The Academy of Shining Light

Chapter 3: Sorting

Astra's POV:

Tons of kids were everywhere yelling and screaming it was almost overwhelming. She did see Noah talking to a girl a few years younger than him, "Maybe they're related." She thought checking to see if her hair was ok and tightening her pigtails. All of the students seemed to have been dropped off at a station near the Academy because she could see towers in the distance. The station itself was beautiful with it being mainly built out of red wood and decorated with accent tones of gold. It had almost a steampunk vibe with all the metal. The tile flooring made everyone's shoes ten times louder so it was hard to hear when the intercom came on. "STUDENTS PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ACADEMY, NO ONE WAS ABLE TO MEET YOU BECAUSE MOST OF THE ADULTS ARE CURRENTLY DEALING WITH SOME TECHNICAL ISSUES BUT EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!" It screeched and for a second everyone was quiet then it started again. Everything around her spun, she always hated loud noises and this was too much.  "Maybe I can find the people I was on the train with-" "Hey come along Astra!" Kai said to her taking her hand and pulling her along breaking her out of her thoughts. "He's too innocent," She thought again then noticing that Jenne was looking at her. For a moment she felt embarrassed that she was holding hands with a boy another girl liked but she wanted to hang out with him. He seemed nice and she never really had too many friends before so she intertwined her fingers with his and went along with it. "Everything is going to be fine!" She thought.

Kai's POV:

"Yep!" He cheered. He was so happy that he managed to break Astra out of her shell a little bit and as they walked out of the station he noticed the school in the distance. All the students were too far to see the full thing but from their angle, they could see spiral towers breaking the clouds. They were walking on a cobblestone path with a few others around and a clear way to go but he wished maybe that they could explore off the path something. Almost everything around them was gorgeous and he enjoyed hiking whenever he could. He was still a bit embarrassed about his dad, Heros weren't supposed to be bad parents. They were supposed to have a good childhood and then leave to go on their adventure, not sneak out of the house with their best friend while avoiding their dad. There were tons of flowers lining the paths, pink lavender, red tulips, and tons of lilies. The scent he admitted was almost intoxicating making him lightheaded, "Are you ok?" She asked him. "Yeah, pollen just makes me dizzy." He responded. She broke into a light jog and dragged him along for a bit before he met her pace. "Sorry, it's getting dark and I'd like to get to school before night." Kai looked up at the sky, it was darkening and he could see the full moon coming out, stars covered them like a blanket and he couldn't help but pause and stare. The sky seemed to go on forever with the clouds being different shades of pink and purple. Astra paused beside him, her sea blue hair glittering in the starlight as they both stood there and looked up toward the galaxy.  "What's your dream?" She asked him. "Build a spaceship and forget about Earth. I want to leave the dumb world and explore space with a few people I care about." She smiled turning to face him, "I want to map all the stars!" She told him defiantly and after a few more seconds they started walking towards the school again. "It's nice to have a sweet moment with Astra." He thought, "Maybe we could become closer I bet she and Jenne would get along." They kept walking together down the path and to the school. 

Noah's POV:

A light breeze blew through his hair as he made it to the gates at the front of the school. His sister Serina stood next to him along with her best friend, Crimson. Her hair was the color of her name and she stood next to his sister like a knight to a princess. "Do you think we'll have classes together?" She asked him. "No, I don't think so I'm sure they sort everyone by grades and we're a few years apart," Noah responded. "'I'm sure-AH" The huge gates started to open as a few more students gathered around he noticed Kai, Astra, and Jenne who were standing the farthest from the gate. A tall man dressed in armor greeted them, "I'm sorry for the delay there was a father large incident at the school which some of the higher ranking officials had to deal with so I will be leading you to the sorting." All of the students gathered together and followed him onto the Academy grounds which was a sight in itself. Pathways made out of cobblestone, hedges trimmed, flower beds, and willow trees with benches under them. "Sorry I'm sure somebody will give you a proper tour sooner or later but we just need to get you in." He said rushed. The soldier leading them in quickened their pace causing all the students to have to jog to catch up. "I wonder what kind of plant species they have on these grounds." Noah wondered. Finally, the Academy itself came into view and most of the students stopped to admire it. It looked like a fairytale castle complete with tall towers that went up so high, clouds were wrapping around them. Ivy reached up the lower levels, but it looked like it was there on purpose because of all the blossoms on it. Every window he could see was stained glass some of the designs being pictures of people, stars, flowers, or more art of the galaxy. A large clock tower looked over a cliff as Noah checked to see was time it was, 8:00. Tons of smaller buildings were around it with paths leading over to them. Gardens stretched on for what seemed like miles down the cliffside they were on that overlooked the ocean."Noah! It's so big and pretty I wonder what our dorms will look like!" His sister Sirena cheered in her high-pitched voice. "You'll see it later but I can assure you they look quite lovely." An unknown voice said as the two of them looked to find another soldier. "Now if you'll excuse me I need to talk to the captain." They rushed past them. He couldn't see their face because it was hidden behind a helmet. Feeling bored of just standing there he didn't want to go make small talk with the others so he eavesdropped on the soldier's conversion. "It was them?" "Yes, a powerful Blinding Light actually cursed him," "Do you know what kind of curse?" The two of them moved inside the school before he could find anything else out. "Is it true? That the top student was cursed!" He thought not knowing how to make sense of all the information he had just learned. "Students! I'm here to begin sorting all of you into your proper grade level!" 

Kathrenn's POV:

"Finally I was getting bored of standing out here!" She said aloud but the only person close enough to hear her was Jenne who at this point was hiding behind her. A tall woman was on the stage wearing a long purple dress, a traditional witch hat, and 6-inch black stilettos. She seemed fidgety like she had just learned something important, Kathrenn knew this because her friends would always hide their group's ranking until a party so she had gotten good at reading their body language to see if they were happy or not. "My name is Nelia and I'm a Shining Light with the power to see the future!" She told them. "I come to find out that a few students in this crowd are not sixteen. Which is fine You're not in any trouble but we do need to get you into a grade with people around your age range." The two guards that brought them there lead several people away one of them looking a bit older than them while the other two looked as though they were twelve or thirteen. A girl in a gothic dress waved to Noah as they all left. "Our school is split up into grades and each one of them has forty people in them. Those forty people are each put into groups of five and with eight groups of five they will all compete to become the next Shining Lights!" Nelia said to them, "Of course, there are different levels of Shining Lights. You wouldn't expect a couple of twelve-year-olds to be on the same magical level as eighteen-year-olds. Anyway, I'm here to split you all up into your groups." All of the students started talking amongst themselves and seeing that the only person around her was Jenne she decided to make conversation with her. "SO! Why are you here?" She said in her typical sassy tone but she just looked at her confused. "What do you mean aren't we all here to become Shining Lights?" Kathrenn rolled her eyes, "Like what is your dream, what is your motivation!" "Oh, I-I-I-Wanted to become more confident." She told her glancing around. "She sure needs it." She thought turning back to Nelia who had begun to call people up. The first person she pulled up to the stage was a boy with brown hair and before she could introduce himself Nelia already said his name, "Arthur!" He looked at her bewildered while she just smiled. "I'm going to read your future, I'll see a moment where you demonstrate some of your strongest magical abilities and we'll put you in a group with a few others that I think you'll work well with. She smiled and placed her hands on his temples, "In my vision, you seemed to be displaying power magic I think I'll start a group right here." She kept doing this until there were about ten people left and 6 groups. Then it was her turn, Kathrenn strutted up the steps and let Nelia do her thing. However, what she was not expecting was for her to drop to the ground screaming.

Jenne's POV:

Everyone was shocked when Kathrenn was dragged away by guards because from what she could make out from Nelia's screaming she was going to become a "Blinding Sight". Jenne didn't even know what that was but she couldn't be a bad person she had taken the time to talk to her. "She must have made a mistake!" She thought. Noah was next walking up the stage meeting up with Nelia who had just finished recovering. She placed her hands on his temples and for a long time almost a minute she stood there completely still but then she started gasping for air like she was drowning. He stood there watching her seeming to be almost emotionless and staring at her. Everyone on the ground started panicking after seeing some boy make a SHINING LIGHT crumble to the ground. "Who is he!" "What's going on?" "Somebody stop him!" Kids who had already been sorted into groups and those who hadn't were freaking out. But when the guards ran up to the stage he looked at them and said, "Is this an act?" They dragged him away like Kathrenn and at that point, people were freaking out. Nelia stood up again and called a few more kids up to the stage with no more difficulties and those people formed a group. All the people left on the ground were just Kai, her, and Astra. "Please come up to the stage Jenne!" She walked up not knowing to be excited or scared and just like everyone before her she ran through the steps. But the worst possible thing happened she fell to the group and quickly called the guards over. "This can't be happening." She thought as she saw Kai trying to argue with the people in charge.