Disciplinary Measures Gone Wrong

A month passed since orientation day. Faxon's magical development was going smoothly in all the schools he was taking while Mei's was uneven in her three. Both couldn't for the life of them care about their mundane classes though. Their arcane classes had a practical use and obvious progression. In comparison, few of the students thought the others were worth much. It was something they often complained about in lounge rooms: meeting areas for students with a mutual desire to see each other. They regularly saw Bulut and Rumen after classes. No one else could quite put up with their bravado, so it fell on to them, not that they minded. Hatred for the mundane classes' assignments more than united all four. It was the source of their current predicament.

Tamara, their disciplinary officer, twitched behind her desk as their counselor held his sides laughing. "Master-Wizard Set, this is not something to take lightly!"

"I'm not!" He wiped tears from his eyes. "Just run that by me again; I think I misheard you."

"Mr. Faxon here completed an assignment meant for Ms. Mei."

"Now why would he do that?" The Master-Wizard glanced at his charges, one of which was being fed and patted on the head by the other.

Faxon rolled the ball of deliciousness to the side of his mouth. "Lies and slander. Why would anyone do that horrible waste of time you call 'homework' more than once?"

"It's meant to measure your understanding and help it grow, and we can tell it was you by the enchantments set in place," Tamara deadpanned.

"There was a mix-up, I swear." He narrowed his eyes. "And that sounds like a serious violation of our privacy, don't you think?

"The enchantment is restricted to just our assignment papers. It keeps a record of your thoughts, and the ones Ms. Mei submitted to Ms. Dorina had only yours."

Holding out a hand, he turned to his cackling counselor. "See?!" He focused back on the irritated officer. "How is that allowed?!

She folded her hands together. "You can't weasel out of this, Mr. Faxon. Ever since you've come here, you've been up to no good: constantly fighting with other students and now this?"

"'Brothers fight all the time though. It's how they learn to live with each other,'" he quoted, adopting Rumen's accent.

"Violence is still not allowed."

"I was just trying to stop them, and they started roping me into it." He looked down at his bruised knuckles. "Honestly, it's kind of fun."

Her gaze shifted to Mei, who jumped in response. "And you've been encouraging this behavior!"

Faxon slammed his hand down on the desk. "Hey!" He glared at the frozen woman. "Talking is hard for her, and she's scared of getting hurt by us! She doesn't encourage anything! If you want someone to yell at, I'm sitting right here!"

"That's enough." Set's laughter died as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Tamara blinked. "I… Some discipline is still in order."

"And I assure you these two will go along with it." He glanced from one to the other with cold eyes. "Isn't that right, kids?" A smile spread across his face when they rapidly nodded their heads. "Good." Looking to the officer, his lips thinned into a line. "Are we done here?"

"Y-Yes."

The three of them warped from the disciplinary officer's office to the dorm two lived in. A tense silence permeated the room. It was the first time the children saw their counselor so serious. While it was easy to forget, he was the master of a magic school that toyed with reality itself. Neither was anywhere close to his level and likely would never be unless they extended their lifespans. To say angering him was a bad idea would be an understatement.

Set began laughing again. "Oh man, I can't decide whether you two are fun or a hassle!" He patted their shoulders. "Reminds me of my old days here way back when!" Looking to the boy, he crouched down to his level. "What was that though?"

"She was judging Mei for something I did. That was unfair and mean. Just because it's her job to help us behave doesn't mean she can be stupid about it."

He, grinning, shook his head. "Really got an attitude. Gonna have to watch that when you're dealing with mages outside of The Six-Pointed Star: they're likely to annihilate you."

"Grandma Amelia would agree with you but also call you disgraceful without outright saying it."

From the corner of his eye, he saw Mei roll her eyes. "Sounds like fun." He chuckled at Faxon scoffing.

"She isn't anything close to that."

"Both of you need to lighten up. I know getting the side-eye doesn't feel good but focusing on that or returning the favor gets you nowhere. Might not seem like you're doing anything wrong, but you are still breaking the rules." He groaned the same time they did. "Some people are going to hold that against you on technicalities, so you best get it out of your system now. If you're breaking the rules, at least make sure you're not caught."

Faxon and Mei blinked. "Did… Did you just encourage us to?"

"I wanna say no, but I can't exactly say that, so I'll just say maybe."

"You may as well have just said yes."

He raised an educational finger. "That would be against some unsaid rules."

"...So the goal isn't to break them but bend them?" The boy tilted his head.

Holding up his arms, he avoided eye-contact with either. "Your words." He smirked at their audible realizations.

"I can't decide if you're a good counselor or a bad one." Faxon laughed at his souring expression. "Do you know what our punishment is going to be?"

"Probably just some chores. Worst case scenario, they have you help sort books in one of the unused libraries."

He raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't everything teleport around here? What's the point of having libraries if you don't use them?"

"They're normal books with magic theory in them from around the time this place was first built, and we keep them for times like this or whenever one of the old timers wants to reminisce."

"You're not an old timer?" He flinched at the magic head's twitch while Mei backed away.

"What's with all the questions?" Set clucked his tongue. "I'm not as old as Morgan, Typhon, Alice, and Zhao."

"But Zhao looks younger than you." He stepped back as his eyes narrowed.

"That uptight old man just looks younger because he's better at Necromancy than I am." His voice lowered to a whisper. "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but Alice uses her Illusion magic to look younger than she actually is: her Necromancy is even worse than mine." The undisturbed looks on their faces almost made him pout. "Yeah, yeah. You figured it out yourself. Congratulations! So did I." He raised his hand in goodbye. "Remember what I said."

Faxon raised an eyebrow as their counselor blinked away. "I can never really get a read on him." He looked to Mei, who nodded in agreement. "Are you okay?" Another nod made him smile. "Sorry if I scared you." Raising a hand to rub the back of his head, he laughed. "Just reminded me of a time with Raya." He laughed harder at her rolling her eyes. "Come on! Have a heart."

She crossed her arms and swept them to her sides. Parting her lips to mimic speech, she made talking gestures with her hand, tilting her head from side to side. A roll of his eyes made her shake her head. He would endlessly bring up those he lived with. To say it was beginning to grate on her would be an understatement. Her roommate refused to close his mouth, an ever increasingly evident fact about him.

"You don't ever say anything. What else am I supposed to do? Play guessing games with you?" He scoffed when she nodded. "That doesn't make any sense! It'd just be me making the same moves you do, and then we'd only understand what we think we do from each other." Her blank stare made his face scrunch. "Uh? Are you there, Mei?" Squinting at a nod, he tilted his head. "Is...something up or are you deep in thought right now?"

Communication was an issue. At least his communication was to her. She knew no magic that could keep him silent, and he would keep talking regardless if she didn't bother responding with gestures. All the while, talking back to him, literally or figuratively, would encourage him to talk even more. He could read her mind if he really wanted to, but a stern barrage of finger pokes dissuaded him from ever doing so again. Such uses of his abilities were luckily forbidden too.

"Are you worried about our punishment or?" He watched her shake her head before going to her bed. "Are you really tired right now?" Her squinting eyes told him all he needed to know. "Alright, I'll leave you be." Walking to his own, he stretched. "Think I'm going to lay down for a while too." He plopped himself on to his own mattress and yawned.

While they were in trouble, it wasn't anything either was worried about. The worst they could do to Faxon was send him back home, which he was longing for, and that was the only infraction Mei committed. Bulut and Rumen broke the rules all the time in comparison without any real punishment too. Disciplinary offices existing at all told them actions like theirs were common enough to warrant them. All four were likely lesser cases. Neither wanted to think about what the bigger ones looked like.

The day after went by as normal. Each went to their separate and shared classes, zoned out during their mundane classes' lectures, and were teleported back to their dorm. It surprised them for a minute they weren't swept into a lounge room, like they almost always were, with Bulut and Rumen. Both figured it was just one of those odd days before a robed man they didn't recognize appeared before them with two other young students behind him.

"My name is Valerian." He gestured to the mismatching guests their age. "These are Timur and Ameyalli. All four of you are to assist me in gathering alchemical ingredients." His eyes narrowed at their confused faces. "It's your punishment for breaking the rules. Step over here, and we'll get started."

"Alchemical ingredients?" Faxon asked, raising an eyebrow as Mei did the same.

Ameyalli rolled her muddy eyes. "An element to a lesser school of magic." She smirked at their guardian's shaking head.

"Just come here already." Timur groaned.

Faxon and Mei shared a look before obeying. One second, the five of them were in the former pair's room, and they were in a forest none of them recognized the next. The trees were larger than any of them were used to, red bark was in place of the usual brown, and even the air felt different. It was akin to old stories about falling down a hole into another world.

Valerian cleared his throat, drawing their eyes on to him. "Listen to me closely because I'm not going to repeat myself. You are here to gather alchemical ingredients: mushrooms, molded bark, and odd flowers." He fished pieces of cloth from his robes and handed one to each. "Put any of them against that, and it will transform into a pouch for you to carry." His gaze steeled. "Under no circumstances are you to eat anything you find. The best case scenario if you do is an upset stomach; the worst case is dying from poisoning. My skill with Necromancy leaves much to be desired, so there's nothing I can do if you're foolish enough to go through with it." Relaxing, he examined their surroundings. "You probably won't, but if you run into any trouble, come back here or cry out for help. I'll take care of it."

"Should we be expecting anything?" Timur asked. "This place…" He closed his eyes and hummed. "It's very strange."

Faxon's eyes widened in realization. "Its rich in life energy!"

Valerian nodded. "That is why we are gathering alchemical ingredients here. Almost everything, save the grass and normal bark, can be used to transmute potions."

"Transmute?"

"You'll understand in your second year. For now, just focus on retrieving ingredients and staying safe."

Timur frowned. "You still haven't told us what we should be staying safe from."

"Acts of wild magic occasionally happen in places like this. Normally, you can feel it coming long before it does. There are also sometimes other mages or alchemists scrounging for ingredients too. Most know not to start anything with The Six-Pointed Star, but you occasionally get some independent practitioner with a bone to pick. Nothing I can't handle. You four, on the other hand, are probably a different story."

"And if we can't get to you or scream for help in time?" Ameyalli asked.

"Well…" Valerian patted the girl's head. "Best not to think about that." He focused on all four of them. "Come back here with full pouches. Feel free to travel in pairs, one big group, or spread out." A laugh built in his chest at their dismayed faces. "Just relax and take it easy. Nothing ever really happens, but you should go in a big group if you're feeling scared. Have one or two of you act as lookouts." He sat down in the rich grass. "I'll be right here."

Faxon shot him a look. "You're really not doing anything?" His face scrunched when he nodded. "But you have to at least come with us just in case."

"This is supposed to be your punishment. While I'm with you, I'm going to notice every little thing you miss out. It'll end with me doing all the work, and the four of you coasting off my perceptiveness." He smiled with somewhat forced warmth. "Nothing is going to happen to you. There's a better chance one of you will get struck by lightning than hurt by anything here."

They shot him one last doubtful look before looking at each other. Each knew only a quarter of their group, but it didn't seem like they had options. Four sets of eyes were better than one and two. Chances were they had different magic school abilities as well. Only their personalities could deter their safety and success. With nods, they turned to venture into the forest.

"Mushrooms, molded bark, and flowers." Timur spat to the side. "Alchemy is a disgraceful school."

Ameyalli laughed. "It's Transmutation for the mundane; of course it is."

"My name is Faxon, but I also go by Fax. What schools are you learning?" Faxon asked, pointing at himself. "I'm taking Transmutation, Illusion, and Necromancy." Mei looked away when he pointed at her. "This is Mei: she's taking Destruction, Mysticism, and Necromancy."

"You actually got accepted for that?" She squinted at the quiet girl. "Then you're a tricky one, aren't you?" Her glare made her laugh. "Not tricky enough, if that's how you react." Looking to Faxon, she returned his gesture. "Conjuration, Destruction, and Transmutation."

"Destruction and Transmutation," Timur said.

Faxon turned to him. "Just two?"

"I do not think life is something to be played with or minds are to be abused. We all heard from that strange man what learning Mysticism risks. Conjuring things to fight for me is boring and disgraceful."

"You say that now, but just wait until you get into it with someone you can't overpower," Ameyalli said, smirking.

He scoffed. "What good is a summoned fork going to do?"

"Sh-Shut up!" She blushed. "It was just the one time!" Crossing her arms, she looked away from him. "One day, I'm going to ride on a feathered serpent, just like Xochitl!"

"You're from the same place she's from, right?" Faxon asked.

She turned to him and scoffed. "What gave it away? The skin, the face, or the name?"

"All of it really." He spared a glance at an uncomfortable Mei.

Ameyalli's eyes followed his. "She really doesn't say anything, huh?" Another glare from the girl in question made her laugh. "You can't be mad at me for saying that out loud: it's true." She held on to her sides when she looked away.

Timur shook his head. "We're supposed to be looking for alchemical ingredients."

"Do you see any?"

He stopped. "There." He pointed at a far away moldy patch of bark. "There." His hand shifted towards the roots of a tree where a mushroom was. "There." Without looking, he made them aware of well over a dozen of their targets.

"...You've got very good eyes," Faxon said before Mei nodded in agreement.

"It's easy to get things done when you're not wasting time talking."

"You were talking too." Ameyalli, joined by a glaring Mei, huffed. "Don't act like you're better than us!"

Timur crossed his arms and held his head to the side. "I'll stop when it isn't true."

"Okay." Faxon stepped between them, catching a punch from Ameyalli with ease. "That's en–" Foreseeing a headbutt, he inclined his head to block her forehead with his. "Calm down."

She backed off with a hum. "You're pretty good, huh?"

"I guess." He raised a hand to rub his throbbing head. "I'm guessing that's how you got into trouble in the first place. Played around with boys, right?" He shifted his thigh to block a knee to his groin. "Hey!"

"Just making sure you haven't been playing with girls." She snickered, tempting Mei into doing the same.

He and Timur shared a look before shaking their heads. "Let's get on with this." He pointed a thumb at himself. "The two of us will be lookouts, and the two of you will get the ingredients."

Ameyalli crossed her arms. "Because we're girls?"

"No." His face scrunched in confusion. "Because it's good to have two people watching and a fighter with both groups."

"I am a fighter as well," Timur said.

"Then most, if not all, of us are. As lookouts, we can react first and attack, buying time for you two to get Valerian."

"Assuming we somehow lose."

Faxon raised an eyebrow. "We've just barely learned magic: there are mages that have been studying it since long before any of us were born."

"Skill and experience surpass power."

"And we're thirteen-year-olds facing people who are several times older than that," Ameyalli deadpanned as Mei shot Timur a look.

"I'm fourteen, and there is a difference in years of your life filled with hardship and none."

"You have a point, but we're talking about people who've probably seen more years than all of us combined, minimum," Faxon said, resisting the urge to call him an idiot. "Even if they were all easy years, they still learned something in that time. There's a point where skill doesn't make up for power."

Timur scoffed. "Skill will always be better than power."

"It all depends on the situation."

Mei and Ameyalli shared a look as the boys continued their needless, distracting discussion. Unknown to them, a cloaked man hiding behind an illusion watched the four. The stranger turned to the direction they came from and began walking. Valerian, sitting and relaxing in the forest clearing, coming into sight made him narrow his eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Valerian looked up to the vast blue sky. He was like many other mages in The Six-Pointed Star: the luxury of the enchanted tower trapped him inside for far too long. It had living conditions great enough even a king would be tempted to stay, so it was to be expected. None of the elders thought it worth mentioning in the manual while a few in the younger generations did, him included. For supposedly bridging cultures together, they sure loved separating themselves from the world.

The stranger, right behind the unaware mage, willed a powerful static shock into his hand and grabbed the back of Valerian's head. Straddling him from behind, he locked his left arm with his own to prevent a reprisal before shifting away from the floundering, twitching right. Magic needed a level of concentration depending on the scale and skill of the mage in the particular school. Novices required a great level of concentration in general regardless of scale, not that they could do much. Skilled mages needed far less yet still had difficulty with big displays. Masters could use abilities from their school with the same effort it took to breath in comparison. Few could do anything when their nerves were being disrupted and they were in immense pain though.

"R-R-Run!" Valerian yelled as loud as he could.

Ameyalli looked up from her partially-filled enchanted pouch to the direction of the scream. "Does that mean he's dead?" She blinked while Mei began to shake. "If he is…"

"We're next," Faxon said, pointing deeper into the forest. "Let's go." A snapping sound drew his attention. "What are you doing?"

Timur, concentrating on a broken-off tree branch, closed his eyes. "Making a weapon."

"We should be running away, like he told us to." He walked over and put a hand on the stick.

"Don't stop me now."

Faxon narrowed his eyes at the twig. "I'm helping: wood is a complex material."

"Then you should know I'm shaping a spear."

"Which end do you want to be the tip?"

"The left." His brow furrowed at the change he could feel. "My left."

"This is really stupid, you know?" Ameyalli shook her head, dropped her pouch, and walked over to put join her hands on the makeshift weapon. "Quiet Girl." She turned to a twitching Mei. "Is there anything in a fight your Mysticism can help with?" She clucked her tongue when she shook her head.

Faxon spared his roommate a glance. "Keep an eye out, please?" He shut his as he concentrated on transmuting the spearhead. "This is going to take just another minute."

"We really should be running away."

"Running is for cowards," Timur said.

Ameyalli nodded. "That's why I'm staying."

"You're both idiots I just met, but I can't leave you behind." Faxon ignored the looks they shot him. "I don't even know where this place is, and I've never been lost in the woods before."

"Run or stay, we're probably going to die or get hurt."

"Our enemy is not that powerful if he hasn't already killed us," Timur said. "We aren't likely to get far even if we do run." His eyes opened to examine the finished steel tip of their creation. "The only true option we have is to fight."

"This is going to suck." Ameyalli jumped up and grabbed another branch of the tree, breaking it off with her weight.

Faxon chuckled as he walked to her. "That's an understatement." Setting his hands on the branch, he hummed. "If this turns out to be some weird way to actually punish us, I'm going to have a lot of words to say, none of them good."

"What kind of punishment is making us think we're about to die?"

"You've seen what the heads of the schools are like; this is exactly something they'd pull. We could all be stuck in an illusion right now while they laugh at us."

Timur went through several movements with the spear, resembling a drilled soldier. "Regardless, we must stand our ground and endure."

"Maybe help us make another before trouble comes?" Ameyalli resisted the urge to pay more attention away from her branch.

"It's better one of us stands guard with a weapon to buy the others time or distract the attackers, creating an opening."

"What good is that when you have the only weapon?"

"This spear lets me hold enemies back more effectively." He scoffed. "Even if you don't have anything, you can grab his legs to create an opening for me."

Ameyalli scoffed back as the tree limb took the shape of a staff. "The tip is to my right."

"I know. You're holding that side up," Faxon said.

Timur would've shaken his head if they weren't in possible danger. "The two of you need to focus o–" A man appearing from nothing and grabbing the shaft of his spear cut him off. He jumped back, trying to tug it away to no avail.

The stranger kicked the boy away, but he couldn't stop the other diving for his planted leg. He shifted the blunt end of the spear towards Faxon and jabbed the top of his head. Before he could hit him again, Ameyalli swung her incomplete spear-staff. Her blow thumped uselessly against the weapon in his hands, but it distracted him from Timur's running kick aimed at his groin.

While their unknown enemy lurched forward, Timur pulled the spear from his hands. He stabbed air when his target leaned out, still held in place by Faxon. The stranger took another smack from Ameyalli to pull her by the staff in the way of his next stabbing attempt. He aimed again for his upper torso not obscured by his roommate, but the man ducked down and punched Faxon off him before jumping back.

Faxon rolled behind a tree. "Get in cover for Destruction magic!" He peeked out, keeping an eye on the stranger. "He's capable enough to cloak himself with Illusion magic, so don't look away!"

"That won't stop him!" Timur yelled as he charged.

Ameyalli joined him with her improvised quarterstaff. "He's right!"

"Idiots." Faxon looked to Mei, who was following his advice. "I'm about to do something stupid too." To her chagrin, he slipped out of cover, aiming to encircle while the other two attacked from the front.

The stranger concentrated power in the palm of his hand. An orb of fire burned into existence several seconds after. Seeing the children undeterred, he limited it to just his grasp. He grabbed at the shaft of Timur's spear for him to bring it back and stab him in the wrist. A jump back put him out of range of another.

Timur smiled as he chased. "First blood! The enemy will soon fall!"

"Is he even trying?" Ameyalli, annoyed she didn't get it and seeing him stand still, asked.

"Doesn't matter!" He stabbed again, playing into his trap.

Grabbing the wood of the spear with his good hand just in time, the stranger made it erupt in flames. He tossed it towards the girl when he reflexively let go. Stepping back from it halted her enough for him to throw her down. Timur picked up the flaming spear, grit his teeth at the searing sensation, and stabbed the air one more time as he made more distance. When the burning grew too much for the child to bear, he ran up and slammed him into the ground. The girl pushed herself up only for him kick her back down. None of them stood a chance, even though he wasn't trying to hurt them.

Faxon rushed in from behind and kicked him in the groin again. To his surprise, the stranger spun on his heel to knock him down. A dull yet blinding pain in his side let him know something was broken. He looked from his fellow fallen students to the tree where Mei was hiding behind. Scared little Raya when she first came to the orphanage came into his mind. Someone foolish needed to get back up, and he was one such individual. Fighting his opponent without a weapon wouldn't work though. The materials around him were too unfamiliar on top of their complexity. Pain weighed on his concentration as well. His eyes widened in a spark of morbid inspiration.

"Who are you?!" Ameyalli yelled, rising to her knees. She regretted that decision when he turned his attention back to her. "Oh no."

Organic materials were the most complicated. Their structures differed yet almost all were some strange array upon array of various elements. While they were complex, the ones in the human body were the most familiar to all users of Transmutation. It was difficult to not be when they were part of them. Faxon couldn't change the actual elements, but he could at least manipulate the shape, however painful it would be. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his knuckles. For what he intended, he'd need material though, so he extended his focus to his fingers. The next few seconds were the most excruciating of his entire life as the bones in his digits began to shift. His memories of Raya and the knowledge they could die kept the pain from overwhelming his will. A sharp, red tip emerged from his hand first before the rest of the bloody bone blade jutted out.

The stranger pushed her back down with his foot. When she moved, he added more of his weight to it, telling her what he wanted. A sharp pain in his lower back made his eyes widen. He glanced back and saw Faxon's fist against his spine. It took a moment for him to realize he couldn't quite feel his legs anymore. A shaky step away from the boy let him know why, the red blade of bone separating from him with a sickening squelch. Backing away, he began taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

Timur eyed the blade as he picked himself up. "Impressive."

"Is that what I think it is?" Ameyalli asked, joining them.

"Yeah." Faxon would've laughed if he could or was in a more pleasant situation. "This is really painful."

Their enemy glared at the three. He couldn't keep going without aiming to hurt them. Mysticism was not in his skill-set, so he couldn't leave. While he could move, he couldn't run away either. It was humiliating and implausible, but he was failing against children. That was something he couldn't let stand any more.