Page 64 of Mantle

Goddess:Congratulations, my dragon.

Hell Lord:It’s about time. How did this happen?

Vorzyr:All the Dean would tell me is that my curriculum has been revised effective immediately.

Goddess:Sounds like something my dad would put forward.

Hell Lord:His suggestion. Cornelius’ string-pulling, I’m betting.

Luscious:No more texting, we want you here in person!

I chuckled to myself, pocketed my phone, then hurried on out to their location.

In moments, I was teleporting right where they’d described.

Clusters of students were already gathered there, chatting animatedly.

That Dark Fae clique leader, Kelsana, was doing more than that—currently making out with her boyfriend, the sorcerer, Rennick, against a tree. His hands were tangled in her green hair as her sparkling gold romper caught the morning light.

The other members of her clique stood nearby, visibly irritated. Zephyra, with her peach romper and silver curls, and Nexi, her pastel blue pigtails bouncing as she gestured, were arguing with the vampire girls.

Cyrene, the one with the inky-black hair and choppy bangs, was getting really worked up, throwing her hands around dramatically. Nyx had once told me about a rumor—that she’d made a student hallucinate they were being devoured by bats, all as part of some dare from the clique. Talk about unnecessarily vicious. It was an abuse of power. A fucking nasty one at that.

Vexxa, the other vampire, stood with her arms crossed and her platinum-blond bob angled sharp enough to cut glass. She was throwing dagger-eyes toward the Light Fae couple nearby—Aerlyn and Thalen—who were, as usual, basically grinding on each other out in the open.

I couldn’t imagine putting our foursome on display like that. The idea of anyone seeing us in the throes of pleasure… it made me sick. That was something sacred. Private. Something to be protected.

From what I was picking up, the clique was pissed.

Now that Kelsana was officially with Rennick, the original group dynamic was shattered. They couldn’t all be on the same team today—the rules were strict: groups had to be four or, at a stretch, five. So now Cyrene and Vexxa were stuck teaming up with the Light Fae couple.

“Vorzyr!”

Nyx’s voice had me swinging my head toward them.

They were standing about fifty feet away on the periphery, off to the side, and away from everybody else. Sounded about right.

I strode over there, and the moment I reached them, they all embraced me, congratulating me on getting into the class, on what it meant for me—that I was no longer viewed as a reckless, out of control danger.

Pink power erupted at the forefront of the area, and then Professor Veyna Morrigan materialized.

Her fiery auburn hair fell in wild waves down to the waistband of her wide-leg gray pants. A scoop neck top beneath a black robe with pink embroidery perfectly matched the color of her magic.

She clapped her hands together rapidly, and the commanding and assured act managed to quiet everyone immediately.

Nice.

"Welcome back toCombat and Power Suppression. As you can infer from us convening outside rather than within Combat Hall, today’s teachings will follow a different trajectory. With Blackline Protocol in effect, our realm is under heightened alert. That means our training and curriculum must evolve to match the threats we now face. One way in which we’ll do that is to conduct this lesson within sanctioned pocket realms known as Rifted Cradles. As many of you will be familiar, a Rifted Cradle is a magically isolated training zone suspended between realms, crafted for high-risk combat forms and volatile power expression. It exists beyond plane boundaries. No outside threat can penetrate it, and no magical surge can escape it. Even the worst-case scenario becomes manageable, as a result.”

Murmurs of surprise and excitement broke out.

Focused, she continued, “Regarding the second way of us evolving—you will not be practicing magic in ideal conditions during this lesson. You will be adapting, challenged by terrain, opposition, and the complications and intricacies of working within a team while also possessing different power sets and abilities. The goal of this lesson is to learn balance. Power is only impressive when it’s controlled. And suppression is not about limitation. It’s about refinement—about using what you haveintelligently.”

She gestured around the student body gathered. “Align yourselves into teams no larger than four. The objective once you enter the training zone is to retrieve an enchanted medallion, while circumventing or overcoming obstacles, and guarding one another against incoming threats. Threats that you will work as a cohesive unit to dispatch. High-level illusionary magic will create your environment. It will feel very real and while the threats you will face aren’t technically based in reality, harm can still befall you. Take heed and perform accordingly.”

She waited patiently as the teams were formed and everyone readied themselves.

Stepping up to us, because we were already prepared, she called her pink magic to her fingertips of her right hand. “Ready to begin?”

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