~Following 1997 Lauren~
The bus rematerialised in an empty lot, causing all the young teens inside to yelp. Lauren peels her face off of the dirty bus window, her face red from the pressure. 'Never doing that again' the young girl thinks as she stands with the rest of the children.
Lauren walks off the bus and joins the growing group of people standing in front of a gate. Walking through the gate is an older woman with a sharp glare and dark hair, she's followed closely by a younger looking woman in ridiculously tall stilettos.
"Hello new student, I am your principal. And this young lady beside me is my vice principal, Irene" Principal Klotsia speaks, her voice booming through the crowd of rowdy children. She then turns towards the small group of young adults standing behind her.
"These young students behind me are the senior student leaders, they are all going to be showing you around the main campus and the smaller faction campuses located around the main building." Principal Klotsia begins to point out each student leader, as they are called they do a small trick to show off and call groups to go with them.
Lauren's eyes glaze over, her body tenses when the focus of the group shifts towards magic. 'Right, magic' Lauren almost scoffs in indignation. 'Why can't there be schools that don't include any magic related classes'. Just as Lauren goes to roll her eyes again she hears the witches being called.
The witch head student summons violet magic energy and makes it take the form of four tendrils, they then stitch and interweave with one another and form a swirl of energy. A crystal ball floats out of the swirl of energy and lands safely in the young woman's palm.
Lauren's eyes widen in awe, can she do that? As she goes over to join the witches group she gets dragged over towards where the sorcerers are. "Sorry little girl, but we need to stay organised for today. Stay with your group. You're smart to have brought your sentimental object, which means you'll get a head start from your peers." The woman who couldn't be much older than the student leaders, continues to drag Lauren to the sorcerers group and places her front and centre.
"Those of you who haven't already, need to bring an object that you have strong sentimental attachment to, like this girl here. Over time yours will become like hers and act as an artificial magical core… Why am I telling you this, this isn't my job. UGH!" The woman with ashy blonde hair groans and stomps away.
"Tanya, you need to set a better example" Lauren hears principal Klotsia chastising Tanya from where they stand between the five groups.
'Wait, sorcerer? I thought I was a witch? This magic stuff will never be clear to me' Lauren tugs on a lower piece of hair as she falls back into thought. The groups wander away from each other, the hoards of children following their respective student leaders. Lauren keeps a slow pace, confining herself to the back of the group.
The group approaches one of the large connected buildings. "This, my young sorcerers, is the sorcerer campus". The student leader opens their arms wide, the group[ stops chattering for a moment and stares. The tweens go back to chatting, leaving the student leader with a miffed expression.
'This is apparently an expensive school, most of the students here are probably rich.' Lauren rolls her eyes and continues to follow the group through the building. She looks around idly as they manoeuvre through the corridors, taking in any and all details she can.
After another few minutes of uneventful walking the group settles in a large, comfortable room. "Everyone take a seat, I know your little legs are tired from all the walking," The student leader says with a large smile on their face, earning the sharp glares from the young teens. "But you all get to do some… Magical exercises!"
This gets the attention of the group, all of them dropping to the floor in record speed. Lauren shuffles to the far back, almost completely detaching herself from the group entirely. 'Great, magic.' the girl thinks as she pinches the bridge of her nose.
"Alright everyone, I know most of you don't have a sentimental object or item to use. So, you will all be receiving these small nick nacks that are already magically charged. This is just to get a feel for magic so don't stress much" The student leader addresses the group, using their own object to make all of the random items scattered around the room fall into different students' laps. Only Lauren and a couple others are left without one.
The student leader then holds their object to their chest, causing the object to shine. "This exercise will help your body get used to channelling magical energy, go on, try" They say excitedly.
All the kids hold their object in various positions at their chest, some trying weird hand symbols as if it's going to make it work any faster or better. Lauren and the few others left without an object, grab an item tucked into a pocket or attached to their body.
One boy brings his hand to an earring and a girl brings out a pair of keys from her pocket. Lauren shrugs and copy's them, untucking her silver amulet from her jumper.
"Okay all, this room was filled with passive spells before your arrival to charge it with magical energy, try and tap into that and let it flow through your object and into you. When you feel magic seep into your object say 'Epi'. We're getting all spiritual with this shi- I, uh… stuff" The student leader stumbles over their words.
A few snickers surface from the group but most stay quiet, focusing on their objects. The two kids who brought their own Items were the most successful, the objects glowing an ethereal light. The student leader approaches them to congratulate them.
Lauren starts feeling a bit frustrated, she notices a few of the other kids smirking and giggling as they look at her. She makes a move to stand but fumbles over herself and lands face first into the carpet floor.
"Oh my, are you okay?" the student leader questions as they go to help Lauren off the floor. Lauren lets out a low shriek and glares at them, her face flushing hot with embarrassment.
The student leader stops in their tracks, they even take a step back. "You're not a sorcerer are you" They say this like it's a fact, leaving Lauren in pissed confusion. The student leader then passes Lauren a convenient hand mirror.
The angry teen rolls her eyes and takes a look. She startles slightly and lets out a squeak, the cause being her eyes glowing a grey colour. 'What the hell, god am I even more of a freak than before?' Lauren throws the mirror across the room, it bounces harmlessly against the carpet floor.
"It's fine, there must've been a mixup" The student leader says, massaging their nose. Lauren lets out a frustrated breath and sits back down on one of the cushions, gathering the fabric between her fingers and squeezing. The student leader takes out a brick like phone and dials a number.
"Hey Tanya, there's been a bit of a mix up with the students. I have a young girl here who is in fact a witch and not a sorcerer. Would you mind collecting her and dropping her off where she's supposed to be" The student leader says sweetly, their attention turns to the young witch in question and they turn off their phone.
"Someone's on their way here to get you to your group, they should be here soon" they say, moving back to the front of the room.
Lauren sits in disbelief, 'are you kidding me! Of all the people to be mixed up, why me?' She pushes her face into her knees and groans quietly. She tries to block out the sounds of everyone activating their objects.
Lauren sits in silence for a few more minutes, pondering her life choices when she feels a tap on her shoulder. The young witch looks up from her knees and sees the ashy blonde haired woman from earlier standing over her with an annoyed expression.
"Come on, get off the floor, we need to hurry and you've made today difficult enough" The woman says, pulling Lauren off of the floor and to her feet. She doesn't waste any time, dragging Lauren out of the comfy room and through the intricate corridors. 'She's such a jerk' Lauren thinks to herself as she stares up at the woman forcefully dragging her around.
It takes a while of walking before they actually spot the group of beginner witches, despite the group taking up an entire hallway. Tanya lets out a sigh of relief when they spot the group, she hardens her grip on Lauren's wrist and drags her, at a speed not thought humanly possible, over to the group.
Lauren's eyes land on one girl in particular. The girl seems to be talking with a boy who looks almost exactly like her. As they turn to look at Lauren, the ground starts shaking. Cracks form throughout the ground, showing a dark void beneath them.
Lauren turns to Tanya only to see a Manikin in her place. She whips her head back towards the group, everyone is in some state of physical decay, their corpses dropping and piling on top of eachother.
Lauren attempts to free herself from the manikins grasp, her skin tearing like paper with her attempts. Her pigment fades and the remaining skin wrinkles and her vision blurs. All she can make out is a blob surrounded by a deep blue energy standing amongst the corpses.
The thing snaps its gaze to Lauren, eyes shining the same deep blue that it's surrounded by. Lauren suddenly feels as if a thousand knives were forced through her skull, the unbearable pain spreads from her head down her neck and through the rest of her body.
~Lauren Present day~
Lauren lets out a shrill scream from the pain, her voice quickly fading from the strain. Her eyes shoot open, they spark a violent grey and the surrounding magical energy shoots out from around her, coiling around her body after a burst of energy.
The temperature suddenly drops and she feels herself covered in a layer of frost. A cool hand cradles her cheek and gently opens her eyes. The violent grey fades and the magical energy dispurses from around her.
"Lauren?" a familiar voice echoes through her head. As her vision clears and her surrounding form around her, she notices she's on the floor. "What the-?" She tries to speak but her voice breaks.
Lauren looks around her and sees Matthew worrying over her, but still keeping his distance. Her eyes follow the almost translucent pale hand up to a face she didn't expect to see so soon.
"Axel? You sure got here fast" Lauren coughs out, looking at her almost identical older cousin. The young man sighs, taking his freezing hand off of her cheek and running it through his hair. He pushes back the ringlets of red curls, revealing the blond, almost white, underlayer of hair coated in frost.
Lauren tries to ask her cousin something when she blacks out again, the last thing she feels is the layer of frost lining her back solidifying.