“Ahhh!!! Where am I?” Isaac woke up with a startle, he was sweating profusely.
He just had the longest dream he had ever had, he was in place with zero light, from time to time he would see a flicker of light and run after it will all his might, but as soon as he blinks, he would loose track of the light.
This kept on going for who knows how long, the most bizarre thing was that there was a myriads of colors, he kept on chasing, he had lost count of how many times he ran in this dark place.
And he was absolutely sure that they were making different types of patterns, but he couldn’t understand them, once it looks like he was close to unraveling what the complex pattern was they would change as soon as he blinks.
He finally arrived at a place where the lights of myriad colors was clustered up, the light all came after him looking like they wanted to drown him, which made him wake up with fright.
He woke up in a room where he was lying all alone on the floor.
He felt sore all over his body.
He had no idea for how long he had slept, but he really needed that sleep.
He had been sleeping half and half for a long time, so now that his body had completely shut down and he got to sleep enough he felt energetic all over his body.
He had never felt this energetic since he was born, he felt like he had been reborn at this moment, and he could push his body to the absolute limit.
So all he did was to stretch a little and made his way outside.
He noticed that he was no longer in the camp that they had been in before their awakening.
The place looked like it was made in a hurry, because there was only woods that held the whole structure up.
As soon as he walked out he almost fell on the floor, it turned out that they were levitating in the air at the moment, the most unbelievable part was that he saw some kids walking in the air.
When he cautiously put his leg on the ground, he found out that it was rock solid, it was just that it was invincible to the naked eye.
He couldn’t revel on this for too long because he was recalling all the patterns he had seen in his dream.
But try as he might he couldn’t remember all of them, he could only remember the basic ones.
Soon they landed on the ground in a very spacious place, then miraculously he could feel the uneven sand and rocks on the ground again.
He then saw the student walking to the center of the square, the force field that was keeping them in place had disappeared.
“All the new students gather around and stand on queue, line up according to the elements that you’ve awakened” there was a loud voice that echoed throughout the place.
So he also started walking towards the square.
Soon all the new students stood in nine neat rows, they were all looking around with smiles on their faces.
Isaac looked around trying to find a familiar face, but all those he knew at the camp were giving him a disdainful look.
So he peacefully stood to one side at the back of the line since he didn’t know which element he had.
Those with good potential had already formed cliques, and they had gotten some lackeys with them.
“Welcome to Luminaria Academy of Magic, I am your principal , My name is Rowan Windsurf” the man standing on the podium stated calmly.
He had a goatee ,with some white sideburns, he exuded a calm aura like spring breeze with a warm smile on his face.
“There are five classes in each grade that tallies with your potential”
“So regardless of your element you would be attending classes according to your potential”
“Here at Luminaria Academy we value hard work the most, so those who are at the ten in each class gets to move to the next grade”
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“Top ten in grade E class move on to grade D, while the last ten in grade D move down to E class and so on and so forth”
“After the first year is when the difference really starts to appear, because whosoever can control their element by then would be sent to the elite class where the resources are better than the normal class, there you get priority meetings with your teachers, and other perks that comes with being in the elite class”
“We have four terms in a year, at the end of each term, you have a chance to prove that you have improved and get promoted to the elite class”
“The last ten in the elite class would get sent back into the regular classes”
“Your class teachers would explain it to you in further details”
“We also have intergrade competition at the end of each term, which will determine the number of resources you will individually get”
“You are expected to spend three years in this school, you can ask your seniors in the school for help, and you are expected to follow the rules and regulations stipulated by the school”
“In this school, there are no handouts, all you receive is based on what your strength could get for you”
“We only teach future leaders of the society, people that have the zeal to make a change, not people that would hide in the confines of the safe zones”
“If you are thinking of graduating and finding a job that will keep you in the safety of the safe zone, you had better throw that thinking out the window, what would happen if we don’t have people that make sacrifices to keep the safe zone safe”
“I want each and everyone of you to take it up on themselves to be as strong as you possibly can, so that you can protect those who are weaker than you”
“That is why from this year, we no longer give accommodation to the families of all students, we only provide place for the family of those in the elite class”
“What?!!!” the place immediately turned rowdy, even the teachers behind the principal were shocked, they had no idea there was going to be this kind of a huge change.
“SILENCE!!!” there was a loud shout like the rumblings of a thunder, the place immediately turned quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
“This changes are not based on selfish motives but because of necessity, the safe zones are shrinking at a rapid speed, we need people that would take charge and stand up to the monsters, not people that need protection, we all have a responsibility to take, to make sure that humans are not considered the bottom in the hierarchy of the food chain”
“One strong person could never do it, but if we have generations after generations of strong mages we can finally make a change in the narrative!”
“I want you all to make a promise to me and to yourselves, that you would fight with your sweat, tears, flesh, bones and blood to bring about this change”
“I want you to push through the pain and boredom of training, if you feel like giving up remember your family that are outside, you’ve all encountered how dangerous it is before you arrived here”
“You know how ruthless the monsters are, so there is no need for me to say much, I hope you feel the need to get stronger from that little experience”
“It is not that the school could not clear the monsters that they are surrounding the school, but rather it was purposely left there in order for the new students to see how vicious and threatening they are, so that they would always keep you on your toes to keep on working with all your might to get stronger”
“Most of your homes have been destroyed by monsters, your family members are dead or held captive by the monsters, I want you to take that rage and anger and channel it into becoming stronger so that we can put a stop to the tyranny of monsters”
“No one would do it for us, we only have ourselves to depend on to bring about this change, do you understand me?!” by the time the principal reached the end of his sentence, he was practically shouting at the top of his voice.
All the students in the assembly ground gave an affirmative answer
They were so riled up that they had goosebumps covering their whole body, they felt like they could march up and fight an army of millions with their lone selves.
The principal moved to the back of the assembly where he met up with the instructors that brought this batch of students in.
“Was that necessary? There is no need to scare the children to this extent, don’t you think so?” an instructor spoke up as soon as the principal arrived.
“Well, it is better for them to be prepared to do hard things, so that when danger arrives, they will be ready to face it head on” the principal said as a matter of fact.
“Well you could tone it down a little, couldn’t you?” the instructor sighed.
“You of all people should know that the monsters are extremely ruthless, I didn’t exaggerate anything, I only say the truth as it is”
In the end the instructor who looked to be in his late twenties could only sigh and keep shut.
He was a handsome and well built man with a little beard on his face, which made him stand out in the group.
“Well any unexpected surprises this time around?” the principal asked the rest of the instructors standing to the side.
“This time around, we found twenty kids with A grade potential, and 200 kids with B grade potential, then 500 kids with C grade potential, and over a thousand who are in the D grade, while the rest are E” the instructor that told the students how to go about their awakening said respectfully.
“Not bad” Rowan said.
“Not bad? Shouldn’t it be great? We found more than 20 students with A grade potential” an instructor said feeling like they had found many good students this time around.
“Haha, I mean you did a good job!” Rowan smiled lightly.
“If you know why he said not bad, you would also say the same” the young instructor said with a smile.
“Then why did he say it?” the instructor was still unconvinced.
“Well since he doesn’t want to tell you, I am in no place to say it either” the young instructor shrugged his shoulders slightly.
“Who is that kid standing in between the queue?!” Rowan changed the topic smoothly.
“Huh? It seems like he has finally woken up” the young instructor said with some surprise.
“What do you mean finally woken up, did he fall into a dangerous situation on the way here?” Rowan asked skeptically.
“No, well, how do I put this, let’s call him over so that he could explain it to you himself”
“Hey, you indecisive kid, come here” the young instructor shouted, all attention immediately turned towards the rear where the instructors and the principal stood.