Why in the damned world is everyone over here pushing me to cross my limits and beat the fuck out of them? "Watch where you're going, girl!" the arrogant boy scowled at me, making me even angrier. This was enough! I got up and came toward his face. "Are you blind? Why are you running around this busy corridor like a fucking lunatic!" I yelled, and some of the students beside us laughed at the last sentence. The boy glared daggers at me now. "Watch your words, girl. You should not mess with a guy like me," he says. "Or what?" I challenge him, crossing my arms over my chest.
"That's it... I'll show you what I will do," the boy's eyes suddenly glowed brown, and I noticed his hand had a ball of brown light under it. Oh my god... how couldn't I realize!? This boy has magic too. Not just this boy, but all the other students in this entire building or college whatever. He will kill me in two seconds. My eyes grew wide as he smirked and threw the ball at me. I don't know what was faster—the ball of energy, the rush of wind passing by me, or the boy getting pinned to the wall. Everything happened so fast that I didn't realize when a body appeared in front of me, catching the ball in his hands.
The man looked at me from the corner of his eyes and then staggered over to the boy pinned against the wall with an invisible hand on his neck. The man's face now clearly visible to me as he loomed over the boy with a dangerous stance, as if he would kill him. The man had dark brown hair that fell over his eyes, his face stern, and he... he was beautiful, yet deadly looking. He had the power of air. The boy had terror written all over his face as he saw the man. His face had turned pale white. Even the entire corridor had become silent. My heart started pounding again at the thought of what he would do to the boy."Lu... Lucien, please forgive me! I didn't mean to use my powers! I became angry because she approached me," the boy pointed toward me. Lucien's jaw ticked before he closed his hand into a fist, and the hold on the boy's neck started tightening. He started gasping from the lack of air. Oh my god, he is going to die! Is no one going to stop him? Where are those damn professors!?
Nausea came over me as it reminded me of the dead guard whose face had been separated. I closed my eyes, trying to shake the thought away and ran to him."Stop!" I say, but he doesn't listen and keeps suffocating the boy. "I... please stop!" I yell again, this time in a panicked voice. I can't remove that scene from my mind—blood gushed out of the body and on the walls. Lucien looks over at me, something flickers in his eyes from anger to panic to coldness and thankfully he stops suffocating him but still has him pinned to the wall. "Already fighting and making enemies on your very first day, girl?" he says, closing in on me. "He wasn't trying to do anything. Don't be a fucking monster," I say, and my back hits something like the lockers and Lucien pins me in place. He looked dangerous... he was dangerous. If that boy didn't look like he would kill me, Lucien certainly would.
"You're calling me a monster? Do you want to see what he was trying to do?" he says, lifting the hand that still had the boy's power. Without breaking that emotionless eye contact, he throws the power at the boy, and he suddenly changes—freezing my breath in my throat. Now he was not a boy anymore. Instead, he became a toad.
A toad...
He was gonna turn me into a fucking toad... My hands naturally came up to cover my open mouth as I looked at the boy-turned-toad hanging on the wall, with students laughing at him. Lucien was still staring at me, amusement sparkling in his eyes, making me glare at him. "Well, what do you have to say about that?" he says, and I grit my teeth before replying. "You all are fucking killing machines, and this is the institute where you are made into one," I say, but his smirk only grows. "You are here for the same reason, girl. You're not so different from us," he says. "No. I am nothing like you. I don't ha—" Before I could complete my words, his hand covered my mouth, muffling them. I widened my eyes to match the same of his. He leans in again and whispers, making me shudder, "Don't share your weaknesses in front of anyone, or you won't know when the person will use it against you." He looks over at the students who were watching.
"Everyone head back to your class, unless you want to provoke me?" he says, baring his teeth, and the students quickly rush from there, leaving the corridor. I remove his hand from my mouth and spat at him. "You don't get to tell me what I do. I am leaving this place and won't even dream of staying here, so keep your advice to yourself," I say, getting out of that small space between him and the locker.
I could see the exit a few feet from here. I just had to run for it before anyone grabbed me or bumped into me again. As the morning sun hit me bare, I was almost thankful when a loud shriek came from somewhere above me. My head snapped at the voice—and holy mother of gods... is... is that A FUCKING DRAGON!? I widened my eyes as its black and red ones looked at me with a snarl. Not again... I don't want to be attacked by one of those creatures. It wasn't a normal dragon with scales and spikes, instead it was black and looked like it was made of shadows.
I yelled out of fear, and the dragon came at me, before another body hit me, their arms wrapping around my torso, and on impulse, I tightly wrapped my hands around them. The person snapped his palm at the dragon, who sniffed the person's hand and with a soft whimper-like sound, flew away. I didn't know I was shaking until the person grabbed my shoulders, holding me still. "Hey, it's okay now..." it was a male voice, and I was in his arms. I gasped loudly, snapping my eyes open and looked at the grinning face in front of me before jumping away from him. The dragon became aware when I went away, and it bared its teeth. "Eclipsis, she won't do anything, boy, stay calm..." he says, trying to calm the angry dragon. I guess he is his dragon.
"Doesn't your dragon know how to respect females?" I snap, trying to control my heartbeat. The man laughs before speaking, "He is not my dragon. This is my bonded creature," he points over, and a huge animal, which was bigger than him, came out. It was a freaking lion with eagle wings... A Griffin!? It was silver in color. They weren't meant to exist... none of them were. My legs become weak and shake before they give out. The man quickly catches me, helping me sit on the ground. "Hey... hey! You okay?" he asks, panic rising in his voice. "I just haven't seen these animals before. I thought they... they didn't exist..." I say, the dragon looking at me from afar. He was huge—even bigger than the griffin. He was the size of the building.
"What do you mean, you haven't seen these before? They are flying all over Aradox," he says, and I only raise my brows with confusion. "You don't know where you are right now?" he asks, but I know now. This is his so-called Aradox, where this school is. He looks down at my white gown before smiling at me with guilt. "You lost your memory, didn't you?" he asks, and I close my eyes with annoyance. "How do I get out of this school? And Aradox?" I say. I am surely in a different realm or world or even a planet for gods' sake—I don't know. The centaur made a portal to get through to Earth. Maybe I can get a wizard or one of those less dangerous-looking magical beings to open a portal so I can go back. Surely someone will help me, right?
"Um... I don't think you can leave the college, let alone Aradox. The wards are protecting the college. They won't let you go outside without the permission of the headmaster," he says. "Ughhhh!!!! Where is his office?" I ask. This has gone way too far. I want out! "First room on the left of the hall," he says. "Thank you," I mutter to him before turning away inside the hall. I didn't even get his name, even when he helped me so much. I knock on the door and wait for him to call me inside. "Yes?" his familiar voice calls me in, and I take a deep breath before entering the room. And my my... the room was huge. There was a big desk in the middle of the room, and behind his chair were huge shelves carved in the wall, filled with scrolls.
"Ah yes, Kaya, please come in!" he says with enthusiasm, making me cringe and want to not drop my anger on him.
I take slow, angry steps inside the room and stop just in front of his desk. "I want to go back. Now." The headmaster, with long grey hair and a matching beard, looked stunned for a moment before chuckling. "My dear, what do you mean by going back? You are meant to be here. You're safe here." "No, I'm not. You know what happened out there? I was almost attacked by one of your students—by a magical energy ball—and then again by a fucking dragon!"I yelled louder than intended. The walls shook slightly, but I didn't care.
The headmaster's face turned more serious. "You're right. That shouldn't have happened. You are still adjusting to our world, and it is our responsibility to keep you safe. I deeply apologize for the misconduct of the student—and Eclipsis," he added with a hint of regret. He knew everything but still didn't do or say anything? "But that doesn't change the fact that you cannot leave." "Excuse me?" I asked, not believing what I heard. "You can't leave Aradox. The portal that brought you here was a one-way entry. Only those who master the ancient elemental cores can open the portals to other realms. It's... it's not as simple as going back." His voice softened at the end as he looked at me with pity.
Pity.
I didn't need his fucking pity. I needed to get back to Earth. To my life. To Ethan. "Then teach me whatever the hell I need to learn to open the portal and send me back." "You first need to awaken your magic." "I don't have magic!" I shouted, taking a step back. "Every person brought here is chosen because they do have magic. It's dormant, maybe, but it's in you, Kaya. This realm calls only the ones who belong here." "No. You're wrong," I muttered. "You brought the wrong person."
The headmaster stood from his chair and came around the desk. He reached into his long robe and pulled out a glowing stone—it shimmered in blue and gold hues. "This is the Aetherium Stone. It reacts only to those who hold magic within." He held it out to me, and I hesitated before taking it in my palm.
Nothing happened.
See? I was right.
But then... warmth surged into my fingers. My skin prickled, and the stone pulsed once... twice... then burst into a blinding white glow. I dropped it with a yelp, and it rolled across the floor, still glowing. "What the hell was that!?" I gasped. The headmaster looked at me like I had just turned into a unicorn.
"You just awakened the core essence of your power." "No..." I whispered. "You are not just a magic holder, Kaya... you're something more. Something rare. "I shook my head, panic rising like a wave. "I didn't ask for this. I didn't want this!" "None of us do," he replied gently. "But now that you've awakened your core, you must learn to control it. Otherwise, it will control you."
"How.....How is it possible!?", I look at the man who was sitting as if he knew everything all along that this would happen. "Kaya, Listen-", the professor began, "My name is not kaya, its layla. Why don't you understand?" I ask as he motions for me to take a seat on the chairs. "It was your human name, now you are here where you actually belong kaya. If you don't know then your family didn't told you the truth of which has been kept in secret all these years. You are an elementalist. And you are the only daughter of Queen Ember, the last monarch and the royal heir of Fire Realm." He says suddenly his eyes burning with magic a sudden haze falls over my eyes and I am no longer inside his office.
My eyes make out at the toys hanging from the stand attached to the crib in which I was, but instead of my hands, there were small baby hands which were trying to reach out for the toys, soft mumblings and gurgles from the baby's or my mouth. Suddenly a huge face with hair as bright red as the blazing fire was infront of me looking at me with her soft eyes and the warmth in her smile as she looks at me. "My...." she began to say something reaching out for me but the image blurs again, but the last word made itself clear as the memory completely faded away.
"Kaya."
"Kaya move away from the chair!", the centaur yells at me and my body moves before I pull myself back and look at the rotting chair behind me and with a loud thud the chair broke into pieces on the ground. The stone crushed to pieces.
W....who was that woman? Wa....was she my mother? But my mother didn't looked like her. She had black hair like... like me! I must be looking at someone's else story, but how did it happen? These thousand thoughts came over me and there was a knock on the door. The centaur quickly removed the broken chair with his powers and a new chair appeared looking exactly like the old one. "Kaya, calm yourself my child." The centaur said.
"Um headmaster Orion?", a male voice called out from the door.
"Just a minute!" Orion says as he helps me to my seat. I gripped my blue gown tightly with my hands but then a wet drop fell on my hand. I felt my face and realized I was crying. Why was I crying? It was just a scene. It shouldn't have bothered me that much. But it did.
"Come in!" The centaur said and I didn't looked at the person or the people coming inside as I gripped the gown in my fist. "I hope I am not interrupting something headmaster?" The man behind me asks. "Not at all Silas. Come have a seat. Lucien and Abex. You guys come too." He says and at the mentioning of them, my head darts back at the three men standing before me. This was the most closest I had clearly seen him and now I noticed those black shadows lurking over his shoulders. I instantly realized that the dragon outside the building was his. Both were equally dangerous. I glance at Lucien who was a bit surprised to see me but clearly did not show it on his face, on the other hand Abex, the same person whom I ran into outside, who protected me from eclipsis- smiled at me. He waves at me which Lucien catches and looks at him before closing the door behind him.
"I know things did not went pleasant with you both so we also don't need to make the introductions. Kaya meet Silas, he is the pass-out cadet from our college and the general of Aradox Army. And they are Lucien and Abex, our 4th year cadets of Topeza College." He says. I feel Silas's eyes over me but I don't look at him. "Silas is going to make sure you become strong enough now that you are here. And I have assigned the three of them for your protection." He says and my fist tightens at his stubbornness. "I am not going to live here." I snap at him. "That woman who I saw doesn't mean anything to me. My real parents are those who died eleven years ago!" I yell as I get up from my chair and the men besides me tensed around.
"Who the fuck do you think your talking to?", Silas again this time snaps at me glaring daggers at me. His eyes were now dark. "Calm down everyone. Kaya, that was your birth mother who you saw. You can't run away from your past." Orion says to me with utterly calm making me more angry. "No! She is not my mother, not my past and certainly not my future. If you don't send me back, I will find someone who can!" I say to him backing away from the desk. "And don't bother to get me trained by anyone of them, I am not going to become your personal killing machine if magic is what you call the things happening in your corridors." I say.
"She won't be your future that is certain because your mother was killed, drained whatever you call it by a enemy who now knows that you are alive and will come after you. And Mr timarthus will face punishments for what he tried to do-" "No! She...she's not my mother!", I yell try not to narrow the words on her death. "Don't relate me to her!", I yell but my memory gets the best of me when her memories with a small baby girl comes over me, the small girl had the exact same face as me but it were red with orange in between. I may look like her but I am not her. "Kaya-" "Dont call me kaya." I snap in anger. That is it. I feel my hands heating up. I look down and see sparks forming in my hands of grey.
Oh my god...
"Wh...what is happening to me?!" I yell in fear as now Orion also got up from his seat, his centaur body now in view.
"Kaya calm down!" The principal said but I can't, I couldn't. I am a human, I...I can't have magical powers! "Make it stop!" I say to him and tears coming down my eyes as I try to flick them off but they were only growing. And Abex tried to take a step as I hit my back against the wall. "Abex don't go near her!", Silas says to his friend.
I am not a fucking monster!
"Stop messing with my god damn brain now!", I yell at the centaur. I am pretty sure he is doing this to me. I glare my eyes at him and try to take a step forward towards him when a strong force knocks the breath out of my body pinning me to the wall. Black shadows were over my neck tight enough to hold me still. "Put me the fuck down!", I yell at Silas. It was all his doing. "Not even in fucking hell am I going to let you go near the headmaster." He says but the centaur speaks. "Silas release her." "No." "Silas listen to the headmaster." Lucien said. "No, not until she controls her power.", he says. "Silas she doesn't even know she had powers until now. Leave her." Abex starts but then there is a tingling pain in my head which rocks me and there is a complete chaos over my memories that are infront of my eyes which I have never seen before, my head is pounding and its making the sparks in my hand grow even more wild. As if the fire was engulfing me. "Oh my god!" I try to grab my head to stop it from hurting but he had grabbed my hands. "What happened!?" The centaur said his eyes wide with panic. "My head is fucking hurting, my powers are burning me and there are tons of memories infront of me. I am going crazy stop it please!", I yell and I didnt cared if I was crying.
"Silas release her.", the principal said. "And risk your safety? No!", he says and I sobbed as the pain worsened. Suddenly there was blackness around me and a man lurked into the dark, he was darker than the shadows and he had this dark aura around him, he was dangerous, he had evil intentions. His face narrowed and I widened my eyes at the scene infront of me. He was smirking as he had my body in his hold. But instead my body was lacking color as if blood was draining from my body and he was growing stronger and stronger but his eyes weren't on my body, they were on me. As if he knows I am watching. Then he brings out a knife behind him and pushes it through my heart and I felt sudden burn in my chest and I screamed. "Silas I said fucking release her!", Orion was hell angry and used his powers to get Silas off of me and I fell to the ground.
Professor Orion quickly ran over to me and put off the sparks on my hands that got blisters they started to hurt. "What's happening! Speak to me kaya!", the principal says. Abex had also rushed besides me looking confused that what he should do. "He... he is stabbing a knife at my chest! Its hurting very much!", I scream, hardly getting my words out. It feels like my heart is actually bleeding. "What should we do!?", I make out Abex say. I couldn't even come back to reality, the darkness taking control over my mind. "Someone go and fetch garran HURRY!", he yelled. "I am here!", the door smashes open and garran enters.
"Oh my fucking god, what happened to her.", Garran says as he drops to his knees besides me and puts a warm hand over my head and I feel another pairs of eyes peeking right in my mind. "Its him. He has found her.", he said and did something which smoothened the headache and chest ache making me look at the sight infront of me. Everyone had panic written over their faces. And I... I couldn't breath. I grabbed my neck trying to get air somehow inside my lungs. "I...I can't breath!", I yell, my lungs planning to give out on me. "You will be fine in a few minutes.", he smiled at me and did something in a swift second and darkness loomed over my eyes taking me to a deep slumber.