Running out of time

Chapter 18. Guide to the far-side

Guide to the Far-Side

As a pupil of this academy you should learn the 10 rules to live by. These may as well save your life.

1) Whenever facing a creature of the night (a monster in the world our academy lives in, only accessible by a portal) be sure to keep your weapon of choice regarding  your element-based power.

2) If you find your self alone and in a deadly situation, and only in this situation, then will you be allowed to use your crystal orb that will be given to you after you initiate into the academy and become a member of the FSF (Far-Side Force). When you use this orb you will be teleported back to the academy - but be warned, you may only use this orb once in a life-time. Although, it has been discovered that simply making physical contact with another life force teleports them too. Only use the Orb in dire need.

3) In this academy, we respect each other and create an oath to the academy to always be in good terms with other members of the FSF or newlys still training in the academy.

4) We always oblige to older members of the FSF and follow their orders and commands. If you have disobeyed somebody higher up than you in rank in the FSF you can be punished if you have caused major distress to members in our community.

5) Always be truthful. We will know if you are lying, seriously, we could slip a potion into your food to make you speak nothing but the truth for the next 24hours or depending how much of the potion we put in.

6) If you are wounded, you must find your way back to the FSA (Far-Side Academy) where you can be treated by our Nurse whose powers are specialised in healing.

7) If you purposefully hurt another student in the FSA with your powers then you are sent home with your memories replaced as well as anyone who knew about the FS (as you probably guessed Far-Side) back on Earth. This is for the safety of our community, this rule is very strictly followed by pupils of the academy to ensure everyone's Safety.

8) If you are at the academy and you can see a creature of the night trying to break our defence forces then you can alert the head office by pulling the fire drill lever twice. The defences become stronger and a large defensive sphere encircles us in the academy.

9) A newly is not allowed to travel in the 'outlaws' (outside of the academy boundaries) for safety reasons unless they are in lessons with a teacher in the academy.

10) When choosing weapons make sure never to pick the weapon for the opposite soldier (if you are in the attack force pick a weapon for the attackforce if you are in the defence force choose a weapon for the soldiers on the defence force) you will know what force you are in because before  choosing your weapon you will retrieve a letter sent to your dorm room telling you if you are an attacker or defender.

Guide for newlys

You may be confused when first arriving at the academy. The academy is in a parallel universe to the one that we know of as humans. Everybody in this world has an element attached to them and if not one of the four primary elements then the secondary elements and if not the next set of elements and so on.

Before we continue about powers, you must be wondering, "why am I called a newly?" Well that's simple, because you haven't yet initiated into the FSA and once you do you either become part of the FSAF (Far-Side Attack Force) or FSDF (Far-Side Defence Force) each are equally important, as dangerous and skill requiring.

During initiation you are given a gemstone that has your rank colour embedded inside, it is during initiation where you decide to put your gem stone ( it could be in a necklace, a bracelet, a key or in your chosen weapon).A newly is the lowest rank and therefore has no gemstone at all. next is the ST (Soldier in training) that rank is given after initiation and your gem should glow yellow. If you graduate from the academy and become an adolescent then your gem will glow green this means that you can work with newlys and become a guardian to complete your training to be able to become part of the FSF.
If you finish your training as a guardian you are able to become part of the real FSF and your gem will glow blue. If you are lucky enough to become a member of staff at the academy after the required years of being in the FSF (7years) then your gem will glow purple. If you are extremely lucky you can be promoted to work in the FSC (Far-Side council) where your gem glows a fiery red and from there you can work your way to becoming the president of the academy and all forces. You will be known as 'the Fury Scholar' as your official title but more commonly known as the schoolmaster.

Back to powers: there are 101 known powers for a human to have loose or very based off one of the four elements, the closer your powers are to the four elements the stronger it will be. It is very rare to have one of the 4 elements and if you do,  you have a much better chance of getting into the FSC.

At the academy, we have 6 main classes and two which you choose on your second day of the academy. The six main classes are Magic and potions; Sword art and weaponry; Creature management and identification; skill honing; history of the Far-Side and Fitness. The classes that you can choose to add on to your schedule are: forging skills; survival in the outlaw; cooking to survive; first aid; extra skills; combat training; negotiating skills and deals, but remember you can only choose two!

Remember newlys, always keep the guidebook close, you never know when you're going to need it!

Authors note: this chapter is meant to be a guidebook for newlys which has rules and tips and things inside it.

Hope you enjoyed!