Chapter 3

As the students worked in pairs to perfect their form, Talon ensured no one actually lost consciousness during the drill. After an intense hour of practice, the pupils all showed promise in efficiently cutting off an enemy's air supply. Though an unconventional and highly dangerous skill, Talon aimed to prepare his charges to defend themselves against all manners of threats.

"That's all for today, pupils," Talon concluded in his gravelly tone. "And remember - we stalk the shadows, not the light."

With that ominous final reminder, the grizzled assassin dismissed the lesson. Jay quickly made his way to the small changing room to replace his practice armor with his school robes before his next class on dimensional theory 101.

However, Talon intercepted Jay just as the boy was turning to leave. "A moment, Jay," he called out, beckoning the student over. "This missive arrived for you last evening."

Talon held out a parchment envelope sealed with black wax. "It was delivered directly into my bedchamber unbeknownst to me by an apparent agent of great stealth and cunning," he explained, one shaggy eyebrow raised.

"I discerned the letter was intended for you. I trust you are not engaged in any illicit associations that would send you such mysterious communications?" Though posed as a question, the chilling tone of Talon's voice made it more an expectation than an inquiry.

"No sir!" Jay responded earnestly, palms sweating slightly as he accepted the strange delivery. "I haven't the faintest notion who sent this or why. But I assure you, I'm not involved in anything untoward."

Talon scrutinized Jay a few moments longer before giving a brusque nod. "See that you keep it that way. Now off you go."

Clutching the mysterious envelope bearing his name, Jay thanked his teacher hastily and rushed from the dim chambers. Once back above ground, Jay hastily broke the black wax seal and unfolded the mysterious parchment. Inside was a brief, cryptic message:

"At 12 o'clock, my prince."

Jay's eyes widened in surprise, then quickly narrowed in anger. He threw the note with a swift gesture, reducing it to ashes that drifted away on the breeze. Clearly the letter had been enchanted to destroy itself upon being read by the intended recipient. A wise precaution by the unknown sender to cover their tracks.

With effort, Jay smoothed his features into a neutral expression, not betraying the alarm and intrigue churning within. He would get no further answers standing there. Best now to focus on his lessons and decide later how to handle this ominous midnight assignation.

Squaring his shoulders, Jay headed for the south wing and his Dimensional Theory class. Jay hurried to make it on time for Dimensional Theory class. He arrived just as the instructor, Mrs. Tesla, was closing the heavy oak door to begin the lesson.

"So glad you could join us Mr. Jay," the elderly mage greeted him with an arched brow as Jay slipped breathlessly into an empty seat. He murmured an apology while Mrs. Tesla walked to the front of the candlelit room.

"Right then class, today we will be reviewing the basic principles of folding space to facilitate instantaneous magical transportation," the white-haired teacher announced, conjuring glowing diagrams of concentric circles hovering in midair.

"As detailed in yesterday's reading assignment, the secret lies in identifying points of weakened dimensional fabric..." Mrs. Tesla lectured on as various mystical sigils and symbols rotated slowly over their heads.

Jay did his best to focus on the intricate lesson and copy all notes into his journal. However, the benevolent old mage had a rather soporific teaching style. Before long, Jay felt his heavy eyelids begin to droop despite his best efforts. The stresses and excitement of the day were finally catching up to him.

Fortunately, Mrs. Tesla did not call on Jay as she elaborated on methods for pinpointing fraying interspatial gaps suitable for magical exploitation. Lulled by the warmth of the flickering candles and his teacher's droning voice, Jay's chin sank lower...lower...until his fatigue got the better of him. There in the dim lecture hall with arcane knowledge swirling literally over his dozing head, Jay finally surrendered to a deep, dreamless slumber.

"...and so you see, by carefully attuning your thaumaturgical resonance to the Dimensional Etheric Wavelength, you can synchronize with the ambient quintessence field to facilitate stable corporeal transfer across the void."

Jay awoke with a start, unaware of how much time had passed. He winced, neck stiff from dozing off atop his open textbook. He blinked blearily for a moment, taking in the glowing sigils and rotating diagrams still hovering in the air around Mrs. Tesla's podium. The white-haired instructor was still lecturing on about the metaphysical concepts from earlier, though Jay could hardly grasp the meaning behind her obscure technical terminology.

"Harnessing Bellimortem's First Supernal Theorem regarding the elasticity of interdimensional barriers," Mrs. Tesla continued, " skilled sorcerers can project their astral essence through Alyssium Resonance Vortexes, thus bending time and space to traverse vast physical distances instantly."

Jay scribbled down notes blindly, utterly lost. He had no idea what terms like Bellimortem's Theorems or Alyssium Vortexes referred to, having failed to absorb that foundation from the assigned readings. Desperately he tried to glean some comprehension from Mrs. Tesla's continuing advanced and seemingly nonsensical explanations.

"You must take care to properly radiate your own contra-morphic wavelength field!" she stressed to the class. "Without first nullifying your dimensional sync polarity through parabiotic tuning shifts, the void currents will sheer your soul from its anchored material axis point. And I think we all wish to avoid becoming unmoored psychoplasmic entities, yes?"

She gazed sternly over her spectacles at the sea of bewildered young faces, Jay's among the most confused. With a resigned sigh at her students' lack of retention, Mrs. Tesla dismissed the lecture and simply assigned additional chapters for review, to Jay's quiet groan.

Trudging from the stuffy classroom, Jay resolved to brew some particularly strong potion which could help him remember stuff while learning under Mr. Rothard to get through those stuffy chapters on dimensional theories. If he had any hope of passing this class after what he had seen till now, it was the only solution!

After his final lecture, Jay headed over to the western garden to wait for his friend Zal to finish up with classes for the day. Finding a sunny bench surrounded by lush ferns and flowers, Jay set his stack of magical texts aside, happy to give his weary mind a break.

He only had to relax in solitude for about half an hour before he spotted Zal's lanky form trotting across the quad towards the garden. Jay gave a cheery wave as his disheveled friend approached.

"Ugh, I'm absolutely famished after wrestling hippogriffs and griffins all afternoon," Zal groaned by way of greeting. "Please tell me it's dinnertime."

Jay chuckled, leading the way towards the east end of campus where the dining hall was located. "Don't worry, I'm happy to fill you in over a hot meal," he assured Zal.

The pair grabbed heaping plates of roasted pheasant, buttery potatoes, mixed vegetables, and sweet cream trifles before heading out to snag seats in Arena One. The open-air battle colosseum was nestled between the bustling dining establishment and the soaring central Ivory Tower.

Finding space on one of the carved stone benches encircling the sandy arena floor, Jay and Zal hungrily tucked into their hearty feast just as trumpet flourishes announced the first duelists entering for exhibition bouts. The day's classes might be finished, but now the competitive games were about to commence!

Eager shouts and raucous applause erupted from the gathered crowd of students and teachers as two armor-clad senior warriors stepped into the ring, hefting shimmering blades and ornate shields. They faced off warily before the presiding matches instructor gave the signal to begin their spar.

Jay and Zal cheered along with enthusiastic mouthfuls of roast pheasant, fixated on the dazzling confrontation unfolding before them on the sand. Steely clashes of sword against shield resonated through the arena as the skilled duelists searched for weaknesses in their opponent's technique.

"10 silvers on the big one cleaving through in under 3 minutes," Zal commented through a hunk of bread, assessing the broad-shouldered swordsman seeking to penetrate his rival's defenses.

"I'll take that bet - speed beats brawn any day," Jay countered with a grin, enthralled by the more agile fighter's swift footsteps dancing circles around his lumbering challenger. The pair shook hands, equally distracted from their empty plates as the duel built to its thrilling crescendo. At last it was Jay who won the bet. 

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