The Realm Protectors - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

After spending a whole day playing games on the Avenue, the first day of school doesn't sound as fun. I groan when I wake up to Dawn's singing, rolling out of bed. Apalla yawns from up in her bunk, rubbing her eyes.
"Five more minutes," She whines.
"Come on now," Dawn drawls as she comes out of the bathroom. She scrunches some kind of gel into her hair, scrunching it up and making it curl. "You've slept plenty, Apalla."
"Not enough," Apalla groans. I grab the edge of her blanket and yank it. Apalla yelps when the cold air hits her skin.
Dawn giggles as she struts back into the bathroom. "The shower is nice and warm whenever you decide to get up and get ready." Apalla sits up, grumbling, but walks into the bathroom. I roll my eyes with a smile while I walk into the closet to pick an outfit. It's a lot more full now that we've gone shopping on the Avenue. I dig through the white and yellow clothes until I decide on some white jeans and a yellow long sleeve top.
I hop in the shower after Apalla's done, and soon we're all headed out to the dining hall. Lots of students are up and out, very different from yesterday morning. Many of the tables are full or filling up quickly inside the dining hall, where it's nice and warm. Apalla, Dawn, and I get in line and grab something quick while we head back outside to find our first classes.
"I have English first, what about you guys?" I ask, checking my schedule. We stop at a bench and sit down to eat our food while we compare schedules.
"Same here," Apalla replies around a bite of cinnamon roll.
"Me too!" Dawn nods. She inspects her breakfast burrito before taking a large bite.
"I think they try to keep all the same element sects together as much as possible," Apalla says once she swallows. "Roommates especially so you can help each other." I inspect our schedules again and see that Apalla's right.
CIANA LEOIDE – FIRST SECT LIGHT ELEMENTAL
7:00-7:40 am – 1st Period – English with Professor Rottink – Noni Building, Room 109
7:50-8:50 am – 2nd Period – Photokinesis Theory with Professor da Luz – Bright Building, Room 406
9:00-9:40 am – 3rd Period – Algebra with Professor Mayer – Bracken Building, Room 402
9:50-10:50 am – 4th Period – History of the Realm with Professor Grantwood – Noni Building, Room 307
11:00-11:40 am – 5th Period – Biology with Ms. Sandman – Chainani Building, Room 400
LUNCH
12:40 am-1:20 pm – 6th Period – Blended Physical Education – Blended Training Facility
1:30-2:10 pm – 7th Period – Life Skills with Mrs. Rahn – Noni Building, Room 208
2:20-3:20 pm – 8th Period – Physical Photokinesis with Professor Hanlon – Light Facility, Room 107
"What's pho... photo... photokinee..." My tongue twists around the new world.
"Pho-toh-kin-ee-sis," Apalla says slowly. "It's the word for the power of light. Photokinesis Theory is where we learn about our power through study, history, and honing specific skills. Physical Photokinesis is where we practice using our abilities."
"That's a long word," Dawn pouts. "Ain't there a shorter one?"
"A lot of light elementals just call it Pho Theory and Phys Pho." Apalla explains.
"Good, cause there ain't no way I'm gonna be able to say that word." Dawn laughs in her southern drawl.
Bells toll from the auditorium, the giant clock on it marking it as seven thirty.
"We have to get to class," I note. "We have half an hour to get to the building, find our class and get settled in."
Apalla looks at me incredulously. "We have half an hour."
"I like to be early," I blush. My roommates laugh and we start down along the stone path. The Noni building is right next to the dining hall, so it only takes us a few minutes to walk over there. There's a handful of other students walking into the building with us, filling up the hallway. I see Faris laughing with a group of guys by the stairwell. He looks at me and I wave, smiling. He smiles, face going pink, and waves back. Some of the guys he's with look at me and my roommates and smirk.
"Sweet maple syrup, who is that?" Dawn fans her face and levels me a sly look.
"Oh, that's Faris." I reply. "He's one of the people I've been hanging out with."
"Are they all that fine?" Apalla asks, looking at the other boys with a gleam in her eyes.
"Faris? Oh, no, I don't see him like that," I hold my hands in front of me.
"Weren't you wearing his jacket yesterday?" Apalla has a sly smirk on her face.
My mouth gapes open and shut trying to find an answer.
"Oh honey," Dawn winks. "This should be good."
I shake my head as they laugh. We head down the hallway and past the library to where the English classrooms are. Room numbers, teacher names, and subjects border each doorway. Students dressed in every element color crowd the hallways.
"Where's room one-oh-nine?" I ask. Apalla stands on her toes to see over the crowd of students.
"Shit, we passed it," She replies. We turn around and run smack into another group of girls.
"Sweet biscuits, we're so sorry–" Dawn exclaims. "Oh, hi y'all!" Avani and her two roommates stare back at us. Gemma waves, her hair up in another beautiful crown around her head. Vermont has an almost-scowl on her face at being bumped into. She takes a swig of some drink in a can while Avani dusts off her new green shirt.
"It's all good, don't worry about it." Avani says. "Where are you guys off to in such a hurry?"
"We passed our classroom." I explain. "We have English in room one-oh-nine."
"Same here," Avani replies. We look around at the different classrooms and their numbers.
"There!" Gemma shouts and points back the way we came. There's a stream of teens heading into the classroom. We head over to the door, Professor Rottink on a plaque beside it with English 1st underneath.
The six of us head into the classroom and look around at the groups of desks.
"Good morning," A woman says from behind a desk across from the door. A plaque on the front of the desk pronounces her as Professor Rottink. "Take a seat anywhere you want. I'll have a seating chart made up next week."
We find an empty table and take our seats. Apalla and Dawn sit next to each other, then Gemma and Vermont, and Avani and I. The three desks are pushed together to make a rectangle of desks facing each other. We set our bags on the floor and start to chat with the people around us. There's a gaggle of fire elementals at the table behind Avani and I and I turn around to chat with them. I notice a trio of darkness elementals sitting by themselves at a table in the corner, Nikolina sitting with them and talking quietly. She looks my way and I wave. She smiles a little and waves back, seeing Avani too. Avani tilts her head in greeting. The bell rings as the clock above the board strikes seven. Professor Rottink stands up and moves behind a podium at the front of the room.
"Good morning students," She announces. The students quiet down and turn their attention to the professor. "My name is Professor Rottink and I will be your first sector English teacher here at Asavanra Academy. You all should have your laptops, yes?" We all nod or reply and Professor Rottink continues. "Good. Everyone get your laptops out and we'll get you logged into your school email accounts and your online classroom software."
For the next twenty minutes, Professor Rottink introduces us to our new Asavanra emails and the school's classroom software where we'll be able to access online content for each of our classes. We go through the syllabus and the classroom expectations before she tells us to get out one of our notebooks.
"This is now your journal." Professor Rottink says. "From now on, I'll have a prompt on the board every day when you come in. You'll be given the first five minutes of class to write about the prompt before we get into class for the day."
She turns to the board and writes 'My favorite thing I've done at Asavanra so far is...'. She turns back around and motions to the words. "Get to work! And make it appropriate please. I will be reading these, and you will be getting class credit for it."
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Apalla, Dawn, and I are heading back to the Light Campus for photokinesis theory after the bell rings. It's the only class on the Light Campus, so we don't need to refer to the campus map to find it. The light campus is gorgeous during the day – the sun bouncing off every white and gold surface, making the entire campus nearly blinding to look at for anyone other than light elementals. We head over to the Bright Building, the white-brick building across from the Light Campus archway. Inside, the ceiling rises all the way to the glass roof of the building, each of the four floors of classrooms in rings around the main lobby, railings of gold opening to the lobby. Sunlight floods the whole building from the glass in the roof, and little balls of sunlight float in the air around us. The whole building is beautiful.
There's a glass elevator shaft in each corner that looks big enough to fit a minivan that ferries students up to the different levels. Apalla leads us to the one with the smallest crowd around it. When the doors open, we step inside with the other teens. The doors shut and rise to the second floor, third floor, and finally the top floor.
We step off along with the rest of the teens and start to look for room 406. We round the corner and find it easily, stepping inside. The room is just as brightly lit as the rest of the building, but it's colorful. Stained glass windows make the room every different color imaginable, creating the feeling of being inside a rainbow. Tiny suns float around the ceiling like fireflies, completing the magical look.
"Wow," Dawn gasps. There's no desks, only little coffee tables with large, comfy-looking pillows behind each one. Colored sheets are hung over the lights on the ceiling to keep the theme of colored light going.
"I've never seen so many colors in one place," I murmur. It's peaceful here, like the outside world is a completely separate universe. More students gasp and mutter behind us as they enter the rainbow-esque room. No one makes a move towards the pillows until someone clears their voice behind us. We all spin around to see a short, skinny woman in a white toga-like dress. She motions to the array of pillows and tiny tables.
"You may take a seat," She says. "The pillows are quite comfortable." She walks up to a pillow on a slightly raised platform at the front of the room while we all take a seat on the pillows spread out on the floor. I sink into a butter-yellow one next to Dawn, surprised at just how comfortable it really is.
"All right, everyone settle down." The woman announces from her perch on the white pillow on the raised platform. "Could one of the people closest to the door please shut it? Thank you." She looks around at all of us before closing her eyes. "We're going to start every class with some deep breaths. Everyone close your eyes with me."
I close my eyes, blocking out the rainbow room. I hear the woman take a deep breath and soon the class has joined her, breathing in and out slowly.
"Alright, go ahead and open your eyes." The rainbow room appears again as the woman waits for us. "My name is Professor da Luz and I will be your Photokinesis Theory teacher this year. First, I'd like to go around the room and share our names, so I can take attendance and get to know all of you." She pulls out a clipboard from behind the pillow.
We go around the room and share our names, starting with a pale albino girl in the front who's name is Kier, and ending with a small boy in the corner who's name is Zach.
"It's fantastic to meet all of you," Professor da Luz announces when we're done. She makes one more mark on her clipboard before resting it in her lap. "Today, we're going to start with a very simple lesson to get you all started on your journey of mastering your abilities both physically and mentally. As your Kinesis Theory teacher, it's my job to make sure you all know how to call upon your powers, and to teach you all about them.
"Let's start off with a little warm up, shall we? I want everyone to pull out your First Element necklaces and hold them in the palm of your hand." A light appears in the professor's hand when she pulls the locket out from under her dress. We all follow suit, pulling on the chains of our necklaces and holding the lockets in the palms of our hands. The glass marble warms at my touch, the tiny little sun growing a little brighter.
"Feel the energy of the light in your palms. Feel it course through your hand and into your very veins. Feel the light shining inside of you." Professor da Luz murmurs. I squeeze the locket and focus on the pulsing energy coming from inside of it, and soon my heartbeat begins to match it. Warmth spreads into my hand and up my arm. Sounds of surprise and delight escape my classmates and I as our veins appear as a map of light under our skin. Professor da Luz's caramel skin is lit up from within just like ours.
"That is your ability." Professor da Luz says, dropping her pendant and letting it rest on her chest. "Light. The very light that wakes the Realm in the morning and sparkles at night."
The room dims slightly as we all release our pendants and the veins of light disappear.
"I am aware that many of you will already have some control over your abilities, and are able to reach for them quite easily. Nonetheless, it's my job to prepare you for your Physical Photokinesis classes later, so I need to make sure you can access your powers at will." Professor da Luz looks around at each of us in turn. "So for the rest of class today, you'll be showing me how strong of a hold you have on your powers. Who wants to go first?"
I take a deep breath and raise my hand.