First Night

Having depleted me of the last of my strength, and my will to live, the lich had finally set me free. I was still coughing and sneezing from the dust that had entered my system. Worst of all, I couldn't even rejoice. It was temporary freedom, the cruel Archmage has ordered me to come back every afternoon, starting tomorrow. If I find those two mages who distracted me, I'd make sure to gouge out their entrails.

A broken soul, I wearily trudged through the corridor. The lich told me the quarters for freshmen were in the left-wing of the building, exactly where the other Archmage had led the others.

"Are you alright lad." said a passing servant, a mop on his hand, and a smirk on his face.

"Do I look alright?" I spat back, not bothering to look at him.

"Good luck with Sir Meldor." he chuckled before proceeding his way.

Meldor, the name of the lich, finally. I could inquire more of him and find his weaknesses and manufacture his downfall. But I was too weak to think things through, and so I set aside the thought. All I wanted was rest.

I heard more chuckles on the way, from mages and servants alike. They seem to enjoy my misery and I shall take note of it. One way or another, I will have my revenge on this rotten institution.

It seemed forever but I finally spotted familiar faces. Jason was talking cheerfully with his friends and newly found friends. I did not doubt his ability to make connections that fast, he is a fool and fools easily flock together. The sight of them enjoying such shallow things, irritate me more than anything, especially since I'm tired.

"Oh, Avalon where did you go?" Jason left his circle of friends to greet me, something unnecessary.

"You do not need to know that." I weakly brushed him off.

"The only room available is the one beside the stairs," he informed before reluctantly going back to his stupid acquaintances. I heard one of them badmouth me but I was too tired to care.

The stairs to the upper floor were at the end of the hallway, and so I forced my feet to pump up more steps. Finally arriving at the said room, I immediately reach for the handle.

The room was almost empty and there was no window. There was a single bed and a table beside it, and nothing more. But it was more than enough, at least it was clean.

I freed my feet from my sandals and my body from my tunic. Wearing only my undergarments, I jumped unto the bed. Closing my eyes was the easiest thing to do and my mind slowly drifted to unconsciousness.

I could've easily slept but a shower of dust keeps falling unto my face every time I hear a noise. At first, I tried to ignore it, but it would happen every other minute, enough to keep me away from the arms of sleep. I forcefully opened my eyes, to be greeted by a jagged ceiling. Only then had I discovered my bed was right below the stairs.

Cursing the heavens I forced my already half-asleep body to leave the sheets. Clearly, none had used the damn room before. Luckily, the stairs were only half my ceiling and I could move to the other side.

The feet of the bed sounded sharply against the stone as I drag it with the last of my sinews. To sweat when you're barely awake was a weird feeling. After three pulls and a push, the bed was where I wanted it to be.

I left out a sigh, and after dusting off the sheets, I returned to my bed's embrace. I would still hear the muffled footsteps, but it was something my sleepiness was able to conquer. Fleeting thoughts would still visit my brain, like how noon had passed and I hadn't had my lunch and how scary Meldor's staff was with the goat horns that crown it. But my mind would not think for long as sleep soon finally came.

Successive knocks on the door would awake me. I was feeling better, but I wanted one more minute on the bed.

"What is it?" I asked without opening my eyes.

"Avalon, dinner had been served they want us in full attendance at the hall" Jason replied.

Sighing heavily, I sat myself up. This was my new life. To be awoken from sleep and have no right to refuse.

"Coming."

After wiping the tears and boogers off my eyes, I parted with my bed. I looked around for my tunic and sandals and spent a few minutes before finding them beneath the bed and spent another minute rewearing them. Jason was still by the door when I exited.

"Tadaah," he said with his ugly voice, unfurling a white cloak, similar to what he was wearing.

"Are they asking us to pretend as ghosts?" I scoffed.

"No! This is the uniform for mage apprentices which we are now." he refuted me with a bright smile exposing how yellow his teeth were.

"If we ran out of bedsheets, we all know where they went." I joked and the dumbass laughed. That was not even a good joke, I could be funnier if I wanted to.

Night had come, and the candles and the moonlight through the window were barely illuminating the building. With the cloaks on, we looked like resentful souls seeking someone to spook along the dark corridor. Jason talked about his day, how tasty the lunch was, and how friendly others were. As he rumbled on so did my hungry stomach, until finally, we reached the hall.

The moment I entered, my eyes widened with the sight that greeted me. The hall was more glorious at night, it seemed. About a hundred mages, segregated by the color of their cloaks sat by the tables.

The first two rows were occupied by mage apprentices, all fifty of us. The next row of tables was occupied by those wearing dark green, about thirty of them. Then followed by those wearing dark blue, about twenty of them. Then the furthermost tables were occupied by mages wearing maroon cloaks, and there were only ten of them. Aside from the color of the cloaks, the further it goes, the older the mages became.

Jason led me to one of the tables where he had reserved me a seat. Reasoning it's better to be surrounded by annoying people that I know, than annoying people I don't know, I went along with his arrangements.

"This is Avalon, his father is our village smith." Jason excitedly introduced me to the one new guy we had on our table. He looked like someone who could beat me up and so I forced a smile.

"Philippus, from the village of Aldne," he responded, smiling ear to ear.

"Aldne, the village beyond the river?" I asked.

"Yup."

"Hmmm, do you still wear loincloth there?" I teased, instantly receiving disapproving gazes from all around.

"No, we used fur and leather actually." unlike the others, he chuckled at my remark. I then give everyone a you-humorless-piece-of-crappy-pickle stare.

Before we could continue with the conversation, the scent of delicious food arrested our attention. We saw maids and servants carrying large pots pour into the room. Not long after food slowly trickled into our tables. First baskets of bread, then plates of fish and meat, bowls of porridge, and lastly jars of wine.

A feast was before my eyes, and my stomach rumbled in protest. I drooled over the food, but for some screwed-up reason, we are to wait for the archmages before we could begin.

The first of the archmages entered only twenty minutes later. I watched the food go cold as the old farts walked like injured turtles towards the high table.

According to Jason, the first one to enter was Sir Eldoril, the one who met us in the courtyard. And then the useless piece of junk was unable to name the rest. The last to arrive was no other than the lich himself.

"That's Sir Meldor," I whispered out loud unintentionally.

"Where?" Jason quickly jumped at my remark.

"The one that looks like a corpse."

"Really? It's the first time I heard of him," he commented and it was odd because the noisy dork was like an almanac of magical figures. Did I get his name wrong?

Well, it didn't matter that time. I walked seven kilometers from my village to Ironstaff without rest. Then when I entered the castle, some crappy person asked me to clean a huge library on my own for five hours. And then I skipped lunch. I was dying of starvation, and the band of merry old men wouldn't stop talking after having us wait for a millennium.

Finally, one of the archmages stood, raising a glass of wine.

"Sorry for letting all of you wait. Enjoy the feast! And to the new mage apprentices, welcome to the Academy of Magery."