As music rang through the air, mixing with the voices of excited festival goers, a young boy of fourteen attempted to traverse a busy street, doing his best to manoeuvre through the sea of bodies that surrounded him. Zephyr Allorim stood at average height for a child of his age with an athletic frame and wild chin length black hair that framed a youthful face with piercing sky-blue eyes.
He continued to push through the crowd until he finally managed to reach his destination, a seven-foot statue on the corner of a street where two other children his age were waiting for him, a pair of twins one male and one female.
"By the phoenix Zeph where have you been? We've been here for half an hour, you were the one that decided the meetup time you know."
The male twin reprimanded Zephyr as he stepped forward, though he still held his fist out as a greeting to his friend.
"Seth you shouldn't take the phoenix's name in vain, how many times have mom and dad told you that?"
The female twin quickly chastised her brother for his language, to which he responded only with a roll of his eyes.
Seth and Mara Xerxe had been Zephyr's best friends for as long as he could remember, and since they were younger had spent all the time that they could at each other's sides, to the point that the twins' parents jokingly referred to him as their third child.
Both twins shared maroon coloured hair, their family did not believe in cutting it so Seth's fell to right below his shoulders in a ponytail, Mara's on the other hand flowed to her mid back, both the twins also had emerald green eyes, a characteristic of their family. Seth stood at about the same height as Zephyr, with a small scar right below his right eye, Mara on the other hand was half a head shorter than the two boys.
"I got held up what can I say, I'm here now though so let's festival it up!" Zephyr pumped his fist in the air in excitement, earning a smile from his two friends.
Together the three continued making their way through the crowd, venturing from stall to stall, enjoying themselves and talking about whatever came to mind at the time.
The three stopped at a sushi stall, it being a favourite of theirs. As they paid for their food, Seth told a story about an experience he'd had earlier in the day, but as Zephyr went to give the cashier his payment, the world spun around him and his surroundings faded away, leaving him standing alone in a white abyss.
"What!?" He looked around in panic, not understanding the sudden, drastic change in his surroundings.
"SETH! MARA! Where are you guys!?" As he turned and looked into the distance, he saw nothing but he could feel that something was there. An unsettling presence hung in the air closing in on him from all sides.
Zephyr had never been what one could describe as claustrophobic, but in this moment, he felt truly suffocated as if whatever was there was capable of strangling the life out of him through sheer force of will alone. Before he could truly make sense of what was happening however, he felt a pull, as if something was dragging him away, and suddenly, a sharp jolt flowed through his body.
With a snap, he awoke to find that the abyss was gone, and in its place were familiar surroundings, his classroom at the Allorim school of excellence.
He looked to his right where Seth was seated, only to see that his friend was already looking in his direction and clearly resisting the urge to laugh. Looking beyond him, he could see several other classmates doing the same thing, but in his disoriented state he couldn't imagine why.
"Are you awake now Mr. Allorim?"
Looking forward he got his answer; his teacher was standing over him with an annoyed expression and electricity crackling from his fingertips.
"Can I continue with my lesson? Or do you require another wakeup call?"
Zephyr lowered his head, cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment at the giggles he could hear all around him.
"No sir."
Later in the day, as Zephyr exited the school grounds with the twins having managed to talk his way out of detention, he attempted to vent his frustration to the twins, but they were finding it difficult to sympathise with him.
"What's his problem? Who shocks someone like that!? And Seth, why didn't you wake me up if you saw him coming?"
"It's your own fault, you should know better than to get caught sleeping in Dirkwell's class."
"Getting caught isn't the issue, he should know better to begin with, what if he gets disciplinary action!? You know how strict Dirkwell is!" If looks could kill then the stare Zephyr received from Mara would have done the trick, but for an experienced slacker like himself it was water off a duck's back.
"Come on, magic theory is so boring sometimes."
"I've seen you sleep through history and economics too." Seth's instigating certainly wasn't helping, but this too Zephyr was used to.
"Can you really blame me though? Besides, when am I going to use this stuff anyway."
Mara could only sigh in exasperation at her friend's vehement resistance to the idea that he was somehow at fault.
"Aren't you aiming to become a knight? You'll be expected to be knowledgeable in a lot of things; they're diplomats as well, not just soldiers." Her attempts to talk some sense into him seemed to have little effect as he just rolled his eyes at her argument.
"I'm serious, this is why you got put in class B, and even then, you're barely hanging on! You need to try harder so you can get bumped up to A after the aptitude exams, you're more than capable!"
"Yeah yeah, I don't hear you telling all this to Seth."
The school the three attended was a prestigious one to say the least, founded by Zephyr's ancestors almost one hundred and fifty years prior, it was one the best schools in the city. Each year group was split into classes lettered A through F, which students were sorted into based on an aptitude test performed at the end of each academic year. Simply being accepted into the school was an accomplishment, let alone landing in class B, but for one from a prestigious line of overachievers such as himself...
"Not only that, can you imagine how mad your grandfather will be if you get put in class B again or even worse slip to class C!?"
Zephyr's face turned pale Mara's mention of his grandfather, the talk they'd had when he had been put in B class initially was one he'd like to forget.
Seth, who had been silent while the two bickered let out a huge yawn and threw his arms around his best friend and sister.
"Enough of this, let's go have some fun!"
"It's important, and he's right, you need to try harder too Seth! Besides, I have to get home to rehearse for the festival."
"Don't be like that sis, it's the first day of summer vacation, and they're not even rehearsing your part today."
"Yeah, we haven't gotten to do anything fun in forever with all the preparation we had to do for exams!"
Mara felt she should say no, but the expectant stares the two were giving her were hard to refuse, and she was feeling just as starved for entertainment as they were.
"Ok why not, some stress relief sounds good, but where do we go?"
Though she asked the question, it was one she already knew the answer to, as did the two boys, there was one place in town they would always choose over any other, in unison all three shouted;
"The arcade!"
Laser tag, arcade games, a movie theatre, a go-kart track and much more, if you were to ask any youth in the city of Heon where the place to be was, the answer could only be SSpecter arcade.
Zephyr, Seth and Mara were no different, and whenever they were free you could be sure to find them inside.
"SAFE!" Zephyr stopped on his heels with a look of triumph on his face as he reached the front area of the arcade first, followed by Mara and finally Seth.
"Who said we were racing to begin with?" Seth had never been too physically inclined, so he wasn't too keen on the spontaneous races and contests that often broke out between them.
"You're just slow Seth. And besides, you only say that when you lose."
The three walked towards the entrance while attempting to catch their breath, having run all the way there.
"Whatever, we don't have too much time, what are we doing?"
In response to Seth's question, both Zephyr and Mara pondered for a second, before answering again in unison;
"LASER TAG!"
Laser tag was the three's favourite activity, played with special gear that turned magic energy into harmless beams of light. But before the three could enter the complex, a sharp voice cut through the joyful atmosphere that surrounded them.
"Young master, I'm afraid you don't have time for that today."
Zephyr grimaced, he knew that voice, and that person being there likely wasn't a good thing. As he reluctantly turned around he saw exactly the person he was expecting; Helena, his grandfather's assistant.
Helena Allorim was Zephyr's twenty-year old cousin, with shoulder length, straight, jet black hair, and piercing eyes that made her appear unapproachable. He had heard that those around her called her the ice princess, or rather he had made it up, because well, it seemed plausible to him.
Helena bowed in greeting to Seth and Mara before turning back to Zephyr.
"Grandfather instructed me to bring you to him if you did not return home immediately after class. He wishes to speak to you immediately."
"Cmon Helena, just give me a while and I'll go straight home I promise!" Zephyr's pleas to his cousin were not just a result of his desire to play laser tag, but also to buy himself time to come up with an excuse for his grandfather, as being called home like this almost certainly meant trouble.
Helena didn't respond immediately, instead walking towards the SUV she had come in and opening the door.
"Grandfather is waiting for you; he will only become upset if you make him wait. If your friends wish so I can also give them a ride home."
Seth and Mara looked at each other, then at Zephyr, then into the arcade.
"We appreciate the offer Helena but we'll have to decline." Mara bowed to Helena before turning and walking inside with Seth.
"Wait you guys are seriously going anyway!? You're just going to abandon me like this!?"
"Sorry dude nothing we can do for you except play a few rounds in your honour. Later!" Seth laughed as he and Mara disappeared into the sea of humanity inside SSpecter.
"You treacherous...tsk." Zephyr clicked his teeth as he walked towards the SUV where Helena was already waiting in the driver's seat.
As the vehicle pulled away, he took one last look back at the arcade, lamenting the loss of his coveted first day of summer.
"Can you at least tell me what he wants to talk about?"
Helena hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"He hasn't told me that...but if I'd had to guess I would say it is elated to your performance in school."
"I figured as much."