Chapter 1- Sand

The Academy City is the largest in the kingdom of Kolus. The academy, run by Viscount Garfield, is home to over two thousand blessed students and more than five thousand non-blessed students. While blessed students train to combat the hordes, the unblessed students study the sciences of the technological and divine, obviously leading to a large case of class discrimination as stars (What the blessed call themselves) look down upon the dulls. (What blessed call the unblessed)

One such dull is Alistar, a commoner with near-perfect grades and a full scholarship to the academy of Havord.

Today is the first day of the semester, and thousands flock to the main entrance of the academy. Meanwhile, Alistaris is having lunch on the edge of a cliff on school grounds. Slowly working on a pretty decent BLT from a local deli, he moves to grab a small book that contains some simple spell formations that can be used in ritual casting.

Opening and studying the book while eating, he begins to write out a few of the formations in the grass with a nearby stick. ‘Naturally, they don’t do anything, but it’s still good practice for the test next week’ he thinks to himself. 

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

While he isn’t paying attention, two stars walk up behind him, silently laughing. Suddenly one moves forward and begins scuffing the formations drawn on the ground, laughing.

“Oi, what’s a dull like you doing with formations, huh? Not like you could even use them! Here, let me take that for you.” Said the other, grabbing the book Alistair was reading.

Alistar immediately stood up and spun to face the book thief and tried to grab the book back. “Hey, Give that back! I need that for class!” He said, but the book thief kept moving the book just out of his reach, playing keep-away.

“Now why would I do that hmm? What’s in it for me?” The thief said, slowly walking towards Alistar, forcing him to step back. “Why would I, a star, give you, a dull, a book that is made for divine rituals?” He said, continuing to approach, forcing Alistar back further.

“Why would you even need something like this?” He said, waving the book around. “And what are you going to do to get it back?”

At this point, the face of the star is right in front of Alistar's own. Suddenly, Alistar kicks the man in the knee, forcing the book thief to drop the formation book and clutch his knee in pain.

The other star, serving this, runs over and shoves Alistar. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Attacking a star is basically a crime!” he yells and then begins to smile, shoving Alistar once more “You don't even have a noble title!”

Unfortunately, with the last shove. Alistar trips over a buried root, sending him stumbling backward. And to the horror of the two stars, off of the cliff.

“Oh shit, is he okay?” one said, looking over the cliff, not seeing anything.

The other comes over beside the first, “So what, nobody will miss him, he was only a dull after all. The better question is where the hell did all of this sand come from?”

As both looked around the cliff, they noticed a little too late that the edge they were standing on was turning into sand.