I took a step forward with my palm pressed firmly against the door before me. It gave rather easily, swinging open gently to reveal a rather musty room within. Dim lights illuminated the room in a warm glow while long shadows were cast around the room.

There were already a handful of people inside of the room—Five in total, six now that I was amongst them. They all looked towards me with recognition on their faces, but no real animosity from any of them.

The majority of the figures were sitting around a circular table in the center of the room. The table’s surface was flat and rather polished giving it a reflective shimmer originating from the orange torchlight.

“Ah, there she is,” I turned my gaze to the only figure in the room who wasn’t sitting around the circular table. Instead he stood at the forefront of the room behind a desk, a book opened before him. “Find a seat Kirin, we will be starting soon.”

She was an older woman, probably close to sixty or seventy judging by the graying hair and wrinkled face. Her green eyes however still shined with life inside of them and her rosy red hair still had a youthful shine to it.

I opened my mouth but couldn’t quite muster any words to say, so instead I nodded politely at her and turned towards the table as my mouth closed. I took one of the seats remaining around the table, glancing at the four other people around it.

I was surprised when I looked at the people gathered around the table—Mostly by the fact that I could recognize one of the people sitting next to me. The girl who wasn’t much older than me who was on the stage the previous evening, Silva Helme.

She met my gaze with her sapphire-blue eyes, but only gave a nod of recognition before looking to the side. I couldn’t tell if she was just shy, or if she already held animosity towards me. I however didn't have time to think over it when an extremely peppy voice broke my thoughts.

“Hi!” The voice beamed from right next to me. Turning my head I locked eyes with what I assumed to be a male, but his figure was just androgynous enough that I wasn’t sure. His face was rather rounded with a soft chin, piercing azure-blue eyes with a matching sky-blue tone of hair. “I’m Hicoran, though Hico’s fine too!—You?” He asked as his hand was offered forwards.

“Uhm… Kirin, nice to meet you?” I answered as I rather uncomfortably took his hand. In turn he began to shake my arm up and down with far too much enthusiasm.

“It’s fantastic to meet you! I’ve been so curious ever since last night! That was so cool seeing you get pulled up there! I never would have thought someone like Carmine Ferini would do something like that!” Hico began rattling off all the while he kept shaking my arm violently. It took several more passes of his motion before I pulled my hand back somewhat forcibly. “Oh!—Sorry…” He mumbled as I rubbed my now aching shoulder.

“It’s fine… just a little less enthusiasm? And I didn’t expect it either, she just threw that at me.” I mumbled out. Hico nodded along with his continued and barely muted enthusiasm as I glanced away. Silva kept her eyes firmly upon the table, while the last figure in the room didn’t say a single word. She was however glaring daggers at me, and it was only once I stared at her heterochromatic complexions that I realized she was a second person I recognized.

“It’s completely absurd is what it is,” Lucia spat out, her tone was icy and grating just to listen to. “A commoner, not to mention a filthy Vulender being sponsored by one of the most powerful families in the country. And of course it’s just my luck to have to share a class with you.”

My eyes narrowed into a matching glare when Lucia spoke. I could already remember my vivid discontentment with her when Levi had brought me to meet the other students, not to mention the tension that carried over even now.

“Not even going to give a snobby remark? My my, Tulip must have already corralled you in. I almost feel bad for her, a princess having to deal with scum like you.” Lucia continued to jab. Every word she spat out sent a wave of cold air across the table that I could feel washing across my face.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” Hico piped up. His peppy smile and voice turned into a vocalized threat cast across the table. “She did nothing and you’re already insulting her? What’s your deal?!”

“What’s my deal?” Lucia repeated, her gaze now narrowed upon Hico. “My deal is that the daughter of a good-for-nothing sl—”

“That’s enough!” An overpowering voice brought the entire room to silence. Hico quickly fell back into his seat while my jaw clenched even tighter. Lucia began wearing a smug smile across her face, but Silva winced when the loud voice shouted out. “Are you all quite done now?” The elderly woman spoke again as she walked calmly over to the table.

“Yes Miss Amelia ma’am!” Hico piped up anxiously.

“Yes ma’am.” Lucia replied coldly. Her gaze still sat narrowed upon me for several more moments before she turned to watch the teacher—Amelia.

“All of you are just arguing like children… I’ll end up losing what few years of life I have left in this decrepit old body because of you two.” Amelia spoke coldly as she glanced between Lucia and Hico. With a sigh she placed her hand upon the circular table, shaking her head a little.

“Now then, Kirin was it?” Amelia asked as she looked at me. I nodded my head in confirmation before she continued. “This is a special table that will be helping us in these classes. Watch along now.”

Once Amelia placed her hand upon the glossy surface of the table a shimmering grid pattern came to life upon it. Between the luminous white lines of the grid grains of sand began to surface, spiraling around to gradually take a more cohesive shape while at the same time dyes began to leak in from different sections. Parts of the sandy creation changed from tanned yellow to a deep blue, while others were a rocky gray and more were white, green, or brown.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

All of them began to coalesse together into a single larger shape that resembled a large rock at first. It took me several moments of staring at it to realize what it actually was.

“A continent?” I thought. My eyes shined with wonder at the sight before me. I could see individual valleys and rivers carved into the miniscule grains of sand while others took the shape of small trees and grand mountains. Ranged divided multiple sections of the lower half of the continent, leaving the middle barren and untouched with a gargantuan desert just north of those southern mountains.

Even further north was a grandiose jungle that continued onwards until it was harshly stopped by yet another mountain range, beyond which lay nothing but icy wastes and a series of incredibly large mountains at the northern peak.

“This is at the current point in time the most accurate map of the continent we reside upon; Enadelle.” Amelia spoke calmly, a smile spreading across her face once she saw the wonder in my eyes.

“Amazing…” I muttered out as little more than a whisper. I kept trying to take in every single detail I could, but there was just so much that I couldn’t take it all in.

“Indeed our world is incredible, isn’t it?” Amelia kept her smile up as she procured a long stick from the side of the table she stood next to. “Let us catch you up to where everyone else is quickly.”

Lucia let out a very loud and even more annoyed groan at Amelia’s words. However the elderly woman didn’t give the bratty girl the joy of an answer, only a quick glare before she began.

“Starting with the most basic parts of the world. The five nations that make up Enadelle; The human lands of Berinia. The Dwarven mountains of Great Peak. The great wetlands of Oni and Ogre alike; Alcor. The Elven lands of Elligorse. And lastly; the Oceanid Island.” Amelia spoke as she pointed to five distinct points upon the grand map.

First she pointed at Berinia, located in the very south of the continent. The entire country was cradled between a large half-circle of mountains that continued until they reached the ocean. The rest of the nation bordered the ocean with three major cities marked alongside its mass. I could only recognize one of the three; Arcadia which stood at the very south upon the end of a peninsula. Two other cities sat in different points further north, one was just at the end of the alcove that carved out the peninsula Arcadia sat upon, while at the far north hugging the mountains sat a third large city.

The second nation; Great Peak, had far less detail carved into it compared to any other place on the map. Only a single city was visible on the entire map while the rest of the nation was an endless mountain range that sat divided only by a river to separate it from the mountains that carved out Berinia’s territory.

To the East sat Alcor. The nation was almost an island itself, the only part connecting it to the rest of the continent was their border with Berinia. They had five cities marked out upon the map, three sat in the north all next to marked bridges that lead into the Elven deserts. Farther south sat two more cities, and to the far east upon a lonely island connected by three bridges sat a massive city that I could easily assume to be their capital.

The next nation she pointed to I was already somewhat familiar with. Elligorse. A total of eight cities sat marked out upon the map, with four in the desert and another four inside of the massive jungles. I had no idea which cities I had been to with Tulip—I didn’t even know if they were marked upon this map, but I took in all the information I could.

There are a surprising number of rivers cutting through the massive desert of the Elven Lands, the desert itself almost encircling the jungle on all ends with only relatively thin sections of trees managing to reach all the way out to the eastern and western oceans. At the northern end the entire country was blocked off by the second largest mountain range on the entire map.

Even further north was a barren ice field with nothing marked upon it other than three lonely mountain ranges. One of those three ranges however had a peak that was utterly massive. None of the marked cities could have been any taller than my hand if I had it flat upon the table, while this mountain was nearly as tall as my forearm was long.

Finally, all the way on the south-eastern corner of the map was a lonely island. Miniscule in comparison to the continent—It was even smaller than the Alcoran capitol city according to the map. Upon it sat a single city, belonging to the oceanids… whatever they were.

“Do you have any questions, Kirin?” Amelia asked once I finished examining the map. I spent several moments thinking before I had the questions that I wanted to know the answers to.

“What’s that massive mountain in the north?” I asked first, my eyes settling upon the grand peak.

“That is the mountain known as ‘Skypiercer.’ Legends have it that it is where the ancient gods went to die.” Amelia answered quickly.

“Is there nothing in the north at all?” I inquired.

“Nothing that we know of. However, the Elves built a secure complex to block ground passage to the north between the mountain passes between the Elven Ranges, so it is possible that something lives up there.” Amelia once again answered.

“Is there anything beyond the ocean that’s marked on the map?” I once again asked quickly. The furthest the map went out was to Oceanid Island. There was nothing beyond that, so I was rather curious.

“Once you reach two thousand miles off of the continent you reach something known as ‘The Edge of the World.’ It is an unknown, great barrier. While it appears that there is nothing there explorative sailors have stated that they get a growing sense of impending doom the closer they move towards it. No one truly knows if anything exists beyond it, as anyone who is said to have sailed through has never returned.” Amelia answered. She held a smile upon her face, if anything she seemed happy to have someone asking questions.

I was silent for several moments just to register what I had been told. The edge of the world? It sounded completely absurd—And yet the certainty with which Amelia spoke about it left me rather certain that it was a real thing. Or that she at the very least believed it was.

“If that is all of your questions, let us begin the lesson for today.” Amelia spoke calmly after I was silent for several moments. I honestly still had questions that I wanted to ask her, but the glare Lucia gave me forced me to relent. Hico seemed just as intrigued with everything I asked as I was, and SIlva… I couldn’t read her at all. She just had a thousand-yard stare sitting upon her face.

I nodded at Amelia’s words, leaning back in my seat. I listened as she began her lesson about the world—The subject almost immediately turning from interesting to unbelievably boring once she began speaking about how mountains formed.