On a cold and dark night, screams from the street forced a small girl, who seemed to be around 6 years old, to wake up.

As she stood up, strands of her white hair falling down her head, she headed towards the noise.

A white haired woman was being held by her hair.

Once the man noticed the six year old he spoke, "Eh? A kid? I thought the woman was here alone!"

"It doesn't matter," His companion nudged him, "We're leaving!"

"M-Mom? W-w-what’s happening?" She managed to stutter out, afraid the men would do something to her.

The woman, bruised and battered, mustered up a comforting smile, "Wait here for your father okay? I'll be back soon."

"B-But-" She began, but was interrupted.

"Promise me, Hazel!"

"I-I promise." She muttered, looking down.

"Good girl." The woman wasn't given any more time to say her goodbyes as the men hauled her off.

The girl went back to the shack her family called a home and waited for her father to come.

But he never came.

Days bled into weeks and weeks finally turned into a month before the girl walked away from the shack, looking for her parents as she got lost in the very streets she grew up in.

***

Sometime later the girl was in a completely different place than the one she was when her mom got taken away, she now was wandering around the alleys and sideways of a town quite far away from her home.

She was looking for food in an alley, one infamous for the number of crimes occurring in it. As she was living on her own, she had to eat anything she could find.

“Girl, what are you doing here, in these dangerous streets? Where are your parents?” A woman said as she stepped out of the dark.

“M-my parents are g-gone. I'm-I'm looking for food.” The girl answered after hesitating.

“Look at how thin you are, you poor thing. What’s your name dear?” The cloaked woman asked, bringing down her hood, revealing her fiery red hair and green eyes.

The girl answered with silence.

“Don’t worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Boba. There, I introduced myself. Now it’s your turn.” The woman smiled and she wrapped her cloak around the girl.

“My name is Hazel.” The girl answered after feeling a bit safer.

“Nice to meet you, Hazel. There is a place outside of this kingdom, called Sanctity. It would be in your favor to go there. If you want to get stronger and meet more people that is.” The woman said.

"I…I’m scared I don’t know if I can . I don’t want you to leave…" She muttered the last part to herself, yet Boba heard it.

"I won’t for now, but taking you in is complicated. And you don’t have to be scared. The people there are nice so you can go there when the time is right." Boba said, with a warm smile.

Hazel shook her head, grabbing hold of Bobas jacket, "Please don't leave."

Boba smiled warmly at the girl, "Look, I can’t just take you in. It’s complicated, it’s weird for me to just do it considering the risks."

But upon seeing the look on the six year old girl's face, she relented, "Alright, I will take you in and teach you what you have to know about this world."

The girl, Hazel, proceeded to follow the woman after a few minutes of calming down.

Hazel POV :

“Hazel, hey, Hazel wake up.” Boba said, shaking me awake.

“I am awake, so stop shaking me please.” I answered.

Boba and I have been living together for quite some time around 5 years now. After we met when I was 6 she took me in and raised me. She would teach me how to read and write and cared for me like I was her own blood. I haven’t felt that feeling in quite some time.

She often would tell me about a place where people of all races could study together without having to fear discrimination, it was an academy named Sanctity. I never knew such a place existed, were the people there really equal? I would often think to myself after hearing about that academy.

“Hey Boba, about that Sanctity place you are always talking about. Can we go there someday?” I asked Boba curiously.

“Do you mean you want to enroll there?” Boba answered a question mark practically written all over her face.

“What do I have to do to get in then?” I asked.

“Well first of all you have to get stronger, which means you have to train. And you can only enroll there when you are 15 or older.” She answered with a serious look on her face.

“Let’s start training right now then, I want to go there. Most of the interaction I have had with people was mostly with you in the past 5 years.” I said

“You are too young to train right now wait another year or so then we will” She answered

“You promise?” I pouted at her answer.

“I promise.” Boba answered smiling.

“Now let’s eat, the food should be ready.” She jumped up from my bed.

We sat down at the table and Boba brought the food to the table.

“Looks tasty as ever.” I said, drooling.

“Hey careful, it's still hot.” She warned me.

I didn’t listen and burned my tongue.

“Haha, I warned you Hazel you should’ve listened.” Boba laughed at me.

“Well, that was unpleasant. Can you give me some cold water?” I asked her, ignoring her laughter.

“Of course, sorry for laughing.” Boba said after calming down.

“After you finish eating we should start studying, okay?” Boba said after a momentary silence.

“Sure, but first tell me more about that academy.” I answered with a wide grin on my face.

“Let's see, first there are different professors they are called; Grey, Daniel, Jei, myself, and Clove.” Boba said.

“Each of them have their own personality and are very powerful people, while Grey is rather strict, Daniel is quite the opposite of him, he is patient with his students and praises them quite a lot when they manage to get something right.” She continued while I listened carefully.

“Is that enough for now?” She asked me

“Mhm, let’s get to studying now.” I answered.

As we sat down Boba picked up the latest newsletter as always but this time her eyes widened in shock.

“What's wrong? Did something happen?” I was curious about what’s in the news.

“T-the K-King of Zaeson was killed a few weeks ago.” Boba stammered in disbelief.

“The king of Zaeson? Who’s that?” I was confused by what she said.

Ignoring what I said she continued “And the youngest prince disappeared too.”

“What? I am confused, who are these people anyway?” I was still confused.

After she put the newsletter back on the table she finally looked at me and said, “Okay let me explain King Benjiro, the King of the Kitsune race is a very important figure in Avernia, the Kitsune are a powerful race but since Humans see them as inferior they hunt them in groups like they would any other beast. The royal family of Zaeson has 3 children, 2 boys, and 1 girl. The oldest son is named Hojosa, his little brother and the prince that disappeared is named Ryoto, he should be around your age, and the youngest of the 3 siblings is the girl named Kufumi. Now that you know their names you should understand a bit more, right?”

I nodded understanding what she had just explained.

“That’s tragic, especially since it was a King. But how did the killers get in?” I was still curious.

“But it’s not normal for someone like King Benjiro to be killed so easily, so it wouldn’t make sense for people to get in and kill a literal King. The security of Zaeson has no gaps meaning no intruder can get in. It must have been someone very skilled.” She said with a hint of fear in her voice.

“And for the youngest prince to just disappear shortly after is practically impossible at a time like that he should have been watched the entire time.” She added.

“Sounds interesting. A mystery. The other Kings and Queens have to watch out.“I said.

“I agree. That was enough for today I guess.” Boba answered.

After that conversation I thought of what Boba said about the academy, the age at which you can enroll. 4 Years from now huh I thought to myself.

“I guess I will have to wait patiently and start training next year.” I spoke to myself.