Soul of a Human

Deep in thought, Mor was on his way back to his room when his path was blocked by two students.

"Mor! Are you alright?" Clare asked concerned.

"Yes, I got off lightly, thanks to the headmaster," Mor said calmly.

"But you still got punished?" Orth asked.

"Yes, but it's not that bad. I'm now kind of the assistant of the ice-kin. All in all, I'm happy with it." Mor answered, and Orth nodded.

"I'm still not satisfied that you got punished, but if you are fine with it." Orth shrugged.

"What! That's awful!" Clare complained.

"Why?" Mor asked her.

"What do you mean, why? She's a barbarian. Who knows what she'd do!" Clare went on.

"Clare, don't talk bad about her. It's true. I got into trouble for helping her, but that's Ranbors fault, and she at least went to the headmaster to explain everything. That's why I got off so lightly." Mor explained calmly.

"But! Your reputation! You're already..." Clare said, and Orth intervened.

"Clare! Be quiet!" Orth shushed her.

"I'm what?!" Mor asked, agitated. "Tell me, Orth."

°I can guess what's coming now...° The human added.

Orth gave Clare an annoyed look but then deflated a bit.

"Most students and teachers don't like that you are here, a commoner at a noble school. I asked the headmaster, but he didn't want to explain and just told me it would be fine." Orth explained.

°Yeah, thought as much.° The human said.

"Makes sense. I mean, I had no friends before you and Clare, but this puts me in a unique position. No one will bat an eye at the commoner needing to babysit the barbarian. That's not a task fit for a noble." Mor said, and Orth nodded.

"I still don't like it," Clare mumbled.

"And best of all, Snow wants to teach me some of the ice-kin magics!" Mor told them excitedly.

"Snow?!" Clare exclaimed, surprised. "You know her name?"

"What ice-kin magics? Do they even have magic?" Orth asked at the same time.

"Yes, Clare...The headmaster had something to discuss with Miss Amythene, and we had to wait outside, so we talked a bit. She even thanked me for helping her again, Ranbor." Mor said.

°You did more than talk.° The human teased.

°Silence!° Mor chided.

"Yes, they do Orth, but they seem to have no energy reserve, so there are no big spells for them. They have a technique, though, with which they can pull energy from their surroundings!" Mor told them excitedly.

"So?" Orth said. "We will learn that in our last year at the school." Clare added, and Mor looked surprised.

"You know of such a technique?!" He asked.

"Yes, don't you?" Orth asked, and Mor shook his head.

"Guess the commoners are not good enough to learn something like that," Mor said, dejected.

"I didn't know that," Orth said, and Clare looked a bit sad.

"Well, I'm using my chance to learn it now and everything Snow can teach me," Mor said.

°Everything?° The human joked.

°Shut it, I'm not in the mood for your stupid jokes.° Mor said.

°Yeah, I get you're pissed, but I just wanted to cheer you up.° The human said, understanding.

°Sorry.° Mor said.

°Don't worry. We will show everyone what a barbarian can teach a wizard° The human said.

°What´s a wizard?° Mor asked.

°Magic user.° Came the answer from the human.

Mor left Clare and Orth and walked to this room, but before he could take a few steps, Clare called after him.

"Mor! I'm sorry. I didn't know," she said, but Mor didn't look back.

"Not right now, Clare. I have to think, I'm not mad at you. I just need some time." Mor answered her and left for good.

"This is bad," Orth said. "I never knew there were such barriers put in place between us nobles and the commoners." And Clare nodded.

"Why, though? Wouldn't it be better for all soul-kin if we would have more talented mages?" Clare asked.

"You would think so. That's probably something I should ask my family about. Maybe I can change it when I'm old enough." Orth said.

"I will help you," Clare promised, and Orth nodded.

The next day started with Mor getting dirty looks from many other students. Finally, the rumors of Ranbor's punishment reached him. It seems the headmaster went fully nuclear. The only one who got off lightly was Miss Aragonite, as she didn't do anything but be part of Ranbor's entourage.

Miss Aragonite just had to copy the whole school rule book, which would be about a day's work. The two other boys got the added punishment of helping out the cleaning staff with their duties to appreciate the work of the "commoners." Ranbor got the worst punishment. The headmaster severely limited his magic, only giving him enough energy to complete the day-to-day mundane tasks of their school life.

Mor would have liked to get Ranbor kicked out, but as Ranbor attacked the ice-kin, she said it was settled, but that was seemingly not on the table. The headmaster might also wanted to avoid any significant conflict with the Ruby family.

The most surprising thing about all of this might be Miss Amethynes' transfer to another school island, one for commoners, it seems. The headmaster seemingly told her to respect every student regardless of their status and that she was unfit as a teacher at his school. Mor was a bit conflicted about that one.

As promised, Orth and Clare gave Mor space to think about everything.

°You know, they probably didn't realize that the commoners were being held down by the nobles.° The human said.

°I know, but still. I just want to be alone a bit and learn from Snow.° Mor answered.

°I guess. But remember, both of them are your friends. Don't cut them out completely,° The human advised.

°Yes, I won't. I probably just need a few days to get to terms with it. I never thought the nobles would keep secrets from the lower-born, but it makes sense in a morbid kind of way.° Mor said.

°I get it. In human history, we also had a system like that, and the nobles used their power to keep the common folk under control.° The human said.

°You say, had? That means it was changed, right? What happened?° Mor asked.

°Well, we had a few catastrophes, and well, the nobles wanted to keep their living standard and couldn't understand the needs, pleas, and worries of the common folk. In almost all cases, this led to uprisings amongst the commoners and the death of the nobles.° The human explained.

°You killed them?° Mor asked.

°Yeah, we did... After that, we changed how we did things and set up voting systems for our leaders. They are also not perfect, but at least a bit better. But don't worry, for now. If everything is at least somewhat fair, nothing terrible will happen. If there are too many rifts between commoner and noble, someone should get to fix them as soon as possible, though.° The human answered.

°This sounds scary.° Mor said.

°It was, but human history is full of atrocities. We are not peaceful people, no matter what someone else says.° The human went on.

°Got it, enough of that... Let's get the lessons over with and concentrate on getting better.° Mor ended the discussion.

°Yeah, I also don't like this dark theme. Let's get back to helping you,° The human said.

"Commoner! What did you do to Orth?" A very agitated Saphine asked Mor as she caught Mor on his way to the classrooms.

"Nothing, I just wanted some space." Mor sighed.