I was what most people like to call a geek. My hair was bowl-shaped... or at least it should be if the bowls weren't chipped and the edge wasn't as straight as a dragon's mouth. The people that raised me were the priests of some minor god that I honestly wouldn't care to remember if it wasn't ingrained in me. I had quite the short stature too; I returned to the orphanage with a sore neck from looking up most days. But, the thing that earned me the title, 'Geek', wasn't any of those. It was mostly because of my wire-framed glasses with a few too many hairline cracks and enough tape holding it together that even the system described it as, "Something you would have to pay money to sell." The title could also be contributed to the fact that my intelligence stat was higher than most students in my grade while my physical stats were lower than everyone else in my grade (Except Roland, poor Roland has it even worse than me).
Today was the first day of school and even though we would only go over the basics like Synestiary formation; Orbital patterns; Chanting Basics; Geometric rune crafting; Basic magic and mana manipulation; and other more mundane topics like Algebra 3; Demonology; Geography; and Celestial History, it was a nervous time for me.
"Xan, you ready for the start of school?" I asked my best friend anxiously as I met up with him at the front doors. We both grew up at the orphanage together, and contrary to popular belief most orphans don't get along with each other. This is mostly due to the competition for magic resources, food, clothes, and even attention.
"Yeah, can't wait," Xan replied practically bleeding sarcasm. He was never one to care about the social hierarchy that came along with attending school, especially when you are an orphan.
Not only was today the first day of school, but it was also our first day in high school. We were some of the few kids at our orphanage that made it to this level of education and unlike my cranky friend, I was excited to learn, but also scared of what my new teachers would be.
Griam's High school of Qeulla.
That's the name.
It was the only public school available for the fifteen-mile radius around our orphanage. It was, for a lack of a better word, a dump. But, on the bright side we wouldn't meet any rich or noble kids there.
We had to and will continue to for the rest of our high school career, walk for over an hour to arrive there. By the time we had arrived I was more wet than dry in most places.
Sitting down in the desk prepared for me, I look around to see the faces of my new classmates. I already knew Xan wasn't going to be in my class because everyone in this class was more suited to become Hecates than Ares with their low physical attributes.
"Listen up all you stupid maggots. This may be your first day in school, but you will wish it was your last... Now that I've said that, I'm Daniel Quall. You may call me Mr. Quall, professor, or if you really want a beating, Daniel or Danny." He said with false anger. He continued with a creepily satisfied smile, "Today we're having a quiz. For every question you miss, you'll run 3 laps around the school. And when I say run, I mean run 'cause system forbid I will beat you to a pulp if I think otherwise."
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'System, what am I going to do?! I'm probably the slowest one here! Though...' I think while looking over at Roland (Poor Roland). His face is as white as a banshee and sweatier than Pontus' boxers.
"OK! First we'll go over the basics, the stuff you should've known since birth. Um... Roland? Yes, you in the back, the one covering his face. First question. How did our synestia form?"
"Our s...s-ynestia Asteria is believed to have formed from two protoplanetary disks at a high velocity and spinning rate that when they collided instead of forming a spherical planet it formed a synestia on which we live," Roland spoke with growing confidence because of the ease of the question.
"...Acceptable. Second question, Jennifer? This doesn't really fit a category, but it is still a serious question. Why is it that we have nine seasons every decade?"
Assuming the proud girl with blonde pigtails and a big chest standing up was Jennifer, she said confidently, "The reason why we have nine seasons every decade is that the goddess Gaia has blessed us with her gifts."
"Oh. She's one of those." About half the class could be seen thinking this. Most teachers didn't dare dispute the followers of major religions or cults like the cult of Chaos or Gaia church because of their large influence.
Some people actually thought their beliefs were true, others wanted power and backing, and some used it as an excuse like Jennifer for when they didn't know something, they say, "Because our Goddess gave us mortal humans their gifts" or such. Why is our synestia shaped like a donut? Gaia made it so. Why do demon beasts exist? Chaos made it so. Why can we use magic? The gods made it so.
"I won't deny that 'gods' or higher powers exist or that they may have had some influence in the makings of our universe, but we do have definitive proof that the 'gods' do not have direct responsibility for the creation of the nine seasons. Three laps for the wrong answer, and another six for trying to trick me. Don't look at me like that. I was once a student too you know." He said with a completely straight answer and with surprising confidence considering he just broke the highest unspoken taboo for a person, especially for a teacher. " What I'm about to tell you isn't known to the general public because it is an unconfirmed theory, but there lies truth within so listen closely. Once, thousands or millions or even billions of years ago, our solar system's star wasn't dead. This is something we do know, but it is believed that a catastrophic event like a battle between 'gods', or maybe THE battle between 'gods' took place and during the battle the Sun died. Not in the way you think though. One of the sun god like Helios, probably in a desperate situation, took the power of the Sun and used it in an attack. But that is not the point. The sun did not die because fusion in the sun was unsustainable. So every decade, like a fire hecate without enough mana for a spell, the sun builds up enough energy to restart fusion and it burns brightly. But because our two Gaia stars block the view we're unable to tell."
Everyone, including me, was on the edge of their seat eager to hear more.
"Mr. Quall, if that is true, why does it only happen once a decade and not continue?" Jennifer said, clearly still sour about having to run 9 laps later.
"Well, the answer is simple, I don't know. That isn't to say others don't though. One of my favorite theories is that someone does know or at least did know that we were to have 9 violent seasons once a decade and thought we couldn't protect ourselves from the effects and aftereffects so they cast a spell on the Sun. Either one to drain the energy or maybe even reverse time, or both. I just don't know."