A Gift of Fire

{The light Academy}

The loud ringing of a huge bell is heard in the centre of five buildings built beside each other in a circle, as all the students irrespective of level or class immediately understood the meaning it passed across since it was popularly known as the "food bell" and was the only thing the five buildings had in common.

One ring was for breakfast,

Two was for lunch and three rings was for dinner.

It rang twice, and the second one had barely resounded in everyone's ears when Ashen, began packing the second year magic books he had on his desk into his  desk locker, thankful that the class was over while mentally wondering how he could have attended a forty minutes class and barely understood a quarter of what his "Spell teacher" had taught, 

"Tests are next week right?" Asked Makin in an unnecessarily loud voice, loud enough for the entire Class 2b to hear, including Wein, as Makin sat on his desk talking to him, 

"Yeah, I heard a rumour that the headmasters have something new planned, especially for anyone that scores lower than expected," replied Wein, wondering why Makin brought up the topic, while his eyes slightly drifted in Ashen's direction as he spoke, watching him pack his books faster than he usually did, 

"Well, I for one would miss Ashen," Makin went ahead to say in an even louder tone than he had used the first time he spoke,

"Seeing him struggle through class every day is suffering enough for the both of us," Makin said as he continued speaking, not surprised to see everyone else turn to look at Ashen as he suddenly became the only topic of discussion, 

Meanwhile Ashen, already done packing all his books, quickly got on his feet, sliding his chair out from under him and strapping his shoulder bag across his chest, began walking towards the door of the classroom, without looking anywhere else but the entrance, 

"And where do you think you're going?" Making unexpectedly asked, jumping in front of him and blocking his way before he was even halfway to the door, 

"The cafeteria?" Ashen breathed out, doing his best to quieten the loud thumping of his heart as he stood in front of Makin, and although they were both tall and almost at the same height, Ashen felt like Makin was looking down at him from a height he couldn't touch, 

"Hmmm," he replied, walking away and towards Wein's desk, picking up his books as everyone watched in surprise including Ashen who stood frozen where he stood as he walked back towards him with a load of books in his hands, 

"Here…," Makin said dropping the books right on top of Ashen as he scrambled to catch them, long before they hit the ground, 

"Drop them in my room for me, would you? Books are after all useless when it comes to you," He said, chuckling as he walked away towards Wein, who immediately joined in way before he got back to where his friend was sitting at his desk, 

"Why should he?" asked Wein with an obvious smile on his face, in a jovial mood as he watched Ashen with sad eyes, quickly arrange the new set of books he held in his hands, and picking up the ones he didn't manage to catch, 

"Because I say so," Mavin replied, in a loud and confident tone, as he went back to sitting on Wein's desk, only managing to catch a glimpse of Ashen's back as he flew out the class, running as fast as he could, regardless of the many heavy books he held in his hands, 

Feeling powerless to go against Makin, one of the highest scorers in the second year, with tears threatening to spill out from his eyes, Ashen walked as fast as he could out and down the stairs heading towards the section of the building where his fellow second-year students lived, 

Finding Makin's room with ease after huffing and puffing up more than three flights of stairs, he dumped the books on his bed in an orderly manner, before rushing downstairs to his room, 

His door labelled 49-50 was the first door on the bottom floor, since everything in the school depended on position and how low or high you were in the ranking list, 

Ashen was about to turn the door handle, and enter his room when the door suddenly swung outwards, missing his face by mere inches, as he quickly jumped back to avoid it, 

"Whaa…? He asked in surprise, only for his eyes to land on Zahan, his roommate's best friend who had been on the edge of throwing out an apology until his eyes landed on the left side pocket of Ashen's red striped uniform on the hand-stitched pattern "2B50" before moving to land on his face, 

"Oh, it's you, B50," he said sliding out of the room with nonchalance as if being a single rank above Ashen gave him the right to talk down on him,

"What were you doing in my room, A49?" Ashan asked using the same line of reference he used for him, and although he was also in his second year, he was in class A and only a step away from being the last person in his own class, 

"Why else? Of course, I came to see Grut, your roommate, but it's obvious that he isn't here" Zahan replied, jiggling the keys he held in his hands until Ashan's attention was drawn to them,

"You have a key?" He inquired with surprise, watching him begin to move away from the door, the moment he closed it behind him, 

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't? It's not like you would know anything about having friends now, would you?" He mocked as he asked questions he really didn't want answers to, 

"Well, I'm off to the cafeteria and you should too. Just because you're the worst student in your class and you don't have any friends, doesn't mean you should starve you know…" he said as he continued to speak without waiting to hear whatever Ashen wanted to say,

Zahan then began walking away and Ashen merely stood in front of his door, until he could no longer see his retreating back view.

*******

A LITTLE HISTORY FOR REFERENCE SAKE( It will still be mentioned in the book and yes, you can skip it)

Two empires-

*Empire of Phelon{City of Drago where the *light academy* is and City of Lakod} before the town of Garen which is the border between both empires.

*Empire of Blundon{ Green academy in the capital city of Wantish, City of Kared and Velna}

*The north is able to stand alone with a few towns{ because of their difficult location and Holank is their lord.{ They have the Dark academy which Holank governs}

*To the west is Whitefield{ They have the white academy which is the strongest of all and with their powerful mages, they also stand alone.

*Immortal arms is a dark organization of ritual and death magic users hiding in the north whose main aim is to govern both empires and the cities surrounding them- They are the ones who unknowing summon the *Arid demon*(Able to call up monsters) an enemy to the almost extinct race of the dragons.