Excerpt: Harbinger / The Anointed Histories of Godrend & Outlaying Principalities

He ran into something, tripping and sprawling forward. Before he hit stone, he managed to throw his arms in front of him, but his shoulder ended up taking the full force of the blow. He nearly gagged as his lungs forced him to stop moving and catch what breath he could.
He rolled over on his back, his arms falling out to the side as his chest heaved up and down for several long seconds until he breathing slowed to something resembling normal.
“That was some fall, kid,” a voice said. “You okay?”
With some effort, he pushed himself to a sitting position, and looked up.
There was a man standing there, looking not even the slightest bit disheveled from the collision. He was wearing the standard billowing black robes of the school. Vincent still had his tucked away in the bag he left back at the gate. He was dressed neatly, his clothes pressed, immaculate. His brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, but a few locks escaped, spilling out over his face. This man looked young, probably only a decade or so older than he was, but something about him made him seem old beyond his years.
“Kid, you okay?” he asked again, adjusting his wide, ivory-rimmed glasses.
It was the glasses. It must have been the glasses.
“Yeah… I’m…” Vincent paused, leaning up farther and running his hands over his ribs and sides, then to his shoulder, where he winced. “Fine. I’ll be fine.”
The man laughed. “You really ought to watch where you’re going.” He thrust out a hand, and Vincent took it. “I’m pretty hard to move.”
With that, he heaved him up effortlessly. He didn’t seem that strong to Vincent.
On his feet, Vincent adjusted his clothes and flexed out his shoulder. “Yeah, well, I’m pretty unstoppable, most times. Just, not with it today, I guess.”
“Late for orientation?” the man asked with a sideways tilt of his head followed by a smile.
“I guess you could say that. I just got accepted here this morning.”
“Oh… Oh, right! Yes! You’re Vincent De’airr, aren’t you?”
Vincent’s brow rose. “You know me?”
“Sort of. Knew your dad once, long time ago. How is Jake doing?”
“Fine, he’s just fine. Old, but fine.”
“He was old then too.” The man kept his smile.
Getting a better look at him now, Vincent noticed he was still hunching a little to face him. Impressive, he though, considering he was tall for his age, already over six feet. This man had to be almost six and a half foot tall.
“You know me,” Vincent said. “What’s your name?”
He extended a hand, and waited until Vincent accepted it.
“Call me Matt.”
“You work here or something?” Vincent asked.
“I teach.” He nodded. “Advanced mathematical theory, Applied mathematics to arcane divination, and ectoplasmic manipulation, specializing in pyrokenisis.”
“Wow,”
“Blew your mind?”
“Just a little.”
“Sorry. I’m sort of the oddball with our teaching staff. Not a lot of people take my courses. I do Basic Mathematics too. That’s not that scary…”
“No… I just… Math at a magic school?”
Matt craned his head farther to one side. “You don’t know much about magic at all, do you Vincent?”
“Not really.”
“Lesson number one. Get a pencil, you’ll need this.” He said, stopping and sighing a little when Vincent indicated he had nothing on him. “Fine, just try and remember?
“Magic, at its basest form, is a chaotic form of physics. There are laws that apply to everything in this world, including magic. Now, I’m not some sort of stick in the mud, I know magic can be fun with spells and wands and whatnot, but sometimes math can be applied to magic, and I’ll tell you, I’ve defeated more than one wizard who couldn’t beat me because I knew the distance and velocity of his spells well-enough to counter-spell them.”
“Really?”
“No, I’m just lying to you because I find it funny.”
Vincent gave him a strange look. Matt was already contending strong for his favorite teacher however.
“What about orientation, why aren’t you there?”
“Oh.” Matt said, leaning up to his full height, which was as impressive as Vincent imagined. “I am, actually. Well, not right now.” He looked up at the shadows as they cast over the central tower of the school. “In ten minutes I’m going to meet the student body and take them for my part of the tour.”
“Oh… crap. It’s already started?” Vincent moaned.
“Yes.”
“I missed it.”
“Nonsense. You’re with me, this is the tour. Let’s get started.”