Auothor's Note: The Prologue is from the main character's (Nina's) journal. The entire story will be in her piont of veiw. I'm writing short chapters because...well...I have issues with big chapters and I'm unable to write them. Anyway...On with the story!
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Prologue
Friday, December 20
Hello.
I’m Nina Thomas. But everyone at Periergos Academy calls me Nina Aster.
I’m pretty much your average human-born Wizard on Earth nowadays. Wizards are feared among humans. For no reason actually. The fact is, humans are afraid of Wizards because they don’t understand them. I mean, just look at the Salem Witch Trails.
But that was a thing of the past.
Humans think that all Wizards have fallen into the underground and will never bother them again. Truthfully, there are whole societies of Wizards everywhere. And you wouldn’t know about that unless, when you’re thirteen, you are declared a Wizard, taken from your home, and applied to Periergos Academy (for those of you who don’t know ancient Greek, periergos means Magic). That’s a little common-Wizard knowledge for you!
Right now, it’s almost Christmas and I’ve been here for about a whole two months. I’ve got to say I kinda miss my family, but they wouldn’t accept me back. Their memories have been erased. That’s just how it is.
But I’ve made a new family here. Jason Alister, 14, and Jacob Philo, also 14, have really taken me in as a little sister. Jason has an Affinity for Solarus. Solarus is a type of Magic. Light Magic.
There are a whole lot of different possible Affinities. There’s Cyclonus (air Magic), Aquas (water Magic), Florus (earth Magic), which goes hand-in-hand with Faunus (animal Magic) and Insectus (bug Magic). Then there’s Pyra (fire Magic), Musica (music Magic), Technus (technology Magic), Solarus, which is the total opposite of Darkus (shadow Magic), and Pathus (mind Magic).
Each Affinity has its own unique pros and cons.
When a Wizard has been an official Wizard for one whole year, they know what Magic is their Affinity. And since Jason’s birthday was on May 18th, and he’s a year older than I am, he knows his Affinity.
Jacob is turning fourteen on Christmas Day…so maybe something big will happen and we’ll know his Affinity!
~Nina Aster
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A snake. A python. A huge and intimidating python. One big enough to swallow me whole and still want seconds. It wrapped its way around my ankles. I found myself unable to move. It squeezed its way up my legs and past my stomach. My mouth wouldn’t open. I couldn’t make a sound. “No!” I wanted to scream as it slithered up my still arms. It crushed my chest. I felt all the air escape from my lungs. I can’t breathe. No I can’t die! I struggle for my life. I knew I was going to die. The snake looked at me with red eyes. It bared its horrible yellow fangs and hissed. It arched backward until it was about a foot from my face. And struck.
* * *
I bolted upward in my bed, breathing heavily. I’m sure that dream didn’t seem at all terrifying for you…I’m not even so sure why I was terrified for my life. I clutched at my chest. It really did feel like I was being crushed by a giant snake.
I’m sure I never had these kinds of dreams, ever. Not vivid like this one. Maybe it was a vision. Did I have an Affinity for Pathus Magic? As I was absorbed in my thoughts, my alarm went off. I jumped in surprise and almost fell out of my dorm bed.
I was so happy with my own room in this school. At first I thought I’d have to share a dorm with several girls who I would come to hate because we would fight over a bathroom. But nope! I have my own room with my own living area outside of my bedroom and my own monstrously huge closet.
8:00 said the screen of my alarm clock.
Time for breakfast!
I jumped out of bed while totally pushing my dream into the back of my mind. I left it with the other weird dreams in the corner of my mind to collect dust. Like I would ever need to remember that.
I ran into the above mentioned closet and pulled out some skinny jeans and a zebra-striped tee-shirt. I threw them on, put on black fuzzy winter boots and ran out the door of the closet. I checked myself in the vanity mirror; tossing my long brown hair over my shoulder, I assessed my bare neck, and wished I had a piece of jewelry to put on. My green eyes darted down the reflected image of my shirt, checking for stains and rips.
After a quick ok I sped out into the small living room space, almost tripping over the couch that sat in the middle of my floor. I grabbed my messenger bag off my desk and my denim jacket; then ran into the hallway of the girls dorms.
I almost collided with Rachel Nyx, a girl who was one year older than I was. She had an Affinity for Insectus, I could tell by the faint shape of dragonfly wings a hint darker than her skin on her cheekbones. That’s all I knew about her.
She whipped her head around to glare at me with dark hazel eyes. Her red hair brushed my face as she turned her head. Her eyes were about level with the top of my head. It wasn’t fun, having her glare down at me like that. My temper sparked a little.
“Watch it, Aster,” she growled at me, making my temper spark a little more.
“Same goes to you,” I glared back. She was so aggressive to me for no reason. Did she act like that to the other newbies?
She rolled her eyes and flounced away in the direction opposite of the way out of the dorm building. Wow. I hoped she acted that way to everyone and it wasn’t just me. I may have a handful if we’re on each other’s bad sides.
I stood there for a moment, thinking.
Then my stomach growled at me. I walked down the hall, out of the girls’ dorm building, and into the cool morning air of the huge courtyard. Stone paths made a crisscrossing pattern leading to different doors to different buildings and trees were dotted along in the grass. The trees were bare of leaves and the sudden winter wind bit at the exposed skin on my face.
Winter.
A week before Christmas.
I had been here for almost a whole two months and still I didn’t exactly know where everything was or what I was supposed to do.
I could tell you that there are special types of (capital ‘m’) Magic called (capital ‘a’) Affinities. The types are Cyclonus, Aquas, Florus, Faunus, Insectus, Pyra, Musica, Technus, Solarus, Darkus, and Pathus. And that a Wizard—you’re called a (capital ‘w’) Wizard whether you’re a boy or girl—has one affinity. It appears on your fourteenth birthday, or when you were a Wizard for a year. I could also tell you that there’s a lot more to Magic than meets the eye. There’s a lot to learn here at Periergos Academy for Wizards.
I sucked in a big breath and headed for the Dining Hall.
Once inside I was greeted by the warm smells of breakfast food—bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, toast—the rumble of noise, and the sight of Magic.
I shouldn’t even call it a sight, because even if I couldn’t physically see the Magic being preformed, I could sense it. It was almost like a prickling feeling over my skin.
There were a few weird things about this particular morning to normal people.
First of all, little moving tables, like the ones in fancy restaurants, were moving from table to table, serving kids from ages thirteen to eighteen at their tables. Second, the kids themselves, if they were older than thirteen were lighting things on fire (Pyrus), making their orange juice float into their mouths (Aquas), and making food levitate by themselves with their minds (Pathus). Third, there were animals running around. They were underneath the tables, in their owners laps, and eating on the tables.
I scanned the room really fast and found the table where Jason and Jacob were sitting. I ran over and sat at the round table. Immediately a cart came around with food. I started piling pancakes, bacon, and eggs on my plate. Before it left, I took a bottle of maple syrup and drowned my pancakes in it.
Jason Alister looked up at me and smiled, “Morning,” he said in his typically bright way.
“Hey,” Jacob Philo yawned hugely. He noticed my plate, “I can’t believe you can eat so much.”
“For a girl?” I clarified.
“Yeah,” he leaned his head on his hand and yawned again.
I shrugged and forked food into my mouth. You would figure he would be used to me being a big eater.
That’s when I realized I had no idea what day of the week it was.
After a minute of thought I peered up at Jason. He was a tan boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. His Mark of a sun was on his right temple. I already figured out that half of the girls in school seemed to have a thing for him, even the older girls. Then I looked over at Jacob, who was the total opposite of Jason. He had black hair and chocolate brown eyes, and was a very quiet person normally. He wouldn’t have a Mark until his birthday on Christmas Day.
See, Marks show other people what Affinity you have. They’re like beauty marks, not at all like tattoos. They appear the same time you get your Affinity. I’ve seen so many and they’re all so pretty. I can’t wait for my fourteenth birthday.
“Hey, Jason?”
“He looked up from the newspaper he was reading, “Yes?”
“What day is today?”
He laughed. It never failed to amuse him how I can never tell what day it was and what time I had to be places, “Thursday.”
I thought for a moment, “So that means I have…”
“Dragon Riding,” he helped. He has a thing for remembering important stuff like this.
“Yeah, that. I have dragon riding for sixth class today,” I made a mental note of that.
“You still haven’t remembered?” Jacob rolled his eyes.
“Nope,” I finished off my breakfast and started to weave through the tables on my way to the door.
Right when I was two feet away from the door, it swung open and in walked Rachel and her lackeys, Taylor Thalassa and Jenny Kandace.
Taylor was on the left and had bright green eyes and short brown hair. I heard from other girls in my class that she had an Affinity for Florus Magic. And I saw that was true because she had a faint Mark of ivy on her forehead.
Jenny, on the right of Rachel, had brown eyes and reddish hair and had an Affinity for Pyra Magic and was the one of the group that would have no problem stuffing you into a locker (if this school even had lockers). She had a flame Mark on her left cheek.
Nyx gave me a horrible glare and brushed past me with her two cohorts in tow. I counted to five then looked back. She was sitting next to a boy who looked vaguely familiar. He had black hair that clashed against his pale skin. Not that that mattered, because she was all smiles and cuteness for him. So, she’s one of those girls? I figured as much.
The boy didn’t even look at her as he gave her a short response. She flipped her hair and giggled anyway. He stared off, looking bored. I saw a dark cloud Mark on his left temple. What did that mean? I didn’t know what Affinity a shadowy cloud pointed to. His eyes wandered aimlessly around the Dining Hall and met mine for a split second.
I spun round, opened the door, and trooped down the path towards the History Hall.
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And so...Nina's journey begins!
Reviews would be so helpful! I'm trying to make it as original as possible.
So, I hope you like it!
