Muse.

A swift leg swung through the air, with an audible sound Cara’s foot hit and knocked a large blond male to the ground. Lyle rubbed his face where she had got him. He was soaked in sweat and a touch of blood here and there. His sweatpants were covered in dirt and his tank top was cut showing where knives had nicked his skin. For being the only person willing to spar with the quick girl on their off time, Lyle should have been better at fighting.

Most of the muse avoided the training area in the back. That was where Cara had laid her claim. While she wasn’t considered a popular girl or well liked, everyone knew her and knew if you didn’t want to get beat to submission you didn’t mess with her. The lack of kindness towards her was partially from being friends with Quinn, a bit from her temper, and mostly from the well-known hatred between herself and Wren.

Wren was well-liked and sociable. He was a troublemaker, but he was a royal and there wasn’t much the Mageia trainers could do about it. He had always been years ahead of everyone as far as magic control was concerned. So besides causing trouble, the trainers didn’t have a problem with him anyways. Cara was apparently blind to whatever it was the rest of the school found so amazing about him.

The green and blue eyed girl hadn’t liked Wren the moment they met fifteen years ago. It had been one of the first few weeks of initiation to the academy. They were all just children, but Cara was known to hold a grudge. Lyle had attached himself, much to Cara’s dismay, to her almost as soon as they met. Liana always followed her twin brother and began to cling to Cara as well. The little blond girl didn’t have much control over her magic. It tended not to cause problems, but it attracted small animals to her.

A dove had become her friend at the time. While they were off playing, or rather the dark haired girl throwing Lyle around and Liana watching, something hit the dove as it was flying overhead. Liana’s magic gave her connections to these animals, she immediately felt that pang in her chest. The wailing child ran around the yard to find her dove barely moving in the dirt. Two boys stood over the bird. Scraping her knees as she flew to the bird, Liana’s hair began to stick her to wet face.

“What did you do?” Cara asked the two boys watching this scene. She tried to be the threatening kid; it hardly ever failed since she was the only one with any real training yet.

The chestnut haired boy moved forward, but the dark eyed boy next to him stopped him. “Aiden was throwing rocks for me and I hit the bird instead of the rock. It shouldn’t have been there.” Wren said with a shrug of his shoulder like it was nothing.

“You were using your magic?” The young child questioned as incredulously as a child could. No one was supposed to use their magic outside of training, especially when so young and out of control.

Liana sobbed loudly over their talking. The bird was twitching in her hands. As soon as his eyes fell on the dying bird he held out a finger towards it. A flash erupted from his finger like a little firework and the bird stopped moving. This made the blonde cry even louder. Cara looked between the bird and the magic using boy. Pulling her arm back and snapping it into his face, this was the first time the dark haired girl punched the other male.

Teachers sensing the magic began to run over and get ahold of the situation. Cara got a talking to about violence. They tried to calm the weeping Liana. Wren got a few words and was sent on his way. The royals got away with anything. Cara never got over the lack of emotion he had about the whole thing. He killed a living creature that he had also previously injured and all with a shrug of his shoulders. Children should never be so cruel.

Cara slid her knives back into their sheaths on her thighs. “Lyle you should really train with someone else. You and I both aren’t benefitting from me beating you up.” She told him before pouring water into her mouth. She eyed him as he pushed himself up from the ground. He was strong, but that didn’t help him against Cara’s fighting style.

“Woof woof!” A voice called from the outskirts of the training area they occupied. “Come here boy, here boy.” Laughter from the three or four people trailing along followed the dog calls. Cara watched Wren and his group of Mageia linger by.

The Mageia always traveled in packs. Cara was assured this was because they needed at least three of them to take on one Muse. They were constantly trying to start a fight it seemed, so she found this reasonable. Though the divide between classes always seemed nonsensical; seeing as the whole society was based on the bond between mageia and muse. One on one most people got along, but grouped together they started fights.

“I’ve got a nice treat for you if you come like a good boy.” Wren called again like he was talking to a dog. Cara simply walked over to a cabinet holding training weapons. The group laughed like he was making some sort of spectacular joke. When the raven haired boy went to open his mouth, Cara launched three throwing knives into the group. Wren managed to make a small shield to block one of the weapons. Another flew between two of their heads and into a tree behind them. The final one had whizzed by Wren’s head and sliced off a bit of his hair.

“Thank you, come again!” Cara shouted as they made no hesitation to leave. She rolled her eyes at how pathetic magic users were. If she were trying to hit them, they would be going to the infirmary to tend to real wounds instead of just their egos.

She wondered if it was like this at all the academies. This was the top academy in the country; Penrose Academy, boasting the top classes in all of Lorne. She could only assume that if they were the best and the brightest that the other magic academies had an even worse rift between the mageia and muse.

“Adalyn Carissa Tenorhart!” A booming voice shook her from her thoughts. A large man in a robe with black pants underneath marched his way towards her. He had greying hair and bright eyes amongst the wrinkles in his face.

Lyle and Cara quickly moved to their knees and bowed their heads. “Master Cyril,” They both greeted the older man formally.

Cyril was a muse, a legendary muse. He was brave, strong and powerful. His Mageia had grown old and died when they had been sent to war. Cyril remained as the master of the muse class. He oversaw all training and was the final word in everything. Everyone in the muse class pretended the headmistress was in charge, but to them it was Master Cyril. He was also the only father figure Cara had ever known.

“A group of Mageia is muttering about a Muse throwing knives at them. Am I to believe these come from that box?” He pointed the sharp knives at the cabinet storing weapons. A sigh escaped his lungs; he knew it was Cara that had engaged the group. It was always Cara. The Mageia did pick their fights with her, but she didn’t have to respond. “Lyle, please excuse us.” He said signaling the smaller male off. The blond picked up his stuff and left with another bow.

Cara’s braid swung as she lifted herself to her full height. Cara scratched the back of her neck. Her duo toned eyes followed the old man as he put the knives away.

“You’re going to graduate when the ceremony comes around. It’s only a couple a months can you please behave yourself.” He responded with another sigh. The dark haired girl had surpassed every obstacle that was thrown at her and won every spar. She never spoke of anything else. Her world revolved around training of any kind and her studies. Her parents had left her in his care; he wondered if she had been raised the way they would have liked.

Cyril put a large hand on her soft hair and shook her head a little. “This was not the life I would have wished for you. Try to get into fewer fights with the prince, for my sake.” With that the old man retreated back to his office. There wasn’t much he could say on the matter, she had the restrain to not actually hit anyone with the knives.

Cara gathered her things as he left. She crouched to the ground and ran a hand down her face. What was she supposed to do until she was unlocked, could bond with someone, and release whatever magic she had. What was she supposed to do after that happened?

She picked herself up and made her way to the dorm room she shared with Quinn. As a technical senior she had a few breaks in her days. There aren’t really seniors at the academy. You move up in divisions when you’re ready to. She was one of the youngest Muse up to graduate. Sometimes people were stuck here until they were twenty-five trying to master their skills enough to graduate.

Cara opened the door to her empty room. Quinn had magical studies right now. Since she was a Mageia and Cara was a Muse, they’re schedules didn’t overlap very often. There were a few classes that the Mageia and Muse took together, but most of the time they were separate learning their own craft. Mageia learned about magic basically all day every day, they got some physical training, but not much. Muse spend most of their time in some sort of physical or mental training, their magic is latent and basically fueling their bodies to make them tougher unlike the Mageia.

The dark haired girl didn’t get to enjoy the beads of hot water fall on her skin for long. She had to rush across campus to get to her History class; one of the few which held both classes.