Serene’s POV

The next day dawned with the very first snow of the winter season and it covered the grounds like a white sheet. It had gotten extremely cold and suddenly everyone was clad in winter apparel, fur coats, leather jackets, and tweed.

I choose a white thermal and red overcoat with white leggings and a red scarf to be woven around my neck. Ayrden was wearing a purple long coat and black stockings.

"Ayrden you look so cute today." I complimented her as she brushed her hair.

"Really? thank you, Serene. I am nervous about today’s Contest." Ayrden was chosen to represent our institute today along with 4 other witches and warlocks.

"I am positive that you will do wonders and bring home the victory." I stepped forward and gave her a warm hug, she hugged me back. We were ready to head down.

As we descended the stairs, I found Kilamin waiting for us. "Ayrden, I will take Serene from here." He announced.

"Yes, Sensei." She nodded before leaving without me.

I began to walk beside him when he spoke: "Serene, stay closer to me. I don’t trust new students from other Realms. I don’t want any of them near you."

"I will, but you realize I can defend myself. I am not a child anymore." I still haven’t gotten used to him bossing me around.

"But you are my..." he stopped himself mid-sentence and then spoke again: "Like the way you did at Elder’s Meeting." His voice had suddenly turned stern and my ears became hot at his words.

"That’s low, even for you." I looked at him in anger and embarrassment. Why did he always feel the need to rile me up?

"It’s true, you freeze in tough situations." He wasn’t going to give up and I had no patience for him today. I wanted to find Zeph, he was competing today as well and I wanted to be there for him.

"I don’t have time for this, today. Can you save your lecture for training sessions?" We had stopped and were throwing daggers at each other, only they were made up of words.

Thankfully, Zeph and Ralph spotted us and came over. Sensing the tense situation,

Ralph said: "What fine snow we have, it’s the first time I am seeing it."

"Yes, Ralph, and no one is interested in listening to this. Learn to read the situation." Zeph muttered to him.

"Zeph, let’s go." I took his hand and stared at Kilamin.

"You can’t, today you will stay with me. We have more training in a few minutes." He replied calmly my defiance having zero effect on his demeanour.

"Make me," I yanked Zeph’s arm so he would move and we could leave.

"Serene, don’t test my limits." His voice was still steady, not raised but threatening.

"I am not training today, I want to watch The Contest and cheer on my friends. So I am happy to test your limits." Zeph and Ralph were extremely confused dangling between us.

"Kilamin..." Zeph tried to say something but I cut him short.

"Zeph, stay out of this," I shouted and he instantly shut his mouth.

"You can’t, you need to train for your match tomorrow." Still expressionless as he uttered these words and stared back at me.

"Not happening," I retorted.

"You realize I can give you detention for this behaviour and I won’t let you watch a single match." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"And I won’t ever train with you if you will try to pull something like that."

"Serene, I will take you back home and will not let you return here." My whole body surged with hate at his words. I let go of Zeph’s hand and tried to slap Kilamin hard against his face but Zeph grabbed me by my waist and turned me around before my hand could touch his face. Ralph’s mouth hung open at my action for he had never seen me so angry. My whole body was trembling in anger and people started to stare at us.

Zeph covered my hands with his and whispered: "Calm down, Serene. Don’t make this worse." I shot a deadly look at Kilamin and he was still standing there as if nothing has happened.

"What’s happening?" We heard Artins Sensei’s voice behind us and Zeph let me go.

"Serene is being difficult and is refusing to follow orders, I think detention for a few days will do her good," Kilamin replied calmly to his question.

"Kilamin and Serene, please meet me in my office." His voice was authoritative as he addressed us and walked off.

"Yes, Sensei," I replied while Kilamin simply nodded.

Zeph rubbed my back to calm me down. "I am sorry, this is not the way I wanted to meet you today. I hope I will be able to see your match. Good luck if I am unable to." I grabbed his face and gave him a passionate kiss. I was petty today. Kilamin waited for me to finish.

"It’s ok, don’t make things worse than they already are. Accept whatever they say for now." Zeph stroked my hair before ushering me to go. I mouthed good luck to Ralph as well and he offered me a small bow.

I followed Kilamin, keeping quite a distance between us. "Why do you have to be so difficult all the time?" He asked.

"Because you have to be annoying all the time." I retorted back at him.

Luckily, we reached Artins Sensei’s office so had to stop our bickering. We took permission to enter and sat down in front of him.

"Serene, what happened?" He asked me instead of Kilamin. I narrated the whole incident emphasizing how he purposely infuriated me by making me train instead of cheering for my friends.

"Yes, she missed the part where she almost slapped her Sensei. If Zeph hadn’t been there, she would have." Kilamin added dryly.

"You are not my Sensei. My father forced you as Sensei upon me, I never accepted you as one from my heart. My Senseis are here and you are not one of them." My pettiness was through the roof today and I wanted to hurt his feelings. He just stared back at me with cold empty eyes.

"Serene, that’s not what we have taught you. I don’t want you to talk to Kilamin in that tone again. I understand your frustration, I understand everything you are going through. That doesn’t mean that you can act like this with people who are trying to help you." There was disappointment in Artins Sensei’s voice.

"Apologize." He spoke again.

I wanted to scream with all my strength but I respected Artins Sensei too much and I had never gone against his wishes and orders.

"I am sorry for the way I have behaved. I will make sure this behaviour is not repeated in the future." I apologised to Kilamin, who showed no indication to me that he acknowledged my apology, not even a nod.

"Serene, I am giving you a week’s detention with Kilamin as well but he would carry it out after The Contest is over." I nodded and lowered my head.

"Kilamin, let Serene watch her friends. After the matches, you can make her train for a few extra hours. This is once in a lifetime opportunity, don’t take it from her." Kilamin finally showed some expressions and smiled at Artins before saying:

"Of course, I will make an exception on your command."

"Sensei, I want to talk to you alone." I addressed Artins Sensei.

"Serene, we will talk in the evening. I need to talk to Kilamin right now. You can go and be there with your friends for now." He smiled reassuringly at me. Then he rang a bell and after a few minutes the door opened and Arlo entered.

"Arlo escort Serene to the grounds and stay close to her," Artins instructed him.

"Yes, Sensei." He tilted his head towards me as if asking if I was ready to go. I wanted to get as far away from Kilamin as possible. I sprung from my chair and we were soon outside the door.

My red face and escalated heart rate told him something was wrong. "What happened? Are you ok?" His voice was filled with concern.

"Yes, Kilamin happened." Arlo bit his lower lip to stifle a laugh at my words, I watched him with a frown.

"You wanna talk about it?" He asked softly.

"No, I don’t want to sour my mood any further," I replied. Arlo’s match was the next day as well, just like me so he was free today.

We reached the ground where seats had been placed for the audience to sit. A magic barrier in the form of a 1 km radius had been formed in the middle of the ground. It was Icy blue and gave the impression of lightning.

I spotted Zeph and his team, so I excused myself and rushed toward him.

"Hey," I waved. His face lit up as he saw me approaching.

"He let you go?" He asked in a surprised tone.

"Artins Sensei let me go but I got detention for a week," I replied with a smirk.

"I had no idea you can get so feisty Serene, I had some when you slapped Lourden but today was a whole new level." Ralph patted my shoulder as he laughed.

"Yeah, he gets on my nerves at times. It gets hard for me to accept him as he has been forced on me against my will. If they had sat me down and discussed this option with me. I would have been more understanding." I shrugged my shoulders.

"He means well, Serene." Zeph tried to take his side.

"Enough about him. Are you guys ready for your match?"

"Yes, we are and it’s going to start in 10 minutes."