Cody woke up to his usual leaky roof, but the rent was cheap so who cared. He'd just have to fix the tarp on it again. He tossed on the television in the next room over. It spat out the usual about monster raids and death counts. Honestly Cody was lucky this apartment had electricity. It had been three years since the Tempest happened. Yet the news still constantly was at war between calling it the Tempest and the middle. Either way it wasn't his problem what they called it. Most people had settled on Tempest since the middle sounded weird.
He ran through his routine; treadmill, food, make sure all materials were ready for the day, etc. Today was his first day in a new routine. He glanced at the clock 6:45, time to head out. He paused briefly by the door to grab his tattered basketball from its box.
It was a beautiful day in Florida. The sun was shining. Wisps of black and purple smoke, now known as Majikku, drifted around, waves crashed against the beach. This was the new normal. He caught a bus further inland and it headed toward the center of Miami. Miami had shrunk, all cities had for the most part. Cody looked around. Even if everything appeared peaceful it was hard to remove the images from when the Tempest struck. Bodies had lined the streets for days.
The bus stopped and he got off. The city had mostly recovered into a sane environment. He walked a little ways toward the large building surrounded by a wide stretch of lawn with interspaced trees. The building was painted black and purple. In white letters on the side it said "Welcome Sky Academy Llamas!"
Cody paused looking at it. Now that he thought about it, one major thing did change. People now loved llamas. Like not even just a little increase pretty much everyone alive swore by llamas. So obviously llamas were now the mascot of the most famous magic school around.
A scream yelped behind him. Cody turned fast looking for the danger. A snake beast had spawned. Its magic attribute glowed around it. Earth….no wait it was the subset of earth, a lava type. Two girls also wearing Sky Academy uniforms ran from it. A loud giggle-ish humming screech sounded as a brown and white llama leapt over a fence and bolted toward the snake. The llama's attribute, water, glowed blue around it.
The llama destroyed the other magic type monster with ease. Proving why llamas kicked butt. On the llamas back was a purple blanket with black trim and the letters SA on it. An official Sky Academy llama guard. The llama after finishing its prey quietly returned to its pen as if nothing had happened. The stunned students continued toward the hall.
The entrance ceremony for the college was simple enough. Boring really, they just did a brief review of high school related things, then sent the students to their classes. Since about only one in ten people had a magic element, the new job system of mages was highly sought after. Magic schools also worked much differently from any normal school.
Cody found his class and took a seat near the back. He wasn't exactly the best student by the normal definition. His backpack was a good example. It had some paper and pencils a notebook and his basketball. The first thing and only thing he was likely to take out would be the basketball.
As everyone settled in, the teacher started by pulling out a standard tablet shaped thing. This was the new standard for magic users since lots of people tried to gimmick their way into a better life. Magic users were treated far better than the standard population Cody loved going to Daniel's Doughnuts for mage free Mondays. The down side was the mage's job was a bit dangerous, but if you weren't stupid you'd be fine.
One by one the class went up to the front and placed a hand on the tablet. Most just had potential but a few managed to weakly cast a spell instead of using the tablet.
"Connor Alaya." Called the teacher. The guy in front of Cody stood up. He didn't bother walking to the front though. He waved his hand slightly and an ice sculpture of a llama formed.
"Connor Alaya, 19, Water user." He stated before sitting back down. The rest of the classed ooh'ed and awww'ed. Another boy at the back coughed "show off" slightly. Cody was the last one remaining now.
He stood up forming a ball of light in his right hand. "Cody Hon-ee, 18, bright user."
"Honey!" laughed a girl slightly. A few others snickered. Cody ignored them. With 18 years experience his last name didn't bother him. Besides it was foreign so they could get over it.
"That's so cool, our class has two students who can full cast a spell!" said another girl.
"Yeah but ones only a light type, they aren't all that useful." Stated another.
"True but the other is a water type and he can use the second stage of water, Ice!" said the first with clear jealousy.
"Settle down please." Called out the teacher. "As most of you already know the magic elements given during the Tempest include water, earth, fire, sky, and bright. There is a sixth, sort of but almost all dark users have now died."
Cody already knew this of course. Unluckily the dark elements user had combo elements forming a poison. Which killed basically all of them. The few that did remain had to train constantly to keep their elements from killing them.
"Sub types or 2nd stages are branches of each type that can be unlocked with a lot of focus and effort. Well except for bright users anyway. Second stages are more powerful and what most of you are at school to learn to control." The teacher continued. "I hope each of you will strive to meet your full potential."
Cody tuned out a lot of the rest of the lecture. He already knew the basics being covered. He would rather focus on improving his bright magic. He formed a ball of light on his palm using his other hand to shield it from view. In class stamina practice would have to do. He held this light for the entire day not letting it flicker once. He could use up to level 9 in bright magic's basic skills. If there was a second stage to it, he would find it.
When the bell finally rang he popped the orbs out of existence and picked up his bag. Time for basketball.