoffed. "Nothing major, just a fundamental difference in philosophy regarding the use of time magic."
Kaelen sighed. "He thinks pausing time on an exam to look up the answers wouldn't be cheating."
Kiran blinked. "Oh." He turned to Martice. "really?"
Martice raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Elias, very not invested in a debate about time magic ethics, had already started eating, nodding along to whatever nonsense was being said while focusing on his plate. Kiran, while mildly intrigued, didn't have the energy to spare getting too involved with their heated debate.
The argument continued in exhausting detail—Kaelen listing every possible way abusing time magic could backfire, Martice countering with increasingly absurd hypotheticals—but Elias and Kiran had long since tuned them out, making quick work of their meals.
When the two had finished, Elias stretched. "Well, this was... I'm heading back to the dorms."
Kiran stood as well. "Yeah, I can only take so much theoretical wizardry crime in one sitting."
Kaelen and Martice barely acknowledged them as they left, too caught up in their debate to notice their audience had departed.
After parting ways with Elias, Kiran strolled through the dormitory halls, ready to crash for the night. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.
Just outside his dorm, Kiran found Bohdi hunched over a large sheet of parchment, muttering darkly to himself while sketching something with deep concentration. The candlelight cast dramatic shadows across his face, making him look like a mad scientist on the verge of a breakthrough.
Kiran stopped. "Should I even ask?"
Bohdi glanced up, eyes gleaming with mischief. "You're just in time. I'm working on a masterpiece."
Kiran sighed. "Do I even want to know?"
"Probably not," Bohdi admitted, leaning back with a grin. "But since you're here, let me paint you a picture. I've been unjustly imprisoned—cut off from the joys of free movement, shackled by the tyranny of house arrest—so obviously, I must retaliate."
Kiran blinked. "By doing what, exactly?"
Bohdi's grin widened. "Making life mildly inconvenient for literally everyone."
Kiran pinched the bridge of his nose. "Of course you are."
"See, the real punishment isn't that I can't leave—it's that they expect me to sit here quietly and take it." Bohdi gestured dramatically at his parchment, which was covered in a series of meticulously drawn diagrams. "So, I'm going to be as petty as humanly possible. Just small things. Annoying things. Doors that creak at the worst possible moments. Shoes mysteriously tied together. Spontaneous, inexplicable gusts of wind knocking over ink bottles. The occasional illusory face in a window at night."
Kiran stared at him. "You're waging a passive-aggressive war on the faculty."
Bohdi smirked. "The pettiest rebellion the academy has ever seen."
"…Why does it seem like you've done this before?"
"I am but a humble student of chaos."
Kiran shook his head. "You're an idiot."
"And yet, a free-spirited idiot," Bohdi shot back, smug. "Anyway, I don't expect you to understand, oh loyal follower of rules and reason."
Kiran raised a brow. "I literally got dragged to the administrator's office earlier today."
"Yes, but not for anything fun." Bohdi leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand. "See, that's the problem with you, Kiran. You get into trouble on accident. I get into trouble on purpose."
"I'm going to bed," Kiran announced, deciding it was far too late for this conversation.
"Suit yourself. But mark my words, by sunrise, the Academy will be but a shadow of its former self."
Kiran rolled his eyes as he stepped into his dorm, tossing his uniform onto the nearest chair before collapsing onto his bed. Whatever nonsense Bohdi was planning, he was sure to hear about it by morning. With that last thought, he drifted off to sleep, bracing himself for whatever disaster awaited them next.