Chapter 1
There are things in this world that are normal. But others aren't. In this world, there are monsters. Monsters we thought only appear in stories. They were what we called mythical creatures, a.k.a. Mythics. When these monsters were found in this world long ago, people didn't kill them. More like they couldn't kill them because their power far exceeded our own. But monsters attacked the humans, making our numbers drop greatly.
After a couple years, a man found out something that changed the world. He was able to control monsters. At first, people thought the man was a messenger of god, giving them hope. But as time continues, more people were able to control the monsters. And then one day, everybody found out the cause.
These monsters were tied to people mentally by a ritual only known to monsters, not human. After being tied, the human is forced secrecy. And if the human tells anyone how a monster ties with a Mythic, the human and anyone they told or anyone that heard will be killed.
These monsters that are tied to humans are called Bonds. They become a slave of the human, whether or not it's they're choice. The human gains the ability to make the monster do whatever they want and receives the capability to do something their Bond can do, but in a weaker state. The world was put at risk because of them and the world has been saved because of them.
But people who did get Bonds didn't always use them for good. Some of them used it to create more havoc, destruction, and more. The government wanted to take action, so they began to recruit people who had Bonds to fight back against the evildoers. The plan was a success and the amount of Bonds that went against humanity was suppressed. But that didn't mean that they disappeared completely so the government started to encourage humanity to make Bonds.
But it's not easy to make Bonds. Monsters aren't as easy to find as you think. They can disguise themselves as humans and can only be discovered by a person who already has a Bond or if the monster admits it. Not even other Mythics can tell if another is a Mythic.
But, there is a place made, just for the existence of making Bonds. An academy. Filled with highly trained people or people with a high expectancy to have power and a variety of monsters. Only the people who collected the monsters for the academy and the teachers can distinguish the monsters apart from humans. And the pure purpose of the academy is to find the people who have the ability to find and tie themselves with these hidden monsters.
A barrier surrounds this academy that stops from the monsters from escaping. They can only escape if they were helped by people outside of the barrier, which is unlikely because no one would want to help a monster escape. But this isn't just an academy for a Bond. This is a game. A game of "Hide and Seek".
"Today's the day," a girl says under her breath, drying her wet hair with a towel.
A boy besides her nodded, "The day where we start hiding once again." He looked out the window that revealed the front of the academy, which was filled with buses full of humans.
Another boy growled. "Filthy humans. All they want is power and they're not even skilled enough to get it for themselves."
The girl sitting politely in front of them stayed silent while the girl next to that one said, "Come on, it's not their fault, for most of them. They were taken from their home. Give them a break."
The second boy averted, "We were taken from our home and look at us! We're not given a break. Why should we give them a break?"
The seven people in the room flinched as a loud banging on the door was made. "HEY BRATS! IT'S TIME. GET UP OR YOU'LL GET NO DINNER!" the guard's voice boomed.
A girl sighed. "Let's go guys. It's another year of hiding," she said, opening the door of the room and heading to the assembly room, soon followed by the other six people. As the clock hit 12:00, a bell chimed and the academy was crowded with people.
"Woah! Look at this place, Green. It's so fancy!" a red-eyed boy gawked at his surroundings.
The green-eyed boy next to him, who was referred to as Green, looked around like his friend. "Of course you would think this is fancy. We're just a couple of farm boys who lived in a poor village," he muttered. I'm still curious at why they chose us to go here. This is for some of the richest people in the world. Why us? Green thought.
"Green, stop with the face. Come on, look at this place. Can't you be at least the littlest bit amazed?" his companion asked.
Green kept his emotionless face and stared at his friend with his cold, green eyes. "Red-"he started.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" a voice shouted, interrupting Green. Everybody looked at the front of the gigantic room where a woman with short brown hair with flowers stood on a stage. "Welcome to Mythical Academy! The academy filled with mythical creatures. The academy where we hope you'll find a Bond!"
Most people cheered, but some kids shivered in fear. The woman continued, "There is a total of 550 people in this school, 50 of them of monsters. Who knows? The person next to you might be a monster!" Some people shuffled around and most people looked suspiciously at each other. "Your goal is to find the monster and make ties with it by the end of the year. Therefore, you'll need to find out how to do the ritual of ties. We, teachers, will not help you with your tying, but we will assist you by teaching you in to spot a monster. The people who succeeded and have a Bond at the end of the year will receive a great reward." Everybody oo'd and aa'd but the woman stopped them. "But," she said with an evil smile, "those who have failed," she paused before continuing, "well, we'll let you guess."
Green, who was standing there with no reaction to any of her speech, but he noticed Red clench his fist tightly. "Don't worry," Green whispered to Red, who flinched at his voice. "We'll find a Bond and make it out of here." Red bit his lip and nodded and returned his attention to the woman again.
"As you came in, you were given a card with number. The first number is the floor, the second is the room number. The card will also act as your room key. You'll be in rooms of four. Good day and good luck to you all. You're classes start tomorrow and your schedules will be in your rooms. Dismiss!" she finished, her evil smile replaced with a cheerful smile. As Green and Red walked out, they both noticed fear and determination in everyone's eyes.
"I guess that we should go to our rooms," Red said, looking at the slip of plastic he was given at the door. "Hey! At least we're in the same room," he exclaimed, looking at the card in Green's hand that reflected his own. 4,3 they both read. "Floor 4 and Room 3," Red said out loud, looking at the elevators that were packed with people. "Wanna go there with the stairs?" Red suggested, already making his way to the staircase. Green sighed and followed Red up the staircase.
After three flights, they reached the fourth floor. And right in front of them, was the door that said "3". "I wonder what our other roommates are going to be like," Red wondered, sliding in the piece of plastic into the slot. When a green light flashed and they heard a click, they both walked in.
Then a disgusting smell hit their noses. "What the-?" Green plugged his nose before walking into the odorous room. And on the ground was a bunch of dirty clothes and a boy, punching away at a gaming device. As soon as Red and Green closed the door, the boy looked up.
His eyes widened. "Oh my god," he gasped and jumped onto the two older boys. "New roommates!" He hopped off the two boys and held onto both of their hands and shook them wildly. "My name is Gold Kai, your roommate. What's your name?" he asked.
Green stepped aside Gold and looked at the room he was living in. "How'd you get the room so messy when we just got here?"
"Well, I didn't just get here," Gold stated matter-of-factly. "I've been here for a couple of years."
Red tilted his head. "Why would you be here for a couple of years? If you gotten a Bond, you would have graduated. But if you didn't, something was supposed happen to you," Red remembered from the brochure and the greeting announcement.
Gold shook his finger and clicked his tongue. "They said that something was going to happen, they never said that it was bad," Gold pointed out.
"Then how come this school was so empty when we came here? If you stayed here, then why didn't the other bunch of people who didn't get a Bond stay here?"
"Ah, I never said that the thing that was going to happen was good either," Gold added, giving a sly look on his face.
"What?" Red and Green said in unison.
All of a sudden, another boy walked in and sat on one of the bunk beds in the room. "What he's trying to say," the boy jumped in, "is that some of the people who didn't get Bonds were given a second chance, while other weren't so lucky."
"Well, my name's Red Akamine. This guy, whose name is Green Oak, came from a farm in a village somewhere with me," Red introduced, putting an arm around his old friend's neck.
"Woahhhh! You're from a farm?" Gold asked in disbelief, jumping back into his game. "What? Like a rich farm?"
"Umm, not really. We're pretty low on money," Red sat on one of the bunks and set his ripped up backpack down, brushing off some of Gold's clothing away.
"Ooooo!" Gold gasped. "This rarely happens. This means you guys are special, right Silv?"
The red-headed boy, who was blocking the other three boys out with some hard-metal music, sighed in annoyance, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"Oh yeah that's your other roommate, Silver Tao. He doesn't like to talk much," Gold presented, motioning to the boy with headphones attached to his head.
Green looked over at Red with the "This is going to be a long year" look. Red nodded in agreement.
"Look at this Crys!" a brown-haired girl exclaimed, squishing her face onto the window and staring at the water park sitting outside their school. "Can we go there later? Can we please, please, PLEAAASSSEEE?!"
Her similar-looking sister face palmed and yanked her sister off the glass. "Lyra, we just got here. We don't want to get your saliva," Crystal started to rub furiously at the wet substance that used to sit in her sister's mouth off the window, "all over the place on the first day of school."
"Well it isn't the first day of school yet," Lyra pointed out.
Crystal crossed her arm as Lyra wiggled out of her grip and started to press her face on everything. "Come on, Crystal. Loosen up, I mean, look at this statue! It looks just like a real person," Lyra gaped at the still "statue" boy and started to poke at it. She leaned over to Crystal, who started to walk over, and whispered, "It even feels real." Then Lyra looked up at the statue's eyes, and felt slightly entranced by them. "Look at his eyes," she reached forward to touch the statue's silver eyes, "It's like you can actually see the eye water.
Crystal was somewhat tempted, even though every cell in her body was shouting "NO!"(must be twin influence). Then Crystal noticed something. "Uhh, Lyra," Crystal laughed nervously, "That's not a statue."
Lyra frowned and looked at the "statue" up and down. "What are you talking about?" Lyra asked. Then she froze, suddenly noticing the angry tick mark forming on the red-headed boy's forehead.
Crystal bowed sincerely. "I'm so sorry for my sister's behavior, I hope you can forgive us," Crystal apologized, grabbing Lyra's arm and running away from the angered boy. "Can you stop messing around? We need to stay focused. Remember why we came here?"
Lyra sighed. "Yeah," she looked down sadly but perked up suddenly. "But we have an entire year to do this so we can play around for at least the other 11 months we have!"
Crystal face palmed again. Oh god, how am I even related to her? she wondered. "Let's just go to our room," she insisted, looking at her card that matched her twin's. 4,1 it said. "And please don't break anything."
Lyra grinned mischievously. "I won't make any promises," Lyra implied, before running away and looking at everything once again. Crystal let out a loud breath of annoyance before reluctantly following after her optimistic look alike.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. A blond boy looked around frantically, searching for the source of the mysterious crunching noise that suddenly occurred as he was organizing his room. He saw something moved from the corner of his room. The blond boy grabbed the stick that he usually keeps in his bag and inched towards the rolled up figure in the dark corner. When the boy got close enough to the figure, he grabbed its collar and yanked it out of the shadows, holding his stick at its neck. "AHA!" the boy cried.
But when the light hit the body, it revealed a familiar face. Crunch, crunch, crunch, the sound came again. "Hi Pearl," the black haired boy, who was munching on a piece of bread, greeted.
"Damn it, Diamond!" Pearl shouted, dropping Diamond on the floor. "For a second, I thought that you were a monster of some sort!"
Diamond scratched the back of his head. "Eheheheh," Diamond chuckled. "Sorry Pearl."
"You should be sorry! I could've hurt you with this stick!" Pearl exclaimed, waving his stick around in the air. "You should be lucky that the window over there," he pointed to the window next to him, "was conveniently placed there!"
"I said I was sorry," Diamond mumbled as he took out another piece of bread to eat since he finished his other one.
Pearl grabbed his loaf of bread away from his friend. "Stop eating! You'll get sick someday from all this eating!"
"My bread," Diamond whined through teary eyes, reaching desperately for the bread. During his frantic reaching for his bread, another one appeared out of nowhere and he started to chew on it, still reaching for the piece of bread still in Pearl's hand.
"HOW ARE YOU NOT FAT!?"
"..hi.." a short blond girl mumbled, slightly trembling under the looming figure that smiled very creepily.
"Aren't you just an adorable piece of cuteness?" the brown haired girl in front of her squealed picking the blond girl and swinging her around. "My name is Blue!" she said enthusiastically after dropping the little girl.
"…I'm…A-Amarillo," the girl said, trying to recover by the dizziness in her head. "But you can c-call me Y-Yellow."
Blue grinned wider. "OOOO! Your stutters are so CUTE!"
"..Thanks?" Yellow said, unsure on whether she should take it as a compliment. She scurried around Blue and set her backpack on one of the empty beds. "Umm…" Yellow didn't know what she should say because the look in Blue's eyes still scared her.
"So why are you here?" Blue asked, appearing next to Yellow on her bed, making Yellow jump.
"What?"
"You know, the people here are either special, were forced to be enrolled here, chosen to be here, or are from a rich family. What's your reason?" Blue questioned once again.
"Err.." Yellow twiddled with her necklace's charm.
"Or are you," Blue leaned in closer to Yellow, "a Mythic?"
"N-n-n-n-no, I'm entirely normal. See, umm, I don't have any powers. I'm just a normal girl, hehe. I just came here because my, umm, FAMILY, yeah, family, wanted me to go. Yep, my family wanted me to come here, hehe," Yellow unconvincingly tried to convince adding a nervous chuckle.
Blue's eyes were narrowed for a second when Yellow looked back at her but she forced a smile on her face. "I see! I don't see why I wouldn't believe a girl like you," Blue said before she heard the click of her door being unlocked. "Ooo! Another one of our roommates are here!" And she zoomed to the door.
Yellow, on the other hand, sighed and rubbed her temples, "God, I sounded so stupid." Blue returned with two girls at her right and left, both similar looking except for their eye and hair color. One had blue eyes and hair and one had brown eyes and hair.
"Amar-I mean, Yellow, this is Crystal," Blue motioned to the blue haired girl," and this is Lyra," she motioned to the brown-haired one. "Crystal, Lyra, this is Amarillo, but you can call her Yellow."
Yellow shuffled to her feet and bowed politely. "Nice to meet you."
Lyra grinned, "Same to you." Crystal nodded in agreement. "Is our schedules here?" Lyra asked, looking around the kitchen area of the dorm.
Blue pointed at the circular table in the kitchen. "They're right there, along with a map of the academy."
Lyra followed her finger and thanked her. Lyra looked at her schedule, Crystal copying her. Yellow looked at hers as well. Lyra peeked at Crystal and her grin widened. "We have the same schedule!" Lyra exclaimed. Crystal blinked before looking at back and forth between hers and Lyra's .
"Gosh, this is gonna be a long year."
"Hello, I'm Ruby," the red-eyed boy introduced. In front of him sat Diamond and Pearl along with a short green-eyed boy.
"Emerald," the short boy said bluntly, waving Ruby away before returning to the conversation he was having with someone on the phone. Something about a game.
"Hi, I'm Diamond," the boy with the box of donuts followed, continuing on stuffing his face with the round treats.
"Yo, I'm Pearl. Nice to meet you Ruby," the blond boy finished, actually standing up and shaking his hand. "You're schedule is in the kitchen, and your bunk is the one without any stuff on it."
When Pearl returned to his place next to Diamond, Ruby walked to the bedroom. He climbed up the ladder and sat on the one bed that wasn't covered in crumbs or clothes. Ruby sighed and pulled out the pair of glasses and slid the arms over his ears. Reaching into his backpack, Ruby pulled out a blue notebook and a pencil. He set the point of the pencil on the paper and, with one swish after another, an image started to form on the single sheet of paper.
THE NEXT DAAY!
"Hello, all Mythical Academy students. I hope you had a great night's stay. Today's you're first day of actual learning," a voice from the speakers that were set up in every room and hall said. "Yesterday you received your schedule that shows your classes and the room numbers. Hope you have a nice day everyone and good luck on finding a Bond."
As the announcement went on, the hallways already streamed with students walking around to their classrooms. And it was very loud. Even though the academy was a very big place, it housed 550 people and it made it very hard to travel through the halls.
Especially for a certain blond.
With Yellow
"Eep!" I squealed as I almost got trampled by a boy.
"Get out of my way, wimp!" the boy shouted at me as I scurried into the crowd again to hide, but only to be trampled on once again.
"I'm sorry," I whimpered as I tried my hardest to keep on my feet. After about my hundredth time of tripping, I felt someone grab my arm and pull me out of the crowd.
"You really are a pushover, aren't you Yellow?" a familiar voice spoke.
I opened my eyes that I realized were shut and stared up and the tall girl above me. "Blue?"
"What are you doing in these hallways? These are for the 4th years, not for whatever year you are," Blue stated, inspecting me.
"I-I-I," I stuttered before whispering, "I am a 4th year."
"What?"
"I am a 4th year," I repeated, a little louder.
Blue blinked. "Eh?"
With Crystal
"Would you stop that?" I asked, my eye twitching with irritation.
"Whaaat?" Lyra continued to skip around, spinning and singing with her terrible voice, attracting more attention than I was comfortable with. "Come on Crys! Lighten up, stop being so tense and be happy for once!"
"I have a reason to keep from being so energetic. One of those reasons is to refrain from looking like you."
"Awww!" Lyra whined. "You're so mean Cryssy!"
"I told you not to call me that," I said bluntly. "And it's not mean, it's the truth."
"Hmph, don't you have any emotions Crystal?" Lyra questioned poking at my cheek as we walked to our first class.
I kept on walking, ignoring the question, for I knew Lyra already knew the answer and why. She seemed to realize her mistake on bringing the question up when she covered her mouth instantly after a look of realization
"Sorry," Lyra apologized after a moment of silence as we neared our next classroom door. Her head looked down, her enthusiasm gone.
Though the reason of my seriousness still haunts me, Lyra's very talkative and out of control mouth made me use to the remembrance of that gruesome moment. "It's okay," I replied as we reached the door and I reached for the handle. I stopped from opening the door and looked over to my twin. "This is your first day in this class, you don't want to make your first impression be looking sad, do you?"
Lyra looked up from the ground, obviously surprised. After looking at me for a while, her big grin returned on her face. "You know me too well!" she exclaimed, slapping my back harshly, making me hiss in pain. "Hehe, sorry…again."
We entered the room together and took random seats near each other. Her face of happiness looked as if the guilt she had before never was there. For a second, the corner of my lips curved up into a smile.
With Green
I sat in my seat, which I chose in the corner of the room next to the windows. My first class was Mythic Knowledge. Mythic Knowledge is a class that is primarily just tests and very little learning. It's technically a class that you use the knowledge you get from all your other classes, so it's just stupid to have it as your first class, especially on the first day.
"Is this seat taken?" someone to my left asked. I turned away from my gazing through the window and looked at the person who was talking to me.
It was a girl. She had one of her hands stretched out to the desk that was nearest to me on the left but her distance between me and her was…very close. Her large blue eyes stared at me and her light brown hair cascaded down her back.
Though her distance did make me uncomfortable, I kept my calm composure. "No, it isn't taken," I answered before looking back out the window. I heard the girl "hmph" but she didn't seem to do anything. After a few seconds, a woman stood at the podium at the front of the room.
"Hello class, welcome to Mythic Knowledge. I'm your teacher, Roxanne," the woman introduced. "This class is for advanced students, that is why this class is your very first class. If you remember, you were given a physical, a mental, and a written test which organized your classroom placements and your level. This class was dependent on your written test. Today, you will be given an ID card. Your card will have your name, your ID number, and your level. Your ID card can also be used as your credit card for buying things from the stores outside the main academy building but still inside the borders. Now, this class is going to be mostly tests and will have the most effect on your final grade. So," she started to move around the class with a stack of papers, "this is a pre-test on what you'll do in your time here. I wish you luck on your grade."
So, this means Red didn't get a good score on his written test, I thought as Roxanne put my test on my desk. With a quick flip through the five pages of the test, I sighed, I wish they gave us something a little bit harder.
I could hear some groans and "this is so hard" comments as I flipped to the next page when I finished the first. They were mostly simple questions like "What Mythic grows two more heads when you cut off one?" or "What is the water form of a dryad called?" But some of them had some complicated answers like, "Griffins are half lion and half eagle. When they turn to human form, what attribute do they keep from either of the animals?"
When I reached the 3rd page, I noticed the girl next to me had her legs on her desk and she was dozing off. What a slacker like her doing here? I wondered. As I thought this, one of the girl's eyes opened the slightest and glanced at me. Her lips lifted into smirk.
With Ruby
History. Out of all classes to get at 6:30 in the morning, it was history. Freaking. History. Couldn't they have put something like cloud watching class? That would be much more fun than sitting here and listen about things that we probably won't need to help us in the future.
Worst of all, our teacher was an old man. Who spoke with a total monotone voice. I swear, at least half of the class, if not more, was asleep. I bet the people who were awake weren't even listening.
As my head was about to droop down to face plant my desk and fall asleep, the sound of the room door loudly screeched open, causing everybody to jump, especially me because I was right next to the door. Under the wobbling frame of the door stood a sleepy looking girl with two pigtails and half-closed blue eyes. Her hair was stabbed with twigs and grass kneaded into her brown strands.
"Sapphire," the teacher clicked his tongue at her and pointing at her with the piece of chalk he was using to write on the board. "I thought you would've learned from last year that you have to be punctual, especially on your first day."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry, I accidentally smashed my clock the other day when I was reaching for the snooze button so I didn't have morning wake up call," the girl explained.
The old man sighed. "You're lucky that this is the first day and we don't give the punishment on the first day, but if it happens again," he stopped talking and during this moment of silence, his arm reached out and, as if out of thin air, a sword materialized into his hand and he teasingly ran it across the girl of attention's neck, barely any space between the tip of the sword and her neck skin. "You've faced the punishment before. You wouldn't want to feel it again, would you?"
Sapphire gulped before shaking her head.
"Good," our teacher said, swiping his sword away and it disintegrated. "Ms. Birch, you'll be sitting next to," he scanned the room for an open seat and then he found a spot, "Rus...Ruk…Rut..," he attempted.
"Ruby," I corrected.
"Ruby," he repeated. "You'll be seated next to Mr. Ruby this year Sapphire and please behave this year."
Sapphire reluctantly sat in the empty seat beside me. When she sat down, her head sharply towards my direction, making me jump slightly. "Stop staring," she hissed under her breath.
My eyes widened as her glare intimidated me and I looked away instantly and went back to listening to the teacher, or at least trying to.
With Red
Well, this is just peachy. I stared at the battle field in front of me, the massive circle that was encircled with rows of seats that were raised off the ground. It looked just like in the olden times. It probably was old considering the masses of moss on some parts and the long cracks on the stone wall.
"So, kids today, we'll be practicing battling with wooden weapons," my first period class, Battling, teacher, Chuck, stated, coming out of one of the rooms in the battle arena with a hand full of wooden swords.
"Wooden swords?" one of my classmates groaned and other complaints followed.
"Hey!" Chuck shouted making the kids zip their lips shut. "I already explained this. This is for the people who failed the battling test. So, I can't have a bunch of noobs like you guys playing around and having actual weapons in hand." When everybody murmured an apology, Chuck set down the wooden swords. "Pick one of the wooden swords, your school uniform has a chest plate built inside and you have shoulder pads too. So don't worry about getting hurt. After you get your sword, grab a partner and start sparring. Some assistants of mines and I will be watching over you, we'll tell you when we'll start actual battle." He stopped talking and we all stood there in silence awkwardly. "Well, what are you waiting for, BEGIN!"
His voice echoed throughout the arena and we all flinched before rushed to the pile of wooden sticks on the ground. Though all the swords looked similar, a simple handle and a wooden blade, they all, to my realization, had a different attribute. Some were heavier, some were longer, some had thinner blades and some even had a dull point. Everyone just grabbed one, where as I stood there, looking for one that felt good. I could feel Chuck staring at me as I finally found one that suited me.
As I turned around I felt something hit my chest. I closed my eyes and braced myself to fall but instead, my body stayed on its feet. I opened my eyes and looked around for the source of the thing that hit me.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to run into you, did I hurt you? Oh, what can I do to make it up to you?" a frantic, but light and quiet, voice rambled. I looked down, surprised to see a tiny blond-haired girl looking up to me.
Through the middle of her rambling, I kneeled down and interrupted, "Woah, woah, don't worry. I'm fine, you don't have to get so worked up." The girl fell silent.
The girl just stared at me for a while with her golden eyes, observing me. "I'm sorry!" she apologized frantically once again then she ran off.
"Wait!" I called after her. She froze and turned to me slowly. "Um," I scratched the back of my head, "I don't have a partner, so do you want to be my partner?"
The blond girl was hesitant but she slowly nodded her head, "Okay."
I pulled her to an empty area in the coliseum and got in a stance. "Are you ready?"
The girl nodded and mimicked my actions.
I stared at her tiny and frail figure and chuckled. What's a girl like her doing in a place like this? Maybe I should go a little easy on her.
Underestimation was my downfall.
With Lyra
"Hello, my name is Caitlin. I'll be your teacher for this class," the long-haired woman standing in front of the class said in a monotone voice. "This class is Mythic Magic. As you know, Mythics have magic, even the weakest and smallest ones. And the best way to find a Mythic is sensing their magic."
I sat next to Crystal, who stared at Caitlin seriously with a pencil and notebook in front of her. Whereas, I sat empty handed, kicking my legs under the desk and humming a little song.
"I will give you an example," Caitlin stretched her hand out and mumbled, "Gothitelle, come to me." Particles sparkled from her hand and formed a figure. The form solidified and a girl with long black hair wearing a long black and white striped dress stood there. "I want you all to stare at Gothitelle's chest and tell me what you see."
I stared at the girl's chest and, soon enough, it looked like I saw through it and saw a purple ball.
"I see something!" a boy shouted behind me.
"Yes, that is magic," Caitlin identified.
"If it's that easy, then we'll be able to find Mythics easily and make Bonds!" a girl in the front of the room proclaimed. Murmurs started to flow through the classroom.
"Wrong," Caitlin said bluntly, silencing everyone. "If it was that easy, then there would be no point in this special academy."
She walked beside Gothitelle and placed a hand on her shoulder, nodding at her. "Now try looking at her chest."
I did as she said and stared at Gothitelle's chest again. I put more effort into my eyes when I couldn't see anything.
"As you can see, you don't see her magic," Caitlin said. "The only ways to see a Mythic's magic is to either have them let you or be really close to them. And there are around 7 billion people in this world and I don't think you'll have the time to be great friends, or even acquainted, with each one of them. Plus, you have to get the Mythic to trust you enough to do the bonding ritual with you to get a Bond. So, friendship is a vital thing for Bonds."
"Then what's the point of this class?" a girl asked.
"This class's point is to learn about what magic different Mythics have, so you know what kind of Mythic they are, and so you can identify their magic without being friends with them. Also, we will show you how to use your Bond's magic for your own, but that will wait until you guys actually get a Bond. If you get a Bond."
The classroom door suddenly slid open, revealing a raven-black haired boy with a lollipop in his mouth. "Yo," he greeted simply, sliding next to a red-haired boy in front of me.
Caitlin paid no attention to the interruption and continued, "Today, I am going to test your knowledge on Mythic magic." A stack of papers appeared in her hands and they were distributed to everyone.
I stared at the paper and sighed. I was hoping for multiple choice questions, but, no, it had to be written answers. At the corner of my eye, I saw Crystal speeding through the test, already through five questions.
Oh god, I hate tests.
-AFTER A LONG DAY-
With Blue
"School is really stressful, don't you think?" I rested my back on the walls of the hot tub and glanced at Yellow.
"Uh, yeah, my head really hurts from all those tests we've already taken," she said, tying her hair into a bun and slipping into the hot tub.
As she stared down at her hands in the water, I stared at her suspiciously. I've been here for a couple of years and I know when I sense Mythic magic. Yellow's weird behavior when I bring Mythics up would make it obvious that she would be a Mythic but she doesn't have any magic in her. If she's not a Mythic, why would she seem so frantic when I bring up the topic?
"Soooo, Yellow," I spoke up, sliding over to her side so my shoulder touched hers, "did anything interesting happen today?"
"Wh-wh-what do y-y-y-you m-mean?" she stuttered, her pale face starting to turn a ripe crimson.
"Like, meet any cute boys?"
"Um, er, I, uh, he…NO!"
I laughed at how panicky she was. "Don't worry, I won't push you." She's so easy to tease.
Yellow calmed down. "I've been meaning to ask you this before, but why did you come here?"
"Why I came here?" I repeated, grinning as if it brought good memories. "I came because my friend came here and I wanted to support her. She made it through and got a Bond, now I can be here to support you!" I threw my hand around Yellow's neck.
"Support me?" Yellow asked. "Would you really want to support someone like me, someone who has a high chance of failing?"
I sighed in annoyance. "Don't be such a downer. Come on, enjoy the year while you can."
The blond girl hummed in thought before giving me shy smile. "I'll support you too!"
"Blue, it's time for dinner!" a girl from the changing room shouted. Out came a girl, a girl with similar features as mines.
"Alright!" I shouted back. "Come on," I tugged on her arm and led her back to the changing rooms.
"Who was that?" Yellow asked.
"Sapphire? Oh, she's my cousin. She's a really wild girl compared to beautiful, proper me," I said, flipping my hair dramatically. Yellow slipped into the school uniform quickly while I had trouble buttoning the upper part of my uniform (if you know what I mean).
When we finished changing, we headed towards the dining room. Large tables filled the room, circular ones and rectangular ones, and in the center of the room, hung a big glass chandelier. Waiters and waitresses ran around on the fancy red carpet, carrying bowls and trays to the many people around the room. Yellow gawked at the huge room.
"Woah!" she whispered as she followed me to my usual table. "How does this school afford all this stuff?"
I set my bag down beside me and took a look at the menu that sat at the center of the table. "This school is funded by the government and, you should know this already, but the government is really rich. And since this school provides the government with most of its soldiers, it's only logical that they give this school all it need." I raised my hand to catch the attention of a waiter and ordered, "I want the spaghetti and garlic bread and a glass of water. What do you want, Yellow?"
"Huh? Oh, I'll have the, uhh, autumn salad and a glass of mango juice," she ordered. The waiter nodded and rushed to the kitchen.
I heard a bag drop on the table. "Hey guys!" I exclaimed, grinning at the four girls. Crystal and Lyra sat down close to Yellow while the other two sat closer to me. "Platina, Sapphire, meet Yellow, Lyra and Crystal. Yellow, Lyra, and Crystal, meet Platina and Sapphire," I introduced, pointing at each person as I said their names.
Platina plainly nodded and Sapphire grinned a toothy grin, her fang shining. "Nice ta' meet ya'. How's yer first day of school?" Sapphire asked.
"Tiring," Lyra said, stretching out her back.
"Okay," Crystal said.
"Scary," Yellow whispered.
Platina waved over a waiter and everyone ordered as Yellow's and my orders were placed in front of us. "Well, this great food should help your day," I said cheerfully, taking a big scoop of my spaghetti and stuffed it in my mouth. "Don't let today bring you down because you have an entire year ahead of you!"
"You know," Lyra spoke up as a plate was set in front of her, containing some kind of soup and garlic bread, "we should go to that waterpark that is right behind the dorms of the academy, it looks so fun!"
"I don't see any harm in that," Sapphire said, taking a vicious bite out of her hamburger.
Platina stayed her silent, proper self and nodded in approval as she sipped her tea.
"It's settled then!" I concluded. "On Friday, let's go to the water park."
Lyra, Sapphire, and I cheered enthusiastically, Yellow let out a quiet "yay", Crystal said in a monotone voice "Hooray", and Platina nodded.
With Green
A FEW HOURS AGO
I don't even know how it happened. It went by so fast. First day of school, go through four classes, leave my fourth class, went for a drink, got surrounded by girls, got knocked out, and woke up next to a guy in a hat.
"Oh you're awake," the boy noticed. I sat up, ignoring the punching feeling that hit my head. I looked around and noticed we were in the janitor's closet. "The girls here are pretty wild, considering they've grown up getting anything they want. It's only logical that they would do anything to get what they want."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, opening the can of soda that had ordered before I was knocked out that surprisingly was still in my hand..
"Both you and me are being hunted down by girls, and from the looks of it, they were pretty harsh," the boy answered, pointing at a red mark on my forehead, a couple of scratches on my arm and some tears in my clothing. He motioned me to look through a peep hole in the janitor's closet's door. I came over and stood beside the boy and immediately drew back.
A crowd of girls were in the halls scouting the area like they were dogs or something like that. "How the hell do we get so popular on the very first day?" I wondered out loud.
"Girls are a mystery," the boy said. He turned to me and extended his hand, "My name's Ruby, I'm a second year."
I shook his hand, "Green Oak, fourth year." I looked at the door then looked up at the ceiling, hoping to find any vents. "How are we supposed to get out of here?"
"Don't worry, I know a guy," Ruby assured. He took out his phone and clicked a couple of buttons before putting his phone on his ear. He turned away and started mumbling into the microphone of his phone.
Within a minute, he turned off his phone and turned to me. "My friend's coming to help us," he informed me.
Just then, one of the vent covers was kicked off and rattled at our toes. I looked up and saw emerald green eyes. "Damn it, Ruby, I was just in the middle of my movie marathon!" the croissant-haired boy scolded, extending his ar-I mean, stretchable… metal…hand?
"Sorry Emerald, I totally didn't want to interrupt your movie marathon while I was in a near-death situation," Ruby mockingly apologized as he was pulled up into the vent. When Ruby was in the vent he turned around and dropped his arm down to bring me up. I grabbed his hand, and to my surprise, he was able to pull me up with very little effort. "Which way are we going Em'?"
Emerald looked over his shoulder, probably to make sure we were all there. He sighed and started to crawl towards a fork in the vents. "This way," he used his metal hand to point to the vents on the left. "Be careful some of these vents are old so you might fall through."
Ruby lifted up his hand and stared at it in disgust. "These vents have so much dust. You couldn't bring any disinfectant wipes, could you?" His face was met by a wet piece of cloth that Emerald threw. "Oh hey! Thanks!" He started to madly scrub his hands after every few second of crawling through the dusty vents.
This guy must be one of those very hygienic people. I thought. Emerald suddenly stopped, causing Ruby to bump into Emerald. Luckily, I stopped before anything else happened. Emerald turned around. "Here we are," Emerald reported, pointing down. Without another word, he opened up the vent covers and dropped down. Ruby followed Emerald and I followed Ruby.
We were in a room. One of the rooms that the students slept in. And in that room, two boys stared at us. "Home, sweet home," Ruby cried out in joy, he ran to one of the bunkbeds and just laid face-down on it. I can't even tell if he was breathing.
"Hi, mister!" the boy in the beret walked up to me with a lazy grin. "I'm Diamond. Wanna cookie?" He held out an M&M cookie to me while stuffing a chocolate chip one in his mouth.
"I'm Green," I introduced. I stared at the sweet in his hand, trying to hide my disgust towards sweet things. "No thanks," I refused, waving my hands.
The blond boy walked up to me. Rubbing his chin, he said, "I remember you. You were that guy that was walking with a dead look on your face and a bunch of fangirls trailing you the entire day."
"The entire day?" I repeated.
"The entire day," he confirmed. "I'm Pearl, nice to meet you. How in the world to you even get all of those girls on you on the first day?"
"Girls are a mystery," Ruby repeated what he said back in the janitors closet, his voice muffled by the pillow. He lifted up his head. "Even though many people say that boys are more vicious than girls, who should be all petite and delicate, I think that if people actually get to know girls and anger them," Ruby shivered.
"You seem to have a very bad history with females, don't you?" Emerald asked.
Ruby nodded. He looked into the distance as if having a flashback. "He knows we can't see what he's thinking, right?" I asked Pearl.
"Honestly, I don't even have a clue," Pearl admitted with a shrug. We stared at Ruby until he finished his flashback. As that happened, I felt a buzz in my pocket. I brought out my phone and put it to my ear.
"Green speaking."
"Green!" a familiar voice shouted in relief. "Thank god! When that pack of girls ran away with you, I thought you were a goner. Where are you now?"
I looked over at Pearl. "What room is this?"
"Floor 4, room 4," Pearl answered.
I blinked in surprise. "Right next door to our room," I said back into the phone. Immediately after that, there was a knock on the door. I walked over to the door and opened it up. Red rushed in immediately and hugged me. Behind him stood Gold with a cheesy grin and Silver, being held by the collar by Gold.
"Yo!" Gold greeted, letting himself in. He dropped Silver's body on the floor and walked up to each individual boy in the room that he just met, shaking each ones hand vivaciously. "So you're the guys that saved Green. I know what it feels like when you have a pack of rabid girls after you." Gold rolled up his sleeves and showed everyone scratch and bite marks that ran from his wrist to his shoulder.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" Ruby, finally out of his flashback, ran towards Gold and grasped his arm and inspected it.
"Oh I'm fine. I'm used to it," Gold said, rolling his sleeve back down and shooing away Ruby. Gold smiled then clapped his hands together as an idea hit him in the head. "Hey, since we're already acquainted, how 'bout we hang out together? We could help each other in defending ourselves from the women!"
"I hate to admit this," Silver finally spoke up. "But, Gold has a pretty good idea."
"Really?" Gold's eyes glistened. He ran up to Silver and embraced him. "Silver finally acknowledged my geniusness!"
"Go away," Silver ordered, pushing away Gold from him.
"You're so mean Silvy!" Gold pouted and Silver "hmph"ed . Gold turned away from the red-headed boy and faced the other boys. "So who's with me?"
"I'm fine with it." Diamond said.
"Sure," Emerald agreed.
"Yes! Yes, please!" Ruby cried.
"Let's do it," Pearl said.
"Okay," I said.
"I think this is a great idea, so let's go for it!" Red decided.
"So, that's that!" Gold grinned. "Let's sit at lunch together too, let's become great friends, guys!"
And after that, we walked in the halls together. We talked, got to know each other better and such. And we went through the day without a problem. Well, most of the day.
Back to the Present
With Blue
"I've been hearing about this rumor about a group of boys that people call the 'Perfect Geniuses'," I brought up after finishing my meal. "Kind of a lame name, but it seems like an interesting topic."
"Oh yeah," Lyra remembered. "I saw some of them and the girls were all giggling and squealing when some boys went past them. They're from different grades but they seem to get along pretty well. I hear that they are very intelligent in certain subjects. People say that they're really attractive too."
"Five boys, right?" Crystal jumped in.
I snapped my fingers. "Right, I really want to get a good look at those boys. See what all this talk is about."
"Looks like yer about ta find out," Sapphire glared at the doorway behind me. Through curiosity, I turned my head around to see what Sapphire's cold glare was staring at.
Unlike the rumors, there weren't just five boys, there were eight boys. And one of them looked really familiar.
"Hey Green, where do you think we should sit?" a black-haired boy asked Green. Right! Green was that guy's name.
Green shrugged. A golden-eyed boy jumped between the black-haired boy and Green and hooked his arms around both of their necks. "Don't worry guys, let's just sit at the table where Silver and I usually sit!" And he tugged them away and was followed by the other boys.
"Hmm, not too bad," I commented as they walked away.
"Oh, they're bad. At least, da white hat boy is bad," Sapphire hissed, her fang starting to stand out.
I furrowed my eyebrows and looked back at the boys. The boy in the white hat was looking at a sketchbook, sketching something out. I looked back at Sapphire and tilted my head. "How's he bad?"
Sapphire shivered, and clutched her shoulders. "That perverted bastard," she muttered.
"You okay Sapphire? Wanna tell your big cousin Blue about what happened?"
"I'm fine," Sapphire said. "I'm fine. I. Am. Perfectly. Fine."
"Okaaaay?" I said, uncertain of my cousin's sanity and scooted over, patting her shoulder. "Okay guys, I'm stuffed. I'll be heading back to my room. See you guys later!" Everyone said bye to me, with the exception of Platina, who simply nodded in farewell.
Well, I guess saying I was going to the room was I lie. I had a different place in mind…
With Green
After I finished my food, I went to look around the academy. Living as a farm boy for most of my life, all the luxury of the academy made me feel uncomfortable. I needed something a little more plain. Something less shiny and made of glass and carpet and marble and all this richness. I guess the heavens heard my plea and I found myself outside the academy building.
It was a garden. Nothing fancy like the inside of the academy. It was just an area of grass surrounded by hedges. A couple of trees here and there and a bench by a fountain. A path way leading through the garden. A bridge that went over a stream. This was probably the least fancy thing in the entire academy.
I walked to the bridge and crossed it halfway. I looked over the side of the bridge and watched the stream peacefully flow. There was no fish swimming in it, but a bunch of algae and seaweed flowed with the current.
Then something splashed in my face. I stared forward in a state of shock with my face wet and dripping. "What the-?" Another splash. And another. And another. I growled in annoyance and looked down at the water. What could be splashing at me? I wondered. I heard a muffled giggle. I stiffened and looked around. There was no one. "Who's there?" I called out.
Another giggle. "Down here," a serene voice said. Down? I looked at the ends of the bridges. There was no one there either. "Not there silly," the voice said again. Water splashed in my face again. "Down here!"
I frowned. I walked to where the water splashing at me was coming from. I looked down at the stream. What I was shocked to see was a feminine silhouette in the water. "Stay there, I help you out." I got off the bridge and kneeled beside the stream, reaching in.
The girl giggled again. "You don't need to help me. I'm perfectly fine, see?" the girl in the water did a little twirl under the surface.
"Don't tell me," I stared at the girl in awe. "You're a naiad." Immediately after I said that, a chunk of water burst out of the stream in the shape of a feminine body.
"That I am!" the body made of water smiled. Her eyes turned to my neck. "What is this little gem?" All of a sudden, I felt like I was lighter. I looked down at my neck and patted under my shirt, looking for my locket. "Looking for this?" I heard the girl say. I turned to her and she was holding my locket, swinging it around like she was trying to hypnotize me.
"Give that back!" I yelled, jumping forward but the naiad put the locket in her water body.
"My, my, Green, I never knew you would lose you cool emotionless self like this. Over a small little accessory," the naiad giggled.
I stopped. "How do you know my name?"
"Why, you and I have classes together, of course." The naiad let out a watery gasp. "I just thought of something ingenious. Let's play a game. If you win, I'll give you back your locket."
"A game?" What is this girl thinking?
"Let's play Guess who I Am! You guess who I am in the school, since you don't actually know now. I'll give you until the end of the year. You can guess however many times you'd like but the maximum is one person a day. Well, I guess that means you can't guess however many times you'd like since you'd only have 365 tries. But anyway, I will give you three hints but they all have to be about a different subject and I have to approve the question. If you're able to guess who I am, I'll give you your locket and I might even let you become my Bond."
I scoffed. "Seriously, bond with you?"
"Of course, the purpose of this academy is to find a Bond. Might as well go for me since I'm only giving you a simple game and you get your locket and a ticket out of this school!"
"Yeah, I know that. But who'll want to tie themselves to a naiad. They only have power if they have water and sometimes, you won't have water. Plus they're not even that powerful," I explained. "And besides, what happens if I fail to find out who you are or don't play the game, even though it's almost guaranteed that I'll find you out."
"Cocky, aren't you?" the naiad smirked. "Well if you don't find me, I'll just kill you. If you don't play the game, I'll crush this locket and kill you." My eyes widened. "But, I'm just a useless naiad who isn't even that strong. So are you for the game or not?"
Do I really have a choice? Sure, I have plenty battle experience and I can defend myself if she attacks me. But, I stared at the naiad, this naiad is made out of very dark blue water. And studies shows that the darker the water of a naiad, the stronger it is. So I might not be able to take her on. So, it's either play the game and get my locket back or take a chance to survive a Mythic attack?
"I'll do it," I concluded.
The naiad gave me a smug smile. "Excellent. Now then," the naiad started to sink back into the stream, "I'll wait for your guesses and requests for hints. I'll be here every day after dinner." With that, she was gone in the stream.
I sighed. All I wanted was a walk through a garden. How'd I get myself stuck in this mess? I walked towards the door that led back inside the academy building. Just then, someone bumped into me. I regained my balance before I fell but the other person wasn't so lucky. I looked down at the person. It was-
"Oh hey Green!" Blue greeted with a grin. I stared at her for a second and simply brushed past her. She acted like she was hurt, "Rude!"
I have to get back to my room and take a nice rest to clear my head.
With No one
Two girls walked out of a café provided by the school, chatting.
"Did you find any Mythics today? I didn't find any," one girl asked.
"No," the other girl sighed. "Well it's only the first day. We still have plenty of time to get a Bond."
"I guess you're right, Lily. But I hate that I have to find a Mythic, all by myself. I mean, who do these people think they are? Do they not understand I'm from the family that's helping funding them? They should just give me a Mythic to bond with."
"Right?" Lily agreed. "They should know not to make you, Cassandra Clover, the richest girl in the country do anything!"
Cassandra fanned herself and laughed. "That's right." She heard a rustle in the bushes. "Wait," Cassandra stopped laughing and grabbed Lily, who stared at her best friend in confusion. "Did you hear that?"
"N-" Lily herself heard the rustle in the bushes.
Cassandra pushed Lily towards the bushes. "You check it out."
Lily nodded at the order since she knows that she shouldn't defy Cassandra. She slowly made her way to the bushes. When she got there, she kicked as hard as she could, only to hit nothing and kicking herself in the face. "Oof," she fell down on her butt.
"Did you get it?" Cassandra called out to Lily.
Lily recovered, stood back up and look behind the bush. There was nothing there. "Uh, yes I did!"
"Good, now let's go back, this place is starting to creep me out."
Lily ran back to her friend and started to walk back to the academy. After a few seconds, they started to hear footsteps behind them. They both sharply turned around. There was no one there and the footsteps stopped. "This is getting really creepy Lily, let's hurry!"
They turned back around but now, instead of a clear sidewalk, there was a girl. She had messy black hair that ran down to her hips. Her dark orange eyes stared at Lily and Cassandra. And in her hands were a…
Bloody pair of swords.
"Wh-what do you want?!" Lily shouted at the girl.
The girl didn't respond. She just let out an ominous aura and grinned maliciously. Her knees bended. She stopped moving for a second. A breeze passed by and made her black hair fly. Her figure disappeared from Cassandra and Lily's eyes sight.
A second later, Cassandra heard a cry of pain. Those same dark orange eyes, now only inches away, intimidated her, causing her to back away in fear. Cassandra looked down at the ground, covered in blood and her best friend's body. "Lily," she whispered in a shaky voice. Cassandra looked up at the black haired girl who still had her evil grin on her face.
"You're next," the girl sang. Cassandra's pupils shrunk.
"No, no, no!" Cassandra turned around and ran as fast as she could. "N-!"
Thud. The black haired girl stood beside Cassandra's decapitated head. Her lips turned up further. She started to chuckle. Which turned to a giggle. Which evolved into a full on maniacal laugh. "You two are out of the game," the girl said in amusement when she finished her long five minute laughter. "More people need to disappear. They need to die!" She walked away into the distance, swinging her two swords around chanting "die, die, die, die, die, die!"
Pretty long first chapter, huh? 10,000 words...*sigh*. Most of the fanfictions I've read have long intro chapters and it's normally boring since all they're doing is setting up the setting. But don't leave me because this chapter was boring. I literally spent a lot of time and effort thinking of a buncha details in this story. And I really like the concept of this story, probably one of my favorite story concepts I've thought of. If you get to this chapter before I get to the post the next chapter, I wanna ask y'all if you'd rather have short chapters with more frequent updates or long chapters that will most likely get updated once a month? Well that's all for today! Later!