I sat at the corner of the classroom, my attention hooked by the beautiful, lush, pink cherry blossom scenery outside as my classmates chatted away happily each other.

Today was the start of a new school year at the Order of Essence Academy and for us who were in Form one, our very first day at this school.

"Come and make friends before it's too late, Roy." A tiny female voice echoed inside my head.

I turned my head towards a girl at the front of the class gleefully talking with other classmates.

"I'd rather not spend my energy pretending to be friendly, Ayana." I replied using Echo magic

"You know you have to blend in, right?" Ayana responded.

"You should focus on the conversation with your friends." I replied dodging her question.

"It's fine, Echo magic is the easiest to control." She replied.

"You know you should not say that out loud right?" Reminding her of the dangers she could face.

"I know...I know, we are in the Essence faction and if they found out I know how to control Echo magic, our mission would be compromised." She replied as if she had heard this a thousand times.

Before I could reply, a handsome man walked into the classroom. He wore a fine, black two piece suit complemented by a crisp black shirt. A pleasant scent hit my nose as he walked towards the front podium. The whole classroom fell silent, captivated by his imposing yet serene aura. I could tell he was going to be quite popular among the students.

"Good afternoon class, my name is Mr Kimanzi, and I will be your Essence Fractals professor for the next four years at this school." He said while writing whole numbers on the board, " please return to your assigned desks." He added turning around to face the class.

I turned back to the beautiful scenery outside which interested me more than the lecture.

The trees slowly swayed to the rhythm of the wind spewing pink petals which danced in the wind as they made their way to the ground.I'd never seen nature in such a way before. It was almost seductive.

A dull pain at the side of my head roused me from my trance. I turned to the cause of it, a small piece of white chalk thrown by the professor.

"Tell me boy, what are the two main principles of fractals?" The professor asked pointing at me.

Everyone was looking at me, noticing my presence for the first time, this answer would shape my social life. I couldn't mess such a simple question in front of the whole class I thought to myself while standing up.

"Recursion and self-similarity." I answered calmly.

"C.. correct." He said surprised, then turned back to the board in order to explain what this terms were.

Fractals were the building blocks of magic, they were like broken pieces of a glass cup that needed to be brought together in order to make the glass cup useful again. One needed to be able to create bonds between specific fractals in order to use them.

For example, Ayana could create and control the bonds between the Echo fractals allowing her to use Echo magic.

The problem was fractals were complex and unpredictable making them dangerous.

For this reason, the key characteristics of fractals were used as principles to help people control them better and reduce casualties caused by magic.

Recursion, the principal that fractals repeat the same pattern at progressively smaller or larger scales.

Self-similarity, the principal that same patterns exist in different forms and magnitudes throughout nature and the universe.

These two main principles acted as lighthouses in understanding the sea of infinitely complex fractal structures.

Time passed by quickly as I listened to professor Kimanzi ramble on and on about how Mathematics was a key factor in controlling fractals and soon, the bell rang.

Students started leaving the classroom in their respective cliques discussing what to do after school.

I sat there for a few more minutes relishing the beautiful scenery outside before standing up to leave.

However, something unexpected happened as I was about to take my leave, my desk mate approached me.

"What's up?" I asked her as she looked at me curiously.

"How did you know the answer to the professor's question?"

"That's all?" I was somewhat surprised by her question.

" It's just that the principles of fractals are not taught till Form two, so how did you know?"

"I read it in a book a long time ago."

"Teach me." She said folding her arms to show her determination.

" But I'm just a student like you." I replied not wanting to be bothered.

"I bet you know lots of other things I don't know." She said her determination only growing stronger.

She wasn't wrong, but I didn't want to teach her, I had more problems to worry about.

"I don't even know who you are, why should I teach you?" I said while sighing.

"What do you want to know?." She asked

"Let's first start with your name?" I replied.

"Th.. that's none of your business." She said visibly disturbed by my question.

"Wow, that's rude, considering you want to learn from me." I countered.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, she turned and walked away with a frustrated look on her face.

"Why would she hide her name from me? Weird." I whispered to myself as I watched her exit the classroom.

I glanced at Ayana who was busy chatting with her new acquaintances before leaving the classroom.

"Where are we meeting?" She asked me telepathically.

"At the café, by six" I replied "and don't sit next to me, we will communicate using Echo fractals." I added as I left her communication range so that I could not hear her complaints.

I had a two hours before my meeting with Ayana so I thought about touring the school.

This school was massive, so large I couldn't tour it in two hours. I decided to first check out the mall.

The mall was where most students went after school. It had entertainment, food and luxury shops where students could spend their pocket money.

Outside the mall was a small café where my meeting with Ayana was going to take place. It was not that popular because there were other expensive restaurants inside the mall for the students.

To put it simply, it was a haven for the financially challenged. Ignoring it for now, I walked towards the Mall's grand entrance.

No words could describe the elegance and opulence of the view in front of me. High grade jewels such as emeralds, rubies and what looked like aquamarines were used to decorate the walls. The floor was constructed using high quality marble that glimmered in the sunlight flooding the atrium through the glass ceiling.

A huge tree stood resolutely in the middle of the atrium it's branches arching all the way to the second floor. It was quite large to be a normal tree.

After exploring the first floor for about thirty minutes and getting weird glances from staff, I decided to head to the second floor.

The only way to the second floor seemed to be through the tree. I watched as students touched the tree vanishing into a cloud of green smoke.

I approached the tree observing its branches which shone with a green light as students reappeared on the second floor. Why use magic when you can build a simple staircase? I asked myself wondering why they would use such an inefficient method.

"Hey you, you are a first year right? Don't tell me you plan on going up there?"

I turned towards the source of the voice only to find it was a janitor. He seemed annoyed and tired.

"Look kid, if you can't create fractal bonds in that tree, you can't go up there."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

" I mean, if you don't want to die, don't try doing what you can't do, know your limits." He said as he walked towards the tree his voice full of annoyance.

I understood what he said to some extent. No normal first year would be able to get to the second floor as of right now. We were just starting on how Mathematics is involved in Fractals which was a long way from manifesting fractal bonds. Was the second floor meant for second year students and above? I needed more information to be sure.

I decided to leave the mall and head to the meeting place a bit earlier. I left the mall and entered the café. It was almost empty with a few students studying quietly. This was perfect.

I made myself comfortable at the farthest corner from the door. Since I was an hour and ten minutes early, Ayana wasn't here yet. I made an order for a cup of tea while I waited for her to arrive.

"What are you doing here?"

I turned to find the girl who was asking me to teach her earlier staring at me with eyes full of disdain.

"What a silly question." I replied but she stood there expectantly.

"I'm simply spending my afternoon quietly." I added after a moment of awkward silence.

"Fine then." She said as she sat next to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked alarmed by her behaviour.

"I'm watching you, obviously." She replied.

" You're wasting your time."

" I guess I have time to spare."

After thirty minutes of waiting, the girl stood up.

"Where are you going?" I asked her sarcastically.

" I just remembered I have some business to attend to." She replied and left the café.

A few minutes later, Ayana arrived and sat where the girl sat.

"I thought I told you not to sit next to me." I asked her telepathically.

"Come on, don't be so cold." She replied.

" Were you followed."

" Yeah. By that girl who is so interested in you."

" I thought so. Who is she anyway?"

" I don't know either, I could ask around though."

"Wow, you already have connections, you're so popular."

" I know. Although the nobles are sooo annoying."

" I guess that's the downside of being so popular."

"Yeah."

"Anyways, I called you here to discuss our plan of action."

"Alreadyyyy?" She replied disappointed

"Yeah, we are on a timed mission after all."

"I think four years is a lot of time."

"I don't plan to stay in this school for four years, and you know that."

An awkward silence fell upon the previous light hearted mood after that statement.

" Don't tell me you still want to go against them?" She asked, sighing.

"We shouldn't talk about this, they might be listening." I replied.

"Fine, what should we do first?" She asked

"If we want to make progress we should first find what we are looking for."

"What are we looking for again?"

"Arafat's Tome."

"I thought that was a myth?"

" All the four Tomes are very real, that's what the six of us were sent to retrieve them."

"Wow, where could someone hide such a legendary item?" She asked sarcastically.

" Let's gather all the information we can on it first."

"Ok."

"Anyways, I'm tired today, see you later." I said while standing up.

"Wait." She said out loud, "can't you stay with me just a bit longer?" She added as she grabbed my hand.

"I'm so t..." I trailed off as I saw the expression on her face. It was one I had seen too many times. A mixture of fear and uncertainty.

At times like this, it was crucial to stay with her in order to comfort her. And so I stayed with her till the café closed, forcing us to leave and head our separate ways.

The cold night air numbed my face as I walked back to my dormitory. Sitting quietly with Ayana was nostalgic. It reminded me of the times I would sit quietly while she cried on my shoulder.

She was a fragile girl who acted strong and friendly.

That's why, I kept this secret, even from her. I didn't want mere freedom from them, I wanted to crush them for what they did to us. Whenever I thought about her crying, intense feelings would rise. Rage. Sadness. Hopelessness. I wanted them to feel what we felt.

I wanted Revenge.