THE APPLE OF SNAKES

ix. bell

After two days of eating and sleeping and completing tasks, Nerluce's lessons at Ethera began. Half of the day was dedicated to their academic studies - great literature, mathematics, history - while the other half was dedicated to the study and practice of magick.

The academic classes had been... well Nerluce wasn't really sure. He'd spent most of his time daydreaming and passing notes with Lyana. They'd gotten snapped at more than a couple of times but Nerluce found it well worth it. He didn't have the attention span for reading or memorizing and math just didn't make sense. Academics was just so needlessly complicated.

At lunch - and really all meals at this point - they were encouraged to sit with their roommates. The idea was to form bonds with them. Nerluce thought it might be working. Maybe. Nerluce certainly wasn't talking to anyone from his own clan though two were in the dorm across the hall from him.

"I heard we're gonna have a really famous magickian as our teacher," Lyana said, using a spoon to scoop up her chicken since she didn't know how to use chopsticks. "She's supposed to be a bitch though."

"Is she pretty?" Nerluce hummed.

"That's what you're concerned about?" the ringleader of the girls from a couple of nights prior asked. Since then Nerluce had learned her name was Jurine and she was sharp in more than one way. "One of the most talented fire magickians in the world is teaching us and you want to know if she's attractive?"

Nerluce grinned. "Yeah."

"Probably," Lyana said. "I wonder what the teachers for the other affinities are like," Lyana said. "I wish I could go to all the classes but this temple's so traditionalist they wouldn't let me." She stuck out her tongue.

"Training in more than one element can make you weaker in both," Eko said, rolling their eyes.

"I wish we at least got to pick what element we could train in," Nerluce whined, throwing his head back. "I'd choose earth so that I could lay in the dirt all day and become more in sync with the element, you know?"

"Idiot!" Jurine said, hitting his arm. The two other girls giggled and even Lyana - the filthy traitor - cracked a smile. "Those techniques that are meant for you to become more in 'sync' are just a load of nonsense. All you'd be doing was getting dirty!"

"What, really?" Nerluce asked, eyes widening.

He had spent a good portion of his life training with those techniques. He was meant to become like fire but... well he was a good-for-nothing student and a good-for-nothing flame.

"I've never heard of those techniques," Lyana said with a shrug. "My abilities have always come easily for me so..." She laughed a bit, rubbing the back of her neck. "I just wanna learn how to create fire out of thin air!"

"That's impossible," the yellow-haired boy cut in, even though he was very much not a part of their conversation. "You can't create something from nothing. The greatest magickians can turn heat magick turned into fire magick. But it requires discipline."

"That's not true," Nerluce said.

The yellow-haired boy turned a ferocious glare upon him. "Oh? And are you already so skilled you can do it?"

"Gods no!" Nerluce said, standing up and stretching. "But I do know that fire magick has nothing to do with discipline. It's risk and reward - the wilder you are, the more you feel, the more you feed the fire and the bigger it burns."

The yellow-haired boy scoffed, but Lyana's eyes were wide as she looked at Nerluce. "Woah!" she said. "I didn't think you were smart!"

Nerluce pressed his hand to his chest and, probably much too loudly exclaimed, "You wound my heart, young mistress! How can you be so cruel?"