Even though the stands surrounding them were completely empty, Damien felt a shiver of anticipation run down his spine. He didn’t need a crowd of people to suddenly feel very, very small. He couldn’t even imagine how stressful it would be to have to do anything with the entire colosseum watching.
“Aren’t there too many students to use this arena?” Sylph asked.
“There are. That’s why we have several dozen training facilities,” Beth replied. “This is the most basic one. It’s mostly used for tournaments and ranked fights. Most students like to train in other locations – you’ll find them soon enough.”
The portal at the top of the arena flickered. A group of seven shimmered into existance. One of them doubled over. They headed down through the seats and hopped the wall as well, floating gently to the ground.
Six of the group had matching leather clothing, while the seventh wore stained leather armor. It wasn’t hard to tell which of them was the buddy.
“Hello, Terrence,” Beth greeted. “On time as always.”
“I don’t see any professors here,” Terrence replied. He had a pinched face with a scar that ran across his nose. “That means I’m on time.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” Beth said. “Is a third group coming?”
“No,” Terrence said. “It’s just our two flocks of lost little lambs. The professor specifically requested to only have two groups.
“Wait – you can’t mean they’ve got…” she started, her face paling.
“No. It’s not Dredd,” Terrence said, laughing at her shocked expression. “He doesn’t waste his time on first years. It’s a new professor. I was given the orders through writing.”
“And he’s making demands? Who is he?”
“No clue. I haven’t met him, and I don’t plan to,” Terrence replied, smirking. He turned to his group and wiggled his fingers in farewell. “Have fun, kids! Do what the professor tells you to. Today is just an introduction, so it shouldn’t be too rough.”
With that, he reached down to his wristband. It was made of a black material studded with small red stones. He pressed something on it and vanished with a pop.
“Dramatic asshole,” Beth muttered. “But he’s right. The professor should be here any minute. Enjoy yourselves, and make sure you don’t get injured too badly.”
Beth tapped her own wristband, vanishing the same way that Terrence had. The two groups exchanged a few glances, but nobody made any moves to mingle.
“Their wristbands must have some form of portal on them,” Damien said, trying to break the awkward silence. “I wonder if ours does that.”
“Ours don’t,” Reena said, rolling her eyes. “The older students have the improved wristbands that we can buy with credits.”
“How do you know?” Mark asked.
“They had them in our mansion,” Nolan replied, not bothering to hide the pride in his voice. “All the servants got one loaned to them. They let you teleport to a single place, and only in one direction.”
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Sylph’s eyes swept over the arena as the others spoke. After a few moments, she turned slightly to face away from the group.
“Boy,” Henry said abruptly, nearly causing Damien to jump. “Follow your roommate’s gaze.”
Damien turned and followed Sylph’s gaze. She was looking at a seat near the middle of the seating across from them. Someone was sitting in the stands. After a few moments, the figure shifted and rose to their feet.
They had tattered grey robes over what looked to be a mixture of heavy and light armor. As the figure grew closer to the edge of the arena, it became apparent he was a man. He had ragged grey hair and the beginnings of a salt and pepper beard. What appeared to be a long toothpick protruded from his mouth.
The man stepped over the side of the arena and floated to the floor. As more students noticed him, the conversations died out. His confident strides brought up to the students within seconds.
“Good day. I’m your professor for this year. I despise titles, so refer to me as Delph,” the man said, shifting the toothpick around in his mouth like something was stuck between his teeth.
A chorus of greetings rose up from the students. Delph didn’t look particularly impressed or excited to be there.
“I’ve been told by the other professors that young inquisitive minds like to ask questions. Unfortunately, I don’t like answering them. Therefore, I have decided to preemptively tell you a little about myself, which will hopefully silence the problems before they arise.”
Delph paused, waiting to make sure everyone had heard him before he continued.
“As your buddies have likely told you, I am a new professor. I’ve been serving as a mage for hire for the past twenty years. My companion is from the Plane of Fury. I will not be saying what it is.”
Each word was curt and enunciated. Delph spoke in such a way that everything he said felt like it was hammered into your head.
A chubby boy from the other group slowly raised his hand. Delph’s eye twitched slightly.
“What?”
“I was wondering what we’re going to be learning this year?” the boy asked with a nervous stutter.
“It depends if you stay in my class or not,” Delph replied. “My personal focus is fighting. We will be covering many other topics, but I am most proficent at combat magic. Do not fear, however. My abilities are more than extensive enough to cover all of the first year material.”
“If we stay in your class?” Nolan asked, frowning. “What does that mean? Can we choose our professor?”
“No. But I can choose my students,” Delph replied, baring his teeth in what might have been a grin. “And I have no interest in teaching anyone who can’t meet my standards. Don’t fret – I don’t expect you to have any abilities yet. Only the privileged among you will have had a companion for more than a few hours at this point. I just expect you to learn.”
That eased the tension in some of the students faces, but Damien didn’t find himself particularly reassured.