Chapter 2: SEWOP

Daphne sat on an Anemo carrier to the rocket station, which would bring her and the other members to the SEWOP camp, which was in space. The Anemo carrier was made by a Wind Elementalist, and therefore it was their cheaper and more convenient substitute of an airplane.

After a journey where she had to sit through the agonizing small talk with some paparazzi, she finally managed to get to the rocket station and board the rocket. Once she was settled in and had made sure that the paparazzi had been escorted off the premises, she took some time to take in her surroundings. There was a shy-looking green-haired girl, a white-haired boy wearing a grin, and a black-haired boy with green eyes, most of his body covered in bandages.

"Daph!" Daphne turned her head around to see Mylo, her rival-sort-of-friend walk towards her. "You're in this group too huh?"

Every SEWOP group went in groups of six, five elemental users, and one guide. Each group would be sent to Lox to defeat the shadow monsters there because people were starting to see that Earth wasn't a very good place for their powers, because it was normal and not magical whatsoever. They were trying to relocate people to a different planet, lure the shadow monsters to Earth, then blow Earth up. Currently, there were Lox was the only other known planet, and previous SEWOP groups that had been sent there were believed to be dead or in need of backup, hence sending another group to investigate and colonize.

"You got invited?" Daphne asked.

"Yes," Mylo nodded. "Top students from every kingdom get chosen unless they turn down the opportunity, though Earth Elementalist isn't allowed."

Daphne nodded. It was proven that the nature of Lox was unpredictable, and sending in an Earth Elementalist could prove to be fatal for their teammates as well. "So Pyro was one of the kingdoms that were allowed to have two of their students go this expedition."

"Mhmm," Mylo hummed. "We're finally going to be able to do something instead of having to just sit in our mansions and waiting to be rescued!"

That, Daphne could agree on. Mylo and her had always been similar in that aspect, never wanting to be on the sidelines, preferring to be right in the fray of the battle. After a bit more chatting, the rocket took off.

After a couple of hours, the rocket landed at the SEWOP base where the five teenagers entered. It wasn't gigantic, but it was pretty huge for only six people. As instructed, they headed to the dining hall, which wasn't really a hall, just a bigger than normal dining room made to sound fancy. Sitting there was a mud-brown-haired man, wearing a pair of spectacles and an obnoxious air, waiting for them. "It seems that you have arrived."

Daphne immediately took a disliking to him. He seemed too pompous, words and attire too formal for a fight. It seemed that the mummified boy felt the same way, because he asked, "Why are you dressed like that? We could be attacked by shadow monsters any moment!"

The man scowled. "You will address me as Mr. Forester. And I will be able to fight just fine. Water Elemntalists are far stronger than Wind Elementalists like you."

"Wind Elementalists can do plenty of things!" Mylo said, sounding confused at the jab. Daphne felt the same way, because while she had seen others being called weak, and non-Elementalist being bullied, she had never seen an Elementalist claiming that their Element was stronger than another Element.

"Wind Elementalist can fly around a bit and make some stuff, but in a battle? Do you think flying around like a mosquito is going to help you?" Mr. Forester glanced the mummified boy up and down. "Especially when you're some bastard child who came from Servi."

The white-haired boy said, "I don't think such words are supposed to be said by you-"

"Hush," Mr. Forester commanded. "Here, I am the law. And if I say the bastard Wind Elementalists is weak, then he is weak. Understood?"

Daphne felt ready to snap something at their guide, feeling annoyed at the fact that a man who had absolutely no idea who any of them were just randomly picking on someone for asking a perfectly reasonable question. Just then, however, the green-haired girl spoke up. "Mr. Forester, may we know where we should be settling in?"

Mr. Forester turned to the girl and nodded. "All of you are sharing a dorm. I don't care if there are different genders amongst you, figure it out yourselves. Breakfast is at 10:00 a.m. lunch at 12:30 p.m. and dinner at 7:30 p.m. I will tell you your training times and activities at breakfast tomorrow. I can also dish out punishments if you're late for meals or don't listen to me, so the only rule here is to obey me. Go."

The five teens walked to their dorm, pulling in their bags and luggage. "I can't believe that they would let someone like that be a guide!"

Mummified boy sighed. "That just means that he makes up for his attitude in either wealth or power, which makes it even worse."

"There are three beds on the right and two beds on the left," the white-haired boy said. "How about us three boys sleep on the right on you girls sleep on the left? We can hang a bedsheet between us."

They all agreed, and quickly settled in. Closing her eyes, Daphne could already feel the incoming headache, named Mr. Forester, of the next day. She could also feel a pair of eyes watching her. She frowned. Wait, what? She looked around her, but no one was there. Closing her eyes again, she tried to shake off the feeling of eyes on her as she fell asleep.