Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(36)

“You mean we’ll learn to make things like that?” I asked eagerly, unable to tear my eyes away from the magical building. As we walked, the sun caught on different pieces of the glass and it almost looked like it was truly burning.

“Well creating that might be a little ambitious,” Sofia laughed. “But we will learn to use our Elemental magic more subtly for creation, yeah.”

I couldn’t help but grin at the idea of that.

We passed Ignis House and followed the path around through the Fire Territory where the landscape was rocky and dry. I hadn’t had time to explore Air or Water Territory yet but I had glimpsed a huge forest to the east and a sweeping lake to the west on my way to Cardinal Magic earlier.

A creeper filled with bright red flowers clung to a wall of black lava rock to my right and I noticed more plants peppered around too. Although the fire landscape seemed barren at first, the harder I looked, the more beautiful it became.

We moved along a crevice cut between two rock faces which glimmered with yellow and gold minerals.

“That’s brimstone,” Sofia said, noticing my interest again.

“You’re a walking talking encyclopaedia, you know that?” I teased, not that I was complaining. I had zero idea what I was dealing with in this place and her knowledge was invaluable to me.

“I like facts. I’m a Sagittarius which helps; we love learning new things and are usually pretty intelligent,” she replied with a smirk.

The serious way she said that made me attempt to squash the snort of disbelief which wanted to be set loose. I guessed I was going to have to try and open my mind to all this star sign stuff if I wanted to fit in here.

“Is that so?” I asked, trying to keep my scepticism at bay.

“Yep. And I have a damn good memory too which should help me ace the tests and make up for my lack of power somewhat.”

“Are you lacking power then?” I asked delicately, unsure if that was okay to say but she was the one who’d brought it up.

“Yeah. My family are pretty low on the rankings when it comes to power. If you imagine yourself as a ten I’d be like... a three I guess.” She shrugged. “Our world is all about power so it means I’m kinda destined to stay at the bottom of the food chain but I don’t really mind. I mean, at least I don’t have to worry about seizing and holding my position for the rest of my life, you know?”

“Not really, but I think I’m going to find out pretty soon whether I like it or not.”

“Err yeah, I’d say so. Your whole life is going to be a power struggle,” she said with a grin.

“Perfect,” I sighed. “What if I were to say I don’t want whatever power it is that I’m supposed to claim? I just want to use my own magic for my own purposes and have nothing to do with any birthright or throne or Heirs-”

Sofia’s laughter cut me off and I raised an eyebrow at her.

“I wasn’t joking,” I said firmly.

“Oh god, Tory,” she said, reining herself in a little. “You really don’t know anything about our world. I’d love to say that you could just run off into the sunset but... that’s never going to happen.”

“Well damn,” I replied half heartedly. I still had no plans to do any of the things that were expected of me but at least I had my answer about one thing. There was no way I was going to be able to just bow out of the running for power and avoid the attention of the other Heirs as I’d hoped. Maybe I could talk to them and tell them that I didn’t want their power though. They couldn’t be completely unreasonable...

We exited the crevice filled with brimstone and the scent of sulphur assaulted my nostrils.

I looked around until I spotted curling tendrils of steam rising across the land to our right and the glimmer of water in the distance.

“Is that hot springs?” I asked eagerly.

“Oh yeah. That’s where fire meets with the territory of water. I’ve heard it’s the best place to go for a swim and relax. We should head over after class one evening and try it out!” Sofia replied enthusiastically.

“I don’t have a bikini,” I said with a shrug, though the idea of a swim in the springs was definitely tempting. So long as the water wasn’t too deep; a few years ago I’d had a traumatising accident and ever since then, the mere thought of deep water gave me the creeps.

“Didn’t you bring one from home? I’m sure it was on the list of recommended-”

“The only things I brought from home were the clothes on my back and a pocket full of cash and Darius saw to destroying them last night,” I replied darkly.

“Oh, yeah, I might have heard about that after I made it through my initiation last night. It sounds like he went a bit far with you...”

“So he didn’t burn the clothes from your body then?” I asked, figuring I already knew the answer. That particular trial had been specially designed for my benefit.

“Umm, no. But then I’m not very powerful, like I said. So I wouldn’t really expect him to take any notice of me anyway.” Sofia dropped her gaze to the path beneath her feet as I let out a huff of irritation.

“Trust me to get on the wrong side of an overgrown, entitled prick within half an hour of arriving,” I muttered.

Sofia gasped, glancing around to check if anyone had heard me. “You might want to keep that opinion to yourself if you don’t want it getting back to him. The Heirs have a lot of fans and I wouldn’t trust anyone to keep quiet on your behalf.”