Elements Academy 1: The children of the elements

Chapter 1

'Today is it your great day, Azara,' begins my mother. We sit with the whole family at the dinner table, eating our breakfast.
'I know, I turned twelve,' I respond enthusiastically. 'And I finally get to go to the elements academy.'
'Right as pie! And are you feeling up to it yet?', my father asks happily, with a big smile.
'Not a little, but awestruck Dad,' I say, laughing. I then take a bite of my ball of cheese.
'If all goes well, a letter is on its way,' my mother remarks next.
'Oh, what's in that letter?', I ask her curiously.
'You'll see, when it's in,' she replied mysteriously.
I sigh and turn my head towards my father. 'Dad, what does the letter say?', I ask him curiously.
'I'm not allowed to say. You can open and read it yourself later,' he too replied mysteriously.
I sigh and keep my mouth shut about it. Defeated, I work my way down my food, which consists of two balls of cheese and a slice of gingerbread with butter.

After breakfast, I get up and grab some things from the table, including the cold cuts and tidy them up in the fridge. My parents are also starting to help clear the table, so my father cleans up the plates and cutlery in the dishwasher. And my mum helps me clean up with the bread spread. After cleaning up everything, I walk to the living room where I drop onto the sofa.
'Aren't you going to do something nice for yourself?' my father asks.
'Yep, telephoning,' I reply and take out my phone from the pocket of my cardigan. And because I turned 12, I got a phone case. They both paid for it together. It is a beautiful beautiful dark red and orange case, with the sign of a flame on it. Which at our house is like fire in sign. No one in our whole family has the element of fire. Probably a hundred years ago, but over the years, water has multiplied more than earth, air and fire.
'What are you going to do on your phone then?' my father asks and plops down next to me on the sofa.
'Playing games,' I reply with a smile.
'And what game are you going to play?', he asks continuing, looking at my phone with me.
'Well say, Dad! Don't sit and watch me like that,' I exclaim indignantly and turn my screen the other way.
'I'm just allowed to be curious, right?' he asks with a pout.
'No,' I grin and look at him for a moment, then teasingly stick out my tongue.
'Well, fainthearted!' he exclaims indignantly now.
I laugh for a moment and cast my gaze back to my phone. With my fingers, I glide over the screen and tap the folder called "Games". Immediately, I realise again that my father is watching.
I chuckle briefly and get a fun idea in my head. On my phone there is an app, where you have to deal with a terrifying creature. That creature jumps forward on a beaming to attack you. Now I know, that would definitely scare my father. At first, it scared me too, but over the many times I play the game, I've gotten used to it.
The loading screen immediately appeared, showing a picture of a red bloodied hand.
'What kind of game is this then?' he asks confused, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
'Well, a game,' I reply, laughing. The menu screen comes into view. A pitch-black room can be seen in the background, with one window where the night light shines in. A grin develops on my mouth, which I can no longer hold back. Suddenly, a flash of lightning can be seen in the night sky and suddenly two red orbs appear to the right of the window. I know myself that there is a curtain there.
'Brrr! It's just a scary game,' I hear him say shuddering.
'It's not that scary now,' I say in response and tap 'Start game'. My character appears in a pitch-black room. The torch I had made last time is gone. A strange shiver does run down my spine now, but try not to let my father notice.
'Strange, last time I had made another torch,' I remark aloud.
I don't hear him say anything back, even though I know he's watching. Despite the game's menu screen did make him wince for a moment.
'I think the creature is or has been nearby,' I say next. With my right thumb, I move the screen, making my character turn around. But this was not a good idea, because out of nowhere, the creature jumps at my character from an angle. Beside me, I hear my father let out a startled shriek, while I just startle without letting out a scream or cry. Then I start laughing and close the app.
'Well, not nice! That was mean,' he exclaims and gives me a gentle shove, causing me to topple to the right.
'Everything okay here?', I hear my mother ask.
'No, she just scared me on purpose with her little game,' he replies offended, after which he briefly pokes me in my side.
By now I am in a huff of laughter and quickly slap his hand away, before he pokes me in my side a second time.

'Okay, back to serious for a moment now,' my mother starts, causing me to stand up still after laughing and sit up straight again. 'The letter is here and I have it here-.'
She has not yet spoken or I immediately snatch it out of her hands. I have recovered from laughing, but chuckle a little more.
'Jeez, impatience,' she remarks.
I pay no attention to her remark and open the letter with my finger, tearing it open at the top. Then I take out the letter and fold it open. I immediately start reading it out loud:

Dear Azara Eldur,

With great pride, we would like to say in advance: Welcome on the Elements Academy and congratulations on your birthday. 

We are very honoured that you have chosen our academy. After saying these words, we would like to invite you to come to the academy on 1-4-2246. We expect you at the square, in front of the academy, no later than 12:00 pm.

Note : you don't need to buy anything. We have everything in the academy, from textbooks to pens!

We wish you a great day and see you soon at the Elements Academy.

Best regards,

Director: Qasin Zauters

My mouth falls open. I could scream with joy. All sorts of things shoot through my mind, but I don't know the right words to say. I am just about jumping with enthusiasm.
'Now when were you invited to the academy?', ask my father.
'One April, this year,' I reply and see him roll his eyes for a moment. My mother picks the letter out my hand and apparently seems to be looking for something in the letter.
'But then you have to start packing your things!' my mother exclaimed, as soon as she read that I had to be present at the square at noon.
'Can you help me then, Mum?', I ask her.
'Of course dear,' she replies and hands the letter back to me.
'Then let's pack quickly now. What time is it now?', I ask aloud to myself and grab my phone on which I look.
'Euhm,' my father starts immediately and looks for the clock in the living room.
'It's nine o'clock now,' I then answer my own question.
'Then we should hurry up, it's about an hour and a half's drive from here to the Elements academy,' my mother then says and grabs my hand. 'So come on, we'll start packing.'
'Yes, let's get started,' I say enthusiastically and leave the living room with my mother.
'And what do I get to do?' my father asks gloomily.
I turn to him. 'You may take it easy. Just recover from the shock,' I chuckle.
He sighs. 'Fine,' he then says.
I turn around again and walk into the corridor, then follow my mother up the stairs. Once on the landing, I follow my mother to my bedroom, where I have already stopped sleeping tonight. The dream of every 12-year-old -on our planet Altanaris- is the day to go to the Elements academy, in the town of Padenita. Though I won't yet know what it would look like and what kind of environment the academy is in. But yes, that is still a few more hours of waiting.
'Ok, where is your new suitcase?' my mother asks me.
'Under my bed, I'll get it,' I reply and happily run to my bed.
'Will you grab your stuff? Then I'll grab your clothes,' my mother suggests.
'Good plan mum,' I respond and pull my suitcase out from under the bed. I put it on the bed and start packing my things.