“Why is this day dragging on like there isn’t a tomorrow?” Grey asked in a yawn, as he followed his fellow blue tunic students to his new Mage class.
All the students had been allocated new classes according to the colour of the tunics, it was only for the afternoon classes where they would practice their unique skill sets but in the mornings before noon they would have their regular classes.
“It isn’t too long! I’ve waited my entire life for this moment. I hope the day lasts longer!” the blonde boy in front of him responded excitedly.
“Obviously, I am in the wrong class,” said Grey, feeling a slight ache in his neck as if he pulled a muscle.
He followed the students in front of him until they came to a complete stop. He studied his surroundings, he had not paid attention to the direction of the class room, he had no clue how many rights and lefts they had taken but where he currently stood, he noticed there were only thirty students within the room which rather looked like a dome, but the walls of the dome were only visible if you squinted long enough – it was transparent unless you concentrated on it and you could make out a white electric currents passing through the shape of the dome.
There was an endless amount of grass which had a series of square patches of white tulips, it looked like an outside tulip garden but it was within a large transparent dome.
The boy turned to face him. “Being Sir Mage Drane Ethel’s son you should be excited,” said the boy.
“I am very excited,” Grey said, dully, wondering if the grass he stood on was a good place to lie down. He bent down, cracking his knees and touched the cool edges of the prickly grass with his fingertips. It was soft and real enough, he thought then glanced up.
A few puffy white clouds floated in the blue sky. This was not just a good place to lie down he thought, it was the perfect place to relax and massage his neck.
“Is it something strange?” the blonde boy asked him also staring up. “Oh, I see them too. Those triangles of the circular dome. You sure have a strong sense as a Mage.”
Grey actually had no clue what this blonde boy was talking about but he remained staring up. Instead of focusing on how the clouds easily floated, he tried to find the triangles the boy spoke of. Then he blinked twice and saw them, the transparent dome had triangular electric voltages speeding through it.
They rushed in all directions forming the transparent dome.
“Ah, isn’t that interesting,” Grey said then returned his eyes to the fluffy clouds.
“You discovered the white electric currents, you know it’s only Mages who can see it. I hope to be the best Mage possible,” the blonde boy’s eyes sparkled. “It’s the beginning of a new world for me.”
“As a thirteen year old, you should not be focused on new worlds or new worlds within a school. Just figuring the rooms of the school is an obstacle,” said Grey.
“But haven’t you been here for eight years already?”
Grey nodded. “Eight years? Has it been that long? It sure feels like a month.”
The blonde boy eyed Grey strangely. “You should have scouted the entire school building by now. Have you no sense of time?” he asked.
“Anytime you are in the present time is sufficient time,” Grey responded, he tried to twist his head about, seeking the spot of his aching neck.
“Right,” the blonde boy said unsure what Grey had meant. “Anyway I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Aaron McCallen.”
He brought out his small hand.
Grey carefully studied Aaron’s hand, this boy wanted to be friends. A handshake between thirteen year olds meant a start of a new friendship, he remembered when Finnegan had tossed out his four year old hand the same way and the way Riona had also eagerly wanted to shake hands. Did this mean that Aaron McCallen would be a second or third Finnegan? He really did not need another complaining burden on his side, he distasteful gulped as he lifted his hand and shook Aaron’s hand in return.
“Grey Ethel.”
“Let’s do our best this year,” Aaron smiled.
Grey hesitantly agreed.
All these students were all very happy go lucky, it would take a lot of energy and effort to grin and constantly smile, he could never manage. The only real expression he possessed was bored and troubled.
“Do you see that boy over there?”
Grey didn’t look where his newfound friend pointed, he was more concerned about the comfort of the green grass that would aid in his neck problem.
“He’s number two,” Aaron said as he nudged Grey to take a peek.
Grey looked across where Aaron pointed, he happened to lock gazes with the object of interest. It was a boy with black hair, his eyebrows were thick as caterpillars and his eyes were shaped with intensity as if he was going to murder someone.
Grey just blinked at him thinking that this particular boy obviously had no sense of humour. It must be his eyebrows Grey thought.
“He’s number two in the entire land!” Aaron said with admiration. “If only I could catch up.”
There were sixty schools within the entire land of HanaDhulRhys and every year grades of the top ten academic students would be plastered on the school walls. It wasn’t just the top ten of one school but top ten of all the sixty schools combined.
Apparently, Grey was always in between fifth and tenth place in his eight years of school, and currently he was tenth place while this murderous ogling boy was number two.
“Why would you want to catch up?” Grey asked, wondering how long that thick eye browed boy would continue staring at him.
“I told you I want to be the best Mage,” Aaron said with vigour. “Everyone considers my family in the lower ranks of the Mages. Ever since my father died, my birth right has been shifted. I have to prove them wrong, I am going to prove them wrong!”
“That would be a difficult challenge,” Grey said, trying his best to slant his gaze away from the penetrating glare.
“Yeah, I know,” Aaron sighed. “But I believe I can do it. I have to claim my birth right for my father and for my mother. If I prove those elders wrong then my mother won’t have to work so hard.”
“Hmm. Yeah, mothers’ work very hard,” said Grey, automatically, barely hearing what Aaron said, he was focused on trying to evade the murderous staring competition with this number two boy.
“She works twice as hard as any other Mages. If only I could be older and master the Mage skills.”
“I’m sure you will,” said Grey, nodding like he always did when Finnegan said something important that he did not really hear.
“You think?” Aaron asked with hope in his heart, “You really think so?”
Grey blinked away from the dark haired boy and turned to Aaron. “Of course, you will,” he said, trying to remember the last word that his new friend had said, ‘ranks and mothers’.
“What is your current rank?”
“Sixth.”
“Sixth? Geez, that’s impressive. You have hard worker written all over you,” Grey said, clutching the stiffness in his neck.
“Don’t you work hard too? Don’t you have a dream to become the best Mage and take after your father?” Aaron asked.
“It isn’t my intention to work hard,” Grey responded, easily. “I have many dreams they just don’t include hard work or even waking up.”
“That would make you dead,” the dark voice broke the friendly conversation.
“Quinn!” Aaron identified the foreign voice.
“How are you Aaron?” asked Quinn as he launched his arm around Aaron’s shoulders. “How’s the third day of school treating you?”
“It’s exciting,” Aaron coughed at the unexpected motion around his neck. “I didn’t know we would start with Mage training so quickly.”
“Neither did I but it sure is going to be fun,” Quinn agreed, placing Aaron’s head in a choke hold.
“Maybe they should have let us settle in, a month or maybe three would be perfectly acceptable to adapt to new environments,” Grey murmured.
Aaron and Quinn glanced at Grey oddly and in return he shrugged.
The boy with thick caterpillar eyebrows, with the deadly gaze was known as Quinn but Grey was not bothered with that anymore. He closed his eyes and tried to feel for the knot that caused the pain in his neck. He found it and massaged it with his hand. It was working, the pain was fleeting, now if only he could just sit then lie down in the grass and stare at the candyfloss clouds.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your new friend?” Quinn asked Aaron, ruffling his hair aggressively.
“Yeah, yeah,” Aaron tried to speak in the midst of the aggressive rubbing of his skull. “This is Grey Ethel.”
Quinn stopped kneading Aaron’s head but kept his arm around his shoulders. “Grey Ethel, son of the only Sir Drane Ethel and Seera Ethel! The one with the dragon sapphire,” Quinn grinned, glancing at the badge.
He leapt his arm from Aaron’s shoulders and onto Grey’s. “Whoa, the first Mage of the four! Can I touch the badge?” he asked Grey.
Grey felt the pain in his neck strain as Quinn’s arm slumped over his shoulders.
“Sure,” he said, easing out of Quinn’s arm. “I mean it is just a gemstone.” Grey tried to remove the gem off his tunic but it would not budge. It remained fixed to his tunic. “It seems like there is some sort of super glue on this,” he said and tried again, lifting the sapphire dragon from his tunic but still he could not get it off. “Well, maybe you should try.” He gave up, offering Quinn to attempt to unlatch the blue gem from his clothing.
Quinn obliged, he immediately grasped the dragon sapphire. He first studied it excitedly, feeling the texture. “It’s a real dragon shape, do you know the history why the Mages are chosen as a dragon race?” he said fascinated.
Grey felt uncomfortable at Quinn staring at his chest so long, why couldn’t Quinn unlatch the gem and eye it in his own hands instead of his chest.
“Dragons are said to be mythical creatures, they are noble and filled with knowledge but they have the ability to control life elements.”
“That’s really nice,” Grey said, not interested at all. “Well you best try to unclasp it.” He felt like backing away from Quinn but kept steady.
Quinn nodded, trying to pull the badge off of Grey’s chest but when it failed to unclasp, he tried different methods. He rotated it then pulled but then he got quite aggressive. He tugged at the badge forcefully almost pushing Grey to the ground. When he couldn’t find the release button, he turned to Aaron.
“Aaron help me out!” Quinn demanded and Aaron hesitantly agreed. “If we pull together I am sure it will unlatch.”
Grey stared down at both of his new Mage friends, thinking that this was a bad idea. He had almost been thrown to the ground by Quinn’s hauling, if both of them yanked the dragon gem at the same time he might end up hurt and bruised or even naked.
“Uh,” Grey began. “I don’t really –“
But before he could utter another word of compromising protest, his two new found friends tugged at the sapphire gem with all their might. And the result caught everyone off guard.
Instead of the dragon sapphire leaping off, Grey’s whole body was tossed into the air and landed back first into the grass whilst, his friends stood stunned, their faces were red faced from lack of strength. But they ran towards Grey, his body was a few meters from his original position.
“Are you alright?” Aaron asked looking down at Grey.
Grey blinked a couple of times as he tried to comprehend where his body had landed. He lay on the grass, his head facing the clouds – the clouds he was eager to see since the beginning of the school day.
They puffed like white smoke and moved fairly slowly almost like a ship docking at a harbour. This position was not bad, he wanted to lie on the grass and stare at the clouds but then he heard Quinn.
“This would be the perfect position to draw out the gem, Aaron if you hold Grey down. And I pull at the gem, I’m sure this time it will work,” Quinn suggested.
Grey instantaneously sat up. “No, no, no,” he said thrice. “I don’t think we should try that.”
“But if we don’t you might never know how to get the badge off,” Quinn said.
“You do have a point there,” Aaron agreed. “If we find how to remove it then it won’t trouble you so much. You seem very uneasy to have it on you.”
“Even though that might be true,” said Grey, beginning to see their logic, if this was attached to him forever it was important to find a way to find a way to release it but then it was not attached to him, it was attached to his tunic. All he had to do was change his tunic. “But it is just attached to my tunic, if I remove my tunic it would be off my body.”
“But it would still be attached to your tunic, don’t you have to wear it every day?”
Before any of them could evaluate anymore strategies of the removal of the sapphire gem on Grey’s tunic, a strange sickly cough interrupted them and all their eyes turned to focus on it.
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