Yelena didn’t have an easy time falling asleep. Her thoughts were in complete chaos. She couldn’t stop thinking of all the things that happened. Becoming a champion, having to deal with the goddess, being assaulted by overwhelming lust, and then the things that went down with Thea.
It was especially that last part that she couldn’t shake out of her head. It kept her awake. She could remember what it felt like. The soft touch of her friend’s lips against hers. Her scent, her taste. Everything was coming back vividly.
None of these thoughts helped her remain calm either. The more she thought about it, the more aroused she felt. It wasn’t the goddess’ powers. No, it was entirely her.
Eventually, she decided to give in to her urges. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep unless she did. She reached down under the cover and slid her hand inside her underwear. She was wet already. No surprise there.
She started slowly. She played with her most sensitive parts. A soft moan left her lips. In her mind, she was in Thea’s room again. The two were making out. It felt so real. She could picture it in her head so clearly.
They didn’t stop at the kiss. They started playing with each other’s bodies. When she imagined Thea touching her breast, she moved her hand over it, trying to make her imagination and reality blend together.
Her hands started moving faster. She was getting into it. She wanted more. She wanted to feel better. She was panting; she had never felt this good while playing with herself.
“Ahhh… Thea… yes… there!” She moaned her friend’s name.
She felt ashamed doing this, yet she couldn’t stop. In her mind, they were going further. Both reach down, pushing their fingers into each other’s pussies. She could imagine in almost perfect detail how it would feel as she imitated those movements on herself.
She was going wilder and wilder. She couldn’t hold back her voice. There was no point. Nobody could hear her. Then, her body tensed up. She reached the end of the road. She screamed as the intense pleasure washed over her. Her body shook, while her fingers kept going for a little while.
Once it was over, was lying on the bed. Here she was breathing fast, as if she had just run a marathon. She felt like that too. As her head started to clear out, she started feeling shame for what she did. How could she think of her friend like that? What didn’t make the situation any better was the goddess lying on the bed beside her, watching the whole thing.
“Do you… really have to stare the whole time?” Yelena asked.
“No, but if I can’t join the fun, at least you can let me watch. Not like I haven’t seen it before. You know, I can see your memories and stuff.” Lucia had a smirk on her face.
Yelena didn’t even want to think about it. The goddess knew every little dirty thing she had ever done. What is worse, she knew what she was thinking just moments ago. Despite her presence, Yelena still went ahead with it.
“Is this also because of your powers?” Yelena had to know.
“Yes and no. Sure, my powers will cause you to be more easily aroused in general. So I would say it plays a role in that. Although it is not all on me. You already had these things in you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have chosen you. So, take it as you will.” Lucia shrugged.
Yelena didn’t answer. She turned away from the goddess and closed her eyes. Was this really her? Then why now? She never had any feelings towards Thea. Right?
She couldn’t find an answer. After some time, she fell asleep.
****
Yelean and Thea were walking down the hallway. The atmosphere was awkward to say the least. Mainly due to Yelena. She still didn’t get over what happened yesterday. Both the kiss and how she masturbated to her friend. She felt ashamed.
Thea, on the other hand, seemed normal. Like yesterday’s events never happened. No, it was more like that. She was practically glowing, though it was hard to tell from her neutral expression.
The two didn’t talk as they walked to their first class. Magic. That is what they are starting with. Both girls have been studying magic since they were children. They’ve got the best tutors money could buy. It was unlikely they would learn anything new, but they were still looking forward to it. Yelena hoped it would at least help take her mind off things.
As they turned around the corner, Yelena felt something bump into her. Well, more precisely, someone. She looked down and saw the person falling, the books she was carrying scattered around the floor before she hit the ground.
“Ouch!” The girl cried out as her butt hit the ground.
Yelena realized it was the same girl she had seen yesterday near the stairs. The commoner girl with long, red wavy hair. She was pretty short, even for a girl. Her face was lightly freckled, and she looked back at Yelena with bright, emerald green eyes.
“I.. I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you! Please forgive me!” The girl got up immediately and was bowing in front of Yelena, asking for her forgiveness. She already knew. It was hard not to. The fact that Yelena was of noble birth.
While both nobles and commoners attended the academy and took the same classes, the similarities ended there. The commoners didn’t enjoy all the luxuries that the nobility did. They had to share a room with others, and they had a different dining room where they got far more modest food. Even the uniform was different. One of the biggest tells was the school emblem. Those who were commoners had the emblem embroidered in silver. The nobility wore the same emblem in gold.
Because of this, the girl could easily tell, and, of course, she was trying her best not to invite the wrath of someone of higher status. Especially not on the second day.
“It is fine. I wasn’t looking either. Sorry.” Yelena answered.
She wasn’t mad. It happened. She wasn’t the type who would get mad at things like this, and she most definitely wasn’t the type who would look down on those who were lower in status than her. To Yelena, this girl was simply just another student, a classmate perhaps. She didn’t know if they were in the same class. Not yet.
Yelena got down and started helping the girl get her books. She had a lot. Like 4, it seems. All related to magic. Although she normally only needed one for the class. The others are likely from the school’s library.
“You don’t need to bother! I can take care of it. You are very kind, but you really don’t have to do this.” The girl tried to protest, but Yelena didn’t care.
She felt responsible for the accident too. She was deep in her thoughts and couldn’t even see the poor girl before. It was the right thing to do to help her. That was the way Yelena was raised.
Once she collected two of the books, Yelena handed them over to the girl. She reached out to grab it, but for a moment their hands touched. It felt like electricity ran through Yelana’s hand. It was a really odd feeling. She pulled her hand back for a moment.
“As sorry!” The girl apologized again.
She likely thought Yelena pulled her hand away because it was disrespectful for a commoner to touch her.
“No, it is fine. Here, take them.” Yelena held the books out.
The white-haired girl could feel her face burning up. Was she blushing? Is the goddess’ power starting to affect her again? It would be too soon, right? Those were the thoughts that ran through Yelena’s head. None that she could answer.
“Hmmm, you have a nice taste. She is cute. A little too petite for my taste, but I don’t judge.” Lucia appeared behind the red-haired girl.
The goddess was pulling her hand along the girl’s curves as she talked. Of course, the short girl didn’t know it was happening. She couldn’t. Only Yelena could see, hear, or interact with Lucia.
Can you please stop making a joke about everything? Yelena asked.
“I could, but what is the fun in that. Besides, you have needs. Sooner or later, you will need to find partners who can help you meet it. Don’t think you can get away forever with just kissing Thea.” As much as Yelena hated to admit it, Lucia was right.
She looked down at the red-haired girl. She reached out to take the books from Yelena. She still looked worried and a little scared.
“Which class are you in?” Yelena asked her once she took the books back.
“2-B.” The girl answered meekly.
“Then you should be heading the opposite direction. We are in the same class; we were just going there too.” Yelena pointed in the direction.
The girl looked back behind her. She spent at least 5 minutes getting lost in these hallways. She seemed relieved that somebody had finally pointed out the way.
“You can follow us.” Yelena said her words weren’t exactly friendly.
They continued their journey to the classroom. Most other students were already present. About 25 total. That was just a fraction of this year’s intake. Each year, several hundred new students start their first year here.
Despite that, most will wash out in the first two years. Those who remain will likely be studying magic or martial arts. In some rare cases, some will have the chance for both. Those were rare. About five to ten students each year can attend the magic knight training. Rumors have it that in some years, none of the students qualified for it. That was Yelena’s big goal. It won’t be easy, and she knew it.
Yelena and Thea sat down in the back row. The red-haired girl sat at the opposite end, where most of the other commoners in the class took seats.
“You seem awfully quiet this morning; everything okay?” Thea asked.
Yelena pulled her eyes away from the red-haired girl and turned towards Thea.
“All good, yes! Still worried about the whole thing. I don’t exactly have much to go on.” Yelena was talking about becoming a champion.
“I think you are more worried about the things that happened after. In my room, for example.” Thea pointed out the facts.
Hearing that, Yelena looked defeated. She looked down and sighed.
“Nothing gets past you, huh? Yeah, that too. I still feel bad about it. How you got roped into the whole thing.” Yelean felt guilty about those events and the ones she did afterward.
Thea didn’t show any emotions. She just watched her friend’s face for a short while.
“You didn’t rope me into anything. You keep overthinking things. I chose to help you, and I’ll do it again if needed. You don’t have to feel guilty about it. Besides…” She didn’t finish that last sentence.
“Huh? What?” Yelena asked.
Thea shook her head.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it. Also, the professor is here.” Thea had gotten lucky and had a good reason to avoid the question.
Just as she said, a woman in black robes walked into the room. She had long, curly black hair that looked awfully unkempt. Although that might be related to the massive bags under her eyes. She didn’t look like she was getting much sleep lately. The woman put her books on her desk and turned to the students.
“Apologies for being late. Start of the new semester is always a little chaotic.” She laughed awkwardly.
“For starters, I’m Professor Abiglail Borrel. I’ll be the one teaching you magic.” She introduced herself.
Yelean knew the name. Well, at least the family’s. The family was originally commoners, but after serving the country for generations as mages, they were granted noble status. Now, the Borrel family even had a member who was a direct advisor of the king himself on anything magic-related.
“So, I assume many of you already know what magic is, but for those who don’t, I’ll explain quickly. Magic is a power that was granted to us, mortals, a long time ago. Back when they were still walking this realm.” She began to explain.
“They taught us how to use mana that is all around us to shape reality. How do we do that? We know mana is around us, but we normally can’t see or feel it. Well, the answer is…” She pointed at the board with three different circles drawn on it. Each had different shapes and symbols inside it. “...magic circles!” She finished her sentence.
When hearing about the gods, Yelena looked over to Lucia, who was lying down at the desk next to her. She looked bored to death. She never really thought about it, but the goddess could know a lot about magic. Even if it is not her main domain, she has lived since time itself began.
“You are right! I know more about magic than you might think. I can help you, but only with a little guidance. I won’t be giving out big secrets.” She seemed adamant about that last part.
Yelena didn’t mind. Even a little help from someone as knowledgeable as a deity would be invaluable help for her. She had no reason not to take the opportunity. The girl turned back to the teacher, who started explaining about magic circles.
“The basic principle is that each of these circles is able to move and control mana. Not on its own, they need our direct action. The way they are drawn represents the spell that will be the end result.” She stood next to the board and pointed at the first one.
“This, for example, is a fire spell. How do I know? Well, it is not simple. As you see, there is a lot going on here.” There indeed was.
Inside a circle, a triangle was drawn, and within it, countless lines intersected, forming different shapes and symbols. At first glance, it made no sense. Especially if one adds the runes around the edge of the circle.
“To understand what we see here, let me explain how one is built up. First, you have the main circle.” She pointed at the outer edge.
“This is the main body basically. Everything goes inside here. Then, you have the outer circle.” She now pointed a little further inside where the runes were written.
“As you can see, there are runes all around here. These act basically as a command on what the spell should be doing. Although many of these runes were lost to us, we continue to rediscover them. Learning their meaning will be the first step to understanding how to make your own spells.” She moved her finger over to the triangle.
“This part is the inner circle. Here, you see all sorts of geometric shapes drawn and waved together in intricate ways. This part defines the type of magic you will have. The triangle mainly represents fire. Then the lines help guide the mana into the correct form so it can take shape, and it will read the runes' instructions to create the spell.
One of the hardest parts of magic wasn’t whether one had talent to use mana or not. The biggest hurdle was understanding how it works. There are an endless number of combinations one can use when creating a magic circle. Not all will end well.
Mages spend decades of studying and researching just to create one new spell. It was a difficult job. Luckily, they didn’t have to do that. There are many spells that are available to them; they just need to learn those.
“Now, for some demonstration!” She clapped her hands together and looked into her small, black notebook.
“Miss Hellag! I assume you already know how to cast magic. Can you please demonstrate a basic spell for us? A level-0 one will be enough. Most importantly, don’t cast it right away. Just hold the circle for us to inspect.” The professor asked.
Yelena stood up. She indeed was capable of what the professor was asking for, but it was not that simple. Although it is just a low-level spell. Magic spells are categorized on a scale of 0 to10. Zero was a basic spell that usually didn’t have any combat use. 10 would be something that could destroy an entire continent.
Although a level-10 spell only exists in theory. In this day and age, the highest available spell is only level-6. It was theorized that, in the past, higher-level ones existed but were lost to wars and catastrophes.
Yelena reached out with her hand and focused. In front of her palm, a large circle appeared. It was burning fiery red. Inside the triangle looked fairly similar to the one drawn on the board, but with different lines inside. The outside was different too. There were fewer runes present, and the ones that were there didn’t match the one on the board.
The girl did her best to hold the circle without firing her magic. That was the most difficult part. Then she saw Lucia walk in front of it. She leaned close and started inspecting it in detail.
“So, this is the mess you mortals call magic nowadays. We will have more work to do than I thought.” Lucia sighed.
Yelena couldn’t help but feel insulted by that comment. She has studied magic since she was 5 years old. Now she is being judged on one of the most basic spells. It felt humiliating.
“Don’t take it personally! It is not your fault. Looks like a lot more was lost to time than I thought.” Lucia moved out of the way.
Yelena didn’t have time to worry about the goddess. She was still holding back her spell, which required all her concentration. The class and the professor both inspected it.
“Very good! As you can see, this is also a fire spell. My guess is that it is the spell called Spark. As the name implies, it does nothing but throw out some sparks. Great at getting a campfire going, but otherwise not too useful. Hence, it is a level-0 spell.” She explained what she saw.
“Miss Hellag, you can fire your spell. Away from the other students, please. You don’t have to worry about damaging anything. This room is protected from anything under a level-4 spell.” She instructed Yelena.
The girl nodded and lifted her hand higher to avoid hitting the students. She fired the spell, and several blazing sparks flew out of the magic circle. It was like when the wind catches into a campfire and makes the sparks fly out.
“Great! Thank you for the demonstration. You can sit down now.” The professor said, and Yelena sat back down.
“Now, for the next step. Each one of you has a paper just like this in front of you.” She lifted up a paper with a magic circle drawn on it.
It was very different than the fire spells before. Instead of a triangle, it had another circle drawn inside with intricate lines.
“This is a level-0 water magic. Commonly, now as create water. It will, surprisingly, create water. Not much, but that is not the point of this exercise. What you will need to do is memorize it, then put your hand on it and imagine the circle in your head. Then you will need to pull the mana out from the air and into the circle.” She explained the task.
One student from the commoner side raised their hand. The teacher nodded towards the boy, allowing him to speak.
“Excuse my question, but how do we move the mana? I don’t think it was explained yet.” He asked
“Ah, I knew I forgot something. Here!” She lifted a silver bracelet from her desk.
“Those of you who don’t know magic yet, you should have one of these on your desks. Put it on. It will allow you to feel the mana around you. Once you do, you try and focus on it and call them towards the circle.” She quickly gave the instructions.
Judging by the boy’s expressions, he still didn’t fully understand, but he sat back down and put on the bracelet. Some other students also did the same, and everyone got to work.
For Yelena, it was nothing. She could cast this spell even without the paper. Still, she followed the instructions and put her hand on it. Once she activated the magic, the circle on the paper began to glow bright blue. Then the paper got a little wet under her palm. That was all.
Most other students also finished with it. It was the group of commoners who struggled with the task. Suddenly, Yelena heard a loud scream and water pouring onto the ground. She looked and saw the red-haired girl. The paper in front of her was still expelling large volumes of water, it was flowing down the desk, then onto the floor towards the bottom where the professor was standing.
The girl looked terrified; she didn’t know what had happened. Yet the water didn’t stop, even after she was no longer in contact with it. The professor raised her hand and cast a spell. A similar blue circle appeared, then aimed it at the paper. The next moment, the water stopped flowing.
“I… I’m… so… sorry! I don’t know… what happened! She stuttered; she was obviously scared that she had done something wrong.
“Don’t worry about it. Looks like some mana overflow. You will learn to control it.” The professor waved it away like it was normal.
It was very much not. In the eyes of magic, not everyone is born equal. Some people have naturally better abilities to control mana. Those with exceptional talent will be able to do something like this. To fill a magic with more mana than it requires, hence turning even a simple spell into a much more powerful version of itself. That was the mana overflow.
“What is your name?” The professor asked the girl
“Lily… Renla” She answered.
“Miss Hellag, I see you are also done with the task. Can you please escort Miss Renla back to the dorms so she can change?” The professor asked.
“Chance!” Yelena could hear the goddess’ voice behind her.