Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (7/?) WiP 1 (Patreon)

Hello everyone! This is the first Work in Progress update for Chapter 7 of Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School! I hope you guys enjoy! This is just a work in progress so please keep in mind there's more to come! :D

Thacea’s return was marked by a similar reception I had just experienced not a few hours prior. However, instead of the bewildered and confused expressions, what I mostly saw were looks of utter disgust and abject horror. It was as if they were staring at some unseen monster hovering above Thacea, rather than her actual form. Having seen behind-the-scenes productions of heavily CGI-laden films, it looked as if they were all staring at a monster or a ghostly apparition that would be added later in post. But this wasn’t a film set, nor was it fiction. All of this, every second of every minute of this situation I found myself thrust into, was real. So I had to assume there was some reason behind them staring above her, rather than at her.

I ignored the crowds, and the rest of the room as my whole world was once more squarely placed on the avian. My first action as she sat back was to make sure she was alright as I reached out my hand towards hers, mirroring the same comforting gesture she’d done for me. There wasn’t any sense of obligation, nor any sense of debt being repaid here. It was an outright sense of genuine empathy and compassion that just felt right to do.

“Thacea? Are you alright? Aren you hurt?” I spoke, as my hands came into contact with her own. This clearly elicited some sort of a reaction as the avian’s feathers puffed up for the briefest of moments.

“I’m quite alright Emma, please, there is no need to bring more attention to this situation then there needs to be.” She spoke in that same polite, admittedly aloof tone that I’d come to expect from royalty after binging shows like Inside The Palace and The Crown IX.

“Are you sure, you’re sure? Because I-”

“Princess.” Thalmin leaned in close for a whisper, completely cutting me off, as he elicited Thacea’s full attention. The princess cocked her head towards him in an almost pigeon-like manner in response. “Your mana-miasma is showing. Please keep it under control while we are still in public.”

The Princess seemed to be even more visibly shaken by this as she nodded sheepishly, closing her eyes and clenching her fists tight.

“What-” I attempted to speak, but was shushed by the Lupine who continued to watch over the Princess with great intent.

“Are you blind, Earthrealmer?” Ilunor shot back at me as it was clear there was something else going on here. Something that my radiation scanners simply didn’t pick up.

“I… I’m not following.” I replied plainly, turning to Ilunor with an unamused frown once more hidden under my helmet.

“Play dumb, just play dumb Earthrealmer, it’s sure to get you places.” The lizard continued, prompting me to suppress any and all desires to punt him across the room. “I’ll bite, I’ll appease this little game of innocence and wanton lack of situational awareness. The Princess, just look at her.” He pointed to Thacea. “Her mana-field, you see it, or heck if you’re one of the lesser species, you can still feel it can’t you? That radiance? The multicolored glow? Now, look above that, don’t you see the darkness? The shadows? Yes Earthrealmer, look, look, you see it now? You feel the ice cold sensation on your skin as you stare at it long enough?” Ilunor’s words were seemingly even more spiteful than before. Again, it took everything within me to not ruin his day, or perhaps his semester for good, but self control was vital… I had to empathize, the man did almost get soul-bound or whatever. There was latent stress here, so I get it. In fact, perhaps ironically, this was the most solid piece of intel I got so far on this taint situation. So again, I had to thank the lizard for his blunt explanation. Not that I would of course. This was far from a thank you sort of situation.

“Alright.” I responded simply, nodding, without really expressing myself in any other way. Looking back at Thalmin and Thacea, the wolf seemed to be eying this invisible mana-field taint or whatever with great intensity. The princess, for what it was worth, seemed to be in deep concentration, her face similar to someone trying their best to calm down from a panic attack.

I finally decided to lean back in my seat as my eyes went over to the stage.

With no further names being called I had expected the faculty and professors to have shuffled off, but they didn’t. In fact, they continued to remain on stage as it seemed as if they were preoccupied with the book.

The book was brought to the very center of the stage and placed on a stark-white plinth which glowed a brilliant white. The professors quickly crowded around it in a perfect circle, proceeding to whisper amongst themselves as they seemed to discuss the pages in length, flipping through each one, pointing and violently tapping at a few. This seemed to cause Thacea increasing anxiety as evidenced by her shaking form, but I held my hand firm against hers, squeezing it gently as she’d done just a few hours prior.

“Hey, it’s fine. It’s over alright? Your magic thing probably did the trick, I’m sure of it.” I spoke, confident, yet clearly lacking in the ability to really say anything for certain. This seemed to calm the Princess down somewhat, as her feathers flattened, and her expression softened.

Thalmin moved away for a moment, his eyes narrowing just above Thacea, and nodded.

“Alright, you’re fine. I can’t see any more of it.” He eyed me, then Thacea, and seemed to do a quick double-take. “Just don’t let the Earthrealmer become your anchor, Princess. I suppose this is just a coincidence but, I’d recommend personal due diligence.” Thalmin spoke with a certain level of concern, as the Princess reciprocated with a heady nod.

“I have my own training, Thalmin, thank you. There’s no need for speculation or overanalysis. This was just an outlier of a situation, and it’s now over. Let us focus instead on what’s to come next.” The Princess gestured back up at the stage, yet making no movements to remove her hand from my own.

“Anchor?” I mimed back, garnering a masked look of embarrassment from Thacea as she moved to speak but was cut off by a loud, booming voice from the stage. The professors seemingly finished whatever they were deliberating over as the book was carefully stored back in its unassuming container.

“With the rites of scholarship completed, and the ties having successfully been bound, it is time for orientation to commence.” Mal’tory spoke, as he took a step back, further and further into the crowd of professors, before disappearing entirely from view. A spike of magic proved that something mana-related had happened, what I would assume was some sort of a teleportation spell, provided such a thing existed.

The Dean finally stepped forward after seemingly being in Mal’tory’s shadow for most of the ceremony. He stood tall, confident, unshaken by the recent turn of events as he maintained that reassuring smile he held throughout everything. “With the rearrangements of the ceremony, I believe you will find the orientation for the school year to be much more reassuring as I can say now scarcely anything has changed, so let us begin.”