Melisa sat cross-legged on her dorm room floor, a small bowl of her own blood in front of her. Three drops. That's all she figured she'd need to make this spell work. The goal was simple: turn the blood in the bowl into a projectile that wouldn't make her look like a complete psychopath when she used it.
"Sanguis, lumen, vitae," she whispered, drawing the spellsign in the air above the bowl.
The blood shimmered, then rose, forming a small, pulsing red sphere that hovered at eye level.
[Hell yes. Step one: don't fuck up immediately. Check.]
But as she prepared to move to the next stage, Vira's voice sliced through her concentration.
"You're the princess's fucking advisor. You live in the Academy. You've got it made."
Something like that, though maybe Melisa was making it sound angrier than it was.
The blood sphere wobbled dangerously.
"Shit," she muttered, frantically retracing the spellsign to stabilize it.
[Focus, Melisa. FOCUS.]
