The Realm Protectors

Chapter 1 - Ciana

Whenever you watch movies about people moving to a new place and going to a new school, they always seem to have everything perfectly organized and neatly packed.

That's not even remotely realistic.

Currently, I'm frantically searching my room for my favorite pair of shoes – the black Nike's with the white swoosh – which should be easy to find, considering that my room is mostly empty at this point. But no, I can't find them. I open the doors to my closet and look around at the few clothes I've decided to leave, purposefully not looking at the gown shoved to the side. I close my eyes and shove my hand underneath the piles of tulle, exclaiming when my hand finds the missing shoes. I close the closet and slip on the shoes, tying them quickly before running upstairs. My dad is outside with the armored guards, loading my suitcases into the suburban. My mom is standing in the dining room, talking to the woman who changed my life a couple weeks ago. Professor Cira Grantwood, High Arch of the Elemental Realm. Bit of a mouthful.

I met Professor Grantwood two weeks ago, when she stepped out of the perfectly white suburban that had randomly pulled into our driveway. After a quick and confusing conversation between my parents and the strange woman, I found out about a whole other world connected to ours, separated by a thin fabric of space... or something like that. A world known as the Elemental Realm, where humans like us have element-based powers. Apparently, my "only child" mother had a sister who was an elemental, and now the genes have been passed on to me.

The woman introduced herself as a High Arch – a ruler – of this world. She was a light elemental, meaning that she could control sunlight and such. To proclaim her title as High Arch, a band of gold sat on her head with a little symbol of a book engraved on it. She told me that in a few weeks, I would be leaving this world to go to the most prestigious school in the Elemental Realm: Asavanra Academy – the only blended element school in the Realm.

After the fiasco with Lex at the New Year's Gala last night, we called Professor Grantwood to tell her that I was ready to leave earlier than expected.

Now I'm hugging my family goodbye – trying not to burst into tears when I see Mom crying – and suddenly I'm off on this new wild adventure. The armored guards, Privates Jasira and Réamann, are up front, driving us to the 'gateway' to the Realm. I'm sitting in the back of the car, which is emptied out limo-style, and taking a quick lesson from Professor Grantwood about the basics of the Realm.

"So how exactly does this 'gateway' work?" I ask her.

"Space elementals have the power to open up 'tunnels,' which appear as little rips in the air and act as portals from one place to another." Grantwood explains. "Gateways are just very large tunnels, created by the first space elementals in a very large and impressive display of power." I nod and the professor goes on to explain, "You'll learn much more about the Realm at Asavanra. I teach the history course." I feel my nerves settle just a bit to know that I'll be familiar with at least one of my new teachers.

"So how come you didn't come and tell me about all this before this school year started?" I ask. "I mean, won't I be joining in the middle of the school year?"

Professor Grantwood shakes her head. "In the Realm, we treat the school year a little differently. It starts in the third week of January and goes until the second week of December, with four week long end-of-the-year breaks and summer breaks, and week long spring and autumn breaks."

I stifle a groan. "So I have to start the classes I took here all over again?" Professor Grantwood chuckles.

"Technically, yes. However, the classes you took here in the Otherworld – or so we elementals call it – are valued much less in the Elemental Realm." She says. "The class periods for classes such as mathematics, english, and foreign language are shorter than the kinesis classes or the Realm history classes. And for otherborns like yourself, we have a life skills class to help you adjust to the way we live in the Realm."