Melona dreaded her Self-Defense Magic class. Well, she dreaded all of her classes, it's just that she dreaded her Self-Defense Magic classes the most. It wasn't that the magic was harder than the other disciplines; if anything, a class where she could get half-credit for dodging out of the way was a blessing. It also wasn't that Professor Fortis was particularly harsh. Yes, she was terrifying, and yes, she called students "runts" when she was feeling normal and "maggots" if she was super-pissed, but she was generally fair-minded. The fact that she had a foot and several inches of height on Melona, thighs like tree trunks, and a rack that could crush a bowling ball was also a welcome addition.
No, it was that this was the one class where it was expected that students would keep an eye out for a sudden attack. "There's never a dull moment in this course," was the first thing that Fortis said when she started the first lecture every year. Melona reflected on this as she watched the bolt of force careen into Drif's solar plexus, knocking her back several feet onto a freshly-summoned cushion of air. She knew Drif was alright. Fortis was an accomplished enough war mage to pull her punches. Being hurled back by a Fist of Air spell didn't even hurt. In the right mindset, it could be kinda fun. It's just that getting into that mindset while your grade and dignity were on the line was nigh-on impossible.
"And that's why you don't try to use alchemy as anything but a supplement to your skills when you're in a fight," said Fortis, gesturing at the shattered bottle that lay across Drif's chest. "You get stains on your robes, and shattered glass on the battlefield is a liability."
"Anyway," she continued. "Like I said, our topic for the day is..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose. Her ribcage expanded like a hot air balloon. When she exhaled and opened her eyes, her pupils had dilated and she was staring straight at Melona. Melona, for her part, had no idea why this was the case, but was duly terrified nonetheless. "Wand work."
The class muttered in confusion. Wand work at the Academy? That was like lecturing a poet on how to hold a pen.
"Simmer down, runts," said Fortis. "We ain't talking about holding a wand or something like that. We're talking about a special kind of caster. A dangerous kind, not 'cause they were at the front of the line when the gods were handing out the mana reserves. No, this kind got lucky in another way."
"See, a couple centuries back, people realized that we weren't using wands right. Sure, for high level magic they're basically a requirement no matter who you are, but when you've already got a certain kind of oomph behind you--" she flexed her muscles and Drif, who had just gotten up, immediately collapsed again "--You don't need it as much."
The class stood in silence. Where was Fortis going with this.
"So anyway. A few centuries back, wandcrafters realized that they'd be out of a job if they didn't try and make a new kind of wand. They tended to get passed down through the generations back then, so the demand was pretty low." She waved a hand. "But the economics don't matter. What does matter is that these crafters build new kinds of wands.
"These wands could attune to their owner. Some of them imbued their owner with an obscene amount of power. Others would get a little bit of their owner's juice and run on their own for ever. Like the enchanted armors people used to use back in the day, but these ain't two stories tall and can do way more damage. A couple chuckleheads even got the bright idea to make wands that could eat magic, or, some people claimed, a person's mana reserves. Maybe their minds or souls, who knows."
Millicent raised a hand. "What happened to these wands?"
Fortis turned and flashed her a grin. "Well, Millie, that's a good question. See, the magic in these wands was strange and arcane. You're talking about a little hunk of wood or metal that can transmit magic, amplify it, store it, consume it, or give it away freely. Pretty soon that hunk of wood seems a little less like a tool and more like a caster in and of itself. Maybe it can think. Maybe it's got opinions." She shrugged her massive shoulders in a gesture that could have destroyed brickwork. "Dunno. Don't really care. All we do know is that one day, they all vanished at once."
The silence from the class was deafening. It sounded like Fortis was talking about a conspiracy of sentient wands. Melona knew that the professor had taken a couple of blows to the head over her career. Was this a sign of her losing her mind?
Melona raised a quivering hand. "Um, Professor?"
Fortis' neck snapped towards Melona. The snapping of her tendons sounded like the crack of a whip. "Yes, the short one."
"If they all vanished, why are we talking about them?"
"'Cause they come back sometimes." Fortis cracked her knuckles, then stretched her interlocked arms over her head, prompting yet another collapse from the freshly-risen Drif. She let her arms fall to her side, walked over to Melona, and bent over so that her face was level with Melona's. "And because I've seen 'em." She gave Melona a long, searching stare. It wasn't a hostile look. It was more like the stare that a sculptor gives a block of marble. Or the look a lumberjack gives a tree.
Fortis stood back up, clearly sensing that the class was breaking out of their stunned silence. "You ever thrown everything you got at a man, just to watch the lightning you channeled bounce off of him like it was nothing? Or seen a severed arm throwing around fireballs as easily as a normal person?" She glanced down at Melona. "How about a tiny little woman tank a full burst of death magic to the chest and breathe in the mana like it was perfume?"
The class resumed its silence.
"Well I have," said Fortis. "And that's why I want you all to be in the best physical shape you can. These wand-casters get lazy. You can't. If and when you see one of those--and that day may come sooner than you think--the only thing you can do is close the gap, get their head in your arm like this--" she summoned an apple and placed it between her forearm and bicep "--and finish the bastard off." She flexed her muscle, pulverizing the apple.
Melona had to admit, Drif managed to stagger the entire way back to the group before finally falling over.
"So first thing's first, runts! Cardio! Can't close the gap between you and the enemy if you can't run at 'em!" She turned away from Melona and Drif, and pointed towards the rest of the class. "Everyone to my left, wind sprints on the field! Everyone to my right, laps around the track! Move!"
After the rest of the class had turned, Fortis turned towards Melona, giving a bemused look at Drif as she stood up and tried to get the grass and potion stains off her robes.
"You're confused, aren't you."
"No, ma'am, I'm a hundred percent sure that I wanna climb you like a tree," said Drif. "Known since I came here."
Fortis some how managed to glower and give a genuine laugh all at once. "Not you, gremlin girl. You." She looked at Melona. "I can smell it on you. You genuinely don't know what you have, do you?"
"I--what?" asked Melona.
"Let me show you what kind of power you've got," said Fortis. She tilted her chin downwards. Melona looked downwards and saw the professor's finger pointed directly at a sternum.
Never a dull moment in this course, thought Melona as she saw the searing white light rush from Fortis' finger. She watched as--
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