A roar of cheers echoed through the halls. Damon and many in his group shouted and screamed at the welcome. The joy and excitement in the hall was overwhelming. Even the Professors and Dean up on the platform couldn’t help but smile at the eager and excited children.

  The Dean lifted his hand and the cheers slowly died out after witnessing his actions.

  “Awakeners, young heroes, I understand your eagerness and anticipation to learn about the world of Elementals. But, before you leave this hall you must first understand the responsibilities that come with entering the world of Elementals.” The Dean adopted a serious tone that lowered the heightened atmosphere down to a more serious and solemn one.

  “I am sure you heard the stories, bad and good…” The dean paused for a moment before continuing “With you now walking the path of an Elemental, these stories you heard can no longer be seen as just stories.” Dean Fray scanned the crowd below with a serious expression.

  “They are lessons: The Civil War, The Crimson War, The Starry Nights…These events and the many like it should no longer repeat themselves. History is meant to teach those listening to understand the mistakes, the failures and the successes of our predecessors. We must choose wisely how we journey the path ahead." The Dean paused.

  "Because the journey will always inspire the result.”

  The Dean’s serious demeanor soon morphed into a friendly neighborhood grandpa as he spoke with a smile. “Grant.” The moment he called out, a black and blue haired young man in his twenties donned in purple robes walked out of the hallway to make his presence known.

  “With that being said, go forth young heroes. Go and create the path that many others will proudly follow.”

  ***

  The afternoon sun bore down with sweltering heat, attacking the many people under its gaze. Although the summer was ending and the fall season was entering, the heat was still unbearable. The many folks of the Academy from servants to guards and students to professors everyone was feeling the effects. The only group who held no care for the heat was a crowd of around five hundred kids happily touring the Academy, their new home for the next five years.

  Walking towards whatever destination they were heading to, Damon and his future classmates took the opportunity to take in their surroundings, pointing out scenes that caught their eye.

  “Look at the building over there it has fire blowing out of it.” Rodrick pointed out a black and red building that resembled a tower with five floors releasing occasional bursts of fire from each floor.

  “Look at those trees. They’re huge. And look at all the different colors of leaves.” Is that a deer? The thing over there, look.” They pointed at a deer with three pupils enjoying its day traversing the woods of the Academy that could be entered through the Wind District.

  “What are those for?” The question on everyone’s mind was the same as the speaker as they were staring at the staircase that led to a platform around a half a dozen meters above ground in confusion and curiosity. A fair emotion to be had as the area they were in was the Lightning District.

  “What are those?” “They look like they have been for a long time.” Six boulders laid in a circle surrounding a pedestal that held a small rock was the next spectacle to catch the attention of the kids. “Maybe it’s to help the Earth Elementals to control their powers.”

  “Is that a Lake? Behind those buildings.” Sunny spotted a crystal clear body of water laying in between a cluster of what appeared to be huts.

  The crowd of Awakeners were enjoying the sights they were getting with their tour of the Academy. Visiting all five districts and spotting all sorts of interesting sights from buildings to natural resources to animals and even people.

  “Look over there, they’re training.” Damon pointed to a group of around a dozen teenagers standing side by side in a line on a small clearing that seemed to be used for training as they were just about to leave the Water District to reach the center of the Academy where they will be learning for their first year.

  The group of teenagers stood still in blue robes billowing from the breeze as they were being instructed by a man in black robes with a blue water emblem on his chest. Although they couldn’t hear what he was saying, he must have been teaching them ways to control water because the moment he stopped speaking, the small group pulled out the canteens on their waists and opened them up.

  The moment they did water slowly came flowing out the canteen to form a floating ball of water in front of them.

  The magical sight kept the Academy’s arrivals, frozen in awe. An amusing sight it must have been as laughter broke out in front of them. The around five hundred Awakeners whipped their heads to the noise spotting a teenage girl donned in similar blue robes to the rest of the students here in the Water District.

  “Forgive me, you all just made quite a sight.” The girl giggled before fixing the blue strand that escaped her bun behind her ear after giving a bow. “ I am Kriston Laurel. Second year. Pleased to meet you all.” Kriston smiled before spotting the young man in purple robes leading the group making his way from the front to the back to stand in front of her. “Oh, hello cousin-I mean Assistant Professor Laurel.” The blue haired girl bowed her head once again after seeing the tall man.

  “Hello Kriston. Do you mind telling me why I see you out here but not with your class down there?” Assistant Professor Laurel spoke with a hint of reprimand hidden in his voice.

  Kriston could only let out a nervous giggle at the question before she quickly looked over her shoulder to shout “What was that Professor, you want me down there? I’ll be right there.” After answering the voice only she could hear, she turned back towards the frowning future Professor and the smirking first years behind him “You heard him,” She pointed her thumb behind her. “Gotta go.”

  Damon watched the girl rushing down the stairs with her blue hair nearly leaving its bun with a smile of amusement.

  “Ahem.”

  Rodrick cleared his throat beside him pulling Damon’s attention but before he could lay his eyes on Rodrick, he locked eyes with a pair dark brown eyes, nearly black.

  Damon smiled at Amelia who quickly turned her head and began to walk with the group.

  “Uh oh. A lovers quarrel? Tut tut.” Rodrick whispered into Damon's ears resulting in a glare.

  “Shut up. What about you? What happened to Kira?” The name instantly brought an aura of gloom around the tall mustached teenager. Rodrick didn’t even bother saying anything. Instead, all he did was point with his chin and Damon following the direction found Kira and Tristan walking together. Sunny and Baron walked in front of them leading the way.

  Damon pointed at the pair of boys and said “I could’ve sworn they were right beside us.”

  Rodrick, annoyed, explained “They wanted to know about the history of the place.” With a roll of his eyes he continued “ So what if he’s from a Great House. Its history couldn’t compare to the other Great Houses here. He probably doesn’t even know that much more than us.” Rodrick ended his complaints with a fold of his arms as he kept side-eyeing the group.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Damon could only leave his friend alone with his jealous thoughts as he continued to scan his surroundings. Building after building entered his sights. Damon was at first confused at the numerous buildings he spotted because as far as his knowledge goes, the number of students registered into the Academy should not have exceeded more than twelve hundred and the number of Professors and other staff should not be more than two hundred. The amount of buildings he spotted should at least be around two hundred.

  But during the tour, he found out that many of the buildings were used as training facilities, storages, supplies made for the Academy and then dorms for the workers that man them.

  After leaving the Water District, they began to make their way towards the center of the Academy to an island in the middle of all five districts that was connected by five bridges each leading to a district.

  The one in front of them was the bridge connected to the Water District. A drop of water was the emblem embedded into the ground in front of the stone bridge to help understand where you stood.

  Damon followed the bridges connecting to the island to find it held no other buildings but one.

  The building, unlike the others from the five districts, held no elemental color. The tall building was bare of any bright colors. The large midnight colored building consists of ten floors and is the center of knowledge for all Elementals. It is why it is known as the heart of both the Academy and Republic.

  Humanity’s Gift.

  Those were the words that welcomed the Awakeners on the other side of the bridge, from a giant plaque that was hanging from in between the ninth and tenth floor of the tower.

  “This building here is called the ‘Heart’ for the inhabitants here or ‘Humanity’s Gift’ for those outside.” Professor Laurel’s face was filled with reverence as he looked up at the tower in front. Standing this close to the lone building was just enough for the Awakeners to feel the grand and ancient aura exuding from the tower.

  “It earned the name after the Great War due to it giving birth to the first generation of the Lords of Elements. The Heroes of Humanity.” Professor Laurel wore a proud look on his face as he continued. “Humanity’s Gift. The name it bears has lived up to its origins for thousands of years. Heroes in the forms of Divine Generals and Lords of Elements have entered this building as budding heroes before leaving it as ‘Heroes’. Heroes worthy of the title”

  The words put the ambitious bunch in a trance, imagining themselves saving people, having people chant their names in reverence or having tales told about their life hundreds of years in the future.

  “Right,” Professor Laurel clapped his hands together bringing everyone out of their reverie to focus on him and the next words he was about to say.

  “Well I believe that should be the end of the tour everyone.” Professor announced to the five hundred Awakeners who groaned in response.

  “We can’t go in?” Himel Killian voiced out his complaint only for the girl in her teens, Esther Yara who stood beside him to elbow his arm.

  Assistant Professor Laurel smiled at the sight before explaining. “Well we can't, not everyone is here.” His explanation immediately resulted in raised brows and glances to their surroundings wondering who was missing.

  Assistant Professor Laurel prepared himself for what happened next as he knew what was to come once he voiced the other half of the explanation.

  “The Southern Kingdoms and the Eastern Isles will be attending the Academy. They will be here tomorrow…” He couldn’t even get to the latter half of his explanation before his prediction came true.

  Chaos.

  “The Southern Kingdoms?”

  “We’re going to learn with traitors?”

  “And thieves. Why in the Spirits, weren’t we given notice?”

  “Does my father know of this slight?”

  “My brother died in the Southern Borders. How in the Spirits am I supposed to learn with my brother's killers?”

  Questions and statements of disbelief and hatred were thrown at the now frowning Professor Laurel.

  “Ahem”

  After a minute of constant complaints, Professor Laurel finally chose to butt in by clearing his throat and it was enough for the chaos to die out.

  “ I understand your frustrations, believe me. Many of my ancestors have died fighting the Southern Kingdoms at the borders or during the many wars and the Eastern Isles have been a long time enemy of my House. I was angry as well when I was told of these plans. But…” Professor shared his thoughts before trying to explain to the angry children in front of him. “But don’t you want this to all end? This a chance for there to be no more bloodshed. No more pain. No more hate. If this succeeds we will be halving the world's problems and making our descendants' lives much easier”

  Professor Laurel scanned the more tamed Awakeners for a moment before taking this chance to separate them. “ Well, just think about it. You should all know where your dorms are, head there now and get yourselves ready for tomorrow. The sun is coming down and Classes will begin tomorrow once the bells toll and those doors behind me will open for you budding heroes. For you, Heroes of Tomorrow.”

  ***

  Damon and eleven others stood beside him, staring at an old man slouched over sleeping behind a desk.

  Ding ding

  “Sir, hello? Sir?” Damon watched a short blonde chubby girl wave her hands at the sleeping old man, something she has been doing for the last five minutes.

  “Ughh, Forget it. I guess it's your turn.” Damon frowned before focusing on the old man behind the desk that they have been trying to wake up for the last half an hour.

  “Sir, please wake up. We’ve been here for nearly an hour. Our legs are killing us sir.” Damon pleaded for the man to wake up and give them their keys.

  “Like I said, just jump over the table and grab our keys.” A platinum blond haired boy similar in age to Damon, only taller, rolled his green eyes before once again suggesting his idea that was brought up earlier but was rejected, only now gaining support the more time passed.

  The chubby blond girl replied to the boy's suggestion “You keep saying that but I have never seen you take one step towards the desk.” A sneer soon formed on the chubby girl’s face “Why don’t you do it? You’re the one that keeps suggesting the idea.”

  “How about you get over the table? Afraid it’ll break?”

  “What did you just say, pretty boy?” The chubby girl with trembling cheeks and tearful eyes glared at the blond boy who rolled his eyes at her gathered tears.

  “Should I repeat it?”

  The question pulled a fighting reaction out of the chubby blond girl who ran to the cause of her tears only for her to be pulled back by a pair of girls who were the only other girls amongst those who Awakened the Lightning Element.

  “ What’s going on here?” A voice from the entrance interrupted the soon-to-be fight. All eyes shifted over to find a teenage boy with a blonde buzzcut standing at the doorway of the building donned in golden robes.

  Silence was the only answer the teenager in golden robes received, an answer he wasn’t a fan of. “ I am not going to repeat myself again, what is going on here?”

  The chubby girl wiping her tears, pointed at the sleeping old man behind the desk before explaining their troubles.

  The boy in gold robes after hearing the tale frowned before he marched his way over to the slouched old man. “Did you enjoy the show, old man? If you did, reward them with their keys to their dorms.”

  All twelve Awakeners immediately frowned after hearing this, before scrutinizing the old man.

  Damon doing the same spotted a twitch in the side of the old man’s mouth and instantly felt enraged.

  “If you don’t. I will shoot down to the Heart to report you again.”

  “Ugh.” A groan left the old man once he heard the boy. Rubbing his eyes, he squinted at the younger kids before saying “ Ah, new Awakeners. Why didn’t you wake me? Mhm? Jasper, what are you doing here?” The old man feigned surprise at his visitors causing those around him to glare at him. Ignoring the glares he reached down underneath the desks and pulled out a few keys. “The boys take the left stairs and the girls take the right. Enjoy your stay.” The old man placed the keys on the counter before smiling.

  Damon, annoyed and tired, just chose to grab his keys and dart to his assigned room. Once there, he opened the door and took a scan of the room. There wasn’t much. It had a bed, a small window above it and a wardrobe on the opposite side of the bed. Although quite plain, it was enough.

  Diving into his bed, Damon stared up at the ceiling with a smile. A smile of excitement and anticipation for what was to come before going to bed.

  His first day.