"Someone— Anyone, catch him! He's getting away!" An uproar of angry shouts followed Lijah as he weaved through the back alleys of the city. His lavender hair was hidden under the pentagram-adorned cloak he wore, and it was a perfect cover to duck through dark corridors and escape the authorities.
"Goddamn, I didn't think stealing from and killing an alcoholic would be such a bad thing. He was heading to the grave anyway." Lijah muttered to himself as he climbed a plethora of pipes, scaling the alley's wall until he was on the roof. Then he set off to run again, he jumped the gaps between buildings easily. And for the gaps that were just a little too wide? Nothing a little magic couldn't fix. He turned a page in his black grimoire and cast a wall of fire that blocked off his panicked pursuers.
It was always entertaining when he was chased like this, like he was being hunted. Too bad it usually ended up with a few more bodies to dispose of. With a grin, Lijah looked down at the streets below to see the police struggling to catch up with him. A series of gunshots rang out, but none of them made their target because of a shield that Lijah had erected at the last possible moment. The bullets fell uselessly onto the pavement below and Lijah continued to make his escape.
Perhaps the perk of being a witch is that magic is always available. Which also means that there's no need to worry about stamina when Lijah can just replenish it with witchcraft. The normal human police tailing him would run out of energy to chase him soon enough. After all, no regular human can keep up with someone who has mastered the arcane arts like Lijah.
"Damn it all! Stop running, witch!" An officer cried and Lijah nearly tripped with hysterical laughter. He dropped down onto the streets and weaved through the crowd of offended talentless worms.
"Asking me to stop running is as impossible as asking the sun to stop shining!" Lijah called back as he leaped over a tall fence. There was a moment of dread as his cloak got caught on one of the spikes on the tops of the fence.
"Oh, for fuck's sake— There, fucking hell." Lijah threw off the cloak entirely after a minute of struggle and continued running. His legs burned with exertion, but it was an ignorable thing considering the regeneration that witches like him had.
Lijah made a sharp turn into the marketplace just as he morphed into a short woman who was handicapped, and his grimoire was turned into a silver bracelet with a purple jewel on it. That should confuse and throw the police off his tail for a while. Not that he was worried, he was a witch. He could manipulate the elements to his will.
Just as the golden-eyed witch bounded out of the town market, the setting around him transformed. The lively crowds of townsfolk flickered out of existence and the town itself faded into a black-walled arena. Disoriented, Lijah blinked a couple of times before shifting back into his original body. He tucked his grimoire under his arm and took a moment to take a few breaths when a woman's voice echoed in his head.
"Test cleared. Tester Lijah Dove, please use the exit on your right and head up to the observation deck for your results." The voice commands, and Lijah nods before heading up to the observation deck.
Waiting for him was a tall woman with long hair and sharp eyes that put Lijah on edge. "Headmistress," he greets with a slight, deferential bow of his head, "how was my performance?"
"Spectacular as always, Mister Dove. You never fail to astonish us with your uses of magic," said Headmistress Ydia as she conjured a report from thin air and handed it to Lijah.
"Us—? Oh." Lijah gently took the report just as he noticed all of his classmates and how they stared at him. He had always disliked their empty, thoughtless stares, but now those gazes held something a little more reverent. Lijah wasn't sure if he preferred the admiration in their soulless eyes or the regular stupidity.
"Indeed, your professors insisted on letting your peers watch you due to your reputation of being astonishingly talented and quick-thinking." Headmistress Ydia said with a saccharine smile on her red-tinted lips. Oh, how Lijah hated her smile and her back-handed compliments.
"Well, thank you. I am glad I proved myself worthy of such praise." He replied, just as artificial and fake as Headmistress Ydia was. Lijah looked down at the report in his hand with a hopefully blank expression as he scanned the words on it until he reached the bottom of the page. Then he couldn't resist the excitement he felt.
Lijah's expression wasn't as blank as he hoped because Headmistress Ydia nodded with that infuriating and smug smile on her face as she said, "congratulations, Lijah Dove. Tomorrow, you will be inducted into the Liquidum Aurum alongside some of your high-scoring peers, so make sure to sleep well tonight," as she places a hand on Lijah's shoulder.
Lijah barely contains his urge to tense up and throw her hand off of him, to tell Headmistress Ydia to not touch him, but instead he accepts the approval from her with a slightly strained smile. "I understand, I won't be late." Despite his despise of Headmistress Ydia for being a bit domineering towards him, he was truly excited for tomorrow.
"Glad to hear it. You're dismissed, your mother is waiting outside for you." She purrs, and Lijah briefly thinks that he might've vomited in his mouth. With a nod, he exits the observation deck. Lo and behold, Yra is waiting for him with a smile.
"I passed." Lijah smiled as he hugged the dark-skinned woman, who smiled softly and carded her fingers through his hair gently.
"I heard. Eah will be very proud of you." Yra says as she and Lijah begin to leave the building. The walk to their secluded cottage isn't far because they didn't walk at all. Yra was a prodigy at teleportation and transportation magic, so she simply teleported herself and Lijah to the doorstep of their home.
"Eah, my love, we're home." Yra said contently as a shorter and bustier woman wearing fireproof goggles ran out of a room, completely covered in soot, to hug Lijah.
"There he is! How did you do, my light?" Eah asked as Lijah was picked up by her. He wondered if she had exploded something in her workshop again, but he could ask later.
"I passed, like I knew I would." He said proudly to his mom, hugging her just as tightly as he was being held. While he did love his mom, what he did not love was the feeling of soot on his skin and clothes.
"Mom, you're dirty—" Lijah began to whine, only to be set back down with a ruffle of his hair. He sighed, knowing that he'd have to bathe later.
"Sorry, my light. There was an accident in the workshop while I was working on your present. It's nearly done, but there are a few things I need to finish." She says with a warm, familiar smile.
"For the meantime, go wash up. I'll start dinner." Yra cuts in, patting Lijah on the shoulder encouragingly. Nodding, he leaves to shower and hang up his graduation certificate.
Dinner, like always, was warm and lively. Eah was as rowdy as usual, brightening the candle-lit dining room with her demeanor. Lijah was also quite talkative for once. He kept going on and on about his excitement to join the coven, to be a real witch and be able to use his grimoire legally.
Yra and Eah were trying to be subtle about it, but Lijah could tell that they were just as ecstatic. Eah especially; she just couldn't stop talking about her own time at the academy and how she was always the most creative of her class. Yra shared some of her own stories as well, how she had graduated a year earlier due to her perception.
Lijah felt proud to have such talented moms, and he could easily tell that they were happy to see him so bright. For someone like Lijah, it wasn't easy to make him smile or laugh. He was stoic most of the time and could hardly stand it when people of any age interacted with him. Which was why Eah and Lyra were relieved to see their son so open, it gave them hope that Lijah could make a friend or two.
Dinner ended with a hug goodnight and reminders to wake up early, then Lijah ran upstairs to his room to get ready for bed. But he wasn't sleeping any time soon, he was going to study the spells in his grimoire like he always did. He knew every spell by heart already, but it would never hurt to read through the names again. Then, once he was satisfied with his skill, he tucked himself into bed and fell asleep with his face buried into his pillow.