Beyond the Last Star

Chapter 1- Ria

As I walked through the halls, I couldn't help but notice how many different regions were in my school. Ilem, Kitan, Lyte, and Ralu... All in the same place... I had no idea that the midring, had so much diversity in it. I wonder where-

"Ria!! I've been looking for you all morning!"

I looked up and saw my friend Kati practically running down the hall to me. We had been best friends since year one and transferred schools together. She had on bright blue and purple while I still had on my black hoodie and sweatpants.

"Can you believe the kids here?" she asked excitedly as she gestured towards a girl with flaming orange hair. "I even saw someone that had a moon ring!"

Her eyes widened and sparkled as she giggled and pulled my arm to follow her down the hall.

"It's said that there's only seven moon rings on all of Carmendrine!! Can you believe someone had one?!"

"Kati, you really need to calm down.." I said quietly. "It could be fake, or even if it is real, that person could've stolen it for all we know. It's our first day at a new school I'd really appreciate it if you didn't draw so much attention to us"

She frowned and looked at me before looking past and screaming "Hey! Alia!! Over here!" I winced as she screamed, darting past her and to my first class of the day; Astronomy.

I walked into class and sat down at the table marked with my name "RIA A. KUSE"

The girl next to me was the one we had passed in the hall, with orange hair and dark purple lipstick.

"I suppose you're one of the newbies" she asked with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes.

"How could you tell?" I asked with a sigh of disappointment. "Is it really that obvious?"

She laughed and replied, "No haha, you just still have your transfer tag on your backpack." She pulled the tag of looking at it. "So you're from the Kitan region huh? I heard that a lot of fights in the government caused hundreds of thousands of families to move elsewhere. That only the bravest were staying." She looked at me expectantly waiting for my reply.

I rolled my eyes and set my elbows on the table, head in my hands.

"Gooooooood morning class! I'm your teacher for this year, Mr. Jordan!"

The whole class turned to face a man (as much as he could be classified as a man) about half the height of all of the students, but with three times the energy. He wore an emerald green nose ring and had sea green hair. Most teachers at the school stuck with the natural colors of red or purple occasionally going for something like black.

"Everyone open your textbook to page 700 and start reading the chapter about the Inner Ring of the galaxy." He flashed a huge smile and waved his hand, causing the page number and chapter title to appear onto the chalkboard behind him.

As we opened our books we heard a scream from outside. No one thought anything of it seeing as the drama class would often practice outside and they occasionally had some gruesome scenes to do.  As class went on, students were called from class and told they were heading home. By the end of class, only six students remained along with the teacher. The bell rang and everyone jumped out of their seats to go to the next class when the ground shook. Mr. Jordan rushed to the window turning pale as a sheet of ice, gaping at what he saw.

The students around me nervously walked over to the window, their eyes widening as they obtained a similar expression to our teacher. Finally, I walked over with them and the sight I saw not only left me speechless, but it made me wonder how much longer I'd be alive.