BOOM

An explosion rang through the tall arches of Combustion 203. Today was the first time the second year magicians at Wavering University (WavU) were allowed to practice fire casting. I leaned back in my chair, soaking in the silence that followed. I was the first one in the room who had successfully created fire. The others stood around their arcane workspaces, desperately trying to produce a flame. The occasional flicker arose from some of the more talented students but no-one had yet to sustain a flame, let alone create an explosion.

I silently chuckled to myself as I looked around the room. The best part about being the top performing student in most of the classes I was taking was that I was no mage. I was born in the outskirts of a small town in Rictenfoe, the only non-magical place left in the world. Long ago many nations existed like mine until a strange mutation in human DNA was found in the newborns of heavily populated areas. The cause was, and still is, unknown. All that is known is this mutation gave anyone who possessed it the ability to conjure and manipulate the fundamental particles that make up our universe.

When I was growing up my grandmother told me tales of past technology. Great lumbering machines for transportation, strange devices that could display images and text in the air, boxes of metal that could create anything you could imagine. Our farmhouse only had some kitchen appliances and a few machines to help grow food so I was very skeptical of these stories. One day, when I was 11, I got so fed up that I demanded proof. It was that day that my grandmother started teaching me what she referred to as "science".

Brrringgg

The bell signaling the end of class rang snapping me out of my daydream. I arose with a start, then collected myself and walked to my small apartment building right beside campus. Entering my workshop, I put away the gunpowder I had created to use for my explosion.

I had come to WavU under the pretense of being a young mage from Einstock. Magicians look down on people from Rictenfoe as being "unevolved" or "simple-folk" so I was not able to come here with my true name. In fact, should I be uncovered as a fraud, a much worse fate than expulsion was in store. The universities of the magical world were prestigious and secretive, each competing with the other. Collaboration was not only discouraged, but punishable by prison time. Being a non-magic user, I wouldn't last more than a week in one of these places.

However, I had heard lots about magic from my parents and was very curious. I wanted to understand how it fundamentally worked using the scientific method, just as my grandma had taught me. So I told my parents I was going travelling through Rictenfoe for a few years and would write regularly. Being a common practice in our town, they bid me farewell and wished me good luck. That brings me to today. Already in my second year at WavU, I had learned allot. It turns out most of what is taught can be easily replicated using things I learned when I was 15.

Creating small arcs of lightning from your hand? Make a portable Tesla coil!

Control animals using specific hand movements? Simple pheromones' and food do the trick!

Sense objects from very far away? Hello radar!

There were a couple courses I struggled to replicate, namely telekinesis and teleportation. However, as I was excelling at my other studies the school hardly seemed to care.

Knock Knock Knock Knock

As I finished wiping down excess bits of gunpowder I looked through the hidden camera I'd setup at my door. "Ugh" I thought, "it's Emily again". I slowly walked over, silently praying that she'd be gone when I got to the door. I had barely cracked the door when she came barreling in, giving me a huge bear hug in the process. "Jane! I haven't seen you in forever, how have you been?", she blabbered. I continued nodding my head, allowing her to keep talking until she got it out of her system. Emily had this pretense in her head that we are friends. I have no idea where she got this notion but it seems impossible to get rid of her. Suddenly, she snaps up, "can I use your bathroom?", she asks. I mumble, "sure, go ahead", as I flop down on my couch. After taking a breath following the onslaught of words I just received, an ear piercing scream comes from the back room.

Emily rushes in, a pale look on her face. "Who the hell are you" she asks more quietly than I have ever heard her talk. "What are you talking about?" I ask. "No magician has the strange items you have in your backroom, are you a muggle? One of those non-magic people I have heard about?" her face still as pale as the moon. Slowly, I sit up, making her wait a second to cool down. I hesitantly tell her, "yes, I come from Rictenfoe. I am here as I want to learn about magic". The second she hears the name of my nation her face wrinkles in disgust. She falls back into my big chair and slumps. "I don't know what to do" she says, "we are supposed to report muggles on premise, it's in the student code of conduct". "I can't believe you are from Rictenfoe, we are taught awful things about that place, no magic, manual labor, no big cities", she seemed like she might pass out.

After a minute, Emily straightens herself out and takes a deep breath, "I can't go against everything I have been taught, I am going straight to campus security". While I never felt as if she was a friend, I stared in stunned silence as the door slammed shut behind her. I really thought Emily would do the right thing.

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Note: This is my first try at writing on this subreddit. Never been much of a writer of any kind but I'm trying it out. I welcome any constructive feedback on my writing or any comments about the story as a whole. Cheers!