The Kingdom To Kill For

After Persis left the Sky City, her hometown, after a period of time of waiting for this year, she finally arrived at Dragon Grove Academy, and a trace of excitement rose in her heart. “Persis! Wait up!” A messy chestnut haired guy shouted as he smoothly glided from the air with his birdlike white wings, landing his chelsea boots on the stoned floor. He kept his wings and made it disappear from his back the moment he stood in front of his cousin. “Hurry up, you’re so sluggish,” Persis wry at his arrival. Shoving her hand inside the pockets of her white clear-cut jacket and underneath, she is wearing a dark blue long sleeved shirt, which is neatly tucked into her skirts and a tie that hangs neatly in the middle of her sleeves. She turned her back on him and head first.  They walk upon the drawbridge, upon the ancient stones. Huge statues of winged dragons decorate the bridge outside, the symbol of the academy. Of what she had heard, this castle has been improved over the ages, some parts of the castle are clearly newer than the others, the school admin are determined to keep the academy as modern as possible. A great gate with enormous metal doors and large crenelations guards the only passage into the school. Where other uniformed creatures passed over, this was more than just a school; but a huge castle for everyone in these parts. Ten slim, square towers dominate the skyline of this massive school castle. Its many pointed towers give it the look of an eccentric crown, high upon the mountain overlooking and built with a panorama of the surrounding trees and mountains. From the towers, there stood suits of armor standing guard.  “What are you so excited about this day, anyway?” Jethro asked, walking beside her. “You know why, and this is my first day going to my class,” she said, “and besides, the orientation last night was a bit boring,” “Not so boring, after all, you need to know everything about this academy,” Jethro enlightened her, “And besides, you need to make friends, someone who can accompany you around,” Persis smiled, and said, “It’s easy to make friends, and I could make many as I want,” she assured. “Well, I bet you will, ‘cause this place is totally different from ours,” he walked inside along with the other uniformed creatures striving through the massive oak double doors, hustling and bustling down the corridors.  Persis knew what her cousin meant for.  After all, ever since she grew up in Sky City, she had never gone down to any places nor did she know what it had become like outside. Truly a little scared that she would not be able to adopt the life down here and meet with the other creatures she had never seen before. Even though she thought this way, Persis unconditionally accepted to study and train here. She knew it was also for her own good and as a princess, she must gain good friends from the different kingdoms. “Hey, come on, I’ll show you your classroom,” Jethro said looking over his shoulder. The hallways are dark marble floors and grey decorated walls, not a hand print or scuff mark anywhere. The classroom doors are glossy brown, rich tapestries of dragon emblems in white, emerald, blue, red and gold hung on the walls and it isn’t just the materials though, it’s the dimensions, the width being at least the size of Sky City’s palace.  And it was crowded with different creatures. There was this a couple of Elves in their green uniforms on the left side of the hall, they were discussing something about their new invention thru their portable mobile tablets and about ten feet farther down, a group of fashionable amber-eyed girls where emitting an aura to let anyone knows that they are holding their group exclusively and not welcoming any outsiders. That’s what Persis felt this time. Opposite of them, a bunch of guy fairies with their music instruments cases and their transparent wings are flapping so amazingly, and between them, small dragons with the other elves as they are learning their new elemental magics. And others acted like normal days and friends are greeting each other with a hug or a playful magic punch. Persis was overwhelmed and excited to meet her classmates, thinking about what they would look like, and without minding her surroundings, she accidentally bumped on someone’s back. “Ump,” she grunted by the hard back on the person, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean --” The guy was tall, he looked over his shoulders and didn’t say anything. He walked straight, his face held forward in a steady-stern gaze, and had an air of regality that was palpable. And his hair - naturally light silver in color but reflected from the light to a bright blue - was long and straight. A hand grabbed her immediately, almost losing her balance, “What were you thinking, bumping into someone like him?” It was Jethro. “What?” she asked, lightly shoved Jethro’s hand away from her and smoothed down her white-golden laced pleated skirt that reached down too well below her knees, “I don’t know about that guy and he’s kind of arrogant,” she said. “Don’t say that out loud, that’s the crown prince you meet there,” “Crown prince of…” “Niflheim, name’s Ryujin,” he started to pace, as Persis followed him behind. “So, that’s why he’s a cold one,” “You bet,” Stepping inside the classroom, she noticed it was an amphitheater-style classroom with the windows large. Persis always wanted a window seat, to sit in the unsubdued light of the morning, but, it was already occupied with some studious youngsters wearing large circular black-rimmed glasses. It was a rowdy class she’s not expecting. A few rowdy teenagers had pulled out their mobile phones, shutters clicking against each other by the sound of their camera, making wacky faces and laughed so loud. Another set of youngsters were blaring music whilst drumming in the wooden desks. Others are practicing magic using their hands but failed to stay it longer. The ceaseless buzzing of the classroom and the unlimited amount of energy the students contained increased. Soon the bell rings and everybody runs to their seats and keeps their unnecessary things under their desks. A single figure entered the room, sheer authority silencing the class. The teacher had a hawkish air about her. Even her nose was curved and beaky, and she said, “No phones are allowed here in this premises,” Her pale yellow eyes fixed in the class with an icy stare.  In a moment, all mobile phones started to float away from the students who owned them and thrown straight to the trash bin. No one dares to say or complain anything about it.  “That’s better,” she said with a stern smirk, waving her hand and a large book floated and lay it on the dark oak lectern. “Now, before we start our class, I am your new adviser, Faraine,” she introduced herself, and added, “and all of you, as a newcomer, you’ve better introduce yourself from your names, kingdom and race, and what magic you have already learned. I will call you by your name alphabetically,'' As she scanned her eyes through the open pages and started calling names and one by one, students who are called rose from their seats and start telling about themselves. Persis knows that some of them are from the Wind kingdom, but it doesn’t mean they are friendly. They even know that is their princess, but no one dares to get close with the royal bloods, and she hates it. Even when she sees some from the Earth and Sairon Kingdoms, it seems she feels out of place, until a student stood up from her seat and introduced herself from the Fire kingdom, her name was Sekhmet, she has fiery blue long and straight hair but her eyes are red. For her, it was a rare one to meet in her kind. After their first session in the morning, Sekhmet was about to leave the room when someone blocked her way, stopping her from going out. “Going somewhere fire’ian?” A girl with pink hair smirked down to Sekhmet. She was taller than her an inch. “Well, I’m going to eat, wanna join?” Sekhmet didn’t stagger by her presence where anyone wouldn't dare to interfere between them. Her face twitched, giving her a menacingly laughed, “Me, joining with the likes of you? You are just from a stinking kingdom who only knew to slay dragons and marry orcs,” she pushed her hard but Sekhmet didn’t budge from where she stood. On the upper corner of the desks, three other students stood with a menacing aura, but Sekhmet gave a silent stare for them not to interfere. The pink-haired girl frowned. “Wihea,” another girl behind her tries to grab her away from Sekhmet, “she’s a fire’ian, you don’t want to get in trouble,” but instead of listening to her, she shoved the girl with a force, losing her balance and fall to the marbled floor.  “Oh, you shut up!” Wihea cried, “what if she is a fire’ian? Fire’ians are disgusting, the losers, and most of all, the traitors!” A large wind bursted to their direction, making Wihea and the others thrown out from the room and crashing into the other side of the walls. Sekhmet managed in time to notice and leaped away from the attack. A lot of the students who passed by gasped and were shocked to see and turn their heads to the room where there is only one person standing at the open doorway. Sekhmet and their classmates turned and saw Persis with her large white birdlike wings. She was panting by releasing her elemental power against the pink haired girl and her girls. Sekhmet paced towards Persis, and said, “Well,” she faced her, “a wind’nian who interferes,” as she crossed her arms. “And I’m not going to get a thanks?”Persis straightened up and kept her wings on her back. “Thanks but no thanks,” she gave a slight shrug, as if she doesn’t care. Persis’ brow raised, “And why not?” “Because of that,” Sekhmet pointed at someone standing on the doorway. The guy standing out in the doorway has his stern face staring at them, but he was the strikingly beautiful man Persis ever seen these days. He was in his school wearing a white long sleeved shirt, neatly tucked into their belted trousers and covered with a formal jacket and was wearing finely slim-cut, royal blue polycotton trousers that reached down to just above their white chelsea boots. Clearly, he was in his senior year, as Persis thought since they were the same uniform with her cousin, Jethro. “What, he’s here to what?” Persis asked in a confused look at Sekhmet then to the new guy. “To punish,” Sekhmet said. “You’re coming, too,” the guy speaks, pointing his icy stares to Sekhmet. Sekhmet jerked, and said “What! What do I do anyways?” He took his tablet out of thin air, and revealed the video to her that she was making a move and showing her fire in her hand, but Persis only did the first move to hurt the bullies. “Is that even counted?” she asked stupidly, making herself not aware that she is not going to attack anyways. “Yes,” he said sternly, turning his back to them, “follow me,” “You know, someone resembles him,” Persis to Sekhmet. “Indeed, and his name is Morpheus, the senior who gives punishment to the unruly students,” “Oh, I’m not unruly, those bullies are,” “Then, tell him that,” Walking out from the class, they both saw other seniors took away the girls they hurt to the other side of the hall. They both separated to have their punishments. The two girls gape in amazement.  Dust was all everywhere as far as they could see, spider webs were loosely around books, dirtied shelves and stands, including the cracked ceiling. The ground was littered with dirt, shattered glass, books and torn papers. The crevices in the wall allowed small amounts of light to filter inside along with the thin ropes of ivy. Dust floated lazily in the air causing them a difficult time to breath, and every step put more of it into the air. “Here,” they were given a pair of aprons and a couple of cleaning equipment with long brooms and buckets. “Why would we receive such big punishment in this old library?” Persis said, expressing her disapproval and hardly accepting the broom from Morpheus. “Then, maybe I could swap with you with Wihea?” Morpheus implied. “What about her?”she asked, thinking the others might receive a not-so-heavy punishment than them. “She’s in the dungeon of dragons, feeding them,” he answered. “What! How come us, newcomers, receive huge punishments?!” she crowed. “Then, you are not listening to the orientation yesterday, and that’s what newcomers receive when they don't listen.” He walks towards the door, and before he will leave, he turns to them, and says, “Finish it until sun down,” and leave, closing the door behind him. “What! Hey, you can’t just-” Persis was agitated by what that guy did to them. Sekhmet didn’t stir about her complaints, she paced towards the shelves nearby. It looks like it was forgotten for years and had lain for an age unmoved. “This is strange, why do we need to clean this old library up now?” she wondered. “Bah, who cares? I don’t want to clean this whole mess!” Persis stomped one of the floors, which is a mistake. It gave a cracked sound and gray ash and dust drifted across the room making her sneezed hard. “Damn it!” “Are you okay?” “I’m not okay with this, at least I have a companion,” “And I’m not going to get a thanks?” “Thanks but no thanks,” And they laughed about what they said to each other. When cleaning the place, it took them a few hours of dusting and sweeping, still few shelves are cleared. It makes them hang limp like wet laundry on a cold still day. “I can’t believe it,” Persis sat on one of the dusted chairs, “this is hard as it looks,” and half of the library is not yet done. She already feels like every muscle is giving into gravity. “Yeah, but we need to finish this before dinner,” Sekhmet said without showing any exhaustion, but her hair was barely combed into messy and dust and dirt was smeared across her cheek and forehead. She was perfectly okay with it. “I’m Persis, by the way,” she introduced herself, while Sekhmet was continuing her dusting duty on one of the shelves nearby, and she added, “from the Wind Kingdom,” “I know, and I listen,” Sekhmet smiled. “Yeah, I just thought you didn’t,” Persis smiled back, “and by the way, I saw a lot of fire’ians today, but they seem not having the same color of your hair, and back then, I was thinking you are from the Niflheim or Water kingdom,” “Not wishing to be from those kingdoms, I love to be unique, and yours, too, you seem to be belong in fire kingdom with your hair,” Persis chuckled, and said, “You bet, but lots of our kind have red hair, so it's not surprising,” and she continued, “Do you just dye your hair?” “It doesn't suit me?” “Ah, no-- that’s not what  I meant, your hair is beautiful, but maybe you dyed it for--” Sekhmet gave a soft laugh at her statement, “Actually, no. I did not. And why should I even bother dyeing it?” Persis shrugged, “Guess you’re right,” she said. Sekhmet paused for a moment, looking at the other side of the room. Persis noticed her sudden silence and turned to her, “What is it?” she looked at the direction she’s staring at, but saw nothing but a pile of books and dusty boxes. Sekhmet didn’t say anything but she took a pace towards the pile of books. Getting near, it was clear that under the pile of books was a huge cradle, and it was filled with hay and blankets. They were both wondering what’s underneath the hays. Sekhmet pulled out everything that piles on the top of the cradle. Both of them were in amazement. “Just what I suspected,” Sekhmet said.