Alex looked up as he approached the largest building by far, he was in awe as he watched several elements rotating around a tiny spire at the top of the building.
When he got close to the door he noticed something, his spacial magic could see characters written on the building. Alex didn't know how but he could understand the meaning of these characters, they meant to protect and reinforce. Luckily for him the door was unlocked, it would be difficult for anyone to enter forcefully.
After entering he looked around he saw a line of students, out of the thousand from his grade, only sixty were present here. He stood in the line waiting for his turn, he watched as a man asked a boy for his name and fished out a badge. The boy smiled as he received a red badge lined with a dark red metal. After pinning it to his shirt he continued on. Alex watched the others, he saw blue, green, brown, and even some that were different shades of the colors.
He then saw a student that walked funny, he looked like he was imagining himself walking down a runway. 'This will be interesting.'
"Name." the man with the clipboard said once again.
"Derek" the student answered.
"Is that Derek Whitinger, or Derek Stouten?"
"Derek Stouten." He replied after regaining his composure.
The man with the clipboard smiled and said. "it's nice to meet you Mr. Stouten, here's your badge."
Alex learned that the Stouten family must be influential, as once the man heard it he put on a smile and treated the student differently.
The man pulled out a purple badge, it was lined with a purple metal, but unlike the others it was already filled in with a lightning bolt emblem. Many of the older students had these emblems put in when they joined a college, or a faction.
A few students who seemed like friends started talking. "So it's true Derek has a lightning affinity like his father. Do you think he has a girlfriend?"
"Yeah he does, he and Abigail have been dating since the end of middle school."
Alex drowned out their conversation as he got closer and closer to the man with the clipboard.
"Name?" The man repeated.
"Ah you must be Alex. It's not everyday I get to hand out such a unique badge, you know."
Alex was slightly surprised that he was easily picked out from the crowd, as he shared 50 percent of their bloodline, and even then he wasn't the only one that was of foreigner descent present.
"You know, you aren't really hiding your element, when you have such a cold look on your face."
'Oh, I suppose he is right.' Alex thought after scanning his facial features. He tried relaxing the muscles, but he could already tell how tiring it would be.
"That's better, the element of surprise is one of the strongest." He said while chuckling.
He pulled a badge out and the room got quiet instantly.
A badge was in full view half was aquamarine, and the other half was pitch black. The first half lined with a green metal, and the second half lined with a black metal.
"Here you are, good luck."
Alex took the badge, and decided to pin it on his shoulder.
'Shouldn't bother me too much right there.'
He then walked into the training room. Students had grouped up together based on their elements. He saw that each group was standing around a podium, and each had books varying in thickness.
After looking around he saw a podium decorated with dark lines running down it. Alex frowned.
'It's the same book. Well, it looks like I'm just gonna have to keep doing what I'm doing.'
Alex looked around and while waiting for the instructor, he was surprised to see another two students with a purple badge, these two not having an emblem embedded on their badges. There was one podium empty, light. It didn't take long before another student entered the room, Alex recognized him immediately. His name was Taylor, he was the son of the doctor who had healed him.
His father coached the schools sports teams, and he was always given the highest positions in the teams. Many people liked him and had always seen him as the model student, but not all of them, many of them saw it as him having everything handed to him.
Taylor walked up to the podium radiating a glow from it's veins. The book was a lot thicker than the one Alex had.
'It just goes to show how much research is done.' Alex knew a lot more about the dark element than the book had told him, leaving him to think that maybe they had left it relatively empty to avoid a uncontrollable variable, once they gained enough power.
He knew from what he was told, that the darkness element was the hardest to control. He knew that many let their emotions control them, but he also knew that if someone could overcome the darkness first, then becoming an overlord mage would incredibly easy.
'The mass more than likely fears us, while the leaders pull the strings that tie us up.' Alex knew somebody was up to something. Earlier in the science class, he felt an unknown energy coming from the teacher. Fearing the worst he blocked the energy randomly while also covering up most of the scars he had.
As much as he disliked living with his mother, and whichever boyfriend, he didn't want his siblings to be forcefully separated, but he realized he was being selfish. Alex had plans until he graduated, and yet he had no plans to help them.
It wasn't until recently that he had even thought about it. His older brothers situation was getting worse. He had moved out, but he was hooked on drugs and hanging out with the wrong crowd.
His younger sister was constantly, quarreling with his mother. It happened regularly, his mother would yell at his younger brother for spilling his food, often beating him for small mistakes. He and his sister had would listen and watch, their blood boiling, they had gone through the same thing. His sister always was the one to step in, leading to a fight where his mother would always grab her hair and pull while she screamed. Alex didn't know how he was able to control himself, every instinct within himself was screaming to remove her from this world.
But, he never did. he would always stop the fight, being the perfect mediator. After taking most of the beatings himself, he had learned how to end it. Every nonsense his mother spouted, he countered while also stopping his sister from instigating another fight. After it was all done and over, the adrenaline left his body. He always felt torrents of emotions, wanting to vomit, wanting to destroy everything, and just, just wanting it all to be over.
He had grown closer to his siblings, not through the typical ways, but through empathy, that connection always prevented him from leaving this place.
If Alex ever found ways to remove his rage, it would always be replaced by sadness. He spent many nights crying himself to sleep, being as quiet as he could so nobody could hear him through the thin walls. He knew his younger siblings looked up to him, even if he never told them how much he cared for them.
Alex stood staring off into the distance until the instructor entered into the room.
"Hello everyone, looks like I'm a little late, they keep us busy on the first day. My hand is already cramped up from doing paperwork."
"Anyways I'm Duncan your primary instructor, today we aren't going to be splitting up, I want to see how much progress everyone has made on meditation. Depending on how everyone does will determine the schedule for the rest of the year."
"Alright everyone split up and sit down with enough space between each other to where you won't smack each other accidentally."
Everyone slowly moved apart while Alex just sat down while placing his belongings next to him. Most people kept a distance from him while a few moved closer to fill in the gaps, not caring too much.
"Now, when a the rest of the instructors arrive I want you to focus, give it your all, remember in just two years you will be representing this schools junior mage division."
After saying this he opened the door and returned with six other instructors. They all went to different sections of the room. Alex noticed the man who had the clipboard walking over to his section before stopping not far behind him.
"Alright everyone, you can now begin."
Alex took a deep breath as he began to clear his mind and listen into the white noise the darkness element had.