"Emilio, Emilio!"

Emilio snapped out of his thoughts at his friend's voice and looked around. He realized he had walked out of the room in an almost trance like state and had walked ahead without noticing he had passed Balsea.

"Oh." He stopped walking and turned to the fae. "I'm sorry. I was thinking about something."

"About what?"

Emilio shook his head. "Just about what Professor said…” he trailed off, pausing.

“What did he say?” Balsea asked excitedly, curious eyes trained on him.

Emilio looked at his friend, pondering. Balsea always looked like an overexcited human so it was almost easy to forget that they were a fae, a species of a higher dimension, one that is said to be connected to the Olden Spirits.

"Balsea, what do you know about … the Olden Spirits?" He asked slowly, a bit hesitantly, because the Olden Spirits seemed to be a … hard subject to speak of for Professor Clandor.

"What?" Balsea asked in a confused voice.

"You know… the Spirits? The Six Spirits that represent the elements?"

The fae's eyes lit up. "Oh, the Fehshòk!"

"Feh… shook?" Emilio blinked at him, confused.

They nodded. "Yes. That's what we call them. In your language, it means the Originators."

"Originators?"

"Yes," the fae nodded. "Humans seem to think the Fehshòk created only the elements. But we know that the Fehshòk created this beautiful world and everything in it!"

"The Spirits created the world?" He asked, blinking. Indeed, there were some mythologies that pertained to the world as the creation of the Spirits. But Emilio always thought those were just that. Myths.

Balsea nodded. "Yes, they created this world."

"But then … what about the gods?" He asked softly. Because most theological books - especially the Sacred - would definitely have them believe that the gods were the ones to create the world.

Balsea shook his head. "The gods you humans worship came later, in order to regulate different aspects of the world. They did not create the world."

He frowned slightly, grateful for the fact that they were inside the Academy where the Temple's hands did not reach. Balsea's words would be considered blasphemy. While the reverence of the gods was not as prevalent in Aeloria as it was in the Kingdom of Sylpharena, but the people still believed in and worshipped the gods enough that words against them would lead to a public beating at the very least and the Temple had a nasty habit of wanting to 'reform' the people they believed were 'disbelievers'. It wasn't a pretty process.

"If…" Emilio frowned thoughtfully for a moment, wondering how to frame his thoughts. "If … the Spirits created this world, why don't … humans know of them? Why don't they bestow powers on humans to make them their emissaries? Why do we not worship them?"

Balsea threw their head back and laughed. "Oh they don't need to! Where do you think humans get their cores? How do you think the Elves are so attuned to nature and Dwarves to the fire of the forge and the earth they get their metals from? What need do they have of worship? The Fehshòk watch their creations from the Higher Realms."

"Is it true that they walked among us?" Emilio had more questions burning in his mind, an insatiable curiosity starting to form. "If they did, why don't they do so anymore?"

"Oh they retreated to the Higher Realms once they sealed the Void."

Emilio startled.

He knew about the Void. Was there one person in the world who didn't know about the Void?

The Void.

A huge, twisting, swirling, black mass of nothingness situated in the Central Lands, which was said to be the centre of the world.

No one knew what it was.

No one knew where it came from.

It just … was.

It had always been there and there is a strong belief that it would always be there.

It was common belief that the Void held untold powers, nightmarish monsters and horrors the likes of which this world had never seen. It was something that most parents would use to scare their children into sleeping.

Most people were terrified of it. Many people were curious about it. There were stories of people venturing towards the Central Lands to learn about the Void. Most of them never returned.

Some … some worshipped it. He still remembered the very brief lesson he'd had on the Void. Those people… they believed that the world came from the Void. Out of its nothingness, came everything. Inside the Void, there was something unfathomable and eldritch.

Over the course of history, they had tried repeatedly to implement their beliefs on people, and to sacrifice people to the Void in order to 'open' it and 'unleash it upon the world'. There were scattered Sects of the Void Cult, as it was called, that operated with the sole purpose of bringing the Void to the rest of the world. They were thoroughly suppressed during the rise of the Age of the Gods, when people started getting divine powers from the gods in order to act as their emissaries in this world.

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He looked at Balsea. "The Spirits sealed the Void?"

They nodded. "Otherwise, that thing would have devoured the world. The exact details are not known. It happened a long time ago, even for us faes. But what we do know is that the Void was on the verge of destroying everything and they sealed it to protect the world. And then retreated to the Higher Realms!"

"Why?" He asked.

Balsea shrugged. "We don't know. Court Elder said that they did it for the good of the world. That they couldn't stay in the Lower Realms. And so, they left."

Emilio frowned deeper. He had gotten a lot of his answers, and a lot more questions.

"Why do we not know all this?" He asked.

They chuckled. "Humans have painfully short memories. And they are always busy fighting each other to remember what happened in the world before them."

True. The average human lived around 150 years, unless they reached Archmaster level. The average elf or dwarf lived somewhere around 250-300. He didn't know how long faes lived but it would be definitely more than most other species. So, it made sense that humans would have the shortest memory of all, especially considering the fact that the recording of human history dated back to a mere ten or so thousand years ago.

"We're here." Balsea spoke, pulling him out of his reverie. Emilio looked up to see they were in their next class.

Elemental Theory.

He let out a resigned sigh. He truly had nothing to learn here. Judging by the glares that the fifteen year olds around him were sending his way, they had the same sentiment.

It wasn't like he had a choice.

One week and then he could drop it.

He sighed softly and walked in.

The class went on fairly uneventfully. The Elemental Theory Class wasn't anything new for him. Professor Bael thankfully did not draw attention to him during the class. In fact, she seemed to ignore his existence mostly. After the class, she told him to stay and tested his knowledge like Professor Clandor did. She wasn't as intense about it. In fact, she was a bit … cold.

She suggested that he could easily be bumped into the second year of the Elemental Theory Class … if they had one. From the second year started the practice of elements, which was held in the Elemental Department. The separate department that the Archmaster had shown him yesterday.

"Therefore, there is no need for you to come back to this class," She concluded, narrowing her slanted eyes at him.

Emilio wished the words of a stranger didn't hurt as much as it did. He didn't allow any emotion to come across his face. He just nodded.

"Understood, Professor. I'll take my leave."

After that was the Runes class. This class was far more entertaining than the previous two. Runes was something he had never taken a particular interest in. But now, he felt as if he should have.

Every rune had a different meaning, some had a number of different meanings, and they could be used and combined in a variety of ways. Some runes were volatile, some were neutral, some were too inert to be used as a sole rune. And one rune could make hundreds, if not thousands, of combinations with others. They could be used to make artefacts, to create protective barriers, to make magical devices such as the portals and the map on the Student Card. Not that Emilio would be able to use it but the knowledge itself was so fascinating. Maybe he could go back and get Jeremiah started early.

The best thing about the class was the teacher, Professor Janus. A short, plump woman, with wide doe like eyes, a hop in her step and an excited glint in her eyes as she talked about runes. She clearly loved the subject. She was a good teacher too. For every aspect of a rune she covered, she would pause and ask if anyone had any questions. Even if no one raised their hands, she would summarise and ask again, a few more times. Her eyes settled multiple times on Emilio himself.

Once, he hesitantly asked a question about how a certain combination would work since both the runes seemed to be incompatible. There were a few scattered laughs. Clearly, he had asked something that was common knowledge among them. Emilio felt his ears burn.

"Quiet!" The Professor's voice turned sharp. "Two months ago, one of you asked me thr same question, even after I explained it in previous class. Thrice. So I'd think you'd be more conscious of someone who has not been given the opportunity to learn the same as you."

She then turned to him and smiled. "Yes. The Kano rune means opening and the Pertho means closing. These two are usually combined for protective barriers that only allows certain people to go in or out and debars others from doing the same. Since they are opposite, they need a bridge between them to coexist. For example, Aujin, which is the rune for connection. If we add Korin, which halves anything it is added to, the connection is also halved, allowing it to be half open and half closed. A semi open barrier. And now, to make it selective, we add the rune Krush, for recognition, the rune Cavyv, for mana and the rune Halyks, for allowance. And now, only those whose mana has been registered into the barrier can enter the barrier!"

Once again, those runes were all new to him. But judging by the way some of the students were nodding along, these were all things that had clearly been taught before. All the aspects of these runes and how they could be combined with others. They were like… numbers. You had to know how to compute and combine.

It was fun.

For the rest of the lesson, he didn't ask any other questions, feeling too hesitant after the students' reaction. He was determined to attack the library after this and get all the information he needed on runes.

After class, he was held back once again. But this time, the Professor asked a different kind of question.

"Do you have any questions?" She asked.

Emilio was startled for a moment. And then he felt excited. Maybe he didn't have to go to the library and fumble around after all. But then… he hesitated. He had a lot of questions. What if the Professor got irritated?

Professor Janus smiled. "It's alright. You can ask me anything. I don't have any other class today. And your friend can stay."

After another moment, he decided to throw his hesitation out the window and sat opposite to her. He asked everything that came to mind. The introductory runes, which ones he had to read up on, what they meant, which books he should read, could he make runic inscriptions without mana and if so, how, if a barrier was selective depending on mana then what about those without mana, what runes there were on the portal gate … and on and on and on.

The woman seemed to have the patience of a Saint. She answered all his questions, carefully, explained everything she could and didn't hesitate to say "I don't know" in answer to some of his questions, especially those related to absence of mana.

Sometime during their conversation, food was served on the table. Not he and the Professor were startled out of their conversation and he looked up to see Balsea smiling down at them.

"Well, you were too engrossed in your conversation to go to lunch so I brought some for you. You too, Professor!"

Emilio felt inexplicable warmth and gratitude bloom inside of him. "Thank you," He said softly.

They nodded. "Carry on, you two."

"Won't you eat?" Emilio asked.

"I don't really need to. Have fun!"

The next hour was spent in a deep conversation about different kinds of runes. Emilio felt up be caught up on at least two months' worth of runes taught by her. Still, he would have to check out the library for the books she recommended.

Unfortunately, the time ended far too soon.

The bell tolled.

Lunchtime was over.

It was time for the specialties classes.