Here's a happy holidays gift for you all~ and some holiday music tacked on (because I don't hear enough droning remakes of 'Last Christmas I Gave you my Heart' working retail)

   —————   

          It had been well over a week since Jeremiah left, and Káel was wondering if he'd been eaten on his way to delivering his letter to Staz. School was bad, as usual. Everyone would play a cruel game of tug of war with him when they were asked to group up for games, and his friends were still acting weird. He even caught Talli trying to feel the spaces around him for something, but when he questioned her actions she broke into incoherent stutters.

          On the bright side, Puff could stay in the air for about ten seconds before falling to the ground, which was a sad amount of progress, but it was the only celebratory thing Káel could think of. Since his progress in using lumience without the help of Puff or Phantom, was still verging on hopelessness.

          Mr. Mudelin's class had now gone from going over the basics, to full blown attacks and defensive counters. Since Káel didn't feel like accidentally killing one of his classmates with the unpredictability of his spells, he'd been using Phantom to assist him for the past week, by holding the rock while it was concealed in his pocket. Unfortunately, Phantom seemed to have high standards he couldn't lower no matter how hard he tried, and Káel was coming across as some sort of lumience prodigy that could ace whatever was thrown at him.

          Being the exact opposite of this, Káel could feel his insecurities bubbling, hoping to race out returning home before he was caught cheating. 

          Or worse, before they caught Phantom. 

          It was the fifth day of their eight day weeks called cycles, and there was an out of place presence in Mr. Mudelin's room. Mrs. Vienta was typically the one to bring in helpers, but today was the first time they had seen any in Mr. Mudelin's room, and they weren't just senior grades.

          Horus was standing beside the female Silver House leader with an elite on either side of them, causing a chatter amongst the students on what exactly the two house leaders were there for.

          As soon as Mr. Mudelin walked into the room, the chatter died to dead silence. He looked around at the students, satisfied with his work as he gave off his usual forced half smile.

          "We'll be utilizing the defensive tactics I previously taught you, only today they'll be against real intermediate attacks. Since I don't want to deal with extra paperwork they will be attacking you," he said, motioning to the house leaders and elites. "You should all know at least one of them. If not, you'll have to work on your attention skills. For the sake of formality however, I'll introduce these exemplary students, and despite how much you adore them I don't want to hear any cat calls, clapping, or cheering in general when I state their names. If however, they do something applause worthy during this class, you may cheer."

          "Uptight as ever," Leon muttered, leaning against the wall beside Káel. "Don't see the point of bringing in fancy elites and stuff, they're just as likely to kill us."

          Mr. Mudelin motioned to the silver uniformed student, her face flooded with warmth as she quickly fixed her braided bun. "This is Eris Vellion, leader of the Silver Sector, beside her is Horus Floyd, leader of the Purple Sector, and also a highly ranked Breaker. Our elites are Sa'kra Dalizar and Wysteria Limbral, and they are all your seniors so I expect you all to give them your full respect. Anyone who thinks otherwise can answer to me."

          After his slightly threatening introduction, Mr. Mudelin demonstrated the intensity of the attack, shooting a black, streaking ball into the wall after a quick and grumbling mutter. It left a couple cracks, but he assured them with weak confidence that it wouldn't hurt if they put their shields up. After leaving a note to the four students to go easy the first few times, he forced the entire class into four lines. Káel's heart sank when he was not only separated from all his friends, but stuck with Horus, who now had full permission to shoot deadly projectiles at him.

          He lingered at the back of the line, watching the house leader shatter the bulk of the shields he was faced with. Although he took the time to hand off tips to every student, his helpful demeanor didn't come close to matching his face. 

          Káel counted every painful "next" that Horus boomed, his feet dragging up until the last student before him stepped forwards.  As Horus barraged their forcefield, Káel's gut clenched and he paid Phantom a worried side glance.

          "Don't worry, I won't let the pretty boy hurt you," he cooed, tightening his white gloves.

          "Next," Horus ordered, watching Káel walk up with passive disgust. "Tell me when you're ready."

          Káel nodded, casually sliding his hand in his pocket to stroke Phantom's rock. He muttered the short phrase, and a translucent bubble surrounded him, tinted a slight shade of cool blue. "Ready."

          Within a split second of responding, Horus muttered the spell and a black ball of energy went flying at the shield. It shattered like glass upon impact, sending a small ripple through its clear surface.

          Horus raised his eyebrows, seeming to be impressed by what he'd witnessed. "Perfect, I'm going to use a little more force next time."

          Káel cautiously nodded, his entire body lowering with stiff fear as Horus whipped a larger ball at the shield, covering the impervious blue bubble in ripples.

          The students in line behind Káel watched with awe at his feats, or rather, Phantom's feats, draining what little blood was left in Káel's cheeks as he hid his shaking hands.

          "One more," Horus said, this time charging the black ball of energy before allowing it to zip through the air and run head on into the shield with a sharp crack. The shield rippled and shook, still managing to stand strong as the remnants of Horus's attack diminished in the air.

          A couple woahs rose from the spectating students, their chatters dragging the worry in Káel's mind straight down to his stomach. He avoided their gazes, dropping his head to silently retreat to the back of the line. All he could hear in his mind was a broken phrase on repeat that had haunted him since he woke up in the fields of Lumi.

          This is bad.

          "Next," Horus called.

          Káel pulled his gaze up to Mr. Mudelin, escaping his praising classmates in the line to go over to the teacher with a hope of understanding. He wasn't amused by the sight of an approaching student, gradually folding his arms as he scowled down at Káel.

          "Can I go to the bathroom?" Káel said, smiling with an edge of false friendliness.

          "No."

          Káel flinched at the cold ring. "I really have to go."

          With an expression as dynamic as a hard chunk of stone, Mr. Mudelin barely twitched his lips to speak. "Five minutes."

          "Thank you," Káel said, running out of the room and speed walking to the bathroom.

          When he entered the threshold of privacy, and made sure there wasn't any spectators, he stopped and looked to Phantom helplessly.

          "What do we do? I'm supposed to be laying low."

          "I can try to put up a faulty shield," Phantom suggested, holding his chin to think.

          "Are you kidding? Taking one of Horus's attacks would kill me!" Káel skimmed the simple washroom, the neatly lined stalls hiding their own personal holes in the ground that never failed to pull a grimace. "Maybe I should skip the rest of class, that sounds good."

          "Yeah, if you never want to have permission to leave Mr. Cranky Pants's class ever again. Try making up some stupid excuse, like beginners luck or something."

          "That won't work," Káel sighed, sitting against the wall in defeat. "I just wanna go home."

          Phantom sat himself next to Káel, still leaking a whimsically calm air that stuck to everything around it. "Earth must be quite the home for you to miss it so much in a place like this. I always assumed a species without any sort of lumience or magic would be uncivilized and boring."

          "Well, my homeland sucks too, just less than this place," Káel  grumbled, holding his head in his arms as the rest of his words barely came out. "At least it has chips, and wifi, and vehicles, and calculators... Why can't this place have calculators? I'm bad enough at math as it is."

          "You know... I miss my home too," Phantom said, his smiling mask somehow matching to the comfort in his voice. "And I'd give anything to go back."

          Káel stopped, his self pitying crushed by the guilt of a selfish swing. Phantom had been stuck in a rock for thousands of years, entirely isolated to the torment of his own thoughts. Káel had been trapped in a cage called Lumi, but at least the god forsaken floating rock held a world of wonder and aquaintances to distract him from the sharp claws of homesickness, even if it was for a few small moments a day.

          "The only problem is, I don't know how to get back home," Phantom continued, following Puff with his gaze as the drake nestled into Káel's lap. "I don't even remember it."

          Káel dragged his gaze to the ground, Puff's purrs rattling the guilt that was now twisting in his stomach. "I'm sorry..."

          "Ah, it's actually no biggy," Phantom replied, waving his hand dismissively as his voice bounced up again. "Because I have a cure for it!"

          Káel watched his friend in patient silence. A cure for the horrible feeling was a recipe he'd snatch any day, so long as it didn't involve fermented ingredients or hallucinogens.

          Phantom shifted in amusement at his silent audience, focusing on the washed out wall before them. "Call me cliche, but it's friends. I may never get my old memories back, but who cares if I keep on making new ones? I couldn't care less about how long it'll take to finally find my home, so long as I have friends like you and Mudbrain to keep me going."

          Káel blinked, his heart swelling with an energising flutter. Phantom's words had struck a cord, so tender it tingled up his spine and squeezed his chest. For the first time in his fifteen years of friendships, he felt the weight of dependence. Phantom was helping him for the simple price of company, a shunned creature so incredibly different than him managing to stand in reflection to his own situation and make a home out of it.

          Phantom snorted, leaning in as Káel looked away with a string of frantic blinks. His voice rose to a taunting chime as he leaned over to get a look at his face. "Are you crying?"

          Káel jumped to his feet, rubbing his eyes with a sour frown. "Dragon hair." He squinted at Phantom, walking through the spectre to get out of the bathroom and get to class. "I'm catching Truvius' allergies." 

   —————   

          Káel didn't think he'd been gone long, but when he slowly creaked open the classroom door, a wall of eyes met his, a picture frozen in time as the cluster of students pulled their attention from Mr. Mudelin's demo.

          "Ah, good, we were just looking for a volunteer," Mr. Mudelin boomed, smiling as Káel creeped away from the door. "You seemed good at this, come here."

          Káel's legs refused to move, so he sat there looking around at all his classmates nervously.

          "Stop looking around, I'm talking to you boy," Mr. Mudelin growled, crossing his arms with impatience. "Come here."

          After receiving a head motion from Eris to hurry up, Káel slowly approached his irked teacher, and stopped a couple feet in front of him.

          "Good, now put up your shield," he ordered, getting into position to attack.

          Káel nodded nervously, and slowly slid his hand into his pocket, but halfway through his phrase, Mr. Mudelin interrupted him.

          "Having your hands in your pockets isn't exactly an ideal survival tactic."

          Káel apologised, but didn't remove his hand, causing Mr. Mudelin to narrow his eyes with suspicion.

          "Take it out."

          The blood drained from Káel's face as he slowly withdrew his hand, looking to Phantom with fear.

          "Eyes on your enemy."

          "Please work," Káel muttered, staring at the floor in fearful concentration.

          "Eyes on your enemy," Mr. Mudelin repeated, his tone had grown forceful and aggravated while he frowned at the frozen student.

          Káel slowly raised his eyes to his enemy, while Puff sat in deep concentration, ready to help Káel as much as he could. He muttered the phrase, and almost collapsed with relief when a translucent cool blue bubble formed around him.

          "Good. If you had taken that much time against a real enemy, you would have been dead."

          Everyone watched the suspenseful scene, transfixed in a moment of silent anticipation as they unblinkingly paid Káel and Mr. Mudelin their full attention.

          "Let's start soft. Just in case," Mr. Mudelin said, and within a split second a black ball of energy shot out, his mouth so fast you would've missed it with a single blink.

          The good news was, the shield didn't break.

          The bad news, it didn't stop at blocking. The orb of energy collided with it, and for some inexplicable reason it bent inwards in an elastic fashion and catapulted the attack with its full ferocity at the group of helpers. Eris was quick enough to duck out of the way of the oncoming attack, but Horus wasn't nearly as quick. Unlike the shield, the ball did shatter, directly in the middle of Horus's face, causing him to stumble back and bend over holding his face in pain.

          It was at this moment that Káel knew he should have skipped class.

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Quality Quip #13:

'Friendship is an arrangement by which we undertake to exchange small favors for big ones.'

~ Montesquieu