The Rogue World Of Dostira: E.D

Auctus Appraisal

Audrey shifted around in the backseat of Charlie's car with her eyes half open. Her senses struggled to awaken, her ears ringing slightly and her vision blurry. She let out a groan before clearing her throat.

"What happened? Are we here?" She asked, hoping someone would reply.

Charlie stood outside the car, leaning against the door and talking to a boy in a dark grey uniform who held a small book in his hand. He had somewhat forgotten that Audrey lay unconscious in the back of his car and was enjoying his debate on what teachers could defeat the Noctissian with his classmate Markus Mott.

"I still think Alex could easily win, not Mr Miles" he scoffed.

"Oh please, that little green cane is what allows him to have power over it. Plus Mr Miles is a professional Telum Trainer" Markus asserted.

"Yea and a Deebil don't forget".

"Still!" The boy continued, "Deebil or not, he knows his weapons and potions".

Charlie laughed contemptuously until another groan from Audrey shifted his attention away from the boy. He looked over, watching her hand rub the back of her head and neck while she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

Audrey looked outside the car window, ignoring Charlie, to see a large castle-like building made of grey stone. It looked ancient and mesmerising. As she turned in her seat, she saw that the large building was surrounded by beautiful gardens. The perfect green grass and large square hedges somehow hurt for her eyes to look at. The large castle in front of her had a hallway within it, and as she squinted her eyes she could see a floral garden inside that was surrounded by archway corridors and hallways. The large fortress had a stone balcony that wrapped all around the outside of the front of it. As Audrey looked closer at the balcony she could see students walking along it, some disappearing in and out of archway doors.

"Finally you're up" Charlie said as he opened the car door.

A gust of cold wind invaded the gaps in her clothing, she shivered and crossed her arms.

"Are we here?" She asked.

"Yep"

"So this is Dostira?"

"Yep"

She exited the car, noticing Charlie's friend had begun walking away towards the castle. The back of his long and messy brown hair the only part of Markus Mott she would ever see.

"What happened? Where is Mr Harkness?" She asked.

Charlie was growing increasingly irritated with Audrey's burgeoning amount of questions. He had hoped that once they had arrived at the school, she would be taken care of and no longer his problem. He did his part and brought her here safely, he found comfort in telling himself that Mr Harkness shouldn't require anything else of him. He looked at her messy hair and white sweater that was now brown from the dirt, feeling embarrassed for her but only for a second before thinking of all the things he needed to get done this school year and how he hoped her presence at the school wouldn't be a distraction.

"Also," she began, causing him to shift his focus, "what's a Deebil?".

"You heard that? It's just a rude name for someone whose prodigy powers are restricted. They have some powers but not the rest."

"There seems to be a lot of mean nicknames for people who are different" she said.

"For example, the professor that teaches the 'Telum Training' class is a Deebil. Mr Miles is an ignis prodigy, so he can release fire from his lips and use his dragon eyes to sense prodigies. But he doesn't have the power of impenetrable skin so can never graduate from Dostira or any other prodigy school in the world. Most Deebil's end up working construction or some poorly paid office job with no real use. They only made him a professor this year, out of pity I guess because he's so young. You'll notice he's different when you see him. He has a mess of scars all over his hands from training with weapons for years".