Dark Turn (Book One In War Of The Magi)

Chapter 2 - Rivals and Friendships

The Orientation was given in the Academy's Auditorium.

While me and Joshua tried to find a good spot to sit, we noticed the absurd amount of people that were gathering around a student. They were like ants ogling around a cake.

"Apparently, Mister first Rank in Freshman Year, just arrived..." I heard Josh say with a hint of annoyance on his voice.

"Demius his here?" I asked slightly surprised. Demius von Greth was a Noble Magi, born on a golden crib. He had ranked one in the Entrance Exams and fifth in the Overall Ranking. Truly a prodigy. "Then I'm not surprised in the amount of people around him..." I said as I sat down on an empty arm chair.

Demius was the example of a Magi. He was tall, about 6,1 feet, had dirty blonde hair, green eyes and a handsome face that stood on top of a perfectly muscular body. The Golden Boy of the Academy.

After a few minutes of waiting, the auditorium went silent as a man walked to the stage.

The man looked quite though for is age. He had white hair and stood fearlessly on top of the stage in his spotless grey suit. The man grabbed the microphone and immediately started talking.

"Hello to you all new students." He said, his voice sounding calm and relaxed. "I'm Ryan Connors, the headmaster of this prestigious War Academy." He did a small pause before he kept on talking, "Today I want to clarify to you what it means to be here, what it means to be a Magi."

Out of thin air, an hologram appeared showing five small symbols, each with a different color.

"What you see right there," he said pointing to the hologram, "is the five Elements that the Magi can manipulate, Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Arcane. Now a Magi can only have an affinity with one Element, which is chosen the moment you're born." The principal's voice echoed trough the the room as he kept on talking, "So after this orientation, please do head to the infirmary so that you know which Element is attuned to you."

The hologram dissolved as the principal stopped is explaining.

Until now, he had only given information that I already knew, making me wonder if this orientation was really necessary to me. My mom and dad, both of them being Magi like me, had already walked me through the whole Element awakening process.

"Now," the headmaster said, breaking my train of thought, "I'm pretty sure you already knew that, but what you probably didn't know is that when the Element is 'awaken', your uniform will change its color."

That small little statement made some students whisper among themselves. Apparently, not many knew the little trait that our uniforms possessed.

"Your uniform will change its color depending on your Element being red for the Fire attuned, blue for the Water ones, green for the Earth ones, yellow for the Wind ones and purple for the Arcane ones."

Doing a small pause, the headmaster looked at all the students. I was pretty sure that he saw a lot of surprised faces by the amount of whispering going on.

"If you're surprised with this," his voice sounding trough the room made the student populous quiet, "then hear this. This Academy, like all the others actually, as a ranking system that manages the Ranks through combat prowess and overall grades." The whispering started again, "In this facility you guys have two methods of up ranking yourself in the charts. But, before any of you make any decisions, up ranking through grades alone is near to impossible, while through combat it's a bit easier. Although combat is a dangerous thing here in the Academy, having to account that you can die." He said flashing a smile.

Now that was something that I didn't know. The possibility of death would make any person flinch towards the combat option. But it was a soldiers duty to embrace death, to welcome it, and for that I was ready.