The sound of a bell tolling travelled through the air causing a murder of crows to take to take flight towards the dark skies of the early morning leaving behind their temporary rest stop of gargoyles.

  The stone gargoyles stayed crouched over arched windows overlooking the ground below with amethyst gem filled eyes. Although eye-catching, it still could not compare to their grinning faces that revealed rows of sharp teeth. An intimidating sight for both enemies and allies.

  Damon felt glad he was the latter. The mystery of what would happen to him if he was an enemy, sent chills down his spine. Although he wasn't an enemy, he couldn’t help but spare a few more glances at the grinning gargoyles, afraid they would move or even twitch if he wasn’t looking.

  With the building they being the Heart of the Academy, who knew if the gargoyles were actually just statues or secret guardians.

  Spotting no movement with the stone creatures, Damon shifted his attention to the statues that he was quite positive were secret guardians of the Academy:

  The Twins.

  The Twins were two bowing statues guarding the front doors to the Academy. It said if any enemies were to cross any of the five bridges and enter the lone island of the Heart, they would change from bowing to standing tall to reach their full height of ten meters, a sharp contrast to the ten foot double doors they guarded.

  The ten foot double doors were the last guard to the Heart. It is said it was made out of rocks falling from the sky, gifts from the Spirits to help guard the place of knowledge. No one knows how strong they are and Damon hoped he would never have to know.

  “DAMON,OVER HERE.” Damon, hearing his name called, was pulled out of his reverie and followed the noise where he spotted Rodrick sticking out with his tall stature among the crowd of a thousand Awakeners. A record breaking number that hasn’t been reached since the Traitors War. Likely because the reason for the shrink and increase was finally attending the Academy of Elementals.

  Damon spared a glance over at the foreigners standing off to the side. Damon never met people from the Southern Kingdoms, so his eyes couldn’t help but gravitate towards them. Especially considering that they all looked ‘normal’. From all the stories he heard from when he was younger he thought they would be more…ferocious.

  Damon reaching Rodrick couldn’t help but notice the new clothes on his friend. Rodrick donned a red robe that had a black sash tied around the waist to keep the robe tight with an eye that had a flame for a pupil placed on his left breast. Damon was in a similar style robe, only it was in gold with a black sash and the eye had a lightning bolt for a pupil.

  “Well, what number did you get?” Rodrick tossed a question out the moment Damon reached speaking range.

  Damon lifted his hand up to show a piece of paper in his hand.

  “Nice. We got the same number:1” Rodrick smiled as he showed the piece of paper given to him before crossing the bridge. Rodricks smile quickly shifted to puzzlement. “What do you think it means?”

  Damon shrugged before turning his attention to the extra five hundred plus Awakeners.

  “They got here last night I heard. Just a few hours after we were sent to our dorms. Spirits, it's cold.” Rodrick shared his recently acquired information with Damon with folded arms. “Speaking of dorms, I heard you Lightning Elementals all get a room to yourselves since there aren't a lot of you.” Sunny playing with his black sash that held his brown robes said in a tone full of envy.

  Damon raised a brow at Rodrick, confused at the question. “You share your dorm?” Damon asked his friend for confirmation.

  The question immediately brought frowns on his friend’s faces, especially Kira.

  “What's wrong Kira? Your roommate, giving you troubles?”

  Kira responded to Damon with a simple shrug. “She’s fine.”Kira spoke with gritted teeth.

  Damon laughed at the amusing reaction before turning his head to continue his earlier observations of the foreigners. His first choice of observation was the Southern Kingdoms where a pair of silver-haired twins were the first to catch his eye not only for their eye-catching visuals but their presence. The pair of girl and boy standing in front of the Southern Kingdoms with a wide berth of space gave a hint who held the power amongst the Southern Kingdoms.

  During his observation, he couldn’t help but glance at the pair's attractive silver hair. A genetic trait found only in the Royal family of the Silver Lake Kingdom. A kingdom famous for its many military accolades, mainly against the Republic.

  Behind the pair of twins was another eye-catching individual standing around the same height as Rodrick but with a build that was chasing after Captain Hendrix. With his physique, it was obvious he was from the Kingdom of Harkon, a well known warrior like kingdom that wasn’t known for their strategies in war, but their pure savagery for blood.They were probably the closest description to the horror stories told about the Southern Kingdoms.

  A few meters away from the Southern Kingdoms, was a boy in his early teens who easily caught Damon’s attention with a toothpick in his mouth and an arrogant smile on his face.

  The first thing Damon noticed about the boy was his navy blue hair that he first mistaken as black before faint lights from the horizon broke. The second was the tattoo of what appeared to be a trident on the side of his head that would be easily covered if he let down his hair or cut it.

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  The Trident. The sigil for the Royal Family of the Eastern Isles, descendants of the famous Pirate Queen who was responsible for the war known as the Commoner’s Call.

  Damon was sadly disappointed at the attire of the Eastern Isles. From the stories he read and tales he heard, pirates walked with one leg and wore eye patches. But from the bunch in front of him, it appeared they were not as fond of missing a few pieces of themselves.

  “Sunrise is what I heard.” Pulling his attention away, Damon tuned into the conversation his fellow Outer District inhabitants were discussing.

  “I heard we were getting in at noon.” Sunny happily added in his own rumor that not a single one believed, causing the youngest to pout at his failed attempt at starting a rumor.

  Damon shook his head in frustration, “Why bring us out here so early? Why sunrise?”

  The question found no answers from the group. Damon had a feeling no one knew why they had to wake up well before the bell. Why the old man from last night who was manning the front desk would be at his door shouting for him to wake up before the sun even graced the lands with its warm presence.

  “Look up there.” A voice pulled everyone’s attention to a balcony on the seventh floor of the towering building. Movement came from within and out came the familiar figure of Dean Frey, being flanked by Commander Grant in his golden armor.

  Complaints from earlier no longer left the lips who told them, instead kept inside in fear of the Dean hearing them. So silence was all that met the ears of the Dean whose eyes never left the horizon.

  Damon, curious about the Dean’s actions, mirrored them and in a few minutes spotted a beam of light break out from the horizon followed by many others which dyed the former night sky into a pale soft blend of pink and orange across the that was on the verge of turning into a blue sky.

  After a few more minutes, the round gold ruler of the skies appeared on the horizon, bringing light while pushing back the darkness to reveal what lay underneath it.

  Damon watched the scene in awe at the beautiful view. His earlier complaints receded from his mind to make space for the view to fill his head so he may once again visit the memory again if he ever left.

  The dozens of mountains surrounding them lit up by the orange and now yellow glow with Mystic Cranes cutting through the air. passing through the forested surroundings that were waking up from its slumber.

  Damon enjoyed the gorgeous view. A sight he believed his family would enjoy. Damon let out a sigh at the thought of his family and wondered what they were up to.

  As the darkness began to retreat, sunlight gradually reached them giving off a warm glow that made the earlier morning chill dissipate.

  “Attention.” Shifting their attention back to the balcony, they saw the Dean of the Academy turn around and look up towards the very top of the building. The many eyes that were on the Dean quickly followed to find out what caught his attention.

  Damon scanned the building and found nothing in his search for the last minute or two, so he instead took in the art of the building in more detail as he never got the chance to see since yesterday they never crossed the bridge to get the heart of the Academy and when he got here, the building was barely visible. After a quick scan, Damon found no other balcony other than the one the Dean stood on.

  All he saw were familiar little swirls that were found on walls and engraved wordings he couldn’t decipher or recognize being lit up.

  Seeing it was useless to try and decipher it, Damon switched his attention to the gargoyles that stood above every arched window like guardians with their amethyst gem filled eyes as they stared out. The entire building gave off an aura of mystery.

  With the rising sun, its light slowly reached the midnight black tower causing an immediate reaction from the tower. Waking up the once drowsy crowd with the words and swirls on the building lighting up in purple. The gargoyles that Damon was observing earlier began gleaming under the sunlight and their eyes started to glow. As the sun began to rise its light slowly lit up the entire building pulling shock and reverence out of the spectators. Finally the building was fully lit up by the sun casting an amethyst color glow over its spectators.

  The purple swirls and unfamiliar writings slowly began to dim after a few minutes. Until only a single area of amethyst light remained.

  Up at the very top of the tower was an eye. An eye that was glowing.

  Everyone watched the mysterious amethyst colored eye for a moment until the eye suddenly blinked and the amethyst color was replaced by the five colors of the element: first red then blue then to green and from green to brown to finally ending in gold.

  The eye blinked again and all the colors disappeared, returning to its plain silver colored pupils overlooking the Academy.

  Dean Fray bowed to the eye, an action mimicked by everyone, before turning back to the Awakeners with a smile.

  “The Academy welcomes you.”

  A loud groan emitted from the large double doors brought the nervous but excited first year's attention back down, ready for whatever comes their way.

  Colors.

  Bright Colors are what immediately greeted the first years after passing the double doors, a sharp contrast to the dark and gloomy exterior of the Heart.

  A large hall painted in gold with high ceilings covered in the same swirls and inscriptions from outside welcomed the First Years.

  Chandeliers full of Illumination stones hung from the ceilings, ready to light the room once the golden glow coming through the multiple arched windows from outside would disappear. Couches, chairs, and tables scattered across the entire first floor. While bookshelves could be found attached to the walls of the first floor carrying books for the curious and knowledge hungry.

  The entire hall gave a more welcoming and relaxing air in comparison to its exterior.

  “Welcome Awakeners,” Everyone’s attention shifted their rights and found a double staircase leading up to the second floor where a man in purple robes stood and welcomed them with a smile. “Nice to see you all again. I hope you had a good night's rest.” Assistant Professor Laurel greeted the large crowd whilst sending a smile of acknowledgment to those he recognized.

  “Are you all ready for your first day?” Assistant Professor Laurel asked

  Nods, nervous chuckles, and involuntary shaking of heads were the responses given.

  "Well, the moment you come up, you better be.” The Assistant Professor looked over his shoulder before nodding and turning back to the crowd of Awakeners. “Right, I shall keep it simple and short so listen carefully.”

  “There are five rooms numbered 1-10 on them. Whatever number you were assigned you will enter that room…” Assistant Professor Laurel paused to scan the crowd and found a good number of nods before continuing. “Once you enter, have a seat and wait for your assigned Professor.”

  Ending his instructions with a nod, Assistant Professor Laurel looked over his shoulder once again before turning back with welcoming smile.

  “Come on up, your first day begins.”