Moonless Nights

"Sabatka! Out!"

A swift ball of green light grazed past Silvio's arm, but still Priestess Marike, Professor of Sports Magic, caught it. Silvio grunted in frustration and dragged his staff across the ground, planting his b.u.t.t on the bleachers.

He gazed out to the sports field. Two goals were placed at either end, while several acolytes in red and green jerseys scurried across it. One team was on the offensive, the other defensive. The offensive team, the green team, bombarded the defenders with light while they cast shield spells to protect themselves and their goalpost and push the offense back to their side. If they weren't fast enough and the light hit their bodies, they were out, and if the offense managed to infiltrate the defense side so that someone touched the goal and turned it from red to green, offense got the point. If the other managed to defend their goal for ten minutes, it was theirs. After a point was scored, the teams switched roles.

Silvio enjoyed lightball. That is, when he got to play it. Truth was… he s.u.c.k.e.d at it. His attacks were too weak to hit anybody, and his shield spells too slow to activate. The other kids always drafted him last, and more often than not he found himself on the bleachers, out until the next inning.

He stirred in his seat. He should've gone and helped Ffion pick medicinal herbs with Hana instead. At least he'd get a better workout. Silvio caught sight of a man walking toward him out of the corner of his eye and turned around.

Priest Willoughby, Professor of Divination, didn't even look up from his scrying crystal to greet him.

"Silvio Sabatka!" he said. "I just received a wondrous vision that the Goddess has sent for you and Hana!"

Sure enough, as if on cue, Crowe came running up to them.

"Silvio, the Goddess has requested you and—oh. Looks like Willoughby's got you covered."

"Always one step ahead of you, Crowe," said Willoughby. He glanced up briefly then returned to his crystal. "You see, my colleague, I have not just a third eye but a third foot as well, therefore I'm literally faster than you. But alas, I can't seem to see what she wants the child for."

"Come on, Silvio." Crowe herded him off the field like a border collie with a lamb.

"Why does the Goddess want to see me?" asked Silvio as they strode across the field back to the Temple. He feigned innocence, but deep down he had a good idea what she wanted him for. She must've figured out that he and Hana were the ones behind the broken shower stall.

Hana stood in the hall with Ffion. Wordlessly, she handed the young girl over to Crowe and the siblings exchanged a knowing grimace.

"Knowing her," Crowe said at last, "there's no good reason for it at all. The Goddess is very… well, you'll see."

The family climbed the floors of the Temple. Silvio was barely able to conceal his sweating palms as he realized he recognized where they were going. Crowe opened two gigantic wooden doors.

A flight of arrows suddenly launched at them with blinding speed.

Crowe didn't bat an eye. Holding his hand out, a purple forcefield appeared in front of them and bounced the arrows back, causing them to clatter harmlessly to the ground. "She does that EVERY time," he g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

Hana and Silvio stared at Crowe, mouths agape in shock.

"Uncle Ignatius, how did you do that?" asked Hana. "You don't have your staff!"

"It's a…" He rubbed his temples. "It's a long story. But it's something for more experienced magicians to learn later!" Surveying the area for any more booby traps, they entered the private annex. Crowe led them through the twisting current of old and musty books, at last coming to rest at a hidden staircase parked behind one of the bookshelves. "Okay," Crow said, expelling a lungful of air, "the Goddess's abode is up there. Remember to be respectful, and for the love of her, don't take any of her food unless she offers it to you first! Got it?"

The twins nodded.

Even Silvio felt intimidated, but they were long past the point of no return. Taking Hana's hand, they left Crowe behind and climbed the long, spiral staircase to the topmost story. The ancient steps creaked and m.o.a.n.e.d behind them, as if echoing their fear.

What would she do to them? Would she expel them for damaging her Temple? Or worse… would she mark them as Unforgivables?

The stairway led to an unassuming door. Taking a deep breath, Silvio knocked once, twice, three times.

"Come in!" sang a very familiar voice.

They did.

Isaana-sa's design aesthetics almost matched the dormitories; that is to say, her study wasn't very impressive at all. The warm autumn sun filtered through a skylight window, flanked on either side by a brittle bookshelf stuffed to overflowing with yet more ancient tomes. Between them stood a reading nook dr.a.p.ed with a cozy blanket and pillows. Save for a single modest tapestry and a handful of hanging ferns, the walls were barren of decoration—the floor even more so. The centerpiece of the room was a round table tucked smack dab in the middle, surrounded by a wicker armchair and loveseat lined with white cushions.

And in the armchair sat a certain strange woman with hair like an evergreen tree, sipping a cup of tea.

"M-Miss Librarian?" said Silvio before he even realized what he was saying. "Where's the Goddess?"

She stared at him, and as if to mock him, slowly raised her hand and pointed at herself.

"E-Eh?" both siblings stuttered. "You're Isaana-sa?"

"I mean," she said, "last time I checked I was."

Hana was quicker on the uptake than her brother. She prostrated herself before her, yanking on Silvio's tunic to encourage him to do the same.

"B-But!" he said. "It's just that you introduced yourself as the librarian…"

"Yes. I'm the Goddess and the headmistress and the professor of Spellwriting and also the librarian. I did not lie. Fancy that." She took another sip of tea. "Oh, come on. How was it not obvious I'm the Goddess? I have green hair for crying out loud! Are you braindead?"

Told you so, mouthed Hana.

Isaana shook her head at their display of subordination. "All right, that's enough of that. I've been worshiped for over five hundred years now. It's lost its novelty. Why don't you take a seat?" Isaana motioned them toward the loveseat and the twins took a few wooden steps forward, plopping down next to each other, eyes fixed on the floor. "Do you know why I summoned you two here today?"

"I…" Silvio started, but Isaana cut him off as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Well, I told you I wanted to have tea and cake with you sometime, so I decided right now is as good a time as any other."

The siblings blanched.

"What, you thought I called you here because you broke the floor? Yes, I know it was you. Drove Ffion mad trying to find the 'sinkhole' and install the new marble. Ha! Have you ever seen Ffion angry before? She looks like a toasted marshmallow! But technically I was the one who told you about the secret passage, so my bad. I take full responsibility for the incident."

Isaana wasn't the Goddess either of them expected. When people thought of Goddesses, they thought of radiant beings of benevolence and light, not sarcastic women dressed in overcoats. But still, despite her roughness and sharp remarks, Isaana was merciful.

"You know," she said, "I remember when Téo Sabatka and Eliza Crowe attended this school. They were always getting into things like you two, as I recall correctly. But never mind that. I'm starving. How about some chocolate cake?"

Silvio glanced at the table. There was no cake.

Isaana produced an arrow out of thin air. Fl.i.c.k.i.n.g it about like a conductor's baton, the table became enveloped in pale yellow magic, separating into little blobs. They twitched and pulsed, dimming until the light snuffed out altogether. In their place were dozens of delightful cakes. There were apple cakes and carrot cakes decorated lavishly with buttercream icing, bundt cakes and baumkuchen and petit-fours and so much more, all arranged so daintily and perfectly their invitation could not be refused.

"Help yourself," said Isaana, cutting herself a slice of moist chocolate cake topped with cacao truffles and raspberries. Hana reached for a petit-four, and Isaana cleared her throat, setting her teacup down. "Except that one, dear. That one is mine."

Hana blubbered an apology, but Isaana resumed stuffing her face. The twins took a muffin apiece to play it safe. As long as it wasn't chocolate, Isaana didn't object.

"Well, don't be uncultured barbarians," said Isaana, pouring two more cups of tea. "Drink. Cake is best appreciated with a perfectly brewed cup of hot tea. Don't you agree?"

They nodded.

"Um…" piped up Silvio. "Can I ask you something, your… uh… Goddessness?"

"Headmistress," Isaana corrected him, "as long as you are a student here I am your Headmistress. The second you graduate it will be 'Your Holiness.' 'Goddessness' is not a title, so don't talk stupid. But what is it? Spit it out."

"How did you make those cakes appear without an incantation?"

Isaana snorted and rolled up her sleeve, revealing an armguard inlaid with precious stones. "I DID say an incantation," she said. "It was 'chocolate cake.' I wrote that spell myself. I hate the stuffy old incantations that people tend to write in the old language. Magic should be streamlined and modernized."

"You can cook with magic?" asked Hana, eyes brimming with excitement.

"Of course you can. That spell right there was equal parts transfiguration, teleportation, and alchemy. What? You interested in learning?"

Hana nodded. "I like cooking and baking a lot!"

"Aha! You sound like my sort of human! Well, to be honest, something like this is currently beyond your level. Believe it or not…" And Isaana stopped to take another bite. "… It's not the grand, flashy spells that are difficult to master. It's mundane things like this. Blasting something to smithereens? It's simple. But trying to bake a cake has so many steps to it—it's very technical."

"Could you teach me anyway?"

"That would be impossible." Seeing Hana's expression, she smirked. "Because we're currently all out of ingredients for cake. What I did was transport the ingredients from the kitchen and transfigure them into cake. Here's a tip about magic: you can't make something from nothing. There are hard limits on what you can do with it. Got it?"

Hana nodded.

"Maybe I'll teach you later once we've restocked, though. You know what—take Spellwriting as an upper-level class. I've heard very good things about you, Hana."

"What about me?" asked Silvio.

"You're, uh…" She looked him over. "You have a good work ethic."

Silvio blushed. He understood what she really meant. But he would work hard and bring his skills up to par with everyone else. She would eat her words later, even more gluttonously than she attacked sweets.

Hana picked up on his sudden change of mood. "Headmistress!" she said, changing the subject, "Uncle Igna—Crowe, he performed a spell without an incantation, for real. He didn't say anything at all. I was wondering how he could have done that?"

Silvio perked up. That WAS a good question. Crowe refused to explain, but Isaana's lips were looser than his.

"Did he make a shield appear?" asked Isaana.

Hana nodded.

"About that," she said, starting on her second slice of cake, "I'm about to blow your mind."

"Huh?"

"That's not magic, at least in the sense humans use it. Ignatius has been given a divine power."

"What? Uncle Crowe's a God?" sputtered Silvio.

Isaana laughed. "No. He's a human, but I gave Ignatius the privilege to taste a God's power. You know how magic is just being able to manipulate leftover divine power in the environment? While you can create many spells from it, the tradeoff is it's not very strong, or at least it doesn't hold a candle to a God's abilities. I've bestowed Ignatius with one power he'd have if he were to ascend, although weakened and modified so it won't drain his poor, squishy body of all lifeforce. It's called a Blessing. I gave Ffion one, too. It's a single ability that they can use as much as they want, without gemstones, and without ever running out of magic. What did I give darling Ignatius again…? The 'Blessing of the Barriers,' was it?"

"You can give a human powers like that?" Silvio's eyes went as wide as saucers. "How do you get one of those? I want one!"

"Oh? So you want this?" A tiny flame danced at the end of Isaana's finger. Silvio reached for it, but she snuffed it out a split second before he grabbed it. "Nuh-uh-uh," she lectured, "do you think I go handing these things out all willy-nilly? Blessings, I reiterate, are a privilege. You have to earn this from me."

"Then how do I?"

"Hmm… I dunno." Isaana leaned back into the armchair. "Impress me."

"That's not a very good frame of reference."

"Well, that's the only hint you're going to get. Us Gods—all of us—look for extraordinary people to give Blessings to."

"Then how did Crowe get his?"

"That's a secret." Sip. "Catch my eye and you can have one. And then who knows? Maybe someday you'll join the pantheon like me."

"You mean Uncle Ignatius can become a God?" Hana jumped up in her seat.

Isaana nodded. "Of course. I thought this was common knowledge."

The twins shook their heads.

"… Things have changed a lot in five hundred years, then. But yes. Earning a Blessing makes you eligible to become a God. All Gods were humans once—well, almost all of us. Of course, not everyone who gets Blessed becomes one. I don't make the decision. That's for the higher ups. You know, you wouldn't think the celestial heavens to be a huge bureaucracy, but it is."

"Who were you as a human?"

"Ahem! It's rude to ask a God about their human life."

"Oh… sorry." But deep down Silvio brimmed with excitement. Why did Crowe keep such a marvelous secret from him? But he didn't really care. At that moment rising to the top of his class wasn't good enough anymore. He could have his own unique power! Yes, getting a Blessing sounded like a wonderful idea.

"Do you want to know what your Blessing would be?" asked Isaana, setting down her tea and standing up.

"You can do that?"

"Obviously. I haven't done it in a while. I think it would be fun. What say you?"

Silvio nodded. "Yes, please do! Thank you so much!"

"All right. Stand up and move away from the furniture."

Silvio obeyed her and Isaana outstretched her hands toward him.

"O Divine Flame of the Soul that never wavers, flare up and let me glimpse past your dancing shadow."

Suddenly, Silvio's entire body became engulfed in flames. A small scream left his mouth, but after a second he calmed down. Despite the fire's eager violence, it didn't hurt at all. Isaana parted the flames, exposing his glowing c.h.e.s.t, and reached in effortlessly, as if dipping her hand into water.

"Hmm…" she said. "Blessing of the Automata. You're very good at coming up with inventions, aren't you, Silvio? The impression I get from this power is that you would be able to make any idea of yours come to fruition, and it would work perfectly the first time." Isaana removed her hand and the flame went out. She wiped it across her frock. "How do you like the sound of that?"

"Cool!" he beamed. "That's awesome! It definitely suits me."

"Glad you think so. How about you, Hana? Would you like a try?"

The color drained from her face. "U-Um…" she stuttered.

"I know the incantation's lame, but that's the reaction you have to it?"

"Come on, Hana!" said Silvio. "It doesn't hurt one bit!"

"F-Fine."

Isaana repeated her words and Hana burst into flame like her brother. The Goddess reached in and paused, shock creeping across her countenance.

"Huh," she said, and wiggled her hand about. "In this world, too...?" Isaana shook her head, clearing her throat and regaining her composure. "Huh. Interesting! Very interesting!" She broke out into a Cheshire cat grin. "You're one of a kind, aren't you, Hana?" Isaana removed her hand and did a pirouette, landing right in Hana's face with her hands on her h.i.p.s. "A power like that," she said, breathless, "it's like giving matches to a baby!"

"Wh-What is it?" asked Hana. Her face was white as a ghost.

"Oh-ho! I'm not telling! What in the world is the Outer One thinking...? Although, it might be interesting if you actually got it… Hey, Hana, I won't tell you right now, but you've got one helluva power within you."

Her laughter was short-lived, however, as a knock sounded from the door.

"Come in!" sang Isaana, snapping out of it and returning to her seat, taking another sip of tea.

Silvio was lost for words. He wasn't sure whether he should be confused or jealous of Hana's apparently great Blessing, but he could say in all confidence Isaana was an unpredictable woman. Was she sweet? Snarky? A bit of both? Or maybe neither, and the personality she chose to show the world was nothing more than a mask.

Crowe entered the study with caution, bowing his head before Isaana.

"Iggy!" exclaimed Isaana, and in an instant she disappeared from the chair, reappearing a second later beside him with her arm thrown around his shoulders. "A veritable family reunion, isn't this? Are you here to keep me company too?"

"Uh…" Crowe blushed, shoulders stiffening. "N-No, Mistress. I apologize for intruding, but midday mass is about to begin, and all the acolytes should be there."

"Oh, pooh, Ignatius. Are these two not worshiping me adequately by being in my presence?" She bent her body backwards to face the siblings, not losing her balance despite her contortions. "Guess what, kids? Religion is a human construct! I don't particularly care if you worship me at a mass I don't even go to."

"You say that, Isaana-sa," said Crowe, "but I know you'd get upset if we didn't. There's a very important assembly for the kids at mass, too."

"Ah, only you could get away with speaking to me like that, Iggy Bird!" Isaana chuckled.

Silvio snorted. "Iggy Bird?"

"Well, whatever. I'll send them off with a d.o.g.g.y bag if it's so important. Off with you, Sabatka twins. Our time together was very interesting. Truly!"

"Uh, thank you!" said Hana as they joined Crowe.

"I have a feeling I'll see you again soon, though," said Isaana, and she waved them off. "Oh, and Hana?"

"Yes...?"

"Be careful."

The twins followed Crowe down the ancient staircase. "Hey, Iggy Bird?" asked Silvio.

"Call me that again and die."

"Why didn't you tell us about Blessings?"

Crowe stopped. "So she explained it to you?" He spoke with a quiet and uncertain tone, his shoulders locking up in anxiety.

"How do you go about getting one of those?"

The middle-aged Professor gripped the rail like a vise, shaking his head. Silvio immediately felt a drop in his gut. Isaana spoke freely, but with his uncle he got the impression Blessings were something taboo and evil.

At last, he answered him.

"Silvio," said Crowe, "only fools and suicidal wrecks seek Blessings. You shouldn't try to get one. It's too dangerous, especially for a child."

"Well, now you've made it sound more interesting!"

"Ah…" He scratched the nape of his neck. "… Damn. This is a case of 'do as I say, not as I do,' boy."

"Then what did YOU do to get…?"

"Silvio!"

As Crowe shouted, a jolt like electricity blasted from his body, lashing Silvio against his finger. He flinched at the sudden pain and brought it up to his mouth, s.u.c.k.i.n.g on it. His lips tingled as they met the wound, and he pulled it away, looking at the minor burn on his hand.

"Uncle Crowe!" he cried, massaging it. "What was that for?"

"I..." stammered Crowe, "I didn't mean to... That's..." Taking a deep breath, his posture slumped into one of dejection. "Silvio, I'm really sorry. This is what happens when a Sorcerer doesn't think with a clear state of mind. Their magic backfires, and can hurt other people. Did it get you too bad? It's just... I love you and Hana very much, and don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." They exited the library. "Just… get ready for mass, okay?"

He walked away. Neither twin made any attempt to follow or bring him back. Silvio hung his head, staring at the ground.

"He's really mad," said Hana.

"I… don't understand," said Silvio, tears welling up in his eyes. "What did I do wrong? How did I make him upset?"

"There's probably a good reason he doesn't want to talk about it. How bad does it hurt?"

Silvio fanned out his fingers. "Feels like I stuck my hand in a furnace."

"Let's go to the Potions lab. I'll get you fixed up."

Hana and Silvio descended several flights of stairs to the third floor, entering a wide room full of plants in glass cases. Standing on her tippy-toes, Hana opened up a cabinet and pulled out a mortar and pestle, setting them on the desk beside her. She sat down and pulled out a handful of comfrey from her pockets, the spoils of her search with Ffion that afternoon. Focusing all her strength into her task, Hana ground up the herbs into a paste, adding a few drops of lavender oil from Ffion's cabinet until the poultice had the consistency of creamed spinach. Silvio held his hand out and Hana spread some across his injury, securing the medicine with part of a roll of gauze.

The pain subsided immediately, and Silvio let out a sigh of relief. "That's good stuff!" he whistled in admiration. "Thanks Hana, I owe you one."

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. I'm just glad you feel better. It'll take a few hours for the magic to heal you completely."

Silvio rolled his wrist. "That's fine. We should probably head on over to mass. Don't want to make Uncle Crowe even madder, right?" He cracked a grin, but deep down he was still hurting, not from the injury itself, but from the nagging thought he said something very wrong. The suddenness of it all frightened him—but Ignatius Crowe was a mysterious man, and neither he nor Hana knew much about him.

But he believed his apology.

Crowe sounded genuinely regretful, and Silvio decided to believe that he hadn't meant to do it on purpose. After mass he would give him an apology of his own, and then they could put this incident behind them.

--Not that he intended to give up on getting his Blessing.

Crowe's hesitance awakened a dark curiosity within him, and his condescension pissed him off. He still didn't see what was so bad about Blessings; unlike Hana, his power was harmless. Perhaps Crowe thought in absolutes. It's not like he had to do anything dangerous to get Blessed. As Isaana said, he just had to impress the Gods. He would find a way to do it safely and rub his victory in Crowe's face.

But for now, he decided it best not to mention Blessings around Crowe again to remain in his good graces.

The twins entered the chapel and sat in the back. Unlike Isaana's study, her house of worship was actually luxurious and beautiful. Sighing, Silvio stared absentmindedly at the giant statue of Isaana behind the altar, thinking it ironic how much nicer this place was than where she lived. Maybe Isaana was right, and humans made this place beautiful so they could feel better about themselves.

Hana jabbed him in the side to get his attention. Shocked, he scrambled to his knees and bowed with the other acolytes as the priests and priestesses strode in for the processional. Silvio fixed his eyes on the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with Crowe—but he felt his stormy aura regardless.

"Please rise," came Ffion's voice, and the children obeyed. "Let's begin with the creation story."

_

A long time ago, there was nothing but a tiny shadow.

There were no stars, no galaxies, and time was inconceivable. There was just that tiny black dot in the center of an unimaginable void. But somehow, that dot developed an ego over the span of what should be millennia, but wasn't—and attempted to bring meaning to its random existence.

It couldn't.

No matter what, the shadow couldn't reconcile its sentience amidst a sheer lack of anything. As far as it looked there was nothing--not that it could see in the first place, as vision didn't exist, either. It was alone with its thoughts.

The shadow developed feelings, but didn't know what they were. Instead, it chose to dream, using its imagination to conceive ideas that ought to be impossible. It dreamed for a very long time, until even then those dreams could no longer satisfy it.

So instead of lying in wait, it decided to leave in search of something.

And then a miracle happened. As the shadow moved, it expanded and blanketed everything, leaving behind its dreams turned reality in its wake. Everything it thought of came true, and the shadow built and built and built but it could never be satiated.

No matter what, it always looked down upon its creation, but could never be one with it itself.

In that moment, the Outer One realized its feelings were of loneliness. It needed something that could understand it.

So it made life. It made many different things, but couldn't be with them, as it existed beyond its own creation, until it used part of its soul to create the first God and Goddess. Because these soul shards were too weak to affect anything on their own, it could finally interact with the universe through their eyes. The Outer One continued tearing off shreds of its soul to make more Gods.

But it tore off too much and became weak, so much that it couldn't expand the universe as much as it wanted to. So instead, the Outer One entrusted its will to the God of the Atoms and the Goddess of Dark Matter. It told them to find extraordinary people and ascend them as Gods to manage and organize its creation. The Outer One would grant these people part of its soul like it had the first Gods, but they would give up something in exchange. The God and Goddess agreed to its request, and assumed watch over the world. To monitor them, the Outer One created a weak avatar, putting it to sleep in the center of the Earth, while the rest of it left them be.

From that point on, they appointed many Gods and Goddesses, while the Outer One continued expanding the universe, filling the land with magic.

Before it left, though, the Outer One gave the Earth one last gift—some people would be able to use the Gods' leftover power, magic.

-

Silvio heard this story a million times before. Everyone in the world knew about the Outer One sleeping deep in the core of the Earth. After all, why would humans exist if they served no purpose to the divine?

It was the most important God of all—but because every God had a shard of its power, people could pray to any one of them, and by extension, they would still be worshipping the Outer One.

The information about humans being able to become Gods was new… or at least it would be if Isaana hadn't set the record straight just minutes prior.

As Ffion finished recounting her very boring story, Willoughby replaced her at the lectern. Silvio cringed. Normally Crowe gave the sermon—he must be truly upset.

"Hi, kids!" chirped Willoughby, "I trust that you've completed your Divination homework already? If so, then you would've foreseen that instead of a sermon we have a very special announcement today instead!"

Oh, Gods, who let Willoughby do the talking anyway?

Willoughby was nuts. The students all agreed he didn't just have a screw loose. He had multiple screws loose, his mind probably barely cobbled together by a few patches of tape. Moreover, he droned on and on during his lectures, most of the time not about the course material at all.

Expecting Willoughby to launch into some inane story about something that may or may not have happened, Silvio instead picked at a very interesting ingrown hair, waiting for the Professor to stop frothing at the mouth and return to his cage.

"The Illunis Festival!" Willoughby announced. "You all know the Illunis Festival, yes? It marks the end of the Continental War and the founding of Gesmaura? Of course you do. Everyone knows it. It is our Temple's tradition to run the festivities for the town every year. In fact, when I was but a Wee-loughby myself I did it, too! But this year you all are particularly honored—see, this marks the five-hundredth year of peace in Gesmaura, so the Illunis Festival this year is especially special. To mark the occasion, Eleora-sa will be bringing the aurora borealis to us."

At the mention of Eleora-sa, Silvio perked up. Eleora-sa was the Goddess of the North Wind and patron deity of Hakalai Pass. The prospect of possibly meeting another Goddess excited him.

The other students felt the same way, as a wave of chatter rippled throughout the room.

"So despite the fact she is literally quite frosty, we need to give Eleora-sa a very warm welcome! After all, it's the Gods who protect us. It is said that if a war that big ever broke out again, the Outer One would send a false God to destroy us all. And we wouldn't want that to happen, would we? So that's why we need to show the Gods our appreciation! In order to preserve the prestige of our school and the dignity of Isaana-sa, this year we're going all out. In addition to running the Festival, you all will show off a final project demonstrating the skills you've learned so far. You can do whatever you want as long as you get permission from at least three of us, but your festival-running duties will be delegated to you based on your individual talents."

Silvio sat at the edge of his seat. Not only was Willoughby saying something interesting for once, it was enthralling.

"… But since you're all still very early into your education, you will be working with a partner on your final project. Specifically, your roommate."

And just like that, his excitement crashed. Silvio deflated into the pew like a half-filled balloon, the dread of working with Jan a dark cloud over his earlier optimism.

"Also, this project will factor in greatly for your final mid-year grade. It could mean the difference between passing or failure. Well, I already know how you all will do anyway, but the future isn't set in stone, so do your best and then some! That'll be all!"

And with that, Willoughby hopped off the lectern back to the other clergymen.

Silvio sat through the rest of the service in a funk. Once it finally let out, the children all ran to their roommates, buzzing with excitement and talking about project ideas, but not him. Hana stayed to comfort him a bit, but even then she was still pulled away by her own roommate to discuss their plans.

"So I get to be with the school's biggest dunce. Lucky me."

Silvio snapped his head around and scowled, wanting to belt his nasty roommate one.

"I'm not a dunce!" he growled, folding his arms over his c.h.e.s.t.

"Says the kid who can't even play lightball. Look here, Silvio…" Jan jabbed a finger into Silvio's cheek. Despite Jan's frail body, it hurt quite a bit. "Eleora-sa's my main Goddess and I won't be humiliated in front of her! Lucky for you, while you're at the bottom of our class, I'm towards the top, so as long as you step aside and let me do all the work, we'll get a 100."

"Excuse you?" Silvio sputtered. "If I don't put in any work the teachers will know! I'm not gonna nobly sacrifice myself for your sake!"

"Yeah, and what can you do?" Jan's brown eyes blazed with anger. "Silvio, you're weak! You have little more magical ability than a Worker! You can't do anything!"

"Screw you! You know what? I might not be good at magic right now, but at least I can stand up and lift! And physical stuff clearly isn't your thing!"

Jan's mouth widened with his eyes. Silvio shut up immediately as he realized what he just said.

"Jan, I…" he started.

"I… just forget about it." Jan shook his head and wheeled himself away, leaving Silvio to stand there in shock and shame.

"Silvio. My office. Now."

Silvio gulped and turned around. Standing right behind him was Crowe.

His day just went from bad to worse.