The Ranking Ceremony 1

It was time for the ranking ceremony; however, Instructor Drakkon made no move to take attendance. He simply sat behind the desk also wearing an infuriating smile.

After a few minutes of silence, her classmates began to glance at him uneasily. Even Uriel's smile faltered.

"Instructor Drakkon," began one of the two elves. This was the golden one, Lorien. Sky thought of him like that because everything about him was golden, from his hair to his gold shining skin, and he was stunning. Instructor Drakkon looked at him. "Shouldn't you take attendance so we can go?" Lorien asked.

"Ordinarily, yes, but there is something I have to discuss with the class first and not everyone is—" The door banging open interrupted the instructor. West rushed in, and he has a slight sweaty sheen glowing on his skin.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I tried to meet you at the auditorium," he panted lightly. "I'm not too late, right?" Instructor Drakkon gave him a flat look.

"Not today, but any other day, you would have been. I do not tolerate lateness." Pulling the big black book over to himself, Instructor Drakkon finally took attendance. West walked over to Sky and Dain.

"Are we talking to her now?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, just your weakling of a brother," Rage, another classmate, answered. West turned a startled look on Dain.

"What did you do?" he asked quietly. Dain's face flushed again, and his mouth tightened grimly.

"Alright," Instructor Drakkon said, pushing the book away and standing up. "Now, I need to know which one of your tried to perform an unauthorized binding and summoning after class yesterday." He walked around and leaned on the side of his desk as he glared at each of the twenty students in turn. His gaze completely skipped over Sky. No one said anything. They looked around and shifted uncomfortably. A minute of tense silence passed. Sky clenched her fists at her sides.

"It was me," Sky announced loudly. Several snickers broke out around the room. Nix and Vael laughed outright while Uriel smiled wryly. Char and the golden elf, the only two out of everyone in the room, looked at her with sharp eyes.

"We went over this yesterday, Skylar. You can't have possibly done it. You don't have elemental magic," West whispered a hair too loudly.

"Yes, I do. There have been signs, and I know what happened because I was there. Were you?" West let out a long-suffering sigh and crossed his arms.

"Shut your godsdamned lying mouth!" Snapped Instructor Drakkon coldly. "Now, I need someone to admit to this. The Chancellor has agreed to be lenient if one of you admits to doing this. If no one admits to doing it, then we, as a class, are going to stay right here, all day. There will be no Ranking Ceremony for any of you." His eyes roved around the room again, waiting. Sky looked around the room as well and met the golden-haired Char's piercing, dark gaze. She frowned at him and uncomfortably pushed her glasses up her nose, making sure her face was well hidden. "Well?" Instructor Drakkon demanded. "Both the school and I are fine with you all being rank one students with no poi—"

"I did it," Char said at last, much to Sky's amazement and to everyone else's. Startled outbursts met his proclamation.

"But you left with me!" Vael choked out. Char smirked and shrugged. The smirk was rakish and confident.

"I went back after I left you," he retorted calmly. Then turning back to Instructor Drakkon, he said, "I lied about already having a familiar. I just didn't want anyone else to see what it was, so I went back after everyone had left to summon and bind it when I was alone. I found the human there attempting to summon a familiar. It obviously wasn't working, so I made her stop and leave."

Instructor Drakkon nodded and continued for him, "And then something went wrong when you tossed your sigil on the brazier. There was too much smoke and the barrier, which may have already been damaged, couldn't contain it and shattered," Char snorted in wry amusement. "Yeah, that sounds about right, but I want to be clear: the barrier broke before the binding was complete. I have no more control over that creature than anyone else."

"Understood. The Chancellor will want to speak to you as soon as you are ranked," Instructor Drakkon informed him. Then he turned to the rest of the class and said, "Now, let us all head to the auditorium. They are waiting for us and because Char was male enough to admit what he did, you all get to go first. The order is alphabetical by last name except for Char, who is first. Arrange yourselves on the way."