Riley dashed forward, flames jetting from the palms of his hands. It engulfed all three of the statues that had been set up for him, scorching the bare stone. A wry smile spread across his face, feeling the power he had built up finally release. It wasn’t often he got to let loose, with fire being dangerous and all, so this was a rare treat for the apprentice.

Having been born with an affinity for pyromancy, Riley’s main tactic usually consisted of getting up close and incinerating anything that moved. He was so impervious to heat that he could probably shake off dragon’s breath without singing a hair on his head, not that any dragon would even know what hit them before he blasted them with his own fire.

As the flames dissipated, his mentor, Haven, gave him an approving nod. They’d been working together to heat up his attacks, and he’d finally been able to melt the closest of the three stone targets. The other two glowed piercing white, also threatening to melt despite being much further out than the primary target.

Pyromancy worked best up close. A fully fledged pyromancer with enough mana, training, and focus could rip through just about anything given they could get within spitting distance. It took a split second to cast the fastest fire spells, and only a moment more for the more cumbersome ones. Once a pyromancer was in your face, you may as well surrender.

Haven winced away from the heat, struggling to keep her glassy brown eyes open. Riley turned to face her, before realising her plight and stepping away from the now smouldering pile of rocks he had just eviscerated.

“How about that?!” he bounced towards her, pumping the air with his fist.

“You finally got your form right, and your mana flow was consistent at least.” she mused in response.

Riley’s ash grey hair swept across his face as he stopped in his tracks. “Consistent? Who cares about my mana flow rate when I can set rocks on fire?!”

“I do. You’re wasting mana, and it’s not healthy in the long run to burn yourself out like you used to.”

“Fine, but you said the flow was consistent now, even when I’m not trying.”

“Consistent,” she retorted “but not perfect. You’ve still got some turbulence in you.”

“You try sprinting and see how your mana flows-” Riley cut himself off a beat too late. Lowering his head, he couldn’t believe he had just said that to her face. “sorry, I didn’t mean like that…”

The brunette raised his chin with her index finger. “I know. It’s okay, and I think you do have a point, just try to slow yourself down a touch before casting if you can. It’s better that way.”

Riley kicked the air and walked a circle around himself, frustrated. “It just seems like there’s no point when I can burn anything to a crisp whenever I want, why bother?”

“What if there’s two enemies?”

“Then I’ll just blast them both at once.”

“And if another one shows up?”

“Then they’ll be too scared to approach, and I can ready up for another attack.”

“Both of us know that any mindless beast will just rush you. You could get hurt! You need to focus on building your usable mana pool and working smaller spells into your rotation.”

“I need to do this my way! Your way isn’t natural to me.”

“That’s why we buddied up, remember?” Haven gently wrapped the young man’s head with her notebook. “I’ve already come up with the plans for you, now you just have to learn them.”

Riley paused for a moment, considering some variation of complaint. Instead he simply stated: “Thank you Haven.” He was being sincere.

“You’re welcome.” she beamed, “So long as you keep up with your end of the bargain!” Her innocent smile broke into a devilish smirk.

Students at Alune Acamedy had a whole two and a half years to hone their skills before being eligible to challenge (or be challenged by) other students. Once a challenge was issued, the two were fated to duel one another, with the winner taking everything.

And that really does mean everything.

Two apprentices enter the Ritual, and one mage leaves.

A mage and their familiar, that is.

The Ritual of the Familiar was the most important part of any given student’s tutelage at Alune Academy. A familiar was bound to their mage for life, and gave up all control, voluntary or otherwise: Over their body; Over their magic; Over their mind.

Apprentices at Alune were safe up until the halfway point of third year. After that, there was usually a rush for power. Those who didn’t believe they could win a duel agreed to throw the duel in exchange for the promise of a kind master. Those who did think they could win would see how far they could push their luck.

A more powerful apprentice made for a more powerful familiar, after all. Even if you could safely defeat the student at rank 40, it might be worth challenging someone a few ranks higher if you think you can pull it off. It was a game of risk and reward, and if you weren’t careful you could find yourself in a precarious position.

There was a variety of strategies one could employ on challenging day. The most simple was to pick a target and challenge them as soon as you were allowed to. This rarely played out as planned, as everyone was allowed to challenge one another at the same moment, leading to complex chains of challenges that broke and reformed within minutes of the clocks hitting 12.

Riley and Haven both had their targets in mind, and had paired up to train for the fights ahead of them.

The former had settled on a weakling that was currently on the familiar course, Carenia. She seemed like the type to just give in and let a much stronger opponent win, while still possessing qualities befitting of a good familiar. Perhaps it wasn’t proper, but Riley couldn’t help it- Carenia was just too cute! And it’s not like he planned on mistreating her as a familiar, either.

The latter had her eyes on an enhancer, named Ophelia, who was significantly higher in the ranking than either of the pitiful pair. A hulking beast of a woman who could turn her mana to sheer strength at will. It was a stroke of luck that Haven’s magic was perfectly set to counter her intended prey, but Riley did wonder if it was actually her plan to simply end up as the stronger women’s familiar. Haven’s proclivity towards women was well known at Alune Academy, after all.

The two taught each other all about how to beat their targets. Riley honed Haven’s evasive movement, teaching her to kite a faster opponent, and to get a series of blows in while doing so.

As long as Haven was making contact every now and then, she could drain her opponents of their mana over time. Most apprentices were adept at mana drains, since one condition of losing the Ritual of the Familiar was to run out of mana, but Haven was particularly skilled at mana drains, even being able to do it at pace without making contact.

Haven performed meta magic, being able to control the flow of mana. The way she had explained it to Riley was that she could see the magic flowing through living things, and could “hear it’s will”, not that Riley had listened or understood.

In exchange for dutiful chasing her with his hands ablaze, Haven taught Riley about his mana, and how to improve his stamina. Through her, he had been able to do more than he’d ever imagined, and in magic performance classes he skyrocketed through the ranks, removing the target that he once had on his back. Poor Haven on the other hand was near dead-last, and felt the eyes of her classmates stare daggers at her in the hallways.

The sharp minded woman couldn’t actually use her own mana. She could see and influence the mana of others, but had no way to manifest her own into the world.

Why she had attended Alune Academy was a mystery to the world, as she had been advised against it by countless teachers, professors, and family members.

Nonetheless, she was there. And she had dragged herself through as much training as she could muster.

“My end of the bargain huh?” Riley laughed back “You want a game of tag right now?”

Haven shook her hands, backing up a little. “Not before you blast the other two statues first!”

The grey haired apprentice nodded, and turned on the spot, feet rooted in place. For once he took his tutor’s advice, taking a second to steady himself. Something stirred within him. It felt different. He could feel his own mana sloshing around. He could feel it settle. He could feel his command over it, he could feel it sprouting towards his hand with purpose! He would control it, like Haven taught him, not his usual big blowouts! He was calm, he was ready, this was it! He felt the mana spreading into his fingertips, and then-

A small spark fizzled into a thin line of smoke, that wafted away into the air. A dry fart of a spell. Riley stared down at his hands in disbelief, he could’ve swore he had everything just right.

“Awwwh,” Haven teased, “what’s wrong big boy? Can’t get it up?”

“Shut it you little brat, it was your crappy advice that caused that! I need to be energised to cast properly!” he didn’t quite believe himself.

“Oh I’m sure you just overexerted yourself again, which is why I’ve been trying to teach you about pacing yourself.”

Riley held his head in his hands. “That was me pacing myself, that was the smallest most controlled little bolt I’ve ever tried to conjure.”

“So you can listen.” Haven licked her lips. Riley shuddered.

“I feel like a piece of meat, don’t look at me with such hungry eyes.”

“Even when you fail, it just feels so good seeing how far I’ve built you up.”

“I’ll have you know I’m naturally talented.” the fiery pupil stuck his tongue out.

“Fine, whateverrrrr, I think that’s enough practice for today, since you’re all spent. Challenging day is less than a week away, and I want to fix my sleep schedule before then.”

“Okay, let’s call it a day I guess. Just one last try-” Riley sprung forward, blasting the charred statues with another assault of flames. His burst ended with an abrupt sputter, and he felt pleased with himself. “I knew I had some left in me!”

He turned to get Haven’s approval, but she was already headed for the door.

Bounding to catch up to her, he considered the Ritual, and the situation they were in. Less than a week and he’d finally be free from the worry, the anxiety. Less than a week, and he would finally be a mage.