“You think we are still going to be learning about history?” Rodrick spoke to Damon and Baron as they made their way up the staircase to the second floor of The Heart to get to their class.

  Baron offered a shrug while Damon pursed his lips as he stared into space in thought. “I think we should still be learning. I mean we learned about history almost the entire week. Why change now.” Damon gave his thoughts.

  A groan escaped Rodrick as he hung his head in frustration.. “I hope we change. I’m tired of learning about people constantly causing wars over small stuff.” Rodrick voiced his complaints. “I mean what kind of level of crazy do you have to be to throw a war because the girl you like doesn’t like you back?”

  “Quick, what’s that war called?” Damon abruptly faced Rodrick startling him with a sudden question. Rodrick placed his hand on his heart and shook his head at his friend’s actions. “C’mon Roddy, we might just be tested on it.” The word ‘test’ immediately got the attention of Rodrick and Baron. Even some of their neighbors.

  “Test?” Baron muttered, blinking fast at the thought of a test happening.

  “That's right, they usually make us take tests by the end of the week to test our knowledge.” Rodrick groaned before skimming through his thoughts.

  “House Finn. The guy was from House Finn. A Great House that were descendants of Divine General Finn, right hand to the fifth generation Lord of Wind.” Damon nodded his head, gesturing to him to continue.

  “A couple decades before the Crimson War, the heir of House Finn fell in love with a girl from House Flow, the House belonging to the First Lord of Wind. But she was betrothed to a member from House Laurel.” Rodrick shook his head in disappointment as he recalled the story. “ And the idiot was actually willing to go to war with an Ancient House for her. He summoned thousands of his people to fight a war. Only for it to last a month before he was assassinated.” The trio entered the class with Rodrick letting out a sigh after retelling-in his opinion-the pathetic story of someone who came from such an established House that lost all its glory because of one stupid heir.

  “And that's all I could remember.”

  “That idiot is named Gregory Finn.” The trio was startled at the interruption from Professor Harris who appeared out of nowhere from behind them. All the students quickly stood up and greeted the Professor with a bow. Professor Harris waved at them to take their seats as he walked up the stage in front of the class.

  “The man alone tarnished the reputation of his centuries old House. Now it is in shambles.” Professor Harris pointed his finger in Rodrick’s direction. “A very good retelling of that embarrassing part of history but…” Professor Harris turned to the class “ We won’t be learning about those types of wars today. We will instead be talking about the Catastrophes of the World” Smiles and small pumps of fists were the reactions found in the class before Professor Harris continued “But… before we do that we will take a moment to discuss the responsibilities of an Elemental. A topic we here at the Academy love to instill into our students' brains. It is why you hear so much about it.”

  “Can anyone tell me a few responsibilities?”

  Miles raised his hand and answered after being chosen. “ To protect the people of the Republic.” The answer was followed by a proud smile.

  “Correct. Protect the people of these lands” Professor Harris made a small but crucial correction.

  “The Dark Forest. Whatever comes out of there, we have to make sure it doesn’t harm anyone.” Damon answered, receiving a nod.

  “Anything else?”

  “The Northern Ridges. The magical beasts hidden in the Northern Ridges should be held back.” Damon looked for the person who answered and found an arrogant looking Kesh.

  Kesh was a rare sight only being seen during class but not outside it. And if seen, he was always around Draven and a few others but they didn't bother Damon and the others. Damon and friends did the same. The closest thing to communication was merely glares.

  Something Kesh was currently doing.

  Damon rolled his eyes at the arrogant noble attempting to show off his knowledge.

  “Ok let's not do the obvious. Does everyone remember what the Dean said on the day of your arrival?”

  The question had every student blanking out. Trying to recall the exciting but busy day was a challenge.

  Seeing this, Professor Harris offered a hint. “I know I said we are learning about Elemental responsibilities but the history of our predecessors goes hand in hand.”

  “To learn from our predecessors. Their mistakes.” Baron answered.

  Professor Harris smiled “Yes. To learn from their mistakes and not repeat them. During this week I have taught you some of the most infamous wars in history.” Professor Harris gestured towards Rodrick. “One of them being the War for Love.”

  Pointing at a student from the Eastern Isles. Can you remind the class of the other wars we have learned?” The chosen student abruptly stood up with a bang as his chair fell back leading to laughter breaking out that was quickly silenced by the glare of Professor Harris. The lanky teenager with warm brown eyes brushed his slick black hair with a shaky hand. “The wars were uh, the- the-” The boy nervously licked his pale lips that stuck out against his dark skin.

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  “Take your time, Kado.”Feeling the boy was about to pass out, Professor Harris offered him a few seconds to gather himself.

  The boy grateful for the few seconds offered a shaky smile of gratitude before taking a few deep breaths. “The River Wars, The Fight for Dragons and The Underground War.”

  “Correct. All wars that were fought for stupid reasons..” Professor Harris shook his head in disappointment. “One wanted to own the entire Gale River. Another thought they stumbled upon a living breathing dragon’s egg that hasn’t been seen since the Third Lord of Flames, the Dragonlord and finally someone wanted to own underneath the earth believing themselves to be Dwarves.” Laughs and chuckles were heard around the room for the bizarre reasons people fought wars.

  “Yes, you laugh but if you were there you wouldn’t be laughing.” The eerie words instantly silenced the room. “During the River Wars, towns and villages found near the Gale River were slaughtered and hanged by the river believing the citizens to be either citizens of their enemies or folks that didn’t pay taxes. An ‘intimidation tactic’, they said.”Professor Harris shook his head in disgust. “Lies. Lies for half of the people hanging came from towns and villages over a hundred miles away from the Gale River. They just wanted an excuse to kill. Even though they were already fighting a war. Bloodthirsty they were."

  “Then the Fight for Dragons was a war between two Great Houses-who were descendants of Divine Generals- fighting over a dragon's egg that was merely an ostrich's egg. A small prank created by a few of their own descendants. A prank that led to the death of thousands. Embarrassed at the situation, they continued their fight for a few more months unsure what to do before choosing to end the war with a truce. It wasn’t until one of the perpetrators revealed the secret in a drunken stupor to some of his soldiers that word got out. The news reached the other Houses leading to a complete eradication of the two Houses.”

  “As for the Underground War it was a fight underneath a mountain that collapsed due to fighting below. The collapse led to the death of thousands once again. The noble houses were soon stripped of their status and reduced to commoners.”

  Professor Harris sighed before slowly taking in his students. “We have, for thousands of years, been trying to minimize the mistakes of powerful individuals but every year we stumble on ambitious or stupid people. It is why we put so much importance on the subject of Elemental Responsibilities. Our jobs are not just about watching out for Elemental beasts but to watch over each other. To keep each other in check. ” Professor wore a serious expression as he explained.

  “I hope none of you will repeat these mistakes. And I will continue to remind you all about Elemental Responsibilities in the future. I don’t care if you get tired of hearing about it. I want you to instill these responsibilities.”

  Satisfied with the nods he switched over to a new topic. “Okay, now let's start talking about today’s lesson:The Eight Catastrophes of the World. Can anyone tell me what the Catastrophes are?”

  ‘Wars’ and ‘events with the highest amounts of deaths’ were the two answers flying around the room.

  Professor Harris shook his head “Yes and no. They are indeed wars but the amount of deaths don’t matter. The Catastrophes just happened to have the most deaths out of all the wars.” Professor Harris searched the room to find someone he knew would most likely know the answer and found his red haired target. “Draven, do you mind telling the class what qualifies as a Catastrophe?”

  Draven stood up and cleared his throat before answering “The world must change after the event. Although wars change the world, they do not involve the rest of the world like the Eight Catastrophes.”

  Professor Harris not yet satisfied requested “Examples please”

  “The Great War. The first Catastrophe. It involved the entire Quint Empire and empires from the other side. The war lasting for nearly a century wiped out races, changed topographies, and created the now famous Lords of Elements.”

  Professor nodded before switching to a student from the Southern Kingdoms for another example. “The Dark War. The second Catastrophe. A war that involved the Starry Palace, an organization that believed in the Element of Darkness. A major change as it was well known that only five Elements existed. A fact that soon changed after the Wood Element and Dark Element once thought to be a myth emerged.

  Believers of the power of Darkness believed that all the other Elements were merely second string to darkness. It is due to this theory that a major war erupted. One side wanted to conquer and the other wanted to silence. This war introduced new Elements.”

  “You.” Professor Harris switched to another student from the Eastern Isles. “The War for Hegemony. The third Catastrophe. Remnants of the Quint Empire emerged and attempted a rebellion. The war was spread across the lands. Including the Eastern edges that were destroyed during a battle between two Elemental Lords. The pieces of the land are now known as the Eastern Isles.”

  The nervous Kado was chosen once again. “The- The Traitors' War. Fourth Catastrophe.” Kado winced after hearing the words coming out of his mouth. The chosen Catastrophe immediately formed a tense atmosphere, “The Republic split due to…” Kado froze as everyone stared at him wondering how he would word the conflict between the sides of the world. “Differences in opinion?” Kado offered a tame reason.

  “Give me another one.” Professor Harris, trying to change topics and not get into details, pointed to another student.

  “The Fifth Catastrophe: The Commoners Call. Due to constant wars, the common people were suffering. Homes and loved ones killed. Sent to fight wars they didn’t want to fight in. The common people were tired of the abuse from the higher class resulting in riots and protests in both the Southern Kingdoms and the Republic. The blood spilled everywhere including The Eastern Isles as they were constantly being fought over by nobles from both powers. It was only when the Pirate Queen emerged taking the title Lord of Water were the common people’s voices heard.”

  “Next.”

  “The Rainbow War. Sixth Catastrophe.” At the mention of the war, Rodrick lowered his head and busied himself with the lines carved on his desk.

  “A war against a rising church called the Rainbow Church founded by a descendant of the Quint Empire who created a potion that could give someone power of two or even three Elements hoping to regain his family’s lost glory. The Republic luckily stumbled on the project by accident. When the news was heard, all the Houses for the first time gathered together to wipe out the Rainbow Church. But it seemed some Houses weren’t on the same page.” The words brought frowns and sneers. A few were sent over to where Damon was. Damon knew they weren’t aimed at him but he wasn’t going to let them get to their intended target.

  Damon stood up and simply said “The Crimson War. Seventh Catastrophe.” No explanation was needed as the changes of the world from that Catastrophe were still felt.

  “And finally the Warring Families.The Eighth Catastrophe. A bunch of families trying to take down The Ancient Houses, fools.” With a nod, Professor Harris continued. “Yes. All Catastrophes. All events that changed the world. Every single Catastrophe has ended with lives lost, homes destroyed, and survivors broken.” The atmosphere now turned solemn. “You may have not seen it happen but you will. And you must be prepared when it does.”

  The bell shattered the heavy atmosphere, signaling the end of class.

  “Alright, next week, all of you will have four extra classes. Two will be mandatory and the other two will be of your choice. You were given the entire week to decide. Our class will still be in the morning and it will be a class you don’t want to miss. So come early. It will be on the third floor of the practice rooms.” The students hearing this felt excited at the news.

  “It is time to turn you into Acolytes.”