Earth 01.09.3772 [Zyla, Callista]

As the room flooded with many children who were here for orientation, they all scanned the seats ready to finally sit down next to their friends, or with the other kids that they knew. Nym had lived here ever since she was born, so she knew everyone, and everyone knew her, but she wasn’t the person people wanted to sit next to anymore. The kids now thought that she might be cursed.

“Look it’s her! The freak girl! We shouldn’t sit next to her or else our mom and dad would end up like her mom!” A girl started whispering and everyone in the room took a glance at her then avoided sitting next to her, leaving two seats on either side of her open. Nym had heard the girl and bent her head down. She didn’t know what to say and she felt scared being by herself.

More kids came in the room, filling the remaining seats but avoiding the two seats next to Nym, leaving the remaining two kids that walked in the room last to sit next to her. Luckily they were new to the area, so they didn’t know about Nym, nor did they hear about any rumors. And even if they did, they didn’t know what she even looked like. They didn’t even know each other, they just happened to be walking to orientation at the same time, so they continued on walking together.

The two remaining kids were Solaris and Aiko, who coincidentally travelled to the same area on the same day and were neighbors. Even though they were both shy of each other, they couldn’t do anything about the fact that they would always be walking the same way from now on at the same times. They both looked at the remaining seats on either side of Nym and quietly sat down. All three of them were nervous of talking to each other given that the whole room was pretty quiet with a few whispers fluttering around, making the atmosphere a bit stuffy.

Solaris however, thought that she should at least be acquainted with the girl separating her neighbor, so she stretched out her hand in front of Nym and introduced herself. Having lived with 4 older brothers, she doesn’t get nervous easily, however being in a new environment is what’s making her hold back a bit. She doesn’t want to make a fool of herself on her first day here.

“Hi, I’m Solaris, the boy next to you is my neighbor Aiko, we both just moved here, is it okay to be your friend?” Her small hand stayed in the air extended towards Nym for a while, and Nym only stared at it in confusion.

No one wanted to be my friend before. She thought to herself, before quickly glancing at the boy to her right, seeing him stare at her and Solaris’s interaction made her turn back to her left and extend her hand as well. She was a bit nervous, but she didn’t think they seemed harmful.

Aiko turned his head at the mention of his name, wondering how the red headed girl knew it. They hadn’t talked the whole way to orientation, or during the time they both moved in next to each other. Having lived with only 1 older brother, he was more nervous than Solaris. Aiko was also a bit spoiled, his parents treated him with much love and care, they would let him do almost anything he wanted.

However, when he begged and begged his parents that he didn’t want to move because it would be inconvenient to not have a park close by their house, they had declined his protests. Aiko was shown pictures of the house they were going to move into, and he did not like it. It was only a one story house, and it was in an old village, so there weren’t any nearby sand parks- his favorite. Whereas Solaris and her big family stayed in the two story house right next to him, making Aiko feel a bit jealous.

“I’m Nym, so um... are we friends now?” She asked in a squeaky voice, her eyes trembled as she waited for Solaris’s response. Solaris smiled and nodded her head, Nym then turned around and extended her hand towards Aiko to signify their friendship as well. Aiko bashfully extended his hand and shook Nym’s, then they all turned to face forward and sat in silence.

Again there was silence, Solaris was a bit anxious and didn’t really like the silence, it made her squirm in her seat so she turned to look at Nym and noticed her star hair clip. It was yellow with some gold glitter on it, it looked brand new as well. Solaris then decided to give Nym a compliment about her hair clip in hopes to get her to talk more. After moving to a new place, her brothers were worried that her personality wouldn’t land her friends. So she told them by the end of the day she would bring a friend home. But that’s easier said than done, they told her the neighbors don’t count, so she had to make a friend during orientation and bring them home. Solaris was now on a mission: talk to Nym more and invite her to her house to play.

“That is a pretty hair clip. Where did you get it?” She touched Nym’s hair clip and then Nym moved her head slightly away from her. Solaris left her hand in the air while they both stared at each other again. Oh no, did I bother her too much? Is she going to hate me now? Solaris was slightly shocked at Nym’s response, however Nym answered her like nothing happened.

“Dad got it for me before he left. He said I should look pretty for today.” Nym whispered and took her hair clip off to stare at it. Solaris then asked curiously, “Where did your dad go? Could you ask him where he got the hair clip? I want one too so I can match you!” Nym then frowned and looked a bit sad and then answered her question.

“He said he is going to his star, and that he can’t come back. He said he got this from his father’s star, and there was only one.” Nym then put her hair clip back onto her hair and turned to face Solaris.

“Oh, well that's too bad. Then I’ll buy a different one from somewhere else, then we can still match!” Solaris whispered loudly and gave Nym a smile. Nym smiled back out of reflex from seeing Solaris' big smile, then they all faced forward as the announcer came out onto the stage to start orientation.

"Welcome everyone, do you know how lucky you are to be here today?" The lady asked with a smile. Her voice spread loudly across the room causing everyone to look around each other in awe.

"You kids are very lucky because it has just been discovered that you have elf blood and DNA that allows you to wield magic! That's right! Magic! You kids came here to learn about how to control your powers because if you don't get the right discipline, your powers could lose control and you could hurt someone dear to you. I'm sure your parents told you that you have the capabilities to wield magic after your check ups, but I want to explain it to you kids." The lady smiled brightly which made all the kids in the room much more enthusiastic. They sat at the edges of their seats waiting for her to continue with a sparkle in their eyes.

"Now because of the mix in blood, everyone wields different magic, but most of you come from the same elf ancestor! So your magic might have a few things in common!" As the lady explained, she held her hand out while another adult came up to the stage, they looked almost exactly alike but this one was male.

"Me and my brother share the same blood so we have similar magic, but it is not the same, I can produce thorns while he stimulates plant growth." As she said that, thorns sprouted from the ground and twirled around making a shape, while the brother sprouted vines that grew along the walls and the ceiling, making it seem like they were in a forest.

The kids echoed in amazement, even Nym was looking forward to her magic. Nym, along with other kids, held out her hand just as the siblings in the front did, and tried sprouting some magic of their own.

The siblings saw this and panicked, they quickly called out to change the topic. "Woah now kids!! Let's save that for later, it would be dangerous if we all used our magic in the same room, after we finish we will go outside and then we can see what magic you possess." The lady exhaled loudly which made her brother next to her laugh. They moved on to the next segment of the orientation and explained the school rules in depth to them, along with how the class system worked and schedules.

Each course would be different for some students, as there were so many different types of elves, there were so many ways to approach the kids' education.

***

Elves, along with many other creatures, have been around the world for as long as humans can remember. As told by the elves, the humans sprouted from the ground as a mold, then when it rained the molds came to life. There was only a male and a female human and they were both confused. They had sprouted on an empty area with no one around. Then a dragon who was watching overhead flew away and told some elves to go and help them.

The elves then traveled for a while until they found the two humans lying on the floor naked. The elves took them to their village and nursed them until they were able to do things themselves.

After 10 years of friendship, the elves helped the two humans back to their origin and left them a present, as their origin was the only place not infused with magic, the elves blessed their land with magic. The humans were sad to depart from their friends, so a few elves stayed behind, then after a few years, a half elf was born.

Because elves lived longer than the humans, the elves were worried that this new being wouldn't be able to live long. Nonetheless, the half elf had some qualities of an elf and some from a human. The land then grew and more humans, elves, and half elves were born. They all lived together in harmony, but some wanted to leave the island to explore the unknown. So far there were only two places known to them, the continent where the elves and the rest of the other creatures lived called Graciela, and the small continent where the humans first came from, Xenia. These few wanted to know more about the world they lived in so they explored and found new places to live in that had very different things to offer.

After more years of civilization, there were no more half elves, now any human that contained elf blood and DNA would be able to wield incredible magic, those who didn't have ancestors with elf blood couldn't wield magic. However they could still practice Sorcery and Alchemy, which is scientific magic. Sorcerers use spells and magic artifacts to cast magic, while Alchemists create magic potions.

Then a few magic wielders mixed blood with each other to see if they can mix magic to make their offspring stronger. At first it didn't work, but then the next generation started wielding stronger magic. While there were few who didn't get mixed or new forms of magic, there were still many humans now with such a variety of magic that the elves couldn't handle.

So the elves feared the humans would try and use them to gain more offspring, that they fled to back Graciela and called upon the monsters of the nether realms and sealed their waters. These monsters guarded Graciela within the water so that any human with malicious deeds who tried to cross would be swallowed whole.

Then the dragons who were never fearful, also sealed themselves within the clouds of Graciela. The humans were very confused at their sudden disappearance that they tried looking all over for them. They tried crossing the waters to Graciela, but many were swallowed by the oceans. The humans then stopped trying to look for the elves and dragons, and a few other creatures, they became known as mythical creatures.

By now, you're able to see these mythical creatures once in a while. After they all fled into hiding, a few of them migrated out of Graciela and now live in small groups around the world. So it is not uncommon to see elves or half elves around. The dragons still haven't come out though, the elves mentioned that they usually hibernate for 300 years before coming back out again. There were also mermaids who fled from Graciela’s oceans, fearful of the monsters that lived there. There had been sirens that posed as mermaids, luring many to their deaths.

There were also sprites that twinkled and appeared out of nowhere, but some were kind to humans while others ignored them. There were also many different kinds of sprites, some could fly, others could not, some had magic, others did not, some sparkled, others did not.

The monsters that guarded Graciela’s waters were not normal. The elves have a saying in their native language Sindarin "Cuil na- tirnen bui a faer" which means life is guarded by a soul. Monsters do not have souls, they cannot understand humans even if they have knowledge and can speak.

Many elves were worried when humans tried destroying these monsters, they knew the monsters were smart and could talk and act real, but it was only an imitation. The monsters have the ability to copy the language and actions of anyone it watched. They were very strong too, and many humans couldn't fight well underwater. So the monsters still guarded Graciela’s waters, no human even with magic could travel to Graciela, only the elves and the rest of the mythical creatures could travel in and out of Graciela safely.

However, this didn't really brother the humans, they were now focused on waiting for the dragons to come out of hibernation. It was unclear what exactly humans wanted to do with dragons, but no human has done an evil deed. There were laws placed but humans were mostly kind and peaceful, they learned how to control their magic safely in a way that wouldn't harm others. There is a law that forbids magic practice in realms that didn't have proper certified teachers. The cause was a boy who accidentally burned his house down, thankfully his family didn't get that hurt, but they were inside the house when it happened so they did suffer some injuries.

Other than that, many humans die from old age just as the elves, however old age for humans and elves were different. For elves, old age was about 550-675 years old, as for the humans, old age was about 105-200 years old. Many believe we live that long because of the elf blood still in our veins, humans used to live only up til 70.

However that doesn't mean humans can't die from accidents, there aren't many due to humans building in ways that wouldn't cause accidents, but there have been a few cases where humans die from either unnatural causes or accidents. No one has been worried for now, but no one knows when anything bad could happen.

***

TO BE CONTINUED