Undaunted

Chapter 6: The Flare Event

The next morning I shove the note that I got in my bookbag as I get ready to head out to class and I make sure that nobody else sees it, because I feel like it was only meant for me. On the other hand, it could've been meant for Ryder, but something's telling me that it wasn't meant for him. I pull my schedule out of my bookbag as I sit on my bed and I look at what my first class of the day is -- history.

"Okay," I say as I look at Flinn and Antheia, "Let's go!"

The Miyette twins nod and transform into their fox forms before running down the hallway whenever Ryder opens the door to leave.

"You should probably go after them," Ryder says and raises a brow at me expectantly as he holds onto the door.

"Yeah," I say as I gather my bookbag and rush out of the dorm, "Thanks!"

He watches my retreating figure with a confused expression before scratching the back of his head, shrugging, and closing the door to the dorm.

In my rush to find my familiars I end up tripping as I go down the stairs, and I shut my eyes as I brace myself to hit the ground, but I don't find myself falling. Whenever I open my eyes I turn around to find that Ryder kept me from falling down the stairs and he releases me from his grasp.

"Thanks," I say in a slightly surprised manner and blush from embarrassment.

"Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I'll let you fall down the stairs," Ryder says and takes a few steps away from me.

"Yeah...thanks again!" I shout before running down the stairs after my familiars.

After several minutes of running and one elevator later, I end up finding my familiars standing outside of a classroom with dark purple walls and candles everywhere in it and candles line a pathway to a podium where a book is resting next to a dark purple candle, while there are several desks set up in the room itself, as well as bookshelves and a mini fountain in between the bookshelves. Meanwhile, a woman with dark purple, long, straight hair with bangs, a dressy dark blue top, black skinny jeans, and dark blue, lace up boots is looking through the books in the bookshelves. As she holds her index finger out and scans through the shelves, the bracelets on her right hand jingle around and students begin to enter the classroom.

"Phew," I breathe out a sigh of relief, "I'm not late."

My familiars hop in my bookbag whenever I bend down and open it, and I keep the top part of my bookbag open for them before slinging it back over my shoulders. I walk into the classroom and take a seat in an empty desk before taking my bookbag off and sitting it on the floor next to my feet. I grab my notebook out of my bookbag and place it on my desk before glancing around the room, and as I look over to the left I notice that the girl I'm sitting next to has an eyepatch over her left eye. My lips part in slight surprise and she turns her head in my direction and raises a brow while tilting her head to the side, shifting her long, royal blue, wavy locks around.

"Do you have a problem?" She asks.

"Um...n--no," I put my hands up and wave them around, "I didn't mean to--"

"It's fine," She sighs and rolls her visible eye, which is a shade of dark gray, "You're the new student, huh?"

"Yeah," I nod and smile slightly, still recovering from my embarrassment, "I'm Philomena."

"Tempest," She says.

"Hello, class," The teacher says as she walks up to the podium and a piece of chalk starts flying behind her and scrawls her name on the board, which reads 'Miss Katrina Heath.'

A few greetings ring out from the classroom and Katrina smiles as she opens the big book that was resting on the podium before walking around the podium and talking.

"Today we'll be learning about the importance of the Flare Event," Katrina says as she paces around and gestures with her hands, "So please take out your notebooks and any other materials that you need to pass the exam at the end of the week before we begin."

After pausing for a few moments Miss Heath continues.

"Okay, can anybody tell me something about the Flare Event?" Katrina asks and calls on a brown haired boy who had his hand raised, "Claus?"

"The Flare Event occurred whenever certain sorcerers and sorceresses had their power levels raised in extreme amounts all in a short time period, but it didn't happen to every sorcerer and sorceress," Claus answers.

"That is correct," Katrina nods and begins pacing again, "The Flare Event had many effects on hundreds of sorcerers and sorceresses. It was said that some of the people affected were those who craved power, and because of this there was a group of sorcerers and sorceresses who began to cause chaos with their newfound power. This continued to happen until a group of brave sorcerers and sorceresses decided to rebel against them, but at a cost. Several of the families from the rebellion were affected for generations with curses. Some of these curses weren't actually considered a 'curse' because they were just raised power levels within the family, but the power could corrupt the wielder in many ways or drive them to madness. There were many different kinds of curses casted upon those who were in the rebellion, so many in fact that it's hard to keep track of just how many different kinds there were. Does anyone know who the person casting the curses was?"

"Lolita Gamathine," Tempest says as she scribbles down a doodle of a potion bottle with crossbones in her notebook.

"Very good, Tempest," Katrina smiles and the bell rings, "We'll continue this lesson tomorrow."

I grab my notebook and put it back in my bookbag along with my pencil and put my bookbag back on before leaving the classroom.

Curses, huh? I wonder if the note I got was referring to the curses from the Flare Event? If so, then does that mean someone at this academy is from a cursed family? And why would I be the one to save them? After all, there's nothing special about me...right?