PROOFREAD BY DAYLIUS

The month of the goat, day 30. The day for me to set forth for the academy had arrived finally. Nordin had woke me up early, like a dad would his son. He had then urged me to get ready as soon as possible.

Once I had finished with my morning routine, we then set off to the city in the horse carriage in which I first arrived to the manor. When we reached the city, we walked towards the arena where we were supposed to assemble. The arena where I had my test was now in my view and near it i could see a sea of children and older people. We walked towards the arena and we could hear a person in white robe, similar to the guy who had overseen my test, shouting.

"Students of Aduxria to my right, Edelnerry in the middle and Itiferth to my left. Stand in a single line. You will be taken to your respective schools by the headmasters of the respective schools. And do not bother trying anything funny.

Once the announcement was over the students began forming line and so did I. I bid my farewell to Nordin and walked over to the area where the students of Itiferth were to align themselves.

It took a little while for the students to form a line. I looked to my left and I could see the students of the other two schools. The line for Aduxria only had six students while that for Edelnerry had a little over fifty or so. Compared to them my line was overflowing with students, what you would call a swarm of bees. I estimated there to be more than two hundred of us. The line stretched endlessly in both directions. While I was busy with my thoughts the headmasters of the school moved themselves to the start of the line. The three then began to chant some spells. From what I could hear, they were chanting the same thing. The chant was short and when it finished, I could see the air behind them distort and warp. Soon the air split and ripples began to form. In seconds there was what a gamer would call a portal in front of us. I was shocked, a portal! That was something that I had only seen in games and movies but to see it in real life was shocking. But before I could bring down the wave of emotion and astonishment inside me, the headmasters spoke together.

"Welcome students, please enter one by one"

One by one the students disappeared inside the portal. The other two lines had finished within an hour or so but mine moved like a snail. The constant standing had begun to cause pain in my legs. The same applied to the others as they began to sit on the ground but were soon forced to stand by their own parents.

'Sigh!' I sighed with frustration, cursing the fate and gods that made me stand in such a long queue. It took another couple of hours for my chance to arrive. We were served lunch by the men in white robes. Some students had brought food while some had not. For those who did not bring anything like myself, we were provided a loaf of bread and some water.

I finished my lunch as soon as possible and walked forward to the portal. I wanted to get to the other side as soon as possible but before I could enter it, I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.

Looking behind me, I saw three of the headmasters together and that I was stopped by Aduxria's head master.

"Is there a problem Mr. Holdos." I asked not masking my frustration.

"Nothing at all you Calmor. My friends here just wanted to meet you. It seems they want to have a chat with you."

"Sigh!" I could not help but give off a sigh which amused the headmasters. I then faced the two and asked,

"Hello Sir"

"Hello Zeph" the one who talked was the head master of Aduxria. " My name is Morgod, and this here is Ternof. We heard you took the test before you met the requirement for an alien. Is it true?"

"Requirement? There was a requirement?" I was confused for a moment but suddenly things became clear."Ah you mean the requirement about the days. Yeah i did. I took the exam on the third day after i was given the mana pill."

After I finished saying my line three looked at me like I was some exotic animal. I looks at Morgod in his eye not knowing the reason for there morbid expression.

"Is something wrong? I was told that taking the test before the required days was allowed."

"Of course there is no such rules but normally people would wait for the pill to finish its job. Why were you so eager to take the test and enter the school in such a rush."

"I did not want to waste a year doing nothing. I was told that the only way to learn how to survive was taught in schools. So I had no other option but to take part in the test. And now here I am as a student of Itiferth."

"Is that so. In that case let me come to the main reason we wanted to talk to you."saying so the two headmasters stretched a letter each. The letters had the symbol of the respective school and my name on them. I stared at them for a while and then back to the two who were stretching them.

"We would like you to transfer to either of our school. Your potential and ability is not something that should be trained by those of Itiferth."

The last statement took me aback. Till now I had thought the three of them to be friends but the way Morgod denounced Itiferth showed me that things for not like what I though.

"I am sorry. I am not interested. I do not have the financial ability to afford your schools nor does my clan"

"Ah. Do not worry. If you join either of our school you will be taken under a different clan which is much better than the one that is sponsoring you."

"My answer is still no. I do not like either of you. Everything is fine the way things are so I will stick with Mr. Holdos and Itiferth. I believe there is nothing more to discuss about, then I shall take my leave." I gently bowed my head to Holdos and turned away from them and walked away. I could hear the chatters of the students who were watching all the things that were transpiring.

"You will regret it boy, turning your back at me is the worst mistake you could have committed."

I paid him no heed and walked. People like him that saw others as pawns to increase their fame and might were the ones I could stand the least. Clenching my fist, I walked into the portal not minding the gazes I was receiving.

'So troublesome' was the thought that ran through my mind for I was sure things would soon get hectic.

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The other end of the portal led me to the front of a huge but rusted iron gate. On both sides of the gate were equally huge stone walls. Above the gate, on an arc made of stones was carved the writing 'ITIFERTH ACADEMY'

'Rather than the gate of a school I would say this looks like the entrance to a haunted mansion.'

Looking around I saw the children who had arrived before me were being asked to stand in lines of five. In front of each line, there were five women dressed like the witches in the movies I had seen. The only difference was that rather than the dark coloured robe which was the normal attire for witches in the movies, their robes were all light coloured. The colour of their robe for some reason reminded me of the five basic affinities.

I too followed suite and arranged myself in the leftmost line. The woman that was governing my queue wore a white robe, to her side were women in blue, yellow, brown and the last one was green robed. From what I saw I could gather that the colour stood for air, water, fire, earth and life.

Once every student were transported the huge gates opened up on its own like it were being pulled by a strong pair of hands. The huge gate flung open and the five woman began to walk gesturing us to follow them.

On the other side of the gate was a huge open space and in the middle of the space was a worn out fountain which was as dry as a desert. I could see a number of mansion like building which were hardly maintained. There were patches of green here and there in the open space and so were stoney paths which ran here and there. I could hear occasional growls and roars which I assumed was some kind of beast. We stopped walking and now were in front of the fountain. To my left and right I could see a single building which was separated by another wall.

'Hm? A separate wall for each of them. Also why so far from the other buildings ahead of me. Storage? Secret buildings? Special classes?'

While my mind was spinning tales on its own I did not notice the headmaster standing before the assembly of new student. I was brought back from my mind castle by a loud and sudden greetings.

"Welcome young ones. Welcome to Itiferth academy. As you already know I am Holdos, the head master of this academy. With me here are the head of the different affinity departments. While you remain a student in this academy you will be under their supervision. Similarly each weapon departments too have head whom you will meet eventually. For now please follow these ladies. They will show you the way to your rooms."

After he finished his short introduction the headmaster flicked his fingers and another portal opened up behind him. As he walked in, the portal closed leaving us students to the five women.

Once the headmaster had left, woman in white stepped forward, she stretched her hand and on it was a swirling ball of air. The ball of air was swirling at a fast pace on her hand as if it were a tornado. Every student including me was astonished by the show. She then suddenly clenched her hand making the ball vanish.

"Hello every body, my name is Betsy, as you all might have already guessed, I govern the Air Affinity Department, AAD in short. I will also be in charge of the first years too. So if you have any problems you will find me in my office is in the A block. Every one of you have been provided with a map of the academy. Do look into it so that you can find your classes and please do not be late."

She then stepped back and the next one stepped in. This lady in blue had bubbles of water surrounding her which were floating in the air. Suddenly the water bubbles turned into fine needles then back to bubbles. With bubbles still surrounding her she spoke.

"I am Celitia, head of the Water Affinity Department and also the one in charge of second years as well as the boys dormitory. So you boys will be seeing me a lot.

And so the introduction continued with each showing a fraction of their powers. The next one to come was the one in yellow. She was called Deanna, head of the fire department and in-charge of the girl dormitory. After that was the head of the earth department. She introduced herself as Isabella and the one in-charge of those who wished to continue their studies after the compulsory two year education. Finally was the one who was the head of the life department, named Leann. Leann was in-charge of finance and also things regarding the yearly tournament.

With the introductions over, we were split into a group of boys and girls. Then Celia asked the boys to follow her while the girls followed Deanna. We boys were taken to the building which was surrounded by the walls. The left one belonged to boys and the right one was for girls. This solved the question about the existence of a building surrounded by separate walls.

Celia led us into the building. The door opened into to a large hall which was well furnished, contrary to the exterior of the building. The hall had paintings and sculptures everywhere and the walls of the room looked as bright as the morning sun. The hall had a number of doors and there was a pair of stairs at the other end. We were asked to align ourselves in the huge hall and she spoke again.

"This is where you will be staying till you graduate. The dormitory has five floors. You will be living in the fifth floor. All your belongings have already arrived and have been placed in your respective rooms. Each room is big enough to accommodate three of you. Each room has a name plate which has the names of the students who are supposed to occupy it. Now take the first door to your right and walk in. Have some rest, tomorrow we will be having another round of affinity test along with a test to check if you are compatible with a guardian. That is all."

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