CHECKMATE.

ANYA.

Being instantly found out by the top-student and Schaken wasn't....ideal to say the least. But there wasn't particularly much I could do. The last thing I was going to do was tell my mother about this slip in the plan because knowing her she'd want me back home right away.

No. I can use this.

The prince may think he's smart but deep down he's definitely gullible. After all, if he was stupid enough to believe his mother, he's stupid enough to be a tool for me. But that was a concern for another day.

It was my first day of academics at Schaken.

As I sat down for breakfast in the vast and expansive dining hall, I couldn't help but look around at everyone with perplexing confusion. Just a day ago these people were on the verge of losing their lives, and yet somehow were able to just laugh and smile like nothing was wrong? If I were them I'd rather die. I couldn't believe that their brain functioning was so flawed that they couldn't see the issue. Killing them all seems more like an act of mercy to me if that was the truth of their existence.
"I can't believe how relaxed everyone is." I turned to Ezra in surprise, their face fumbled with similar confusion at everyone's behaviour. Their green eyes were scanning the area thoughtfully, disposition similar to mine.
Huh. Maybe I was wrong....
No. Mother was never wrong. This was probably just a coincidence.
Trying to conceal my surprise, I nodded, fiddling with my food next to them.
"Yeah. It's weird how everyone's able to move on from near-death experiences like that."
"I'm sure it might have something to do with the fact that most of these kids here are high society." They grumbled, taking a spoonful of porridge into their mouth. "Elites here think they run the place. Probably explains their lack of fear at initiation too, narcissism really is something I suppose. I couldn't imagine thinking that way, light magic sorcerers really are something el-"
They dropped their spoon, green eyes sparkling as their cheeks turned red.
I rolled my eyes. A crush.
My gaze aligned with theirs, meeting the face of a pale skinned east asian girl, her long brown hair covering her face as she fiddled with her glasses, a little blonde poodle following her every move. Judging by her attire, she was probably a light magic sorcerer, apparent by the red, white and gold accents on her combat outfit. Still though, in spite of her reserved nature, she appeared to carry two dual-wielding blades, a fairly offensive weapon.
Strange, strange indeed.
Ezra, clearly not noticing my skepticism, shook my shoulders violently, eyes still fixed on the girl.
"Do you know who she is???"
I shook my head, already so over this. Just seconds ago they were talking about how much they despised light sorcerers: why the sudden change?
"That's Imai Makoto." Zaid interjected, clearly finished with his morning seeds. Since Ezra's pet snake needed a more....gorier diet, Amity was set to have all her meals in our room. To be honest, the thought of a snake cannibalising a frail animal in our room made me sick.
I glanced at Zaid quizzically. "How do you know that?"
"I flew around the entire campus, just to give you a heads up so it's easier to make new friends!" Zaid chirped, clearly looking for a sense of approval. I smiled, patting his head, the ebony feathers surprisingly soft.
"That's....awfully kind of you. Thank you, Zaid."
"Imai....." Ezra sighed dreamily, still staring at the girl. Their gushing was distracting me from my schemes, so reluctantly I tried to engage with them in conversation.
"So you're into girls?"
Almost instantly changing their tune they frowned, turning to face me. "That a problem?"
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intimidated enough to immediately shake my head.
"N-no. Actually, I like them too. I'm asexual but I like girls romantically. Though, I don't only like them."
At my response Ezra immediately relaxed themself, a warm smile returning. "Oh. Sorry about that. I'm kinda used to people making jokes at my expense when it comes to me being lesbian, especially since I'm also nonbinary."
I nodded, for once with full honesty and understanding. Being a Pakistani Muslim and figuring out you like girls is like being a chicken in a poultry farm- you're going to get cooked. My mother was always kind of neutral on the subject - when you're being trained to annihilate an entire realm romance isn't a priority - but I've definitely had to hide my biromanticism in more then one situation before, and it was certainly saddening to say the least. Still, it was strange to me that they had such a universal experience, especially since they and other severors were supposed to be inherently unable to feel the way that humans do. Maybe it was just morning blues or me trying to fit in, but I found myself saying words I'd never expect.
"Do you want me to help you with Imai? She seems like a nice girl."
Ezra's eyes lit up, green sparks going off.
"Would you really??"
Against my better judgement, I nodded.
"Yeah. I wouldn't call myself Frederic's....friend, but I am acquainted with him. I could use him to get to her."
Ezra grinned, clearly excited at my proposal.
"You're the best, Anya. God, I can't wait to talk to her...." She trailed off again, staring listlessly at Imai. I followed her gaze, but my eyes were not on the girl. Instead they were fixed on him, glaring at him and his pretty face, realising this was my best way to keep my eyes on him.
Yeah.
Her.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————
"Welcome to your first lesson, Dark Sorcerers!"
A muscular man with dark hair and a goatee approached us, tattoos all over his arms and covered in piercings. He wore dark overalls and gloves, grinning at each of us and giving us high fives as we walked into the room. When I first realised that me and Ezra had barely any classes together and we only worked with Light Sorcerers in our last lesson, I was relieved. To me that meant I finally had time to scheme to myself. But taking one look at this teacher and his rancid vibes told me otherwise.
"Good morning Mr. Diaz!" Zaid croaked, causing me to do the same. The teacher chuckled, his bare chest lightly vibrating with each hearty laugh.
"Good morning to you too. Glad to see some eagerness here, but leave introductions to me. Take your seat."
I could feel my face burning red as the severor students giggled. God.
I hated school.
I sat down in one of the seats in the back, surprisingly comfortable in the chair I was in. As I did the teacher gave me and Zaid a thumbs up, flipping through pages in his book before putting it back down on his desk.
"Name's Leo Diaz. You kids can call me whatever you want."
I rolled my eyes. Ah yes, the 'cool' teacher. I'd known plenty of them in my turbulent years of middle school. Because of training, we transferred pretty often, and every single time I'd always come across a teacher like this. They'd always try to seem hip and cool to cope with the inevitable monster that is old age, and for me at least it was never something that worked. They'd usually crack within the first week, whining about a circumstance they themselves caused. As he began to ask students more about themselves, I dreaded what he was going to say when he got to me. The last thing I wanted was to be bombarded by a man trying to appeal to my younger sensibilities with lame jokes and years old memes.
"Anya. That's your name right?"
I blinked alertly, realising he'd gotten to me. I nodded, awkwardly crossing my arms. Mr Diaz stroked his goatee thoughtfully in response, pacing back and forth. Eventually, I found myself saying something.
"With all due respect Sir, I'd appreciate it if you got to the point." I'm sure I could've phrased that better, but at this point all the anxiety and stress was boiling over and I couldn't deal with the pressure any longer. I expected him yell at me or awkwardly brush my remake aside, but instead he burst out laughing, clearly amused by my comment.
"Miss Mazhar certainly has a point. Now then, let me demonstrate our first spell then." He smirked, raising his finger to the air and drawing a small circle, purple light shining and following his movements.
I jumped up when I realised the entire class was suddenly staring at me, pointing at my head. Touching the top of my hair I froze in shock as I realised that I had two soft fluffy ears.
Cat ears.
I glared at him.
"Welcome to your first lesson." He winked, green eyes sparkling mischievously.
"Transformation magic."