The Assembly Hall was alive with chatter. The final seconds of the five minute timer were ticking away as Evren slid into a seat on the bench right next to Veronica.
Right up against her.
The bench wasn’t long to begin with, and he found himself balanced between pushing up against her, hip to hip, or hanging halfway off the bench and into the aisle.
“Sorry,” he muttered, trying hard not to move as he felt her soft figure press close to his.
“For what?” she asked, her mouth fixed in a Cheshire grin. “I’m your partner for the day. I welcome a little skinship.”
He glanced past her at the empty stretch of bench to her left.
“It looks like there'd be more space if you slid over a bit,” he suggested.
She shifted her weight and bobbed up and down off the bench. A jolt of excitement ran up his back as her soft side pushed against his elbow. With her hands secured to the desk and her body hunched forward, Evren couldn't help but get an eye full of her boobs jiggling as she twisted and struggled. They looked so firm and were perfectly shaped.
She gasped and shook her head lightly.
“I can't move over at all. You bound me to the center of the desk.”
She was still looking at him, that smile of hers melted his mind and neutralized any further protests. Well, it hadn't been his plan to squeeze up against her, but it was unavoidable at this point.
He told himself that, but their close proximity had his raw nerves on edge and his body naturally reacted to the contact. In his pants, his thing was growing hard and under his arms the sweat started to pour out and soak right through his shirt.
He hoped to the Gods she wouldn't notice.
“You smell really… gooooood, partner,” she murmured. Her voice was low and strange. Like she was falling asleep next to him.
“Time's Up!”
The Stratega was at the front of the dais now. Evren could see her whole body as she moved, like a willow tree swaying in a storm, tall and supple. Her purple robes, which proclaimed her status, fit her far tighter and more suggestively than a uniform should. Dirty thoughts were rising up in Evren’s mind that he tried his best to push down.
With his imagination running wild, and Veronica’s face leaning into his body, he found there was no escape from this rising erotic feeling. He was sweating, and she was sniffing him. His face turned a deep shade of red at the indignity of it all, but his dick was growing uncomfortably hard in his pants, nonetheless.
“Please stop!” He whispered urgently. The Stratega was speaking, and no one was watching them, all the way in the back, but still…! He tried to pull away, but the girl was stuck to him like glue.
“All females who do not have a partner are asked to pair up with other girls. One girl will stay secured to the desk. Senior Assistants, there will be one group of three.”
The last line seemed to be directed at the senior casters who leapt into action around the room, releasing girls from their manacles and dragging them to other desks.
The students had no say in where they were put. Evren, watching from the back row, could see the drama unfold as girls, still indignant at not being chosen, were pushed into a narrow shared space with other girls. Some squawked and others cursed. They were not happy in the least and appeared to be doing their best not to come in body contact with each other.
The Stratega did not wait for the room to settle. She launched right into a lecture on the importance of relying on someone other than yourself. Most of her points seemed to be directed towards the female Casters, and the message was questionable to say the least. She was calling upon the girls to 'trust the weaker partner to provide them strength’ or ‘be cared for by the ones who most need caring.’
The speech with its reversed gender ideals and sexist undertone, made him all the more aware that this was not the same Academy that he had left behind. Really! What kind of activity requires a girl to be chained to the desk?
Evren watched as the last of the girls were forced into their seats. Just in front of him, a female senior caster with dark features was closing a set of manacles around the hands of a small red-haired girl, while two other equally petite girls were forced to sit on either side of her.
One of them, an inquisitive little brunette with a pretty face, turned around and stared at him for a bit too long. Evren tried his best to ignore her and listen to the instructions.
He looked down at his own partner to see how she was doing.
Veronica's golden head of hair was nestled against his shoulder. Here was one girl who was finding it easy to rely on her male partner. He couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the feel of her body pressed to his, but she seemed to have lost herself, sniffing him like a bloodhound. Her body seemed to have lost all its energy. She was slumped over and shivering like she had come down with a sudden illness.
The voice of the Stratega took on a song-like cadence, as she spoke now, the audience leaned forward with excitement.
“And so we arrive at the challenge of the day. One that must be faced together. One partner, bound to the desk, you casting will decide the group's score, while the partner whose hands are free is tasked with warding. Help her out! For many of you, this will be your first real experience casting spells with a warder’s support. I hope you enjoy it.”
The Stratega gestured to the crystal prism up above. The massive round artifact, the size of a typical dorm room, was still slowly spinning in its housing. Suddenly, and with a grinding noise, it drew to a halt. The entire Assembly Hall shook, and Evren nearly leapt to his feet in fear. It all became too much like the Hall of Records disaster.
But there was no explosion and the ceiling did not collapse.
The light that retracted through the layers of glass now stopped its ponderous motion around the Hall, and instead a single beam struck a large pillar located on the dais right next to where the Stratega was standing. It was strangely shaped like an hourglass.
“This timer uses the sun's motion across the sky to inform you of when the time is up. The challenge is just this:
Cast the Basic 10 spells.
The rules are:
You may make as many attempts as you wish before the time is up.
Do not remove your fetters.
Score is based on the strength and accuracy of the spell.
Unchained support casters will cast only warding spells.
Both partners must be casting in tandem to complete the challenge. No free rides.
Skin-to-skin casting is optional, but encouraged.
You have two hours to complete the challenge to the best of your ability. Work together! Your score will count for or against your week one success. At the end of the week, all total scores will be posted and boy casters will have a chance to interview the Top Ranked girls.”
As the rewards were announced, an excited buzz passed over the crowd. Evren could feel the energy in the room rise. All these girls were aiming to become the Top Ranked caster right from week 1. The boys, well they would be ranked too, but just looking around Evren could see that they were less motivated than the girls. Boys all across the crowd were seated unhappily and wearing sour looks on their faces.
“Senior students will be coming around to distribute materials for casting. Once you are ready please signal for us, and a magister will come by to evaluate you.”
With those words, the Stratega stepped off the dais and joined a group of magisters who were waiting nearby. The challenge had begun!
“Okay, let’s get started,” he declared, looking down at the top of her head.
She said something. He could feel her lips moving against the side of body. She was talking into his shirt and her words were muffled by his bulk.
“What are you doing?” he asked, using his arm he gently pushed her back to create some space between them.
Her face popped into view and he saw what a mess she had become. She was flushed crimson, her eyes were crossed and out of focus, and her tongue was hanging out. He found a wet spot, right where she had been stuck.
“Did you just… lick me?”
“Nooo! There was just something tasty about your shirt,” she replied with a smile.
Her chest swelled as she took a deep breath in again. Her face was alert and wanton. Just looking at her expression, raw and primitive, made him feel funny. This girl, horny as she looked, was more was more gorgeous than ever. He wanted her to lick him some more, he thought as her tongue darted out and ran over her lips, possibly searching for any residue of his taste. Evren was not equipped to deal with this version of Veronica. He was sure she had been purposefully smelling his sweat and now she was leaning hard on his arm, trying to get close to him once more.
“Stop it, please!... Could you just cast your Basic 10?”
“Okay, I get it.”
She stopped pushing and let out a small groan. A note of frustration. Evren hesitated than asked.
“...What’s wrong?”
Her eyes darted downward and she hesitated. “It’s just that… I pulled a muscle during the struggle with those boys and it's really bugging me. I wish my hands were free so I could massage it out.”
“A pulled muscle?" Evren asked skeptically. The girl was bound in place, she must be getting sore "Do you need my help?”
“Would you? You’re the best, Veylor!”
“Please call me Evren.”
Right! Sorry.”
“So, where does it hurt?”
Veronica squirmed in her place. The manacles binding her hands clanged against the desk as she strained to lean back in her seat. Her shirt pulled up on her body, showing off her powerful core muscles. A flat stomach led into a shapely set of hips. Her arms stretched straight in front of her, squeezing her chest together and causing something amazing to happen with her cleavage.
“It’s my leg,” she complained. Her eyes rolled back in his direction and she gave him a sulky, pained look. “It's really sore.”
She lifted the leg in question. Strong and shapely, Evren’s eyes followed its motion. Her skirt barely reached below her crotch, which left her legs so tantalizingly bare. The muscles throughout her long, tanned leg quivered as they relaxed and contracted. She could crush a melon between those thighs.
Evren gulped.
He looked her once more in the face. She was waiting expectantly. She grinned once again, hungrier than ever.
“It's soooo sore. Go on, give it a rub…”
Evren’s last line of logical defenses crumbled as she lifted the leg invitingly. His hands closed around the flesh of her thigh. His fingertips just barely meeting as he wrapped both his hands around her limb and started to work the muscle.
“Ooo… Nnghh… your fingers are so strong!”
The sounds that came out of her mouth were much too sensual to be the result of a simple massage. He paused and looked at her.
“Keep going… I’ll tell you when to stop.”
A note of seriousness had entered her voice. She was in charge, and she expected him to obey her. It felt like a relief, being bossed around again. At last, the Veronica he knew was coming out.
“You are the same girl I knew before, aren’t you?”
“Hmmphn?... Oh yeah, we met before… Get in there and work those fingers! Make me feel good!”
She was being evasive. When would she tell him what she knows about the strangeness that had occurred. He made a mental note to ask her about it again, once the challenge is complete. For now, he'd support her in any way possible.
He turned his body towards her, ready to work the soreness out of her. Repositioning his hands so his thumbs were side by side, he ran them up and down the ridge of flesh along the top of her leg.
She was straining against her bindings. Her mouth opened and released a low, loud moan of pleasure. Other students were looking their way, and Evren felt like they were drawing too much attention. The pretty brunette in front of them had turned all the way around on the bench and was openly staring.
“Nnggghn… Soooo good! Ahhn… Go higher. Higher!”
Evren tried to ignore the eyes upon them and he did as he was told. His fingers slid higher up her thigh. High enough that his hands were reaching under the hem of her skirt. Her skin was hot and clammy up there. He felt the soft and firm flesh twitching under his thumbs. He had reached the tender place where her leg met her pelvis. Where the bone gave way to nerves and muscle. Down beneath her, his fingers had run up against her delightfully soft buttocks.
“Stay there… That’s the spot…”
Evren had turned completely in her direction and was massaging with all his might, and she was taking it. A male senior caster stopped by and placed a small porcelain vase on the corner of the desk.
He gave them both a frown, saying, “That's not how you do skin-to-skin! Just start buffing her, if you don’t want to get humiliated by the magisters on your first day.”
Evren nodded and tried to stop himself. But his mind was already clouded over and his libido was a rising up, filling his body with a tingling sensation. Veronica was gasping and moaning in his grasp. Her arms pulled uselessly at the manacles, but her legs and stomach rolled and twisted, beckoning for him to push further.
Could he still say that he was just helping his partner with sore muscles? He held onto that flimsy excuse like a life preserver, until his hands roamed into dangerous territory. His fingers crashed up against her secret spot. It was a rush of heat, and it was coming from in between her legs. He stopped what he was doing and looked up at Veronica’s face.
Her short blond hair was a tousled mess, and she was biting her lower lip with passionate abandon. Her eyes, drunk with lust, were staring back at him as she slid her body as far down on the bench as she could. Her legs clamped close around his hands.
What was this mysterious shape? A firm yet yielding wet place. A squishy, warmth guarded only by the thin material of her panties. As his index finger played over the outer lips, he could feel her slit opening before him. The only thing stopping his first finger from slipping up inside was the thread-thin bit of self-restraint he was still clinging to.
Veronica was moaning like crazy now. There was no way the magisters couldn't hear her.
"We should stop..." he told her in a low voice, "This isn't a massage anymore."
“You can’t stop now! I’m nearly there…!”