“So have you decided on a major yet?”
“No, not yet. There’s so much to choose from and I really don’t know where I want to end up.”
“Well you have two years to declare it. Just take as many different things as you can until then!”
“Yeah, that seems like the best plan. It’s so rare that people know what they want to do beforehand.”
“I know. I think it’s good to be exposed to a lot before you decide. And you can always double-major, but that would be so much work.”
“I would imagine. So, do you have any idea what you’re gonna do?”
“For my major?”
“Yeah.”
“Kind of.”
“Oh yeah? What?”
“Well, I was thinking Telekinesis.”
“…That’s…”
“What?”
“That’s just…like…the hardest major there is, man. You sure you want to go through all that work? I hear for the first midterm after you declare it as a major you have to make a box using only paperclips and then catch a fly with it. And you have to be twenty feet away from the paperclips and the fly!”
“Then I’ll take a class on Metal Manipulation, too.”
“Well, yes, that would make that one test for that one class somewhat easier, but come on! You have four more years of stuff like that, and you’re not gonna know what most of it’s gonna be! I heard that one teacher makes her kids untie and retie their shoe laces blindfolded without using your hands at all before they are allowed to leave class each day.”
“Then I’ll wear Velcro shoes. Listen man, do you want to leave here knowing you didn’t give all of your effort in something? I want to be the best I can be at whatever I choose. This is no time to get lazy!”
“I’m not lazy!”
“Then take an intro to Kinesis class with me!”
“Maybe….I think I’m more interested in other things though.”
“Like what?”
“Well…aeronautics sounds pretty cool.”
“Flying? Really? Everyone does flying!”
“Well, everyone tries flying, but there aren’t a lot of people who major in it! Have you seen Clint Kaldwaller? He double majored in aeronautics and particle reconfiguration; he can fly through walls, man!”
“Eh.”
“Or you could go for aeronautics and lightspeed studies.”
“And just fly really fast?”
“Super fast.”
“Not for me. How about the elemental arts?”
“Which one? Fire? Water?”
“Electricity.”
“Dude! You need to calm down, here. I know you want to nearly kill yourself with work, but that’s the hardest of the elements.”
“Imagine double-majoring in Electromagnetism and Telekinesis…”
“You’d be suicidal by year two, I guarantee it.”
“But I don’t think anyone’s ever done that! Wouldn’t it be great to be the first to double-major in something totally unique?”
“Sure. If you survive all four years.”
“Oh you’re just lazy!”
“You’re just insane.”
“Hey let’s go by the training field on the way back. I hear the Kinesis majors are sparing with the Agility Acceleration guys.”
A grand fountain filled in the center of a courtyard. Water trickled out from various spouts, some in the shape of lions or gargoyles. On the edge of the fountain sat a few students. One made a quick flick of his wrist above the water and caused a small geyser to erupt a few feet above the surface. Another weaved a thread of water between her fingers, but soon lost her concentration, causing the thread’s form to melt and drip back into the fountain.
Under the archways separating the hallways from the courtyard, a circle of students were involved in a game. One – his fingers pressed to his temple – suspended a green ball in the air, and another did the same with a red. The green ball zipped around within the boundaries of the circle, narrowly avoiding the pursuing red ball that darted towards it. After a minute of this, three other students joined in, making it a game of four-on-one.
“Go join your buddies over there!”
“Oh shut it. Those guys are nerds.”
Past the courtyard a huge, open field stretched as far as could be seen. There were several circular sand pits, a mile-long track, and a pool the length of a football field filled with foam squares and diving boards of varying heights at one end.
An old man stood in front of a group of about fifteen anxious kids lined up beside the foam pool. He gave a command and they all turned to face the pool. One by one, down the line they stepped into the pit. Most fell instantly, landing several feet down with muffled yelps. A few stalled in the air for a split second before plummeting with their arms outstretched in accomplishment.
“Aeronautics 101. There you go.”
“I’m already signed up for next semester!”
Up on the diving boards several students bounced nervously. The lowest one jumped first, descending immediately after the peak of his jump. The middle went next, floating in the air for nearly a second before falling to the foam. The highest gave a great leap and glided smoothly through the air for a couple seconds, sailing very slowly but making it much further into the pit. “22 yards!” the man on the side of the pool yelled. “A personal best!”
A brick wall stood next to the pool of foam. Five students lined up in front of it. A woman spoke louder to them than she needed to. “Remember: Envision the destination, not the journey. In this case, the journey is through the wall, and if you think of going through instead of simply appearing on the other side, it will be very uncomfortable, especially if you aren’t prepared to phase through.”
The first student in line stuck out his chest and approached the wall. “Other side… Other side,” he said to himself. He took a step forward and disappeared. “I did it!” came his voice from behind the wall. “Very good!” said the woman. “Next time try it without the step.”
“Isn’t Teleportation pretty advanced?”
“Yeah, but only because you need a degree in Particle Reconfiguration before you can take any classes on it.”
“Oh, right. That makes sense. Wasn’t there some kid last year who…”
“Got stuck in a wall and didn’t know how to phase out of it? Yup. Kind of funny actually.”
“So not funny! Bet it would hurt like crazy.”
“Well it’s his fault for attempting it without knowing how to phase.”
“Even so…”
A sound like a cannon echoed around the field. A dozen disks had been shot through the air and three students raced after them, becoming blurs against the trampled grass. The disks remained a few feet off the ground, but flew at great speeds. Five seconds later two of the students returned, panting, holding some of the disks at their sides. The third zipped back right after. “David ran home and got his own disks!” one said accusatorily, pointing at the last student to return. “Did not!” he defended weakly. “You’re holding seven disks!” “So?” “I have four and Louis has five. He only shot twelve you idiot!”
Far away from anyone else, in the distant field, a group of students formed a wide circle.
“What’s that?”
“I think Lee Hanson’s doing a demo today.”
“He’s a Metal major right?”
“Yeah. I think he’s having kids shoot at him with metal pellet BB guns. If he can’t stop anyone’s bullet before it hits him he’ll give them a free private lesson.”
Ahead, two students were shaking hands in a sand ring. “Let’s have a fair fight,” said a woman on the side. “No intrusion from an illegal object. Jeremy.” “Oh come on, that happened one time and it was a mistake!” “You don’t mistakenly pick a club off the wall with your mind and throw it at your opponent. Now let’s keep it clean.”
The two backed up to opposite sides of the ring. They each carried a wooden sword. One, on the far side, was extremely muscular. He spun the sword behind his back, around his neck, and twisted it rapidly in front of him. “No showing off, Sam. You know I’ll make you forfeit for that.” “Sorry.”
The other opponent held his sword out. He was much skinnier and handled the weapon awkwardly, but when he released it from his grip it floated in front of him. He stepped back, cracked his neck, and made the sword hover forward to the middle of the ring, pressing two fingers to his temple. “Alright. Begin!”
The floating sword went on the immediate offense, shooting like an arrow towards Sam. Moving faster than the average eye could see, Sam leapt in the air and twisted over the sword, deflecting it with his own. Jeremy’s sword became lodged in the sand. He concentrated as hard as he could as Sam ran at him. The sword loosened and flew up from the sand, quickly darting over to Jeremy’s protection. Right as Sam went to strike, the weapon floated between him and Jeremy, blocking his attack. As Jeremy slowly backed around the edge of the ring, his sword kept Sam at bay, spinning and thrusting at its agile opponent who ducked, flipped, and spun out of harm’s way. His movements were so quick that it was nothing more than a confusing jumble of blurry limbs to any observer.
Sam swung his weapon at the exact right time and knocked the hovering sword far enough away to get another run at Jeremy. He neared him once more and leapt in the air, sword raised over his head, prepared to deliver the winning blow.
But underneath him something shot through the sand, moving like a buried arrow fired from underground. Jeremy flicked his wrist and the sword broke through the sand, showering them both with the fine, white grains and blocking Sam’s strike. Jeremy smiled at Sam’s look of astonishment and gave another twist of his wrist, hitting Sam straight across the chest and knocking him on his back. “Round one goes to Jeremy!” shouted the woman.
“That was cool.”
“So cool.”
All around them were similar fights. There were countless rings of sand and each one had a sparring couple – one always moving too fast for the eye to see and the other causing some sort of weapon to float in front of them.
“Still wanna take that aeronautics class?”
“You bet.”
“You’ll regret it, I’m telling you man.”
“Oh we’ll see! You’ll be working yourself to exhaustion while I fly by your dorm room window and wave.”
Two voices rose over the rest of the crowd gathered around the sand rings. “You know you cheated! Admit it!” said a girl accusingly to her sparring partner. “Oh, don’t be a sore loser,” said the other girl. “I won. You lost. Get over it.” “Shut your mouth you…you villain!” The teacher overseeing their match stepped in. “Kylie! We never say such things! You’re banned from practice for a week.” “But she –” “I don’t care what she did or didn’t do. Don’t make it two weeks.”
The girl threw down her weapon and stormed out of the ring.
“That’s a pretty serious name to call someone.”
“No kidding. You never hear anything that bad.”
“Well we better get to work on that paper for Edison’s class.”
“Oh I completely forgot about that! What’s it on, the history of everything boring ever?”
“Something like that.”
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