Everything will be fine, Erleen told herself as she approached the majestic building. She absolutely shouldn't get excited, she had to stay calm, she couldn't risk making it collapse before even setting foot in it. It hadn't been long since her powers had manifested, she wasn't used to having them yet and she had no idea how to control them. That's why she went to the city, away from her small village.

She adjusted her uniform, gathered all her courage and took a step forward, then another, until she reached the entrance, where a young man with raven hair and deep blue eyes stood ready to welcome her, with a smile. «Welcome to the Northern Academy.» he told her. «I'm Alyx.»

Shyly, Erleen introduced herself and he invited her to follow him. He led the way through the corridors. «When did your powers manifest?» he asked as they walked.

«A week ago. I suddenly made the floor shake.»

«Right, you're a Glawog.» he said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. «Your classroom is down this corridor.»

As they walked – and the young man talked to her about how the Academy worked – Erleen was busy taking a look around. There were several doors that interrupted the flow of the white and anonymous walls, on each of them there were plates with the name of the clans. «You are not allowed in.» Alyx explained to her. «You can interact with the other clans, but you must not disturb during the training hours.»

Erleen nodded. «I understand.»

Arriving in front of the classroom with the writing "Glawog", Alyx stopped and opened the door. He communicated the newcomer's presence to the man at the desk, who invited Erleen to come forward. The girl crossed the threshold with a bit of hesitation. Suddenly she found her neck wrapped in the arms of a girl absolutely identical to her. «Erleen! You were sorted here too, that's great!»

«Girls, take your seats.», their trainer called them to order.

Erleen looked at Alyx one last time. He greeted her and then closed the door, to let the lesson continue where it left off.

The girl identical to Erleen took her hand and dragged her to sit next to her, among the numerous desks in the classroom.

Erleen's eyes were filled with joy. «I can't believe you're here too, Lyth!» she said trying to keep her voice low.

The presence of her sister would have made everything easier, even if it was just a coincidence. The sorting was absolutely random, so that the young Nerys could learn to fend for themselves, far from their families.

Being in the company of her sister certainly wouldn't have prevented Erleen from maturing, and above all from controlling her powers.

With Lyth things would have been just a little easier. For one thing, she shouldn't have had lunch alone among all those hundreds, thousands of Nerys.

While they were looking for a table, Lyth noticed her sister was trying to hold back. Her fingers tightened her grip on her tray, in an attempt to repress her emotions. As much as she tried, it was hard not to feel uncomfortable. Erleen hated crowds, she wasn't used to so many people.

«Don't worry.», her sister tried to reassure her. «Even if you get upset, our skills are limited here, to allow us to train safely.»

Erleen knew it well, but still she couldn't calm down. She tried to change the subject and make conversation, so she wouldn't worry Lyth. «So, what have you learned in these two months?» she asked.

«Well I managed to control the fire, quite well, but I'm still working on the other elements.» she replied, taking a seat at an empty table. Erleen sat down opposite her. «Every day the lessons focus on a certain element.» she continued. «It's great that you're here! Now we could train together.»

«Yeah!», Erleen couldn't hold back her smile. It had been so hard for her to separate from her twin, but that was how it worked once their powers manifested.

A girl, with short rust-colored hair, sat down right at their table. «Why do I see two Lyths?» she asked when she realized that the girl, next to her, and the one on the other side of the table were identical.

The one in front of her laughed. «Layton, this is my sister Erleen.»

Erleen removed a ribbon from her wrist, which she used as a bracelet, and wrapped it around her hair to tie it into an improvised updo. She apologized to the red-haired girl. «Sometimes I forget it's impossible to tell us apart. Even our parents struggle to do it.»

«Hey Lyth!», another girl – with long brown hair and blue eyes – sat down at the table and turned to the one with her hair tied up.

«I'm here, Neewel.» Lyth – sitting to her right – waved her hand in greeting.

«Oh, I didn’t know Erleen was here too.» said the last one arrived at the table, directing her gaze to the girl with her hair tied up, on the other side of the table. «Did you arrive today?»

Erleen nodded. «Yes.» she replied. «It comforts me to know that you are here too.»

While they were talking and eating their lunch, they heard confused shouting. A few steps away from the four girls' table, there were two young Aderyns who were bothering and tormenting a lavender-haired boy.

«Come on, why don't you show us how good you are at camouflaging.» said one of the two with animal ears, then gave him a push and the Clywed ended up on the cold floor, together with his lunch, which partly spilled onto his gray uniform. He was scared and not even the fear of being hit helped him disappear and camouflage himself.

«Show us how much better you are than us.» the second Aderyn joked.

Before they could hit him again, a young blond man intervened and bent down next to the boy. «What's your problem?!», he helped the Clywed to get back on his feet. «We are in this Academy to learn. Stop belittling the powers of others, you are no better than him. No one is better than anyone here.»

«That's Kihan.», Layton turned to Erleen. «He is a Seiber of the advanced classes. He's been here for a couple of years now.», she pointed to the marks on the right breast pocket of his uniform.

«Those two Aderyns are in trouble.» Neewel said, nodding to show them where to look. «Alyx's here.»

The Hedfan who had welcomed Erleen that morning had fallen there out of nowhere via teleportation. He looked rather annoyed. «You two will have a week of extra classes, with the kids.» he stated seriously. «You behave like one, therefore it's among them you deserve to be.», Alyx teleported them away before they could even think of protesting.

«Remember this day, cousin.» Neewel looked at Erleen. «Certain behaviors are not allowed, unless you want to be punished.» she warned her.

Erleen was still looking at the Seiber and the Clywed. Two other young people had joined them.

«Did it happen again Alyah?» asked the one whose hair seemed to vary between red and blonde, depending on how the light hit it.

The Seiber, Kihan, nodded. «Alyx already took care of it.»

«Great.» said the other who had just arrived. His long brown hair was tied in a ponytail, styled much better than Erleen's. «Let's find a place. I'll give you some of my lunch.»

«Thank you Hallam.» said Alyah, the Clywed with pastel purple hair.

The four sat at the table next to Lyth and the others. As soon as they were seated, Alyah waved his hand at Erleen, as if to say goodbye. She smiled back awkwardly then turned to her sister. «Lyth, I think he's saying hello to you.»

Her twin stood up so everyone could see her. «This is my sister Erleen. I told you about her.»

«You forgot to tell us you two are identical.» Hallam said.

Lyth apologized. «I didn't expect you to meet her here.»

Layton proposed joining the two tables. «This will make it easier to chat.»

The boys wasted no time. They stood up and two of them pushed their table until it was touching the edge of the girls' table. Then they took their seats again. Kihan couldn't help but stare at the two sisters. «It's really impossible to tell you apart.» he said.

«Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep my hair tied up.» Erleen declared. «It's our mother's idea, since she also has difficulty recognizing us.»

Hallam, the long-haired boy, leaned over to Alyah, sitting in front of him, and gave him a bowl with some of his food. Then, the boy with auburn hair, sitting next to Hallam, did the same. «It's becoming a habit to get extra food for you now, Alyah.» he joked.

«Come on, Hyram you know it's not his fault.» Layton said.

«They see him so small and defenseless and think they can attack him.», Kihan clenched his fists, almost banging them on the table. «I hate their behavior. We come here from different clans, different towns, not to create divisions but to make us more united and collaborative. Is it that hard for them to understand?!»

«Alyx would be so proud of us if he saw us all sitting here together.» Alyah said.

Neewel sighed. «You should stop idolizing him, he's just like us, he's not special.»

«Are you kidding?!» Hyram almost shouted. «He's the pride of my city. He began to perfectly master his powers in just a few months when he arrived at the Academy. Now look where he is.»

Hallam agreed with Hyram. «Not only does he attend advanced classes, he also became a Hedfan trainer, and he is the same age as us.»

Lyth noticed some confusion on Erleen's face. «Hallam, Kihan, and our cousin Neewel are taking advanced courses. To access it, you must take a test and prove you can control at least sixty-five percent of your powers.» she explained. «Alyx has long since gotten over it.»

«I used to see him a lot more often.» Kihan said. «But since he started training the younger Hedfans, he doesn't have much free time.»

«How long have you all been here?» Erleen asked.

Layton said she arrived at the Academy on the same day as Lyth. «We met at the entrance, neither of us wanted to go in.»

Lyth nodded. «I was terrified.»

Alyah suddenly started waving his hand. He was waving at an Aderyn with furry ears poking out of his brown hair. «Caleigh!» he shouted.

«You don't need to scream, I can hear perfectly.» the boy said, once he reached the tables. «What did I miss? Why were you talking about the day you arrived here?»

«We were introducing ourselves.» Kihan said pointing to Erleen.

Caleigh stared at her quizzically. «But we already know each other.»

Lyth leaned over and tried to get his attention. «That's my sister.»

«Oh hello. I'm Caleigh, an Aderyn. But you will have already noticed it from my ears. I've been here about a year.» he said quickly sitting up.

«I'm new, and I'm not good with my powers yet.» Alyah said. «Luckily Kihan is here and helps me when someone targets me.»

«Our families have known each other for years and he is like a little brother to me.» the Seiber stated, ruffling the hair of the boy sitting to his left. «In our village we are used to respecting each other and collaborating in peace, even between different clans. This is why I hate attitudes like those of just now.»

«This is how it should be.» Erleen said. «We have to act like a big family and get along if we want to maintain peace and tranquility.»

«These must be the obvious effects of Alyx and his welcoming speech.», Neewel teased her cousin.

They all laughed then Hyram stood up. «I hate to be a killjoy, but it's getting late.»

«I hate to agree with you, but we all need to get back to class.» Hallam imitated his tone of voice.

«Really funny. Maybe you should also have lessons with children, like those two.» Layton said taking her tray.

Lyth stopped Hyram before he walked away. «Wait. Can you walk my sister to our class, it's not far from yours.»

Hyram looked at Erleen for a few seconds. He didn't feel like being her babysitter but in the end he nodded. For him too, the first day there hadn't been a walk in the park.

«I have to go and get you assigned to my room.» she said to her sister. «But I leave you in good hands.»

Erleen smiled at Lyth and then let Hyram lead the way. She hadn't yet memorized those corridors. They were all the same and it wasn't easy to orient herself, she had only been there for a few hours. «Thank you.» she said to Hyram as they walked.

«No problem. I was lost the first day too.»

«How long have you been here?» Erleen asked. «I don't think you said that before.»

«Three months.» she replied.

«You're a Tywod, am I right?»

Hyram nodded. «They usually always think I'm a Seiber.»

«Actually, the color of your hair doesn't make things very easy.» Erleen said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. «There are many Tywods in my village. I think I've gotten used to it. And then I love your powers.»

«What? Why? You're a Glawog! You have extraordinary powers.»

Erleen shook her head. «Controlling nature is boring. Manipulating dreams to control minds, that's really cool.»

Hyram stared at her in confusion as they walked side by side. He didn't understand how a Glawog – with control over life and nature – could envy his ability to create simple dreams.

They proceeded in awkward silence to the door of the Glawog classroom. «Here's your class.» said Hyram, stopping.

Erleen thanked him again. «You have been very kind.»

«No problem. See you.»

«Bye.»