Penumbra

Chapter 1

(^Iris Field)

I emerge from Dusk Cave and look at my surroundings. I am in an old timey castle looking hallway, being made of the classic castle-style bricks. The ceiling is pretty high up, and when I take a step, it echoes immensely in the hallow space. The air is very musty, and thick, making it somewhat difficult to breath. There aren't any windows either, just brick, and more brick. I continue to slowly walk to the other side, while looking at my surroundings. I come across a pile of rocks in the middle of the corridor and decide to climb it. Although, as I am, I notice a foul smell entering my nose and my face crinkles up slightly. I decide to cover up my nose, upon doing so, I see
something utterly horrid on the other side of the rocks. It looks to be a dead animal, although I know it isn't. It was ripped in half, with blood sprayed everywhere. The beast also had a mortified expression, as though it was scared, and was running away before it met its demise. Sadly, it obviously didn't make it. Oh yeah, and that...thing was what is known as an Corous. Those monsters are heartless, and kill for no reason. They have no mind practically. They're super hostile as well, so try to stay away from them.

Getting away from the dead Corous, I finally reach the end. There is a barely noticeable keyhole centered in the middle of the stony wall. I pull out my necklace, which was tucked into my shirt, and look at it in my hand. I then position the key in front of the keyhole and attempt to insert the necklace. My eyes widen as I realize that it isn't the correct key. Hands trembling, I place the key back into my hand and tightly grip it. I lower my head to hold back the tears.

"Failed again...."

~A few weeks later~

The principal speaks enthusiastically over the announcer as she explains to each student," Welcome to Kagerra! Here at our academy we will be teaching you about becoming a Dream Chaser! Becoming one means your life with be at stake many, many times! So students, prepare yourselves, as this is what your future shall be!" With that, we all applaud and continue with our routine. I look down at my schedule and see my classes,"Hmm... 'First hour- Mana Controlling: Mrs. Cadora'." I head to my designated class, although... I don't know where it is... I am now looking down at my schedule and not paying attention to what's ahead of me.

I then run into something, I got knocked to the ground. Now sitting on the ground, I look up at what I had run into. My electric-blue eyes are met with those of an agitated boy. His crimson eyes glare at me as he hisses," What do you think your doing?! Sheesh, you should apologize!" He then crosses his arms and turns away.

I stand up and bow my head," I am sorry..."

He doesn't respond, but his shoulders start shaking, I tilt my head to the side confused. He pivots back around, still in a laughing fit, and grins," Man... You really are a new student," he then walks off, yes... Still laughing...

I huff and continue walking on. A voice then rings out behind me, before a girl with pink hair, and matching eyes directly behind me," You sure messed that up!"

I glare at her," What is that suppose to mean?"

She smiles brightly and replies," Wait, wait! That came out wrong... What I ment to say is that he's a huuuuuge jerk, trust me! Some people call him hot-head!"

"Really?"

She nods," Yep! By the way, my name is Aiko Kagamura, what about you?"

I reply," My name is Iris Field."

She grabs my hand with hers and sweetly smiles again," Well, Iris, it's very nice to meet you! I hope that we'll be friends forever!"

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We are now walking to class and she asks me this," Hey Iris? Why do you want to become a Dream Chaser?"

I meet her gaze, surprisingly, she has a serious expression. I then turn my attention to the ceiling and sigh," I... Just want to make others happy..."

Her childish smile returns and she answers," Wow, that's a good reason! I chose it because my Older brother became one..."

I may be going crazy... But I swear I saw her eyes waver when she talked about her older brother. Why though? I wonder if something happened to him...

We both arrive to the classroom and I had just realized," Aiko? Is this your first class?"

"Yep! Sorry, I didn't tell you..."

I wave my hands and say," No it's alright!"

Both of us enter the room and the entire class stares at us, well me in particular... I felt heat rising to my cheeks by their intense stares. The teacher looks at me and smiles," Good Morning, you must be the new student, Iris Field, correct?" I nod in response, and Ms. Cadora tell me," alright then, since your a new student, we need to do a test."

"T-Test?"

"Yes, a test, but it's a special kind of test. It's to see what kind of Mana user you are, for example, you can be a healer, gunner, or you use a katana!" She claps her hands together once and happily announced to the class," who wants to come with us for the test?" To my surprise, everyone raises their hand, which shocks me majorly. "My, my, you already have fans Iris," Ms. Cadora whispers so only us two can hear it. With the whole class coming along to my test, we head into a dimly lit hallway,'this sure brings back memories,' I think looking around.

There is light at the end, we then enter a strange room with what seems to be a training course in it. Ms. Cadora walks over to a cabinet and opens it up," which weapon do you wish to start with Iris?"

I look over the various weapons around me ranging from staffs for healers, to huge guns for gunners. Although, one weapon in particular catches my eye, I point to it," I'll start with that."

The whole class gasps and Ms. Cadora weakly smiles," I'm sure you can't handle such advanced technology yet dear. It'll kill you, and besides, we don't teach you how to use Dual blades..."

I look at her then back at the swords," at least let me try?"

"Fine, but if anything bad starts happening, I'll stop you dead in your tracks, got it?"

I give a pleased smile and I pick up the equipment. Holding them out in front of me, a test awaits,'then, I can show them what my level is, this is nothing,' and cocky smile crosses my face.

End of chapter one...
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Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed, even though it may be confusing. Don't worry, it'll get less confusing as the story progresses <3