~Following Elora and Lauren~
Elora makes her way up the smooth featureless stairs, taking in more of her surroundings as she passes more of the markings on the walls. At the top of the stairs is another large hallway with single doors spread along the walls. She continues down the hallway, keeping an eye out for her room number.
She approaches a door that matches the number on the slip of paper she was handed. Elora continues reading the end notes on the paper, the notes are instructions on how to enter the room. 'Pour your magical energy into the handle of the door till it glows in a colour that matches your magical aura.' Elora smiles as she thinks this is easy enough.
She places her hand on the golden door knob, as she does this a light air current flows around her. She focuses on the feeling of her magic reaching out into the handle. Elora stays like this for a few seconds before opening her eyes, the handle is now glowing a dark forest green. Elora feels herself smile at the sight, she then opens the door to what will now be her room.
The first thing she notices is her bags laying at the side of a decently sized kitchen. The kitchen has a basic design with white tiles and a smooth marble bench, Elora walks into the kitchen area and starts rummaging through the cabinets.
She's surprised to see them all fully stacked with food condiments and ingredients for cooking, Elora moves over to the fridge only a couple steps away and takes a look. Elora stumbles when she sees an entire section of the fridge dedicated to rare herbs that she's only read about in the books her friends gave her back home. Elora remembers she's on a time crunch, She practically weeps as she drags herself away from the kitchen with her bags and into the side room which is her bedroom.
When she's done unpacking she heads back out and down the stairs. Once she makes it back to the group she takes a place next to Lauren. "So how'd it go?" Lauren says with a neutral expression. Elora looks over at the older girl "What do you mean? It was fairly simple" Her brow quirks. "Well, for me personally it took a few tries to draw out my magic but I guess you don't have that issue" Lauren says, her eyes narrowing to a slight glare. After a few more minutes of exploring through the campus they finally exit back into the huge garden area.
Students are spread around outside, some groups of girls and boys talking and joking with each other, some lone students with their faces in textbooks or their phones and others picking herbs and ingredients from the gardens surrounding the sitting areas around the area.
"This is where students of all magic classes go to socialise, eat and study. This is a general area typically referred to as the unity garden. Cheesy name we know but at least it's in your face about it." One of the seniors says with slight mirth. The group continues down another stone path to a campus just to the left of the Elementals building. "This is the Witches campus, a building created and formed with runes and complex spells that make it almost alive."
They pass through a barrier of ethereal light that seems to wash over them like a silk blanket. As the group enters through the front doors the senior witch starts talking again "Witches are known for our complex spell work, our efficiency with runes and most importantly our energy manipulation. Our power, similarly to Elementals, grows with our experience. While warlocks draw magic from their knowledge. The more we experience, it increases not only our raw magical power but also our efficiency with using our magic."
"So basically all the best witches are trauma victims" Elora whispers to Lauren. Lauren coughs to cover a snort.
"You'd think so, but not in my experience" Lauren whispers back. Just as she's about to continue a loud boom shatters through the easy atmosphere. Almost everyone in the group jumps, even one of the seniors was frightened. Elora looks at Lauren and sees understanding dawn on her face.
"Do you know what happened?" Elora asks, still shaken after the initial shock of the explosion. As she's about to continue a small shine in the corner of her eye catches her attention, she turns slightly and walks towards it. As she approaches it becomes clearer and clearer, when it finally comes into view she can make out a few strange symbols that she doesn't recognise. "Hey Lauren, what's that?" Elora questions, turning back to face Lauren.
Lauren raises a brow in curiosity, she then moves her fingers in such a small movement Elora would've missed it if she wasn't already focused on her. Lauren mutters under her breath and grey energy slithers from her wrist, it glides through the air and passes into Elora. She has to hold in a gasp at the sudden warmness of the energy moving through her and in the direction of the strange symbols. When it makes contact the crackle of energy is heard through the whole group, everyone turns in the direction of the noise, fearful of another explosion. The air around the symbols morphs and stretches to reveal a person standing in shock.
"What- how?" The dark haired girl sputters out. "Alexandrea, of course it's you" Lauren says in exasperation. The senior witch stumbles to the front of the group facing the new arrival. "Alexandrea? What are you doing here and why are you surrounded by invisibility runes?"
Lauren steps towards Alexandrea before speaking. "I've known her for years. She loves pulling stupid pranks to scare new students. It makes her feel important" Lauren says with a roll of her eyes. Alexandrea sputters some more before finally responding "Ok fine, you caught me, but that doesn't explain how you managed to uncover me and disrupt my runes" as she says this a sneer forms on her face.
Lauren just sighs out "Even I'm willing to admit that your runes are almost perfect, but that rune there" Lauren points to one of the runes hanging from Alexandra's waist. "That is a rune for nullifying the user's senses, you probably intended to cast the rune for nullifying the senses of those around you so you wouldn't be noticed even if you spoke. That's why you didn't notice me tampering with your runes"
The senior witch looks at Lauren then at Alexandrea before talking "well while your help is appreciated Lauren, Those rune castings are only supposed to be learned in year five. You only just entered year three" Alexandrea smirks. "And you Alexandrea putting those types of runes into practice even in your own campus is forbidden without a licence, and from what I remember you are also only in your third year at this school so would you both care to explain." Alexandrea's smirk falls after also getting called out by her senior.
Lauren is the first to respond "I got permission to look at the texts of higher years, as I've already shown that I can complete all my theory assignments with little effort. As for her, I seem to have misplaced my prac book on the subject'' Lauren looks over at Alexandrea. Her face paled at the mention of the prac book which she totally stole.
"Thank you for that explanation Lauren. Alexandrea I'll be taking you for a talk with our principal" The senior witch approaches Alexandrea. "But I did nothing wrong if Lauren could get away with it!" She exclaims, desperation clear on her face. "One of the first things you learn when you arrive at this school is that if you push your magic too far too quickly, it can permanently damage your magic. And in the worst case scenario you could even lose your magic if your body thought losing it would help keep it alive." Alexandrea looks down in shame as she's dragged off to meet with the principal.
"Well, I guess that's enough excitement for today. Elemental students follow me back to our campus and return to your rooms. Lauren, bring the witches to their rooms" The senior elemental says before walking back out of the campus.
As Elora is about to head back Lauren grabs her by the shoulder. "How could you see those runes?" Elora blinks in confusion at Laurens question. "What do you mean? they were literally glowing." Elora answers truthfully. "Interesting. Well, you should receive our tutoring schedule along with your timetable for tomorrow. In the meantime explore, relax and make friends". Lauren then leads the new witches down the hall out of Elora's sight.
Elora is now back in her room, lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. "She's scary. Nice but scary." She turns to look at her favourite recipe book resting on her bedside table. Elora sighs in satisfaction before closing her eyes with the knowledge that tomorrow she'll be able to try so many new dishes that she couldn't before.
~Following Lauren~
Lauren is getting ready as usual when she remembers something. She pulls her jumper over her head then makes her way over to her living room. "I know I left it here" She mutters to herself as she starts rummaging around, throwing cushions and pillows around as she tries to dig for what she's looking for.
Lauren huffs in annoyance before grabbing a book out of her bag, she flips through the pages before she finds what she's looking for. "Ok passive spells, passive spells. Oh there you are, Spell of enhanced eyesight a level two incantation" She then mutters through the spell with practised precision, she waits a moment and… nothing happens.
"UGH!" Lauren screams in frustration before marching back to her room, picking up her glasses and pressing them to her face. The markings on the hooks of the glasses start to glow a grey light, suddenly Laurens eyesight sharpens and she takes a second to adjust. Lauren heads back to the living room and starts looking again, it only takes a few seconds before she spots it, a clean slightly crinkled piece of paper sitting on the coffee table.
Lauren feels her eye twitch. "It was there… THE WHOLE TIME!" Her shoulders sag as she lets out a deep breath. She picks up the paper and turns it over. "Oh come on, Runes and incantations first period really" She was looking for her time table. Lauren checks the time on her phone.
"Fuck" she groans as she runs to the bathroom to grab two small elastics, she continues running out the door, swinging her backpack onto her back. Lauren summons four tendrils of grey light as she's running, two collect two frizzy pieces of hair and pull them up and back and the other two tendrils wrap around the small elastics. The tendrils holding the elastics wrap around the two pieces of hair, tying them in place. Lauren, now confident that her hair is neat, dissipates the tendrils and starts running faster through the corridor.
She runs out of the witches' campus and into the unity garden. As Lauren slows to take a breath she sees Elora staring at her time table in a similar state of panic. Lauren walks towards her and gently grabs her shoulder. Eloras gaze snaps up to Lauren in surprise, her eyes glowing a dark forest green.
"Hey calm down, it's just me. I don't have a lot of time so can you please tell me what's wrong so I can get to class when I'm already late." Lauren rushes out, trying to get this over with as fast as possible. Elora takes a couple deep breaths, her eyes fade back to their normal brown as she calms herself. "I.. I don't know where to go. I forgot" Eloras eyes water slightly as she says this.
Lauren takes a deep breath before responding "I can help just tell me what you have and I'll point you in the right direction" Lauren says giving her best comforting smile. Elora sniffles slightly then says "It says I have basic connection and control in room 505" Lauren sighs and points back to the elemental campus "Room 505 is on the roof of your campus. It's a greenhouse". Elora just blinks before sprinting in the direction of her campus, yelling thank you to Lauren as she runs.
Lauren Flips open her phone again… She's… Fifteen.. Minutes… LATE!
She takes off at full speed towards the druids campus, not stopping to even think. Lauren stumbles up the many steps leading to the third floor of the campus speeding through the corridor and finally skidding to a stop in front of her room door.
Lauren takes a second to take three deep breaths before opening the door. The first thing she spots is Juno, her usual partner for assessments, and Alexandrea scowling at each other with the teacher in between them.
"Now girls, maybe you should calm down and talk it out like young women instead of squabbling like toddlers''. The teacher, Miss McAllister, says with a tight grin. "Miss, this insensitive twat called Lauren a useless pig, how can you expect me to not do anything about that? '' Juno spits out while glaring at Alexandrea.
"Miss, how can you listen to this crazy girl? She attacked me!" Alexandrea squeaks out. "Girls, return to your seats and if either of you disturb my class again you will be made to stay behind to clean up after the knew druid students'' The teachers intervention and threats are enough to make the two feuding girls head back to their seats grumbling about fairness and insults.
Lauren in the meantime is trying to sneak back to her usual seat during the commotion, she almost makes it until Miss McAllister snaps around and stares her down. Lauren is frozen in fear as her teacher slowly makes her way towards her. "So Lauren, do you mind explaining why you're almost twenty minutes late to my class. I know it's the first day of classes but that is no excuse to be nearly twenty minutes late.. TWENTY!" As Miss McAllister is talking she gets closer and closer to Lauren.
Miss McAllister isn't a particularly tall woman, she's actually shorter than most of the school population above the third year. She has pale skin brown eyes and straight light red hair framing the sides of her face.
The woman looks at Lauren with expectation and impatience on her face. Lauren stutters for a few seconds before collecting her thoughts. "I'm sorry Miss, I would've only been a couple minutes late but I saw an underclassmen who I'm mentoring and she needed help getting to class" Lauren explains, she's bending the truth a little but Miss doesn't need to know that.
Miss McAllister nods before letting out a sigh "Please just try to be on time for the next lesson, I would be more mad about this if you hadn't already started reading up on this unit of work last year. Return to your seat Lauren" Lauren nods in response before sitting at her desk. She takes out her textbook on runes and incantations and opens to her last page.
"Okay class, now that we've finished our revision of the history of runes and their former uses, we'll be moving on to how runes have adapted to today's society and what uses they have when combined with modern technology"
Lauren looks up from her textbook, she always liked when Miss McAllister taught the more historical side of magic, she's a great story teller.
"As most of you know from last year's unit magic and more specifically runes were used in the previous era of magic to provide light and purify water and enhance a person's natural abilities." Miss McAllister pauses waiting for a response. Most of the class just nods. "Our current unit will focus on how they are used in today's society, more specifically technology. Can anyone name a use of runes in today's society?"
Lauren raises her hand "Runes are used in glasses to not only correct vision but also to enhance it. Runes are proven to be a much safer alternative than casting an augmentative spell on yourself as there is very low risk with runes drawn professionally". Lauren hears a scoff from the back of the class, she doesn't have to look to know it's Alexandrea.
Miss McAllister smiles "very good Lauren, another prominent use of runes is energy production. Runes have replaced electricity and other forms of fuel and energy as a completely natural and convenient form of energy".
Miss McAllister waves her hand and a pile of paper materialises, lightly floating above her raised hand. "I want you all to complete the chapter on 'everyday runes that every witch should know' and when you're done complete this practice worksheet on how to draw said runes. Remember, you will need to know this for when you try to get your licence".
The papers then glide to each student's desk with a faint shimmery green glow that fades after it hits the desk. Lauren grabs a pen from her bag and immediately starts working on the worksheet. She has already read through the book during the holidays and has memorised each rune and what they mean.
As Lauren is sketching the runes her mind wanders and she thinks 'How's Elora's first class going?'.
~Following Elora~
"Elora! Stop fidgeting and just relax" a masculine voice yells. "Sorry sir" Elora's timid voice responds. Elora is currently sitting on the ground of the greenhouse located on the roof of her campus, she's surrounded by plants she's never seen before… and a bunch of snickering classmates.
As Elora looks down in embarrassment a voice catches her Attention. "Hey, Elora was it?" The voice says in a whisper. When Elora looks up to search for the owner of the voice, her eyes land on a blond-haired girl. "Well, the name's Marilyn" The girl says, her arm extending to Elora waiting for hers to meet.
"Nice to Meet you?" Elora answers with confusion but takes the girl's hand in a shake. "Don't worry about Mr Coffins he's always like this, or at least that's what my sister says" Marilyn says, shaking Elora's hand aggressively.
"Miss Marilyn Truse, just like your sister I see, please don't talk while I am," Mr Coffins says in annoyance. "Party pooper," Marilyn sighs.
"Now, as I was saying. Clear your mind of all distractions and focus on the Earth's energy around you, feel the way your element reaches out and spreads through the environment. Take a deep breath and just relax" Mr Coffins directs.
Elora follows her teachers instructions and is just getting the hang of it , the air around her carrying the scent of flowers and pollen. The familiar scent reminds her of home, making her believe she was back in the forest collecting herbs and ingredients. The familiar slow breeze created by Ane, giving her comfort.
Then Marilyn beside her sneezes at the volume of a goddamn bus horn. The sound startles Elora causing her eyes to snap open and a sudden gust of wind to swirl around them. Quite a few pots shatter and are thrown to the ground. "Sorry, hay fever," Marilyn says, scratching her nose.
Mr Coffins eye twitches "Elora! I'm trying to make this an enjoyable first lesson for you all, but if the smallest of disturbances is going to set you off then maybe we should move on to the control exercises".
Just as the teacher is about to continue the bell rings, all the students pick up their slightly too big bags and start making their way out of the greenhouse and back down stairs to their next classes.
Just as Elora is about to leave her teacher addresses her again. As he does Marilyn slowly mouths sorry as she leaves the room. "Elora,you have shown incredible power and I will admit I'm kinda impressed but you lack so much control that you could seriously hurt someone or yourself." Elora nods in understanding, now feeling slightly guilty.
"Earlier you mentioned that an older student is going to be mentoring you, review your textbook and next time you work with her tell her I said that you need to work on your control exercises." Elora holds in a groan at the thought of extra reading, but she understands why she has to do it.
She takes the following silence as a dismissal and starts heading back down the stairs. As Elora is walking through the halls of her campus she takes out her timetable and unfolds it, she finds the day and rotational period and sees that she's got History next, it's located in the warlock's campus.
As Elora's about to start heading there, she bumps into someone. "Ow, watch it you little shit!" Elora looks up at the person, an insult ready on her tongue, it dies when she sees the expression on the older girl's face. The girl's eyes are a toxic green, her smile sharp as steel and her nails look like claws. "Nevermind, this brat isn't even worth it. I mean look at her hair, it looks like a magpie swooped her". "I-" Elora stutters for a second not understanding what a magpie was. "Oh my god did she seriously not get it, she must be fucking retarded Come on bitches, let's go."
Elora feels tears prick at her eyes, no one back in the town or anyone she's ever met has ever been so mean. The worst people there were the religious nuts and the Karen who always talked about how she was supposed to get married like her mother. Elora starts walking again out the campus and sits below the arches that lead to the unity garden.
She takes five deep breaths to calm herself, when she opens her eyes she sees Lauren walking towards her with a pained expression on her face.
"You just had one class and you're already back here. Do you need help finding your next class?" Lauren says, impatience clear in her tone. Elora looks up at Lauren with determination in her eyes. Lauren looks back with a calm confusion "okay, what do you need? I have my free period now so I'm all good on time".
Elora stands up and tilts her head up to keep eye contact with Lauren. She takes one more breath then says "I want you to do my hair" there's a long pause… till it's broken by Laurens laughter.
"I-I'm sorry but you just said that with so much conviction it sounds like you're signing up for a war" Lauren can't hold back her cackles, she even starts tearing up. "This is serious, back home I never had to do my hair. My mum always did it for me, so I never learned."
Lauren takes a few more seconds to calm down "Okay, I'll help you. What class do you have now? I'll need to inform the teacher of your absence. I'll just tell them that I want to get more acquainted with my new protege" Elora thinks that's a good idea and responds to Laurens question. "My timetable says 'history' so…" Lauren just hums and flips open her phone. She types away on her keyboard for a couple of seconds before turning back to Elora.
"Okay follow me, we're going to my room" Lauren says while walking off in the direction of the witches campus. Elora follows after her, struggling to keep in stride with her. They walk through the familiar hallways and up the stairs. Eventually they get to the resident rooms, after only a couple of minutes.
~Following Elora and Lauren~
Lauren walks to a door towards the end of the hall and opens it. "Open sesame" She says to Elora who's looking around curiously. They walk into the room, the first thing Elora notices is how messy it is. There are cushions on the floor, clothes in messy piles and open books lying on a coffee table that sits in front of the cream coloured couch.
"Mother of buckwheat, when was the last time you cleaned in here?" Elora says, a smidge of judgement in her tone. Lauren gives her the stink eye "Hey, don't judge me. I'm a burnt out gifted kid, what did you expect?" Lauren says in mock offence. "Come on, through here is the bathroom. It's where I keep all my hair stuff" Lauren says as she leads Elora through another door into a white tiled bathroom.
"Oh, so manage to keep in here clean but not your living room" Elora states, amusement obvious in her tone. "Oh shush, just sit down," Lauren says as she pulls out a shower stool and places it in front of the bathroom mirror. She pulls open a drawer under the sink to reveal what looks like thousands of different clips, bands and products all just for hair.
"What style are you looking for, you were being pretty vague earlier" Lauren asks Elora as she starts lightly brushing through her tangled locks. "I want something nice and manageable but still be secure and practical" Elora says, still determined to go through with this change.
Lauren nods and starts rummaging through the drawer, "I think I know what to do" she says as she pulls out a packet of bobby pins and a couple of brown hair ties. Elora watches as Laurens hands start to glow a faint grey colour as she starts combing her hands through Elora's hair. "What are you doing?" Elora asks, slightly worried.
"I've learned a few easy spells that help with detangling hair, you know because of the curls" Lauren says as she gestures to her own head of hair.
Lauren takes her phone out of her pocket and flips it open to start scrolling. "Ha!" she exclaims when she finds what she's looking for. "Hope you don't mind" Lauren says then clicks her phone causing music to fill the room.
Lauren pulls Elora's hair out of her face and starts folding each piece over and through each other. She begins the lengthy process of braiding the upper sides of Elora's hair and pulling it back. It takes five minutes to get to the back of her head but from what Elora can see so far, It's definitely worth it, especially because she spends most of the time grooving with Lauren. They had to take a few breaks to give Lauren's hands and Elora's scalp a rest.
Lauren then combines the remaining pieces at the back and starts braiding a loose braid down to blend with the rest of Elora's hair.
She then grabs one of the brown ties and tightens it around the ends of the braid, after this Laurens lightly scrunches the rest of Elora's hair. When she finally pulls her hands back, The brown and blonde locks are perfectly curled in loose tendrils that seem to almost flow down to her shoulders.
"Wha-Ho-?" Elora is stunned into silence while Lauren preens at the outcome. "I've had to spend years learning how to tame this mess, trust me you don't want to see what this looks like in the morning" Lauren chuckles as she pats Elora's shoulder.
"What can I do to repay you, this is amazing you deserve some sort of payment" Elora says after recovering from the initial shock. Lauren just hums before responding with "Just work hard during our study sessions and I'll consider that payment enough".
"Now, you still have forty minutes left of class, I already contacted the teacher to let her know but she said that as soon as we're done you have to get back as soon as possible" Lauren says as she checks the time. "Thank you again, sorry for taking up so much of your free period" Elora apologies. "It's all good, I had fun. Now go before Miss McAllister kills me for making you miss her lesson!"
Elora lets out a squeak and rushes out of Laurens room and sprints to class. "Welp, that was fun" Lauren says as she gets ready to take a much deserved shower.