A Hero's beginning

Chapter 1

I live in a small town at the border of the earth and water realms. Occasionally my friend, Jackson Underwood the fourth, prince of the Earth realm will visit my village when he needs to relax from the pressure of being a royal. Today is one of those visits. But today he was visiting for a different reason, today we would be starting school! Now you might be thinking, "why are you so excited about some boring old school?". But this is no ordinary school, this is a special school where young magicians like me and Jackson will learn to harness our elemental and magic powers. The sun was rising in the distance. Then all of the future or current students of the village (plus Jackson) gathered around to hear what the priest of Hecate had to say. "Young magicians, today you will begin on your journey to become the next generation of Mageía." she started. No one knew what she looked like because she always wore a white cloak with a hood that covered her face.But after she began explaining what we would do at the academy I sort of zoned her out. I took off my backpack to take inventory to make sure I didn't forget anything. I pulled out my dagger which was a hybrid blade made of argentum (enchanted silver) and aurum (enchanted gold), and attached its sheath to my belt. I was wearing jeans, running shoes, and a silver windbreaker over a plain t-shirt. Then I took out my new wand, it was a simple 11 inch long, thin, brown wand with vine designs placed over the handle. I put the wand back in my backpack and continued taking inventory. Clothes, check. Healing potions, check. As I finished taking inventory, Jackson walked over to where I was sitting. He had tanned skin, bright green eyes, dark brown hair, and was wearing his usual black shorts and green t-shirt. "James, why are you sitting on the ground? It's time to go!" he said. "Oh styx! Why didn't you tell me sooner!?" I said as I closed my backpack and stood up. "Let's go, cmon!" I said. We ran to the docks and got onto a giant gray, five story boat with the rest of the students. As we caught our breath, I looked back at my town. Parents were gathered on the docks, waving goodbye to their kids as the boat pulled away from the docks. The only people whose parents weren't there were me and my sister Kayla. She and Luke are three years older than me and their twins. But several years ago our parents died trying to put out a forest fire (at least that's what Luke and Kayla told me, I never really believed them about that). I took one last look at the rolling hills, vast forest and the creek running through the town then disappearing into the forest. Then I turned to Jackson, who was talking to Kayla on a bench. Kayla was seventeen years old, she had her long brown hair in a ponytail, her eyes were like kaleidoscopes and was wearing black sweatpants, a dark blue hoodie and had no makeup on whatsoever. She tried hard not to draw attention to herself but even without make up she was pretty. She got up and smiled at me. "James, I'm so excited that you and Jackson get to start the academy this year! Just remember, we may not see eachother often but if you need anything, like help with a class or help finding something or if you just want to talk, you can come find me at any time. You too Jackson." She said, The three of us talked about our plans for the school year. Then I saw the shore of an island in the distance. "Jackson! Look!" Then me and Jackson ran to the bow of the ship as the towers of Legacy Academy rose in the distance. The castle was a huge, quite scary-looking castle, with a jumble of towers and battlements on a ginormous lush green island. Six ships identical to ours pulled into the harbor and several other students including the ones on our boat unboarded the ships. As soon as we got onto the docks a paper with our schedules and dorm assignments on it appeared in our hands. I looked over at Jackson's paper and noticed that we had similar schedules and were going to be roommates along with a guy named David Gonzalez. I noticed a metal bird with red eyes scanning the crowds As I was walking towards the main entrance of the academy I was so busy looking at my schedule that I ran into someone, causing her to drop their books and paper. "Oh gods, sorry that was my fault I wasn't watching where I was going." I said as she and I bent down and started picking up her books. "It's ok, I was probably gonna run into someone anyways." She said, then I looked up at her and my heart skipped a beat. She had long wavy blond hair with light brown roots, deep set brown eyes and perfectly tanned skin. She was wearing jeans, a dark pink sweater, and sneakers. "I'm Madelynn Miller." she said as we made eye contact. "Im James Willson." I said. "Well it was nice meeting you." She got up and walked through the doorway with her books. I noticed she had forgotten a black notebook with a lock on it. Her journal?, I thought. I got up and ran through the doorway and looked around but she was already gone.