“It is only me yet… I was faster than I thought.”
Said Nolin as he entered the classroom. He walked over to one of the tables on the side and sat down, and then he closed his eyes.
The classroom itself was nothing too fancy; it had five main columns and six rows altogether for students. At the front of the classroom was the table for the teacher, and behind it was a large board. As time went by soon, the students started to arrive, and Nolin decided to lean onto the table as if he was sleeping. And then eventually, the class started. For the first three lessons, Nolin remained in his sleeping pose, and the teachers didn’t really care, but things were different in the fourth lesson.
“Everyone, please pay attention! Although I know you will most likely not use it, you still have to know about the following topic. So I want you to copy what I am about to draw onto the board! Don’t forget that it must be exactly the same as mine!”
Said the teacher. He had short black hair, started to get bold around the top of his head, and had a slight scrub under his nose. The teacher also had slightly damaged glasses. As the teacher finished talking, he looked back at the board and started drawing.
“Today, we will continue learning about how a magic circle is used, created, and can be read! As I have previously said, every tiny bit of pattern is essential and could greatly alter the outcome of a spell. So try to copy everything without altering the symbols and how they are aligned!”
Explained the teacher and stepped away from the board. On the table, he drew a circle; in it, there was a much smaller circle, and around it, there were twelve symbols. Four of the symbols were tiny circles. These circles were located at 12, 3, 6 and 9’o clock. Between these circles were characters similar to “C”. The ones on the right side of a circle faced towards the centre, while the ones on the left side of the circle faced outwards.
“Nolin, would you mind explaining and demonstrating what is on the table? Since you were asleep all this time, I presume it means that you already know everything!”
Said the teacher with a smug on his face, and he walked over to Nolin, who sat up as he heard his name and looked at the teacher.
“You heard it right! Explain what that magic circle is for, and demonstrate its usage. Don’t forget your wand!”
Said the teacher, and his smug smile just grew wither.
“Oh, right… magic is so primitive that they need to use wands to do anything… Well, I will pretend that my cane is my wand!”
Thought to himself Nolin, and then stood up and walked over to the board. Once he was in front of the board, Nolin looked back at the teacher.
“Are you sure this is the correct circle you wanted to draw?”
“Yes, I am certain it is a very easy one, everyone who has learned magic should be able to use it!”
“Strange… I believe this particular circle, if drawn correctly, should be quite difficult.”
“What are you implying by, “If drawn correctly”? Are you saying it is not correctly drawn?”
“Yes, it is technically full of errors; at best, it can create some light, but not a strong light. I don’t know who came up with this one, but that person must be an idiot. As…”
“Idiot? Do you have any idea whom you are calling an idiot? You, with your pathetic academic performance, dare to declare such a thing?! You are nothing but a disappointment! If you are so sure about that, then prove it!”
Shouted the teacher as he clenched his fist and slammed it on Nolin’s table. As for Nolin, his eyes started glowing slightly, but after he took a deep breath, the glow dissipated.
“And what will I gain if I show you the correct formula?”
“You dare talk back to me?!”
Shouted the teacher and quickly drew his wand and pointed at Nolin. Those who sat in the front all stood up and walked behind the teacher.
“Yes, the teacher is right! Who do you think you are? You have proven nothing! You don’t even have your wand with you; how do you expect us to believe you know better than the professionals!”
Shouted one of the students, and the teacher’s anger vanished and instead, his smug smile returned.
“I will have to teach you a lesson! Degrading others’ work without the proper backing is not appreciated! You and your mother should just accept reality!”
Said the teacher, and from his wand, a fast-moving red ball erupted and travelled towards Nolin and hit him. Upon impact, a large smoke appeared. The students quickly opened the windows.
“You are lucky I held back; at your current level, you would have died so ea…”
The teacher commented but suddenly stepped back, and his hand, in which he was holding the wand, started shaking. From the smoke, Nolin walked out and sat back in his seat, and looked at the teacher.
“Thanks for holding back.”
Said Nolin, and he leaned back on his table. The teacher grabbed his shaking hand and looked back at the class, who were curiously looking at him.
“Class is over for today! You can go home!”
“But teacher, we barely started this lesson, and we still have two more and… “
“I said the class is over!”
The students were stunned but followed their teacher’s words and left the classroom. Only the teacher and Nolin stayed in the classroom. After a few minutes, the teacher finally broke the silence.
“Who are you? And what did you do to me?!”
Questioned the teacher and grabbed Nolin’s shoulder, who only smiled.
“You are the teacher; you should know better than me since I am just a failure! Thus I am unable to answer your question! Now, if you will excuse me, I will leave as well, since you said that the class is over, and we should leave. And as a good student, I am just doing that… Goodbye!”
Nolin brushed the teacher’s hand off of his shoulder and stood up.
“Maybe you should have used your brain a bit more and should have paid more attention. There is a great expression which you should remember. Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Said Nolin with a smile on his face, and he left the teacher in the classroom. Whose hand started shaking more and more, to the point he had to kneel down. And as the teacher looked at his hand, he noticed his veins were mostly visible around his palm, and they were slightly green.
“You just wait! I will show you that you shouldn’t mess with me!”
Shouted the teacher and pushed himself up.
