A bright September morning. The golden sun lets its rays touch all across my room. That's when I hear the footsteps and soft, low grumbling of my parents' voices.
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"Iris, it's time to get up." I hear my mother call from outside my bedroom door. I jump up already excited for the day. "Coming!"
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My name is Iris Araginee. And I was one of the many students starting their first year at the Academy. I quickly make my way downstairs as I see my dad getting his shoes on.
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"Dad! I'm so excited!" I say, almost pushing him over for a hug.
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"I am too," he gives my forehead a small kiss. "Now hurry before breakfast gets cold." he slightly nudges me to the dining table. In front of a chair was a quick breakfast of eggs, bacon, and a piece of raisin toast.
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"Oooh.." I say as my mouth starts to water.
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"Iris, it's not for you to look at. Hurry up and eat it so you can put some proper clothes on..." My mother declares. I quickly, but carefully, stuff the breakfast into my mouth and hurry back upstairs to change clothes. I trip up the stairs, stumbled into my closet, and pick my signature light orange dress. I brush my hair back into its shiny wavy state, add my nice little pigtail to the side, and grab my suitcase. The wheels of my bags go down the stairs with loud thumps as I drag them down to the floor.
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"Are we ready to go?" My father asks. Mom looks at me. "Not quite.."
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She goes behind me, and I feel a sudden cool line touch around my neck. Looking down, a shiny butterfly charm sparkled as its wings filled with colors of the rainbow.
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"It's your present for making it to the Academy. I want you to keep it on at all times. Who knows, it might have the key to unlocking your true abilities."
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I nodded. "Mhm! I'll make sure that nothing ever happens to it!"
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"Good. Now let's hurry before the rest of the students pass by."
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I hopped to the door and let it swing open. Students from all over the different districts had come to walk in a big parade, singing, and chanting. Some were even playing music and throwing confetti around.
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"Go have fun. We'll catch up with you later." Dad says as he lets me go. I step out into the street and the parade of students. I wave to my parents, who wave back at me with a smile. I stop waving and immediately run into someone.
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"Woah there." he says in a half-joking tone.
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I turn back to see a very familiar face. "Sorry about that..." I apologize.
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"No no, it's fine Iris."
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"Wait...Jake? Jake Kaliber?"
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"Iris Araginee, long time no see."
I give him a big hug. He hugs me back with double the strength.
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"I forgot you were starting the same year as me! I'm so happy to see you!"
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"Same to you, Rainbow Butterfly."
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Jake was my best friend since elementary school, but we haven't been able to talk to each other since he left for the Kingdom District. His mother, Delmira, had been training him for the last few years.
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"So have you been able to talk to any of the others before me?"
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We begin having some conversation, and dance to the music blaring around us. Looking ahead, I could see the large meadow that cut between the City District and the Academy.
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"Looks like a long walk." I say, preparing to pick up my suitcase.
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"I got it," Jake grabs my bag. "It would be rude of me to make a girl carry her bags."
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I allow him to carry my suitcase as I look across the line where the city and meadow meet. We take a light step as the hard concrete turned into soft luscious grass. Inhaling, I feel the warm breeze play with my hair.
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" It's so beautiful..." I say.
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I keep looking around as we cross the grass and right into the entrance of the Academy. Its tall structure almost felt like it was judging us from above as I started back at it. The crowd fell silent. I hear a metal lock click, and the door menacingly swings open. I feel the warm breeze fade out as I step past the door. The hallways were dark. There was no one there to greet us...
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Then, just at the end of the hall, two large metal doors open. I walked into the room, which seemed to be a battleground of some kind.
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I feel the aura of multiple students as they try to illuminate the room.
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"I see everyone's aura is plenty strong already!" A familiar voice echoes. The lights suddenly blare on, and confetti flutters to the floor as our announcer greets us.
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"Welcome students, to the Academy!" Ringmaster Poppy says as she points her hat towards the sky. That's when everyone started to cheer.
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She quiets everyone down. "Alright alright, I know you kids wanna party, but let's get the important stuff done first."
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She jumps off the stage and motions us to come with her. Confused, we follow.
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"I'll be right back everybody!" She announces. Everyone left in the room went back to chattering. The eight students, the eight descendants of the Creative Ones walk silently into an extra side room.
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Jake and the others started to get to know the other students. I look in the corner, where a boy, sitting by himself, had his face in a book. I decided to approach him.
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"Uh, hi-"
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He quickly slams his book shut and begins listening to me.
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"Ahem...hi, I'm Iris. Nice to meet you."
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"A-Arelin...and same to you..." he picks up the book again and starts flipping the pages back to where he left off.
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"Uh...Iris...you mind giving us a hand?"
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"Huh? What's wrong?"
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"N-None of your business!" The screaming voice says in English. I tilt my head at the girl. She looked back with an angry stare. "And keep your eyes to yourself!" she throws galactic magic into my face. "A-AGH! IT BURNS!" I rub my eyes.
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"Don't rub it in, It'll make it worse," Another voice enters the room. "Now Aluise, what did we say about attacking people?"
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"...Whatever..."
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With the snap of a finger, the irritating feeling was gone and I could see once again. Another child of The Creative Ones stood before me, my cousin, Espero.
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"Heyo Iris...nice seeing you again."
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"Hey, Esp! Long time no see!" I hug him. After releasing the embrace, he grabs his suitcase and walks to the door.
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"Hey, where are you going?"
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"I'm not in the same class as you, I'm the oldest, remember?" he says, using his psychical powers to open the door for himself. It only took a couple of seconds before Espero was being pushed back in by my Uncle Damien.
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"Right...I'm supposed to be tutoring you guys.."
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I wave to my uncle with a big grin on my face.
"Hi, Uncle Damien!"
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He waves back. Espero throws his bag into a corner.
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My mother also walks in the door.
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"Thanks for being the Combat teacher Damien. We appreciate it."
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"No problem, sis.." he says with a sigh.
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"Wait, Mom, what about you?"
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"I have...other matters to attend to. I'll see you after you get settled into your rooms." with grace, she disappears.
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"So, how about we learn more about each other?"
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Aluise scoffs. "That sounds dumb.."
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Espero lightly nudges her in response. "Aluise.."
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"What? It did.." she turns her head.
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"I see we're introducing ourselves."
A lunar aura approaches us, a small sparkling breeze. "And I haven't forgotten about you guys, I'm happy to see all of you again."
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"So...now what?" Arelin asks.
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"I guess we wait for our teachers to arrive," I announced.
We take a seat on the floor and waited. In only a matter of minutes, someone new enters the room and stands right in front of us. Holding a book up to her face, she closes it to reveal Arelin's mother, Aurelia.
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"Mrs. Aurelia? You're our Magic teacher?"
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"That's correct. Now, I would introduce myself, but it seems I'm already familiar with everyone. Let's just get started,"
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At first, I thought she would ask us to take out a textbook, but...
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"If you would, please release your magic abilities."
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I and the others all release our magic as instructed. I was only capable of making these small colorful flares, barely enough to hurt anyone.
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I look around at the rest. They were struggling just as hard.
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"Now...how did you feel when you released your magic for the first time?"
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"I'm tired, and I didn't even do much..." Ecluna complains, and to be honest, so was I.
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"That's normal. You haven't used your magic often, correct?"
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"Well, no, not really." Arelin says in a murmur.
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"You have to train them as if you were training your own body." she shows her a sneak peek of her magic, a deep shadowy cloud of purple seeps through the air around us. "However, your emotions and thoughts can control your abilities as well. Remember that."
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I release my magic again, a cute flame spiraled and flickered in my palms.
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Jake looks over my shoulder. "You could light a match with that."
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I lightly elbow him in the side. "Like you could do any better!"
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"Heh. But I can." he lights his sword with his cerulean flames.
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"...I stand corrected.." I say.
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"Good."
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"It doesn't matter how strong a flame is, it'll still burn you, yes?"
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"I guess..."
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"Then it shouldn't matter how strong or weak your abilities are. They will get stronger over time." Aurelia gives us words of encouragement.
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I nod and keep looking at the dying flame in my hand. It danced and spun around as it faded away. Once it finally died out, I closed my hand and reopened it to reveal a new light of color sprout from my palms.
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Just a few minutes later, the school bell rings. I grab my suitcase and head to my next class. That is until my mother stopped us.
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"Hello, kids. How are you enjoying the class so far?"
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"They're good! I made a little eclipse thing.." Ecluna says, holding a bright umbra within her palms.
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"That's good. Now, if you all would follow me?"
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"Hm? What for?"
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"There's a part of the school I have yet to show you. No one else knows about this place but us."
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She pulls out a golden key from her neck and tells us to be very quiet. We all walk to the very back of the school, where she pushes the key inside a similar-looking door. Opening it reveals a very office-like room, covered in dust and boxes.
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"This is our old headquarters. All of our old stuff should be in here..."
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"Wait...what's in that chest?" Arelin hesitantly says, pointing towards a chest with extremely rusty locks.
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"I never thought I would have to mention it, but since you asked.."
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She picks it up. "Inside this box lies the necklace of my mortal enemy. We defeated her, but I always feel her very sharp aura when I come near it."
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"You're saying she's still in the box, just stuck in that necklace of hers?" Jake says, about to poke the box with his finger.
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"Never, under any circumstances, are you allowed to open this box. It'll bring chaos to the land, and without everyone here, I can't stop her this time.." she snatches the box away and places it back on the shelf where it was.
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"Her?" I ask. Why was she so worried about bringing "her" back?
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"I'd rather not go into detail. Now, I will allow you to stay in this room, however, my only rule, don't open that box. Does everyone understand?"
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We all nod quietly, and she allows us to leave for our next class. Combat, where my uncle was supposedly the teacher. We enter the training room where everyone was earlier.
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"Took you all long enough..." Uncle Damien half-jokes, tightening the bandages on his arms.
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"Mom had something to talk to us about,"
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"Well, if Irene had to stop you for something, I guess it can't be helped. Just don't make it a habit.."
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"Mhm, you got it!" Ecluna says.
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"Now, we're gonna do this the classic way. I want to see your physical strength. Your magic is allowed as a utility, such as recovering or dodging, but no magic attacks should be used, alright? I'm gonna put you in a one-on-one for a spar. The rest of you will take notes, and hopefully read over them before your spar match. If you happen to get seriously hurt, I'll get Ikura to help out.."
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Ikura waves quietly to the class with a medkit in hand.
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"Now, does anyone volunteer to go first?"
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Aluise raises her hand reluctantly. "I'll go.."
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"Is that a challenge then Aluise?" Jake says, with his hand also raised.
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"I have no choice, you've already raised your hand.."
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"Fine then," he jumps from his seat to the floor of the room. "Let's see how this will go."
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Jake stands at one side of the room, and Aluise, with her arms crossed, stands at the other.
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"You can begin.."
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And quickly, they began their spar. I quickly memorized their movements, wrote them down, and kept looking. As they keep attacking each other, me and the others all jot down and sketched their movements.
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Jake taunts Aluise a little. "I thought you would hit a little harder, Lulu.."
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"LULU?" Aluise says angrily.
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"I don't think it's a good idea to taunt her Jake," Arelin yells out.
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"Nah, I've got-" Jake gets punched right in the stomach.
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"Well?" she says, rubbing her fist.
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"I d-deserved that.." he says in pain.
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Ecluna cringes. "That's gonna hurt for a while.."
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"That's for calling me Lulu.." Aluise says before kicking him to the ground. "And that's for trying taunt me."
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"Alright alright..."
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Aluise gives a menacing glance. Jake gets up and rubs his chest where Aluise had kicked him. The match was over, and Ikura checked on the both of them for their injuries.
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"Alright, who's next?" Uncle Damien asks, continuing to the next match.
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"I'll go," I nervously raise my hand.
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"Then I'll go as your opponent," Espero announces, standing, stretching, and then placing his notebook in the seat next to him.
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I know Espero is more of a ranged attacker, so I'll use his openings to attack, I think to myself. I pretend to be anxious while I walk to my side of the field, while Espero stands stone-faced on the other.
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"I'm gonna let you take the first hit." Espero says, outstretching his arms to let me attack. I run towards him, ready to attack, but I never feel the impact.
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"Rule number one, never trust your opponent.."
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He looks up at where I was supposed to be, only to find I had gone missing. "Iris?"
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I was standing on the ceiling, one of my abilities inherited by my father. That's when I began to confuse Espero.
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"Maybe I'm over here?" I run to another side. "Or over here?"
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"You're up there somewhere, aren't you?"
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"...No?" I lied.
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"Come down from there, it's not doing you any good.."
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My chance to strike was right there. I just had to wait until he started talking again. I had swung down, and I had him right where I wanted him to be. And finally, my attack landed, I let go of the rope and I had his body right under my feet.
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"...Hi there," he says with strain. "You're standing on my ribs.."
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"I know," I say in return.
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"I noticed you used your magic to swing down,"
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"Eh? But I can't-" I look at my hands. Thin colorful ropes dragged back into my palms.
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"Can you please get up? " he says with even more strain.
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I step off. "Oops.."
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As I walk back to my seat, I look at my hands once again. The others fought, and before we knew it, our second class was over. Now close to noon, the teachers escort us to the lunchroom. A large amount of students were already sitting down and getting orders taken.
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All of us sit at a table, and food slid in front of our faces.
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"Well that was surprisingly quick.." Arelin says before grabbing a fork. We all take a bite, almost at the same time. I see everyone's eyes light up.
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After a good lunch, we all have chit-chat. When the bell rang, the teachers escort us to our last class of the day. When we entered the last room, a bunch of equipment swayed over us. Lights gleam once again, and Ringmaster Poppy landed perfectly right in front of us, with Ms. Aria following not so far behind.
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"Hey kiddos! How are you enjoying school so far?" Poppy asks while she walks around ecstatically. Aria stands quietly. "Last class of the day! Very exciting, isn't it?"
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"Mhm! I'm ready to see what this last class has to offer!" I say with determination.
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"This class focuses on giving you better balance, speed, and acrobatics training." Poppy says as she points towards the obstacle course. "You're basically training to be an acrobat. You have a minute to go through the entire course without failing. If not, you'll be sent to the back of the line to start again. Since this is your last class, you might be here all night!"
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"I'm gonna go first," Ecluna says as she takes a step on the first platform. She slips a little, but hops to the next platform. "Did you grease these things? Why are they so slippery?"
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"Actually, we did. Just pretend it's rainwater," Aria says. That dropped my confidence a little.
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"Someone can go now.."
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I push myself towards the first platform. Slippery, but manageable. I just carefully hopped to the other side of those platforms.
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A couple more jumps, and some swinging later, I see myself approaching the tight rope. I take one step on it, with the rope lowering my foot down.
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"This is the final obstacle Iris, don't screw it up.." Espero calls out.
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I quickly take another step and use my arms to balance my body across. I almost slip multiple times, but I was able to very slowly, but successfully make it across. On the other side, a slide led me back to the ground below. I ride it down, and take a deep breath. That's when the bell rang, and the others stayed behind for their turn.
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Me and Ecluna walked around with the halls packed with students.
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"There you two are." I hear my dad's voice.
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"Hi Dad!"
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"How was your first day?"
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"It was good! Look, I even learned how to make webs!" I let them slip out of my hands and spread across the floor.
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"Interesting, out of the abilities you could've gotten, so far you've inherited all of my abilities.." he moves spider-like claws. "Except these of course."
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"Don't those hurt, poking through your skin and stuff?" Ecluna asks curiously.
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"Oh, very much so."
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"...Ouch."
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"So what do we do now?" I ask.
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"Your mother suggested that I show you to your rooms." he pulls out a key with an orange keyring, resembling Mom's necklace.
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"This is your mom's old dorm room key. We've reserved those rooms specifically for you."
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My dad hands a similar key to Ecluna.
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"I remember Irene's room number like the back of my hand," he walks up the steps to the second floor, and to the room, which still had the bright orange door my mother had. I unlocked the door with the key, and a tidy room with light orange paint blanketing its walls.
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"It kinda looks like my room.."
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"You and your mother were so alike," he looks at the window. "Her and I would talk for hours in here. Brings back memories."
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"Awe," Ecluna says.
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"Welp, you have fun in here."
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I sit on the bed and think about what to do next. I was so deep in thought, I didn't notice Espero sitting beside me when I looked up.
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"Nice, you got Aunt Irene's room."
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I jumped and punched him in the side. "Don't do that Esp!"
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"Sorry, sorry. You didn't have to hit me so hard.."
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He stares at the ceiling for a second. "I was just thinking with you. You just finished your first day of the Academy. Now what?"
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"...I dunno. We can go out now, can't we?"
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"Yep. You're allowed to leave the campus after school hours and do just about anything you want,"
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I rub my chin in thought. "I wish there was somewhere-"
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That's when someone else peeks their heads inside. Arelin awkwardly walks in. "Uhm...h-hey Iris..."
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Espero immediately felt the awkward aura radiating and decided to leave.
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"Yeah? What's up Arelin?"
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"I really need your help..." he pulls out a notebook and frantically flips through pages. "Your family, and most specifically, your mother. She's the goddess of creativity and sometimes the deity of color. That means you must have some of her magic.."
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"I guess, but I don't really...have any abilities that resemble my mom's.." I reveal the strings of color that I had recently obtained. "These are the closest things I had to either of my parents,"
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"M-my sister...I've been trying to find some sort of anti-curse..or something..."
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"What's wrong with your sister? Is she okay?"
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"I...I don't know.." he hands me the notebook. Thousands of words and sketches were printed all over the pages.
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"Someone...did this to her.."
I hand him back his notes.
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"My mother's been hiding her ever since. Now Alena just...sits there.."
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"That's...heartbreaking. I don't know what your plan is, but if it means I get to save someone's life, count me in."
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"Thank you. I'm so glad to have someone like you.."
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"No problem! I'm just extremely helpful." I pat him on the back. "You have a good night. Don't overwork yourself, okay?"
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He looks back at me with a soft smile. "Okay." before leaving the room. I sigh in relief. But now, on top of school, I had Arelin's sister in the back of my head, and the consequences if I don't save her in time. Another knock on the door. My mom comes in, holding a bag of what seems like dinner.
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"I wanted to come up here before I left for my night watch," she places the bag beside me. "That's dinner, I got it from the diner in the City District."
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She plants a kiss on my head. "If anything happens, you call me, okay?"
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"Okay mom, but you be safe too."
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"I'll try. Enjoy your meal, I'll be up here in the morning to wake you up, okay?"
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I take a bite of my food. "Mkay."
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"Good. See you tomorrow." she says as she fades into the night.
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I sit in silence and eat my food, watching the stars twinkle in the night. When I finish, I get ready for bed, get comfortable, and feel myself get sleepier and sleepier.
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I drift off to sleep.
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