You would expect constant chattering and aero planes to be thrown in a school bus right? Well, not this bus. All the kids on this particular bus were much too nervous and tightly wound for what was to come, they had all felt an overbearing pressure to do well in the place they were being sent to. But there was one thing they all felt in common...desire, desire to use this opportunity to the best as they could.
Sitting on the far left side of the bus, Matthew and June were currently intertwined in a conversation.
"Did you see the news? A large demonic beast was spotted on the outskirts of Calonia, people say it was 60 feet tall!" June exclaimed. "You think it'll reach Kiertzche Academy?".
"No way, before it could even set foot on the city of Ilgrim the G.M.A would take it down" Matthew combatted. "And why does it sound like you kind of want it to happen?".
Without answering Matthew, June just grinned a goofy grin and played dumb. From beside June, Gordon was having a hard time engaging in a conversation with Hazel.
"Soooo, you play games?" He asked, trying to sound as natural as he could.
Hazel hadn't replied and only closed her eyes, drifting to sleep.
A bit ticked off, Gordon turned towards Matthew. "Does she always do this?".
Matthew giggled to himself from the awkward exchange between the 2 younger siblings for a moment...and then he had a sorrowful look on him. "No not always, she used to be a lot better until she got sick...".
A guilt stricken expression formed on Gordon. "O-oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know".
"Ease up Gord, we're friends now, aren't we?" Matthew smiled, trying his best to cheer up Gordon.
"Yeah, I guess so".
Smiling to herself, June nudged the side of Gordon's shoulder. "You like him don't you".
Scoffing, Gordon had a somber look on his face. "I like him better than your old friends".
Hearing this, June had stiffened and gone silent. Matthew was curious as to what the cause to this tense situation was but he knew better than to ask. Instead, he moved Hazel's head so that she would rest on his shoulder. 'You'll strain your neck if you sleep like that'.
The silence continued for a small moment before June had decided to break it. "...Sorry about the awkward situation Matthew, I used to have some old friends who weren't very nice...but they weren't just not nice to me, they weren't nice to Gordon either".
Matthew had not known the girl long, but he was happy that she had decided to share such private information with him. "Well, I'm glad that you're here with me today".
"Yeah..."
Sniffling, Gordon quickly rubbed away his tears and tried to hide his pained expression. "Oh well! We got into Kiertzche and THEY didn't! Sucks to be them! We got the last laugh didn't we Sis".
"We sure did" June said with a melancholic smile. "BUT...enough of that, I'll cry if we keep talking about the past. So, whatchu up to Matthy".
"Nothing much, I'm excited for our first day of actual school and for us to do work! I wonder what we'll be learning" Matthew answered. "I hope we'll get to use the battle dome again".
"Ooh! I heard that the martial arts club was hosting battles every lunchtime! I wonder if I could participate" June gushed.
Matthew had been surprised with June's reaction, he had not expected this from the girl and had just thought that she would be sheepish towards combat. "You like fighting?".
Rolling her eyes dramatically, June tossed her braided brown hair. "Fighting is below a lady such as I. I prefer the term 'Wizardry Combat'".
"That's...you know what, I'm not even going to argue with you" Gordon huffed. "Yeah, she's a fight nut".
"Wizardry Combat!" June rebutted.
Dropping his shoulders in resignation, Gordon groaned and hit his head against the soft chair. "Yes yes, Wizardry Combat".
June seemed happy at Gordon's correction and resumed her usual smile.
"If you ever want to find June, she'll be at the battle dome during lunch time" Gordan informed. "I'll be at the library".
Matthew nodded and told June and Gordan that he would be around the abandoned Janitor's closet at the opposite end of the school.
With the bus screeching to a halt, Matthew stepped out of the bus with Hazel walking besides him.
Admiring the architecture of the school, Matthew pinched himself on the cheek. "Haha, I'm not dreaming am I?"
Stepping to one knee, Matthew had told Hazel to behave and that she would be on her own for 6 hours. That if she ever had trouble, she would go the room 2JF, the abandoned janitor's closet. Hazel nodded in agreement and leisurely made her way towards the green building.
Looking at the back of Hazel running towards the green building, Matthew felt at peace. Hazel would grow up in a fine environment and he would be there all the way.
. . .
Inside the classroom, Matthew was currently engrossed in his work. His teacher Mr. Julius Zoran had assigned them with a task about the history of magic. He was researching about a portal that appeared from out of space and the giant blue rock that came out of it. History tells of a blue rock that was the size of the continent Saeron and an explosion of mana that forever changed the world. Legend has it that the rock's outer layers burnt off an became one with the atmosphere of the earth whilst the inner core of the rocks dug deep into the core of the earth and became one with it.
From the ashes of the rock, 4 races of mutated humans came forth. The Elves, a legendary race that has a great alignment with the planet and it's ambient mana. The Golems who hid deep underneath the crust of the earth, feeding off minerals and crafting whatever they wish down there. The first generation of human mages who were the most hungry for knowledge, pursuing the study of magic and being the first to master it.
Then there was dreaded Demonic Race.
The Demonic Race were a race of creatures that were transformed by the muck of the blue rock and had their hearts corrupted. They were an evil race that wished for the extermination of all who could wield magic.
Matthew had not known specifically what had happened and had only learned in his previous school that the demonic race came from the demonic country and that the 4 grand mages defeated their king. 'Guess they were withholding information from the public' Matthew thought.
"Wow! So that's why we have mana circulatory systems! I thought they were all magic like fairy tales but our race actually evolved to utilize the powerful mana in the air!" Zayne exclaimed. "History's sick!".
"Argh, will you shut up Zayne? We're in the middle of class!" Demetri shouted in a hush whisper. "Save it for later!".
"You 2, be quiet" Mr. Zoran hushed.
Glaring daggers into Zayne, Demetri resumed his study into the history of magic as did Zayne. Lauren had currently already finished the book and was waiting for further instructions.
Looking at the clock on his wrist, Julius clapped his hands together and gathered the attention of his students. "It's been 15 minutes, I hope you all have finished reading the book. I have 5 questions that I would like to ask the class and those that answer correctly will get a reward".
"Firstly, what was the reason why the blue rock had infused with the earth rather than destroy it?".
A boy with round glasses and a bowl cut raised his hand. "It was because all the nations from the previous human race united and launched nuclear missiles at it, causing it to rupture a little and cause the outer shell of the blue rock to fall off and burn up when entering the atmosphere, causing the fallen shell pieces to be part of the atmosphere of the earth. The smaller but still incredibly large remnants of the rock were hot due to entering the atmosphere and the human race was lucky enough for the rock to actually be an incredibly good conductor of heat, causing the rock to immediately sink into the ground of the earth and bury itself deep within the what was then the "Pacific" Ocean.".
"...Very well said, thank you Petri" Julius said, star struck with the kid's acute memory. "Ahem, question 2, what was the first race to have surfaced into the world".
A single hand shot out from the class of students. "Yes Lauren".
"It was the Golem race, they were the first biproducts of the blue rock but chose to hide their surfacing due to them being extremely self conscious and knowing that they looked horrifying. It was only when the elves surfaced that they too did". Lauren expertly repeated.
"Excellent, now for the third question. "Who was the first Grand Mage to ever exist?".
Now this question Matthew knew. He raised his arm from the crowd and waited for Zoran to call his name.
"Matthew".
"It was the Earth Mage that was the first Grand Mage. After finding his talents he decided to nurse 3 others with similar potential to his own and unknowingly created the strongest squad of mages to ever roam the earth".
"Well said" Zoran applauded. "For the fourth question, what was the name of the Demon King?".
This time Demetri was the one to raise his arm. "It was Na'averik The Conquerer".
Julius raised an eyebrow in surprise from Demetri's sudden willingness to interact with the class.
"Ok, now for the final question, what were the names of the Grand Mages" Julius said.
With full confidence, Zayne lifted his arm up and awaited for the teacher to choose him. "That would be Fourthbringer, Ares, Tritus and finally Harzoli ".
Julius had somewhat expected for Zayne to be able to answer this question, he was the first born of House Ares of course. "It is to be expected that the son of one of the big families knows about his lineage".
"Naturally" Zayne leaned back in his chair coolly.
"Those that have answered my 5 questions please walk up to the front of the class, I will distribute the rewards to you" Julius ordered.
In an orderly manner, the 5 who had just answered the questions got out from their desks and complied with their teacher's order. The first to reach the front was Petri as he was in the front row.
"For Petri, I have a novice tier arm brace that will help you with circulating magic" Julius revealed.
Petri let out an audible whimper of happiness. "Thank you so much teacher!".
"Demetri, I'm sure your family already have the gear of the highest tier already set up for you, so I will instead give you this" Julius said, giving Demetri a potion that flared every now and then with an orange hue.
"An ember potion! Sick! I didn't think a guy like you would even need to use one of these babies!" Demetri exclaimed. "Dad doesn't even let me get near one of these especially after what happened last time!".
With that last piece of information that came out of Demetri's mouth, Julius was having second thoughts about giving the boy the power boost potion, especially the ember potion that enhanced a flame mage's power output by around 20% a once drunk.
Shifting his gaze away from Demetri, Julius refocused on the turquoise haired girl in front of him. "Now for you Lauren, I have this lovely hair pin that can change the color of your hair. If you ever wish to go incognito you can just wear this pin and the color of your hair will morph".
A slight sparkle shone in Lauren's eyes as she pondered the uses of such an item. As a Tritus, she was often recognized easily due to her signature turquoise hair, now that she had this hair pin she could go out more and not get swarmed by the masses.
Matthew was waiting intently for his teacher to finally give him a reward for answering the question and his patience paid off in the end. Julius had given Matthew a small rock with a weird attribute, it was unbreakable. Matthew was confused at first and wondered why Mr. Zoran would give Matthew such a strong item, then he realized that if it was unbreakable, then it would be useless in the hands of any other person as it was impossible to use as crafting material, thus, only a powerful earth mage would be able to use it to the full extent of its power.
"Zayne, for you I have a ring. Sadly, it has no magical attributes, but it can record videos and audio."
"Sweet." Zayne quickly whisked it away with his wind, bringing it to his hand.
Matthew was grateful for the wonderful gift and deeply bowed before going back to his desk.
"Now class, show me good results and I will reciprocate my good feelings towards those results with these types of rewards. I expect you all to push yourselves to your limits when going to Kiertzche Academy, or else us teachers will feel like we're not needed" Julius smiled, receiving a cheer from his class in return.
Now the entire class was pumped for the rest of the school year. 'If we do well, will we get such awesome rewards?' the class thought together.
'Bribery isn't such a bad way to teach after all, huh.' Julius smiled.
With the bell ringing, Julius dismissed his class and all the kids went to enjoy their break.
Matthew and the others went to their newly found hideout to chill. Zayne had made a makeshift hammock and was swinging in it. Demetri had a lollipop in his mouth as he was deeply engrossed into the book he was reading and Lauren was doing what looked like meditation.
The silence felt like it would carry on forever until Zayne finally broke it. "I'm so bored~ AAaaA, guys! We have to do something fun!".
"Oh yeah? Like what" Demetri piped up, not bothering to look at Zayne. "The expedition isn't until next month".
Zayne groaned loudly at Demetri's eagerness to just do nothing and looked desperate to do something. He kicked his legs back and forth over his hammock and was making inaudible incessant sounds of boredom until Matthew had suddenly come up with an idea.
"Why don't we go visit the battle dome?"
Beaming, Zayne had happily jumped at the new thing to do and pushed all his friends out the door. "Come on guys! Lets go!".
Unwillingly, Demetri had complied and although he 100% didn't want to go, he was also curious about the battle dome and had actually planned on visiting it. Lauren had not understood the excitement towards the battle dome, what was the point of getting excited over such a common item?
Stepping outside of the miniature school complex, the group of 4 stepped on to the yard. There was a huge variety of students of various ages mingling with each other, probably networking. As soon as Matthew and the rest walked out of the door, all eyes were on the 4.
This was an odd feeling for Matthew as he had often been the one in the shadows. All the student's eyes gazed holes into the group as they started heading towards them.
Demetri had look of resignation on his face as did Zayne, Lauren stayed exactly the same as she always had been. Matthew had suddenly pieced the puzzle in his mind together, all the other students were trying to get closer to the future leaders of the country.
Matthew had completely forgotten that he was hanging out with royalty, to him they were just slightly special kids. Grabbing hold of all of them, Matthew dug into the soil and moved under the ground like a mole towards the gym.
Zayne was ecstatic at the odd mode of transportation and gazed sporadically at the ever changing walls. There was no air going into their faces, heck, there was no air at all, just enough to let them breathe a little.
Resurfacing just outside the gym, Matthew quickly hid his tracks and eliminated all remnants of mana on him so he wouldn't be caught using magic in school.
"Neat trick! You think you could use that for us from now on?" Zayne asked, still remembering the odd feeling of constantly revolving earth.
Matthew smiled at the request and had replied with a maybe. Demetri on the other hand was less ecstatic. "We...are...never...doing that...AGAIN!".
Matthew was very confused with Demetri's demand and had a puzzled look on his face. "Ok, sure but can I ask why?".
Zayne had looked like something had clicked in his mind and he suddenly remembered something. "Oh! That's right~ Sorry Matthew, we can't use that neat trick anymore, Demetri's claustrophobic".
"Shut up!" Demetri roared. "I told you never to tell anybody that!".
Putting his arms up defensively, Zayne snickered to himself at Demetri's reaction. "Ah~ Your over reacting, besides, Matthew's a friend! He wouldn't tell anybody would he...".
Zayne had put in some blood lust into his glare when he looked towards Matthew and had expected Matthew to at least shiver, but to his surprise Matthew had looked completely fine.
"Your secret's safe with me!" Matthew smiled. "Besides, who'd believe an earth mage like me".
A little less ticked, Demetri gathered himself again and led the group into the gym.
The large door to the gym opened with a creek and the barrage of sounds that it was holding back flooded out into the world. Matthew, Zayne, Demetri and Lauren were hit with the full impact of the sound of students training their skills for combat.
"This place is so much more different from last time!" Zayne exclaimed. "I'm going here every lunchtime!".
"Why wait for lunchtime?"
The group turned to look at the man who had snuck up on them.
"Woah! No need to be so scared~" The man teased.
Matthew had immediately recognized who this man was. "Jahad!".
"Good to see you kid!" Jahad laughed. "I see you brought the royal trio!".
Both Zayne and Demetri groaned when they heard Jahad use the nickname, which caused Jahad to smiled even wider at their reaction. "Ah~ I didn't mean to offend you! Promise! Now, I see you guys are interested in the gym, come with me! I'll introduce you to Polly".
Making their way through the jungle of the gym, the group had finally made it to what seemed like a small desk with a skinny man behind it. "Jahad! You brought...OH JEEZ, YOU BROUGHT THESE KIDS?!".
Jahad, thoroughly enjoying the surprise of his colleague, introduced the group. "So yeah, these guys seem interested in the gym and I wanted to know if you had any spare spots on the membership list".
Polly tutted to himself as he looked through the list. "List seems full...although, 3 of the old members are about to graduate in a week or so, so maybe if you guys could wait until then, I'll keep you guys on the priority list".
Jahad seemed happy with this and returned his gaze to Matthew and his friends. "Alright! You hear that? Your officially new members of the gym! If you ever need to train, come here before classes, during recess, during lunchtime or even after school, the gym's open for anybody's use. On Fridays we host battles and as a reward, you get to use the battle dome!".
Zayne was ecstatic at the new thing to do whilst Demetri looked fired up to get to battle against people. There was no need to talk about Lauren as she had looked exactly the same as she always had.
Before the group could leave, Jahad reached for Matthew. "Ah, before you leave, could you do me a favor?".
Matthew was perplexed with what a teacher could possibly want from him and asked what it was.
"Could you maybe have a rematch with me?".