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The Rise of the Mages
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[EXO Classroom]

                                              The moment we reached SM, Suho apologized for cutting our trip short but he said he was given a nudge to focus on training the students. He then pulled me aside and told me that I’ll be living in the dorms with the rest, now that I had my powers. I didn’t find anything wrong with this, knowing I enjoyed the presence of the rest of EXO. We were quickly told to go change and given fifteen minutes to go back to the classroom, to which I did. I was brought to the dorms and when I peeked into my room, I found that all my things were already there. Bubbles was nowhere to be found and I figured that maybe she was still with Mr. Bobbit.

Glancing around the room, I saw that the bed looked just as comfy even though the room was a little smaller. I quickly put on my uniform and left the room, jogging back to the classroom that was EXO’s classroom. I entered the classroom, seeing that everyone was already there, Luhan and Tao deep in conversation while Kai chewed nervously on tip of his pencil.

“What’s happening?” I asked Baekhyun who was pouting. “Why does everyone look stressed?”

“Pop Quiz,” Baekhyun answered, making a face. “Senior Kris is coming over soon, and we’ll have a recap of our past chapters. Then today, we’ll have a class evaluation. Something must have happened for them to push our training harder.”

“Really? Do I have to take it?” I have read our textbooks, but most of the time we focused on training. I hoped Kris would let me sit this one out as well, but I knew it was less likely with the time I’ve been in SM already. “Doesn’t Seungwoo have to take it then?”

“I don’t know, he’s your brother. Doesn’t he have to train with NCT though?”

“I heard he has a class evaluation… in two days…” My voice trailed off when I remembered that “2 days ago” was two days ago. “Oh, that’s today.”

I wasn’t given enough time to brood over the fact that my brother may have to duel when Kris walked in, his eyebrows knitted. He swept his eyes over EXO who sat silently, knowing he wasn’t in a good mood. When was Kris ever in a good mood? I chewed on my lip and he placed his books on the podium in front of him.

“Pop Quiz,” he breathed and everyone grumbled. “Quiet.”

Silence.

“Pop Quiz, and today we’ll be having a class evaluation in the gym. We have received news from the order that negotiations with Euren aren’t going as planned,” Kris said and the air automatically became heavy at the mention of possible war. “So instead of NCT, we’ll be having a class evaluation for EXO instead since you all are their seniors. Ong Harin, your brother will be joining EXO as well for this round of class evaluation but he’s joining NCT for this period.”

His voice was clipped and I nodded when Kris’ eyes settled onto me; he must have seen the questioning on my face. He dragged his gaze to Sehun, who as usual, looked bored.

“The Royal Headmaster will be coming to see this evaluation,” he said and a muffle of gasps traveled around the room. “He’ll be bringing a team of his mages and they’ll be the one evaluating all of you. Your seniors; Senior Siwon, Senior Leetuek, and Senior Yesung will be present so understand that you will have to do well.”

He paused. “Do not. Disappoint me.” His sentences held so much weight and I felt Baekhyun let out an exhale. Chanyeol his lips, turning to look at Chen who had his head in his hands.

“But first—Pop Quiz. Every one books under the table. This quiz will be graded by mean, the more people who get it right; the harder it will be to pass. The average will be the passing point,” he barked, everyone didn’t need to be told twice. “Ong Harin, I expect you to have read the textbooks already so you’ll be doing the quiz along with the rest.”

“Yes, Senior,” I chirped almost immediately, not wanting to get on his bad side. Kris leveled his gaze to the rest of EXO and parchment was sent down the rows. I ran my eyes over the parchment just to realize that it wasn’t anything I have learned. I remembered a few points here and there, but things have happened so fast that I hardly remembered what I had learned since I got to SM.

“Start. You have fifteen minutes.”

The scribbling of the pencils started and I stopped at the questions, reading them one by one. Sighing, I turned to Baekhyun who hid his paper from me, wagging his finger at me.

“No copying. Didn’t you hear him? He said he’s grading it by mean!” He whispered, a tongue protruding out from the side of his lip. “I want to get full marks.”

“But Baek—I have no idea what all this means!” I told him, slapping his arm softly. He pulled away, sticking his tongue out at me. I made a face back at him… Wow, how people survive in this school. Kris was turning through the school textbook and five minutes passed. I tried to rack my brains about some of the questions but I couldn’t remember anything when finally Lay stuck his head into the room to call Kris out.

“It’s here. It arrived from the alchemist,” Lay said to Kris who raised an eyebrow at the statement. I saw a sudden movement and Xiumin had straightened his back, looking at Lay who gave him a thumbs up. What was here, I wondered. And why was Xiumin looking so hopeful?

“I’ll be back in ten minutes,” Kris told everyone, stepping down from the podium before saying sternly. “No cheating.”

Once he left, I searched the room, seeing that everyone was writing down their answers. Throwing my hands up into the air, I groaned in frustration.

“Can anyone help me here?” I asked, and Kai looked back.

“It’s graded by mean.” And as simple as that, he looked back to his paper and continued writing. Letting out a sigh, I turned to see that Kyungsoo wasn’t writing anymore. He sat leisurely, looking out the window. I slowly ripped a piece of paper from a notebook under my table and balled it up, throwing it at him.

“Kyungsoo!” I whispered loudly to get his attention and he turned to look at me, surprised. He knew what I was about to ask for, his hands going to close his paper with his hands; the male glowering. “Let me copy,” I told him.

Kyungsoo shook his head and I placed my hands on my hips, both of us entering a staring competition for a while until I used my ace card.

“Kyungsoo… Let me copy or I’ll make sure all your plants are dying next time we train,” I told him and panic flitted over his features, then annoyance, then anger. Vines began to grow and it picked his paper up, the paper getting passed by to me. I grabbed it eagerly, running through the questions just to see the answers.

What in the world—

Your friend has been traveling through the Forest of Isea and comes back with blue blisters all over his groin. Describe the following symptoms that will happen the next day if you don’t save him. Choose between a Trelas berry and a Wufpina flower to reduce those symptoms until help comes.

         bye friend. no eat plants!!!

Wow, Kyungsoo, nice. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his answers. But it was expected for Kyungsoo, Harin mused, reading the rest of the quiz.

Name the main tactic Genghis Khan used to win in the Genghis Khan war and elaborate on how to improve it when we use it on the battlefield.

           genghis khan dieded. why u listen to him.

What do you put on burns when you try to cure them?

         I donno you tell me

Oh, I knew this one! I remembered Kai asking for eggwarts a while back when Sehun brought me to Soul City. I scribbled ‘eggwarts’ on my paper.

What are the three priorities of a front-liner?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

[Kyungsoo's drawing on the quiz]

5. Calculate the number of energy potions with the capacity of 2.8 shudders; a 7 strand tall person who weighs 92 boulders is able to take.

            ? what this 

Well, Kyungsoo did not know that one. What was ‘shudders’, ‘strand’, and ‘boulders’? I guessed them to be units of measurement but I didn’t even bother answering the questions.

What should you do if there are not enough healers on the battlefield?

          I donno I tank

 

Rubbing my eyes, I gave up and wrote down “Find Senior Lay”, sitting back in my chair. The audacity of Kyungsoo to try to hide his paper from me, his answers were awful! I shot him a look, Kyungsoo looking back at me stonily. Sehun was sleeping again. The ticking of the clock sounded, calling for Kris and I jumped; putting Kyungsoo’s parchment along with mine. I handed it to Baekhyun to turn it in when Kris came back, the parchments reaching his podium just in time.

“I’ll grade this later,” Kris said before taking out another parchment. “These are the rankings of the whole class- I will be explaining to you who you’ll be paired up with and who you’ll be going against.” Kris began before pinning the parchment on the board.

The list of names of EXO including mine and my brother stood out, except that Seungwoo and Wooseung’s name was written as ‘Wanna One’. I saw that my name was last and Chen smiled at me, telling me that it was okay—I just got my powers. The ranking was as followed:

[Class Ranking]

“My ranking dropped?!” Baekhyun exclaimed, shockingly. “How is Kyungsoo higher than me?!”

“You used to be number two in the class, right?” Chanyeol asked Baekhyun, the smaller male pouting. I saw that Chen was just above me and I wondered why he was second to last.

“Why is Chen second to last?” I asked Baekhyun, whispering into his ear so Chen wouldn’t hear me. He lowered his voice, scooting closer.

“Chen’s power is electricity and it’s actually really powerful, he just really doesn’t know how to control it. There’s a rumor that something happened before and he killed someone and until now, no one knows how he got his powers,” Baekhyun whispered. “He makes cobwebs of electricity and they go everywhere so he holds back because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Chanyeol too, that’s why he’s eighth place.”

I nodded at the new knowledge. To think about it again, I knew nothing of Chen and had no idea who he was or where he came from. He was nice, true, but he was always so distant… somewhat like Xiumin who had his eyebrows knitted as if he was in a daze and wasn’t focusing on the evaluation.

Clap.

All it took was one clap from Kris and the class fell silent.

“Now, I’ll tell you how we’re choosing your duel partners. You and your partners will be dueling against another pair. You won’t be chosen based on the magic compass—This time, we’ll choose it based on your ranking. The last person in your class will be paired up with the top student of your class, the second last with the second runner up student, and the third last student to the third top student and so on and so forth,” Kris said and I opened my mouth stunned.

Everyone stared at the ranking, trying to see who they got as their partner. It easy for me because I was last, and my eyes went up to the top student who was on the list.

Sehun.

Of course, it was Sehun.

I groaned internally. As if he could hate me more than this, I thought, turning back to see Sehun staring at the list. Baekhyun turned and gave Chanyeol a high-five and I saw that they got paired up together because Baekhyun was fourth and Chanyeol was eighth. That was when Baekhyun let out a shriek of laughter.

“Tao and Kyungsoo!” He chortled. “How do you expect these two to battle against another team? They have no damage!”

His enthusiasm wasn’t matched up by Tao and Kyungsoo who looked blankly at each other. I recognized the problem—Tao was a back liner and he controlled time. Kyungsoo was a tank, who hardly did any damage other than creating walls of rock. How were they going to team up and fight?

“Senior… Are we battling against you, Senior Suho or Senior Lay and another trainee for this duel?” Kai asked, the question asked before raising his hand. “Is the format the same as our graduation evaluation or is it the same as our usual class evaluations?”

“What’s the difference?” I asked Baekhyun, who was waiting for my question. He cleared his throat.

“When you came and saw me battle alongside Senior Lay against Sehun and Kyungsoo, that was a graduation evaluation. You battle against a trainee and a Senior and you earn points and if you beat them, you graduate.” He paused and I nodded.

Xiumin had explained that to me before already and it was still embedded in my brain.

“Well, we also have class evaluations. Class evaluations are trainees against trainees. Those who win earn points too and are able to use it to choose their opponent for their graduation evaluation.”

I nodded, understanding the concept. Now was the real question, indeed. Who were we battling in this duel?

“We’re using the format of class evaluations,” Kris spoke out and everyone chewed on their lip nervously, though I could hear a couple of relieved sighs from those who expected to be battling against their Seniors. “So, you’ll be battling against your friends.”

“Top student and bottom student, battle against second top student and bottom to the last student; etcetera, etcetera. Here’s the layout of those who’ll battle against each other. We’ll start from the bottom to the top,” Kris said, pinning another parchment onto the board and I saw that me and Sehun were battling against Xiumin and Chen.

[Duel layout]

“Since Wannaone, consisting of Seungwoo and Wooseung are counted as two people, both of them are going to be dueling against Kai and Luhan. Any questions?” Kris asked, and everyone was too deep in thought to answer. “After this class, you’ll be given a 15-minute break and then a session to train. The evaluation will be this afternoon so use your time wisely.”

Kris paused once more, his eyes turning hawk-like as he stared all of us down.

“Another reminder that the Royal Headmaster will be present so like I said, do not… disappoint me.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Haechan from NCT;

Power: Pocket Space

Ability to hold and remove objects in which only him can retrieve it 

Biggest fan of Wooseung]

Class ended very soon and we were given fifteen minutes to rest. I exited the classroom just to see a group of loud kids in the next classroom.

“Tae-il, Taeyong!” I heard a familiar sound call out to the NCT students, Wooseung flopping out of his classroom with a younger boy hugging his leg. “Haechan won’t let go.”

“I LIKE YOU!” The younger boy exclaimed and Wooseung stopped, crossing his arms, looking down on the male. His face was firm but his eyes were full of warmth and I missed him looking at me like that.

“JUST LET ME HUG YOU!” Haechan screeched as Wooseung shook his leg

“Wooseung,” I said, my eyes suddenly on my brother whose face was wiped off his smiles while Haechan from NCT clung onto him. Wooseung paused and I could feel it, that something was wrong and that even though Seungwoo said nothing was; interacting with Wooseung didn’t feel the same.

I my lips nervously and saw him excuse himself from the younger siblings, turning to walk over to me; his eyebrows furrowing.

“Hey.” His voice was soft and he looked stressed out at my presence before he gave me a small smile that warmed my heart a little more. I missed him. Terribly. And all I needed was to know that he missed me too. With that thought, I began to tear up and Wooseung panicked, opening up his arms to engulf me into it. “Hey, hey, hey. Okay, I didn’t mean you make you cry. Stop crying!”

“Why would I? You hate me!” I wailed and Wooseung patted my back softly. He didn’t say anything until I hiccuped and he passed me his sleeve so he can wipe away my tears. “I didn’t talk to you since Earth.”

“I just…” Wooseung’s voice trailed and I sniffled. “I was just going through an identity crisis,” Wooseung said to me and I blinked at him. “Harin, I’m literally in a body that isn’t mine. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Senior Donghae these days and he’s been trying to help me solve all this inner chaos. I feel like I’m overstepping in a place that I don’t belong. And Seungwoo…”

“Seungwoo is too nice to say it out loud,” I whispered, knowing Seungwoo well. Wooseung ran a hand through his hair, obviously frustrated. “I didn’t know it ran that deep, Wooseung. I’m so sorry, it all happened because of me—”

“No, it didn’t. You were a baby, Harin and if you blame yourself for something you couldn’t control then I’ll feel worse.” Wooseung chewed on his bottom lip. “Walk with me?”

I nodded, my hand going down to his, intertwining his fingers with mine as we walked through the courtyard. We went slow, Wooseung rubbing his fingers against my palm and I squeezed it softly.

“I did some digging,” Wooseung started. “When I found out that my soul was found in the River of Lost Souls, I went to read about it.” He said and I looked over at him to see that he kept his eyes on the ground. “They said that those souls who are in the River of Lost Souls are souls that were punished. But I was a baby, Harin. What could an infant have done to be put in a place like that?”

“You want to know why you were there in the first place,” I said it more as a statement than a question and Wooseung nodded, chewing on his lip. “You believe the truth will set you free.”

“I want to know that I actually existed as a person,” Wooseung replied, stopping mid-track and looking at me. “I hate feeling like I was never meant to be a person in the first place.”

“You matter just as much as Seungwoo,” I told him and he smiled at me, but it was sad and mellow and I prayed to never see Wooseung smile that way again. “But if you think that you should find out what happened, then do so. I’m sure Seungwoo will support you, whatever you want to do.”

“I know,” Wooseung said, finally letting out a relieved exhale. “I just don’t know how—”

“V,” I suddenly blurted out, my eyes widening at the revelation. “V… It was this guy I met. He’s always with this other guy named Jungkook who is like some kind of vigilante? And he also fell asleep—I mean. Sorry.” I paused when I saw Wooseung try to catch up.

“I mean, there is this guy. He’s a mage and his power is psychometry. Or at least

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nehaosta_05
#1
Chapter 49: <span class='smalltext text--lighter'>Comment on <a href='/story/view/1444457/49'>Epilogue: Part III [Kids!...</a></span>
Hey!!! This story was like gold. Too good. Plot good, Storytelling, POVs, references to fairytales etc etc and so much more. The drawings Kyung did and the way he spoke in broken grammar. It was all groups came together for some Kcon festival or something. Superb story with correct amount of fantasy and plot. It was good to see so many side characters and they carrying out the story. Idk what else to say . I waited throughout the story to complete and then comment because I was so indulged . Took me 3 long days to finish it but it was so worthwhile. I don't have words to say. Really really good. It should get featured already. It has so many good elements.