The Elucaen Curse

Ch. 13

As soon as the words left the headmasters' mouth, hundreds of these phone-like devices started appearing right out of thin air, each floating a few centimeters anterior to every person. The screen itself was completely blank, designated with a thumb print outline engraved in the middle.

Before I could open my mouth to ask, Paige said, "I bet you're wondering what that thing is, right? Well, this little device, is called a cibus; its essentially what you use to get food here. So how it works is quite simple. First, you put your thumb on that thumbprint. Then, you hold it until the device verifies your thumb; once you're verified, all you have to do is speak into that slot on the side of the cibus and order what you want to eat."

I looked at her in shock. "That's it? I thought it would be more complicated than that."

"Well, not really. The thing is, the cibus is pretty smart in the fact that it can truly determine how much of the food you would probably eat, so it'll give you the amount that you actually will eat, as contrast to how much you initially want to order. That way, little to no food would go to waste."

"Wait...so after I order, would the food just automatically pop out of the air?"

Maia snorted. "Well, not necessarily 'pop' out. It would just appear in front of you in a plate with the amount that you're going to eat. Of course, if for some reason you suddenly lost your appetite, you won't get penalize for that. Though if you wanted to order something else, you better do it during meal time since the cibus' usually disappear right after every meal."

"Alright, I got this. It doesn't sound too hard," I replied, rubbing my hands together.

After placing my thumb on top of the print, a green check appeared, indicating a verification. A variety of food then started jumbling into my mind, many of which looked absolutely mouthwatering. After clearing my throat, I placed my mouth near the slot, announcing, "Honey-glazed chicken breast with basmati rice and homemade mashed potatoes, please."

Less than a second later, a very visually-appealing plate materialized in front of me, filled with massive amounts of deliciousness.

"Wow, you must be really hungry, if even the cibus gave you that much food," Maia remarked.

"Well, it's not wrong. After all the walking and stair-climbing and even the lack of sleep from the night before, would obviously build up a huge appetite," I retorted, digging in hungrily.

After a while and no one spoke, I slowly glanced up to the realization that they were all staring at me. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just...you eat quite different for someone who lived in America," Veralyn sniggered.

Maia nodded her head furiously. "That's true, even if I live in Elucaen America, we still eat typical American food, unlike somebody here," she said as she gestured to her own plate, which had a perfectly round beef burger with a side of curly fries.

I glared at them playfully. "Whatever, stop judging me, clump nuggets. But speaking of the Elucaen world, how does schooling work for you guys before coming here?"

"I'm pretty sure it's the same for us as it is for humans. Like we would still learn the same subjects and stuff in middle school, except our world just have the daily elemental magic that the human world lacks. If a person is discovered to be an Elucaen, then instead of going to 'high school', they would just go to one of the Elucaen prep schools located throughout the elemental world," Lily explained.

"Wait....why?"

"I don't know, I guess so people can be know more about the human world. Believe it or not, many Elucaens does choose to give up their Elucae in order to be permanent humans due, so I think it's to give them a chance to see if they truly wants to be an Elucaen or not."