She woke up to find herself standing in the middle of her room, but it was darker and less saturated than usual. Throwing on a random outfit, since she wasn't in school just yet, she went downstairs for breakfast.
"Mom?" She turned her head around, searching all over the house. That's weird, she thought to herself, Mom usually waits for me with breakfast.
Zarina, a low voice hissed. Rina's eyes darted all over the room, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise, but to no avail. It almost seemed to be echoing in her head, but that was impossible unless they were a Telepath. And Telepaths were supposed to ask permission before they read your mind, right?
As she tried to remember what she'd been told about the Rules of Telepathy by her parents, Zarina thought she saw a shadow in the corner of the dining area. Tiptoeing closer, she peered around the table, ready to brandish a chair at whatever was there if necessary.
I am you, and you are me, the voice from earlier whispered. I'm your inner self, what you would really look like if you embrace your true self. The shadow uncurled from its hunched position in the corner, to reveal an elf eerily similar to herself–but there were some crucial details that had changed.
The elf had white-blond hair like her, but it was in a pixie cut and streaked with purple dye. The hair was the main difference–the elf's eyes and skin tone matched perfectly to Zarina's. Along with that, Zarina's doppelganger had the same dark, desaturated look as her room had when she first woke up.
You'll never manifest, so you might as well stop trying. You could be so much better if you stopped embracing who your mother wants you to be.
Zarina shook her head. "No, no, NO. My mom is going to get me a tutor, and I'll have an ability detecting class at Foxfire. I'm not even in Level 1; I still have four years to manifest. I know that I will get an ability!" She spun back around, still focused on something else. "Now, where is my mom? I need to eat breakfast. She and I were going to work on my telekinesis today, and I know it takes a lot of energy if you're bad."
Fool! The voice in her head hissed, and the other elf charged at her. You'll be saved so much pain if you just give up now! I don't care about your mother; she'll be gone by the end of this anyways. Zarina barely dodged the elf from tackling her, but the other elf lashed out with her hands. A hole formed beneath Zarina's feet, and soon she was falling through pitch black.
Zarina pried her eyes open and squinted in the light streaming through her windows. Darn. She'd forgotten to close her curtains before she went to bed, and now she was paying the price for it.
What was that dream I had just now? She wondered, stretching and rubbing her forehead, which was soaked with sweat. I have no idea what that was about.
Her mom burst in a few moments later, marching over to the edge of her bed and ripping the covers off the bed. "It's time to get ready for your first day of school, Rina, and I don't want you to make a bad first impression by being late. So come on, get up!" Zarina let out a long groan, rolling over onto her other side. However, she jumped right onto her feet when she received a thousand-daggers-glare.
"I've already set out your uniform. It's in the bathroom. Remember to shower, and I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast when you're fully ready for the day."
Zarina stumbled to her bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror. Her hair was sticking every which way, and the dark circles under her eyes only made the new-to-Foxfire wave of dread slam down on her once again.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the shower, trying to imagine the colorful streams of water washing away all her worries about the upcoming day. When she came out again, her white-blond hair had darkened to a dirty blond, and hung in dripping clumps. She rubbed the moisturizer salve that her mom was always insisting she use along her arms, then pulled the traditional Foxfire uniform over her head, wrinkling her nose at her soaked hair.
After an extensive session of drying her hair and putting it up in her usual single braid, Zarina grabbed the bag she had been given to carry all of her assignments to school and raced downstairs to the kitchen. Her mom was already there, waiting with two plates of an orange tube-looking gnomish fruit.
"Your hair," her mother said as they both began eating, "is too messy. You should rebraid it once you've finished breakfast." Rina's hand shot to her forehead, where she found that a few strands of hair had made their way out of her braid. I knew I should have checked the mirror. Despite not having much power in the way of social status, her mom was determined to someday be at the top. Neither one of her parents was Talentless, but her father's ability was somewhat useless and therefore was part of the working class. Her mother was a Flasher, and worked for the Council as a Regent. Both had been pushing for her to manifest a powerful ability practically since birth, and Zarina was expecting them to hire an ability detecting tutor in the next week.
Standing up, Zarina cleared her plate and went back upstairs to fix her hair. Her stupid-long hair, which her mother refused to cut and was past chest-length. Everyone's going to think I'm a prissy, snobby popular kid, her brain decided as she frowned at her reflection in the mirror. Eventually, it got to the point where her mom was shouting at her that she needed to leave right now, or they were going to be late.
"Coming!" she shouted back, giving herself one more glance before racing down to meet her parents, who were both standing by the Leapmaster 500. They each embraced her, whispering to her that she needed to try to make a good first impression.
Finally, there was no more stalling to be done. She needed to leave, now, for orientation, or else she really would be late. "Foxfire!" she called out, and a single crystal moved forward, catching the light so that she would be able to ride it to the school.
"Okay," she said with a shuddering breath. "I'm going now." I can do this, she reassured herself as she stepped forward and made sure her nexis was on before being whisked away by the beam of light. I should make that be my new mantra was the only thought that registered as the light returned her to her regular self.
Craning her neck to take in everything, Zarina slowly made her way to the orientation room, along with all of the other prodigies. She weaved through the tight-knit crowd of teenagers, trying to find a good spot to see Dame Mera, ultimately giving up and settling with being stuck behind a pair of Level 5s.
However, it turned out that she didn't need to worry, since the projection of Dame Mera's face was so massive she wondered if people could spot it from outside the Foxfire building.
"Good morning, prodigies! And welcome, Level 1 prodigies, to your wonderful journey of education!" Many 11-year-olds shifted uncomfortably as she grinned cheerfully at them all. Dame Mera went on to announce a couple of things, such as prodigies that had manifested, and then released them to find their level's atriums and lockers.
"Well, that wasn't so bad," she muttered to herself as she followed the long stream of other prodigies. She scanned her eyes around her, trying to find other Level 1s, and found herself short of anyone her age.
Somehow, though, after wandering around for a while, she found her way to the Level 1 atrium, where she licked the DNA sensor for her locker.
"Blegh!" Resisting the urge to gag from the taste of muskog stink, Rina opened her locker door and piled in everything she wouldn't need for the day, checking her schedule to make sure she had the correct materials.
Zarina adjusted the shoulder bag that would later be filled with homework, slamming her locker shut. She jumped as a face appeared directly in front of hers.
"Hello? How can I help you?" She asked, her voice wavering as she tried to muster up as much strength into her voice. Zarina could see from the black-colored half-cape they were wearing that they were also a Level 1.
"Um, your parents asked me to introduce myself to you. They thought you might need a friend, and someone to help you. Since our families are very well-acquainted, and I'm also new to this school, they said I should do it. 'You'll be able to figure out the ins and outs of the school together,' is what I think their exact words were."
"What's your name?" Zarina barely whispered, so that they had to bend down to hear. She gripped the strap of her bag with one hand, her knuckles turning white, twirling the end of her braid with the other.
"Oh, right! My name is Lyrei. Lyrei Torven."
"Well, my name is Zarina, but you might already know that. What's your first class?"